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  • US Capture of Maduro Divides a Changed Region, Thrilling Trump’s Allies and Threatening His Foes

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    “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again,” Trump proclaimed just hours before Maduro was perp-walked through the offices of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New York.

    The new, aggressive foreign policy — which Trump now calls the “Donroe Doctrine,” in reference to 19th-century President James Monroe’s belief that the U.S. should dominate its sphere of influence — has carved the hemisphere into allies and foes.

    “The Trump administration in multiple different ways has been trying to reshape Latin American politics,” said Gimena Sanchez, Andes director for the Washington Office on Latin America, a think tank. “They’re showing their teeth in the whole region.”


    Reactions to US raid put regional divisions on display

    Saturday’s dramatic events — including Trump’s vow that Washington would “run” Venezuela and seize control of its oil sector — galvanized opposite sides of the polarized continent.

    “On the other side,” he added, “are those accomplices of a narco-terrorist and bloody dictatorship that has been a cancer for our region.”

    Other right-wing leaders in South America similarly seized on Maduro’s ouster to declare their ideological affinity with Trump.

    In Ecuador, conservative President Daniel Noboa issued a stern warning for all followers of Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s mentor and the founder of the Bolivarian revolution: “Your structure will completely collapse across the entire continent.”

    Lula said the raid set “an extremely dangerous precedent.” Sheinbaum warned it “jeopardizes regional stability.” Boric said it “violated an essential pillar of international law.” Petro called it “aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America.”


    The attack recalls a painful history of US intervention

    For Lula — among the last surviving icons of the so-called “pink tide,” the leftist leaders who dominated Latin American politics from the turn of the 21st century — Trump’s military action in Venezuela “recalls the worst moments of interference in the politics of Latin America.”

    The historical echoes in Maduro’s downfall fueled not only harsh condemnations and street protests among Trump’s left-wing opponents but also uneasy responses from some of his close allies.

    Usually effusive in his support for Trump, President Nayib Bukele was oddly quiet in El Salvador, a nation still scarred by a brutal civil war between a repressive U.S.-allied government and leftist guerillas. He posted a meme mocking Maduro after his capture Saturday, but expressed none of the jubilation seen from regional counterparts.

    “Bolivia reaffirms that the way out for Venezuela is to respect the vote,” Paz said.

    “The Trump administration, it appears at this point, is making decisions about the democratic future of Venezuela without referring back to the democratic result,” said Kevin Whitaker, former deputy chief of mission for the State Department in Caracas.

    When asked Sunday about when Venezuela will hold democratic elections, Trump responded: “I think we’re looking more at getting it fixed.”


    As the right rises, Trump puts enemies on notice

    The Trump administration’s attack on Venezuela extends its broader crusade to assemble a column of allied — or at least acquiescent — governments in Latin America, sailing with the political winds blowing in much of the region.

    Recent presidential elections from Chile to Honduras have elevated tough, Trump-like leaders who oppose immigration, prioritize security and promise a return to better, bygone eras free of globalization and “wokeness.”

    “The president is going to be looking for allied and partner nations in the hemisphere who share his kind of broader ideological affinity,” said Alexander Gray, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington research institute.

    Those who don’t share that ideology were put on notice this weekend. Trump said Cuba’s Communist government “looks like it’s ready to fall.” He slammed Sheinbaum’s failure to root out Mexican cartels, saying that “something’s going to have to be done with Mexico.” He repeated allegations that Petro “likes making cocaine” and warned that “he’s not going to be doing it very long.”

    “We’re in the business of having countries around us that are viable and successful, where the oil is allowed to really come out,” he told reporters Sunday on Air Force One. “It’s our hemisphere.”

    DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press writers Maria Verza in Mexico City and Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Maduro’s Case Will Revive a Legal Debate Over Immunity for Foreign Leaders Tested in Noriega Trial

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    Maduro was captured Saturday, 36 years to the day after Noriega was removed by American forces. And as was the case with the Panamanian leader, lawyers for Maduro are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of foreign state, which is a bedrock principle of international and U.S. law.

    That argument is unlikely to succeed and was largely settled as a matter of law in Noriega’s trial, legal experts said. Trump’s ordering of the operation in Venezuela raises its own constitutional concerns because it was not authorized by Congress, now that Maduro is in the United States. But American courts are to allow Maduro’s prosecution to proceed because, like Noriega in Panama, the U.S. government does not recognize him as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

    “There’s no claim to sovereign immunity if we don’t recognize him as head of state,” said Dick Gregorie, a retired federal prosecutor who indicted Noriega and later went on to investigate corruption inside Maduro’s government. “Several U.S. administrations, both Republican and Democrat, have called his election fraudulent and withheld U.S. recognition. Sadly, for Maduro, it means he’s stuck with it.”

    Noriega died in 2017 after nearly three decades in prison, first in the U.S., then France and finally Panama. In his first trial, his lawyers argued that his arrest as a result of a U.S. invasion was so “shocking to the conscience” that it rendered the government’s case an illegal violation of his due process rights.


    Justice Department opinion allows ‘forcible abductions’ abroad

    In ordering Noriega’s removal, the White House relied on a 1989 legal opinion by then-Assistant Attorney General Bill Barr, issued six months before the invasion. That opinion said the U.N. Charter’s prohibition on the use of force in international relations does not prohibit the U.S. from carrying out “forcible abductions” abroad to enforce domestic laws.

    Supreme Court decisions dating to the 1800s also have upheld America’s jurisdiction to prosecute foreigners regardless of whether their presence in the United States was lawfully secured.

    Barr’s opinion is likely to feature in Maduro’s prosecution as well, experts said.

    Drawing parallels to the Noriega case, Barr on Sunday pushed aside criticisms that the U.S. was pursuing a change of government in Venezuela instead of enforcing domestic laws. As attorney general during the first Trump administration, Barr oversaw Maduro’s indictment.

    “Going after them and dismantling them inherently involves regime change,” Barr said in a “Fox News Sunday” interview. “The object here is not just to get Maduro. We indicted a whole slew of his lieutenants. It’s to clean that place out of this criminal organization.”


    Key differences between Noriega and Maduro in court

    There are differences between the two cases.

    Noriega never held the title of president during his six-year de facto rule, leaving a string of puppets to fill that role. By contrast, Maduro claims to have won a popular mandate three times. Although the results of his 2024 reelection are disputed, a number of governments — China, Russia and Egypt among them — recognized his victory.

    “Before you ever get to guilt or innocence, there are serious questions about whether a U.S. court can proceed at all,” said David Oscar Markus, a defense lawyer in Miami who has handled several high-profile criminal cases, including some involving Venezuela. “Maduro has a much stronger sovereign immunity defense than did Noriega, who was not actually the sitting president of Panama at the time.”

    For U.S. courts, however, the only opinion that matters is that of the State Department, which considers Maduro a fugitive and has for months been offering a $50 million reward for his arrest.

    The first Trump administration closed the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, and broke diplomatic relations with Maduro’s government in 2019 after he cruised to reelection by outlawing most rival candidates. The administration then recognized the opposition head of the National Assembly as the country’s legitimate leader.

    The Biden administration mostly stuck to that policy, allowing an opposition-appointed board to run Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, even as the U.S. engaged in direct talks with Maduro’s government that were aimed at paving the way for free elections.

    “Courts are so deferential to the executive in matters of foreign policy, that I find it difficult for the judiciary to engage in this sort of hairsplitting,” said Clark Neily, a senior vice president for criminal justice at the Cato Institute in Washington.


    US sanctions are a hurdle for Maduro’s defense

    Another challenge that Maduro faces is hiring a lawyer. He and his wife, Cilia Flores, who also was captured, have been under U.S. sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first securing a license from the Treasury Department.

    The government in Caracas now led by Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, may want to foot the bill, but it is similarly restricted from doing business in the United States.

    The U.S. has indicted other foreign leaders on corruption and drug trafficking charges while in office. Among the most noteworthy is Juan Orlando Hernández, former president of Honduras, who was convicted in 2024 for drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

    Trump pardoned Hernández in November, a move that drew criticism from even some Republicans who viewed it as undercutting the White House’s aggressive counternarcotics strategy centered against Maduro.

    The U.S. had requested Hernández’s extradition from Honduras a few weeks after he left office. After the arrest of Noriega, who had been a CIA asset before becoming a drug-running dictator, the Justice Department implemented a new policy requiring the attorney general to personally sign off on charging of any sitting foreign president, due to its implications for U.S. foreign policy.

