INTERNACIONAL
‘Depart immediately’: State Department warns Americans as al Qaeda threatens to overrun African Nation
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As the West African country of Mali teeters on becoming the first nation on the continent to be ruled by an al Qaeda–linked terror organization, a State Department spokesperson warned American citizens to leave or not travel there.
On the situation in Mali, the spokesperson told Fox News Digital, «Do Not Travel for any reason due to crime, terrorism, kidnapping, unrest and health risks,» while cautioning, «U.S. citizens should avoid travel to Mali, and those currently in Mali should depart immediately.»
The U.S. embassy in Mali also posted on their website, «U.S. citizens should depart using commercial aviation, as overland routes to neighboring countries may not be safe for travel due to terrorist attacks along national highways.»
It also warned Americans not to try to travel outside the capital city. «The U.S. Embassy in Bamako is rarely able to provide emergency services or support to U.S. citizens outside the capital,» noting the information was still relevant as of Monday.
NIGER FALLOUT UNDER BIDEN LEAVES US TROOPS ‘BLIND’ IN BATTLE WITH TERROR GROUPS
A general view of Modibo Keita International Airport in Bamako, Mali, as the State Department warns Americans to avoid the country and urges those already there to leave amid rising terror threats, blocked routes and worsening insecurity, officials say. (AFP via Getty Images)
A former senior military official with detailed knowledge of the situation has told Fox News Digital that the situation in Mali has made a threat to the U.S. homeland «increasingly likely.»
Islamist JNIM fighters have surrounded its capital, Bamako, preventing fuel tankers from reaching the city and setting fire to some vehicles. The Malian army has tried to break the blockade by mounting armed convoys for the trucks, but JNIM has attacked several of these.
Maj. Gen. Kenneth P. Ekman, a retired Air Force general, told Fox News Digital he believes Mali’s success at keeping JNIM at bay is important — for Washington. Ekman was a key player for the U.S. military in Mali, Niger and other Sahel countries as the Department of Defense’s West Africa Coordination Element lead for U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) until he retired earlier this year.
«The U.S. still has security interests in West Africa,» he said. «An external operations threat to the American homeland is intolerable, increasingly likely and far more difficult to detect given the dearth of remaining U.S. forces and intelligence assets in the region.»
April 24, 2012 – FILE photo: Terrorists from al Qaeda-linked group in Timbuktu, Mali. (AP)
He continued, «This threat also affects the safety and security of U.S. diplomats and their families in Bamako, Ouagadougou, Niamey (Niger) and other West African nations.»
US DRAMATICALLY ESCALATES SOMALIA AIRSTRIKES AS TRUMP ADMIN TARGETS ISIS, AL QAEDA TERRORISTS
U.S. and French troops were asked to leave Mali a year ago by the military junta that controls the country, which brought in the Russian Wagner/Afrika Corps mercenary group instead — the Kremlin’s private army. The Russians, reportedly more interested in extracting the region’s minerals, have not, Mariam Wahba told Fox News Digital, «been very helpful.» Wahba is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
Referring to the risk of the al Qaeda-linked group taking over Mali’s capital city, Ekman said, «Both Bamako and Ouagadougou (capital of neighboring Burkina Faso) are at risk.»
He continued, «JNIM seems to be gaining momentum and appears to have both expanded objectives and greater resolve.»
Geese walk in the road as trucks cross the border between the Ivory Coast and Mali in the village of Nigoun, near Tengrela, on Oct. 31, 2025. In northern Ivory Coast, truck drivers prepare to head back to neighboring Mali, aboard their tanker trucks loaded with fuel and anxiety. One acronym strikes fear into the hearts of all the truck drivers: JNIM, the name of the jihadist group affiliated with al Qaeda that decreed two months ago that no more tanker trucks would be allowed to enter Mali from a neighboring country. (Issouf Sanogo /AFP via Getty Images)
«During and after the 2024 withdrawal of American forces from Niger, the U.S. (under the Biden administration) also chose to forego keeping those forces in the region,» the former major general added. «Resultantly, the U.S. surrendered its ability to monitor and respond to the activities and growth of Sahel terrorist organizations, come to the assistance of U.S. embassies under threat, and solve crises like the October kidnapping of an American missionary.»
The missionary, a pilot, was kidnapped in Niger on Oct. 21 and has not been heard from since.
JNIM has been designated both a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the State Department.
«The Malian army is fighting an irregular and asymmetric enemy,» Wahba said, adding, «They are jihadists, at the end of the day, and the government is having trouble out-predicting them. If this continues, Bamako may fall in days or weeks.»
Mali’s fight with an al Qaeda terror group is on the administration’s threat radar. Last month, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau flew to Bamako and met with the junta’s foreign minister, Abdoulaye Diop, «to discuss our shared security interests in the region.»
Caleb Weiss, senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation and editor at the FDD’s Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital he is worried strict Sharia Muslim law will be enforced by the terrorists in Mali, stating JNIM, «Al Qaeda’s branch in West Africa, is putting intense economic and social pressure on Bamako, likely in hopes that the military junta there will concede in some fashion.»
