News of the World
01-04-2026, 10:32 PM
Maduro is No Longer Dancing Special Edition
MADURO'S ARREST
Quote:President Trump joyously posted a video clip Saturday ridiculing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro – airing his rival’s previous taunts in a mocking clip hours after saying the US will now “run” Venezuela.
“Venga por mi!” the now ousted dictator shouts in a 2024 speech.
English subtitles below translate his quote while stark music plays. “Come for me,” Maduro taunts while addressing a crowd. “I’m waiting for you here in Maraflores! Don’t take too long to arrive, coward!”
Miraflores is a reference to the presidential palace in Caracas.
The video then does a quick cut to another emotional clip – this one of actor Kevin James at the 2007 Dayton 500, in a clip meant to juxtapose “Maduro” and “Trump,” making clear who is getting the last laugh.
“I’ve just got three things to say. God Bless our troops. God Bless America. And Gentlemen, start your engines!” Trump roars – with images of a Bald Eagle.
The clip also shows videos of the US attack that seized Maduro and his wife, first lady Celia Flores, and deposited them on the USS Iwo Jima to bring them to New York to face charges.
The clip had been making the rounds on Facebook before Trump posted it, hours after declaring the operation a success while calling Maduro a “dictator” and a “tough cookie.”
It wraps the Venezuela operation in the American flag at a time when some Democrats including “squad” leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and new Mayor Zohran Mamdani are ripping it.
An August Yahoo News fact check on the video claims that Maduro’s fiery speech was not taunting the US after the Justice Department announced a $50 million reward for information leading to his capture, but was actually tearing into opposition rival Edmundo González Urrutia, who blasted the integrity of the 2024 election that allowed Maduro to stay in power.
The US under the Biden administration recognized González as the legitimate winner.
Quote:Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, touched down in New York City Saturday night after being captured by US forces — and were greeted by jeers of “Down with the dictator.”
The pair — who landed at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Upstate Newburgh around 5 p.m. — arrived via helicopter at a Manhattan heliport just before 7 p.m. and were hauled away in a heavily armed tactical vehicle called a “Bearcat” surrounded by a small motorcade.
Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, will first be transported to the Drug Enforcement Administration Headquarters in Chelsea, where he was processed before returning to the West 30th Street Heliport and choppered to Brooklyn, sources told The Post.
He took off after 8 p.m., and was seen on video being flown down the West Side of Manhattan and past the Statue of Liberty before heading to Brooklyn.
In Brooklyn, a motorcade was set to take the couple to the Metropolitan Detention Center, as they are set to face narco-terrorism charges in the Southern District of New York, sources said.
Outside a large crowd of opponents of his regime gathered to give him a Bronx cheer in Brooklyn, yelling things like “Shame on you” and “Dirty Scumbag!”
The tyrant is expected in the federal court as early as Monday.
The Venezuelan leader and his wife were captured by US forces during a high-stakes military operation Saturday morning in Caracas, leaving the South American country in a constitutional crisis.
Maduro and Flores were charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and weapons offenses.
Maduro’s son, Nicholas Ernesto Maduro Guerra, who’s known as “The Prince,” was also charged alongside his parents for the illegal trafficking of thousands of tons of cocaine.
Trump said the couple will face the “full wrath of American justice.”
The US will run the embattled nation until a transition government is in place, “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he added.
Quote:President Trump issued a thinly-veiled warning to Mexico’s president Saturday while announcing the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro Saturday.
Trump, who also had strong words for the leaders of Colombia and Cuba, said the attack on Venezuela wasn’t meant to be a warning for Mexico, but said “something’s going to have to be done” about the cartel-run country.
Trump has clashed with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo over trade tariffs, and blamed the US neighbor for allowing illegal immigration and narcotics to flow across the southern border.
“We’re very friendly with her, she’s a good woman,” Trump told Fox & Friends Saturday. “But the cartels are running Mexico — she’s not running Mexico.”
