The United States doubled its bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro — who faces federal drug trafficking charges — to $50 million on Thursday, a move Caracas described as “pathetic” and “ridiculous”.Washington, which does not recognize Maduro’s past two election victories, accuses the South American country’s leader of leading a cocaine trafficking gang.”Today, the Department of Justice and State Department are announcing a historic $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video on social media. “He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security.”The previous bounty was set in January at $25 million.Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said Bondi’s “pathetic” bounty was “the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen.””The dignity of our homeland is not for sale. We reject this crude political propaganda operation,” Gil said on Telegram.In 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first term in office, Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials were indicted in federal court in New York on several charges including participating in a “narco-terrorism” conspiracy.- ‘Cartel of the Suns’ -The Justice Department accused Maduro of leading a cocaine trafficking gang called “The Cartel of the Suns” that shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades, earning hundreds of millions of dollars.Investigators say the cartel worked hand-in-hand with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which the United States has labeled a terrorist organization.Bondi said Maduro also had worked with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) “has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself,” Bondi said.The US government has also seized more than $700 million in Maduro-linked assets, including two Venezuelan government aircraft, since September last year, according to Bondi.”Yet Maduro’s reign of terror continues,” she said. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes.”The 62-year-old Maduro, a former bus driver and trade unionist, faces up to life in prison if he can be tried and is convicted.At the time of the indictment, Maduro slammed what he called “spurious, false” accusations.In June, Venezuela’s former intelligence chief Hugo Armando Carvajal pleaded guilty to US drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges. The Miami Herald, citing sources familiar with the case, said Carvajal had offered to provide US authorities with documents and testimony implicating Maduro.- ‘Deeply flawed’ -Relations between Washington and Caracas have been deteriorating for years.The US government has not recognized Maduro, who first took office in 2013, as the duly elected president of Venezuela since what the State Department has called a “deeply flawed 2018 presidential election.””In the July 28, 2024 Venezuelan presidential election, Maduro fraudulently declared himself the victor despite evidence to the contrary,” the State Department said in an announcement of the earlier bounty in January.”The United States joined many other countries in refusing to recognize Maduro as the legitimate winner of the July 2024 presidential election.”Washington has placed an array of economic sanctions on Maduro’s government.For its part, Maduro’s government has long denounced US interference in Venezuela.On Thursday, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced that security services had thwarted a bomb attack in a commercial area of the capital Caracas. As Venezuelan authorities often do in such cases, Cabello accused the US and the Venezuelan opposition of instigating the thwarted attack.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would meet with Vladimir Putin for upcoming talks on the Ukraine war even if the Russian leader had not sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.The statement, which contradicted earlier reports that a Putin-Zelensky meeting was a prerequisite for the summit, came after Trump gave Moscow until Friday to reach a ceasefire or face fresh sanctions. But asked by reporters in the Oval Office if that deadline still held, Trump did not answer clearly.”It’s going to be up to (Putin),” Trump said. “We’re going to see what he has to say.”Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been pressuring Moscow to end Russia’s military assault on Ukraine.The Kremlin said Thursday that Putin was set to attend a summit with Trump in the “coming days,” but the Russian leader essentially ruled out including Zelensky.Zelensky meanwhile insisted that he had to be involved in any talks.When Trump was asked if Putin was required to meet Zelensky before a summit, the US president said simply: “No, he doesn’t.”Putin has named the United Arab Emirates as a potential location for the summit, but this was not confirmed by Washington.- Next week? -The summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.Three rounds of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul have failed to yield any progress towards a ceasefire. The two sides remain far apart on the conditions they have set to end the more than three-year-long conflict.Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that “next week has been set as a target date,” adding that both sides have agreed the venue “in principle,” without naming it.However, Washington later denied that a venue or date had been set.”No location has been determined,” a White House official said, while agreeing that the meeting “could occur as early as next week.” Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.At talks in Istanbul, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance — calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it still controls and to renounce Western military support.Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Trump to “finally get tough on the Kremlin” and use his leverage to end the war. “Face-to-face dialogue is important, but Putin cannot be allowed yet another opportunity to delay or water down President Trump’s promise of harsh sanctions taking effect tomorrow,” she said in a statement late Thursday. – ‘Only fair’ Ukraine involved -Reports of the possible summit came after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.Witkoff proposed a trilateral meeting with Zelensky, but Putin appeared to rule out direct talks with the Ukrainian leader.”Certain conditions must be created for this,” Putin told reporters. “Unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions.”The former KGB agent, who has ruled Russia for over 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a “final phase” of negotiations on ending the conflict.In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said “it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations.”The Ukrainian leader spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as he called for the continent to be included in any potential peace talks.”Ukraine is an integral part of Europe — we are already in negotiations on EU accession. Therefore, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes,” Zelensky said on social media.

