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Tag: Strike

  • Pakistan’s defense minister says that there is now ‘open war’ with Afghanistan

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    Pakistan’s defense minister early Friday said that his country had run out of “patience” and now considers itself in an “open war” with neighboring Afghanistan after both sides launched strikes following what Islamabad described as an Afghan cross-border attack.In a post on X, Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said Pakistan had hoped for peace in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces and expected the Taliban to focus on the welfare of the Afghan people and regional stability. Instead, he alleged, the Taliban had turned Afghanistan “into a colony of India,” gathered militants from around the world and begun “exporting terrorism.”Video above: Shiite Muslims take part in a rally to condemn Israeli strikes on Iran “Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us,” he said. There has been no reaction from Afghan government officials to Asif’s comments.Pakistan has frequently accused neighboring India of backing the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army and the Pakistani Taliban, allegations New Delhi denies.His remarks came hours after Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as in Kandahar in the south and Paktia province in the southeast, according to Pakistani officials and Afghanistan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. Pakistan says the strikes were in retaliation for Afghan cross-border attacks.The escalation comes months after Qatar and Turkey mediated a ceasefire between the two sides.Both governments have issued sharply differing casualty claims and said they inflicted heavy losses on the other. The claims could not be independently verified.Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said overnight that 55 Pakistani soldiers had been killed, including some whose bodies were taken into Afghanistan, and that “several others were captured alive.” It said eight Afghan soldiers were killed and 11 wounded. The ministry said it destroyed 19 Pakistani army posts and two bases and that the fighting ended around midnight, about four hours after it began Thursday.Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said two Pakistani soldiers were killed and three wounded.Mosharraf Ali Zaidi, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, denied that any Pakistani soldiers had been captured. In a post on X, he said at least 133 Afghan fighters were killed and more than 200 wounded. He also said 27 Afghan posts were destroyed and nine fighters captured. He did not specify where the casualties occurred but said additional losses were estimated in strikes on military targets in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar.In Islamabad, two senior security officials said Afghan forces at some border posts had raised white flags, a gesture typically interpreted as a request to halt firing. The officials said Pakistani forces were continuing what they described as a strong retaliatory response to “unprovoked aggression” by the Afghan Taliban and had destroyed several key Taliban posts along the border.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.Asif also accused the Taliban government of denying Afghans basic human rights, including rights for women that he said are guaranteed under Islam, without providing details or evidence.He said Pakistan had tried to maintain stability both directly and through friendly countries. “Today, when attempts were made to target Pakistan with aggression, by the grace of God, our armed forces are giving a decisive response,” he said.Authorities in Pakistan said dozens of Afghan refugees who were waiting to return home from the northwestern Torkham border have been taken back to safer places following the eruption of clashes.Pakistan launched a sweeping crackdown in Oct. 2023 to expel migrants without documents, urging those in the country to leave of their own accord to avoid arrest and forcible deportation and forcibly expelling others. Iran also began a crackdown on migrants at around the same time.Since then, millions have streamed across the border into Afghanistan, including people who were born in Pakistan decades ago and had built lives and created businesses there.Last year alone, 2.9 million people returned to Afghanistan, the U.N. refugee agency has said, with nearly 80,000 having returned so far this year.Afghan reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, Eduardo Castillo in Beijing and Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, also contributed to this story.

    ISLAMABAD, Islamabad Capital Territory —

    Pakistan’s defense minister early Friday said that his country had run out of “patience” and now considers itself in an “open war” with neighboring Afghanistan after both sides launched strikes following what Islamabad described as an Afghan cross-border attack.

    In a post on X, Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said Pakistan had hoped for peace in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces and expected the Taliban to focus on the welfare of the Afghan people and regional stability. Instead, he alleged, the Taliban had turned Afghanistan “into a colony of India,” gathered militants from around the world and begun “exporting terrorism.”

    Video above: Shiite Muslims take part in a rally to condemn Israeli strikes on Iran

    “Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us,” he said. There has been no reaction from Afghan government officials to Asif’s comments.

    Pakistan has frequently accused neighboring India of backing the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army and the Pakistani Taliban, allegations New Delhi denies.

    His remarks came hours after Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as in Kandahar in the south and Paktia province in the southeast, according to Pakistani officials and Afghanistan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. Pakistan says the strikes were in retaliation for Afghan cross-border attacks.

    The escalation comes months after Qatar and Turkey mediated a ceasefire between the two sides.

    Both governments have issued sharply differing casualty claims and said they inflicted heavy losses on the other. The claims could not be independently verified.

    Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said overnight that 55 Pakistani soldiers had been killed, including some whose bodies were taken into Afghanistan, and that “several others were captured alive.” It said eight Afghan soldiers were killed and 11 wounded. The ministry said it destroyed 19 Pakistani army posts and two bases and that the fighting ended around midnight, about four hours after it began Thursday.

    Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said two Pakistani soldiers were killed and three wounded.

    Mosharraf Ali Zaidi, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, denied that any Pakistani soldiers had been captured. In a post on X, he said at least 133 Afghan fighters were killed and more than 200 wounded. He also said 27 Afghan posts were destroyed and nine fighters captured. He did not specify where the casualties occurred but said additional losses were estimated in strikes on military targets in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar.

    In Islamabad, two senior security officials said Afghan forces at some border posts had raised white flags, a gesture typically interpreted as a request to halt firing. The officials said Pakistani forces were continuing what they described as a strong retaliatory response to “unprovoked aggression” by the Afghan Taliban and had destroyed several key Taliban posts along the border.

    The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

    Asif also accused the Taliban government of denying Afghans basic human rights, including rights for women that he said are guaranteed under Islam, without providing details or evidence.

    He said Pakistan had tried to maintain stability both directly and through friendly countries. “Today, when attempts were made to target Pakistan with aggression, by the grace of God, our armed forces are giving a decisive response,” he said.

    Authorities in Pakistan said dozens of Afghan refugees who were waiting to return home from the northwestern Torkham border have been taken back to safer places following the eruption of clashes.

    Pakistan launched a sweeping crackdown in Oct. 2023 to expel migrants without documents, urging those in the country to leave of their own accord to avoid arrest and forcible deportation and forcibly expelling others. Iran also began a crackdown on migrants at around the same time.

    Since then, millions have streamed across the border into Afghanistan, including people who were born in Pakistan decades ago and had built lives and created businesses there.

    Last year alone, 2.9 million people returned to Afghanistan, the U.N. refugee agency has said, with nearly 80,000 having returned so far this year.

    Afghan reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, Eduardo Castillo in Beijing and Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, also contributed to this story.

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  • San Francisco teachers’ strike ends as union and school district reach tentative deal

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    A San Francisco teachers’ strike that closed public schools for some 50,000 students this week ended Friday as the union reached a tentative agreement with the cash-strapped school district, which will provide pay raises and improved healthcare benefits.

    The tentative contract between the San Francisco Unified School District and United Educators of San Francisco includes a 5% raise over two years for teachers and fully funded healthcare for union members and their families starting in 2027, according to the union.

    “We won!” the union said in a statement just after 5:30 a.m. Friday.

    “We know our work is not done,” the statement read. “While we didn’t win everything we know we deserve, this strike allowed us to imagine our schools and classrooms as they should be with staffing levels high enough that our students can learn and thrive.”

    Schools have been closed since the strike began Monday, leaving families to scramble for child care and meals as teachers rallied for their first strike since 1979.

    Campuses will not reopen until Wednesday. The district called Friday a “transition day” for staffers, who were expected to return to their work sites. The district said schools would remain closed Monday for Presidents Day and Tuesday for Lunar New Year.

    “I recognize that this past week has been challenging,” San Francisco schools Supt. Maria Su said in a statement Friday.

    She added: “I am so proud of the resilience and strength of our community. This is a new beginning, and I want to celebrate our diverse community of educators, administrators, parents, and students as we come together and heal.”

    Teachers took to picket lines despite last-minute pleas from San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and prominent lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), to keep classrooms open while contract negotiations — which began in March 2025 — continued.

    The union said it had been clear about its timeline.

    The San Francisco teachers’ strike could portend more labor unrest in California, where educators in other major districts, including Los Angeles, have signaled that they, too, are prepared to strike for higher pay, smaller class sizes and more resources.

    Last year, the California Teachers Assn., the statewide teachers’ union, launched the “We Can’t Wait” campaign, urging union chapters to band together to be forceful in labor negotiations.

    Members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly last month to authorize their leadership to call a strike, increasing pressure as negotiations stall and as the Los Angeles Unified School District is planning for likely staff layoffs and budget cuts.

    In San Diego, the teachers’ union voted before winter break to authorize a one-day unfair labor practice strike on Feb. 26 if the San Diego Unified School District does not improve special education staffing.

    Unions representing educators for at least two Sacramento-area school districts — the Natomas Unified School District and Twin Rivers Unified School District — also voted this month to authorize strikes.