Sheinbaum said Mexico “strongly condemns and rejects” US military action in Venezuela and urged the US to end “all acts of aggression against the Venezuelan government and people,” in a statement released Saturday.
Trump also doubled down on his warning to Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
“He has cocaine mills, he has factories where he makes cocaine. And yeah, I think I stick by my first statement: He’s making cocaine,” Trump said of Petro.
“They’re sending it to the United States. So he does have to watch his ass,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago shortly after slamming Maduro as a “narco-terrorist.”
The warning came weeks after Trump branded Petro a “troublemaker” and said he “better watch it.” Petro has been repeatedly posting criticisms online of the US operation in Venezuela.
Trump also labeled Cuba – which relies on Venezuelan oil and furnished Maduro with security guards – and its president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, a “failing nation.”
“Cuba, as you know, is not doing very well right now. That system has not been a very good one for Cuba.
The people there have suffered for many, many years, and I think Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now.
“It’s very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba, but we want to also help the people that were forced out of Cuba and living in this country.”
Quote:Florida Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart blasted a reporter who suggested that he was not backing Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in the wake of Nicolas Maduro’s capture.
The reporter’s question came shortly after President Trump dismissed the idea of Machado, who previously said she was dedicating her Nobel Peace Prize to him, taking the reins.
“Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) raged, visibly irked by the reporter’s question. “You’re talking to us? When have we ever not supported her?”
“Do not put words in my mouth,” he went on. “I will not tolerate putting words in my mouth or my colleagues’ mouths. We have been consistent from day one.”
“The next democratically elected president of Venezuela is going to be Maria Corina Machado.”
Díaz-Balart’s two GOP colleagues, Reps. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) and Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) nodded on in approval as he ripped into the reporter.
All three House members are Cuban-American and have been outspoken in their criticism of Maduro — whose regime is propping up the communist government of Cuba.
Earlier in the day, Saturday, Trump had publicly cast doubt on the idea of Machado leading Venezuela.
“I think it’d be very tough for her to be the leader,” Trump said during a press conference celebrating Maduro’s capture. “She doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”
Machado had won a primary in 2023 to be the opposition standard-bearer in the 2024 general election, but was barred from running by Venezuela’s government.
Quote:Many world leaders whined Saturday over the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, claiming the clandestine US mission was an unnecessary use of force — despite a legal precedent for it.
Allies Russia, Iran, China and Colombia were among the nations lining up Saturday to demand the Trump administration release Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, who were headed to New York City to face federal charges of narcoterrorism.
“In view of the confirmed reports about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse being in the United States, we strongly urge the US leadership to reconsider their position and release the legitimately elected president of a sovereign country and his spouse,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“We highlight the need to create conditions for resolving any existing issues between the United States and Venezuela through dialogue.”
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said through a spokesperson that it was “deeply alarmed” by the use of US military force. The operation sets a “dangerous precedent” and may have violated international law, the UN warned.
The US military unleashed a stunning show of force early Saturday morning to apprehend Maduro, deploying more than 150 aircrafts, elite ground troops and overwhelming airpower, part of a massive operation that began in August.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Maduro an illegitimate president — he was indicted by the US in 2020 — and a “fugitive of American justice” before his arrest.
Maduro was provided “multiple, very, very, very generous offers” to avoid his high-profile arrest but instead chose to “act like a wild man” and “play games,” said Rubio.
Maduro’s arrest is bolstered by legal precedent dating back to 1989, when the first Bush administration invaded Panama to capture dictator Manuel Noriega.
The US courts, at the time, ruled the military can physically remove someone from another country and bring them to a courtroom stateside to answer criminal charges.
Maduro’s capture was celebrated by leaders of some nations, including Argentinian President Javier Milei, who posted on social media in Spanish the caption “La Libertad Avanza,” or “Freedom advances.”
