US seizes 2 sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in North Atlantic and Caribbean
Washington (AP): The US has seized two sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in back-to-back actions in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean, officials said Wednesday.
US European Command announced the seizure of the merchant vessel Bella 1 for “violations of US sanctions” in a social medial post. The US had been pursuing the tanker since last month after it tried to evade a US blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela.
Then, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem revealed that US forces also took control of the tanker Sophia in the Caribbean. Noem said in a social media post both ships were “either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it.”
The US military seized the Bella 1 and subsequently handed over control of it to law enforcement officials, said a US official, who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
The ship was sanctioned by the US in 2024 for allegedly smuggling cargo for a company linked to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. The US Coast Guard attempted to board it in the Caribbean in December as it headed for Venezuela. The ship refused boarding and headed across the Atlantic.
During this time, the Bella 1 was renamed Marinera and flagged to Russia, shipping databases show. The US official also confirmed that the ship's crew had painted a Russian flag on the side of the hull.
Earlier Wednesday, open-source maritime tracking sites showed its position as between Scotland and Iceland, travelling north. The US official also confirmed the ship was in the North Atlantic.
US military planes have flown over the vessel, and on Tuesday a Royal Air Force surveillance plane was shown on flight-tracking sites flying over the same area.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said before the seizure that it was “following with concern the anomalous situation that has developed around the Russian oil tanker Marinera.”
The ministry's statement, which was carried by the official Tass news agency, added that “for several days now, a US Coast Guard ship has been following the Marinera, even though our vessel is approximately 4,000 km from the American coast.”
In a post to social media, US European Command confirmed that the US Coast Guard cutter Munro tracked the ship ahead of its seizure “pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court.”
The military command went on to say that the seizure supported President Donald Trump's proclamation on targeting sanctioned vessels that “threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere.” The tanker's seizure comes just days after US military forces conducted a surprise nighttime raid on Venezuela's capital of Caracas and captured then-President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
In the wake of this raid, officials in Trump's Republican administration have said that they intended to continue to seize sanctioned vessels connected to the country.
“We are enforcing American laws with regards to oil sanctions,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC on Sunday. “We go to court. We get a warrant. We seize those boats with oil. And that will continue.”
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Unreserved vacancies for candidates with disabilities open for all categories: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday said "unreserved" vacancies for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are an open pool where merit remains the decisive factor and that eligible candidates belonging to any social or special category can be employed.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh set aside a judgement of the Calcutta High Court, saying the "unreserved" category is not a separate "social category" but an open field for all.
It held that a more meritorious PWD candidate belonging to a reserved category like OBC, SC, or ST cannot be barred from an unreserved PWD post simply because a candidate from the "General" category is also available.
"In reservation law, it is well settled that the Unreserved/Open category does not refer to any social/communal category like SCs, STs or OBC. In other words, any post falling under the Unreserved or Open category does not pertain to any particular social category, it provides an open field or pool meant for the world at large, in the sense that it is open to all candidates, irrespective of whether one belongs to any social or special category or not," Justice Singh, who authored the verdict, said.
The court said if an unreserved or open post is meant for the special category of Persons with Disabilities, it means that the said post will be open to all candidates of all vertical social categories, whether Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) or Other Backward Classes (OBC), provided such candidates are also PWD.
"Thus, all candidates, whether SC, ST or OBC, but who are Persons with Disabilities, are equally entitled to compete for the post meant for Persons with Disabilities falling under the Unreserved category, the rationale being that all those who are similarly situated must be treated equally," it said.
The case arose from a recruitment drive of the West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (WBSETCL) for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) Grade-II.
The notification included one post specifically earmarked for Unreserved (Persons with Disabilities -- Low Vision).
The controversy involved two candidates, an unreserved category candidate with low vision who scored 55.667 marks and an OBC candidate, also with low vision, who scored 66.667 marks.
The WBSETCL appointed the OBC candidate to the post based on his higher merit.
This was challenged by the general category candidate who said since he was a "qualified unreserved candidate", the vacancy should have gone to him and that reserved category candidates should only be considered if no unreserved PWD candidate is available.
While a single-judge bench of the high court dismissed the plea, a division bench reversed that decision, directing the employer to appoint the less-meritorious unreserved candidate.
The WBSETCL had then appealed to the Supreme Court.