President Donald Trump’s steeper global tariffs came into effect Thursday, leaving dozens of US partners scrambling to secure relief from soaring levies that are rewriting global trade practice.Shortly before the new rates kicked in, Washington also announced it would double India tariffs to 50 percent and hit many semiconductor imports with a 100-percent duty.Trump’s trade policy is a demonstration of economic power that he hopes will revive domestic manufacturing, but many economists fear it could fuel inflation and lower growth.In his latest move, the president raised import duties from 10 percent to levels between 15 percent and 41 percent for various trading partners.Many products from the European Union, Japan and South Korea now face a 15-percent tariff, even with deals struck with Washington to avert steeper threatened levies.But questions remain surrounding the implementation of these agreements.Others like India face a 25-percent duty — to be doubled in three weeks — while Syria, Myanmar and Laos face levels of 40 or 41 percent.Switzerland’s government, which failed to convince Trump not to impose a 39-percent tariff, said after an extraordinary meeting Thursday that it remains committed to talks aimed at lowering levies.Trump’s latest wave of “reciprocal” duties — a response to trade practices Washington deems unfair — broadens measures imposed since he returned to the presidency.Wall Street’s major indexes mostly dipped, while global markets largely shrugged off the higher tariffs Thursday.- ‘No charge’ -The steeper duties maintain exemptions on sectors that Trump separately targeted, like steel and autos.Categories that could be hit later, like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, are also spared for now.Trump said Wednesday that he plans an “approximately 100-percent tariff” on semiconductor imports, but with no charge for companies investing in his country or committed to doing so.Companies and industry groups warn Trump’s new levies will severely hurt smaller American businesses.But providing some reprieve from the “reciprocal” tariff hike is a clause saying that goods already en route to the United States before Thursday — and arriving before October 5 — will not face the new rates.With the dust settling, at least temporarily, Georgetown University professor Marc Busch expects US businesses to “pass along more of the tariff bill” to consumers.Inventories are depleting and it is unlikely firms will absorb costs indefinitely, he told AFP.Trump is using tariffs to pursue a variety of goals — such as doubling planned duties on India due to its purchase of Russian oil, a key revenue source in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.The order threatened penalties on countries that “directly or indirectly” import Russian oil too.The Federation of Indian Export Organisations called the move a “severe setback” impacting nearly 55 percent of shipments to the United States.- Discrepancies -Lingering questions remain for partners who have negotiated deals with Trump.Tokyo and Washington appear at odds over the terms of their pact, such as when levies on Japanese cars will be lowered from an existing 25 percent on US auto imports.Both countries also seem to differ on whether the new 15-percent toll on Japanese goods would be added to existing levies or — like the EU — be capped at that level for many products.Japan’s tariffs envoy Ryosei Akazawa told reporters Thursday that Washington is expected to revise its order such that the new toll does not stack uniformly on existing ones. It would also lower vehicle tariffs on Japanese autos.Washington and Beijing meanwhile have a temporary truce in their tariff standoff expiring August 12. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox Business it is likely this will be extended another 90 days.Trump has separately targeted Brazil over the trial of his right-wing ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of planning a coup.US tariffs on various Brazilian goods surged to 50 percent Wednesday with broad exemptions.Lutnick expects Trump’s duties could bring in $50 billion in monthly revenue.burs-bys/mlm