Kaja Kallas, a European Union diplomat, said Saturday she had spoken with Rubio and the EU’s ambassador in Caracas and that the EU was “closely monitoring the situation.”
She also noted the EU has “repeatedly stated that Mr. Maduro lacks legitimacy” but added, “we call for restraint. The safety of EU citizens in the country is our top priority.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry also fired off an earlier statement demanding a full meeting of the UN Security Council over Maduro’s capture, claiming the US “committed an act of armed aggression against Venezuela.”
Both Russia and China, in particular, consider oil-rich Venezuela key allies in South America.
On Friday, Maduro met with a special envoy for Chinese President Xi Jinping at the presidential palace in Caracas to reaffirm ties with China amid the escalating tensions with the US.
Quote:Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was in the crosshairs long before he was taken into custody during a U.S. military strike Saturday morning.
A former bus driver, Maduro, 63, grew up in a working class family in Caracas with both parents coming from leftist backgrounds. He followed his father into union activism and politics.
A leftist radical with close ties to Cuba, Maduro rose up through the ranks of elected office to be named Venezuela’s vice president by tyrannical President Hugo Chavez in 2012, the year before the strongman died of cancer. He was then named interim president.
Shortages and decreased living standards in the South American country led to protests in 2014 that escalated into daily marches nationwide, government oppression of dissent, and a decline in Maduro’s popularity.
Maduro, a burly moustachioed leader, was often portrayed as a clown who simply repeated Chavez’s bombastic rhetoric, but he still won a narrow victory in that year’s presidential election for a six-year term.
Maduro has been repeatedly accused over the years of leading a drug and weapons trafficking organization called Cartel of the Suns made up of high-ranking Venezuelan officials working under him.
The allegations led Maduro to be charged in the Southern District of New York on narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of machine guns charges in March 2020.
There’s been a standing reward for him for years, which Trump upped to $50 million in 2025 after declaring the Cartel of the Suns a terrorist group and Maduro its leader.
But Maduro has denied being a cartel leader, and has accused the US of using the “war on drugs” as a reason to try to depose him and obtain his country’s vast oil reserves.
Political opposition, including from now-Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who is favored to follow Maduro as president, has led to continued street protests in Caracas and other cities, which have led to violent suppression and casualties.
During his 13 years as president, Maduro was often flanked by his wife, Cilia Flores, who held various high ranking positions in his administration, including attorney general. She was taken into custo[d]y with her husband.
Maduro survived an assa[s]sination attempt when drones detonated explosives near him during a televised address in 2018 injuring several soldiers, but was declared victor in the country’s election that year.
But in 2019 the National Assembly of Venezuela declared he had wrongfully seized control and was not the country’s legal president. That led more than 50 countries, including the United States, to refuse to recognize him as Venezuela’s leader.
Quote:Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, who was sworn in on Saturday, is not the country’s legitimate leader, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Rubio spoke with Rodriguez — the country’s vice president — after the US conducted a daring military operation to capture the former Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro.
However, he suggested the US will not support her staying in power. He called for elections to determine the next leader of the beleaguered South American country.
“This is not about the legitimate president. We don’t believe that this regime in place is legitimate via an election,” Rubio told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “And that’s not just us. It’s 60-something countries around the world that have taken that view as well.”
“Ultimately, legitimacy for their system of government will come about through a period of transition and real elections,” he continued. “It’s the reason why Maduro is not just an indicted drug trafficker. He [was an] illegitimate president. He was not the head of state.”
Rubio revealed that the Trump administration will leverage its oil quarantine on Venezuela to force Caracas to make changes.
“I cannot overstate how crippling this is for their future, [and] that, on the other hand, there’s an alternative to that … an oil industry that actually benefits the people,” the secretary of state said.
Trump suggested Saturday that Rodriguez was the country’s proper interim leader — claiming she was cooperating with the US. However, she was quick to condemn America’s action in Venezuela as she swore loyalty to Maduro.
