US sanctions Venezuelan gang allegedly linked to Maduro
WASHINGTON : The US treasury on Friday announced sanctions against a Venezuelan group which it claims is led by president Nicolas Maduro, alleging it backs leading drug cartels.
The treasury's office of foreign assets control (OFAC) announced restrictions on the so-called 'Cartel of the Suns,' classing it as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity.
The OFAC agency, which determines sanctions based on US foreign policy, says the group is 'headed by Nicolas Maduro' and 'other high-ranking Venezuelan individuals in the Maduro regime'.
It also alleged the cartel 'provides material support' to the Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel – criminal gangs designated by president Donald Trump's administration as terrorist groups.
'Today's action further exposes the illegitimate Maduro regime's facilitation of narco-terrorism through terrorist groups like Cartel de los Soles,' treasury secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
Trump's first-term administration indicted Maduro and several of his top aides for 'narco-terrorism' and offered a reward for their capture, claims that were slammed by the leftist Venezuelan leader.
According to Trump's government, 'Cartel de los Soles' has an objective of 'using the flood of illegal narcotics as a weapon against the US.'
Trump has targeted several groups south of the US border that he says are funnelling vast amounts of dangerous illicit drugs into the US and are involved in extortion, migrant smuggling and other violent crimes.
Relations between Washington and Caracas have been deteriorating for years.
In 2019, the US contested Maduro's re-election, which was widely deemed as fraudulent by the international community.
Trump this year announced a partial ban on travellers from Venezuela, among a dozen countries.
On Thursday, Maduro announced that the US was allowing petroleum giant Chevron to resume operations in the South American country after previously slapping sanctions. Washington has not confirmed the development.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Focus Malaysia
40 minutes ago
- Focus Malaysia
Malaysia strengthens global anti-corruption leadership through executive course for law enforcement officers from 16 countries
THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy (MACA), in collaboration with the Foreign Affairs Malaysia Ministry (MOFA), recently organised the Executive Certificate Course for Strategic Management of Anti-Corruption Programme 2025 under the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP), held from July 13‒23, 2025. This intensive 11-day course brought together 17 senior anti-corruption and law enforcement officers from Southeast Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and Africa. The programme aimed to strengthen institutional capacity, expand strategic cooperation networks, and reinforce Malaysia's commitment to promoting integrity and good governance at the international level. Launched in 1980, the MTCP reflects Malaysia's long-standing commitment to South-South Cooperation and continues to serve as a key platform for knowledge sharing and best practices. The organisation of this programme underscores Malaysia's role as a leader in development diplomacy and anti-corruption education globally. The course focused on strategic management in combating corruption, including pressing contemporary issues such as intelligence-based investigations, digital forensics, cross-border asset recovery, cryptocurrency-related crimes, and strategic crisis communication management. The modules were delivered by a panel of experts and seasoned practitioners within Malaysia's anti-corruption ecosystem, designed to provide participants with practical approaches applicable within their respective national contexts. The organisation of this course not only reflects Malaysia's commitment to combating corruption in a holistic manner but also positions the nation as a key catalyst in building capacity and strengthening international anti-corruption cooperation networks. This effort is in line with the country's diplomatic agenda to shape a more peaceful and harmonious world with integrity. ‒ July 29, 2025
Malay Mail
2 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Violent videos draw more French teens into ‘terror' plots, say prosecutors
PARIS, July 29 — One 14-year-old was allegedly planning to blow up an Israeli embassy, while a 16-year-old was convicted of having plotted to attack far-right bars incensed by 'injustice'. French prosecutors are alarmed at an increasing number of young teenage boys seemingly plotting 'terror' attacks, and say they all share an addiction to violent videos online. As communities worldwide worry about boys being exposed to toxic and misogynistic influences on social media, French magistrates say they are looking into what draws young teens into 'terrorism'. 'Just a few years ago, there were just a handful of minors charged with terror offences,' France's National Anti-Terror Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) said. 'But we had 15 in 2013, 18 in 2024 and we already had 11 by July 1' this year. They are aged 13 to 18 and hail from all over France, the PNAT said. Lawyers and magistrates told AFP these teens are usually boys with no delinquent past, many of whom are introverts or have had family trouble. The PNAT opened a special branch in May to better examine the profiles of minors drawn into 'terrorism', but it said it has already noticed they are all 'great users of social media'. 'Most are fans of ultra-violent, war or pornographic content,' it said. In France, 'terrorism' is largely synonymous with extremist Islamist ideas such as those of the Islamic State jihadist group. Only in recent months has the PNAT taken on cases different in nature—one an adult suspected of a racist far-right killing, and the other an 18-year-old charged with developing a misogynist plot to kill women. A 14-year-old schoolboy who stabbed to death a teaching assistant in June was a fan of 'violent video games', although his case was not deemed 'terrorist' in nature. 'Proving themselves as men' In the case of France's youngest 'terror' suspects, a judicial source told AFP, social media provides them with a flow of violent videos that are 'not necessarily linked to terrorism', such as from Latin American cartels. 'They think they're proving themselves as men by watching them,' the source said. Sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar said the teens were 'neither children nor adults'. This 'leads them to violence in order to be recognised as adults—even if it's a negative adult,' he said. Laurene Renaut, a researcher looking into jihadist circles online, said social media algorithms could suck adolescents in fast. 'In less that three hours on TikTok, you can find yourself in an algorithm bubble dedicated to the Islamic State' group, she said. You can be bathing in 'war chants, decapitations, AI reconstructions of glorious (according to IS) past actions or even simulations of actions to come,' she said. The algorithms feed users 'melancholic' content to boost their 'feeling of loneliness, with ravaged landscapes, supposed to reflect the soul,' she said. 