    The labor tensions come as COVID relief funds have ended and public school enrollment in California has plummeted in recent years, leading to reduced state funding.

    The San Francisco deal comes as the district is facing a $102-million budget deficit and is under state fiscal oversight because of a long-standing financial crisis. The district has said that if layoffs are needed to close the gap, employees will be given notices this spring.

    San Francisco is one of the nation’s most expensive cities, where the average home sells for nearly $1.4 million and the average monthly rent of $3,700 is double the national average, according to Zillow.

    Cassondra Curiel, the teachers’ union president, said in a statement this week that “the affordability crisis for those of us devoted to San Francisco’s next generation is real.”

    Curiel said rising healthcare premiums were adding to the financial strain, pushing teachers and support staff out of the district, which has hundreds of educator vacancies.

    The tentative agreement falls short of the 9% pay raise for teachers that the union had asked for.

    The deal, according to the union, includes an 8.5% pay raise over two years for lower-paid classified employees.

    The agreement also includes so-called sanctuary school protections for immigrant and refugee students and limitations on the district’s use of artificial intelligence.

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    Hailey Branson-Potts

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  • How early cognitive training leads to lifelong brain strength

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    Key points:

    As we continue to make strides in understanding the brain–its strengths and weaknesses, how it develops, and its incredible potential–one idea has continued to strike conversation: the profound benefits of cognitive training. Cognitive training involves exercises that target core skills like working memory, attention, and processing speed. While much of the research in this field has focused on its applications for the elderly, the greatest promise may lie in starting cognitive training early and establishing a foundation for lifelong brain health, rather than simply addressing decline later in life.

    Research consistently shows that daily cognitive training exercises can slow cognitive decline and boost overall brain function in older adults. A landmark National Institutes of Health-funded study, known as the ACTIVE trial (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly), demonstrated that challenging brain activities help maintain mental sharpness and memory retention in people over 50, delaying the onset of neurodegenerative diseases.

    While cognitive training benefits adults at any stage of life, the Handbook of Clinical Neurology indicates childhood as a uniquely pivotal opportunity for brain development. The research highlights that synaptogenesis (the creation of new synapses) peaks in childhood, making it a critical window for experience-dependent brain changes. If introduced during the formative schooling years, ideally between the ages of eight to 18, brain training has the potential to lay a strong foundation for sustained cognitive health well into adulthood, helping improve short-term cognitive skills and setting the stage for long-term mental fitness.

    Using the education system as a vehicle to introduce cognitive skill development to children and teens offers a promising route for ensuring these benefits become part of every young student’s growth journey. By incorporating structured cognitive exercises into schools through gamified, digital training platforms, educational institutions can create a holistic approach to learning that nurtures both academic success and mental well-being in a fun, innovative way. And, while there may be hurdles to overcome due to time constraints associated with training or the implementation of new technology, the results of improving test scores with these mostly self-guided programs should make this transition a no-brainer.

    Furthermore, the science shows that brain training programs have resulted in better schooling outcomes. One recent study published in Brain Sciences, an international scientific journal, investigated the efficacy of computerized cognitive training (CCT) on school-age children with learning differences. Teachers were trained to administer daily 20-minute sessions to students, monitor their progress, and provide guidance and support as needed. The findings ultimately concluded that CCT is efficacious in building core cognitive abilities that are critical to school success. Evidence also indicated that more CCT training leads to greater treatment effects. Research like this not only provides the assurance of positive results, but also demonstrates the feasibility of integrating technology-based cognitive training programs into school systems and educational organizations.

    Students today face unprecedented distractions from technology, social media, and academic pressures. Cognitive training can combat these distractions early on by reinforcing focus and attention–skills that are essential for navigating an increasingly complex world. Embedding cognitive training into school curricula ensures all students have equal access to developing critical brain functions, giving them the fortitude to thrive both academically and personally. Just as physical education evolved from a novel concept to a core part of school curricula worldwide, cognitive training should be viewed through the same lens–as an investment in lifelong success, resilience and overall well-being.

    The question is no longer whether cognitive training works–it does. With continued declines in national academic benchmarks, now is the time for homeschooling parents, public school systems, tutor centers, and other academic-adjacent institutions to get creative with solutions.

    Investing in technology for cognitive training in the classroom is an evidence-based approach to improving student engagement and performance in the short term, while building a lasting foundation for robust brain health in the future. Proactive integration, rather than retroactive intervention, during the formative years of life is key to redefining the trajectory of cognitive aging. This isn’t just about improving test scores today; it’s about safeguarding mental acuity and cognitive resilience for generations to come.

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    Dominick Fedele, Mastermind

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  • Some businesses that closed for Minnesota general strike won’t shut down for national one

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    A nationwide strike is planned for Friday to stand with immigrant communities and protest ICE activity, but some Minnesota businesses may not be as involved this time around. 

    Minnesota showed up for a massive anti-ICE protest last week. Thousands took to the streets and an estimated more than 300 businesses closed.

    Some, however, say another shutdown is not possible. 

    “This has been not just my reality, but this has been my worst nightmare,” said Daniel Hernandez, the owner of Colonial Market.

    Hernandez opened the Hispanic grocery and restaurant with hopes of helping people achieving that American dream. Instead, his business has been greatly impacted by the ICE activity and sales have dropped by 90%. Fewer customers and each day quieter than the last.

    Despite the tough time, he joined hundreds of businesses that closed last week in a show of solidarity over the Operation Metro Surge crackdown.

    Now, with another strike planned for Friday, closing again isn’t feasible for Hernandez.

     “I already did it once, I can’t afford another da,y I can’t,” he said. “What do you want us to do? Close and also go out of business?” 

    Hernandez says keeping his doors open isn’t an opposition but survival, not only for him but also for employees who depend on clocking in to make a living.

    While some businesses will open Friday, they plan to find ways to show support, like offering free meals and or delivering groceries.

    In:

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    Ubah Ali

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  • Families of two men believed to have been killed in military strike on boat sue US government over ‘unlawful’ attacks

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    As the U.S. military began launching strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean last year, a young Trinidadian man who was in Venezuela for work was searching for a way home, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.Chad Joseph, 26, had been in Venezuela for months fishing and doing farm work when he began looking for a boat to hitch a ride back to Las Cuevas in Trinidad and Tobago, where his wife and three children lived. But as the U.S. began targeting vessels officials said were carrying drugs destined for American streets, Joseph “became increasingly fearful” of making the journey, court documents say. The concerns became so real that in early September, his wife recalled, he called to assure her that he had not been aboard a vessel just hit by the U.S., pledging to be home soon.The last call home was on Oct. 12, when Joseph told his wife he’d found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad, and he would be seeing her in a matter of days, according to court documents. Two days later, however, on Oct. 14, the U.S. struck another target — a boat Joseph’s family believes he was in.“Mr. Joseph’s wife repeatedly called Mr. Joseph’s cellphone, but the line was dead,” a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the U.S. government says. “The line remains dead to this day.”Joseph’s family, and the family of another Trinidadian man, 41-year-old Rishi Samaroo, who had been working with Joseph in Venezuela and who is also believed to have been on the boat, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing of the two men. The complaint calls the strikes “unprecedented and manifestly unlawful,” and says they have carried out “premeditated and intentional killings” with no legal justification.CNN asked the Justice Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response before publication. The Defense Department declined to comment on ongoing litigation.The complaint says that, despite claims by President Donald Trump and other administration officials that all the men killed on board were “narcoterrorists,” neither Joseph nor Samaroo had any affiliation to drug cartels.The lawsuit marks the first opportunity for a judge to rule on the legality of the strikes which are part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific — dubbed Operation Southern Spear — that has killed at least 117 people. The most recent strike was carried out last week in the eastern Pacific, killing two and leaving one survivor who was being searched for by the Coast Guard.The lawsuit points specifically to the Death on the High Seas Act, which allows family members to sue over wrongful deaths on the high seas, and the Alien Tort Statute, which lets foreign nationals sue in federal courts over violations of international law.The families are suing for compensatory and punitive damages and they are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Jonathan Hafetz with the Seton Hall Law School.The administration has publicly presented little evidence that those killed in the ongoing campaign are affiliates of drug cartels, or that each of the vessels had drugs on them. When pressed by lawmakers during congressional briefings, military officials have acknowledged they do not know the identities of everyone on board the boats they have destroyed.The legality of the strikes has come under intense scrutiny in Congress since the operations began in September, including particular interest in the very first strike, when the military carried out a second strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack. Multiple current and former military lawyers previously told CNN the strikes do not appear lawful.But the administration has maintained that the operation is a necessary step against drugs heading for US shores that will ultimately harm Americans.Trump announced the Oct. 14 strike in a social media post, saying “six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed” and that intelligence had confirmed the vessel was “trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route.”‘They must be held accountable’Similar to Joseph, Samaroo had communicated with his family just days before the Oct. 14 strike. Having served 15 years in prison for “participation in a homicide” in Trinidad, and released early on parole, Samaroo moved to Las Cuevas, Trinidad, and in August 2025 he went to Venezuela to work on a farm, the lawsuit says.He frequently shared photos and videos with his family of his time on the farm, “where he cared for cows and goats and made cheese.” During one video call, he introduced Joseph, a friend from home who he said he was working with in Venezuela.On Oct. 12, Samaroo sent his sister, Sallycar Korasingh, a photo in a lifejacket, telling her he had found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad and he would see her in a few days.“That call was the last time Ms. Korasingh, or anyone else in his family, heard from Mr. Samaroo,” the complaint says.In a statement issued by the ACLU, Korasingh said her brother was a “hardworking man who paid his debt to society and was just trying to get back on his feet again.”“If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him,” she said. “Not murdered him. They must be held accountable.”Members of the administration have repeatedly insisted that those killed in the strikes are “narcoterrorists” — in November, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media that “every trafficker killed is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”The lawsuit, however, says neither Joseph nor Samaroo were “members of, or affiliated with, drug cartels.”“The Trinidadian government has publicly stated that ‘the government has no information linking Joseph or Samaroo to illegal activities,’ and that it had ‘no information of the victims of US strikes being in possession of illegal drugs, guns, or small arms,’” the complaint says.The complaint calls into question one of the primary claims made by Trump administration officials throughout the course of the campaign, that the boats — and the drugs allegedly aboard them — were headed for the U.S. and required urgent military action. The lawsuit says, however, that Joseph and Samaroo were headed home to Trinidad on the vessel targeted by the US.In the wake of the first strike in September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially said that boat was headed toward Trinidad or elsewhere in the Caribbean.Last year, the Trump administration justified the operation with a classified legal opinion produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The opinion argues that the president is allowed to authorize deadly force against a broad range of cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans.The opinion appears to justify an open-ended war against a secret list of groups, legal experts have said, giving the president power to designate drug traffickers as enemy combatants and have them killed without legal review. Historically, those involved in drug trafficking were considered criminals with due process rights, with the Coast Guard interdicting drug-trafficking vessels and arresting smugglers.The lawsuit, however, offers the first opportunity for those who believe the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings to present their case before a judge.“Whatever that secret memorandum states, it cannot render the patently illegal killings lawful,” the court filing says.