Rodriguez, 56, is a staunch socialist who is known for her avid support of Maduro alongside her brother, Jorge Rodriguez, who currently presides over Venezuela’s congress.
The new leader has been described as a ruthlessly ambitious and Machiavellian politician willing to do whatever is necessary to move up in the ranks, former colleagues and US officials told the Wall Street Journal.
“They are very, very manipulative,” Andrés Izarra, a former minister under Maduro who now lives in exile, told the outlet about the Rodriguez siblings.
“I think they will maneuver to stay in power as long as they can,” Izarra.
Rodriguez also maintains a close relationship with Cuba and its intelligence agency, which Maduro relied on to help rule the country and protect himself.
Rodriguez is also the daughter of Jorge Antonio Rodriguez, the mastermind behind the 1976 kidnapping of American business executive William Niehous, who was held captive for three and a half years before being released.
With Rodriguez taking a stand against the US, it remains unclear who exactly the US will back to lead the nation prior to any democratic election.
While many have backed opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner María Corina Machado or Maduro’s 2024 opponent Edmundo González to take over, Trump said he believes Machado isn’t strong enough.
Rubio also demurred. The secretary of state also tried to pour cold water on claims that the operation in Venezuela will result in a repeat of America’s prolonged war in the Middle East.
Quote:Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday evening condemned the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, calling the operation both “unlawful” and “unwise.”
In a lengthy post on X, Harris acknowledged that Maduro is a “brutal” and “illegitimate” dictator but said that President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela “do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable.”
“Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable,” Harris wrote. “That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We’ve seen this movie before.
“Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price.”
Harris made the remarks hours after the Trump administration confirmed that Maduro and his wife were captured and transported out of Venezuela as part of “Operation Absolute Resolve.”
Quote:Socialists of a feather flock together.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s comrades in the Democratic Socialists of America want deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro returned to power.
The Democratic Socialists of America put out a lengthy statement demanding “the return of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores to Venezuela.”
Meanwhile, the DSA is starting a “join our “Hands Off Venezuela” to get the “imperialist” United States out of the socialist, oil-rich country.
“Solidarity with the people of Venezuela! Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution!”, separate DSA International Committee policy statement says.
In its statement on the removal of Maduro, the DSA claims the Trump administration has started “an illegal war” against Venezuela.
“This is a nakedly imperialist war to install a US puppet government that will give Venezuela’s oil resources over to US corporations and to force US hegemony over Latin America — the new `Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. This war is illegal both under international law and the laws governing the declaration of war within the United States,” the left-wing group’s statement says.
“Trump’s war has nothing to do with drug trafficking. There is no substantiated evidence that high-level members of the Venezuelan government are `narco-terrorists.’ Yet, the Trump administration is using this claim as the pretext for this illegal war.”
DSA likened the US military’s action to the “failed” war against Iraq, claiming it will only “impoverish the people of Latin America.”
DSA demands:
- A return of Maduro to Venezuela and restoration of diplomatic relations with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela — the Maduro-led regime
- An immediate end to “military violence” against Venezuela and a total withdrawal of all US forces and operations from the Caribbean
- Ending sanctions against Venezuela and suspending the failed “war on drugs”
- A US foreign policy centered on peace, multilateralism, and respect for national sovereignty and self-determination
USA
Quote:White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Wednesday that “people will be in handcuffs” as fallout grows from expansive fraud allegations under Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s watch.
“President Trump is not going to let Governor Walz off the hook,” Leavitt told “Fox & Friends,” echoing arguments that responsibility lies with the governor as the alleged fraud occurred under his administration.
Leavitt said the Trump administration has surged federal resources into Minnesota, with multiple agencies conducting investigations tied to the alleged fraud.
Among them, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is conducting door-to-door operations at alleged fraud sites, a key federal effort ICE Director Todd Lyons discussed Tuesday on the Fox News Channel.
