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The United States on Monday exempted British pharmaceuticals from import tariffs under a unique deal which sees the UK increase spending on American drugs by 25 percent.The accord aims to “address long-standing imbalances in US-UK pharmaceutical trade,” ending what US trade ambassador Jamieson Greer called an arrangement where “American patients have been forced to subsidise prescription drugs and biologics in other developed countries.”Under the deal struck between the administrations of US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Britain’s publicly-funded National Health Service (NHS) will increase its prices for new US treatments by 25 percent. The agreement means Britain will be exempted from hefty US tariffs imposed on pharma imports that entered force on October 1. It is the only country to reach such a deal.The lofty price of medications has been a major political issue in the United States for years, with a Rand Corporation study showing Americans paid 2.5 times as much for pharmaceuticals as in France.Prior to Monday’s announcement, the Trump administration had announced tariffs of 100 percent on branded pharmaceuticals.At the same time, the White House delayed the tariffs for three years with Pfizer and British group AstraZeneca after both agreed to invest in US manufacturing capacity.British Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the latest deal will “ensure UK patients get the cutting-edge medicines they need sooner,” while also enabling “life sciences companies to continue to invest and innovate right here in the UK.”- Deals elsewhere -The Trump administration said it “is reviewing the pharmaceutical pricing practices of many other US trading partners and hopes that they will follow suit with constructive negotiations”.As it stands, the European Union and Switzerland face pharma tariffs totalling 15 percent.AstraZeneca in July announced plans to invest $50 billion by 2030 on boosting its US manufacturing and research operations.Around the same time, British rival GSK revealed it planned to invest $30 billion in the United States over the next five years.The UK government on Monday said it will “invest around 25 percent more in innovative, safe, and effective treatments — the first major increase in over two decades.” It meant the NHS “will be able to approve medicines that deliver significant health improvements but might have previously  been declined  purely on cost-effectiveness grounds.”AstraZeneca and Merck recently axed plans for sizeable infrastructure investment in Britain, with the US pharma group citing UK drugs prices as a major reason for its U-turn.Critics argue high taxes and a lack of British government subsidies and investment are hindering foreign investment across various sectors.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he would “look into” claims the military conducted a follow-up strike that killed survivors on a boat in the Caribbean, part of Washington’s anti-drug raids that have heightened tensions with Venezuela.The United States is piling pressure on Caracas with a major military buildup in the Caribbean, the terror designation of a presumed drug cartel run by President Nicolas Maduro, and an ominous warning from Trump that Venezuelan airspace is “closed.”In the most recent controversy, The Washington Post reported last week that in an operation in early September, US forces hit a boat after seeing two survivors of an initial strike clinging to the burning vessel.US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered troops to kill everyone on board, The Washington Post and CNN both reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the operation.”The order was to kill everybody,” one of the sources told the Post.Trump defended Hegseth, arguing the reports were false.”I’m going to find out about it, but Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. When asked if he would have wanted a second attempt to kill the survivors, Trump said: “We’ll look into it, but no, I wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal.”Hegseth has dismissed the reports as “fake news.”Washington says the aim of the military deployment that began in September is to curb drug trafficking in the region, but Caracas insists regime change is the ultimate goal.Trump confirmed on Sunday he had recently spoken with Venezuela’s Maduro.”I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call,” Trump said.- Aid from OPEC? – The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump and Maduro had discussed a possible meeting, while The Wall Street Journal said Saturday that the conversation also included conditions of amnesty if Maduro were to step down.Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” talk show that the United States has offered Maduro the chance to leave his country for Russia or elsewhere.Washington accuses Maduro, the political heir to Venezuela’s late leftist leader Hugo Chavez, of heading the “Cartel of the Suns” and has issued a $50 million reward for his capture.But Venezuela and its supporters insist no such organization even exists.The United States also does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate winner of last year’s presidential election.Though Trump has not publicly threatened to use force against Maduro, he said in recent days that efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land” would begin “very soon.”Venezuela says it has requested assistance from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it is a member, to help “stop this (American) aggression, which is being readied with more and more force.”The request came in a letter from Maduro to the group, read by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who is also Venezuela’s oil minister, during a virtual meeting of OPEC ministers.Washington “is trying to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the biggest in the world, by using military force,” Maduro wrote in the letter.- ‘Extrajudicial executions’ -Since September, US air strikes have targeted alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 83 people. Trump’s administration has offered no concrete evidence to back up the allegations of drug trafficking behind the campaign, and numerous experts have questioned the legality of the operations.The head of Venezuela’s legislature, Jorge Rodriguez, said he met Sunday with relatives of Venezuelans killed in the strikes.When asked about the report about Hegseth’s order, he said: “If a war had been declared and led to such killings, we would be talking about war crimes.””Given that no war has been declared, what happened… can only be characterized as murder or extrajudicial executions.”The steady US military buildup has seen the world’s largest aircraft carrier deployed to Caribbean waters, while American fighter jets and bombers have repeatedly flown off the Venezuelan coast in recent days.Six airlines have canceled services to Venezuela, but on Sunday, the airport in Caracas was functioning as usual.

