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Venezuelan security forces have detained at least five Americans in recent months as the US has built a pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a US official familiar with the matter told CNN. The circumstances of the individual cases vary, and some could have been involved in drug smuggling, the official said. US officials are still collecting information about what the Americans were doing in Venezuela and at the time of their detention, the official added. Trump administration officials believe that the Maduro regime is detaining the Americans to build leverage against the US, the official said, as the...

Once Shanghai opens up again on Sunday night Jan 4 2026, More Fireworks I used to sell brick pavers in El Paso for American Eagle Brick Company, back when the heat could cook a man twice in one afternoon. We sold for .60 a unit....... ....Same story today. Silver’s $71 on paper, $130 in Japan. Numbers without metal. Just another ACME special—free bricks from an empty yard. The game hasn’t changed, only the commodity. The old brick hustle is now traded in ounces and clicks instead of pallets and handshakes. But the moral holds: when supply runs dry and promises...

Transcript DogeDesigner: "When people say like, this is fake, I'm like, uh, actually, well let's look at, um..." Somali TikToker: Somali clicks and gibberish followed by "I wouldn't worry too much about this one. I wouldn't worry too much about him. He about to die."

For Iran's ruling mullahs, it's not a happy new year. The news keeps getting worse and worse for them. Street protests across the country calling for their demise are going into their fifth day now, and in Tehran, 10 universities full of students have joined the street bazaar protests, which show no signs of letting up. The kids are chasing the mullahs through the streets, robes flying. The mullahs are reportedly taking off their robes now to not draw attention to themselves and putting street clothes on. BREAKING: Reports that mullahs are taking off their robes and turbans, changing into...

Over the past 10 months, Russian losses in the war with Ukraine have been growing faster than any time since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, BBC analysis suggests. As peace efforts intensified in 2025 under pressure from US President Donald Trump's administration, 40% more obituaries of soldiers were published in Russian sources compared with the previous year. Overall, the BBC has confirmed the names of almost 160,000 people killed fighting on Russia's side in Ukraine. BBC News Russian has been counting Russian war losses together with independent outlet Mediazona and a group of volunteers since February 2022....

A father was deported to Mexico last month after living in the U.S. for over 30 years, leaving his six children without their only parent, his lawyer said. According to Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, Rosalio Vasquez Meave was arrested on September 15. His lawyer, Michelle Edstrom, said he was dropping off his children at school when an ICE vehicle pulled him over and detained him.

Such a coincidence that so many European churches are being burned to the ground. They should install more extinguishers.

China's EV Car Bubble is Finally Bursting! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG-eJDtySU8 186,000 Views Living in China for 14 years, one thing I noticed about China is that China is wasteful. I'm talking from the top to the very bottom. Everybody is guilty of being wasteful in China. It's part of Chinese society. If you go out for a meal with friends, you order a huge amount and there's always leftovers that just get thrown away. Especially if you're trying to show off, this is part of what you do. If you're a government official, you're going to have every single dish in the...

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud claimed in an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday that he has intelligence indicating Somaliland agreed to accept displaced Gazans in exchange for Israeli recognition. According to the president, intelligence sources also suggest that Somaliland has agreed to allow the establishment of an Israeli military base on its territory and to join the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states. He added that there had already been “some Israeli presence” in Somaliland in the past. Mohamud argued that Israel’s recognition of Somaliland was intended to destabilize Somalia and the region. He noted...

Chinese oil tankers are pressing ahead with Venezuela-linked voyages despite a U.S. blockade and an escalating campaign of tanker seizures. Two Chinese-flagged VLCCs are operating near Venezuelan waters, with the Thousand Sunny due to arrive in mid-January and the Xing Ye waiting off French Guiana, according to a new report by Lloyd's List. Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment. Why It Matters The movements come as China said it opposed U.S. oil seizures and naval pressure on Venezuela. President Donald Trump is tightening maritime enforcement to choke off oil revenues to Caracas, which has in...