“This is a top priority for the administration,” Leavitt reiterated.
“The Department of Justice, as we speak, is continuing to execute search warrants and subpoenas… The Department of Homeland Security is conducting door-to-door investigations on the ground at potential fraud sites, and they’re also conducting continued deportations of illegal aliens in Minnesota’s communities.”
“We’re also not afraid to use denaturalization,” she continued.
“That’s a tool at the president and the Secretary of State’s disposal, and it’s one this administration has previously used before.”
The Health and Human Services, Agriculture and Labor Departments are also involved, with one cutting off childcare funding to Minnesota until the investigation is fully explored, another digging into the unemployment insurance program and the third writing a letter demanding Walz hand over the name of every SNAP recipient in the state.
Quote:A man was found dead at Disney World over the weekend – the sixth death to rock the “Most Magical Place on Earth” in recent months, authorities said.
The body was found around 9 p.m. Friday night in Disney Springs, a shopping center in the sprawling Florida amusement park.
Little has been released about the condition the body was found in, but officials suspect the incident was a suicide.
“Deputies responded to the Disney Springs Orange Garage on East Buena Vista Drive and discovered a man who was deceased,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Office told News 6.
“This incident is being investigated as a possible suicide. We have no additional information to release and will have no further updates this weekend,” they added.
The death was the first to at Disney World of the new year, but was just the sixth to happen there since October.
Quote:Plaintiffs claim the beloved McRib is a big McFib.
McDonald’s, purveyor of America’s favorite rack-of-ribs-shaped sandwich, has been hit with a federal class-action suit accusing the chain of misleading millions of customers by falsely marketing its McRib as containing real pork rib meat.
At the heart of the complaint, filed Dec. 23 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, is the name and presentation of the product, which plaintiffs argue would lead a reasonable consumer to believe it contains actual rib meat when in fact it does not.
The primary ingredient of the sandwich, which has found a cult following thanks in part to its on-again, off-again status on McDonald’s menu, is restructured pork composed of parts like shoulder, heart, tripe and scalded stomach.
Included among the suit’s 16 legal claims are allegations of fraud, breach of warranty, contract violations and violations of state consumer protection laws. It also alleges the McRib’s fleeting inclusion on the fast-food giant’s menu dissuades customers from scrutinizing its ingredients.
Plaintiffs Peter Le, Charles Lynch, Dorien Baker and Derrick Wilson are seeking federal class certification on behalf of millions of McRib purchasers over the last four years, as well as subclass certifications in California, New York, Illinois and Washington, DC.
A McDonald’s spokesperson told The Independent that the McRib doesn’t use hearts, tripe or scalded stomach — and that its only ingredients are 100 percent boneless pork, barbecue sauce, onions and pickles.
“This lawsuit distorts the facts and many of the claims are inaccurate. Food quality and safety are at the heart of everything we do – that’s why we’re committed to using real, quality ingredients across our entire menu,” the spokesperson said.
Quote:Former President Joe Biden’s long career in politics allowed him to retire with the largest taxpayer-funded pension of any ex-prez in US history — $417,000, or more than his presidential salary, an expert says.
Biden, 83, was in line to rake in the massive amount from two pension funds in his first year as former president, according to an analysis by National Taxpayer Union Foundation Vice President Demian Brady.
“It’s pretty unusual, historically unusual, to have such a large pension amount,” Brady told The Post.
“I would have to say that it’s the largest,” the taxpayer advocate said when asked to compare Biden’s pension to his predecessors.
The hefty estimated annual sum is double what Biden’s former boss, Barack Obama, has received in retirement pay after leaving the White House and $17,000 more than Biden’s $400,000-per-year presidential salary.
It also reflects Biden’s “unique situation” as a former senator, vice president and president, a career path that has allowed him to take advantage of a “loophole” letting him tap into multiple taxpayer-backed retirement funds, Brady said.