A conservative candidate backed by US President Donald Trump led Sunday’s presidential election in Honduras, according to partial results from the electoral commission.Nasry Asfura had 40.5 percent of the vote, a one-and-a-half-point lead over fellow right-wing candidate Salvador Nasralla, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE).Both candidates were well ahead of Rixi Moncada, 60, of ruling leftist Libre party, who was trailing heavily with around 20 percent, signalling another Latin American nation poised to swing rightward.The campaign was dominated by Trump’s threat to cut aid if his favored candidate, 67-year-old Asfura, who is nicknamed “grandad,” were to lose.Many Hondurans have fled grinding poverty and violence to the United States, including minors fearing forced recruitment by gangs, although this escape route is no longer a viable option under Trump.In the final days of the race, the US leader threw his weight behind former Tegucigalpa mayor Asfura, whose campaign slogan was “Grandad, at your service!”That intervention upended a contest that is still too close to call, in a country plagued by drug trafficking and gang activity.Eight hours after the polls closed, 42.65 percent of the ballots had been counted, the election board said.Lawmakers and hundreds of mayors will also be elected in the fiercely polarized nation, which is also one of the most violent in Latin America.”If he (Asfura) doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad,” Trump wrote Friday on his Truth Social platform.- ‘Not because of Trump’ -Trump’s comments marked another brazen intervention in another country’s politics, echoing threats he made in support of Argentine President Javier Milei’s party in recent midterms.Before Sunday’s vote, Trump also made the shock announcement that he would pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, of Asfura’s National Party.Hernandez is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for cocaine trafficking and other charges.Some Hondurans have welcomed Trump’s intervention, saying they hope it might mean Honduran migrants will be allowed to remain in the United States.But others have rejected his meddling in the vote.”I vote for whomever I please, not because of what Trump has said, because the truth is I live off my work, not off politicians,” Esmeralda Rodriguez, a 56-year-old fruit seller, told AFP.Nearly 30,000 Honduran migrants have been deported from the United States since Trump returned to office in January.The clampdown has dealt a severe blow to the country of 11 million people, where remittances accounted for 27 percent of GDP last year.After voting in the capital Tegucigalpa, Asfura denied that the planned pardon would benefit him, saying: “This issue has been circulating for months, and it has nothing to do with the elections.”- ‘Escape poverty’ -Presidential hopeful Moncada, who represents outgoing leader Xiomara Castro’s ruling Libre party, had portrayed the election as a choice between her and a “coup-plotting oligarchy”.That is a reference to the right’s backing of the 2009 military ouster of leftist Manuel Zelaya, Castro’s husband.Preemptive accusations of election fraud, made both by the ruling party and opposition, have sown mistrust in the vote and sparked fears of post-election unrest.A delay in the release of Sunday’s results did little to calm nerves.The president of the National Electoral Council, Ana Paola Hall, warned all parties “not to fan the flames of confrontation or violence” at the start of the single-round election.Long a transit point for cocaine exported from Colombia to the United States, Honduras is now also a producer of the drug.But the candidates barely addressed the fears of Hondurans about drug trafficking, poverty and violence during the campaign.”I hope the new government will have good lines of communication with Trump, and that he will also support us,” said Maria Velasquez, 58.”I just want to escape poverty.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday, seeking to shore up European support as US President Donald Trump expressed optimism of a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.US and Ukrainian negotiators held hours of what both sides called “productive” talks in Florida on Sunday on a plan Washington wants to form the basis of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.  The diplomatic flurry after nearly four years of conflict comes as Kyiv battles military pressure and reels from a domestic corruption scandal that forced Zelensky to remove his close aide and top negotiator.The Ukrainian leader has been a regular visitor to Paris since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 — this latest visit due to get under way at 10:00 am (0900 GMT). French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in comments to the La Tribune Dimanche newspaper on Sunday that the meeting aimed “to move the negotiations forward”.”Peace is within reach, if (Russian President) Vladimir Putin abandons his delusional hope of reconstituting the Soviet empire by first subjugating Ukraine,” he added.Washington put forward an initial 28-point proposal to halt the war, drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies and regarded as too close a reflection of Moscow’s maximalist demands on Ukrainian territory.It would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.After talks in Geneva just over a week ago, the United States updated the original blueprint following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but the current contents remain unclear.