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Lakshmi Singh (0:15)
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The United Kingdom says it provided support to a US Military operation to seize an oil tanker in the North Atlantic, one of two such operations today targeting Venezuela linked ships. The other was in the Caribbean. NPR's Lauren Frayer has the latest from London.
Lauren Frayer (0:36)
The UK Ministry of Defense says it let the US military launch this attack from British military bases and provided surveillance support. UK Defense Secretary John Healy says the ship had a, quote, nefarious history, part of a Russian Iranian axis of sanctions evasion. The US Says it had been monitoring this ship for weeks after its crew rebuffed attempts to board it in the Caribbean. It then changed course toward Europe and changed its flag to a Russian one. Russia's transportation ministry reacted by saying no government has the right to use force against another ships. The US Seized the ship between Iceland and Scotland, citing what it says are violations of US Sanctions on Venezuelan oil. Lauren Fryer, NPR News, London.
Lakshmi Singh (1:20)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has just attended a closed door briefing with members of Congress. He later addressed reporters about the Venezuela operation over the weekend and US Interests in that country's oil.
Marco Rubio (1:32)
It's not just saying or speculating it's going to happen. It's already happening, like the oil arrangement that we've made with PDVSA on their sanctioned oil that they can't move. Understand they are not generating any revenue from their oil right now. They can't move it unless we allow it to move because we have sanctions, because we're enforcing those sanctions. This is tremendous leverage.
Lakshmi Singh (1:50)
European leaders have raised concerns about President Trump's threat that he wants to now gain control of Greenland and its resources. Rubio says, quote, if the president identifies a threat to the national security of the United States, every president retains the option to address it through military means, end quote. The administration says it's freezing billions of dollars in low income aid for five Democratic led states. NPR's Jennifer Ludden has more.
Jennifer Ludden (2:16)
The funding freeze is for California, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois and New York. The biggest chunk is $7 billion for cash assistance, plus money to help families with childcare and other social services. A Health and Human Services official confirmed the move to npr, but did not say these states. The New York Post first reported the freeze, citing claims the money was going to migrants who were in the US Illegally, but with no specific evidence. This all follows a wider freeze on childcare funding after a right wing media influencer put a spotlight on alleged welfare fraud in Minnesota. ON X New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand accused the administration of political retribution. Jennifer Lutton, NPR News, Washington.