    As the U.S. military began launching strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean last year, a young Trinidadian man who was in Venezuela for work was searching for a way home, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

    Chad Joseph, 26, had been in Venezuela for months fishing and doing farm work when he began looking for a boat to hitch a ride back to Las Cuevas in Trinidad and Tobago, where his wife and three children lived. But as the U.S. began targeting vessels officials said were carrying drugs destined for American streets, Joseph “became increasingly fearful” of making the journey, court documents say. The concerns became so real that in early September, his wife recalled, he called to assure her that he had not been aboard a vessel just hit by the U.S., pledging to be home soon.

    The last call home was on Oct. 12, when Joseph told his wife he’d found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad, and he would be seeing her in a matter of days, according to court documents. Two days later, however, on Oct. 14, the U.S. struck another target — a boat Joseph’s family believes he was in.

    “Mr. Joseph’s wife repeatedly called Mr. Joseph’s cellphone, but the line was dead,” a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the U.S. government says. “The line remains dead to this day.”

    Andrea de Silva/Reuters/File via CNN Newsource

    Messiah Burnley, nephew of Chad Joseph, who was killed in a U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean, carries a girl in front of an altar for Joseph in the family home in Las Cuevas, Trinidad and Tobago, October 22, 2025.

    Joseph’s family, and the family of another Trinidadian man, 41-year-old Rishi Samaroo, who had been working with Joseph in Venezuela and who is also believed to have been on the boat, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing of the two men. The complaint calls the strikes “unprecedented and manifestly unlawful,” and says they have carried out “premeditated and intentional killings” with no legal justification.

    CNN asked the Justice Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response before publication. The Defense Department declined to comment on ongoing litigation.

    The complaint says that, despite claims by President Donald Trump and other administration officials that all the men killed on board were “narcoterrorists,” neither Joseph nor Samaroo had any affiliation to drug cartels.

    The lawsuit marks the first opportunity for a judge to rule on the legality of the strikes which are part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific — dubbed Operation Southern Spear — that has killed at least 117 people. The most recent strike was carried out last week in the eastern Pacific, killing two and leaving one survivor who was being searched for by the Coast Guard.

    The lawsuit points specifically to the Death on the High Seas Act, which allows family members to sue over wrongful deaths on the high seas, and the Alien Tort Statute, which lets foreign nationals sue in federal courts over violations of international law.

    The families are suing for compensatory and punitive damages and they are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Jonathan Hafetz with the Seton Hall Law School.

    The administration has publicly presented little evidence that those killed in the ongoing campaign are affiliates of drug cartels, or that each of the vessels had drugs on them. When pressed by lawmakers during congressional briefings, military officials have acknowledged they do not know the identities of everyone on board the boats they have destroyed.

    The legality of the strikes has come under intense scrutiny in Congress since the operations began in September, including particular interest in the very first strike, when the military carried out a second strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack. Multiple current and former military lawyers previously told CNN the strikes do not appear lawful.

    But the administration has maintained that the operation is a necessary step against drugs heading for US shores that will ultimately harm Americans.

    Trump announced the Oct. 14 strike in a social media post, saying “six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed” and that intelligence had confirmed the vessel was “trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route.”

    ‘They must be held accountable’

    Similar to Joseph, Samaroo had communicated with his family just days before the Oct. 14 strike. Having served 15 years in prison for “participation in a homicide” in Trinidad, and released early on parole, Samaroo moved to Las Cuevas, Trinidad, and in August 2025 he went to Venezuela to work on a farm, the lawsuit says.

    He frequently shared photos and videos with his family of his time on the farm, “where he cared for cows and goats and made cheese.” During one video call, he introduced Joseph, a friend from home who he said he was working with in Venezuela.

    On Oct. 12, Samaroo sent his sister, Sallycar Korasingh, a photo in a lifejacket, telling her he had found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad and he would see her in a few days.

    “That call was the last time Ms. Korasingh, or anyone else in his family, heard from Mr. Samaroo,” the complaint says.

    In a statement issued by the ACLU, Korasingh said her brother was a “hardworking man who paid his debt to society and was just trying to get back on his feet again.”

    “If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him,” she said. “Not murdered him. They must be held accountable.”

    Members of the administration have repeatedly insisted that those killed in the strikes are “narcoterrorists” — in November, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media that “every trafficker killed is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”

    The lawsuit, however, says neither Joseph nor Samaroo were “members of, or affiliated with, drug cartels.”

    “The Trinidadian government has publicly stated that ‘the government has no information linking Joseph or Samaroo to illegal activities,’ and that it had ‘no information of the victims of US strikes being in possession of illegal drugs, guns, or small arms,’” the complaint says.

    The complaint calls into question one of the primary claims made by Trump administration officials throughout the course of the campaign, that the boats — and the drugs allegedly aboard them — were headed for the U.S. and required urgent military action. The lawsuit says, however, that Joseph and Samaroo were headed home to Trinidad on the vessel targeted by the US.

    In the wake of the first strike in September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially said that boat was headed toward Trinidad or elsewhere in the Caribbean.

    Last year, the Trump administration justified the operation with a classified legal opinion produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The opinion argues that the president is allowed to authorize deadly force against a broad range of cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans.

    The opinion appears to justify an open-ended war against a secret list of groups, legal experts have said, giving the president power to designate drug traffickers as enemy combatants and have them killed without legal review. Historically, those involved in drug trafficking were considered criminals with due process rights, with the Coast Guard interdicting drug-trafficking vessels and arresting smugglers.

    The lawsuit, however, offers the first opportunity for those who believe the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings to present their case before a judge.

    “Whatever that secret memorandum states, it cannot render the patently illegal killings lawful,” the court filing says.

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  • Independent studios scramble to stay afloat as film and TV production lags

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    Shep Wainright sure would like to rent you a fancy new soundstage.

    Last week, he opened a $230-million movie and television studio on the edge of the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles nestled alongside the dramatic new Sixth Street Bridge.

    The state-of-the-art complex has five sound stages, offices and other proper movie studio features such as a mill, commissary and base camp.

    “We just had all the major networks, all the major streaming platforms walk through this facility and they can’t believe how nice it is,” said Wainright, managing partner of East End Studios.

    But so far, no one has signed up to make a project at East End Studios’ newest property, even as state and local leaders tout new tax incentives to boost the film industry.

    “Everyone is doing their best to try to bring productions back to Los Angeles,” said Wainright, “but it’s pretty dire.”

