Colombian President Gustavo Petro says that hundreds of thousands of pieces of ammunition have gone missing from two military bases in the South American country. In a brief statement, Petro says that an inspection carried out this month by the army found that hundreds of thousands of bullets, thousands of grenades and 37 anti-tank missiles were stolen from a military base in the center of the country and another near the Caribbean coast. Petro says the ammunition might have ended up in the hands of Colombian rebel groups, or may have been sold illegally to criminal groups overseas, including Haitian gangs.
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Donald Trump says he’d use the National Guard as part of efforts to deport millions of migrants across the country if he’s reelected. Trump was speaking in an interview with Time magazine, which was published Tuesday. Trump didn’t say how he’d carry out the deportation operations and what role the National Guard would play. Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president. U.S. military forces have been used at the border to back up immigration personnel. But using them to help directly with deporting migrants, especially in the interior of the country, would be a drastic escalation of their use in immigration and would run into legal challenges.
The top U.N. court has rejected Nicaragua’s legal effort to force Germany to halt military and other aid to Israel amid the devastating war in Gaza. However, the International Court of Justice declined Tuesday to throw out the case altogether. The court will still hear arguments from both sides on the merits of Nicaragua’s case, which alleges that Germany failed to prevent genocide in Gaza. That will likely take months. The top U.N. court had earlier concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza. Israel strongly denies it is committing a genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and insists it is acting in self-defense. Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians
A Portuguese-flagged container ship has come under attack by a drone in the far reaches of the Arabian Sea. That corresponds with a claim early Tuesday by Yemen’s Houthi rebels that they assaulted the ship there. The attack on the MSC Orion, occurring some 600 kilometers or 375 miles off the coast of Yemen, appeared to be the first confirmed deep-sea assault claimed by the Houthis since they began targeting ships in November. It suggests the Houthis — or potentially their main benefactor Iran — have the ability to strike out potentially into the distances of the Indian Ocean as the rebels previously threatened in their ongoing campaign over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A Silicon Valley-backed campaign to build a new city in California for up to 400,000 people says it submitted enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the November election. If Solano County elections officials agree, voters in the San Francisco Bay Area county will decide whether to allow urban development on land currently zoned for agriculture. Voters would need to approve the change for the development to be built. Jan Sramek, who heads the company behind the campaign, submitted more than 20,000 signatures to the elections office Tuesday. It would need only about 13,000 to qualify for the ballot. He is proposing a development of homes, green space, downtown and goodjobs. Critics say he should build housing within existing cities.
The U.S. and allies are scrambling to pull together a complex system that will move tons of humanitarian aid into Gaza by sea. Nearly two months after President Joe Biden gave the order, U.S. Army and Navy troops are assembling the large floating platform several miles off the Gaza coast that will be the launching pad for deliveries. But any eventual aid distribution — which could start as soon as early next month — will rely on a complicated logistical and security plan with many moving parts and details that are not yet finalized.