'Injustice' One such teenager said he was motivated by a sense of 'injustice' after seeing a video online of an attack on a mosque in New Zealand. White supremacist Brenton Tarrant went on a rampage, killing 51 worshippers at mosques around Christchurch in March 2019 in the country's deadliest modern-day mass shooting. The French suspect was convicted last year for planning 'terror' attacks on far-right bars. He told investigators it started when he was 13 and playing Minecraft, a video game, on gamer social media platform Discord. 'Someone sent Tarrant's video,' he said. 'I thought it was unjust to see the men, women and children be massacred.' 'I then watched the videos of imams telling people to stay calm and those of terrorists from the far right, and I thought it was unjust,' he added. 'Then I saw those of jihadists urging help,' he said. 'I thought that by defending this cause, my life would make sense.' A French appeals court in July 2024 sentenced him to four years in jail, including two suspended, after he contacted an undercover agent to find out about weapons. The court justified the sentence with the 'gravity' of his planned actions, but noted he lacked signs of 'deeply rooted ideological radicalisation'. Rather, it said, the defendant was the child of fighting parents from a very violent neighbourhood, who had been 'significantly deprived of affection' and had sought to 'fit in' with internet users. His lawyer Jean-Baptiste Riolacci told AFP he was an 'essentially lonely, sad and good kid, whose only occupation beyond his computer was gliding around on his scooter'. 'Guesswork' The judicial source, who spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the French system favoured early intervention through charging youth for associating with 'terrorist' criminals, and then adapting their punishment according to the severity of the accusations. But attorney Pierre-Henri Baert, who defended another teenager, said the system did not work. His client was handed three years behind bars in May for sharing an IS propaganda post calling for attacks against Jewish people as a 16-year-old. 'It's a very harsh sentence considering his very young age, the fact he had no (criminal) record, and was really in the end just accused of statements online,' he said. Another lawyer, who worked on similar cases but asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue, agreed. 'When the judiciary goes after people for terrorist criminal association, it's basically doing guesswork,' she said, adding that the 'terrorist' label could be very stigmatising. 'There's no differentiation between a kid who sent aggressive messages and a suspect who actually bought weapons,' she added. 'Fantasising about jihadism' Two judicial sources said teens prosecuted for alleged 'terrorism' are usually only spotted through their behaviour on social media. They are then charged over other actions, such as moving to an encrypted messaging app, sharing recipes to make explosives or looking for funding, the sources said. A Paris court will in September try three teenagers who, aged 14 and 15, allegedly planned to blow up a truck outside the Israeli embassy in Belgium. They had been spotted at high school for their 'radical remarks', but were then found in a park with 'bottles of hydrochloric acid' containing 'aluminium foil', a homemade type of explosive, the PNAT said. Their telephones showed they had watched videos of massacres. Jennifer Cambla, a lawyer who represents one of the defendants, said accusations against her client were disproportionate. 'My client may have had the behaviour of a radicalised person by consulting jihadist websites, which is forbidden. But he is far from having plotted an attack,' she said. But another lawyer, speaking anonymously, said arresting teenagers 'fantasizing about jihadism' could be an opportunity to turn their lives around—even if it involved 'a monstruous shock'. 'The arrests are tough,' with specialised forces in ski masks pulling sacks over the suspect's head, they said. But 'as minors, they are followed closely, they see therapists. They are not allowed on social media, and they do sport again,' the lawyer said. One of the judicial sources warned it was not clear that this worked. It 'makes it look like they are being rapidly deradicalised, but we do not know if these youth could again be drawn in by extremist ideas,' they said. — AFP
Malay Mail
3 hours ago
- Malay Mail
South Korea offers shipbuilding tie-up as clock ticks on US tariff deadline
SEOUL, July 29 — South Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said on Tuesday he would seek a mutually beneficial trade deal when he meets US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for talks this week, just days before an August 1 deadline expires to avoid punishing tariffs. Speaking at the airport before departing for Washington, Koo said he would propose at Thursday's meeting a 'programme' South Korea had prepared and consult on areas where they could cooperate in the mid-to-long term, such as shipbuilding. South Korea's Hanwha Group, parent of shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, had submitted a major investment plan to government officials, according to two people familiar with the matter. The plan included expanding its recently acquired Philly Shipyard in the state of Pennsylvania and involved Hanwha Group and some of its affiliates, said the sources, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. Hanwha Group's Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan also flew to Washington to support trade negotiations, local media reported. Seoul officials are scrambling in an all-out push to clinch a trade deal ahead of the August 1 deadline to remove or reduce tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump against the country's key industrial exports to the United States. Koo's plan to travel to Washington last week for talks with Bessent was postponed due to the US treasury chief's scheduling conflict. 'Treasury Secretary Bessent holds the important position of overseeing trade negotiations in the Trump administration,' Koo said in brief remarks to reporters. 'We will make the best effort to derive an agreement based on our national interest that would allow South Korea and the United States to co-exist,' he said. Koo said he would be joining Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan and Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo who have been holding talks in Washington with US officials including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for an 'all-out response.' Lutnick said in an interview with Fox News on Monday that South Korean officials had flown to Scotland to meet with him. 'Think of how much they really, really want to get a deal done,' he said. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun will also visit Washington this week for a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, following a visit to Japan on Tuesday to meet his counterpart. — Reuters