    Maduro may have a slightly stronger argument that he is entitled to a more limited form of immunity for official acts as at least a de facto leader, because such authority would not turn on whether he is a recognized head of state by the U.S.

    But even that defense faces significant challenges, said Curtis Bradley, a University of Chicago Law School professor who previously served as a counselor of international law at the State Department.

    The indictment unsealed Saturday accuses Maduro and five other co-defendants, including Flores and his lawmaker son, of facilitating the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. by providing law enforcement cover, logistical support and partnering with “some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world.”

    “The government will argue that running a big narco-trafficking operation … should not count as an official act,” Bradley said.

    Tucker reported from Washington

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Maduro Arrives in US After Stunning Capture in Operation That Trump Says Will Let US ‘Run’ Venezuela

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    Maduro landed Saturday evening at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital city of Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

    Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Rodríguez, who didn’t give a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured, but none were killed.

    Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership void to “fix” the country’s oil infrastructure and sell “large amounts” of oil to other countries.


    Trump says US will ‘run the country’

    The Trump administration promoted the ouster as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.

    Trump claimed the U.S. government would help lead the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate visible signs of that. Venezuelan state TV aired pro-Maduro propaganda and broadcast live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.

    “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference. He boasted that this “extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”

    Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.

    The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September.

    Taking place 36 years to the day after the 1990 surrender and seizure of Panama leader Manuel Antonio Noriega following a U.S. invasion, the Venezuela operation unfolded under the cover of darkness early Saturday. Trump said the U.S. turned off “almost all of the lights” in Caracas while forces moved in to extract Maduro and his wife.

    Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces had rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about Maduro — where he was and what he ate, as well as details of his pets and his clothes.

    “We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again,” Caine said. “Not to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.”

    Multiple explosions rang out that morning, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas. Maduro’s government accused the United States of hitting civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets. The explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they saw and heard.

    Under Venezuelan law, Rodríguez would take over from Maduro. Rodríguez, however, stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuela’s high court ordered that she become interim president.

    “There is only one president in Venezuela,” Rodriguez said, “and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros.”


    Some streets in Caracas fill up

    Venezuela’s ruling party has held power since 1999, when Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, took office, promising to uplift poor people and later to implement a self-described socialist revolution.

    Maduro took over when Chávez died in 2013. His 2018 reelection was widely considered a sham because the main opposition parties were banned from participating. During the 2024 election, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after polls closed, but the opposition gathered overwhelming evidence that he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

    In a demonstration of how polarizing Maduro is, people variously took to the streets to protest his capture, while others celebrated it. At a protest in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, Mayor Carmen Meléndez joined a crowd demanding Maduro’s return.

    “Maduro, hold on, the people are rising up!” the crowd chanted. “We are here, Nicolás Maduro. If you can hear us, we are here!”

    In other parts of the city, the streets were empty hours after the attack.

    “How do I feel? Scared, like everyone,” said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking at his phone. “Venezuelans woke up scared. Many families couldn’t sleep.”

    In Doral, Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music played. At one point, the crowd chanted “Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!”

    Whether the United States violated any laws, international or otherwise, was still a question early Sunday. “There are a number of international legal concepts which the United States might have broken by capturing Maduro,” said Ilan Katz, an international law analyst.

    In New York, the U.N. Security Council, acting on an emergency request from Colombia, planned to hold a meeting on U.S. operations in Venezuela on Monday morning. That was according to a council diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting not yet made public.

    Lawmakers from both American political parties have raised reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling. Congress has not approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.

    Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on “its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.”

    Toropin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; and Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Marjorie Taylor Greene Made Waves. Her Constituents Don’t Agree on Whether It Was Worth It

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    DALTON, Ga. (AP) — President Donald Trump says Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a traitor. But for Jackie Harling, who chairs the local Republican Party in Greene’s northwestern corner of Georgia, she’s still “mama bear.”

    “Every thought that we had in our minds, she seemed to be very good at verbalizing,” Harling said.

    Saying things that no one else would say may be Greene’s most durable legacy as she steps down on Monday, resigning halfway through her third term in Congress. First, it was her embrace of conspiracy theories and incendiary rhetoric, turning her into a national symbol of a political culture without guardrails. Then it was her willingness to criticize Trump, a schism that made her position in Washington untenable.

    In interviews in Greene’s district, constituents described her over and over as a “fighter.” For Republicans like Harling, that was enough.

    “We got a lot of satisfaction,” Harling said. “She was our voice.”

    It was less satisfying for an independent like Heath Patterson, who struggled to think of ways that Greene’s fame and notoriety made a difference for her district during her time in the U.S. Capitol.

    “I don’t know of anything that she did do here except, certainly, got her voice heard. But where did we, how did we benefit from that?” he said. “I don’t think we did.”


    From MAGA warrior to exile

    Greene began clashing with Trump last year, criticizing his focus on foreign policy and his reluctance to release documents involving the Jeffrey Epstein case. The president eventually had enough, saying he would support a primary challenge against her. Greene announced a week later that she would resign.

    She has kept up the criticism since then, including over Trump’s decision to strike Venezuela this weekend.

    “This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end,” Greene wrote on social media on Saturday. “Boy were we wrong.”

    The split was surprising because, until that point, Greene’s trajectory had mirrored Trump’s own rise to power. She didn’t become politically involved until his presidential campaign in 2016 and first ran for Congress in 2020. Greene considered trying to represent Georgia’s 6th congressional district, which includes the Atlanta suburbs, before relocating to the 14th, where the Republican incumbent was retiring.

    She remained loyal to Trump after he lost to President Joe Biden, promoting his falsehoods about a stolen election. When Trump ran again in 2024, she toured the country with him and spoke at his rallies while wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat.

    Her Georgia district is one of the most Republican-leaning in the state, although it wasn’t always that way. The region once backed Democrats like Zell Miller, a governor and U.S. senator who spearheaded Georgia’s lottery program that still bankrolls college scholarships and early childhood education programs.

    But residents have felt left behind by years of change, said Jan Pourquoi, a Belgian native who emigrated in 1987, became a U.S. citizen and later won local office in Whitfield County.

    His county’s population has grown by roughly by 32% since 1990, which pales in comparison to statewide growth of 74%. As the U.S. becomes more urban, secular, and diverse, Pourquoi said residents believe they’re “culturally oppressed.”

    “They see themselves as great Americans, proud Americans, Christian Americans, and that doesn’t fit the American model anymore as they see it,” said Pourquoi, who said he left the Republican Party because of Trump. Greene exemplified the political backlash, which he summarized as “stick it to them — any possible way you can.”

    Georgia leaders, like those in many other states, have spent years drawing congressional districts to pack like-minded voters together. That means in red areas, whoever wins the Republican primary is virtually guaranteed to come out on top in the general election, incentivizing candidates like Greene with more hardline views.

    The political landscape means former Republicans like Pourquoi or independents like Patterson say they have no shot at helping a centrist win.

    “I’m kind of square in the middle,” said Patterson, adding that it sometimes feels like he’s “the only one around here who’s that way.”


    Republicans plan their path forward

    Whitfield County Republicans gathered at a local restaurant last month for their annual Christmas party, where seasonal decor and a visit from Santa Claus were intermingled with the red, white and blue regalia and a smattering of MAGA paraphernalia.

    There was still deep affection for Greene and plenty of talk about the cultural issues she championed.

    “I think it’s just the fact that she was unwavering in ‘America First,’” said Gavin Swafford, who worked on Greene’s initial campaign.

    Swafford called her “an accountability representative” because of her clashes with Republican leaders.

    Lisa Adams, a party volunteer, called Greene “our stand-up person.”

    “Look at her stance on transgenderism. That’s a big one,” she said. “Abortion. That’s a big one.”

    None of Greene’s inconsistencies — real or perceived — were a problem, they said.

    For example, Greene has praised the Korean-owned solar panel factories in the district even after voting against Biden-era policies intended to boost production. She broke with Republicans, Trump included, and sided with Democrats who wanted to extend premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act health insurance customers.

    None of the Republicans at the Christmas party expressed any interest in taking sides between Trump and Greene.

    “I think it’s inevitable when you have two firebrands that are both stubborn,” Swafford said.

    Asked whether the district missed having a more traditional lawmaker, the kind who might cut bipartisan deals and bring as much federal money as possible back home, Swafford was unconcerned.

    “The biggest thing that Marjorie contributed wasn’t even in legislation,” he said.