- ‘Ukraine’s sovereignty’ – Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is due in Moscow for follow-up talks and is expected to discuss Ukraine with Putin on Tuesday.The Florida talks were described by both Ukrainian and American negotiators as “productive” but US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said more work was required and a source in Kyiv’s delegation called the talks “not easy”.Trump was optimistic, however, telling reporters aboard Air Force One: “I think that there’s a good chance we can make a deal.”He also referred to political turbulence in Kyiv which saw Zelensky last week remove Andriy Yermak, his chief of staff and top negotiator throughout the conflict, after a corruption scandal in the energy sector that has troubled Western allies.”Ukraine’s got some difficult little problems,” Trump said.Ukraine’s security council secretary Rustem Umerov instead led Kyiv’s delegation at the Florida talks.He wrote on Facebook that he had briefed Zelensky on the “substantial progress” made.”It is important that the talks have a constructive dynamic and that all issues were discussed openly and with a clear focus on ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and national interests,” Zelensky wrote on X after the talks.Rubio told reporters the Florida talks were “very productive” but “there’s more work to be done”.”There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here that will have to be a part of the equation, and that will continue later this week when Mr Witkoff travels to Moscow,” he said.- ‘Important days’ – Ahead of his meeting with Macron, Zelensky said on social media he had briefed Finland’s President Alexander Stubb — seen as an influential player due to his warm relationship with Trump — on “the signals we have received from the American side”.He also spoke separately to EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and NATO chief Mark Rutte, saying “these are important days, and much can change”.The diplomatic push comes as the war — which has killed tens of thousands of civilians and military personnel and displaced millions of Ukrainians — shows no sign of easing.Russia’s forces targeted Ukraine’s capital and the region with deadly air strikes two nights in a row over the weekend.A Ukrainian security source, meanwhile, said Kyiv was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers in the Black Sea that it believed were covertly transporting sanctioned Russian oil.One of Russia’s largest oil terminals halted operations on Saturday following a drone attack.The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), a group that includes US oil majors Chevron and ExxonMobil and which owns the terminal, called the strike a “terrorist attack”.Ukraine, which did not comment on the incident, regularly targets Russian energy facilities in a bid to sap the country’s war chest.burs-sjw-kjm/tc

Four people including three children were killed and 11 more were wounded in a shooting at a birthday party in California, authorities said Sunday, calling it a targeted attack that may have involved multiple gunmen.The shooting took place Saturday evening inside a banquet hall in Stockton, a city northeast of San Francisco, where between 100 and 150 people had gathered for the celebration.The four victims were aged eight, nine, 14 and 21, San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow told reporters on Sunday. At least one of the 11 wounded was in critical condition, he said, adding he did not have more information about the others.”We believe, from what we’ve gathered so far, that it appears to be multiple shooters,” Withrow said.He called on the public to remain cautious as the investigation unfolds.Earlier, his spokeswoman Heather Brent said it appeared to have been a “targeted” shooting.The sheriff’s office urged anyone with information or video footage to come forward. So far, no one has been taken into custody.”These animals walked in and shot children at a children’s birthday party, and none of us should stand for that,” Withrow said. “And so if you know anything about this, you have to come forward and tell us what you know.”- $25,000 reward -Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi said a $25,000 reward would be given to anyone providing information that led to the arrest of the assailants.While the sheriff said he could not yet confirm if the incident was gang-related, Fugazi did not hold back about who she believed to be responsible.”Let us call this what it is. Gang violence exists in cities across the country, but this act was a pure act of terrorism,” she said in a post on Facebook.Withrow said firearms were found on the roof of the building where the shooting occurred, but it was not clear if they were related to the crime. California Governor Gavin Newsom was briefed on the shooting, his office said on social media.There have been 504 mass shootings in the United States so far this year including the Stockton incident, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.burs-nr-rfo/sst/jgc