    The $230-million East End Studios – Mission Campus opened last week in Boyle Heights. It has five sound stages, offices and other production facilities.

    (East End Studios)

    The challenges facing owners of local sound stages came into sharp relief last week when one of the largest landlords in Hollywood — Hackman Capital Partners — said it was turning over the historic Radford Studio Center in Studio City to Goldman Sachs.

    After years of aggressive sound stage development across Southern California — fueled by a surge in TV production and low interest rates — the writing was on the wall as filming activity dropped to historic lows.

    The average annual sound stage occupancy rate dropped to 63% in 2024, the most recent year data are available, according to FilmLA, a nonprofit that tracks filming in the L.A. area.

    The 2024 rate is down from 69% the prior year and is well below the average occupancy rate of 90% seen between 2016 and 2022, according to FilmLA data.

    An upcoming report for 2025 is expected to reveal little change in occupancy levels, said spokesman Philip Sokoloski. The group recently reported a16% drop in film and TV shoot days last year compared with 2024.

    Those busy days were heady, but they weren’t built to last, said real estate broker Carl Muhlstein, who helps arrange sales and leases of studios and other large entertainment facilities.

    The dawn of the streaming era set off a scramble to grab market share among newcomers like Netflix and old-timers like Paramount and Disney, who created hundreds of original scripted televisions shows. By 2022, during the height of so-called peak TV, nearly 200 shows were in production industry-wide.

    “It was all about speeding to market and capturing eyeballs by throwing billions of dollars” at creating new shows and movies, Muhlstein said. “They were all building platforms.”

    Landlords raced to build or buy sound stages to accommodate all the production, and they may have overshot the mark.

    In 2021, independent studio giant Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management paid $1.85 billion for Radford Studio Center, a popular lot dating to silent film days that gave Studio City its name.

    Now the owners have defaulted on their $1.1-billion mortgage after production slowdowns made servicing its debt unsustainable and lender Goldman Sachs is expected to take control of the lot.

    For Culver City-based Hackman, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Shortly after it bought Radford Studio Center, the industry began to see theatrical slowdowns from the pandemic, the 2023 dual writers’ and actors’ strikes and the cutback in spending at the studios.

    California also lost market share to rivals as producers continued to migrate to other states and countries offering lower costs — and bigger tax breaks.

    “Los Angeles has the best infrastructure, the best crews, and the deepest creative talent in the world for film production, but California has failed to keep the industry competitive with tax credits offered by other states and countries,” Chief Executive Michael Hackman said in a statement. “We are now witnessing the cumulative impact of years of policy neglect compounded by the effects of COVID, strikes, and changes in industry trends.

    ‘We’re going to have fewer studios’

    — Real estate broker Carl Muhlstein

    “The flight of production from Los Angeles has caused extraordinary economic damage, job losses and declines in our tax base,” Hackman said. “If policymakers level the playing field, Los Angeles can recover and remain at the center of the entertainment industry where it belongs.”

    The problem for Hackman was that it bought Radford during “peak demand,” said Kevin Klowden, a Milken Institute fellow, focused on entertainment and technology. “Expect that whoever buys it is clearly going to look at the economics of it differently.”

    Other studios face similar challenges to Radford’s, Muhlstein said.

    “Unfortunately, this could be the first of several foreclosures,” he said. “We’re going to have fewer studios.”

    He didn’t identify other studios in distress, but said some have less filming business than Radford does and are facing more painful cost increases when refinancing short-term loans they took out to buy the properties.

    “More content is being produced in more places at lower costs by increasingly widespread teams,” Muhlstein said. “You can go to London, you can go to Hungary, you can go to Vancouver. “

    There is hope in the industry that local production — and with it, soundstage usage — will get a boost from California’s revamped film and TV tax credit program, which was overhauled last year.

    In addition to boosting the annual amount allocated to the production incentive program, state lawmakers expanded eligibility criteria to include new kinds of shows, including large-scale competition shows and 20-minute-per-episode shows.

    With that boost, FilmLA expects to see an increase to the current soundstage usage, but below the 90% occupancy of the peak TV period.

    “Our hope is that we can reach that sustainable place with a space for anyone who needs it as well as work opportunities for the crew here,” Sokoloski said.

    But the dynamics of streaming series, with shorter episode orders, doesn’t create the same economies of scale and consistent occupancy rates that network shows once did, Klowden said.

    “Under the new incentives and with the city actively trying to court productions back and make things easier, will things move back?” Klowden said. “That’s the real issue.”

    A representative of L.A. Center Studios in downtown L.A., where “Mad Men,” “The Rookie,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and many other movies and TV shows were filmed, declined to comment.

    The head of tiny but historic Occidental Studios is looking to bail out — for the right price. Craig Darian put the Los Angeles studio that was once used by silent film stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks on the market for $45 million last year.

    “Business has slowed but what little debt the studio has is at a low rate and not coming due any time soon, he said. “We’re looking for the correct exit. We’re not eager to sell.”

    Occidental is among the oldest continually operating studios in Hollywood, used by pioneering filmmakers Cecil B. DeMille, D.W. Griffith and Pickford, who worked there as an actor and filmmaker in its early years.

    More recently the three-acre lot has been used for television production for shows including “Tales of the City,” “New Girl” and HBO’s thriller “Sharp Objects.”

    “We mourn what everybody’s going through,” Darian said. “We’re in the land of ‘I don’t know.’ I think that’s a truism for everyone trying to figure things out.”

    With independent studios facing challenges finding tenants to rent their sound stages and services, old-line studio titans such as Warner Bros., Fox and NBCUniversal may gain an edge, analysts said.

    “The large corporate studios are going to gain market share because we’re going to go back to the old system,” Muhlstein said, “where they finance your film or television show and then distribute it.”

    Despite the dramatic pullback in production, Fox Corp. continues to inch forward with its massive $1.5-billion expansion on the Fox lot, which is adjacent to Century City, according to people familiar with the matter but not authorized to comment. The long-term project was unveiled two months before the L.A. production economy collapsed when the Writers Guild of America went on strike.

    Production on Rupert Murdoch’s lot has slowly been increasing after Walt Disney Co. relinquished its space to consolidate operations in Burbank.

    The reboot of the iconic television show “Baywatch” will largely film on the lot as well as Venice Beach, to stay true to the original, Fox said. The lot is home to a major chunk of Fox Sports productions, including “Fox NFL Sunday,” and “Fox NFL Kickoff.”

    The lot also hosts in-studio production across all of Fox Sports for linear and digital channels.

    Some are optimistic the state’s expanded film tax credits will stimulate more local film activity.

    Wainright says the incentives are starting to produce some “green shoots” for the industry.

    “I would like to think that 2024 and 2025 are kind of the bottom and that we’re going to be pulling ourselves up.”

    Times staff writer Meg James contributed to this report.

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  • From Hospitals To Clinics, 31,000 Kaiser Workers Walk Off the Job – LAmag

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    Unionized Kaiser Permanente employees launch a mass strike over compensation and workload concerns

    Ten thousand Kaiser Permanente health care workers across California and Hawaii walked off the job on Monday in a strike over fair compensation and timely patient care.

    KTLA stated that the strike started at 7 am on Monday, involving over 31,000 members of the United Nurses Association of California and the Union of Health Care Professionals. This includes registered nurses, pharmacists, physicians, and nurse practitioners.

    Dozens walked outside the Kaiser building in Panorama City. Union officials are accusing Kaiser of coming up short at the bargaining table.

    Kaiser released a statement saying, “We have been informed that the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals have agreed to return to local bargaining, where we look forward to being able to finalize new contracts for our employees and their families.”

    On the other side, Charmaine S. Morales, RN, president of UNAC/UHCP, stated, “The core sticking points… we’ve been at the bargaining table for heading on a year. We’re looking for fair wages… that look at recruiting, staff, retaining staff. We have a number of things that we want to able to address regarding access for patient care, workload.”

    Many nurses on the picket line say they feel overwhelmed by the patient load they face daily.

    One nurse, telling Eyewitness News, explained, “We are always understaffed. People wait two, three, four, five hours in the emergency room. They are sitting on top of each other in the waiting room because we don’t have enough staff to take care of those patients.”

    The union filed an unfair labor charge against Kaiser with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the company walked away from the bargaining agreement they reached in December. They have now attempted to bypass the agreed-upon deal process. The union had been bargaining with Kaiser since May of 2025.

    Scroll to continue reading

    In Orange and Los Angeles counties, the pickets will be held at:

    1. Anaheim Medical Center, 3440 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim;
    2. Downey Medical Center, 9333 Imperial Highway, Downey;
    3. South Bay Medical Center, 25825 Vermont Ave., Harbor City;
    4. Los Angeles Medical Center, 4867 Sunset Blvd., in the East Hollywood area of Los Angeles;
    5. West Los Angeles Medical Center, 6041 Cadillac Ave., in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles;
    6. Baldwin Park Medical Center, 1011 Baldwin Park Blvd., Baldwin Park;
    7. Panorama City Medical Center, 13651 Willard St., Panorama City
    8. Woodland Hills Medical Center, 5601 De Soto Ave., Woodland Hills.