    Still, there was also a sense among some that Greene, for all her bare-knuckle politics, could have gone further.

    Star Black, a Republican who is running to replace Greene, was already planning a primary challenge before she announced her resignation.

    “You had a great representative who was a fighter. Well, you know what? I want to take it one step further,” Black said.

    “Not only do you need a fighter,” Black said, “you need someone who is going to listen. You need someone who is going to represent you.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • From Bus Driver to President: Venezuela’s Maduro Never Escaped His Predecessor’s Shadow

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    U.S. President Donald Trump, in an early morning social media post, announced Maduro’s capture. Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, later announced that the whereabouts of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, remained unknown. Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, said Maduro and Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York.

    Maduro’s fall was the culmination of months of stepped-up U.S. pressure on various fronts.

    He had spent the last months of his presidency fueling speculation over the intentions of the U.S. government to attack and invade Venezuela with the goal of ending the self-proclaimed socialist revolution that his late mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chávez, ushered in 1999. Maduro, like Chávez, cast the United States as Venezuela’s biggest threat, railing against Democratic and Republic administrations for any efforts to restore democratic norms.

    Maduro’s political career began 40 years ago. In 1986, he traveled to Cuba to receive a year of ideological instruction, his only formal education after high school. Upon his return, he worked as a bus driver for the Caracas subway system, where he quickly became a union leader. Venezuela’s intelligence agencies in the 1990s identified him as a leftist radical with close ties to the Cuban government.

    Maduro eventually left his driver job and joined the political movement that Chávez organized after receiving a presidential pardon in 1994 for leading a failed and bloody military coup years earlier. After Chávez took office, the former youth baseball player rose through the ranks of the ruling party, spending his first six years as a lawmaker before becoming president of the National Assembly. He then served six years as foreign minister and a couple months as vice president.


    Appointed the political heir to Chávez

    Chávez used his last address to the nation before his death in 2013 to anoint Maduro as his successor, asking his supporters to vote for the then-foreign affairs minister should he die. The choice stunned supporters and detractors alike. But Chávez’s enormous electoral capital delivered Maduro a razor-thin victory that year, giving him his first six-year term, though he would never enjoy the devotion that voters professed for Chávez.

    Maduro married Flores, his partner of nearly two decades, in July 2013, shortly after he became president. He called her the “first combatant,” instead of first lady, and considered her a crucial adviser.

    Maduro’s entire presidency was marked by a complex social, political and economic crisis that pushed millions into poverty, drove more than 7.7 million Venezuelans to migrate and put thousands of real or perceived government opponents in prison, where many were tortured, some at his direction. Maduro complemented the repressive apparatus by purging institutions of anyone who dared dissent.

    Venezuela’s crisis took hold during Maduro’s first year in office. The political opposition, including the now-Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, called for street protests in Caracas and other cities. The demonstrations evidenced Maduro’s iron fist as security forces pushed back protests, which ended with 43 deaths and dozens of arrests.

    Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela would go on to lose control of the National Assembly for the first time in 16 years in the 2015 election. Maduro moved to neutralize the opposition-controlled legislature by establishing a pro-government Constituent Assembly in 2017, leading to months of protests violently suppressed by security forces and the military.

    More than 100 people were killed and thousands were injured in the demonstrations. Hundreds were arrested, causing the International Criminal Court to open an investigation against Maduro and members of his government for crimes against humanity. The investigation was still ongoing in 2025.

    In 2018, Maduro survived an assassination attempt when drones rigged with explosives detonated near him as he delivered a speech during a nationally televised military parade.


    Bedeviled by economic problems

    Maduro was unable to stop the economic free fall. Inflation and severe shortages of food and medicines affected Venezuelans nationwide. Entire families starved and began migrating on foot to neighboring countries. Those who remained lined up for hours to buy rice, beans and other basics. Some fought on the streets over flour.

    Ruling party loyalists moved the December 2018 presidential election to May and blocked opposition parties from the ballot. Some opposition politicians were imprisoned; others fled into exile. Maduro ran virtually unopposed and was declared winner, but dozens of countries did not recognize him.

    Months after the election, he drew the fury after social media videos showed him feasting on a steak prepared by a celebrity chef at a restaurant in Turkey while millions in his country were going hungry.

    Under Maduro’s watch, Venezuela’s economy shrank 71% between 2012 and 2020, while inflation topped 130,000%. Its oil production, the beating heart of the country, dropped to less than 400,000 barrels a day, a figure once unthinkable.

    The first Trump administration imposed economic sanctions against Maduro, his allies and state-owned companies to try to force a government change. The measures included freezing all Venezuelan government assets in the U.S. and prohibiting American citizens and international partners from doing business with Venezuelan government entities, including the state-owned oil company.

    Out of options, Maduro began implementing a series of economic measures in 2021 that eventually ended Venezuela’s hyperinflation cycle. He paired the economic changes with concessions to the U.S.-backed political opposition with which it restarted negotiations for what many had hoped would be a free and democratic presidential election in 2024.

    Maduro used the negotiations to gain concessions from the U.S. government, including the pardon and prison release of one of his closest allies and the sanctions license that allowed oil giant Chevron to restart pumping and exporting Venezuelan oil. The license became his government’s financial lifeline.


    Losing support in many places

    Negotiations led by Norwegian diplomats did not solve key political differences between the ruling party and the opposition.

    In 2023, the government banned Machado, Maduro’s strongest opponent, from running for office. In early 2024, it intensified its repressive efforts, detaining opposition leaders and human rights defenders. The government also forced key members of Machado’s campaign to seek asylum at a diplomatic compound in Caracas, where they remained for more than a year to avoid arrest.

    Hours after polls closed in the 2024 election, the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner. But unlike previous elections, it did not provide detailed vote counts. The opposition, however, collected and published tally sheets from more than 80% of electronic voting machines used in the election. The records showed Edmundo González defeated Maduro by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

    Protests erupted. Some demonstrators toppled statues of Chávez. The government again responded with full force and detained more than 2,000 people World leaders rejected the official results, but the National Assembly sworn in Maduro for a third term in January 2025.

    Trump’s return to the White House that same month proved to be a sobering moment for Maduro. Trump quickly pushed Maduro to accept regular deportation flights for the first time in years. By the summer, Trump had built up a military force in the Caribbean that put Venezuela’s government on high alert and started taking steps to address what it called narco-terrorism.

    For Maduro, that was the beginning of the end.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Can activists ban foie gras in Denver? Here’s how their last campaign went

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    Politics

    Voters will decide in November whether force-fed ducks and geese can be raised or sold in Denver.

    Anne Fulton (from left) and Justin Clark canvass in support of ballot measures to ban slaughterhouses and fur sales in Colorado, during the annual Tennyson Street Fall Festival. Oct. 19, 2024.

    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    Denver voters will decide in November 2026 whether to ban the production and sale of foie gras in the city.

    Animal rights advocates with the advocacy group Pro-Animal Colorado turned in more than 16,000 signatures — just over 11,000 of which were valid — to put the question on the Denver ballot. The same group previously made unsuccessful attempts to ban fur sales and slaughterhouses in 2024.

    This time, the advocates’ aim is more niche: banning the sale and production of fatty fowl liver, better known by its French name, foie gras.

    Foie gras is the liver meat produced by force-feeding ducks and geese. The French delicacy has a reputation among some consumers as delectably rich and buttery, and among animal rights advocates as utterly inhumane.

    Denver voters will consider a proposal that would prohibit individuals from force-feeding birds to enlarge their livers beyond normal size or hiring someone to do so. Additionally, restaurants, grocery distributors and others could no longer sell foie gras. 

    “Eliminating the production and sale of force-fed products from the marketplace is in our city’s interest and authority to reduce animal cruelty, unsustainable environmental practices, and spread of zoonotic disease, and to uphold our city’s values of humane animal treatment, public health, and environmental stewardship,” the measure states. 

    The proposal condemns the practice of injecting excess feed down a bird’s esophagus, declares foie gras as a danger to workers and the environment, and states that foie gras is a health hazard for humans. 

    Those who violate the rules would be fined between $1,000 and $5,000, and each violation would be deemed a separate offense. Businesses that violated the ban repeatedly could lose their license for up to six months. 

    If voters approve the ban, it would go into effect on July 1, 2027.

    Olivia Hammond, a spokesperson for Pro-Animal Colorado, previously said that Denver doesn’t have any factories or farms that force-feed birds, but added that the proposal’s language would ban any facilities from opening in the future. Meanwhile, she said, up to 15 restaurants in Denver serve products derived from force-feeding, depending on the season.