US President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday he had recently spoken with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro amid soaring tensions between the two countries, while Caracas slammed what it called US preparations for an attack.The United States is piling the pressure on Venezuela, with a major military buildup in the Caribbean, the designation of an alleged drug cartel run by Maduro as a terrorist group, and an ominous warning from Trump that Venezuelan airspace is “closed.”Washington says the aim of the military deployment launched in September is to curb drug trafficking in the region, but Caracas insists regime change is the ultimate goal.”I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call,” Trump told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One.The New York Times reported Friday that Trump and Maduro had discussed a possible meeting, while The Wall Street Journal said Saturday that the conversation also included conditions of amnesty if Maduro were to step down.Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” talk show that the United States has offered Maduro the chance to leave his country for Russia or elsewhere. The United States accuses Maduro, the political heir to Venezuela’s late leftist leader Hugo Chavez, of heading the “Cartel of the Suns” and has issued a $50 million reward for his capture.But Venezuela and countries that support it insist no such organization even exists. Several Venezuela experts say what Washington calls the Cartel of the Suns refers to the corruption of senior officials by criminal gangs.The United States also does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate winner of last year’s presidential election.Though Trump has not publicly threatened to use force against Maduro, he said in recent days that efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land” would begin “very soon.”- Aid from OPEC? – Venezuela says it has requested assistance from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it is a member, to help “stop this (American) aggression, which is being readied with more and more force.”The request came in a letter from Maduro to the group, read by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who is also Venezuela’s oil minister, during a virtual meeting of OPEC ministers.Washington “is trying to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the biggest in the world, by using military force,” Maduro wrote in the letter.Since September, US air strikes have targeted alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 83 people. Trump’s administration has offered no concrete evidence to back up the allegations behind its campaign, and numerous experts have questioned the legality of the operations.US media reported Friday that in one strike in September, the US military conducted a follow-up strike that killed survivors of an initial attack. The Washington Post and CNN said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had issued a directive to “kill everybody,” but Trump said Sunday that Hegseth had denied giving such an order.”We’ll look into it, but no, I wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike,” Trump told reporters. “Pete said he did not order the death of those two men.”- ‘Extrajudicial executions’ -The head of Venezuela’s legislature, Jorge Rodriguez, said he met Sunday with relatives of Venezuelans killed in the strikes. He would not comment on a possible Trump-Maduro call.But when asked about the report about the Hegseth order, he said: “If a war had been declared and led to such killings, we would be talking about war crimes.””Given that no war has been declared, what happened…can only be characterized as murder or extrajudicial executions,” he added.The steady US military buildup has seen the world’s largest aircraft carrier deployed to Caribbean waters, while American fighter jets and bombers have repeatedly flown off the Venezuelan coast in recent days.Six airlines have canceled services to Venezuela, but on Sunday, the airport in Caracas was functioning as usual.

Four people including three children were killed and 11 more were wounded in a shooting at a birthday party in the US state of California late Saturday, authorities said, calling it a “targeted incident.”The shooting took place inside a banquet hall in Stockton, a city northeast of San Francisco, just before 6:00 pm (0200 GMT Sunday), San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Heather Brent told reporters at a news briefing.The four slain victims were aged eight, nine, 14 and 21, Brent told AFP on Sunday. The 11 wounded victims were taken to hospital, Brent said, without giving more detailed information about their injuries.   Between 100 and 150 people were attending the party at the time of the shooting, she said. “Early indications suggest that this may be a targeted incident,” Brent noted.When asked whether this could have been a gang-involved shooting, Brent said that investigators were looking into all possibilities.The sheriff’s office urged anyone with information or video footage to come forward.No suspect has been identified or arrested so far, Brent said, adding that the possibility of multiple shooters has not been ruled out.California Governor Gavin Newsom was briefed on the shooting, his office said on social media.There have been 504 mass shootings in the United States so far this year including the Stockton incident, according to the Gun Violence Archive — which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.burs-nr-rfo/iv/sst

