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Colombian Family Seeks Answers Following US Strike on Alleged Drug Boat of Missing Loved Ones
Ione WellsSouth America correspondent, in Colombia
BBCLizbeth Perez looks fearful as she gazes out onto the postcard-perfect fishing bay of Taganga, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, recalling the moment she last spoke to her uncle in September.
“He was a kind man, a good person, a friend. A good father, uncle son. He was a cheerful person. He loved his work and his fishing.”
Alejandro Carranza said goodbye to his family early on the morning on 14 September, before going out on his boat as usual, his cousin Audenis Manjarres told state media. He left from La Guajira, a region in neighbouring Venezuela, he said.
The next day, US President Donald Trump announced that a US strike in international waters had targeted a vessel which had departed Venezuela, and that three people he described as “extraordinarily violent drug-trafficking cartels and narco-terrorists” were killed.
Ms Perez has not seen her uncle since. His five children are missing their dad, she says, and the family are still waiting anxiously for answers, not knowing if he was even on the boat hit in the strike.
“The truth is we don’t know it was him, we don’t have any proof that it was him, apart from what we saw on the news.”
The US began striking alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean in September, before expanding the operation to the Pacific. So far 83 people have been killed in at least 21 strikes, according to US statements.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says that the campaign is aimed at removing “narco-terrorists from our hemisphere” and securing the US from “the drugs that are killing our people”.
The Trump administration justifies them as a necessary self-defence measure aimed at saving American lives by stopping drugs from entering the US.
But the strikes have attracted condemnation in countries in the region and concern that they breach international law.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has criticised the strikes, saying Colombian citizens were on board the boat hit on 15 September, and later claiming Mr Carranza was among those killed.
Responding to his first statement about Colombian citizens being killed, the White House said it looked forward to President Petro “publicly retracting his baseless and reprehensible statement”.
Trump has also accused Petro of encouraging the production of drugs and threated to cut off US aid to Colombia.
Mr Carranza comes from a huge family, living with about 20 relatives in a small house off a dirt track in the fishing village of Gaira.
Earlier this month, Petro alleged that he wanted to help his daughter study at university, and so accepted a payment from a drug trafficker to transport some drugs to an island, when his boat was struck.
“But whether it was fish or cocaine [he was transporting], he wasn’t subject to the death penalty,” Petro said. He accused the US of “murder” and since said he ordered Colombian public security forces to suspend intelligence sharing with the US until the strikes end. His defence minister later said the president had given “clear instructions to maintain, as has been done, a continuous flow of information with international agencies to combat drug trafficking”.
Mr Carranza has a past criminal record over stealing weapons from the police nine years ago, but his family deny – and say they are hurt by – characterisations of him as a narco-trafficker.
“What the president of the United States is doing isn’t right. He has to prove if they are or aren’t [trafficking],” Lizbeth says.
She says while Trump may want to tackle issues affecting his “territory” that “doesn’t mean he should resort to these methods… of taking someone’s life”.
A US lawyer working for some of Mr Carranza’s family, Daniel Kovalik, who also works for President Petro, says Mr Carranza’s wife and older daughter recognised his boat from the US-released footage of the strike.
He intends to sue the US government on the family’s behalf. International law says the military cannot kill civilians unless they pose an imminent threat of violence, even if engaging in criminal activity.
“Even if you claim that the people you’re killing are trafficking drugs, you don’t have the right to just engage in extrajudicial killings,” Mr Kovalik said.
“They’re tiny boats… If you really believe they were doing something wrong, those people should be arrested, tried in a court of law, convicted, and sentenced.”
“And, by the way, none of them would be sentenced to the death penalty – this is not a capital crime.”
The Trump administration has told Congress that it believes the US is in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels in the region.
In doing so, it appears to be invoking war-time powers, such as killing enemy combatants even if they pose no immediate violent threat, to justify the strikes.
President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have said the US is “under threat” from “terrorist organisations” and said drugs kill thousands of Americans.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says seizures of cocaine – the major drug trafficked and produced in South America – rose by about 18% in 2024 compared to the previous year.
But the main driver of drug deaths in the US is Fentanyl, which is produced and arrives in the US from Mexico.
Mr Kovalik does not buy the US’s self-defence argument, saying “these boats have never attacked the United States”.
Back in Taganga, the strikes are causing apprehension for fishermen like 81-year-old Juan Assis Tejeda, whose skin is tanned and leathered from 70 years fishing these waters under the Caribbean’s baking sun – just like his grandfather and father before him.