    Here’s how the last campaign went:

    In 2024, the group fell short of its goals of banning fur sales and slaughterhouses in the city.

    • The fur vote failed 42 percent to 57 percent. 
    • The slaughterhouse vote failed 36 percent to 63 percent. 
    • Pro-Animal Denver (as the group was known at the time) raised $352,045. Fur and slaughterhouse supporters raised more than $2 million.

    Several countries, including Brazil, the United Kingdom and Germany, ban either force-feeding or the production of foie gras. California lawmakers passed a bill to ban force-feeding and foie gras in 2004, which has been constantly challenged in courts.

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  • Myanmar’s Military-Backed Party Claims Strong Lead in Election’s First Phase

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    BANGKOK (AP) — The political party backed by Myanmar ’s ruling military claimed Tuesday it won a commanding lead in the initial round of the first general election in five years, even though the state election body has not named the winners.

    Voting is taking place in three phases due to ongoing armed conflicts, with the first round held Sunday in 102 of Myanmar’s 330 townships. The remaining phases will take place on Jan. 11 and Jan. 25, but 65 townships won’t participate because of the fighting.

    A senior official of the Union Solidarity and Development Party told The Associated Press that the party has won 88 seats of the total 102 lower house seats contested in the first phase. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information.

    Myanmar has a two-house national legislature, totaling 664 seats. The party with a combined parliamentary majority can select the new president, who can name a Cabinet and form a new government. The military automatically receives 25% of seats in each house under the constitution.

    Final results are expected to be announced by late January. It wasn’t clear if the election commission would release aggregate figures of the first round, although counts were publicly announced at local polling stations.

    The USDP’s official said it also won 85% of contested seats in regional legislatures, though complete results will only be known after the second or third phases.

    He said the party captured all constituencies in all eight townships in the capital, Naypyitaw, where candidates including former generals were running. Many residents are in the military or work for the government.

    While more than 4,800 candidates from 57 parties are competing for seats in national and regional legislatures, only six parties are competing nationwide with the possibility to gain political clout in parliament. The USDP is by far the strongest contender.

    The military government said there were more than 24 million eligible voters in the election, about 35% fewer than in the previous election in 2020. The drop is largely attributed to armed conflicts that have displaced many voters, and restrictions on elections in conflict areas.

    Voter turnout for the first round has not been officially announced.

    Opposition groups have called for a boycott by voters.

    Human rights and opposition groups say the election is neither free nor fair and that power is likely to remain in the hands of military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led the army takeover in February 2021 that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and blocked her National League for Democracy party from serving a second term.

    The NLD was dissolved in 2023, along with 39 other parties, after refusing to officially register under the new military rules.

    The 2021 takeover triggered widespread popular opposition that has grown into a civil war.

    The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday that armed groups opposing the army carried out attacks against polling stations and government buildings, as well as other areas in 11 of 102 townships included in the first phase of the election, on Saturday and Sunday, injuring five people.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • 5 pivotal 2026 Senate races will determine whether Republicans maintain governing trifecta under Trump

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    The balance of power in Washington, D.C., is up for grabs in 2026 as a handful of key Senate races will determine whether President Donald Trump and Republicans will maintain their governing trifecta. 

    In addition to their own competitiveness, many of these key Senate races may say more about the state of politics in 2026 — and the respective parties — beyond their individual results.

    FIVE SLEEPER RACES THAT COULD UPEND 2026 – FROM PENNSYLVANIA’S ALLEGHENIES TO NEW MEXICO

    Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., during the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on “Worldwide Threats,” on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on March 25, 2025. (Maansi Srivastava for the Washington Post)

    5 — Georgia

    Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., faces a competitive Senate race in Georgia where Democrats will look to retain a seat in a state that went to President Donald Trump by 2.2% in 2024. Ossoff will have to defend his party’s role in the extended government shutdown that especially hurt Georgia’s airline-heavy economy. 

    During the 43-day stretch, Ossoff voted with Republicans to make partial provisions for federal workers but voted against the spending package that eventually ended the shutdown.

    Ossoff won his last election in a 2021 runoff against Republican candidate David Perdue. He secured victory by just a 1.2% margin.

    Nine Republicans have joined the bid to unseat Ossoff. Most notably, the challengers include Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., and Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga. 

    Republicans will hold their primary on May 19, 2026.

    CORNYN TORCHES DEMOCRATIC FIELD, SAYS PARTY NOW ‘RULED BY SOCIALISTS’

    U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

    The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., is seen on Nov. 5, 2025. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    4 — Michigan

    Before Michigan’s Senate race becomes a question of congressional power, it may first become a litmus test for what the Democratic label is becoming.

    Five Democrats have joined the Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Minn. Peters last won election in 2020 by just 1.7% — just over 92,000 votes. The primary race has become a three-way contest between Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate pushing for healthcare for all and greater federal restrictions on what he sees as monopolistic forces in capitalism, and two more middle-of-the-road candidates: state Sen. Mallory McMorow and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich.

    Republicans have made efforts to use El-Seyed’s stances as proof that Democrats are going the way of Zohran Mamdani, the socialist mayor-elect of New York City. 

    On the Republican side of the field, the race has attracted a handful of candidates, most of whom have not previously held office. One notable exception is former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who represented the state in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2015. 

    Michigan will hold its state primaries on Aug. 4, 2026.

    AFTER ROUGH 2025 ELECTIONS, TOP GOP HOPEFUL SAYS CONSERVATISM’S FUTURE RUNS THROUGH SOUND ECONOMIC MESSAGE

    gov tim walz confused shrug

    Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., is at the center of a widening scandal as federal prosecutors continue to unravel one of the nation’s largest COVID-era fraud cases. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

    3 — Minnesota

    The race to fill the seat of outgoing Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., presents Republicans with a tantalizing opportunity in a state that’s home to former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz — and where national outrage over devastating fraud schemes may create an opening for Republican messaging.

    Smith last won election in 2020 with a 48.8% — 43.6% victory over Republican candidate Jason Lewis. In that election, Kevin O’Connor, an independent candidate advocating for the legalization of marijuana, took away 5.8% of the vote. It’s unclear how that 5.8% vote may go in 2026; O’Connor hasn’t filed to join the race. Additionally, an executive order from President Donald Trump sets up marijuana to become available for medical research and use.

    With the playing field looking different this time around, the race has attracted eight Republican candidates — including Royce White, a former NBA player for the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings. 

    On the Democratic side of the aisle, notable candidates include Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. That primary sets up a telling choice for Democrats between Craig, who has attracted endorsements from more of the party’s establishment, and Flanagan, a progressive. 

    Minnesota will hold its primaries on Aug. 10, 2026. 

    TIM SCOTT TELLS MAGA VOTERS TRUMP ‘IS ON THE BALLOT’ AS GOP FIGHTS TO GROW SENATE MAJORITY IN 2026

    Sen. Joni Ernst during hearing

    Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, introduced the McSCUSE ME Act to address SNAP benefits on Nov. 20, 2025. (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    2 — Iowa

    U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, shocked Washington, D.C., in September when she announced she would not pursue re-election. The two-term senator had run into hot water when she remarked that “we are all going to die,” in response to questions about healthcare insecurity that Democrats feared would arise from cuts to Medicaid. She last won an election in 2020 in a 51.7% to 45.2% victory over Theresa Greenfield. 

    That 6.5% margin of victory — without the advantage of an incumbent to defend the seat — gives Democrats a unique opportunity to try to flip a seat in a state that went to Trump in 2024 by 13.3%.

    So far, a handful of candidates have declared their candidacy for the race, including Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa. The group also includes a handful of Republican state-level representatives. Similarly, notable Democrats in the race include state Sen. Zach Wahls and state Rep. Josh Turek.

    Iowa has its primaries scheduled for Jun. 2, 2026.

    GOP SEIZES ON DEM CIVIL WAR AS PROGRESSIVES JUMP INTO KEY 2026 SENATE RACES: ‘THEY’RE IN SHAMBLES’

    Michael Whatley at Republican National Convention

    RNC Chair Michael Whatley gavels to begin the Republican National Convention on Monday, Jul. 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

    1 — North Carolina

    The Tar Heel State’s 2026 Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has all the makings of a blockbuster showdown. As a state with a Democratic governor that went for Trump in 2024, North Carolina’s matchup could come down to the wire between former RNC Chair Michael Whatley, a Republican with expansive fundraising and campaign experience, and former N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper, a soft-spoken Democrat with a track record for winning over middle-of-the-road voters. 