Weiss continued, «The regime in Bamako is absolutely overstretched, and its allies in Russia’s Wagner/Afrika Corps are proving to be ineffective.»
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«JNIM is also consolidating its position in other areas of Mali, in which they are allowed to enforce Sharia for an end to a blockade, siege or violence in general. It’s possible this is what they are seeking with Bamako as well. JNIM is far less likely to accept anything but a Mali governed by its strict interpretation of Sharia law,» he said.
Ekman said things could have been different: «Whatever access and relationship other U.S. government agencies are able to develop in countries like Mali will likely fall short of what the U.S. could have achieved in redistributing its military capabilities as they exited Niger.»
terrorism,al qaeda,africa,mali,conflicts
INTERNACIONAL
US forces board sanctioned oil tanker after vessel tried to evade Trump quarantine, Department of War says
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The Department of War (DOW) said Sunday that U.S. forces interdicted a vessel in the Indo-Pacific after it attempted to evade a quarantine order issued by the Trump administration.
In a statement on X, the DOW said the Veronica III was boarded without incident while it was operating in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility.
«The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine — hoping to slip away. We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down. No other nation has the reach, endurance, or will to do this,» the government account wrote.
«International waters are not sanctuary. By land, air, or sea, we will find you and deliver justice,» it added. «The Department of War will deny illicit actors and their proxies freedom of movement in the maritime domain.»
US MILITARY SEIZES ANOTHER FUGITIVE OIL TANKER LINKED TO VENEZUELA
U.S. forces conduct a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the Veronica III without incident in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility after the vessel allegedly tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine, Feb. 15, 2026. (X/@DeptofWar)
The Veronica III is the latest in a series of high-profile maritime seizures by the U.S. military aimed at enforcing sanctions and curbing the export of Venezuelan oil.
President Donald Trump announced a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going in and out of Venezuela in mid-December, as Washington increased its naval presence in the Caribbean to put pressure on now-former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
According to OpenSanctions, the Veronica III is listed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals sanctions list.
U.S. forces conduct a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction, and boarding of the Veronica III in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility after the vessel allegedly tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine, Feb. 15, 2026. (X/@DeptofWar)
US COAST GUARD PURSUES THIRD ‘DARK FLEET’ OIL TANKER AS TRUMP TARGETS VENEZUELAN SANCTIONS EVASION NETWORK
The tanker, a large crude oil carrier built in 2006 and flagged in Panama, has been linked to the transport of hundreds of thousands of metric tons of sanctioned Iranian oil and is affiliated with a Chinese ship-management company that has also been sanctioned.
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OpenSanctions notes that the ship has previously sailed under different names and flags as part of efforts to evade sanctions and disguise its activities at sea.
The Veronica III was among the vessels sanctioned by Treasury in December 2024 as part of a broader action targeting 35 other entities and tankers involved in transporting illicit Iranian oil to foreign markets.
military,pentagon defense,world,sanctions
INTERNACIONAL
EEUU incautó en el Océano Índico el buque petrolero Veronica III que formaba parte de la flota fantasma iraní
Fuerzas militares de Estados Unidos llevaron a cabo una operación de interdicción y abordaje del petrolero Veronica III en aguas del Océano Índico, tras una persecución transoceánica que comenzó en el Mar Caribe, según informó el domingo el Departamento de Guerra.
La operación, descrita por el Pentágono como un ejercicio de “derecho de visita”, marca un nuevo capítulo en los esfuerzos de la administración del presidente Donald Trump para aplicar una “cuarentena” marítima sobre buques sancionados que transportan crudo vinculado a naciones bajo embargo. El Veronica III había sido identificado previamente como uno de los buques que desafiaron el bloqueo impuesto en las costas venezolanas a principios de este año.
“Durante la noche, las fuerzas estadounidenses llevaron a cabo una interdicción marítima y abordaje del Veronica III sin incidentes en el área de responsabilidad de INDOPACOM“, anunció el Departamento de Guerra a través de una publicación en la red social X. Aunque el comunicado oficial utilizó el término “durante la noche” (presumiblemente en referencia al horario de Washington), el material gráfico distribuido por las autoridades muestra que el abordaje físico se produjo a plena luz del día en las coordenadas del Índico.
Un video proporcionado por el Departamento de Guerra capturó el momento en que soldados estadounidenses abordaban un helicóptero para iniciar la misión. En las imágenes se observa la aeronave sobrevolando la estructura del Veronica III antes de que el personal militar descendiera a la cubierta. Otras tomas muestran a los soldados asegurando el buque junto a naves de apoyo naval que flanqueaban al petrolero.
Analistas de datos de LSEG Vessel Tracker confirmaron la posición más reciente del buque en el Océano Índico este 15 de febrero de 2026. La identidad del tanquero fue verificada mediante el análisis de su forma, estructuras de grúas y los patrones de pintura en la cubierta, los cuales coinciden con las imágenes de archivo del navío.