    Kaiser says its proposal is the strongest compensation package in its national bargaining history, and it includes a 21.5% wage increase. The company says its employees are already paid more than those in the same roles at other organizations.

    Kaiser said in a statement, “Our focus remains on reaching agreements that recognize the vital contributions of our employees while ensuring high-quality, affordable care. We have proposed 21.5% wage increases – our strongest national bargaining offer ever – and we are prepared to close agreements at local tables now. Employees deserve their raises, and patients deserve our full attention, not prolonged disputes.”

    Officials have said hospitals will remain open, and they plan to ensure patients receive the care they need during the strike.

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  • Thousands march through downtown Minnapolis protesting against ICE as state workers hold general strike

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    5-year-old taken into ICE custody has immigration case, preventing deportation

    The 5-year-old immigrant boy taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement alongside his father in the Minneapolis area earlier this week has an active and pending case in immigration court and cannot be legally deported yet, according to government records reviewed by CBS News.

    The ICE operation that led Liam Adrian Conejo Ramos and his father to be taken into government custody, captured on videos and photos that have gone viral, has garnered national attention and raised questions about who exactly the Trump administration is targeting in its mass deportation campaign.

    Justice Department records reviewed by CBS News indicate Liam and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos, have immigration court cases listed as “pending.” The records by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review do not list any deportation orders in either case, indicating that an immigration judge still must consider Liam and his father’s claims before any deportation attempt. The information says the family’s immigration court case was docketed on Dec. 17, 2024.

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    Hennepin County attorney says ICE agents aren’t immune to Minnesota law

    Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that there is “no absolute immunity” for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who violate Minnesota law.

    Moriarty shared the message in a short video posted on YouTube Friday afternoon.

    “The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution does not erase state criminal law,” she said. “State and local law enforcement still have jurisdiction to conduct investigations into potential criminal offenses by any federal agent, just as they would any other person who breaks Minnesota criminal law.”

    Moriarty added that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the ICE shooting that happened in north Minneapolis on Jan. 14. Three U.S. officials told CBS News that an agent shot a man after allegedly being attacked by men with shovels during an arrest operation. 

    “When that investigation is submitted to our office, we will review it for potential charging,” Moriarty said. 

    The BCA is also continuing to collect evidence in the fatal shooting of Renee Good.

     

    DHS confirms the detention of 2-year-old in south Minneapolis

    A 2-year-old named Chloe was detained with her father as they drove home from a grocery store in South Minneapolis on Thursday, according to a benefit page created by Minneapolis city council member Jason Chavez.

    Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Border Patrol arrested Elvis Tipan Echeverria of Ecuador and that the toddler’s mother refused to take her so she was reunited with her father at a federal detention facility.

    According to an emergency petition filed in federal court, a district judge granted an emergency injunction ordering Chloe’s release into the custody of her lawyer. The child, a citizen of Ecuador who was brought to Minneapolis as a newborn, has a pending asylum application and is not subject to a final order of removal.

     

    Photos show scope of protests in downtown Minneapolis

    Crowds continue to grow in number in downtown Minneapolis Friday afternoon as protesters take to the streets to demand ICE forces withdraw from the Twin Cities metro area and Greater Minnesota.

    Demonstrators participate in a rally and march during an “ICE Out” day of protest. Community leaders, faith leaders and labor unions have urged Minnesotans to participate in what they are calling a “day of action” as hundreds of local businesses are expected to close during a statewide general strike held in protest against immigration enforcement operations in the region.

    Stephen Maturen / Getty Images


    Federal Agents Descend On Minneapolis For Immigration Enforcement Operations

    Demonstrators participate in a rally and march during an “ICE Out” day of protest on January 23.

    Stephen Maturen / Getty Images


     

    2 activists arrested in protest at St. Paul church released

    Two activists arrested in connection to a protest at a church where the leader of a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office serves as a pastor were released from custody on Friday afternoon.

    The protest happened Sunday, as a group joined the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, before chanting “ICE out” and “justice for Renee Good.” 

    Former Twin Cities NAACP president Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul School Board member Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly were arrested Thursday, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

    CBS News learned that Levy Armstrong and Allen were released from law enforcement custody at the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minnesota, on Friday.  

    It’s unknown whether officials have ordered Kelly’s release.

    [Read more]

     

    Anti-ICE protest marches through downtown Minneapolis

    Demonstrators are now marching through downtown Minneapolis, protesting the surge of federal immigration agents in Minnesota. 

    The march is heading from The Commons near U.S. Bank Stadium and will conclude at Target Center, where a rally will be held inside. 

    WCCO’s Frankie McLister is following the march and will have more on the rally later. 

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    WCCO


     

    Clergy members arrested at MSP while protesting ICE in Minneapolis

    Dozens of faith leaders were arrested while protesting at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Friday, organizers say, as part of an effort to call for an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in the area.

    The protesters were calling on airlines, particularly Delta and Signature Aviation, to “stand with Minnesotans in calling for ICE to immediately end its surge in the state.” 

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    Multi-faith service draws hundreds, showing support for immigrant communities

    Hundreds of people gathered at Temple Israel on Friday morning in Minneapolis for a multi-faith prayer service.

    Faith leaders held the service to promote unity and dignity during a time of fear and uncertainty.

    People from neighboring states even joined, saying it was a chance to come together and show support for immigrant communities in Minnesota. 

    [Read more]

     

    Dispersal order issued at Whipple building for “unlawful protest,” sheriff’s office says

    The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office says it issued dispersal orders at the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on Friday afternoon for what it called an “unlawful protest” in the area. 

    Deputies for the “last few hours” were asking protesters to unblock an access road, though the group “was clear” they would not move, according to the sheriff’s office. 

    Ice chunks have been thrown at “multiple vehicles,” leading to broken windows, the sheriff’s office said. 

    Deputies at the federal building have since given three dispersal orders.

    “Individuals who do not comply with orders and those who continue unlawful behavior have been and will continue to be arrested,” the sheriff’s office said. “Please avoid the area.”

    The Minnesota State Patrol said it’s responding to the facility and said “arrests will be made as necessary to address unlawful behavior and maintain public safety.”

    The Whipple building holds the region’s federal immigration court.   

     

    Man ICE was targeting when detaining man in his underwear was already in custody, DOC says

    A man being targeted by federal immigration enforcement agents earlier this week, when they instead detained a U.S. citizen in his underwear amid frigid Minnesota conditions, was already in prison, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

    ChongLy Scott Thao says ICE burst into his home on Sunday without a warrant. Videos of the arrest quickly spread on social media.

    The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency says they were looking for two men accused of sex crimes, one of which was Lue Moua. The DHS earlier told the public Moua was at large, but MN DOC says that Moua has been in prison since 2024 on a kidnapping charge. Officials with the state’s corrections department say that ICE should have known that Moua was being held.

    According to DOC records, Moua is currently scheduled for release in January 2027, and has an active ICE detainer. DHS officials sought to blame the apparent confusion on the actions of Minnesota officials.

     

    Minnesota secretary of state calls video of ICE detaining child “horrifying and shameful”

    Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon shared a video on social media showing an ICE agent chasing and detaining a child, calling it “a cruel disgrace.”

    The Associated Press independently verified the video, taken by Minneapolis resident Skylar Fehlen, who told the AP the teenager was in a car that hit a tree before the foot chase.

    Fehlen said the teen was yelling for help before the ICE agent tackled and arrested him.

    “ICE agents in Minneapolis chase, tackle, and handcuff a child in the freezing cold and snow while he yells ‘I’m legal! I’m legal!’” Simon wrote on X. “How does this make us safer? How does this target ‘the worst of the worst?’ Horrifying and shameful.”

     

    Renee Good’s independent autopsy says she was shot 3 times

    An independent autopsy showed that Renee Good was shot three times by an ICE officer earlier this month — in the forearm, breast and head. 

    Good’s family requested the independent autopsy, according to their attorneys. 

    The preliminary conclusions indicated that two of the gunshots — the forearm and breast wounds — were not immediately life-threatening. The forearm wound caused soft tissue hemorrhage while the one on her right breast didn’t penetrate any major organs. 

    A third gunshot wound entered the left side of her head and exited the right side, the autopsy concluded. There was also a fourth wound, which was a graze “consistent with a firearm injury” but did not penetrate her body.

    “We believe the evidence we are gathering and will continue to gather in our investigation will suffice to prove our case. The video evidence depicting the events of January 7, 2026, is clear, particularly when viewed through the standards of reasonable policing and totality of circumstances. Additionally, our legal team will continue its unwavering and proactive advocacy for Renee’s life and her family,” said Antonio Romanucci, the lead attorney on the case.

