MercoPress https://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2026, MercoPress. https://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif MercoPress http://en.mercopress.com/ <![CDATA[Iran downs two US warplanes; search continues for missing crew member]]> During the rescue operation, two Black Hawk helicopters flying over Iranian territory were struck by enemy fire Iran shot down a US F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet over its territory on Friday, marking the first confirmed downing of a crewed American aircraft since the war began five weeks ago. A second plane, an A-10 Warthog attack aircraft, was also struck by Iranian fire and crashed after managing to exit Iranian airspace.

]]> Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:22:00 GMT <![CDATA[Uruguayan national admits to scheme to circumvent US sanctions linked to Venezuela]]> Irazmar Carbajal de Jesús agreed to transfer approximately $99,500, delivered in cash in the Dominican Republic, to a bank account in Fort Lauderdale, Florida A 60-year-old Uruguayan citizen pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court to conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business in order to circumvent American sanctions linked to Venezuelan government officials, the Department of Justice announced on March 25.

]]> Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:24:00 GMT <![CDATA[Trump fires Attorney General Pam Bondi over Epstein files, political prosecutions]]> Trump spoke personally with Bondi on Wednesday in what a source described as a “tough” conversation to inform her that her time in the role was coming to an end U.S. President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday, ending a turbulent 14-month tenure at the helm of the Justice Department. Trump confirmed the move in a Truth Social post in which he called Bondi "a Great American Patriot" and announced that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche would step in as acting attorney general.

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 23:37:00 GMT <![CDATA[Artemis II lifts off successfully: humanity heads back to the Moon after half a century]]> Artemis 2's objective is not to land on the Moon but to validate the Orion spacecraft's life-support, navigation, and communication systems with a crew on board NASA's Artemis 2 mission launched Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972 — 54 years ago.

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 04:52:00 GMT <![CDATA[US lifts sanctions on Delcy Rodríguez, clearing the way for her visit to Washington]]> “We value this decision as a step toward normalizing and strengthening relations between our countries,” she wrote The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday removed Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, from the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, the country's main financial sanctions registry managed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The move allows her to access blocked assets, conduct transactions with U.S. entities, and travel to American territory.

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 03:01:00 GMT <![CDATA[Trump vows to send Iran "back to the Stone Age" as oil surges back above $100]]> Trump said U.S. military objectives are “nearing completion” but offered no clear timeline for ending the war and did not clarify whether Washington would deploy ground troops Oil prices surged on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed in a televised address to the nation to hit Iran "extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 4.1% to $104.21 per barrel, while Brent, the international benchmark, gained 5% to $106.42, according to CNBC data.

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 03:00:00 GMT <![CDATA[Trump running out of options in Iran, a US victory is possible?]]> The US Navy is not crazy enough to send its big ships into the Persian Gulf, so the troops will have to be redistributed into other, smaller forms of sea and air transport. By Gwynne Dyer - The Iranians know they have won, but President Trump doesn’t get it yet. He’s still at the stage of counting up the US and Israeli air-strikes and assuming that those numbers mean a US victory is possible. But five gets you ten that the Iranians are already thinking about nuclear weapons. Not their own, which don’t exist. America’s.

]]> Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:12:00 GMT <![CDATA[Another front for Trump, “pain in the pump”, gasoline above US$ 4 a gallon]]> The US$4.02 average price a gallon in US is the highest since August 2022. And the average price for diesel is now US$ 5.45, according to AAA ”If the (Iran) conflict is contained soon, the hit to confidence may be temporary, but a prolonged crisis could prompt more precautionary saving and further discretionary spending cuts,” warned Moody’s in a report on the current war in the Middle East, and the impact for US households.

]]> Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:01:00 GMT <![CDATA[Machado meets Rubio in Washington, says her return to Venezuela is near]]> “Excellent meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Thank you for your commitment to democracy, freedom, and the well-being of Venezuelans,” Machado wrote on her Instagram account Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado met Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department in Washington. It was the second meeting between the two since the U.S. military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on January 3.

]]> Wed, 01 Apr 2026 02:07:00 GMT <![CDATA[Trump says US will leave Iran in "two or three weeks," claims regime change achieved]]> “We're finishing the job. I think within maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer,” Trump told reporters President Donald Trump said Tuesday from the Oval Office that U.S. forces will withdraw from Iran "in two or three weeks," asserting that the military campaign has achieved its core objectives.

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