Polls closed Sunday in Honduras’ knife-edge presidential election, after a campaign dominated by US President Donald Trump’s threat to cut aid if a conservative candidate loses.Trump threw his weight behind 67-year-old Nasry “Tito” Asfura in the final days of the race, upending a contest that is too close to call in a country plagued by drug trafficking and gang activity.Asfura’s main challengers are 60-year-old lawyer Rixi Moncada from the ruling leftist Libre party and 72-year-old TV host Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party.Lawmakers and hundreds of mayors will also be elected in the fiercely polarized nation, which is also one of the most violent countries in Latin America.An Asfura victory would see Honduras become the latest country in Latin America — after Argentina and Bolivia — to swing right after years of leftist rule.”If he (Asfura) doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad,” Trump wrote Friday on his Truth Social platform, echoing threats he made in support of Argentine President Javier Milei’s party in that country’s recent midterms.Trump also made the shock announcement that he would pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, of Asfura’s National Party, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for cocaine trafficking and other charges.Some Hondurans have welcomed Trump’s interventionism, saying they hope it might mean Honduran migrants will be allowed to remain in the United States.But others have rejected his meddling in the vote.”I vote for whomever I please, not because of what Trump has said, because the truth is I live off my work, not off politicians,” Esmeralda Rodriguez, a 56-year-old fruit seller, told AFP.Nearly 30,000 Honduran migrants have been deported from the United States since Trump returned to office in January.The clampdown has dealt a severe blow to the country of 11 million people, where remittances represented 27 percent of GDP last year.After voting in the capital Tegucigalpa, Asfura denied that the planned pardon would benefit him, saying: “This issue has been circulating for months, and it has nothing to do with the elections.”- Fears of election fraud -Leftist Rixi Moncada — who represents outgoing President Xiomara Castro’s ruling Libre party — has portrayed the election as a choice between her and a “coup-plotting oligarchy.”That is a reference to the right’s backing of the 2009 military ouster of leftist Manuel Zelaya, Castro’s husband.Preemptive accusations of election fraud, made both by the ruling party and opposition, have sown mistrust in the vote and sparked fears of post-election unrest.The president of the National Electoral Council, Ana Paola Hall, warned all parties “not to fan the flames of confrontation or violence” at the start of the single-round election.Moncada, who has held ministerial portfolios under both Zelaya and Castro, said she will only acknowledge the final results, not preliminary counts.Nasralla also served in Castro’s government but fell out with the ruling party and has since shifted to the right. The 67-year-old Asfura was in the construction business before being elected mayor of Tegucigalpa, serving two terms.- ‘Escape poverty’ -Long a transit point for cocaine exported from Colombia to the United States, Honduras is now also a producer of the drug.But the candidates barely addressed the fears of Hondurans about drug trafficking, poverty and violence during the campaign. “I hope the new government will have good lines of communication with Trump, and that he will also support us,” said Maria Velasquez, who is 58.”I just want to escape poverty.”

US President Donald Trump said Sunday there was a “good chance” of a deal to end the war in Ukraine after the latest US negotiations with Kyiv, as his envoy prepares to travel to Russia for follow-up talks.After hours of what both sides called “productive” discussions in Hallandale Beach, north of Miami, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that more work was required, and a source in Kyiv’s delegation characterized the discussions as “not easy.”The talks, which come as Kyiv battles military pressure and reels from a domestic corruption scandal, set the stage for a visit to Moscow by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who is expected to discuss Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.Washington has put forward a plan to end the nearly four-year conflict and is seeking to finalize it with Moscow and Kyiv’s approval.”Ukraine’s got some difficult little problems,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, referring to a corruption probe that recently forced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sack his chief of staff and top negotiator.”But I think that there’s a good chance we can make a deal.”Rubio earlier told reporters the Florida talks — also attended by Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — were “very productive” but “there’s more work to be done.””This is delicate. It’s complicated,” Rubio said.”There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here that will have to be a part of the equation, and that will continue later this week when Mr. Witkoff travels to Moscow.”Ukraine’s security council secretary Rustem Umerov led Kyiv’s delegation, which also included Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Ukraine’s armed forces, and presidential adviser Oleksandr Bevz.Umerov wrote on Facebook that he had briefed Zelensky on the “substantial progress” made in the talks.”It is important that the talks have a constructive dynamic and that all issues were discussed openly and with a clear focus on ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and national interests,” Zelensky wrote on X after the talks.