    The Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined that Good’s manner of death was a homicide, caused by multiple gunshot wounds.

     

    Mayor Frey responds to federal insinuations that local law enforcement isn’t cooperating with ICE

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke out on insinuations shared Thursday by Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino that local law enforcement representatives are deliberately not cooperating with federal forces.

    “If this was about safety, then there would be a whole lot of opportunity to partner and do it. But this is not about safety. It’s not even about immigration. What we are seeing right now is that this is political retribution. It’s about causing chaos on our streets,” Frey told CNN’s Sara Sidner. “(We) are getting targeted for doing one of the most basic things that we are required to perform as public servants. And for me, that’s speaking on behalf of my constituents. That is a responsibility that I have, an obligation that I have that is written into our city charter.”

    Frey also responded to reporting about an obtained internal ICE memo, which suggests immigration agents have been entering people’s homes without a warrant and empowers them to do so. While Frey said he didn’t have enough information on that reporting to address it specifically, asked if he would agree that an administrative warrant is enough to warrant entering private residences, Frey said, “I’d say that it isn’t.”

    “The guidance that we have given to people in the city of Minneapolis in the Know Your Rights campaign that we are running. And what we are telling people is that if they are going to enter a home — a private residence, what they need is a judicial warrant, which is a warrant that is signed by a judge — and the administrative warrant is not enough,” Frey said.

     

    Northeast Minneapolis coffee shop offering warm space for general strike participants on Friday

    Many businesses will close their doors in protest Friday, but one business is doing much more than just shutting down to protest ICE.  

    Sitting in the heart of northeast Minneapolis’s business district, Pillar Forum Cafe and Commodities has become a hub for people opposing ICE.  

    On Friday, Pillar Forum will join hundreds of others taking part in a “ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom,” with its own take.

    [Read more]  

     

    Vance acknowledges Minnesota Department of Corrections cooperating with ICE

    In his visit to Minnesota, Vance appeared to acknowledge that the Minnesota Department of Corrections, overseen by Gov. Tim Walz, was cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  

    “Look, if I was going to list the five agencies locally and statewide I’m most worried about, I wouldn’t put the Department of Corrections on that list,” Vance said in a news conference when asked by CBS News if the state was cooperating. “I think that while there are certain things we’d like to see more from them, they’ve hardly been the worst offenders.”

    [Read more]  

     

    Minneapolis pastor asks for groceries for congregation, and thousands come to help

    Pastor Sergio Amezcua, who serves the congregation of Dios Habla Hoy, put out a call on social media for help for his community after ICE agents surged into Minnesota.

    Thousands of people responded asking for help — and thousands more stepped up to provide it.

    [Read more]

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  • General strike, rally planned in Minnesota Friday to protest ICE

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    Renee Good’s independent autopsy says she was shot 3 times

    An independent autopsy showed that Renee Good was shot three times by an ICE officer earlier this month — in the forearm, breast and head. 

    Good’s family requested the independent autopsy, according to their attorneys. 

    The preliminary conclusions indicated that two of the gunshots — the forearm and breast wounds — were not immediately life-threatening. The forearm wound caused soft tissue hemorrhage while the one on her right breast didn’t penetrate any major organs. 

    A third gunshot wound entered the left side of her head and exited the right side, the autopsy concluded. There was also a fourth wound, which was a graze “consistent with a firearm injury” but did not penetrate her body.

    “We believe the evidence we are gathering and will continue to gather in our investigation will suffice to prove our case. The video evidence depicting the events of January 7, 2026, is clear, particularly when viewed through the standards of reasonable policing and totality of circumstances. Additionally, our legal team will continue its unwavering and proactive advocacy for Renee’s life and her family,” said Antonio Romanucci, the lead attorney on the case.

    The Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined that Good’s manner of death was a homicide, caused by multiple gunshot wounds.

     

    Mayor Frey responds to federal insinuations that local law enforcement isn’t cooperating with ICE

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke out on insinuations shared Thursday by Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino that local law enforcement representatives are deliberately not cooperating with federal forces.

    “If this was about safety, then there would be a whole lot of opportunity to partner and do it. But this is not about safety. It’s not even about immigration. What we are seeing right now is that this is political retribution. It’s about causing chaos on our streets,” Frey told CNN’s Sara Sidner. “(We) are getting targeted for doing one of the most basic things that we are required to perform as public servants. And for me, that’s speaking on behalf of my constituents. That is a responsibility that I have, an obligation that I have that is written into our city charter.”

    Frey also responded to reporting about an obtained internal ICE memo, which suggests immigration agents have been entering people’s homes without a warrant and empowers them to do so. While Frey said he didn’t have enough information on that reporting to address it specifically, asked if he would agree that an administrative warrant is enough to warrant entering private residences, Frey said, “I’d say that it isn’t.”

    “The guidance that we have given to people in the city of Minneapolis in the Know Your Rights campaign that we are running. And what we are telling people is that if they are going to enter a home — a private residence, what they need is a judicial warrant, which is a warrant that is signed by a judge — and the administrative warrant is not enough,” Frey said.

     

    Northeast Minneapolis coffee shop offering warm space for general strike participants on Friday

    Many businesses will close their doors in protest Friday, but one business is doing much more than just shutting down to protest ICE.  

    Sitting in the heart of northeast Minneapolis’s business district, Pillar Forum Cafe and Commodities has become a hub for people opposing ICE.  

    On Friday, Pillar Forum will join hundreds of others taking part in a “ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom,” with its own take.

    [Read more]  

     

    Vance acknowledges Minnesota Department of Corrections cooperating with ICE

    In his visit to Minnesota, Vance appeared to acknowledge that the Minnesota Department of Corrections, overseen by Gov. Tim Walz, was cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  

    “Look, if I was going to list the five agencies locally and statewide I’m most worried about, I wouldn’t put the Department of Corrections on that list,” Vance said in a news conference when asked by CBS News if the state was cooperating. “I think that while there are certain things we’d like to see more from them, they’ve hardly been the worst offenders.”

    [Read more]  

     

    Minneapolis pastor asks for groceries for congregation, and thousands come to help

    Pastor Sergio Amezcua, who serves the congregation of Dios Habla Hoy, put out a call on social media for help for his community after ICE agents surged into Minnesota.

    Thousands of people responded asking for help — and thousands more stepped up to provide it.

    [Read more]

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  • Trump announces potential meeting with Iran amid ongoing protests

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    President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that Iranian leaders have reached out to negotiate as protests challenging Iran’s theocracy continue.On Sunday, Trump told reporters that a meeting with Iran is being arranged after the country called to negotiate. “We may meet with them. I mean, a meeting is being set up. But we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump said.Iran’s foreign minister claimed Monday the situation is now under total control following a crackdown on nationwide protests. He also alleged that the protests “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for Trump to intervene, though he provided no evidence for this claim.At least two major outlets reported that Trump has been presented with military options for a strike on Iran but has not made a final decision. Iran’s parliament speaker stated that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America launches a strike.The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that at least 572 people have been killed in Iran, including at least 496 protesters.Around the world, people have been rallying in support of protests in Iran. In Los Angeles, a driver of a U-Haul truck sped through an anti-Iran demonstration on Sunday. Police say one person was hit by the truck, but nobody was seriously injured. The driver of the truck has not been identified, but officials said they were being detained “pending further investigation.”Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:

    WASHINGTON —

    President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that Iranian leaders have reached out to negotiate as protests challenging Iran’s theocracy continue.

    On Sunday, Trump told reporters that a meeting with Iran is being arranged after the country called to negotiate.

    “We may meet with them. I mean, a meeting is being set up. But we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump said.

    Iran’s foreign minister claimed Monday the situation is now under total control following a crackdown on nationwide protests. He also alleged that the protests “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for Trump to intervene, though he provided no evidence for this claim.

    At least two major outlets reported that Trump has been presented with military options for a strike on Iran but has not made a final decision. Iran’s parliament speaker stated that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America launches a strike.

    The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that at least 572 people have been killed in Iran, including at least 496 protesters.

    Around the world, people have been rallying in support of protests in Iran.

    In Los Angeles, a driver of a U-Haul truck sped through an anti-Iran demonstration on Sunday. Police say one person was hit by the truck, but nobody was seriously injured.

    The driver of the truck has not been identified, but officials said they were being detained “pending further investigation.”

    Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:


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  • Thousands of nurses go on strike at several major New York City hospitals

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    Thousands of nurses in three hospital systems in New York City went on strike Monday after negotiations through the weekend failed to yield breakthroughs in their contract disputes.Nurses were to start walking off the job at 6 a.m. at The Mount Sinai Hospital and two of its satellite campuses. The other affected hospitals are NewYork-Presbyterian and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.About 15,000 nurses are involved in the strike, according to New York State Nurses Association.The strike, which comes during a severe flu season, could potentially force the hospitals to transfer patients, cancel procedures or divert ambulances. It could also put a strain on city hospitals not involved in the contract dispute, as patients avoid the medical centers hit by the strike.The hospitals involved have been hiring temporary nurses to try and fill the labor gap during the walkout, and said in a statement during negotiations that they would “do whatever is necessary to minimize disruptions.” Montefiore posted a message assuring patients that appointments would be kept.The work stoppage is occurring at multiple hospitals simultaneously, but each medical center is negotiating with the union independently. Several other hospitals across the city and in its suburbs reached deals in recent days to avert a possible strike.The nurses’ demands vary by hospital, but the major issues include staffing levels and workplace safety. The union says hospitals have given nurses unmanageable workloads.Nurses also want better security measures in the workplace, citing incidents like an incident last week, when a man with a sharp object barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room and was then killed by police.The union also wants limitations on hospitals’ use of artificial intelligence.The nonprofit hospitals involved in the negotiations say they’ve been working to improve staffing levels, but say the union’s demands overall are too costly.Nurses voted to authorize the strike last month.Both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani had expressed concern about the possibility of the strike. As the strike deadline neared, Mamdani urged both sides to keep negotiating and reach a deal that “both honors our nurses and keeps our hospitals open.”“Our nurses kept this city alive through its hardest moments. Their value is not negotiable,” Mamdani said.The last major nursing strike in the city was only three years ago, in 2023. That work stoppage, at Mount Sinai and Montefiore, was short, lasting three days. It resulted in a deal raising pay 19% over three years at those hospitals.It also led to promised staffing improvements, though the union and hospitals now disagree about how much progress has been made, or whether the hospitals are retreating from staffing guarantees.

    NEW YORK —

    Thousands of nurses in three hospital systems in New York City went on strike Monday after negotiations through the weekend failed to yield breakthroughs in their contract disputes.

    Nurses were to start walking off the job at 6 a.m. at The Mount Sinai Hospital and two of its satellite campuses. The other affected hospitals are NewYork-Presbyterian and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

    About 15,000 nurses are involved in the strike, according to New York State Nurses Association.

    The strike, which comes during a severe flu season, could potentially force the hospitals to transfer patients, cancel procedures or divert ambulances. It could also put a strain on city hospitals not involved in the contract dispute, as patients avoid the medical centers hit by the strike.

    The hospitals involved have been hiring temporary nurses to try and fill the labor gap during the walkout, and said in a statement during negotiations that they would “do whatever is necessary to minimize disruptions.” Montefiore posted a message assuring patients that appointments would be kept.

    The work stoppage is occurring at multiple hospitals simultaneously, but each medical center is negotiating with the union independently. Several other hospitals across the city and in its suburbs reached deals in recent days to avert a possible strike.

    The nurses’ demands vary by hospital, but the major issues include staffing levels and workplace safety. The union says hospitals have given nurses unmanageable workloads.

    Nurses also want better security measures in the workplace, citing incidents like an incident last week, when a man with a sharp object barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room and was then killed by police.

    The union also wants limitations on hospitals’ use of artificial intelligence.

    The nonprofit hospitals involved in the negotiations say they’ve been working to improve staffing levels, but say the union’s demands overall are too costly.

    Nurses voted to authorize the strike last month.

    Both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani had expressed concern about the possibility of the strike. As the strike deadline neared, Mamdani urged both sides to keep negotiating and reach a deal that “both honors our nurses and keeps our hospitals open.”

    “Our nurses kept this city alive through its hardest moments. Their value is not negotiable,” Mamdani said.

    The last major nursing strike in the city was only three years ago, in 2023. That work stoppage, at Mount Sinai and Montefiore, was short, lasting three days. It resulted in a deal raising pay 19% over three years at those hospitals.

    It also led to promised staffing improvements, though the union and hospitals now disagree about how much progress has been made, or whether the hospitals are retreating from staffing guarantees.

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  • US launches new retaliatory strikes against ISIS in Syria after deadly ambush

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    The U.S. has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Islamic State in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.The large-scale strikes, conducted by the U.S. alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to U.S. Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Islamic State targets across Syria.Video above: U.S. airstrikes target ISIS militants in NigeriaSaturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly ISIS attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.”Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday.The administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.

    WASHINGTON —

    The U.S. has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Islamic State in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.

    The large-scale strikes, conducted by the U.S. alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to U.S. Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Islamic State targets across Syria.

    Video above: U.S. airstrikes target ISIS militants in Nigeria

    Saturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly ISIS attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.

    “Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday.

    The administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.

    It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.

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  • Israel strikes multiple sites in Lebanon

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    Israel’s air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

    SIDON, South Governorate —

    Israel’s air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.

    A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.

    An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.

    At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.

    On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

    Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.

    Mohammad Zaatari

    Lebanese Red Cross volunteers search for possible victims in a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, early Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.

    Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.

    The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.

    The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.

    The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.

    Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.

    The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.

    The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.

    The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.

    Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

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  • Israel strikes multiple sites in Lebanon

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    Israel’s air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

    SIDON, South Governorate —

    Israel’s air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.

    A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.

    An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.

    At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.

    On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

    Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.

    Mohammad Zaatari

    Lebanese Red Cross volunteers search for possible victims in a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, early Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.

    Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.

    The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.

    The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.

    The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.

    Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.

    The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.

    The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.

    The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.

    Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

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  • Maduro arrives in US after capture in operation that Trump says will let US ‘run’ Venezuela

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    Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.Video above: U.S. strikes Venezuela, captures President Maduro in overnight operationMaduro 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, Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval. Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.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. Video below: ‘We are going to run the country,’ Trump says of VenezuelaTrump 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.Video below: Fact checking President Trump’s Venezuela claimsEarly morning attackTaking 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.Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. “Airlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,” he posted.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.”Video below: President Donald Trump’s full comments on Venezuela strike and Nicolas Maduro captureSome streets in Caracas fill upVenezuela’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!”Questions of legalityWhether 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.

    Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.

    Video above: U.S. strikes Venezuela, captures President Maduro in overnight operation

    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, Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

    The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.

    Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.

    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.

    Video below: ‘We are going to run the country,’ Trump says of Venezuela

    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.

    Video below: Fact checking President Trump’s Venezuela claims

    Early morning attack

    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.

    Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. “Airlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,” he posted.

    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.”

    Video below: President Donald Trump’s full comments on Venezuela strike and Nicolas Maduro capture

    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!”

    Questions of legality

    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.

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  • Maduro arrives in US after capture in operation that Trump says will let US ‘run’ Venezuela

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    Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.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, Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval. Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.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.Early morning attackTaking 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.Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. “Airlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,” he posted.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 upVenezuela’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!”Questions of legalityWhether 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.

    Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.

    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, Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

    The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.

    Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.

    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.

    Early morning attack

    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.

    Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. “Airlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,” he posted.

    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!”

    Questions of legality

    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.

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  • Telluride will partially reopen soon despite ongoing ski patroller strike

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    Telluride Ski Resort is planning to reopen on Monday, Jan. 5, after spending more than a week closed with its ski patrol on strike.

    The resort announced on social media Saturday that it would run one lift with access to its bunny hill. Representatives were not immediately available to comment on what this means for negotiations with the patrollers’ union, the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association. The patrol remains on strike, union president Graham Hoffman said Saturday morning.

    Reactions on social media were mixed, with comments ranging from relief and excitement to frustration and disappointment. Many expressed support for the patrol and called on the resort to settle the contract dispute. Meanwhile, the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association continued picketing at the gondola station in downtown Telluride on Saturday.

    Telluride bookings plummet, anxiety rises as ski resort strike continues

    Telluride Ski Resort originally opened on Dec. 6, a week later than originally planned due to an uncharacteristically warm start to the season. It closed on Dec. 27 when the ski patrollers went on strike and has since been working to recruit personnel, including medical professionals, to fill the gaps in staffing.

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    Tiney Ricciardi

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  • Florida politicians react to US capture of Venezuelan President Maduro

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    Above: Venezuelans in Florida react to U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.In the overnight hours on January 2 into January 3, 2026, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured in a strike by U.S. forces in the South American country.The capture of the foreign leader comes after months of escalation from President Donald Trump against the nation, including more than a dozen strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats and a blockade on all “sanctioned oil tankers” going into and out of the country.U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York. Maduro was also indicted on “narco-terrorism” charges in 2020.In October, Trump said the U.S. was in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels after several strikes on boats in the Caribbean.Floridian lawmakers reacted to the overnight strikes in Venezuela and the capture of Maduro.U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), co-chair of the Congressional Venezuela Democracy Caucus, released a statement on President Maduro’s capture: “The capture of the brutal, illegitimate ruler of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who oppressed Venezuela’s people is welcome news for my friends and neighbors who fled his violent, lawless, and disastrous rule. However, cutting off the head of a snake is fruitless if it just regrows. Venezuelans deserve the promise of democracy and the rule of law, not a state of endless violence and spiraling disorder. My hope is it offers a passage to true democracy and liberation. This action offers beleaguered Venezuelans a chance to seat their true, democratically elected president, Edmundo González. I’ll demand answers as to why Congress and the American people were bypassed in this effort. The absence of congressional involvement prior to this action risks the continuation of the illegitimate Venezuelan regime.”Bondi shared the below indictment of Maduro and other Venezuelan officials on social media.

