• Second strike against alleged Venezuelan drug cartels this month.
• Military action comes amid large US military buildup in region.
• Maduro alleges US is hoping to drive him out of power.

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US military carried out a strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug cartel vessel heading to the United States, the second such strike carried out against a suspected drug boat in recent weeks.

He said three men were killed in the strike, adding that it occurred in international waters. Trump provided no evidence for his assertion that the boat was carrying drugs.

“This morning, on my Orders, US Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to US National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital US Interests,” Trump said. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) is the military’s combatant command which encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean.

The post also included a nearly 30-second video, with markings of “Unclassified” on the top, which appeared to show a vessel in a body of water exploding and then on fire.

Later on Monday, Trump said that “we have proof, all you have to do is look at the cargo that was … spattered all over the ocean, big bags of cocaine and fentanyl.”

Reuters conducted initial checks on the video with an AI detection tool, but the video was partly blurred, making it impossible to confirm if the video was manipulated.

However, thorough verification is an ongoing process, and Reuters will continue to review the footage as more information becomes available.

The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The latest strike comes amid a large US military buildup in the southern Caribbean. Five US F-35 aircraft were seen landing in Puerto Rico on Saturday after the Trump administration ordered 10 of the stealth fighters to join the buildup.

There are also at least seven US warships in the region, along with one nuclear-powered submarine.

Sustained campaign?

Trump, speaking with reporters on Monday, suggested operations could be carried out on land against suspected drug smugglers.

“When they come by land, we’re going to be stopping them the same way we stopped the boats,” Trump said. “But maybe by talking about it a little bit, it won’t happen.”

Earlier this month, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told sailors and Marines on a warship off Puerto Rico that they were not deployed to the Caribbean for training but instead sent to the “front lines” of a critical counter-narcotics mission.

On Monday, Hegseth, in a post on X, suggested an expansive mission for the US military against drug traffickers: “We will track them, kill them, and dismantle their networks throughout our hemisphere — at the times and places of our choosing.”

Trump has ordered the Department of Defense to rename itself the Department of War, a change that will require action by Congress. The new name would apply to Hegseth as well, altering his title to “Secretary of War.”

Hours before Trump’s post, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that recent incidents between his country and the United States were an “aggression” by the US and that communications between the two governments had largely ended.

The Trump administration has provided scant information about the first strike on September 2, despite demands from US lawmakers that the government justify the action. It has been alleged that those on board were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, and said 11 people were killed.

The Pentagon has not publicly said what type of drugs the boat was carrying or how much, or even what type of weapons were used to carry out the strike.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have told Reuters that the boat hit on September 2 appeared to be turning around when it was hit, a fact that has raised questions among some legal experts about the legality of the strike.

Trump shared a video at the time of that first strike that appeared to show a speedboat exploding at sea. A Venezuelan official later suggested that the video was created with artificial intelligence.

A Reuters review of that video’s visual elements using a manipulation detection tool did not show evidence of manipulation.

The Venezuelan government, which says it has deployed tens of thousands of troops to fight drug trafficking and defend the country, has said none of the people killed in the first strike belonged to Tren de Aragua.

Maduro has repeatedly alleged the US is hoping to drive him from power.

Last month, the United States doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro to $50 million, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups.

The decision to blow up a suspected drug vessel instead of seizing the vessel and apprehending its crew is highly unusual.

Under the Constitution, the power to declare war belongs to Congress, but the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and presidents of both parties have conducted military strikes overseas without congressional approval.

• Leaders condemn Israeli strike on Doha as unlawful attack.
• Israel responsible for genocide, war crimes: summit.
• Leaders call for urgent action to end these practices.

The Arab-Islamic Emergency Summit on Monday called for wide-ranging sanctions on Israel, including an arms embargo and review of economic and diplomatic ties, in response to Tel Aviv’s “flagrant aggression” against Qatar and its ongoing war in Gaza.

Leaders — in the final communiqué issued after the emergency meeting — demanded international accountability, warning that Israel’s repeated crimes and violations of international law pose a direct threat to regional and global peace.

The communiqué urged all states to hold Israel accountable by imposing sanctions, halting the transfer of weapons and military materials, reviewing their relations, and pursuing legal action.

The summit was convened after Israel’s September 9 strike on a residential area in Doha, which targeted housing facilities for mediation delegations, schools, nurseries, and diplomatic missions. The attack caused civilian casualties, including a Qatari martyr, and injuries among residents.

