Pedro Sánchez

Aug. 22 (UPI) — Dissident factions of the FARC guerrilla movement involved in the drugs trade were being blamed for two separate attacks in Colombia that killed at least 18 people and injured dozens more.

Six people were killed and more than 60 were injured when a car bomb detonated Thursday outside a military flight academy in the western city of Cali, prompting mayor Alejandro Eder to declare martial law, temporarily ban large trucks from the city and offer a $10,000 reward for information about the attack.

Earlier, at least 12 police officers were killed when a police helicopter on an operation in the northwest of the country to destroy coca crops — the raw ingredient of cocaine — was brought down by a drone in a rural area near Medellin.

Calling the Cali bomb blast a “terrorist attack,” Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez laid responsibility at the feet of “the narco cartel, alias Mordisco,” referrring to Ivan Mordisco, head of the heavily armed Central General Staff (EMC), the largest of the “ex-FARC mafia” groups to emerge after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia laid down its arms in 2016 and a major player in narcotrafficking in the region.

“This cowardly attack against civilians is a desperate reaction to the loss of control over drug trafficking in Valle del Cauca, Cauca, and Narino, where the Public Force has neutralized much of this threat,” he said.

Sanchez also blamed EMC for the helicopter attack.

However, President Gustavo Petro initially blamed the Gulf Clan, a rival to the EMC and another former FARC splinter group, because the attack followed the seizure of 1.5 tons of cocaine in the heart of its home turf in the Uraba region of Antioquia, where the helicopter was downed.

Peto said the Cali bombing was carried out by the EMC’s Carlos Patino Front, saying it was in response to “an intense defeat” at the hands of government forces.

“More than 250,000 rounds of ammunition recovered by the State, five houses full of explosives, 200 rifle parts, etc. That was the center of this column’s activity in Honduras, El Tambo, down to Plateado. With that operation, we achieved a victory in the place where there is more coca leaf than anywhere else in the Cauca department, around 60% to 70% of the total,” he wrote in a post on X.

The MO of the attack allegedly was a match for the front, which frequently targets military and police bases as part of its war with the government. It has been blamed for a string of attacks across Cauca in March, using motorbike bombs, gunfire and drones armed with explosives.

Petro said that an extraordinary meeting of the security council in Cali had decided not to extend the state of emergency, opting instead for a decree to beef up measures “to further eliminate cocaine production and make it more difficult to export that cocaine from the Pacific coast.”

Aug. 15 (UPI) — Spain on Friday warned of “very high or extreme fire danger in most of the country,” as firefighters there continue battling 14 blazes in temperatures up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

“The danger will remain at very high or extreme levels during the weekend and Monday, days when the heatwave affecting us since the beginning of the month continues,” AEMET, the state weather association, said on X Friday.

Wildfires in the European country have already consumed approximately 580 square miles of land, leading to seven deaths.

“Today will once again be a very tough day, with an extreme risk of new fires,” Spanish President Pedro Sanchez wrote on X Friday.

“The government remains fully committed with all resources to stop the fire. Thank you, always, to those who fight on the front line to protect us.”

The flames have forced the closures of highways and rail systems in parts of the country, including the train connecting the northern Spanish region of Galicia to the capital of Madrid.

Neighboring Greece and Portugal are dealing with similar weather conditions.

Spain’s total makes up around a quarter of the 2,429 square miles burned by wildfires across Europe, roughly the size of the state of Delaware.

On Thursday, the European Union sent two planes to help fight wildfires in Spain, under a reciprocal agreement. Spain is the fifth country so far this year to ask for help under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, with Bulgaria, Montenegro and Albania also seeking assistance.

One of those countries, Greece, is dealing with a fire on the Greek island of Chios, which is largely without water and electricity.

SEOUL, June 20 (UPI) — South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Friday that its defense spending as a share of gross domestic product is already “very high” compared to other U.S. allies, as Washington calls for NATO members and Asian countries to increase their military budgets.

“Among major U.S. allies of the United States, South Korea has a very high ratio of defense spending to GDP,” the ministry said in a message to reporters. “We have continuously increased our defense budget in consideration of the serious security situation, including North Korea‘s nuclear and missile threats.”

“South Korea will continue to make efforts to secure the capabilities and posture necessary for the defense of the Korean Peninsula and peace and stability in the region,” the ministry added.

In 2024, South Korea spent $47.6 billion, or 2.6% of GDP, on defense, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. That share is higher than Britain’s 2.3%, France’s 2.1%, Germany’s 1.9% and Japan’s 1.4%.

Seoul’s statement suggested concerns over remarks by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this week calling for a “new standard” for allies in NATO and Asia to spend 5% of GDP on defense.

“We expect NATO allies to commit to spending 5% of GDP on defense or defense-related investment,” Hegseth said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday.

“We now have a new standard for ally defense spending that all of our allies around the world, including in Asia, should move to,” Hegseth said. “It’s only fair that our allies and partners do their part. We cannot want their security more than they do.”

Hegseth also called for Asian countries to increase their spending in remarks at a defense forum in Singapore last month.

“It doesn’t make sense for countries in Europe to [spend 5% of GDP] while key allies in Asia spend less on defense in the face of an even more formidable threat, not to mention North Korea,” he said at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue.

The defense spending issue looks to be a potentially contentious topic at next week’s NATO Summit in The Hague. NATO countries committed to a goal of 2% of GDP in 2014, which two-thirds have reached, but U.S. President Donald Trump has long called for an increase and has been demanding the 5% figure since his reelection.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said last week he expected the allies to agree to the 5% target.

“It will be a NATO-wide commitment and a defining moment for the alliance,” he said in a speech at Chatham House in London.

However, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pushed back on the proposal, which must be agreed to unanimously, in a letter to Rutte this week.

“For Spain, committing to a 5% target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive,” Sanchez wrote Thursday, according to El Pais. “It would move Spain away from optimal spending and would hinder the EU’s efforts to strengthen its security and defense ecosystem.”

South Korea’s newly elected President Lee Jae Myung has not confirmed whether he will attend the NATO Summit, which will be held on June 24-25. His office had anticipated a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of last week’s Group of Seven meeting to discuss tariffs and defense cost-sharing issues, but the U.S. president departed early.

June 8 (UPI) — Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in central Madrid Sunday to push back on the policies of Spain’s socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez, demanding an early election as his party continues to battle corruption allegations.

Sunday’s protest was organized under the slogan “mafia or democracy” by the opposition conservative People’s party, and drew between 45,000 and 50,000 people, according to official estimates. Organizers put the attendance at closer to 100,000, the Guardian reported.

Sanchez, his family and his Spanish Socialist Workers’ party, have faced corruption allegations over the past year, but have intensified in recent days as a former member of his party was accused of initiating a campaign against the Guardia Civil police after officers investigated Sanchez’s wife, Begona Gomez, his brother, David Sanchez, and former transportation minister Jose Luis Abalos.

Demonstrators gathered Sunday in the midday sun in Plaza de Espana, carrying signs that read “Sanchez traitor” and “government resign.” People’s party leader Alberto Nunex Feijoo renewed calls for a snap election.

“Spain needs a revolution of decent and freedom – and will lead that revolution from the streets and at the ballot boxes, Freijoo told the protestors. “Mr. Sanchez, stop hiding, stop lying and stop running. Spain knows only too well who you are and what you have done. Yield to democracy. Call an election: we want one now because no one voted for this, not even your supporters.

Sanchez has pushed back on his opponents, accusing them of conducting a harassment and bullying operation against him and his family, calling allegations against his wife are designed to bring about his “personal and political collapse.”