News blog about US politics
Six dead in attack on drug boat in Pacific
Updated March 9, 2026 – 11:34 amReading time: 17 mins.
Trump renews his threats to Cuba. A new video raises questions. All developments in the news blog.
After Elon Musk laid off hundreds of thousands of civil servants about a year ago in order to make administration more efficient, the US government is now ramping up new hiring again. This is reported by the Washington Post, citing the head of the human resources department, Scott Kupor.
New regulations in the hiring drive give the White House more influence over the government’s 2 million employees. The role of political officials in hiring new staff will be expanded, according to the Washington Post. Initiatives to promote diversity passed under previous governments should also be withdrawn. Critics fear it could undermine long-standing protections aimed at keeping the public service non-partisan.
According to the US military, six men were killed in a new attack on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific. The secret services had confirmed that the boat was “involved in drug smuggling operations,” said the head of the Southern Command of the US Armed Forces (Southcom), Francis Donovan, in the online service X. The boat was traveling “along known drug smuggling routes in the Eastern Pacific.”
The government of US President Donald Trump speaks of “narco-terrorists” operating from Venezuela. However, Washington has never provided clear evidence that those killed were actually drug smugglers. According to authorities and relatives, some of them were fishermen. Critics classify the attacks as extrajudicial executions that violate international law.
The US military says another service member has died as a result of injuries sustained during Iran’s initial counterattacks a week ago. The soldier was seriously injured in an attack on US troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1st. This brings the number of US soldiers killed so far in the war to seven. You can read more about the war in the Middle East here.
