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US seizes two ‘shadow fleet’ tankers linked to Venezuelan oil
The United States says it has seized two tankers linked to Venezuelan oil exports in “back-to-back” operations in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean.
US forces boarded the Russian-flagged Marinera after a pursuit lasting almost two weeks as it travelled through the waters between Iceland and Scotland. The UK Royal Navy gave logistical support by air and sea.
A second tanker – the M/T Sophia – was accused by the US of “conducting illicit activities” and boarded in the Caribbean.
The moves come as the US seeks to choke off most exports of Venezuelan crude oil, and just days after its special forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a lightning raid on his residence in Caracas.
Venezuela’s leadership is co-operating with the US on the second tanker seized in the Caribbean, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
“They understand that the only way they can move oil and generate revenue and not have economic collapse is if they co-operate and work with the United States,” he told reporters.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump had said that Venezuela – which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves – “will be turning over” up to 50 million barrels of oil worth some $2.8bn (£2.1bn) to the US.
Rubio, who briefed US lawmakers on the ongoing operation in Venezuela on Wednesday, said that the US would sell oil that is in Venezuela “in the marketplace at market rates” and that the US would control how the proceeds were dispersed “in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people”.
He said the US had a considered plan for the future of Venezuela, and that the administration was “not just winging it”.
Rubio said the Trump administration’s plan in Venezuela was stabilisation, recovery and then transition.
But the discussions surrounding oil were only one component of concern US lawmakers had over the escalating conflict.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said lawmakers needed answers to lingering questions of how many US troops could be involved and how much money the US involvement in Venezuela will cost.
Republicans largely appeared to back the administration’s moves in the region, though some expressed concern about what kind of say Congress had.
The Senate is expected to vote next week on a bipartisan war powers resolution – an attempt to block continued military action in Venezuela. A war powers resolution – created in the wake of the Vietnam War – limits a president’s power to involve US armed forces in hostilities without congressional approval.
“If we’re going to have continued engagement in the next phase, I think it has got to be subject to war powers,” North Carolina’s Thom Tillis said.
Meanwhile, Missouri’s Josh Hawley said that if the administration’s actions were a law enforcement operation, then it does not require congressional approval, but “if it’s a military operation involving a foreign head of government, even one we don’t recognise officially, that’s a very different situation”.
China – the biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil in recent years – has condemned the US moves and accused it of threatening global energy security.
The seizure of the two tankers was announced by the US military in separate posts on social media on Wednesday.
The US European Command said the M/V Bella 1 – using the former name of the Marinera – was boarded “for violations of US sanctions”.
“The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court after being tracked by USCGC Munro”, a Coast Guard cutter.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said RAF surveillance aircraft and a naval support vessel, the RFA Tideforce, were among the UK military assets that took part in the operation, following a US request for assistance.
Defence Secretary John Healey said the action was “in full compliance with international law”, and “formed part of global efforts to crack down on sanctions- busting”.
The vessel has been accused of breaking US sanctions and shipping Iranian oil.
Images published by Russian state broadcaster RT show a helicopter close to a ship that appears to be the M/V Bella 1.
The Russian Maritime Register of Shipping shows that the tanker had changed its name to Marinera, and was sailing under the Russian flag. Its home port stated as the southern Russian city of Sochi on the Black Sea.
The Russian transport ministry said US forces boarded the Marinera at about 15:00 Moscow time (1200 GMT), after which communications with the vessel were lost.
US officials said that Marinera was falsely flying the flag of Guyana last month, which made it stateless.
Experts told BBC Verify that the US called the ship Bella 1 as a vessel cannot change its flag during a voyage unless there was a real transfer of ownership or change of registry.
The experts also said that under UN international maritime law, a stateless vessel can be boarded by authorities.
Separately, the US Southern Command announced on Wednesday that the defence and homeland security departments “apprehended a stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker without incident”.
“The interdicted vessel, M/T Sophia, was operating in international waters and conducting illicit activities in the Caribbean Sea. The US Coast Guard is escorting M/T Sophia to the US for final disposition.”
The US Southern Command also posted a video showing a helicopter circling over a vessel.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that “in two pre-dawn operations today, the Coast Guard conducted back-to-back meticulously co-ordinated boarding of two ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ships”.
She said both seized vessels “were either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it”.
Federal authorities in the United States have charged the suspect who allegedly shot a US Secret Service agent as he tried to breach security at a press gala attended by Donald Trump with attempting to assassinate the US president.
Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, also faces firearms charges in a three-count complaint, prosecutors announced on Monday.
In the case of a conviction, the attempted assassination of Trump carries out a sentence of up to life in prison.
Allen wore a blue prison jumpsuit at his first appearance in Washington, DC, federal court, two days after authorities said they foiled an attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, an annual black-tie gathering of journalists and politicians in the US capital.
“He attempted to assassinate the president of the United States, Donald J Trump”, prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine said in court.