    While Whatley has never held elected office, he helped Republicans overperform expectations in 2024 when the GOP narrowly hung on to power in the House of Representatives and flipped control of the U.S. Senate. Cooper last won election as governor in 2020 in a 51.5% – 47.0% victory over Republican challenger Dan Forest. Before his time as governor, Cooper had been elected multiple times to serve as the state’s attorney general going back to 2000. He has never lost an election. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    The state will hold its primaries on March 3, 2026.

    Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.

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  • Protesting students in Serbia urge support for early election they hope will oust Vucic

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    BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia’s protesting university students on Sunday collected signatures throughout the country for their request for an early parliamentary election that they hope would oust the autocratic government of President Aleksandar Vucic from office.

    Braving freezing weather, the students set up nearly 500 stands in dozens of cities, towns and villages in the Balkan country for residents to sign the election demand, which isn’t a formal petition. Students have said that Sunday’s action was meant to put further pressure on Vucic and as a test of support.

    Young protesters have been at the forefront of a nationwide movement against Vucic’s populist rule in Serbia. More than a year of street protests first started in November 2024 after a train station disaster that killed 16 people.

    The concrete canopy collapse in the northern city of Novi Sad was widely blamed on alleged rampant corruption and disregard of construction and safety rules during renovation work at the station. No one has been held responsible for the tragedy.

    Vucic has refused to schedule an immediate early vote, but has suggested that it could be held sometime next year. Both parliamentary and presidential elections are otherwise due in 2027.

    “We have stands that serve to connect with the citizens,” said Igor Dojnov, a student manning one of the points in central Belgrade.

    Youth-led protests during the past year have shaken Vucic more than ever during his 13-year-long tenure. Serbia’s populist prime minister resigned in January, and Vucic later launched a crackdown on protesters that also drew international criticism.

    While street protests have subsided, discontent with Vucic’s government is believed to be widespread.

    Milca Cankovic Kadijevic, a resident of Belgrade, said that she supported the students, because “I have a desire to live decently — me, my children and my grandchildren.”

    Vucic has formally promised to take Serbia into the European Union, but he has maintained close links with Russia and China, while facing accusations of clamping down on democratic freedoms and allowing corruption and organized crime to flourish.

    He has denied this, and accused the protesters of attempting to orchestrate a “color revolution” under unspecified orders from the West. The term “color revolution” has been used to describe a series of mass protests at the beginning of the 21st century that sometimes led to the toppling of governments in the former Soviet Union states, the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and Asia.

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  • Myanmar holds first election since military seized power but critics say the vote is a sham

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    YANGON, Myanmar — Voters went to the polls Sunday for the initial phase of Myanmar’s first general election in five years, held under the supervision of its military government while a civil war rages throughout much of the country.

    Final results won’t be known until after two more rounds of voting are completed later in January. It’s widely expected that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who has governed Myanmar since an army takeover in 2021, will then assume the presidency.

    The military government has presented the vote as a return to democracy, but its bid for legitimacy is marred by the absence of formerly popular opposition parties and reports that soldiers used threats to force voters’ participation.

    While more than 4,800 candidates from 57 parties are competing for seats in national and regional legislatures, only six are competing nationwide with the possibility to gain political clout in parliament. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party is by far the strongest contender.

    Voting is taking place in three phases, with Sunday’s first round being held in 102 of Myanmar’s 330 townships. Subsequent phases will take place on Jan. 11 and Jan. 25, but 65 townships won’t participate in the election because of ongoing armed conflicts.

    Final results are expected to be announced by February. It wasn’t clear if or when the authorities would release aggregate figures of Sunday’s voting, although counts were publicly announced at local polling stations.

    Critics of the current system say that the election is designed to add a facade of legitimacy to the status quo. Military rule began when soldiers ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. It blocked her National League for Democracy party from serving a second term despite winning a landslide victory in the 2020 election.

    They argue that the results will lack legitimacy because of the exclusion of major parties and government repression.

    The expected victory of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party makes the nominal transition to civilian rule a chimera, say opponents of military rule and independent analysts.

    “An election organized by a junta that continues to bomb civilians, jail political leaders, and criminalize all forms of dissent is not an election — it is a theater of the absurd performed at gunpoint,” Tom Andrews, the U.N.-appointed human rights expert for Myanmar, posted on X.

    However, the election may provide an excuse for neighbors like China, India and Thailand to say that the vote represents progress toward stability. Western nations have maintained sanctions against Myanmar’s ruling generals because of the military’s anti-democratic actions and the brutal war against opponents.

    According to a count carried out at one polling station in Yangon after the polls closed, only 524 of 1,431 registered voters — just under 37% — cast their ballots.

    Of those, 311 voted for the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party, suggesting that opposition calls for a voter boycott may have been heeded.

    Khin Marlar, 51, who cast her ballot in Yangon’s Kyauktada township, said that she felt that she should vote, because she hoped that peace would follow afterward. She explained that she had fled her village in the town of Thaungta in the central Mandalay region because of the fighting.

    “I am voting with the feeling that I will go back to my village when it is peaceful,” she told The Associated Press.

    A resident of southern Mon state, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Khin, for fear of arrest by the military, told the AP that she felt compelled to go to a polling station because of pressure from local authorities.

    “I have to go and vote even though I don’t want to, because soldiers showed up with guns to our village to pressure us yesterday,” Khin said, echoing reports from independent media and rights groups.

    Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s 80-year-old former leader, and her party aren’t participating in the polls. She is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as spurious and politically motivated. Her party, the National League for Democracy, was dissolved in 2023 after refusing to register under new military rules.

    Other parties also refused to register or declined to run under conditions they deem unfair, and opposition groups have called for a voter boycott.

    Amael Vier, an analyst for the Asian Network for Free Elections, noted a lack of genuine choice, pointing out that 73% of voters in 2020 cast ballots for parties that no longer exist.

    According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 22,000 people are currently detained for political offenses, and more than 7,600 civilians have been killed by security forces since 2021.

    Armed resistance arose after the army used lethal force to crush nonviolent protests against its 2021 takeover. The ensuing civil war has left more than 3.6 million people displaced, according to the U.N.

    A new Election Protection Law imposes harsh penalties and restrictions for virtually all public criticism of the polls.

    There were no reports of major interference with the polls, though opposition organizations and armed resistance groups had vowed to disrupt the electoral process.

    Both the military and its opponents believe power is likely to remain with Min Aung Hlaing, who led the 2021 seizure of power.

    “I am the commander in chief. I am a civil servant. I cannot say that I want to serve as a president. I am not the leader of a political party,” he told journalists after casting his vote. “There is a process for electing a president from parliament only when it is convened. I think it is appropriate to speak about it only then.”

    ___

    Grant Peck reported from Bangkok.

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  • Protesting Students in Serbia Urge Support for Early Election They Hope Will Oust Vucic

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    BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s protesting university students on Sunday collected signatures throughout the country for their request for an early parliamentary election that they hope would oust the autocratic government of President Aleksandar Vucic from office.

    Braving freezing weather, the students set up nearly 500 stands in dozens of cities, towns and villages in the Balkan country for residents to sign the election demand, which isn’t a formal petition. Students have said that Sunday’s action was meant to put further pressure on Vucic and as a test of support.

    Young protesters have been at the forefront of a nationwide movement against Vucic’s populist rule in Serbia. More than a year of street protests first started in November 2024 after a train station disaster that killed 16 people.

    The concrete canopy collapse in the northern city of Novi Sad was widely blamed on alleged rampant corruption and disregard of construction and safety rules during renovation work at the station. No one has been held responsible for the tragedy.

    Vucic has refused to schedule an immediate early vote, but has suggested that it could be held sometime next year. Both parliamentary and presidential elections are otherwise due in 2027.

    “We have stands that serve to connect with the citizens,” said Igor Dojnov, a student manning one of the points in central Belgrade.

    While street protests have subsided, discontent with Vucic’s government is believed to be widespread.

    Milca Cankovic Kadijevic, a resident of Belgrade, said that she supported the students, because “I have a desire to live decently — me, my children and my grandchildren.”

    Vucic has formally promised to take Serbia into the European Union, but he has maintained close links with Russia and China, while facing accusations of clamping down on democratic freedoms and allowing corruption and organized crime to flourish.

