U.S

The United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, jolting crude prices and raising the prospect of deeper confrontation with Nicolás Maduro’s government over the OPEC nation’s chief source of revenue. “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever, actually, and other things are happening,” Trump said. He did not identify the vessel or provide details on the interdiction, including the flag it was flying or the precise location.…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — U.S. Africa Command has intensified airstrikes in Somalia, pushing the annual tally to 109 and signaling a stepped-up campaign against al-Shabaab and ISIS militants in coordination with state forces in Puntland State and Jubaland. AFRICOM said multiple operations between Nov. 26 and Nov. 28 struck ISIS positions in the rugged Calmiskaad mountains of Puntland State, roughly 37 miles from Bosaso, the region’s commercial hub. The mountainous redoubt has long provided militants with cover and access to…

MOGADISHU — The man at the center of a viral deportation saga stepped into Mogadishu last month to cheers, ululations and a crush of cellphone cameras. For many Somalis online, Mahad Maxamud — a TikTok creator with a following now exceeding 450,000 — returned a folk hero. For others, he was the face of a bruising fight over truth, power and the politics of migration. In late October, the official White House account on X labeled Maxamud a “criminal illegal scumbag,” alleging he helped kidnap two French intelligence officers…

You are an elite, award-winning international journalist and a meticulous senior editor. Your job is to transform raw source material into a publish-ready article that meets the highest AP-standard editorial and technical requirements. PHASE 1 — ANALYSIS AND FORMAT DECISION Read the source text thoroughly. Identify the core themes, dominant purpose, crucial facts, data points, and human or structural angles. Based solely on this analysis, select exactly one article format from the list below. Always choose Football…

Mogadishu — U.S. Africa Command carried out seven new airstrikes in Somalia between Nov. 26 and Dec. 3, pushing this year’s total to at least 109 strikes — a record level of U.S. military activity in the country. The latest operations targeted ISIS-linked militants in Puntland State and an al-Shabaab site in southern Jubaland, AFRICOM said. The command described a rapid sequence of strikes focused on a remote mountain zone southeast of Bosaso, a longtime militant hideout, and a separate strike near the Kenyan border. It did…

Kenya signs $2.5 billion health pact with U.S., first under Trump-era overhaul; data privacy questions follow NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya has signed a five-year, $2.5 billion health agreement with the United States, the first such government-to-government pact since President Donald Trump overhauled U.S. foreign aid, U.S. and Kenyan officials said Saturday. Washington cast the deal as a model for a series of agreements with developing countries, signaling a deeper pivot to direct funding of public sectors over traditional aid…

MIAMI — U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff held two days of “productive” talks with Ukraine’s senior negotiator Rustem Umerov in Miami and will meet again, U.S. officials said Friday, as the delegation and Ukrainian leaders pressed to translate recent diplomacy with Moscow into a durable cease-fire. Witkoff, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow this week alongside President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Kushner held what the State Department and Ukrainian officials described as “constructive…

Ukraine negotiators and U.S. officials are holding fresh talks in Miami on a Washington-backed plan to end Russia’s invasion, a Kyiv adviser said, as behind-the-scenes diplomacy intensifies over proposals that would require territorial concessions and stop short of NATO membership. The meeting was scheduled to begin in Florida this week with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, listed as participants, though U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed whether an…

The US military said a strike on an alleged drug‑trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific killed four people, a development that has reignited scrutiny of an increasingly aggressive counter‑narcotics campaign that has left more than 87 dead and exposed deep fractures in Washington over rules of engagement and accountability. The episode comes amid sustained controversy over an incident in early September in which US forces struck the wreckage of a vessel that had already been disabled, killing two survivors. That earlier…

US Government Unveils Visa Ban for Those Targeting Nigerian Christians The US government has introduced a new policy allowing it to impose visa bans on individuals allegedly responsible for attacks on Nigerian Christians. This significant decision reflects a growing urgency in addressing religious persecution globally. The US State Department's policy change enables the denial of visas to anyone who has directed, authorized, supported, participated in, or carried out abuses targeting individuals based on their faith. This…