    Above: Venezuelans in Florida react to U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

    In the overnight hours on January 2 into January 3, 2026, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured in a strike by U.S. forces in the South American country.

    The capture of the foreign leader comes after months of escalation from President Donald Trump against the nation, including more than a dozen strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats and a blockade on all “sanctioned oil tankers” going into and out of the country.

    U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York. Maduro was also indicted on “narco-terrorism” charges in 2020.

    In October, Trump said the U.S. was in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels after several strikes on boats in the Caribbean.

    Floridian lawmakers reacted to the overnight strikes in Venezuela and the capture of Maduro.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
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    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), co-chair of the Congressional Venezuela Democracy Caucus, released a statement on President Maduro’s capture: “The capture of the brutal, illegitimate ruler of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who oppressed Venezuela’s people is welcome news for my friends and neighbors who fled his violent, lawless, and disastrous rule. However, cutting off the head of a snake is fruitless if it just regrows. Venezuelans deserve the promise of democracy and the rule of law, not a state of endless violence and spiraling disorder. My hope is it offers a passage to true democracy and liberation. This action offers beleaguered Venezuelans a chance to seat their true, democratically elected president, Edmundo González. I’ll demand answers as to why Congress and the American people were bypassed in this effort. The absence of congressional involvement prior to this action risks the continuation of the illegitimate Venezuelan regime.”

    Bondi shared the below indictment of Maduro and other Venezuelan officials on social media.

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  • ‘An explosion’: Evidence mounts of U.S. strike inside Venezuela amid rising tensions

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    A US military MQ-9 Reaper drone taxis on a tarmac at Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on December 29, 2025. The United States has deployed a major military force in the Caribbean and has recently intercepted oil tankers as part of a naval blockade against Venezuelan vessels it considers to be under sanctions. Since September, US forces have launched dozens of air strikes on boats that Washington alleges, without showing evidence, were transporting drugs. More than 100 people have been killed. (Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images)

    A U.S. military MQ-9 Reaper drone moves along the runway at Rafael Hernández Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on Monday, December 29, 2025. The United States has deployed a significant military force to the Caribbean and has recently intercepted oil tankers as part of a naval blockade against Venezuelan vessels it considers subject to sanctions.


    MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO

    AFP via Getty Images

    Maracaibo

    Venezuelans awoke Friday to mounting reports that a narrow stretch of coastline near its border with Colombia may have been the target of a U.S. military strike — a move that would mark a sharp escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign against the Nicolás Maduro regime.

    The suspected strike occurred in the western reaches of the Gulf of Venezuela, between Puerto López in Colombia’s La Guajira region and the Wayuu community of Poshoure in Venezuela’s Zulia state, according to local and international media citing witness accounts. Analysts say the area has long been associated with illicit maritime trafficking and, more recently, with cocaine shipments moving through the Caribbean.

    Residents along Colombia’s La Guajira coast reported hearing a powerful explosion in mid-December that shattered the stillness of a windless afternoon. Moments later, plumes of dark smoke rose from the sea, prompting residents to record what appeared to be the aftermath of an airstrike. The footage circulating on social media marks the first visual evidence linked to the U.S. counternarcotics campaign in the region.

    Two days later, debris washed ashore near Puerto López. According to residents and local officials, the wreckage included a burned vessel roughly 30 meters long, two severely damaged bodies, and scattered debris such as charred fuel drums, life vests, and dozens of empty packages. Some of the packages contained traces of a substance that smelled like marijuana.

    The Telemundo television network later broadcast images of twisted metal fragments recovered on the Venezuelan side of the border, in the Alta Guajira region. Weapons experts cited by the network said the debris appeared consistent with components from a U.S.-made AGM-114 Hellfire missile or its newer AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile variant, both commonly deployed from MQ-9 Reaper drones and U.S. attack helicopters.

    Witnesses from Alta Guajira, in Venezuela’s western state of Zulia, said they experienced what felt “like an explosion” and the immediate destruction of at least two rural wooden structures near the coast late in the afternoon of Dec. 18, according to reporters and members of the Wayuu indigenous community.

    The “loud noise” destroyed the structures and damaged dozens of fishermen’s nets. Residents said they saw gray, metallic debris scattered across the area, which they believe may have been fragments of a missile that detonated at the site.

    Other locals reported suffering temporary hearing loss from the blast and described the area as being controlled by armed groups operating between Colombia and Venezuela, as well as by members of drug trafficking organizations.

    According to accounts obtained by the Miami Herald, the groups had operated freely in the coastal area until September, shortly after U.S. military strikes against speedboats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean began.

    Residents said it was common to see boats with multiple high-powered engines along the coast, distinct from those typically used by the Wayuu fishing community.

    There are also a couple of Venezuelan military facilities located nearby.

    Those reports appear to corroborate statements made Monday by President Donald Trump, who said the United States had destroyed a docking area used by suspected drug traffickers in Venezuela, marking the first public acknowledgment of a U.S. ground strike inside the country.

    “There was a big explosion in the dock area where they load the boats with drugs,” Trump said while speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    The president did not specify whether the operation was carried out by U.S. military forces or intelligence agencies, nor did he identify the precise location of the strike, saying only that it occurred “along the coast.” He also declined to say whether there were casualties.

    The reports come as the United States expands what officials have described as “Operation Southern Spear,” a months-long campaign targeting drug trafficking networks across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. U.S. authorities say the operation has destroyed at least 35 vessels and resulted in more than 100 deaths over the past five months. On Dec. 31, the Pentagon confirmed strikes on three additional boats it said were linked to narcotics trafficking.

    If confirmed, the apparent strike in Venezuela would mark the first known instance of U.S. forces hitting a land-based target inside the country as part of the campaign.

    Members of Venezuela’s Wayuu indigenous community told NBC News and Telemundo that they witnessed a powerful explosion on Dec. 18 in the remote Alta Guajira region, where armed groups — including Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) — operate. The blast destroyed a structure believed to be used for storage, according to witnesses. The ELN has long been involved in cross-border drug trafficking and maintains a presence on both sides of the border.

    Venezuelan authorities have neither confirmed nor denied that an attack occurred on land. In a televised address Thursday, Maduro said the country’s defense systems “guarantee territorial integrity” when asked about reports of a U.S. strike.

    “Our national defense system, which unites the people, the military and the police, guarantees peace and territorial integrity,” Maduro said, adding that he would address the matter in greater detail “in the coming days.”

    Maduro again denied that Venezuela produces illegal drugs and said his government remains open to discussing a counternarcotics agreement with Washington. “If they truly want to talk seriously about fighting drug trafficking, we are ready,” he said.

    Both Venezuela and Colombia have condemned the U.S. operations as unlawful and have accused Washington of carrying out extrajudicial killings. The United Nations has warned that the strikes could violate international law and has urged the United States to stop them.

    Meanwhile, satellite imagery from Europe’s Sentinel-2 system dated Jan. 1 shows the USS Gerald R. Ford, the U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, operating 227 nautical miles north of Caracas. The carrier strike group is part of a growing U.S. military presence in the region that includes guided-missile destroyers, amphibious vessels and an estimated 15,000 troops.

    U.S. officials say the deployment is aimed at dismantling drug trafficking networks, including the so-called Cartel de los Soles, which Washington alleges is run by Maduro along with senior figures of his regime. Caracas has repeatedly denied the accusation, even as tensions between the two countries continue to escalate.

    A Miami Herald correspondent in Venezuela contributed to this story.

    This story was originally published January 2, 2026 at 7:55 AM.

    Antonio Maria Delgado

    el Nuevo Herald

    Galardonado periodista con más de 30 años de experiencia, especializado en la cobertura de temas sobre Venezuela. Amante de la historia y la literatura.

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    Antonio María Delgado

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  • Oregon Set to Become 1st State in the Country to Offer Unemployment Benefits to Striking Private & Public Workers – KXL

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    SALEM, Ore. — Come January 1st, 2026 Oregon will become the first U.S. state to allow both public and private sector employees to receive unemployment benefits while on strike.

    SB 916 was hotly debated but signed into law by Governor Tina Kotek this summer.

    It would allow for eligible striking workers to seek payments after a 2 week waiting period.  There would be a 10 week cap.  And if a deal is reached with employers that covers back pay, all benefits would have to be paid back.

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    Brett Reckamp

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