El Veronica III es el caso más reciente de una serie de incautaciones de alto perfil ejecutadas por la Marina y la Guardia Costera de Estados Unidos fuera de las aguas territoriales americanas. El buque había “huido” del Mar Caribe semanas atrás, intentando evadir la vigilancia estadounidense al navegar hacia el hemisferio oriental. Desde entonces se había convertido en un objetivo prioritario
La interdicción se enmarca en la política de “cuarentena” establecida por la administración Trump, una medida dirigida a restringir el movimiento de mercancías y recursos de entidades bajo sanción.
El bloqueo, ordenado por el presidente Trump en diciembre de 2025, tiene como objetivo asfixiar las rutas logísticas de la denominada “flota en la sombra”, un grupo de petroleros que utilizan cambios de bandera, nombres falsos y señales de transpondedor desactivadas para transportar petróleo sancionado. Según registros marítimos, el Veronica III ha estado vinculado anteriormente a redes de transporte de crudo iraní y venezolano, operando bajo diversos alias para evadir los controles financieros internacionales.
Los analistas sugieren que esta operación en la región de INDOPACOM subraya la intención de Washington de proyectar su poder naval de manera global para hacer cumplir sus políticas de seguridad nacional.
“El buque intentó desafiar la cuarentena del presidente (Donald) Trump con la esperanza de escapar. Lo rastreamos desde el Caribe hasta el océano Índico, acortamos la distancia y lo abordamos”, enfatizó el departamento dirigido por Pete Hegseth. “Ninguna otra nación tiene el alcance, la resistencia ni la voluntad para lograrlo”.
“Las aguas internacionales no son un santuario. Por tierra, aire o mar, los encontraremos y haremos justicia”, agregó.
Hasta el momento, no se ha informado sobre la resistencia por parte de la tripulación ni se han reportado heridos durante la operación. El destino final del cargamento y del buque permanece bajo revisión de las autoridades federales, mientras el Veronica III es escoltado hacia un puerto no especificado bajo control estadounidense.
INTERNACIONAL
Maryland woman says TPUSA high school event raised ‘serious concerns,’ says Child Protective Services notified
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A student group affiliated with Turning Point USA is facing criticism for hosting an event at a Maryland high school in December, with one woman saying that Child Protective Services had been notified.
A local community member, who was identified as Nancy, expressed «serious concern» about the December TPUSA-affiliated event at a February 12 board meeting. The woman spoke after a student from the high school who serves as president of the Calvert County Club America.
That student said his group placed restrictions on the event after receiving «hate» online, including restricting access for adults they did not know who were not volunteers or parents of attendees. He also stated that all students who attended had parental permission.
«We have been accused of many things. We have been accused of grooming children … an allegation that a random unnamed man was president of our group and had certain felony charges. I’m the president of the group. I’m 17, I’m a minor. I can’t groom children because I am a child. I don’t have any felony charges or convictions,» the student said, adding an invitation to discuss any questions.
ERIKA KIRK WELCOMES ATTENDEES TO FIRST AMERICAFEST SINCE HUSBAND’S DEATH, ENDORSES JD VANCE FOR PRESIDENT
A woman identified as «Nancy» speaks at a Maryland school board meeting. (Calvert County, Maryland)
The student clarified that CCCA is affiliated with TPUSA but is its own 501(c)(3) organization and is not part of the state’s public school system.
Nancy spoke next, raising her issues with the TPUSA event.
«While community building opportunities for students are important, this event raises serious concerns related to student safety, parental rights, and governance oversight,» the woman stated, claiming that parents and legal guardians were not permitted to attend the event.
«Excluding parents and guardians from a student-focused event creates a lack of transparency and undermines established best practices for youth safety,» she continued, going on to say that such events should be subject to supervision and background checks.
«Students are widely recognized as vulnerable population, they are in critical developmental stages, and especially susceptible to influence,» she added.
DEFIANT TPUSA LEADER WON’T QUIT DESPITE CHAPTER FACING HARASSMENT, HOSTILITY AFTER KIRK ASSASSINATION
«All Board of Education members in this room are mandated reporters under state law, as I am. Based on the circumstances surrounding this event, a report was made to Child Protective Services,» the woman added as she concluded her remarks.
Attendees pray during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Phoenix. (Jon Cherry/AP)
Controversy over the event comes as TPUSA continues to grow its influence on high school and college campuses across the country since the assassination of the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk.
His wife, Erika Kirk, told Fox News’ Shannon Bream in December that the organization intends to resume its normal presence on college campuses in particular.
TURNING POINT USA HOLDS AMERICAFEST CONFERENCE FOLLOWING CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION
«We are not afraid,» she said, adding that the TPUSA team will continue to host «Prove Me Wrong»–style debates as part of its campus outreach.
Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk, speaks at Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest event in Phoenix, Arizona on December 18, 2025. (Jamie Vera/Fox News)
Charlie Kirk was assassinated during an outdoor event on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University. The gathering marked the first stop on TPUSA’s planned «American Comeback Tour,» and at first, nothing appeared out of the ordinary.
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The charismatic TPUSA founder rose to prominence through his signature political debates on college campuses. Moments before the fatal shot, he sat beneath a white tent emblazoned with the slogan «Prove Me Wrong,» fielding open-mic questions from thousands in attendance.
Fox News’ Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
education,maryland,politics,charlie kirk
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