
US sanctions on Russia would impose 'severe and overwhelming' economic costs, officials say
CNN
The US is prepared to impose a range of harsh economic penalties on Russia should it move to invade Ukraine, starting with high-impact targets that would impose "severe and overwhelming costs on Russia's economy," Biden administration officials tell CNN.
The sanctions could have major impacts on Russian consumers, industrial operations and employment, the sources said, and would in some instances put Russia in the same restrictive group of countries for export control purposes as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria.
The US and Russia are set to meet on Monday for high-stakes talks aimed at averting a war, as Russia has continued to amass troops near Ukraine's borders. But the US officials said that if the talks fail and Russia does launch a new attack, the US will go straight for high-impact targets -- unlike in 2014, when the US initially responded to Russia's annexation of Crimea by targeting smaller Russian banks and lower-level military officials.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