Biden, who once described himself as “one of the poorest members” of Congress, is able to collect the lucrative payouts by double-dipping in benefits established under the Former Presidents Act of 1958 as well as the Civil Service Retirement System for ex-senators.
Annual pay in the CSRS pension plan is determined by a formula that takes into account Biden’s 44 years in the Senate and as vice president, as well as his three highest years of salary during that span.
“Biden’s starting pension could be as much as $166,374, including an $18,186 set aside in the program for the spousal portion of benefit,” according to Brady, who noted his estimate assumes Biden sought to maximize the size of his Senate pension.
The former prez would have raked in more than $254,000 in annual benefits from CSRS if not for a cap limiting his annual payouts to 80% of his highest salary, which was $230,700 a year as vice president and president of the Senate.
Quote:The Bail Project has poured more than $90 million into bailing suspects out of jail, including individuals who later killed people while free on bail.
The organization says its mission is to provide “free bail assistance” and “reunite families.” In multiple instances, however, defendants bailed out by the organization later killed someone, at times shortly after being released from jail. In total, the organization claimed in a 2024 report that it has provided $91 million in “bail assistance” to defendants.
Below are individuals accused or convicted of murder after The Bail Project paid their bail.
Donnie Allen
Donnie Allen allegedly murdered 27-year-old Benjamin McComas at a Cleveland rail station around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14, according to FOX 8.
Allen was previously charged with drug possession, breaking and entering, vandalism, obstructing official business and possessing criminal tools in relation to a separate incident at a Cleveland rail station on Dec. 4.
His bond was initially set at $15,000, but Judge Joy Kennedy lowered it to $5,000 on Dec. 8.
The Bail Project provided the $500 for Allen to be bonded out of the Cuyahoga County Jail.
Five days after being released from jail, Allen was arrested for the alleged murder of McComas.
Two family members told Fox News Digital they had told The Bail Project that Allen shouldn’t be released, because he would continue to reoffend and needs professional help or to remain incarcerated.
The group ignored their warnings, they said.
“We knew that he would end up in [jail] anyway, because he does break into people’s cars and whatnot. We just, we’ve always wanted the best for him. Whenever he starts doing good, he self-sabotages and just ends up back in jail. And that’s the reason why we felt the need to let them know that they shouldn’t post his bail,” one family member told Fox News Digital. “I just feel like the whole situation could have been avoided and a life would be living had they listened to what we had to say when they asked.”
Quote:Government whistleblowers who reported widespread fraud in Minnesota were retaliated against on the job by having their vacations and promotions denied — and their every keystroke at work monitored, The Post has learned.
Rep. Kristin Robbins, a Republican who chairs the state’s Fraud Prevention and State Oversight committee, told The Post that whistleblowers who have come forward to report fraud to her committee and to their agencies claimed to be “electronically surveilled” after news stories about the Somali daycare center scams went viral.
“The group of whistleblowers that I interact with claim that they’ve been denied vacations, promotions, and that it’s hurt their careers,” said Robbins, who is running for governor against the incumbent and former Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
“As recently as a couple of weeks ago they told me that every time [fraud] flares up [in the news] they can tell — two of them their job is in the IT world — can tell that they’re being surveilled on the computers in the department’s chat function for words like ‘fraud’ or ‘reporting’ and there’s sort of a chilling effect of knowing that they are looking for people who are talking about fraud,” Robbins said.
These whistleblowers are reporting instances of fraud in the health services industry, including child daycares, adult daycare centers, and autism centers, according to Robbins.
The gubernatorial hopeful revealed the group of whistleblowers she interacts with goes to extreme lengths to maintain their anonymity.
“It’s a really large group,” Robbins said. “When I meet with them it’s electronic and they’re all behind a screen and they have one person who is unidentified who then relays questions to the group.”
She added: “When they call, it’s a blocked number. I just know to pick up when it’s a blocked number now. They’re very protective of themselves.”
