Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused the US of committing “murder” after striking what President Donald Trump has called a “drug-carrying submarine”.

Writing on social media, Trump said two people were killed in the US strike on the vessel, which he said US intelligence confirmed was “loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics”.

Pedro responded on X, saying: “The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure,” when it was struck. He added: “We await explanations from the US government.”

Thursday’s attack is at least the sixth US strike on ships in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks. It is the first time survivors have been reported.

Trump said the US would return two people who survived a strike on what he called a “drug-carrying submarine” to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia.

Pedro confirmed Colombia had received one of the survivors of the attack, saying: “We are glad that he is alive and he will be processed in accordance with the laws.”

At least 27 people were killed in the prior five boat strikes in the waters off Venezuela, according to figures released by the US administration.

The two survivors were rescued by a US military helicopter and then shuttled onto a US warship in the Caribbean, unnamed US officials told US media earlier.

In recent weeks, Trump has ramped up threats against Venezuela’s leadership over claims that the country is sending drugs to the US. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused Trump of trying to make the South American nation “an American colony”.

Trump has defended the ongoing boat attacks, saying they are aimed at stemming the flow of drugs from Latin America into the US, but his government has not provided evidence or details about the identities of the vessels or those on board.

“It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route,” Trump said in his Truth Social post on Saturday.

“The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution.”

He added that no US military personnel were injured in the attack.

On Friday, the US president had said the submarine targeting the latest attack was “built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs”.

“This was not an innocent group of people. I don’t know too many people who have submarines, and that was an attack on a drug-carrying, loaded submarine,” he added.

UN-appointed human rights experts have described the US strikes as “extrajudicial executions”.

Trump earlier told reporters that he had authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, and that he was considering launching attacks on Venezuelan soil.

Narco-subs have become a popular way to transport drugs as they can go largely undetected, and can be sunk after delivery. They are often homemade and constructed using fibreglass and plywood.

The US, as well as other coastal nations, have previously intercepted some of these subs.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Sanae Takaichi appears back on track to become Japan’s first female prime minister.

Japan’s governing party and the main opposition are set to form a coalition government, setting the stage for Sanae Takaichi to become the country’s first female prime minister, local media report.

Sanae Takaichi, the leader of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and Hirofumi Yoshimura, the head of the smaller right-leaning Japan Innovation Party (JIP), known as Ishin, are set to sign an agreement on their alliance on Monday, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.

Takaichi became leader of the governing LDP earlier this month, but her bid to become Japan’s first female premier was derailed by the collapse of her governing coalition.

Since then, the LDP has been working to cobble together a different political alliance, putting her chances for the top job back on track.

“The LDP has entrusted Takaichi with handling the coalition matter, while the JIP will hold an executive board gathering in Osaka on Sunday and a plenary meeting of lawmakers the following day before giving final approval to the agreement with the LDP,” Kyodo reported.

Japan’s leading Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper also said that Takaichi and Yoshimura were “likely to sign a coalition agreement after talks on Monday”.

Reports of a new coalition come after the LDP’s junior partner, the Komeito party, left the governing coalition after 26 years, plunging the country into a political crisis.

The sealing of an alliance between the LDP and JIP could lead to Takaichi’s election as premier as early as Tuesday, but the parties are still two seats short of a majority to pass the vote.

Should the vote go to a second-round run-off, however, Takaichi would only need support from more MPs than the other candidate.

The moves to form a coalition come just days before the expected arrival in Japan of United States President Donald Trump.

Trump is scheduled to travel to Japan before the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.

The Spanish town of Terrassa in north-eastern Catalonia has temporarily banned the adoption of black cats from animal shelters to prevent potentially sinister “rituals” during Halloween.

All requests for the fostering or adoption of the felines will be denied from 6 October to 10 November to protect them from being hurt or used as props, said the local animal welfare service.

Deputy Mayor Noel Duque told broadcaster RTVE that adoption requests for black cats usually increase around Halloween.

While black cats are often associated with witchcraft and seen as bad luck in Western culture, many other cultures, including Japan and Egypt, see them as symbols of prosperity and fortune.

Terassa’s city council said there had been no record of cruelty towards black cats in the town, however there have been incidents in other areas and the decision was taken after warnings from animal welfare groups.

“We try to prevent people from adopting because it’s trendy or impulsively. And in cases like these, which we know exist, to prevent any macabre practices,” Duque said.

Terrassa is home to more than 9,800 cats, according to local authorities, and the town’s adoption centre houses around 100 felines, 12 of which are black, the Catalan News Agency reported.

The city council emphasised that the measure is “temporary and exceptional” and represents an extra precaution for animal welfare, but did not rule out repeating the ban in the future.

Exceptions during the ban period will be assessed individually by the adoption centre and normal fostering requests will resume after Halloween.

Bosnia’s Serb entity names an interim president after separatist Milorad Dodik is barred from politics by a state court.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-majority entity has appointed Ana Trisic Babic as interim president, marking the first formal acknowledgement that Milorad Dodik is stepping aside after being barred from politics by a state court.

The Republika Srpska parliament confirmed Babic’s appointment on Saturday, saying she would serve until the early presidential elections scheduled for November 23.

Lawmakers also annulled several separatist laws passed under Dodik that had challenged the authority of an international envoy and Bosnia’s constitutional court.

Dodik, a pro-Russian nationalist who has pushed for Republika Srpska to break away and join Serbia, had refused to vacate office despite receiving a political ban. He has continued to travel abroad and claim presidential powers while appealing the court’s ruling.

The US Department of the Treasury announced on Friday that it had removed four Dodik allies from its sanctions list, a move he publicly welcomed as he campaigns to have sanctions against himself lifted.

Dodik is currently sanctioned by the United States, United Kingdom and several European governments for actions that undermine the Dayton peace agreement that ended Bosnia’s 1992–95 war.

Separatist moves

Bosnia’s electoral authorities stripped Dodik of his presidential mandate in August following an appeals court verdict that sentenced him to one year in prison and barred him from political office for six years.

The Central Electoral Commission acted under a rule that forces the removal of any elected official sentenced to more than six months in jail.

A Sarajevo court had convicted Dodik in February for refusing to comply with decisions issued by the international envoy, Christian Schmidt, who oversees implementation of the Dayton accords.

Dodik dismissed the ruling at the time, saying he would remain in power as long as he retained the backing of the Bosnian Serb parliament, which his allies control. The Republika Srpska government called the verdict “unconstitutional and politically motivated”.

Dodik maintains strong support from regional allies, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He has repeatedly threatened to separate Republika Srpska from Bosnia, raising fears among Bosniak communities and prompting previous US administrations to impose sanctions.

Bosnia remains governed by the US-brokered Dayton Accords, which ended a devastating war that killed about 100,000 people. The agreement created two largely autonomous entities – Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation – with shared national institutions, including the presidency, military, judiciary and taxation system.

Tensions have surged in recent years as Dodik openly rejects the authority of the international envoy, declaring Schmidt’s decisions invalid inside Republika Srpska.