He regularly fishes near the border with Venezuela, just along the coast.
He describes how he has sometimes seen drones flying over them while out fishing that “hover quietly, come back again, and disappear”.
Even though he is just fishing, he is now fearful because of the ongoing strikes.
“At any moment they could see us and think we’re doing the same thing. Because sometimes we also go 60 miles or so out to sea, looking for tuna.”
He says some fishermen do get involved in transporting drugs due to poverty. He says he was once offered money himself, but he said no.
He would prefer to stick to the little money that he earns and live “peacefully” than run the risks associated with transporting drugs, he says.
Most in this region do not believe that this is just about targeting small, alleged drug-trafficking boats, but instead about the US also wanting to put military pressure on Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro to step aside – or on his allies, for example in the military, to oust him.
The US accuses Maduro of leading a criminal trafficking organisation which it calls the Cartel de los Soles, something Maduro strongly denies. The US state department intends to designate this group a foreign terrorist organisation on Monday.
This has added to growing speculation over whether the US will strike targets on Venezuelan soil itself.
Trump said the US “may be having some discussions with Maduro” and Maduro responded by saying he would be prepared to talk “face to face”.
As the US mulls its next move, the sleepy fishing villages that dot the Caribbean coast wonder whether diplomacy, or war, is on their horizon.
Leaked meeting reveals Nvidia CEO’s concerns about company’s position amid AI-bubble chatter
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told employees this week that the company has been pushed into a no-win situation by mounting fears of an AI bubble, even as it continues to post blockbuster results, according to audio of an internal all-hands meeting reviewed by Business Insider.
“The market did not appreciate our incredible quarter,” Huang said on Thursday, less than 24 hours after Nvidia reported another set of record earnings and said it had “visibility” into half a trillion dollars of revenue lined up for the rest of 2025 and 2026.
Instead of rewarding the beat, investors delivered a shocking reversal that saw shares briefly rising Thursday before turning lower, dragging down the broader AI trade by the end of the session.
Huang said expectations around Nvidia have become so extreme that Wall Street now sees danger in both directions.
“If we delivered a bad quarter, it is evidence there’s an AI bubble. If we delivered a great quarter, we are fueling the AI bubble,” he told employees. “If we were off by just a hair, if it looked even a little bit creaky, the whole world would’ve fallen apart.”
The comments offer a rare glimpse into how the face of the AI boom views the growing backlash to it, and how closely he is watching the market’s whiplash response.
A blowout quarter that spooked investors
On paper, Nvidia gave investors about everything they had asked for. The chipmaker reported another surge in sales of its data-center processors, the workhorses that power large AI models (and Nvidia’s revenues), and raised its guidance for the current quarter. It was the kind of performance expected to kick off another six-month rally, investors were saying.
Instead, the stock’s initial jump gave way to a broad selloff. Nvidia climbed as much as 5% early in Thursday’s session before closing down roughly 3%, as traders rotated out of the Big Tech names most closely associated with the AI boom.
The reversal extended what has become a bruising stretch for the so-called AI trade. After months of a breathless rally, investors are increasingly anxious that tech giants are spending too aggressively on data centers, GPUs, and networking gear, with no guarantee they can earn enough revenue to get those investments back. Some are also focusing on the complex, debt-heavy financing structures behind the AI infrastructure build-out, with credit markets starting to flash early warning signs.
Layered on top of that are fresh macro jitters. A shutdown-delayed U.S. jobs report, released the same morning, showed stronger-than-expected hiring in September, but a higher unemployment rate; this conflicting data did little to clarify whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in December.
Some investors are closely watching different statements from Fed presidents to try to read the tea leaves, but with the earnings season winding down and no obvious catalyst between now and the Fed’s next decision, it appears that many other investors are using the volatility to lock in profits from the year’s earlier rally—and get out of the market.
“The broader narrative hasn’t broken; it’s simply being tested right now,” Mark Hackett at Nationwide told Bloomberg. “Periods like this often act as a release valve rather than signaling a true trend reversal.
‘We’re basically holding the planet together‘
Inside Nvidia, Huang suggested no one should be surprised that investors are jumpy when so much of the AI story is being projected onto a single company.
He referenced online memes that jokingly describe Nvidia as the linchpin of the global economy and the only thing standing between the U.S. and recession.
