BERLIN (AP) — A late evening drone sighting at Berlin's airport suspended flights for nearly two hours, according to the news agency dpa, before air travel returned to normal in the German capital on Saturday morning.
Flights were suspended between 8:08 p.m. and 9:58 p.m. local time at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, the news report cited the airport.
Local police told the Tagesspiegel newspaper that a witness reported seeing a drone. Police confirmed the sighting but did not find the drone. Representatives for the airport and police did not immediately return requests for comment.
Europe is on high alert after drone intrusions into NATO’s airspace reached an unprecedented scale in September. Some European officials described the incidents as Moscow testing NATO’s response, which raised questions about how prepared the alliance is against Russia.
Last month, Munich Airport was closed twice in less than 24 hours because of drone sightings.
FILE - A 'Lufthansa' ariplane is parked in front of Terminal 1 after its arrival at the new Berlin-Brandenburg-Airport 'Willy Brandt' in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
FILE- An easyJet airplane will be handled at Terminal 1 in the evening after the opening of the new Berlin Brandenburg "Willy Brandt" (BER) Airport, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020, in Berlin, Germany. (Soeren Stache/dpa via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote Thursday on social media, “Motor Tanker Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
A social media post from U.S. Southern Command on the capture said that Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to make the capture while Noem’s post noted that, like in previous raids, a U.S. Coast Guard tactical team conducted the boarding and seizure.
Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.
The Veronica is the sixth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products, and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
Noem, in her social media post, said that the raid was carried out with “close coordination with our colleagues” in the military as well as the State and Justice departments.
“Our heroic Coast Guard men and women once again ensured a flawlessly executed operation, in accordance with international law,” Noem added.
As with prior posts, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see it as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Last week, Trump met with executives from oil companies to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
