Politics
US says to dictate Venezuela decisions
US President Donald Trump’s administration said Wednesday it will dictate decisions to Venezuela’s interim leaders and control the country’s oil sales “indefinitely” after toppling Nicolas Maduro.
Trump’s assertion of US dominance over the oil-rich South American country comes despite its interim leader Delcy Rodriguez saying there is no foreign power governing Caracas.
“There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history,” Rodriguez said about the US attack to depose her predecessor.
US special forces snatched president Maduro and his wife on Saturday in a lightning raid and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug charges, underscoring what Trump has called the “Donroe Doctine” of US dominance over its backyard.
“We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now” following the capture operation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.
“We’re continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America.”
Trump has said the United States will “run” Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
But Washington has no boots on the ground, and appears to be relying on a naval blockade and the threat of further force to ensure the cooperation of the interim president.
Meanwhile Caracas announced Wednesday that at least 100 people were killed in the US attack and a similar number were injured.
Among those hurt were Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said.
The couple were seen walking on their own power during a New York court arraignment earlier this week.
According to Havana, the death toll includes 32 members of the Cuban military. Maduro, like his firebrand predecessor Hugo Chavez, employed specialized Cuban soldiers as bodyguards.
Not just winging it
Trump’s administration — which has so far indicated it intends to stick with Rodriguez and sideline opposition figures, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado — has given few details about its plans.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Wednesday, after meeting lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have been critical about the post-Maduro planning, that the United States was “not just winging it.”
But so far, the US plan relies heavily on what Trump said on Tuesday was an agreement for Venezuela to hand over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States for it to then sell.
Trump said Wednesday that under the deal Venezuela “is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive” from the oil profits they receive.
That would include agricultural products, machinery, medical devices and energy equipment, he added.
Rubio said that in a second “recovery” phase, US and Western companies would have access to the Venezuelan market and “at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela.”
Venezuela’s state oil firm said it was discussing oil sales with the United States for the “sale of volumes of oil” under existing commercial frameworks.
But Washington is looking at longer term control, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
“We’re going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela, first this backed-up stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela,” Wright said Wednesday.
Immense opportunity
Trump will on Friday meet executives from US oil companies, whom he has said will invest in Venezuela’s crumbling facilities, despite no firm having yet made such pledges amid the turmoil in the country.
“It’s just a meeting to discuss, obviously, the immense opportunity that is before these oil companies right now,” Leavitt told reporters.
Trump also invited leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro to meet at the White House “in the near future,” after the two leaders had their first phone call Wednesday since Trump took office last year.
Washington moved further to stamp its authority on Venezuela when it seized two oil tankers, including a Russian-linked vessel that it pursued from Venezuela to the North Atlantic.
Moscow condemned the operation but Leavitt insisted the oil tanker had been “deemed stateless after flying a false flag.”
GENEVA: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said that killings such as the reported death of Ali Khamenei raise serious concerns under international human rights law.
Speaking to reporters, Turk said that from a human rights perspective, any form of killing is unacceptable.
“From a human rights perspective, any killing of anyone is not in the interest of international human rights law,” he said.
Strike on Girls’ School Raises Concern
Turk also addressed reports of a strike on a girls’ school in Minab, a city in southern Iran, during the first day of US and Israeli attacks.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, claimed that the attack killed around 150 students, although the figure has not been independently verified.
The UN rights chief stressed that schools are civilian institutions and should never be targeted during armed conflicts.
Call for Independent Investigation
Turk called for an impartial investigation into the incident to determine the circumstances surrounding the strike, including the type of weapon used and the timing of the attack.
He said responsibility now lies with those who carried out the strikes to ensure a transparent inquiry.
Meanwhile, US officials told media that military investigators are examining the possibility that American forces were responsible, though the investigation has not yet reached a final conclusion.
The incident has intensified international concern about civilian casualties and humanitarian law violations as the conflict in the region continues to escalate.
WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department published additional FBI documents describing interviews with a woman who said President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her after she was introduced to him by Jeffrey Epstein.
The documents had not been made public under previous congressionally-mandated file releases related to the late convicted sex offender because they were mistakenly marked “duplicative,” the department said.
Democrats are investigating the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files.
The documents released include descriptions of multiple 2019 interviews the FBI held with the woman, who alleged she was assaulted by both Epstein and Trump while she was between 13 and 15 years old.
In one interview, the woman said Epstein took her to “either New York or New Jersey” and introduced her to Trump.
The woman said she and people close to her received threatening calls over the years demanding she keep quiet that she believed were related to Epstein.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to the Epstein allegations, and the Justice Department previously said some of the documents it has released “contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump.”
Democrats have accused the Trump administration of covering up details of the Epstein investigation that could negatively impact Trump.
On Wednesday, a House committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer questions about the Justice Department´s handling of the documents.
- Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet crashes during training.
- Jet went missing after taking off from Jorhat airbase.
- Dead pilots identified as Sq Ldr Anuj, Flight Lieutenant Duragkar.
Two pilots from the Indian Air Force (IAF) were killed after a Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet crashed in India’s northeastern state of Assam, NDTV reported, citing officials.
The Indian Air Force said on Friday that a fighter jet, which was on a training mission, crashed in the northeast Indian state of Assam.
“The Su-30MKI, which was on a training mission, crashed in the area of Karbi Anglong, Assam, approx 60 km from Jorhat,” the Indian Air Force said on X.
The aircraft had gone missing shortly after taking off from the Jorhat airbase. Communication with the Russian-origin fighter jet was lost at 7:42pm, according to officials.
The crash occurred in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, around 60 kilometres from the airbase. The aircraft reportedly went down in a remote hilly area.
The IAF identified the deceased pilots as Squadron Leader Anuj and Flight Lieutenant Purvesh Duragkar.
“All personnel of the IAF express sincere condolences, and stand firmly with the bereaved family in this time of grief,” the Air Force said in a post on X.
Local residents in the area said they heard a loud explosion from a nearby hill and saw a ball of fire shortly afterwards.
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of the two pilots in the “tragic” crash.
The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a two-seater, long-range fighter aircraft developed by Russian manufacturer Sukhoi. It is produced under licence in India by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the IAF.
The aircraft was first inducted into the Indian Air Force in 1997, and the service currently operates a fleet of more than 260 Su-30MKI jets.
Similar incidents have occurred in recent years. A Sukhoi fighter jet crashed in Nashik, Maharashtra, in June 2024, while another Su-30 aircraft crashed in January 2023 shortly after taking off from the Gwalior airbase in Madhya Pradesh.
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