    He has denied this, and accused the protesters of attempting to orchestrate a “color revolution” under unspecified orders from the West. The term “color revolution” has been used to describe a series of mass protests at the beginning of the 21st century that sometimes led to the toppling of governments in the former Soviet Union states, the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and Asia.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Trump-backed Nasry Asfura wins presidential elections in Honduras

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    Tegucigalpa [Honduras], December 25 (ANI): Nasry Asfura, a conservative candidate, has won the presidential elections in Honduras, the country’s election council said, as reported by Al Jazeera.

    According to the Consejo Nacional Electoral, the electoral authority in the North American country, Asfura won 40.3 per cent of the vote in the closely contested polls, defeating centre-right Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla, who received 39.5 per cent of the votes.

    According to Al Jazeera, Asfura was backed by United States President Donald Trump.

    In a social media post, Asfura said, ‘Honduras: I am prepared to govern. I will not fail you.’

    Donald Trump had supported Asfura, attacking Nasralla and left-wing candidate Rixi Moncada, who ended up winning 20 per cent of the votes.

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Nasry Asfura, saying that Washington DC is looking forward to working with him.

    ‘The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president. The United States congratulates President-Elect @titoasfura @papialaordenh and looks forward to working with his administration to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere,’ Rubio said on X.

    In a separate statement, Rubio urged ‘all parties to respect the confirmed results’ of the elections.

    ‘The United States congratulates President-Elect Nasry Asfura of Honduras on his clear electoral victory, confirmed by Honduras’ National Electoral Council. We look forward to working with his incoming administration to advance our bilateral and regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States, and strengthen the economic ties between our two countries. The United States urges all parties to respect the confirmed results so that Honduran authorities may swiftly ensure a peaceful transition of authority to President-Elect Nasry Asfura,’ Rubio said.

    Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau also posted on X, ‘Congratulations to President-elect Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura @titoasfura and the great people of Honduras on a successful and hard-fought election. The US looks forward to working closely with the new Asfura Administration.’

    Earlier this month, Trump had also pardoned former Honduran President and a member of Asfura’s National Party, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was serving a sentence in the US in a drug trafficking case, Al Jazeera reported. (ANI)

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  • Five sleeper races that could upend 2026 – from Pennsylvania’s Alleghenies to New Mexico

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    As Clement Moore’s “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” tells it, families sleep soundly as Santa approaches.

    As the new year nears, several election contests may prove just as quiet – until close results suddenly come into focus. Here are five potential sleeper races to watch in 2026: 

    1. MISSISSIPPI’S 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

    Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, has not often had to worry about a general election challenge since he won a special election on April 13, 1993.

    Predecessor Mike Espy, who recently unsuccessfully ran for Senate in a narrow runoff with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., had resigned to accept President Bill Clinton’s appointment as Secretary of Agriculture.

    Thompson’s closest race was that one – against Republican Hayes Dent – at 55% to 45%.

    Since then, Thompson has never looked back, and instead made himself a nationally-recognized figure later in his tenure.

    He chaired the House Select Committee on January 6, and recently went viral for calling the shooting of West Virginia National Guardsmen allegedly by an Afghan refugee an “unfortunate accident.”

    Thompson’s district, spanning from Jackson west to Yazoo City and Vicksburg on the Mississippi River, is one of the poorest in the country – landing at 3rd out of 435 with a median income of $37,372, according to data published by the office of Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio.

    CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS WIDEN 2026 BATTLEFIELD, ZERO IN ON NEW HOUSE REPUBLICAN TARGETS

    Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) speaks to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania on Monday, July 22, 2024. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital )

    Only Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. preside over a poorer population.

    Last week, an attorney and former counsel to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., mounted a surprise primary bid against Thompson.

    Evan Turnage, 33, who has been alive just about the same time Thompson has been in Congress, made the idea of fighting the region’s persistent poverty paramount to his new campaign, according to Black Press USA.

    “I’ve dedicated my life to leveling the playing field so people can not only get by, but get ahead, and raise a family right here,” Turnage said, according to the outlet.

    On the Republican side, retired Army captain and Vicksburg cardiothoracic surgeon Ron Eller will fight an uphill battle to unseat the winner of the Thompson-Turnage bout.

    2. CONNECTICUT’S 5TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

    Connecticut is another state that is typically not in political conversation as hosting nail-biter partisan elections.

    During the Bush-Clinton years, however, the state was competitive if not outright Republican-favored.

    Former Gov. John Rowland was the first in decades to be elected to more than two terms. He ended up resigning in 2004 amid the threat of impeachment over accusations contractors with the state were doing work on his vacation home.

    CALL TO DUTY: IN BATTLE FOR HOUSE, REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS LOOKING TO VETERANS

    After he resigned, his wife famously wrote a poem critical of the media’s coverage of Rowland’s case, based on Moore’s holiday favorite and called “A Lump of Coal for All the Reporters.” Rowland’s lieutenant, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, took over and was reelected once before retiring in 2010.

    Since then, the state has been reliably Democratic – save for former Sen. Joe Lieberman changing his affiliation to independent.

    In 2022, then-State Sen. George Logan – the first Black man elected to Hartford’s upper chamber — mounted a bid against Rep. Jahana Hayes and lost by less than one percentage point.

    DOUBLING DOWN: TOP HOUSE DEMOCRAT SAYS FOCUS ON HIGH PRICES ‘ABSOLUTELY GOING TO CONTINUE’

    Jahana Hayes D-CT (left) and her 2024 GOP challenger George Logan (right)

    Jahana Hayes D-CT (left) and her 2024 GOP challenger George Logan (right) (Getty & AP )

    Logan tried again in 2024, but lost by a slightly wider margin.

    While Logan is not on the ballot at least yet for 2026, recent history shows Republicans could have an outside chance of ending Democrats’ full control of New England’s congressional delegation.

    3. MARYLAND’S 6TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

    Republicans have wanted to win back Maryland’s sixth congressional district ever since partisan gerrymandering was blamed for booting 20-year incumbent Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., from office in 2012.

    Bartlett, an eccentric conservative who later relocated to the West Virginia wilderness to live off-the-grid, is now 99, and was known for addressing various topics that were sometimes ignored but have received newfound attention at present, including warnings about the strength, reliability and hardening of the U.S. power grid.

    Bartlett won his last campaign by 28 points but then lost by about 20 after the rural district encompassing the entire Maryland Panhandle was adjusted to incorporate the edges of densely-populated Washington, D.C. suburbs.

    SHOWDOWN FOR THE HOUSE: DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS BRACE FOR HIGH-STAKES MIDTERM CLASH

    He was defeated in 2013 by then-Rep. John Delaney, a finance executive – before Delaney was replaced by Total Wine mogul David Trone, who has largely self-funded his campaigns to the tune of millions of dollars.

    Trone won reelection before opting in 2024 to pursue retiring Sen. Benjamin Cardin’s, D-Md., seat – which was ultimately won by Democrat Angela Alsobrooks.

    He announced this year that he would challenge Rep. April McClain-Delaney, D-Md., the wife of former Rep. John Delaney.

    Meanwhile, former longtime state Del. Neil Parrott, R-Antietam, is mounting his fourth consecutive bid for the seat. McClain-Delaney beat Parrott 53-47 in 2024.

    The closest that Republicans have gotten to taking back the seat since Bartlett was defeated came in 2014, when now-FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino narrowly lost to Trone by about a point.

    Bongino notably sought to nationalize the race, pulling in endorsements like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and rebuking Delaney as someone who could “write himself a check for a million dollars” if he needed to in order to win.

    HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN CHAIR WANTS TRUMP ‘OUT THERE ON THE TRAIL’ IN MIDTERM BATTLE FOR MAJORITY

    Neil Parrott shakes hands with Roscoe Bartlett

    Del. Neil Parrott, left., former Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., right. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)

    The future G-man suggested at the time he would rather knock on doors in far-flung communities like Oakland and Grantsville, where he said, “nobody seems to know who [John Delaney] is,” according to the Maryland Reporter.

    Given newly-drawn, friendlier maps following litigation over O’Malley-era gerrymandering, Republicans may have a chance to surprise in a district in one of the most Democratic-majority states in the country.

    4. NEBRASKA’S 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

    While not typically considered a swing state, or one that gets much attention in federal elections, Nebraska’s only urban-leaning district may decide the future of the House of Representatives if the overall contest is as close as it has been in recent years.

    Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., one of few in his party who have publicly lambasted President Donald Trump, is retiring. The district – centered in Douglas and Saunders counties; including Omaha and Ashland – already has a slew of candidates on both sides hoping to take the moderate’s seat.