Allen has not yet responded to the allegations. Seated at the defence table flanked by US Marshals, Allen said he would answer all questions truthfully and that he had a master’s degree in computer science.
US Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ordered Allen detained while the case moves forward. Sharbaugh scheduled another hearing over Allen’s continued detention for Thursday.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington, DC, said further charges could be filed against Allen as the investigation proceeds.
“Make no mistake, this was an attempted assassination of the president of the United States, with the defendant making clear what his intent was – and that intent was to bring down as many of the high-ranking cabinet officials as he could,” Pirro told reporters on Monday.
She cited an alleged manifesto written by the suspect, saying that his targets were administration officials “prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest”.
Pirro added that Allen allegedly had a semiautomatic pistol, a shotgun and three knives. She said authorities believe the guns were purchased in California.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Allen travelled via train from his home near Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington.
[Aljazeera]
On Saturday, Delhi served up a belter of a pitch on which 265 played 264. Two days later, the adjacent surface produced a passage of play straight out of a spicy Test-match session. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood maximised the swing and bounce on offer in the early exchanges to raze through Delhi Capitals. DC crumpled to 8 for 6 – their powerplay score of 13 was the lowest in a full IPL game – and were in danger of being dismissed for the lowest total in the league.
Contributions from the lower order helped them avoid that ignominy and dragged them to 75. Royal Challengers Bengaluru completed the demolition job with nine wickets and 81 balls to spare. They narrowed Punjab Kings’ lead at the top of the table to just one point and boosted their NRR.
The carnage began with Bhuvneshwar yorking IPL debutant Sahil Parakh for a two-ball duck in the first over and ended with DC being decimated for the lowest powerplay score.
The Delhi pitch didn’t misbehave, but offered swing and bounce throughout the powerplay. Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood made the most of it to return figures of 3-0-5-3 and 3-0-8-3 respectively in the first six overs. At the innings break, Bhuvneshwar said that he was surprised that the ball swung for so long. Safe to say so were the DC batters.
Parakh, picked ahead of Prithvi Shaw, came in as a player with considerable reputation for an 18-year old. DC’s director of cricket Venugopal Rao believes he can play for India one day, but on Monday, his IPL debut lasted all of two balls. Bhuvneshwar hit his edge first ball with an outswinger and knocked out his middle stump with an inswinger next ball.
In the second over, Hazlewood hit the perfect length – neither short or full – with his first ball to KL Rahul and had him top-edging a pull to the wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma. Hazlewood pushed his length and line fuller and wider next ball and found late away movement to have Sameer Rizvi nicking to Jitesh for a golden duck.
Tristan Stubbs denied Hazlewood a hat-trick, but in the next over he too edged behind, off Bhuvneshwar. With two slips in play, including a wide one, Rajat Patidar ramped up the pressure on DC and empowered his bowlers to keep attacking. When Bhuvneshwar also kissed Axar Patel’s edge, DC were 7 for 5 in the third over.
It soon became 8 for 6 when Hazlewood dug a snorter into Nitish Rana’s arm pit from around the wicket. Rana took his eyes off the ball and ended up fending it to Padikkal.
Even RCB couldn’t believe what had just transpired. Tim David covered his face in disbelief.
A dust storm, which caused a brief stoppage, and a 35-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Abhishek Porel and David Miller then gave DC some respite.
DC had pressed the emergency switch and brought Porel in as an Impact Player following the fall of the fifth wicket. The first shot of authority came from Porel when he swatted Rasikh Dar over midwicket for four soon after the powerplay.
Miller also seemed fairly comfortable against RCB’s change bowlers before Rasikh drew a top edge with a short ball that stopped on the batter. Batting at No.8 for the first time in his 565-match T20 career, Miller was dismissed for 19 off 18 balls.
Kyle Jamieson hit the first six of the game when he launched Romario Shepherd over square leg in the 11th over, but two overs later, Krunal Pandya pinned him lbw for 12 off 13 balls.
Porel hung around for 33 balls for 30 runs before he was the last man dismissed. He was also the only DC batter to pass 20 and took them past the lowest IPL total of 49. Hazlewood made a mess of his stumps with a searing yorker that tailed in from around the wicket.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 77 for 1 in 6.3 overs (Jacob Bethell 20, Virat Kohli 23*, Devdutt Padikkal 34*; Kyle Jamieson 1-42) beat Delhi Capitals 75 in 16.3 overs (AbishekPorel 30, David Miller 19, Kyle Jamieson 12; Josh Hazlewood 4-12, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-05, RasikhnSalman 1-21, Suyashb Sharma 1-07, Krunal Pandya 1-09) by nine wickets
[Cricinfo]
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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Colombo, Gampaha, Kegalle, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts during the day time
Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 27 April 2026, valid for 28 April 2026.
The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Colombo,
Gampaha, Kegalle, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts during the day time.
The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.
Effect of the heat index on the human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.
ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.
Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.
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