- Flurry of diplomacy -An initial 28-point US proposal — drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies — would have required Kyiv to withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region, and the United States then would de facto recognize the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.The United States pared back the original draft following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but the current contents remain unclear.A source close to the Kyiv delegation in Florida told AFP on Sunday that “the process is not easy because the search for formulations and solutions continues.” Another source briefed on the developments told AFP that “the Americans really want the final points to be agreed upon” ahead of the US talks in Moscow.After the Florida negotiations, French President Emmanuel Macron is set to host Zelensky for talks in Paris on Monday.Rubio is set to skip a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels, despite allies’ concerns about the US plan for Ukraine. But Witkoff will head to Russia on Monday and is expected to meet Putin on Tuesday.The flurry of diplomacy comes as the war — which has killed tens of thousands of civilians and military personnel and displaced millions of Ukrainians — shows no sign of easing.- Russian oil terminal hit – Ahead of the Florida talks, Russia’s forces targeted Ukraine’s capital and the region for two nights in a row as they advanced on the front line. A drone attack in the outskirts of Kyiv killed one person and wounded 11 late Saturday, the regional governor said.Hours earlier, a Ukrainian security source said Kyiv was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers in the Black Sea that it believed were covertly transporting sanctioned Russian oil.One of Russia’s largest oil terminals halted operations on Saturday following a drone attack.The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), a group that includes US oil majors Chevron and ExxonMobil and which owns the terminal, called the strike a “terrorist attack.”Ukraine, which did not comment on the incident, regularly targets Russian energy facilities in a bid to sap the country’s war chest.burs-ac/sst

Hondurans cast ballots for their next president on Sunday amid threats by US President Donald Trump to cut aid to the country if his preferred candidate loses.Honduras could be the next country in Latin America, after Argentina and Bolivia, to swing right after years of leftist rule.Polls show three candidates neck-and-neck in the race to succeed leftist President Xiomara Castro, whose husband, Manuel Zelaya, also led the country before being toppled in a 2009 coup.Lawmakers and hundreds of mayors will also be elected in the fiercely polarized nation, which is one of the most violent countries in Latin America, mainly due to drug trafficking and gang activity.Polls opened at 7:00 am (1300 GMT) for 10 hours of voting, with the first results expected late Sunday.Trump has thrown his support behind 67-year-old Nasry “Tito” Asfura of the right-wing National Party — and said continued US support for one of Latin America’s poorest countries will be contingent on Asfura winning.”If he (Asfura) doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad,” he wrote Friday on his Truth Social platform, echoing threats he made in support of Argentine President Javier Milei’s party in that country’s recent midterms.Asfura’s main challengers are 60-year-old lawyer Rixi Moncada from Castro’s ruling Libre party and 72-year-old TV host Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party.The 66-year-old Castro, in power since 2022, is barred by the constitution from seeking a second consecutive term.Some Hondurans have welcomed Trump’s interventionism, saying they hope it might mean Honduran migrants will be allowed to remain in the United States.But others have rejected his meddling in the vote.”I vote for whomever I please, not because of what Trump has said, because the truth is I live off my work, not off politicians,” Esmeralda Rodriguez, a 56-year-old fruit seller, told AFP.Nearly 30,000 Honduran migrants have been deported from the United States since Trump returned to office in January.The clampdown has dealt a severe blow to the country of 11 million people, where remittances represented 27 percent of GDP last year.In a stunning move on Friday, Trump also announced he would pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, of Asfura’s National Party, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for cocaine trafficking and other charges.After voting in the capital Tegucigalpa, Asfura denied that the planned pardon would benefit him, saying: “This issue has been circulating for months, and it has nothing to do with the elections.”- Fears of election fraud -Moncada has portrayed the election as a choice between a “coup-plotting oligarchy” — a reference to the right’s backing of the 2009 military ouster of Zelaya — and democratic socialism.Moncada, who has held ministerial portfolios under both Zelaya and Castro, said she will only acknowledge the final results, not preliminary counts.Nasralla also served in Castro’s government but fell out with the ruling party and has since shifted to the right. The 67-year-old Asfura was in the construction business before being elected mayor of Tegucigalpa, serving two terms.Preemptive accusations of election fraud, made both by the ruling party and opposition, have sown mistrust in the vote and sparked fears of post-election unrest.The president of the National Electoral Council, Ana Paola Hall, warned all parties “not to fan the flames of confrontation or violence” at the start of the single-round election.- ‘Escape poverty’ -Long a transit point for cocaine exported from Colombia to the United States, Honduras is now also a producer of the drug.But the candidates barely addressed the fears of Hondurans about drug trafficking, poverty and violence during the campaign. “I hope the new government will have good lines of communication with Trump, and that he will also support us,” said Maria Velasquez, who is 58.”I just want to escape poverty.”