“Have you guys seen some of them?” he asked employees. “We’re basically holding the planet together—and it’s not untrue.”
That level of mythos has helped propel Nvidia’s market value into the stratosphere, making it the world’s most valuable public company. But Huang made clear that it has also turned every earnings day into a high-wire act.
“The expectations are so high that if we miss by just a little bit, people think the whole story is broken,” he said.
Still, Huang pushed back on the idea that Nvidia is responsible for the frothier parts of the AI trade. The company’s job, he emphasized, is to build the compute infrastructure others need, not to police how the market prices demand.
Joking about losing $500 billion
Amidst the pressure, Huang kept the meeting light with whistling-past-the-graveyard-esqe humor about Nvidia’s wild swings.
He joked about the “good old days” when the company had a $5 trillion market capitalization, a playful exaggeration of its actual peak valuation—before noting just how much value has evaporated in recent weeks.
“Nobody in history has ever lost $500 billion in a few weeks,” he said. “You’ve got to be worth a lot to lose $500 billion in a few weeks.”
Huang told employees he was “delighted” by the quarter and proud of their work, stressing the company’s underlying business remains strong even if markets are punishing them for it.
Zelensky is Confronted with a ‘Challenging Decision’ Regarding Trump’s Proposed Plan
new video loaded: Zelensky Faces a ‘Difficult Choice’ With Trump’s Proposed Plan
The Trump administration has proposed a 28-point peace plan designed to end the Russia-Ukraine war. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that his country was facing a “difficult choice.”
By Chevaz Clarke
November 21, 2025
Austin Daboh, EVP of Warner’s Atlantic Records UK, steps down
Widely-respected British music executive Austin Daboh OBE has left his role at Warner Music‘s Atlantic Records UK.
Daboh was Executive Vice President of Atlantic Records UK. Since May 2023, Daboh had also been President of Black Music at the label.
Daboh confirmed his departure from the company in a LinkedIn post this week.
“Turning the page after five and a half incredible years at Atlantic Records / Warner Music,” he wrote. “The time feels right to move into new ventures, carrying the relationships, lessons and success my teams delivered.”
“The time feels right to move into new ventures, carrying the relationships, lessons and success my teams delivered.”
Austin Daboh
He added: “Grateful for the staff and artists who made this chapter powerful and for every studio, stage and boardroom we shared. Onwards and upwards.”
Daboh was hired by Atlantic in the EVP position in June 2020. It was his first role at a major label, following a career largely in radio and music streaming.
Speaking to Music Business Worldwide in July 2020, Daboh said: “I’ve always sat in an agnostic position before, a partner to labels, offering my advice and support [to artists] from that neutral perspective.
“That’s something I want to carry on at Atlantic: I want to build us to a place where everybody wants to see us win, because we’re helping out the entirety of youth culture, rather than just our own roster.”
Daboh started his music industry career in 2006 as Music Programmer at BBC Music 1Xtra, before becoming CEO of the PR, promotion and talent agency The Hub Entertainment in 2011.
He returned to BBC Music 1Xtra in 2014 as Music Manager, leading the musical direction of the station.
In 2016, Austin Daboh joined Spotify as Senior Editor, Shows and Editorial, before being promoted in 2018 to Head of Music Culture & Editorial, Spotify UK. Daboh spent three years at Spotify, where he devised and launched the Who We Be playlist in addition to other standout UK Spotify editorial brands.
Moving to Apple Music in 2019, Daboh assumed the post of Head of Editorial for UK & Ireland, a role in which he was responsible for the platform’s entire UK-based editorial and playlist ecosystem.
The respected artist development specialist led the launch of Apple Music’s Agenda playlist, which ‘represents the authentic voices of the UK and beyond, spanning hip-hop, grime, R&B, Afrobeats and everything in between’. He also headed the launch of an Agenda live show in February, featuring a performance from BRIT and Mercury-winning British rapper, Dave.
After seven months at Apple Music, in 2020 Daboh was appointed Executive Vice President of Atlantic Records UK.
Daboh also joined the WMUK leadership team and was instrumental in the strategic direction of the company both culturally and creatively.
Elsewhere at Warner Music in the UK, Isabel Garvey recently confirmed that she will be leaving her role as Chief Operating Officer of London-based Warner Music UK.
Garvey’s decision to stand down from her role at the end of the year followed the news that Warner’s flagship Atlantic and Warner Records UK labels will be working more closely with their US counterparts, with UK label heads now reporting to US leadership.