    Omaha City Councilman Brinker Harding leads state Sen. Brett Lindstrom, R-Omaha, in fundraising, while on the Democratic side, at least five people, including congressional staffer James Leuschen and state Sen. John Cavanaugh, D-Omaha, have tossed their hats in the ring, according to the Nebraska Examiner.

    HEADED FOR THE EXITS: WHY 3-DOZEN HOUSE MEMBERS AREN’T RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION

    Bacon, who hails from suburban Sarpy County, won his last race against former state Sen. Anthony Vargas, D-Omaha, by less than one percentage point.

    After a recent wave of GOP losses in Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey, the district shapes up as a tough hold for Republicans in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide since Ben Nelson retired in 2012.

    5. NEW MEXICO GUBERNATORIAL RACE

    While Nebraska is a red state that doesn’t often garner national attention, on the blue ledger lies New Mexico.

    Topographically and culturally similar to red neighbor Texas and formerly red neighbor Arizona on the other side, the Land of Enchantment is often one that enchants the observer that looks closer at its politics.

    Notably, its mountainous border with Mexico has largely kept it out of politically-contentious Trump-wall debates focused on the flatter, desert and river boundaries of its neighbors.

    REPUBLICANS HAVE CHANCE TO SECURE GOVERNORSHIPS IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES NEXT YEAR

    The US Capitol Building

    US Capitol Building at sunset on January 30th, 2025  (Emma Woodhead/Fox News Digital)

    While it lacks the urban population that is typical of most blue states like New York, California, New Jersey and Maryland, Republicans have been increasingly out of power there for years.

    Former Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., was the last such lawmaker to represent the state in the upper chamber.

    He retired in 2008 and was replaced by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., whose surname is the Mountain West’s equivalent of Cuomo or Casey. The Interior Department headquarters is named after Udall’s father.

    Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is term limited. While she was preceded by a Republican, Susana Martinez, her state has been trending more toward Democratic reliability otherwise.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    Deb Haaland, a former New Mexico congresswoman who was also former President Joe Biden’s Interior Secretary, is the biggest name in the Democratic field, while Greggory Hull, the longtime mayor of Rio Rancho, is such for the GOP.

    Rep. Gabe Vasquez held off a challenge from predecessor Yvette Herrell in the 2nd congressional district, which spans the southwestern part of the state including Alamogordo and Las Cruces, in what was seen as the GOP’s best chance to make inroads again in the border state.

    Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. 

    He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant. 

    Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

    Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

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  • Epstein document release includes multiple Trump mentions, but little news

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    The U.S. Justice Department has released tens of thousands more documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, a tranche that included multiple mentions of President Donald Trump but added little new revelatory information to the long-anticipated public file on the disgraced late…

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    By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and SEUNG MIN KIM – Associated Press

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  • Harriet Hageman Announces Run for Wyoming Senate Seat

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    Wyoming’s lone U.S. representative is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Cynthia Lummis, who isn’t seeking re-election.

    Rep. Harriet Hageman, a Republican, on Tuesday became first to announce for Senate in Wyoming after Lummis, also a Republican, said Friday she isn’t seeking a second term.

    “I will always defend Wyoming’s ability to access, manage and use our natural resources to fuel our economy,” Hageman said in a statement announcing her Senate campaign. “We must ensure that Wyoming remains a leader in energy and food production to help us maintain our way of life.”

    A Cheyenne attorney who represents ranchers, Hageman is best known for beating Republican Rep. Liz Cheney by a wide margin in 2022.

    Cheney, a daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, lost support in Wyoming for opposing President Donald Trump and for leading an investigation into his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Hageman defeated Cheney by a more than 2-to-1 margin in the 2022 Republican primary.

    Hageman went on to win the general election in heavily Republican Wyoming by an even wider margin in 2022 and was re-elected with over 70% of the vote in 2024.

    Lummis has been a U.S. senator since 2021 and is nearing the half-century mark in a political career that has included time in the state Legislature, two terms as state treasurer, and four terms as U.S. representative.

    Lummis said her stamina didn’t “match up” with the energy required for another term.

    Wyoming hasn’t had a Democratic U.S. senator or representative since the late 1970s.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • State complaint says Loveland rep used campaign funds on personal expenses

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    The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office filed a formal complaint Friday against Colorado House Rep. Ron Weinberg for alleged campaign finance violations following an investigation that began when Weinberg’s House colleague Brandi Bradley reported suspected violations to the state in August.

    Ron Weinberg (Photo courtesy of Ron Weinberg)

    Bradley’s complaint alleges that the District 51 representative spent campaign funds on personal expenses, ranging from haircuts and restaurant bills to donations to an Israeli rugby team, between the years of 2023 and 2025. In November, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office announced that it would investigate Weinberg’s spending, and last week it filed a complaint of its own, which will be heard by a hearing officer by Jan. 20.

    The complaint included exhibits of expenses in its report, the earliest being an $84.31 charge at McGraff’s American Grill in Loveland on July 13, 2023, and the most recent being a $96.26 charge at the University Club in Denver on Sept. 18, 2025.

    “Although some of these expenditures, in isolation, may be reasonably related to supporting Weinberg’s election, the sheer volume of questionable expenditures is a sharp departure from other candidates and committees,” the Secretary of State’s Office wrote in its complaint Friday.

    Expenditures included several payments at Monarch Casino Resort Spa in Blackhawk, which Weinberg said was spent during a stay during a Republican Caucus meeting; a nearly $2,000 donation to the Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club, a donation that Weinberg said was an advertising expenditure that included his campaign logo appearing on the team’s jerseys; and a donation to Mountain View High School in Loveland that the school said it had no record of receiving. Weinberg, in an interview Monday, said that the donation had been for advertising purposes as well as to support a sports team at a local high school, and that he suspected the school’s administrators were mistaken.

    He also reported over 100 bar and restaurant bills since 2023, enough that they were included in an exhibit separate from the rest of the expenditures in the complaint.

    The thousands of dollars in bar and restaurant expenses, including $3,566.19 at McGraff’s American Grill in Loveland, were likely not all campaign related, the complaint said.

    “On information and belief, not all of those expenditures were made for campaign purposes,” it read.

    Weinberg said that he hosts many campaign events at McGraff’s, a local establishment near his home in Loveland.

    “It’s not personal,” he said. “If it were personal it would be a $25 charge.”

    The smallest expense at McGraff’s was $25.56, and most of his expenses at the restaurant ranged between $60 and $100.

    Weinberg said that he was confused by the complaint, saying that all expenditures were made through a registered agent, Marge Klein, adding that it was suspicious that the expenditures, which had been publicly available for years prior to Bradley’s complaint, had come so soon after Weinberg made a play for a leadership position in the Colorado House earlier this year.

    “It’s odd that I run for Republican leadership, and all this stuff that’s been out for years suddenly surfaces,” he said. “It seems suspicious. It’s not a coincidence. These charges that they’re talking about have been in the public eye for three years. It’s not like they found a hidden box of receipts under my bed.”

    Candidates for public office file periodic campaign finance reports detailing incoming and outgoing funds, and the expenditures mentioned in the complaint have been publicly available on the Secretary of State’s website since shortly after they were made.

    Weinberg said he was looking forward to a hearing where he could defend the expenditures.

    The Secretary of State’s Office contracts with an outside attorney for such hearings, and that hearing will be scheduled by Jan. 20. After the hearing officer renders a decision, either party can appeal, at which point the Colorado Attorney General’s Office would represent the Secretary of State.

    The complaint did not specify a penalty if Weinberg is found to have violated campaign finance laws but did reference a Colorado State statute that included potential fines, return of the misspent funds, and certain clarifications from the candidate.

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  • Turning Point Showcases the Discord That Republicans Like Vance Will Need to Navigate in the Future

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    But the four-day gathering revealed more peril than promise for Vance or any other potential successor to President Donald Trump, and the tensions on display foreshadow the treacherous waters that they will need to navigate in the coming years. The “Make America Great Again” movement is fracturing as Republicans begin considering a future without Trump, and there is no clear path to holding his coalition together as different factions jockey for influence.

    “Who gets to run it after?” asked commentator Tucker Carlson in his speech at the conference. “Who gets the machinery when the president exits the scene?”

    Vance, who has not said whether he will run for president, is Turning Point’s closing speaker Sunday, appearing at the end of a lineup that includes U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Donald Trump Jr.


