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Hello, I'm Chris Barrow with the BBC News.
The Pentagon says it's deploying an aircraft carrier strike group to the Caribbean, which it says is to beef up its operation against drug traffickers. It follows the latest strike on a boat which killed six people. Our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman reports from Washington. President Trump has notified Congress that the administration is engaged in what it calls a non-international "armed conflict" against cartels, but says he won't seek approval. Members of Congress have not authorized the use of lethal force and have raised mounting questions about the strikes, the intelligence assessments they are based on and their legality. U.N. rights experts say such a resort to military force in place of law enforcement activity accounts to "extrajudicial killing," while one former State Department legal adviser described the strikes as "murder." The president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, has replaced the country's military commanders with immediate effect. A spokesperson said the decision was taken to strengthen national security. The Nigerian military is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency in the northeast and widespread lawlessness in its northwest. But the move also comes a week after a reported coup plot that was denied by the military and the government. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been holding talks in London with more than 20 allied countries to discuss measures to fight back against Russian forces. Our correspondent James Waterhouse says the meeting is about more than supplying and supporting Ukraine, it's also about sending a message to President Trump. They're looking to boost Ukraine's long-range weapon capability. They're still trying to draw up plans as to how they'll police a future ceasefire. But it's the absence of the U.S., which they are having to make up for. They say, look, we're not going to end this war without the U.S., we need it to pressure Russia but also to help us militarily. So I think it's both trying to do that, keep Donald Trump engaged, but also show Russia that it's also serious about its long-term defense. President Putin's top economic envoy, who's in Washington for talks with Trump administration officials, has described the tough new U.S. sanctions on Moscow as "unfriendly." They've been placed on Russia's two biggest oil companies. Speaking to reporters, Mr. Dimitriev said cooperation with Washington needs to be based on mutual respect. "This visit has been planned for a long time and wasn't cancelled by the American side despite recent unfriendly actions. As President Putin noted, the language of pressure doesn't work with Russia. The potential for economic cooperation remains, but only if Russia's interests are respected." Mr. Dimitriev also said that a final diplomatic solution was necessary to end its war in Ukraine, not a temporary ceasefire. World news from the BBC. Reports from Lebanon say Israeli airstrikes on the south of the country have killed two people. The Israeli army said it had targeted members of Hezbollah and killed one of the organization's key commanders, Abbas Hassan Karky, who it claimed had led efforts to rebuild its combat capabilities. Israel has bombed southern Lebanon on a number of occasions despite a truce agreed with Hezbollah almost a year ago. The United States Justice Department says it's reached an agreement for Liberia to receive a Salvadorian man who was wrongly deported to his homeland, then returned to America. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who fled to the U.S. as a teenager before being granted residency, spent time in harsh Salvadorian prison conditions in violation of a prior U.S. court ruling. The premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, Doug Ford, says he'll pause the advertising campaign that prompted President Trump to end trade talks with Canada. The adverts, which will be pulled from broadcast in America on Monday, featured the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan criticizing the use of tariffs. Mr. Trump said the advert misrepresented Reagan's views. Thailand's queen mother, whose son is the current King Vajiralongkorn, has died at the age of 93. Sirikit, as she was known, was the wife of the nation's longest-reigning monarch King Bhumibol. Guy Pitt looks back at her life. Sirikit Kitiyakara wasn't even 18 when she became queen of Thailand in 1950. She would remain queen for 66 years until the death of her husband, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, when her son ascended to the throne. Royal watchers felt she brought a touch of glamor to the monarchy in the years immediately after the war, a young woman of fashion helping revive the prestige of the royal family. Her long years on the throne undoubtedly gave her a place in the nation's heart, but she courted controversy in later life with some of her political statements in support of a royalist party. BBC News. |