Military commissars sprayed a gas canister at a young mother with a small child while her relative was being pushed into a car. The 'bounty hunters' are paid $200 a head for meat to send to the front. The average survival time is measured in days once on the front line.

Capping off UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s disastrous first full year in office, a poll from YouGov found that just over one in ten voters approve of his government’s performance. In its final approval survey for the year, YouGov found that only 12 per cent of the British voting public have a favourable opinion of the left-wing Labour Party government. In comparison, 68 per cent of voters disapprove of the government’s performance, while 20 per cent have no opinion. For context, the failed Tory government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also had a 12 per cent approval rating immediately...

Sitting underneath Ayyash’s menu with its hot, very hot and “pepper x” levels of spiciness, a slim, 30-something Palestinian American named Zyad is snacking on some of Ayyash’s specially seasoned french fries. This, he says, is one of his favorite options in Temple Terrace, a city on the northeast side of Tampa Bay and epicenter of its robust halal food scene. “There’s a Yemeni place down the road, several shawarma options, an Arab grocery store, a Turkish grocery store, bakeries, clothing stores, restaurants, food trucks. The list goes on,” he told New Lines. “Tampa,” Zyad said, “is like the new...

Japan is restarting the world's largest nuclear power plant, after a 15-year shutdown following the Fukushima disaster. Nuclear power used to account for over 30% of Japan's national electricity, so seeing these reactors come back online restores a key pillar of Japan's energy system. Japan's mountainous terrain forced each region to establish large, redundant energy systems; therefore, the return of nuclear power gives Japan surplus capacity and flexibility in an otherwise stagnant environment. With the global energy trade growing more unreliable by the day, Japan is now better positioned than most to weather the storm.

Iran has been gripped by demonstrations amid the country's economic crisis, with social discontent fueling open protest against the regime. Media and authorities have pinned the blame on foreign intelligence services. Thousands of people have protested in Iran in recent days against the dramatic devaluation of the currency, amid an economic crisis that has engulfed the country. What began as a strike by shopkeepers and bazaar merchants on Sunday has become an outcry of political anger, with some even chanting "Death to the dictator!" The spontaneous protests have already spread from Tehran to other cities, such as Isfahan and Mashhad.

Tuesday on MS NOW’s “All In,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said if he became governor in California, he would charge ICE agents and take away their driver’s licenses if they commit crimes. […] Swalwell said, “Well, you have immense powers as governor of California and your responsibility to protect the most vulnerable in the state. So if the president is going to send ICE agents to chase immigrants through the fields where they work, what I’m going to do is make sure that they take off their masks and show their faces, that they show their identification. And if they...

Welcome to the final edition of Foreign Policy’s China Brief for 2025. Compared with what lies further ahead, next year may be relatively quiet for China. The following year, 2027, marks both the end of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s unprecedented third term and a frequently cited benchmark for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s ability to attack Taiwan. Though Beijing is keeping a lower profile amid global turbulence, there is plenty of trouble bubbling under the surface. What can we expect from China in the year ahead? Below, we offer our four best bets. A Turn on Women’s Rights China is...

Hundreds of thousands of Moscow residents are understood to be without power after Ukrainian drones attacked the city.

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has been helping to form an Irish “national party” as he works “behind the scenes” on what he described as “the Irish situation”, he said in an interview. The Donald Trump ally, whose anti-EU rhetoric previously included an expressed desire “to drive a stake through the Brussels vampire”, told the Politico news website that there would soon be an “Irish Trump”. Mr. Bannon, who hosts the War Room podcast and retains influence in the grassroots of the MAGA (Make American Great Again) movement of Trump-supporting populists, is quoted as supporting the new US national...

KYIV, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday Kyiv was discussing with Washington a possible presence of U.S. troops in Ukraine as part of security guarantees, and also raised what he called a faked attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin's residence. Zelenskiy told the media in a WhatsApp chat that Kyiv was committed to continuing talks on how to end the war triggered by Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion and he was ready to meet Putin in any format.U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he and Zelenskiy were "maybe very close" to an agreement to end...