The group has good reason to be protective, with two high profile whistleblowers previously facing repercussions for reporting fraud.
UKRAINE WAR... SORT OF
Quote:Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the United States to detain Russian President Vladimir Putin — after US forces captured ousted Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in an overnight operation.
Zelensky didn’t hold back when pressed about the US toppling Maduro’s regime after President Trump ordered airstrikes on military sites around the Venezuelan capital of Caracas early Saturday morning.
“How should I react to this? What can I say?” the Ukrainian leader told reporters after meeting with European national security advisers Saturday.
“If it’s possible to deal with dictators this way, then the US knows what to do next,” he added, suggesting that Trump should handle Putin the same way, as Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine three years after invading the war-torn country.
Russia was among several nations Saturday that demanded the Trump administration release Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, after they were captured from their home in the South American country.
“In view of the confirmed reports about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his spouse being in the United States, we strongly urge the US leadership to reconsider their position and release the legitimately elected president of a sovereign country and his spouse,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“We highlight the need to create conditions for resolving any existing issues between the United States and Venezuela through dialogue.”
The couple arrived in New York City Saturday night to face federal narco-terrorism charges.
Trump said the couple will face the “full wrath of American justice.”
Quote:A Russian drone barrage left six people injured, including three children, after the bombs hit apartment buildings in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, officials said.
At least four apartment buildings were hit in the city of Odessa, with a toddler listed among the wounded children, regional military administration head Oleh Kiper said.
Kipler slammed the overnight attacks as “further evidence of the enemy’s terror tactics, which deliberately target civilian infrastructure.”
The bombardment also targeted the city’s energy grid, with two facilities sustaining significant damage, according to the DTEK power provider.
The company said 10 substations that help power the greater Odessa region have been damaged in December as Russia piles on its attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid during the winter.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of intensifying its attacks on Kyiv’s energy infrastructure as a means to freeze out Ukrainian residents during the bitter winter months.
The ever-escalating attacks have also marked one of the deadliest years of the war yet.
Between January and November 2025, more than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed by Russia’s attacks, with more than 11,000 others injured, according to the United Nations.
That represents a 26% increase from the previous year, and a 70% increase from 2023.
Wednesday’s strike comes just days after President Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart to discuss the ongoing cease-fire proposal.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed confidence that he will achieve victory in the nearly four-year war.
“We believe in you and our victory,” Putin told his troops during his traditional New Year’s address.
Quote:Russia accused Ukraine on Thursday of killing at least 24 people, including a child, in a drone strike on a hotel and cafe where civilians were seeing in the New Year in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.
Ukraine’s military, which has accused Russia of killing many civilians in its own attacks on Ukrainian cities, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed governor of the region, first made the accusation about the strike in a statement. Russia’s Foreign Ministry and senior Russian politicians later accused Ukraine of carrying out “a terrorist attack”.
Reuters was not able to immediately verify photographs of what Saldo’s press service said was the aftermath of the attack or the allegation.
At least one dead body was visible in the images beneath a white sheet. The building showed signs that a fierce fire had raged and there were what looked like blood stains on the ground.
Saldo said in his statement that three Ukrainian drones had struck the site of New Year celebrations in Khorly, a coastal village, in what he said was a “deliberate strike” against civilians. He said that many people had been burnt alive.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said initial information indicated that 24 people, including one child, had been killed, and that 50 people had been injured, including six minors who were being treated in hospital.
“There is no doubt that the attack was planned in advance, with drones deliberately targeting areas where civilians had gathered to celebrate New Year’s Eve,” the ministry said in a statement, calling the attack “a war crime”.
So were Russian politicians and military men expecting this war to be one-sided only?
That would be laughable 
indeed.Quote:Russian athletes at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milan will be barred from competing for the Kremlin — no matter what.
