The Daily Populous

Friday January 2nd, 2026 morning edition

image for US strikes 3 alleged drug vessels and leaves survivors -- now a search-and-rescue operation

"The remaining narco-terrorists abandoned the other two vessels, jumping overboard and distancing themselves before follow-on engagements sank their respective vessels.".

U.S. Southern Command said it targeted three vessels traveling in a convoy in undisclosed international waters.

At least six people survived the Dec. 30 strikes, which took place in the Eastern Pacific, according to a U.S. official.

The U.S. Coast Guard was notified to begin searching for the survivors in a search and rescue operation, the statement said.

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that a search-and-rescue operation was underway, and that Coast Guard C-130 aircraft had been deployed for the operation.

Several hours after announcing the Dec. 30 strikes, Southern Command posted on social media that another series of strikes -- carried out on New Year's Eve -- had targeted two more vessels alleged to be engaged in drug trafficking.

The U.S. campaign targeting alleged drug boats came under scrutiny last month after the Trump administration acknowledged survivors of an initial series of strikes on an alleged drug vessel on Sept. 2 were killed in a follow-up series of strikes. »

Mayor Mamdani signs five executive orders on first day in office

Authored by bronx.news12.com

Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked his first day in office with a flurry of activity, signing five executive orders that set the tone for his new administration.

The first order repealed all executive orders issued by former Mayor Eric Adams following the day Adams was federally indicted.

Mamdani said the move reflected a moment when “many New Yorkers decided that politics had nothing for them but more of the same.”. »

I was CIA's top agent in Moscow - Putin has trained to manipulate men like Trump

Authored by inews.co.uk

Dannenberg remembers meeting the former KGB colonel during the first of his two stints in Moscow in the mid-1990s .

Rob Dannenberg with the statue of Soviet spy Richard Sorge in Moscow, and outside the Kremlin in Red Square (Photos: Rob Dannenberg).

In a following press conference, Zelensky could scarcely contain his bewilderment when Trump declared that Putin “wants Ukraine to succeed”. »

Pakistan authorities send the man who tried to open the country’s first gay club to a mental hospital

Authored by wtfdetective.blog

Same-sex relations are illegal in Pakistan and can result in prison sentences of up to two years.

The application also made clear that in the planned club “there would be no gay (or non-gay) sex (other than kissing).”

Before he was sent to a mental hospital in Peshawar, the man told the publication, “I talk about human rights and I want everyone’s human rights to be defended”. »

Trump administration terminates lease for Washington’s 3 public golf courses

Authored by apnews.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has ended the lease agreement for three public golf courses in Washington, a move that offers President Donald Trump an additional opportunity to put his stamp on another piece of the nation’s capital.

The National Links Trust, the nonprofit that has operated Washington’s three public courses on federal land for the last five years, said Wednesday that the Department of the Interior had terminated its 50-year lease agreement.

While it was unclear what the Trump administration’s plans are for the golf courses, the move gives Trump, whose private company has developed numerous golf courses in the U.S. and abroad, the chance to remake links overlooking the Potomac River and in Rock Creek Park and a site that is part of Black golf history. »