gedaliyah

Nicolás Maduro balked at a gilded exile. U.S. officials then saw a more pliant option in his vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, known for stabilizing Venezuela’s economy.

The people involved in the discussions said intermediaries persuaded the administration that she would protect and champion future American energy investments in the country.

“I’ve been watching her career for a long time, so I have some sense of who she is and what she’s about,” said one senior U.S. official, referring to Ms. Rodríguez.

“I’m not claiming that she’s the permanent solution to the country’s problems, but she’s certainly someone we think we can work at a much more professional level than we were able to do with him,” the official added, referring to Mr. Maduro.

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Renewed tensions are flaring in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, with fresh fighting reported around the city of Uvira in South Kivu province.

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said Saturday, January 3, the "hour of freedom" had arrived for her country after the United States seized strongman Nicolas Maduro, but was criticized by the US president, who said she "doesn't have the respect."

At a press conference, Trump scotched any expectation that Machado should emerge as Venezuela's new leader. "I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country," Trump told a news conference. He indicated he could instead work with Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, saying "she's essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again."

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said that 2024 presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia should lead a peaceful transition in Venezuela, adding its people "could only rejoice" at the removal by the US of President Nicolas Maduro.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41032636

Waking up every day and drinking that Hatorade.

If you don't like anything on the the platform, why stick around?

The Champagne Cluster is a rare and beautiful example of two galaxy clusters smashing together. Its festive name comes from both its New Year’s Eve discovery and its bubbly appearance in space. Images reveal superheated gas and galaxies spread across a massive collision zone. Astronomers believe this system could help explain how dark matter responds when giant structures collide.

(AP) — Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired overnight, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year. Democrats forced a 43-day government shutdown over the issue.

The Trump administration laid the groundwork to dismantle the Department of Education and ditched Biden-era Title IX protections for students based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Advocacy group Reproductive Freedom for All says nearly half of Project 2025's recommendations targeting reproductive rights are either completed or in progress.

The chapter on DHS, penned by former acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli, also calls on Congress to move detention of immigrant children from HHS to DHS and to repeal anti-trafficking protections for unaccompanied children that it says have failed.

The complaint argues that denying coverage of gender-affirming care is sex-based discrimination and asks the personnel office to rescind the policy.

The deaths may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran's theocracy over the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded elsewhere.