UNITED STATES
Vessel strikes kill eight
Strikes on three alleged narco-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday killed eight people, the US military said. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking,” US Southern Command wrote on X, adding that “a total of eight male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions-three in the first vessel, two in the second and three in the third.” Since early September, the US military under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has targeted alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, destroying at least 26 vessels and killing at least 95 people.
UNITED STATES
UK tech deal halted: ‘FT’
Washington has suspended a technology deal it struck with Britain earlier this year, which was intended to boost ties in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Monday. British officials confirmed the US suspended the deal last week, the FT said, adding that President Donald Trump’s administration was pushing for Britain’s concessions in areas of trade outside the tech partnership. US officials were becoming increasingly frustrated with Britain’s lack of willingness to address so-called non-tariff barriers, including rules and regulations governing food and industrial goods, the FT said. “Our special relationship with the US remains strong and the UK is firmly committed to ensuring the Tech Prosperity Deal delivers opportunity for hardworking people in both countries,” a spokesperson for the British government said. The White House did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
MEXICO
Lawmakers trade blows
A group of female legislators in the Congress of Mexico City got into a physical fight on Monday, with cameras broadcasting the brawl live as they pulled each other’s hair and traded blows. The fight broke out after a group of women from the right-wing National Action Party (PAN) approached the legislature’s main podium in protest of a rule allegedly broken by the leftist Morena party, which has a majority in the legislature. The debate involved reforming the city government’s transparency oversight agency, local media reports said. Video from the incident shows at least five lawmakers from both parties arguing intensely, with members elbowing, slapping and pulling each other’s hair in an attempt by Morena lawmakers to physically remove the PAN members from the podium. After the fight, PAN lawmakers left the chamber and the Morena majority resumed the debate without the opposition party present, reports posted on Congress’ social media said.
UNITED STATES
Reiner’s son arrested
The 32-year-old son of Hollywood icon Rob Reiner was on Monday arrested on suspicion of murder and held without bail in the stabbing deaths of his parents in their Los Angeles home, authorities said. The case was to be forwarded yesterday to prosecutors as they consider formal charges against Nick Reiner, who was taken into custody hours after Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer, were found dead. Nick Reiner has spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction and homelessness. He and his father collaborated on a semi-autobiographical 2016 film, Being Charlie, that included elements of their relationship and experience.
Shamans in Peru on Monday gathered for an annual New Year’s ritual where they made predictions for the year to come, including illness for US President Donald Trump and the downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “The United States should prepare itself because Donald Trump will fall seriously ill,” Juan de Dios Garcia proclaimed as he gathered with other shamans on a beach in southern Lima, dressed in traditional Andean ponchos and headdresses, and sprinkling flowers on the sand. The shamans carried large posters of world leaders, over which they crossed swords and burned incense, some of which they stomped on. In this
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
‘TRUMP’S LONG GAME’: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said that while fraud was a serious issue, the US president was politicizing it to defund programs for Minnesotans US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday said it was auditing immigration cases involving US citizens of Somalian origin to detect fraud that could lead to denaturalization, or revocation of citizenship, while also announcing a freeze of childcare funds to Minnesota and demanding an audit of some daycare centers. “Under US law, if an individual procures citizenship on a fraudulent basis, that is grounds for denaturalization,” US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. Denaturalization cases are rare and can take years. About 11 cases were pursued per year between 1990 and 2017, the Immigrant Legal Resource
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
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