Even if a peace deal is reached with invaded neighbor Ukraine, Russian competitors at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games will not be able to compete under their national flag, International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Friday.
“At this stage, nothing would change the Committee’s decision,” Coventry told the outlet ahead of the games, which run from Feb. 6-22.
The IOC will be upholding the sanctions introduced nearly four years ago due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“The channel is open with the Olympic Committees of Russia … ,” Coventry replied when asked if the IOC has been speaking with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
The continued ban means that athletes with Belarusian or Russian passports can only participate as Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs), representing themselves.
They are prohibited from using their country’s flags, anthems, or team uniforms — and are not permitted to compete in team events or participate in the opening ceremony.
The decision on whether AINs will be allowed to partake in the closing ceremonies is still to be determined and “will be taken during the Games, taking into consideration that it is not teams that take part in the Closing Ceremony, but all the athletes jointly together,” the Olympics website explained.
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin’s wild claim that a swarm of Ukrainian drones targeted his home was a “bold-faced lie” made out of “desperation” to undermine peace negotiations, retired Army Gen. Jack Keane argued Friday.
“He’s not capable of taking Ukraine … He knows that the economy is crunching in on him,” Keane, a Fox News military analyst, said of Putin during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
In contrast, the retired four-star general observed that President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, have appeared unified and made progress on “coming to an agreed position” to end the war.
Putin “resented” what was taking place and resorted to lying to Trump about the purported drone attack in an effort to derail talks, according to Keane.
“In desperation, he talks to the president about Ukraine attacking his residence and he’s shutting down negotiations – that is a bold-faced lie,” Keane said.
Keane cited an analysis conducted by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, which determined there is no evidence to back up the Kremlin’s claim that Putin’s country home in Russia’s northwest Novgorod region was targeted by 91 Ukrainian drones.
“No social media in the neighborhood blowing up on the social media sites like they always do when there is a major drone attack,” the retired general noted.
“No air defense systems firing anything, no evidence of any damage, no evidence of any drones on the ground being destroyed,” he continued. “And now the United States government, I think, is leaking the fact that this did not happen.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe briefed Trump about the alleged attack on Wednesday, a source told The Post. That afternoon, Trump posted a link to The Post’s editorial arguing that Putin was likely lying about the alleged assault.
Zelensky makes major changes to his gov’t — taps popular Ukraine spy chief to run president’s office
Quote:Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday two major changes to his government, bringing on Ukraine’s drone czar Mykhailo Federov as Kyiv’s new minister of defense and naming intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov to run the presidential office, placing some of Ukraine’s most popular figures at the heart of its war strategy and political apparatus.
Fedorov, 34, has served as Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation since 2019, spearheading Kyiv’s impressive drone warfare efforts early in the war and revolutionizing digital defense efforts.
He will take over for former Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who was named to the Defense Ministry role in July.
“Mykhailo is deeply involved in the issues related to the Drone Line and works very effectively on digitalizing public services and processes,” Zelensky said. “Together with all our military, the army command, national weapons producers, and Ukraine’s partners, we must implement defense-sector changes that will be of help.”
Meanwhile, 39-year-old Budanov accepted the post that is roughly equivalent to White House chief of staff, calling it an “honour and a profound commitment, especially at this decisive moment in our country’s history, to focus on issues critical to Ukraine’s strategic security” in a statement on X.
The decorated lieutenant general has led Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence since August 2020 and become a household name for masterminding covert operations deep behind Russian lines.
The new appointments continue Zelensky’s pivot to staffing his administration with security and military figures from the civilian operatives who dominated Ukraine’s politics before Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.
Both Fedorov and Budanov are popular among the general Ukrainian public, as well as with Western officials.
On Thursday, Ukraine’s intelligence services released a video of Budanov speaking to Denis Kapustin, a far-right Russian militant and key enemy of Vladimir Putin, after pulling off an elaborate scheme faking Kapustin’s assassination by drone.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
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My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
