ISTANBUL

Here’s a rundown of all the news you need to start your Tuesday, including US military striking suspected drug vessel in Eastern Pacific, dozens dying or missing after irregular migrants' boat capsizing off Libya, and UN chief saying he is gravely concerned over Israeli decision to expand control in West Bank.

TOP STORIES

• US military strikes suspected drug vessel in Eastern Pacific

The US military carried out a strike Monday on a vessel allegedly engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific, according to the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).

"Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," it said on the US social media company X’s platform.

Two alleged "narco-terrorists” were killed and one survived the strike, it added.

The Trump administration has intensified military operations in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean since September, citing efforts against narcotics trafficking.

• Dozens dead or missing after irregular migrants' boat capsizes off Libya, says UN migration agency

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday that 53 irregular migrants, including two babies, are dead or missing after a rubber boat capsized off the coast of Libya.

The boat, which was carrying 55 migrants, overturned north of Zuwara, Libya, on Friday, with only two Nigerian women rescued during a search-and-rescue operation by Libyan authorities, a spokesperson for the UN agency said in a statement.

According to the statement, one survivor reported losing her husband, while the other said she lost her two babies in the tragedy.

"IOM mourns the loss of life in yet another deadly incident along the Central Mediterranean route," the statement said.

• UN chief 'gravely concerned' over Israeli decision to expand control in West Bank

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday expressed deep concern over Israel’s recent approval of measures aimed at strengthening control in the occupied West Bank.

"The secretary-general is gravely concerned by the reported decision of the Israeli security Cabinet to authorize a series of administrative and enforcement measures in Areas A and B of the occupied West Bank," Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a news conference.

Dujarric said that the UN chief "warns that the current trajectory on the ground, including this decision, is eroding the prospect for the two-state solution."

Israel's continued presence in Palestinian territories is "not only destabilizing" but "unlawful," he said.

NEWS IN BRIEF

• Türkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday held a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi and discussed the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Iran and the US, according to diplomatic sources.
  
  
• The unprecedented win in elections is a mandate granted to Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for “important policy shifts,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Monday.
  
  
• The UK strongly criticized a decision by Israel’s Security Cabinet to expand Israeli control over the West Bank, warning that the move risks undermining peace and stability and breaches international law.
  
  
• Resisting calls to resign, British Premier Keir Starmer said Monday that he is “not prepared to walk away” from his mandate as prime minister as he seeks to shore up support within his party amid the fallout over the Peter Mandelson scandal.
  
  
• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Monday that airstrikes against Iran would not lead to the collapse of its regime.
  
  
• US President Donald Trump is opposed to Israel annexing the occupied West Bank, Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reported Monday.
  
  
• Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday stormed the town of Ni’lin in the central occupied West Bank, a day after Tel Aviv announced decisions expanding annexation of the territory.
  
  
• Tim Allan on Monday resigned as director of communications for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, just a day after his chief of staff stepped down amid the Mandelson scandal tied to new Epstein revelations.
  
  
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that more than 1,400 apartment blocks in the capital Kyiv remain without heating amid Russian airstrikes.
  
  
• Mexico will continue to assist Cuba with humanitarian aid while exploring ways to resume oil shipments to the island nation, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday during a news conference.
  
  
• A severe climate crisis has left northern Colombia reeling as atypical rainfall -- shattering historical records for February -- has triggered a humanitarian emergency.
  
  
• The Left group in the European Parliament slammed the body Monday for rejecting their request to debate Israel's recent expansion of control in the occupied West Bank.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

• Armenia, US sign joint statement on cooperation in peaceful use of nuclear energy

Armenia and the US on Monday signed a joint statement on cooperation between the two countries in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The Joint Statement on the Completion of Negotiations on an Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation was signed following talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and US Vice President JD Vance, who arrived in Yerevan in the first-ever visit by a sitting US vice president to the South Caucasus nation.

• European Central Bank chief says inflation to stabilize at 2% target in medium term

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said Monday that inflation in the eurozone is expected to stabilize at 2% in the medium term, following its decline below the target level this year.

As the ECB kept the policy rate stable at 2% last week for the fifth meeting in a row, Lagarde said at a plenary debate of the European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg: "In the current uncertain environment, our data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach to monetary policy serves us well."