The Economist.

Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm Jason Palmer.

And I'm Rosie Bloor.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the event shaping your world.

Big biotech firms are looking to get into the ethically sticky business of gene editing on embryos.

The promise is clear for easily tackling horrible diseases.

Problem is, it's still illegal in most places and presents a slippery slope towards designer babies.

And the biggest hit to Japan's patriarchal reputation this year was the appointment of its first female prime minister. But even that involved less change than one women are still wrestling for,

to be part of the national sport of Sumo.

First up, though.

For the past two months, America has been raining missiles on boats in the Caribbean,

which the Trump administration claims are carrying illegal drugs.

After each strike, grainy footage has shown the vessels going up in flames.

More than 80 people have been killed in the attacks so far. Bombing ships was already

controversial. Now one particular hit is attracting condemnation on all sides.

On September 2nd, the US struck a boat off the coast of Venezuela.

Shashank Joshi is our defense editor.

But in the intervening weeks, some serious questions have bubbled up about how and why this

specific attack was carried out, indeed whether it may have been a war crime.

Now we have reached a sort of political boiling point, and the White House, as well as the Pentagon,

are both under fairly sustained attack for their role in what led to these very controversial killings.

...