The United States has intercepted an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Saturday, a move that comes just days after US President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

It’s the second time in recent weeks that the United States has gone after a tanker near Venezuela amid a large U.S. military build-up in the region.

Noem confirmed the Coast Guard intercepted a tanker that was last docked in Venezuela.

“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” she said in a statement posted to social media. “We will find you, and we will stop you.”

Three US officials earlier Saturday had told Reuters that the vessel had been intercepted.

The Coast Guard and Pentagon referred questions to the White House. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the tanker contained sanctioned oil.

“It was a falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil and fund the narcoterrorist Maduro regime,” she wrote on X.

Venezuela’s oil ministry and state oil company PDVSA did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The Venezuelan government called the tanker interception a “serious act of international piracy.”

Venezuela “denounces and rejects the theft and hijacking of a new private vessel transporting oil, as well as the forced disappearance of its crew, committed by military personnel of the United States of America in international waters,” the statement said.

Caracas said the actions will be reported to the United Nations Security Council, other multilateral organizations and governments.

British maritime risk management company Vanguard said the vessel was believed to be the Panama-flagged Centuries, which was intercepted east of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea.

Jeremy Paner, a partner at Washington, D.C., law firm Hughes Hubbard and a former OFAC investigator, said the vessel has not been sanctioned by the US.

An October police raid in northern Rio de Janeiro became the deadliest in Brazil’s history, after leaving more than 120 people dead.

“The seizure of a vessel that is not sanctioned by the US marks a further increase in Trump’s pressure on Venezuela,” Paner said. “It also runs counter to Trump’s statement that the U.S. would impose a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers.”

• Manhunt for the attackers has been launched, say police.
• Attackers in 2 vehicles randomly opened fire while fleeing scene.
• Dead included a driver from online car-hailing service.

JOHANNESBURG: Nine people were killed when unknown gunmen opened fire at a bar outside Johannesburg early Sunday, police said, in the second such shooting in South Africa this month.

Ten more were wounded when around a dozen men attacked the tavern at Bekkersdal, in a gold mining area around 40 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of the city, just before 1:00 am (2300 GMT).

Police initially said 10 people were killed but later revised the toll downwards.

The attackers in two vehicles “opened fire at tavern patrons and continued to shoot randomly as they fled the scene,” a police statement said.

The dead included a driver from an online car-hailing service who had been outside the bar, provincial police commissioner Major General Fred Kekana told SABC television.

A manhunt for the attackers had been launched, police said.

South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised nation, is grappling with entrenched crime and corruption driven by organised networks.

Shootings are common and often fuelled by gang violence and competition between informal businesses, contributing to one of the highest murder rates in the world.

On December 6, gunmen stormed a hostel at Saulsville township near the capital Pretoria, killing a dozen people including a three-year-old child.

Police said that shooting was at a site that was illegally selling alcohol.

Many South Africans own licensed firearms for personal protection but there are many more illegal guns in circulation despite relatively strict ownership laws.

An average of 63 people were killed each day between April and September, according to police data.

Most deaths stemmed from arguments, with robberies and gang violence also driving the toll.

In one of the deadliest recent incidents, 18 relatives were shot dead at a rural homestead in the country’s Eastern Cape province in September 2024.

WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department has begun releasing a long-awaited cache of records from its investigations into the politically explosive case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — though much of the material remained heavily redacted.

Among the trove released Friday are numerous photographs depicting former Democratic president Bill Clinton and other luminaries, including Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson, in Epstein’s social circle.

The sweeping blackouts across many of the documents – combined with tight control over the release by officials in President Donald Trump’s administration – stoked skepticism over whether this disclosure will silence conspiracy theories of a high-level cover-up.

In one example, a 119-page document labeled “Grand Jury-NY” is entirely redacted. Also, seven pages listing 254 masseuses have every name buried beneath thick black bars alongside the note, “redacted to protect potential victim information.”

Even so, the files shed some light on the disgraced financier’s intimate ties to the rich, famous and powerful – Trump, once a close friend, among them.

At least one file contains dozens of censored images of naked or scantily clad figures. Others show Epstein and companions, their faces obscured, posing with firearms.

Previously unseen photographs include Maxwell with disgraced former prince Andrew, pictured lying across the legs of five people.

Another photo shows a youthful-looking Clinton lounging in a hot tub, part of the image blacked out.

In another, Clinton swims alongside a dark-haired woman who appears to be Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

A ‘fraction’ of the evidence 

The White House wasted no time seizing on Clinton’s appearances.

“Slick Willy! @BillClinton just chillin, without a care in the world. Little did he know…” Communications Director Steven Cheung posted on X.

Clinton’s spokesman Angel Urena responded to the newly released files by saying the country “expects answers, not scapegoats.”

“The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton. This is about shielding themselves,” Urena wrote on X.

Democrats – and a handful of Republicans – voiced frustration that the release fell far short of what was mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who has long pushed for the release, said it “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.”

That law required the government’s entire case file to be posted publicly by Friday, constrained only by legal and victim privacy concerns.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats would “pursue every option to make sure the truth comes out.”

Trump spent months trying to block the disclosure of the files linked to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

The Republican president ultimately bowed to mounting pressure from Congress – including members of his own party – and last month signed the law compelling publication of the materials by Friday.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged in a letter to Congress that the Friday release was incomplete, and that the Justice Department would complete production of files in the coming weeks.

Prosecutors retain discretion to withhold material tied to active investigations, and Blanche said files had also been redacted to protect the identities of Epstein’s hundreds of victims.

‘Democrat hoax’ 

Trump once moved in the same Palm Beach and New York party scene as Epstein, appearing with him at events throughout the 1990s. He severed ties years before Epstein’s 2019 arrest and faces no accusations of wrongdoing in the case.

But his right-wing base has long fixated on the Epstein saga and conspiracy theories alleging the financier ran a sex trafficking ring for the global elite.

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to release all the files. Yet after returning to office, he dismissed the transparency push as a “Democrat hoax.”

Trump’s Justice Department ignited a political firestorm in July with a memo declaring there would be no further disclosures from the Epstein probe and his fabled “client list” did not exist before the president bowed to pressure.

Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes, and is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting underage girls for the former teacher and banker, whose death was ruled a suicide.