Arab and Islamic leaders condemned the strike in the strongest terms, calling it “cowardly and unlawful.” They said it amounted to a flagrant act of aggression against an Arab and Islamic state and a dangerous escalation that exposes the extremism of the Israeli government.

The communiqué reaffirmed absolute solidarity with Qatar, declaring that aggression against one Arab or Islamic state is an attack on all. Leaders pledged to stand firmly with Qatar in all measures it may take to defend its sovereignty, stability, and the safety of its people.

They warned that Israel’s assault on Qatar, a key mediator in ceasefire talks for Gaza, was also an attack on international peace-making itself. Israel, they said, bore full responsibility for undermining mediation and diplomacy. 

The summit said Israel was responsible for genocide, ethnic cleansing, siege, and starvation against Palestinians and termed such actions as war crimes in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Leaders condemned settlement expansion, forced displacement, and annexation attempts, describing them as crimes against humanity.

They called for urgent international action to end these practices, stressing that silence and inaction had emboldened Israel to persist in its aggressions and perpetuate a policy of impunity.

The leaders reaffirmed support for an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, rejecting any attempt to bypass or undermine the Palestinian cause. They endorsed Jordan’s custodianship of Al-Aqsa Mosque, declaring it a place of worship exclusively for Muslims.

The communiqué also backed the enforcement of International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Israeli officials and compliance with International Court of Justice rulings on genocide prevention in Gaza. 

The summit welcomed the “New York Declaration” by the UN General Assembly supporting Palestinian statehood and the upcoming Two-State Solution Conference in New York, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France.

It also valued efforts by Arab and Islamic states at the UN Security Council, especially Algeria, Somalia, and Pakistan, for defending the Palestinian cause and convening the emergency session on Israel’s attack against Qatar.

They added that Israel’s aggression against Qatar was not an isolated act but part of a broader campaign that threatens the sovereignty of Arab and Islamic states, undermines international law, and destabilises the region.

LONDON: A Pakistani-origin doctor who left a patient midway through an operation to have intercourse with a nurse is at “very low risk” of repeating his serious misconduct, a medical tribunal has ruled.

Married father-of-three, 44, and the unnamed nurse were caught in a “compromising position” by a shocked colleague who walked in on the pair at Tameside Hospital.

The consultant anaesthetist from Lahore had asked another nursing colleague to monitor the male patient, who was under general anaesthetic, so he could go to the bathroom.

Instead, the doctor went to another operating theatre – used partly as a storage room – at the hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, where sexual activity took place with Nurse C on September 16, 2023.

The doctor was absent from the operating room for eight minutes and the patient came to no harm. The matter was reported to management and the doctor was dismissed in February 2024 following an internal investigation.

Last week, he told an MPTS disciplinary tribunal he wanted to resume his career in the UK and relocate with his family after they had since moved to his native Pakistan where he worked as a doctor.

The doctor promised there would never be a repeat of a “one-off error of judgment”.

Giving evidence, he said: “It was quite shameful, to say the least. I only have myself to blame. I let down everybody, not just my patient and myself but the trust and how it would look. I let down my colleagues who gave me a lot of respect.”

On Monday, the tribunal determined that the doctor “had put his own interests before those of the patient and his colleagues” and the incident involving Nurse C “had the potential to distract … and he may not have able to give his full attention to the patient’s care”.

Tribunal chairwoman Rebecca Miller said his actions, while they did not harm the patient’s safety, were “significant enough to amount to misconduct that was serious”.

However, she was satisfied that the doctor was determined not to repeat his past misconduct and considered the risk of repetition to be “very low”.

Miller said: “The tribunal considered that members of the public and the profession would understand the high level of scrutiny to which …Dr Anjum had been subjected, and that a finding of serious misconduct would weigh heavily upon him. 

The tribunal was satisfied that this public finding of serious misconduct was sufficient to maintain public confidence in the profession and proper professional standards, and that there was not a necessity to make a finding of impaired fitness to practise for that purpose.”

No sanction will be imposed on the doctor and the hearing will reconvene in Manchester on Tuesday to decide whether to issue a warning on the doctor’s registration.

The doctor had admitted engaging in sexual activity with Nurse C and that he knew she was “likely to be nearby” when he left his patient. He also admitted his actions had the potential to put his patient at risk.