Warner Music UK’s other teams, including the shared services that support both labels, will be overseen directly by Simon Robson, President, EMEA, Recorded Music, WMG.
The changes to WMUK’s operations followed the news that Tony Harlow is leaving his role as CEO of Warner Music UK at the end of October.Music Business Worldwide
Anthony Joshua confirms new trainer after parting ways with Ben Davison
Anthony Joshua will have a new trainer in his corner for his controversial bout with Jake Paul next month.
It was confirmed this week that Joshua and Paul will meet in a shock eight-round heavyweight match-up at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on December 19, with the event being streamed live on Netflix.
Paul was originally set to meet WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis this month, but after ‘Tank’ was named in a civil lawsuit regarding domestic allegations, the main event was pulled, meaning Paul has now gone from facing a 135lb fighter who stands at 5ft 5in to a former world heavyweight champion who is 6ft 6in and has weighed over 250lbs on multiple occasions.
AJ was last in action in September 2024 when he suffered a fifth round knockout defeat to Daniel Dubois in their IBF heavyweight title fight at Wembley Stadium in London, and he had trainer Ben Davison in his corner for that bout.
The Brit announced during the launch press conference with Paul that he has parted ways with Davison, confirming recent reports that he will instead be trained the coaching team that work with current heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk.
“So no, I wont be trained by Ben Davison. I said that London is a bit distracting for me. I was invited to train with team Usyk, so I’ve been in Spain, we’ve been doing some good training and he’s one of the best in the world and it’s not all down to him it’s also down to his team, so I linked up with them.
“Getting an insight into how someone who has achieved so much has been phenomenal. Igor [will be my head trainer on the night]. I’ve been with them a couple of months now.”
Joshua — who later said that he spoke to Davison about the decision and the British trainer said it was a good idea — knows Usyk well, having lost two fights to the Ukrainian in 2021 and 2022, and will now be hoping that the decision to join his former rival’s set up will result in him having similar success.
It isn’t the first time that AJ has made drastic changes to his training team, having also worked with Rob McCracken, Robert Garcia and Derrick James in the past.
Yamaha Unveils New YE-01 Electric Motocross Race Bike
Regardless of how you feel about electric two-wheelers, you can’t argue about one thing: the innovation at hand. From hubless wheels to 3D-printed tech, or scooter-motorcycle crossovers to a moped with most of its body invisible, the tech has been at the forefront of e-development.
That has continued to be the trend in the enduro/motocross segment as well. Whether it’s KTM with its signature Freeride series, an unbelievably affordable featherweight enduro from Ultraviolette, or a low-voltage German e-motocrosser.
Now, Yamaha wants in, too. The YE-01, first unveiled at this year’s EICMA, shows exactly what the company has its eyes on for the future. Hint: it’s the new MXEP electric motocross racing series, and the YE-01 is the result of Yamaha’s recent strategic partnership with the French company Electric Motion.
Yamaha
That bodes well for the Japanese giant, given that Electric Motion has been somewhat of a household name in the Trial World Championship and the FIM E-Xplorer World Cup. And considering Yamaha’s commitment towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, this push towards electric motocrossers makes a lot of sense.
I covered the Yamaha XE4 electric enduro sometime back, and many will wonder what happened to that. Well, Yamaha had next to nothing to do with it. It was simply a bolt-on kit by Xtreme Electric MX (XEMX) that converts Yamaha 250 and 450 YZF/YZFX bikes to high-powered electrics.
The YE-01 Racing Concept, as it’s called, is largely based on the 2026 YZ450F. It features the same reliable chassis, KYB fully-adjustable suspension, riding position, and most of the bodywork.
Yamaha
Where it differs is with its liquid-cooled electric powertrain that comes with a hydraulic clutch, developed in collaboration with Electric Motion, which Yamaha claims is “capable of MXGP levels of power.”
As for the battery, it’s positioned to improve the center of gravity – very similar to the YZ450F, which uses a reversed cylinder head engine layout for the same reason. All to help with the way the bike handles. Yamaha also points to different power modes and rider aids, such as traction control, but there’s no detailed info just yet.
According to Yamaha, “as the project evolves in preparation for the start of the MXEP championship, the development of the YE-01 Racing Concept will continue and various tests will be performed with Yamaha’s Motocross Test Riders.”
