US forces on Thursday struck another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from Washington’s controversial anti-narcotics campaign to at least 70.The United States began carrying out such strikes — which experts say amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers — in early September, taking aim at vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.The US strikes have destroyed at least 18 vessels so far — 17 boats and a semi-submersible — but Washington has yet to make public any concrete evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics or posed a threat to the United States.Hegseth released aerial footage on X of the latest strike, which he said took place in international waters like the previous strikes and targeted “a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization.”The video showed a boat traveling through the water before exploding into flames.”Three male narco-terrorists — who were aboard the vessel — were killed,” Hegseth said, without any further identifying information.”To all narco-terrorists who threaten our homeland: if you want to stay alive, stop trafficking drugs. If you keep trafficking deadly drugs — we will kill you,” he wrote.Like some previous videos released by the US government, a section of the boat is obfuscated for unspecified reasons.President Donald Trump’s administration has built up significant forces in Latin America, in what it says is its campaign to stamp out drug trafficking.So far it has deployed six Navy ships in the Caribbean, sent F-35 stealth warplanes to Puerto Rico, and ordered the USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group to the region.The governments and families of those killed in the US strikes have said many of the dead were civilians — primarily fishermen. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly accused Trump of seeking to oust him.US bombers have also conducted shows of force near Venezuela, flying over the Caribbean Sea off the country’s coast on at least four occasions since mid-October.Maduro — who has been indicted on drug charges in the United States — insists there is no drug cultivation in his country, which he says is used as a trafficking route for Colombian cocaine against its will.The Trump administration has said in a notice to Congress that the United States is engaged in “armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels, describing them as terrorist groups as part of its justification for the strikes.The United Nations has asked the United States to cease its campaign, with rights chief Volker Turk saying the killings have taken place “in circumstances that find no justification in international law.”

US President Donald Trump hosted all five Central Asian leaders on Thursday for the first time, a few months after they held separate summits with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping. The West has upped its interest with the resource-rich region, where Moscow’s traditional influence has been questioned since the Kremlin’s Ukraine invasion and where China is also a major player.- ‘Incredible importance’ of rare earths -“We’re strengthening our economic partnerships, improving our security cooperation, and expanding our overall bonds,” Trump said before a dinner with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.”One of the key items on our agenda is critical minerals,” Trump said at the so-called “C5+1” meeting.He hailed the countries’ “incredible importance and unbelievable potential.”On social media afterward, Trump announced “an incredible Trade and Economic Deal” with Uzbekistan, which he said included Tashkent investing nearly $35 billion over three years — and more than $100 billion in a decade — in key US sectors such as aviation, critical minerals, agriculture and IT.The United States and European Union are drawn by the region’s huge — but still mostly unexploited — natural resources as they try to diversify their rare earths supplies and reduce dependence on Beijing. Kazakhstan is the world’s largest uranium producer, Uzbekistan has giant gold reserves and Turkmenistan is rich in gas. Mountainous Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are also opening up new mineral deposits.  But exploiting these giant reserves remains complicated in the impoverished states with harsh and remote terrains. Almost as large as the EU, but home to only about 75 million people, Central Asia is landlocked and covered by deserts and mountains.It is sandwiched between countries that have strained ties with the West: Russia to the north, China to the east and Iran and Afghanistan to the south.- ‘Sent by heaven’ -Trump’s counterparts did not hesitate in offering praise to their host.”You are the great leader, statesman, sent by heaven to bring (back) common sense and traditions that we all share and value,” gushed Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was no less effusive.”Before that, none of the presidents of the United States of America ever treated Central Asia as you do,” he said.”In Uzbekistan, we call you the president of the world.”The five landlocked countries, which gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have put on a united front for diplomacy.China — which shares borders with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — has presented itself as a main commercial partner for the region, investing in huge infrastructure projects.The ex-Soviet republics still see Moscow as a strategic partner but have been spooked by its invasion of Ukraine. – Abraham Accords -The biggest announcement of the day was that Kazakhstan will join the Abraham Accords between Israel and mainly Muslim nations, in a largely symbolic move aimed at boosting Trump’s push for Middle East peace.Kazakhstan will be the first country to join since the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan signed up to normalize ties with Israel in 2020.The central Asian republic has already had diplomatic ties with Israel for decades, but US Vice President JD Vance said Kazakhstan’s decision would nevertheless boost the initiative’s “momentum.”Several states in the Middle East have refused to join the accords so far, most notably Saudi Arabia.- Muffled human rights -For Trump, who has expressed admiration for hardline regimes, economic cooperation with Central Asia has taken precedence over promoting democratic values. While the region has opened up to tourism and foreign investment, rights groups have sounded the alarm over the further deterioration of civil freedoms. “The summit is taking place while all participating governments have increased efforts to stifle dissent, silence the media, and retaliate against critics at home and abroad,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement ahead of the talks.