    Turning Point backs Vance

    Erika Kirk, who took over as Turning Point’s leader when her husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated, said Thursday that the group wanted Vance “elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible.” The next president will be the 48th in U.S. history.

    Turning Point is a major force on the right, with a nationwide volunteer network that can be especially helpful in early primary states, when candidates rely on grassroots energy to build momentum.

    The endorsement carried “at least a little bit of weight” for 20 year-old Kiara Wagner, who traveled from Toms River, New Jersey, for the conference.

    “If someone like Erika can support JD Vance, I can too,” Wagner said.

    Vance was close with Charlie Kirk. After Kirk’s assassination on a college campus in Utah, the vice president flew out on Air Force Two to collect Kirk’s remains and bring them home to Arizona. The vice president helped uniformed service members carry the casket to the plane.


    A post-Trump Republican Party?

    The Republican Party’s identity has been intertwined with Trump for a decade. Now that he is constitutionally ineligible to run for reelection, the party is starting to ponder a future without him at the helm.

    So far, it looks like settling that question will require a lot of fighting among conservatives. Turning Point featured arguments about antisemitism, Israel and environmental regulations, not to mention rivalries between leading commentators.

    Carlson said the idea of a Republican “civil war” was “totally fake.”

    “There are people who are mad at JD Vance, and they’re stirring up a lot of this in order to make sure he doesn’t get the nomination,” he said. Carlson describe Vance as “the one person” who subscribes to the “core idea of the Trump coalition,” which Carlson said was “America first.”

    Vance appeared to have the edge as far as Turning Point attendees are concerned.

    “It has to be JD Vance because he has been so awesome when it comes to literally any question,” said Tomas Morales, a videographer from Los Angeles. He said “there’s no other choice.”

    Trump has not chosen a successor, though he has spoken highly of both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, even suggesting they could form a future Republican ticket. Rubio has said he would support Vance.

    Asked in August whether Vance was the “heir apparent,” Trump said “most likely.”

    “It’s too early, obviously, to talk about it, but certainly he’s doing a great job, and he would be probably favorite at this point,” he said.

    “I’m not allowed to run,” he told reporters during a trip to Asia in October. “It’s too bad.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Conservatives need to embrace ‘fusion’ of populism, top leader says, calling AmFest scenes are ‘encouraging’

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    The future of the conservative movement rests on the ability of candidates and activists to embrace the best tenets of populism while addressing issues that are uncomfortable in “establishment Washington,” the leader of one of America’s oldest conservative policy groups told Fox News Digital.

    Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, in Phoenix for the first AmericaFest following the murder of Charlie Kirk, said that despite a wave of recent losses for conservatives, there is great hope for the future. The event was packed with thousands of conservatives from around the nation.

    “I was expecting to be really encouraged, and I am,” Roberts said of people he has engaged with at AmericaFest. “There’s a lot of passion and encouragement in that room. And I think we have to keep in mind, moving on to a second point, that you have to ignore sort of the naysayers and the doomsayers about conservative politicians losing the midterms.”

    He said that despite bad press and wipeouts for the right in Virginia, New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvania, conservatives “ought to be more optimistic” after what he called a great first year of the Trump-Vance administration and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., working together.

    VIVEK RAMASWAMY CRITICIZES POCKETS OF ‘ONLINE RIGHT’ FIXATED ON HERITAGE IN TURNING POINT ADDRESS

    Heritage Foundation president Dr. Kevin Roberts. (Tom Williams/CQ Getty Images)

    “What we’ve got to do for 2026 is articulate to the American people — starting with this crowd here at AmFest — what those policy priorities need to be; not just for the short term but for the long term and Heritage certainly is in the middle of that conversation.”

    To keep conservatism at the fore in 2026, given recent setbacks, conservatives must run on an “aspirational vision” he said was lacking in several 2025 races – while noting Jack Ciattarelli’s failed bid for governor of New Jersey bid as one of the better-run campaigns.

    Looking to the new year, Roberts said Heritage is interested in seeing policymakers asking those uncomfortable questions inside the Beltway, like what the future of the American family looks like, whether the workplace is one where Americans earn dignity and not just a paycheck, and more directly, “what it means to be an American.”

    TIM SCOTT TELLS MAGA VOTERS TRUMP ‘IS ON THE BALLOT’ AS GOP FIGHTS TO GROW SENATE MAJORITY IN 2026

    “[That’s] to say something, of course, that establishment Washington doesn’t like to talk about,” he said.

    “What’s the future, not just of immigration policy, but how can we assimilate the highest percentage of foreign-born population we’ve had in modern American history? This is important for all of us if in fact we’re going to have a healthy society,” he said.

    “The bottom line is this, if establishment Washington talks about just sort of sidebar issues in this campaign, then the midterms are going to be a disaster. “

    WHY 2026 SHOULD TERRIFY REPUBLICANS AFTER TENNESSEE SPECIAL ELECTION

    “They, to state the obvious, have to talk about what the American people are asking, and they actually have to offer policy solutions where I happen to think Heritage has some good things to say.”

    In 2028, Trump will be term-limited and a new conservative leader will have to rise.

    The best way for conservatives to move forward, he said, is to embrace a “good fusion of the best elements of populism.”

    SETTING THE STAGE: WHAT THE 2025 ELECTIONS SIGNAL FOR NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERM SHOWDOWNS

    “Namely, exercising popular will over longstanding conservative principles like diminishing the size of the administrative state, but also making sure that we’re sustaining our longstanding, conservative principles,” Roberts said.

    “Whoever the standard-bearers are for conservatism in 2028, 2032, 2036, their policy ideas are going to sound a lot like Trump’s, but of course they are going to bring their own imprint into that.”

    “Those of us who focus on ideas and policy for a living need to do our jobs zealously well to keep offering not just the long-standing policy ideas, but some innovative ones as well,” he added.

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    Looking ahead to Heritage’s work in 2026, Roberts said the think tank will focus on family, the future of free enterprise, national security, and citizenship.

    “And then we’re also focused, especially on the side of our enterprise that works on advocacy and campaigns, “Heritage Action [For America]“, what those particular places are where we can tell that story to the American people. And hopefully, people running for office will take those issues and run with them,” he said.

    Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. 

    He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant. 

    Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

    Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

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  • UN Elects Former Iraqi President Barham Salih as Head of Refugee Agency

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    UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday approved former Iraqi President Barham Salih as the next head of the U.N. refugee agency, its first from the Middle East since the late 1970s.

    The 193-member world body elected the 65-year-old Kurdish politician as the U.N. high commissioner for refugees by consensus and a bang of the gavel by Assembly President Annalena Baerbock. Diplomats in the assembly chamber burst into applause as Salih’s election became official.

    U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a former refugee chief who recommended Salih for the post, said he brings “senior diplomatic, political and administrative leadership experience” to the job, including as “a refugee, crisis negotiator and architect of national reforms.”

    At the age of 19 in 1979, Salih was reportedly arrested twice by Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party on charges of involvement in the Kurdish national movement and spent 43 days in detention. When he was released, he finished high school and fled to the United Kingdom to avoid further persecution.

    After Saddam was ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in 2003, Salih returned to Iraq and held various posts in the government. He became Iraq’s president in 2018, in the immediate aftermath of the Islamic State group’s rampage across Iraq and the battle to take back the territory seized by the extremist group. He served until 2022.

    Salih succeeds longtime agency veteran Filippo Grandi, whose second five-year term expires Dec. 31. Salih’s five-year term starts Jan. 1.

    Salih will take the reins of the Geneva-based UNHCR at the end of a devastating year for many U.N. organizations, including the refugee agency. The U.N. has cut spending and thousands of jobs in the wake of sharply reduced foreign aid contributions by the United States — traditionally its top donor — and other Western countries.

    In a statement after his election, Salih said his experience as a refugee “will inform a leadership approach grounded in empathy, pragmatism, and a principled commitment to international law.”

    With record displacement and severe funding shortages for humanitarian operations, he said, helping the world’s refugees requires “a renewed focus on impact, accountability and efficiency.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Moulton pitches wealth tax in bid for Senate

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    BOSTON — Congressman Seth Moulton is calling for a tax on the nation’s top earners as he tries to win over progressive voters in his bid to topple Sen. Ed Markey in next year’s Democratic primary.

    Moulton, a Salem Democrat, said he supports a national wealth tax on multimillionaires and closing tax loopholes exploited by corporations and the ultrawealthy.

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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