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Venezuelan Nobel Winner Machado Holds Call with Netanyahu

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures as she votes during the presidential election, in Caracas on July 28, 2024. (AFP)
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures as she votes during the presidential election, in Caracas on July 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Venezuelan Nobel Winner Machado Holds Call with Netanyahu

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures as she votes during the presidential election, in Caracas on July 28, 2024. (AFP)
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures as she votes during the presidential election, in Caracas on July 28, 2024. (AFP)

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, in a call on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hailed the fight against "totalitarian forces," in what Israel presented as an endorsement of its Gaza offensive.

Writing on X, Netanyahu's office said Machado told the Israeli leader she "greatly appreciates his decisions and resolute actions in the course of the war" and also praised the "agreement for the release of the hostages in Gaza."

But in a separate post on X, opposition leader Machado, who won the Nobel for leading resistance to authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, avoided all mention of Israel and Gaza.

In a carefully worded statement, she said Venezuelans knew that achieving peace "requires immense courage, strength, and moral clarity to stand against the totalitarian forces that oppose us."

"Just as we fight for freedom and democracy in Venezuela, all nations in the Middle East deserve a future built on dignity, justice, and hope -- not fear," she added.

She did however directly call out "the Iranian regime," as "a key supporter of the Maduro regime" which also "backs terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis."

Colombia's left-wing president Gustavo Petro, a fierce critic of Netanyahu, last week questioned the awarding of the Nobel to Machado, over her past outreach to the Israeli leader in seeking support for her campaign to oust Maduro.

Venezuela does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

Maduro's firebrand socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez broke off relations in 2009 in protest over the 2008 Gaza war.

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World

US Says 2 Dead, One Survivor in Latest Eastern Pacific Boat Strike

This screen grab from a video posted on the X account of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) on May 8, 2026, shows a vessel after being struck at the direction of Commander General Francis L. Donovan on May 8, 2026.. (Photo by US Southern Command / AFP)
This screen grab from a video posted on the X account of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) on May 8, 2026, shows a vessel after being struck at the direction of Commander General Francis L. Donovan on May 8, 2026.. (Photo by US Southern Command / AFP)
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US Says 2 Dead, One Survivor in Latest Eastern Pacific Boat Strike

This screen grab from a video posted on the X account of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) on May 8, 2026, shows a vessel after being struck at the direction of Commander General Francis L. Donovan on May 8, 2026.. (Photo by US Southern Command / AFP)
This screen grab from a video posted on the X account of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) on May 8, 2026, shows a vessel after being struck at the direction of Commander General Francis L. Donovan on May 8, 2026.. (Photo by US Southern Command / AFP)

The US military said on Friday it had struck another boat alleged to be trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people and leaving one survivor.

The latest strike -- which follows dozens of similar attacks in recent months -- bring the US campaign's death toll to at least 192, according to an AFP tally.

US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said one person survived the strike, without specifying their condition, adding that the US Coast Guard had been notified to launch a search and rescue mission.

As with many previous attacks, SOUTHCOM said on X that the boat hit was "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations" and that "intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes."

Black-and-white video accompanying the post shows a small boat moving through the water before it is hit with a projectile, followed by a large explosion.

President Donald Trump's administration began targeting alleged smuggling boats in early September, insisting it is effectively at war with what it calls "narco-terrorists" operating out of Latin America.

But his administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels it has been striking are involved in drug trafficking.

Legal experts and rights groups suggest the strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings because they have apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the United States.

Friday's attack is at least the tenth in a month.

The deadly strikes have marked a stark shift in the US approach to drug trafficking, which has historically focused on interdicting vessels and seizing the material.

The US military has not said how long the operation, dubbed "Southern Spear" is intended to last.

World

Trump Announces 3-day Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire

US President Donald J Trump makes remarks at an event he is hosting for a group including Gold Star Mothers and Angel Mothers to honor Mother’s Day 2026, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 08 May 2026. EPA/AARON SCHWARTZ / POOL
US President Donald J Trump makes remarks at an event he is hosting for a group including Gold Star Mothers and Angel Mothers to honor Mother’s Day 2026, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 08 May 2026. EPA/AARON SCHWARTZ / POOL
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Trump Announces 3-day Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire

US President Donald J Trump makes remarks at an event he is hosting for a group including Gold Star Mothers and Angel Mothers to honor Mother’s Day 2026, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 08 May 2026. EPA/AARON SCHWARTZ / POOL
US President Donald J Trump makes remarks at an event he is hosting for a group including Gold Star Mothers and Angel Mothers to honor Mother’s Day 2026, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 08 May 2026. EPA/AARON SCHWARTZ / POOL

US President Donald Trump said Friday the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have agreed to his request for a three-day ceasefire and an exchange of prisoners, saying it could be the “beginning of the end” of the long war between them.

Trump announced on social media that the ceasefire would run Saturday through Monday.

“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote.

“The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II.”

The Republican president said the ceasefire includes a suspension of all kinetic activity and the exchange of 1,000 prisoners by each country.

“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.,” Trump said. “Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War.”

Trump added that talks continue over ending the war “and we are getting closer and closer every day.”

World

Adviser to Iran Supreme Leader Compares Control of Hormuz to ‘Atomic Bomb’

An Iranian woman walks next to a huge anti-US billboard carrying a sentence reading in Persian “The Strait of Hormuz remains closed” at the Engelab (Revolution) square in Tehran, Iran, 08 May 2026. (EPA)
An Iranian woman walks next to a huge anti-US billboard carrying a sentence reading in Persian “The Strait of Hormuz remains closed” at the Engelab (Revolution) square in Tehran, Iran, 08 May 2026. (EPA)
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Adviser to Iran Supreme Leader Compares Control of Hormuz to ‘Atomic Bomb’

An Iranian woman walks next to a huge anti-US billboard carrying a sentence reading in Persian “The Strait of Hormuz remains closed” at the Engelab (Revolution) square in Tehran, Iran, 08 May 2026. (EPA)
An Iranian woman walks next to a huge anti-US billboard carrying a sentence reading in Persian “The Strait of Hormuz remains closed” at the Engelab (Revolution) square in Tehran, Iran, 08 May 2026. (EPA)

An adviser to Iran's supreme leader compared control over the Strait of Hormuz to having an "atomic bomb" on Friday, and vowed not to relinquish it.

Adviser Mohammad Mokhber said Iran had long "neglected" its privileged position along the strait, a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments that Tehran shut early in the Middle East war, throwing markets into turmoil and stranding hundreds of vessels.

"The Strait of Hormuz represents an opportunity as precious as an atomic bomb," he said in a video published by the Mehr news agency.

"Indeed, having in one's hands a position that allows you to influence the global economy with a single decision is a major opportunity."

Pledging not to "forfeit the gains of this war", he went on to say Iran would "change the (legal) regime of this strait", through international law if possible, and unilaterally if not.

Mokhber did not specifically mention charging vessels to use the waterway, but the shipping journal Lloyd's List reported on Friday that Iran had created an authority to approve transit through the strait and to collect tolls.

Iranian officials have previously mentioned implementing such a system, and a senior parliamentarian said in April that Tehran had received its first toll revenue from the strait.

The United States, whose joint attacks with Israel on the country sparked the war in the Middle East, has called tolling in the Hormuz unacceptable, as has the UN's maritime agency.

The strait has become a major bargaining chip in negotiations to end the war, with Iran currently weighing a US proposal to extend the current truce in the Gulf to allow talks on a final settlement of the conflict.