Yamaha
MXEP is a racing category solely devoted to electric motorcycles, with six chosen rounds throughout Europe starting next year. The clock’s ticking for the start of the next series, so it’s highly likely we see more electric motocrossers being unveiled in the coming months.
So will we see the YE-01 any time soon? Unfortunately, there’s no timeline being quoted for now. The only thing Yamaha states is that the YE-01 is a live project undergoing ongoing development.
Yamaha
But, at the very least, Yamaha’s latest concept – along with upcoming releases from other marques – confirms that the push for electric bikes is as strong as ever. Perhaps manufacturers are eyeing Stark’s “world’s fastest electric motocrosser” crown?
Source: Yamaha
Photos from Japan’s Kanamara Matsuri Festival
In early April, scores of revelers gather in the city of Kawasaki, about 30 minutes south of Tokyo, to celebrate Kanamara Matsuri – Japan’s infamous penis festival, with a name translating roughly to Festival of the Steel Phallus. Kanamara Matsuri’s main festivities have taken place on the first Sunday of April since 1969 (yes, seriously).
At the festival centering on the um, organ and fertility, attendees get to erect gigantic penis statues on handheld shrines, enjoy penis-shaped lollipops, buy penis-shaped candles, and (obviously) dress as penises. There’s a seemingly endless array of phallic merch!
“Amazing. So fun, so unique, such a different experience,” one Australian tourist who went to this year’s gathering told Euronews. “It’s so weird coming from Australia to see something like this, but it looks like everyone’s having a great time.”
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Eli Lilly Makes History as First Pharmaceutical Company to Enter $1 Trillion Club in Financial Markets
The company’s stock has zoomed this year, driven by the explosive growth of the weight-loss drug market.
Published On 21 Nov 2025
Eli Lilly has hit $1 trillion in market value, making it the first drugmaker to enter the exclusive club dominated by tech giants and underscoring its rise as a weight-loss powerhouse.
A more than 35 percent rally in the company’s stock this year has largely been driven by the explosive growth of the weight-loss drug market and saw it join the $1 trillion club on Friday.
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Once seen as a niche category, obesity treatments are now one of the most lucrative segments in healthcare, with steadily rising demand.
Novo Nordisk had the early lead in the space, but Lilly’s drugs – Mounjaro and Zepbound – have surged in popularity and helped eclipse its rival in prescriptions.
The company’s shares were up 1.3 percent at a record high of $1,057.70.
Lilly now trades at one of the richest valuations in big pharma, at about 50 times its expected earnings over the next 12 months, according to LSEG data, reflecting investors’ belief that demand for obesity drugs will remain strong.
Shares have also far outpaced the broader United States equity market. Since the launch of Zepbound in late 2023, Lilly has gained more than 75 percent, compared with a more than 50 percent rise in the S&P 500 over the same period.
In the latest reported quarter, Lilly posted combined revenue of more than $10.09bn from its obesity and diabetes portfolio, accounting for more than half of its total revenue of $17.6bn.
“They are doing so many things outside of obesity, but to suggest anything is driving share price beyond obesity at this point, I don’t know if that would be a factual statement,” said Kevin Gade, chief operating officer at Lilly shareholder Bahl and Gaynor, in advance of the milestone.
‘Sales phenomenon’
Wall Street estimates the weight-loss drug market to be worth $150bn by 2030, with Lilly and Novo together controlling the majority of projected global sales.
Investors are now focused on Lilly’s oral obesity drug, orforglipron, which is expected to be approved early next year.
In a note last week, Citi analysts said the latest generation of GLP-1 drugs have already been a “sales phenomenon”, and orforglipron is poised to benefit from the “inroads made by its injectable predecessors”.
Lilly’s recent deal with the White House to cut prices for its weight-loss drugs, as well as planned investments to expand drug production, augur well for its growth.
Lilly is starting to resemble the “Magnificent Seven” again, said James Shin, director of Biopharma Equity Research at Deutsche Bank, referring to the seven tech heavyweights, including Nvidia and Microsoft, that have powered much of the market’s returns this year.
At one point, investors viewed it as part of that elite group, but after some disappointing headlines and earnings, it slipped out of favour.
Now, however, it seems poised to rejoin that circle, possibly even as an alternative for investors, especially given recent concerns and weakness in some AI stocks, he added.
Still, analysts and investors are watching whether Lilly can sustain its current growth as prices of Mounjaro and Zepbound come under pressure, and whether its scale-up plans, along with its diversified pipeline and dealmaking, will offset margin pressure.