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Jan. 6 (UPI) — The Department of Energy has announced it would award $2.7 billion in funding to three companies to increase domestic uranium enrichment over the next decade.

The announcement by the Department of Energy comes as President Donald Trump has sought to reinvigorate the United States’ nuclear energy industry as it moves away from foreign sources of energy.

However, the funding authority for the awards originated under President Joe Biden‘s Investing in America agenda and related legislation that aimed to increase uranium enrichment capacity in the United States to bolster U.S. energy security and resilience, while reducing dependence on Russian energy.

With the announcement, American Centrifuge Operating, General Matter and Orano Federal Services will each receive an award of $900 million.

ACO and GM will be tasked with creating domestic high-assay, low-enriched uranium enrichment capacity, while OFS will expand U.S. domestic low-enriched uranium enrichment capacity.

The three companies were chosen from six that were permitted last year to bid on future work.

“President Trump is catalyzing a resurgence in the nation’s nuclear energy sector to strengthen American security and prosperity,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.

“Today’s awards show that this administration is committed to restoring a secure domestic nuclear fuel supply chain capable of producing nuclear fuels needed to power the reactors of today and the advanced reactors of tomorrow.”

Orano said the funding marks a “key milestone” in accelerating the development of its $5 billion facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

According to the company, the United States imports two-thirds of the LEU needed to power the U.S. nuclear fleet from foreign sources, including Russia, and its new IKE facility will help reduce the United States’ dependence on Moscow, especially after the ban on Russian imports begins in 2028.

“The decision by the U.S. Department of Energy is a great source of pride as it identifies Orano as a proven nuclear fuel supplier,” Orano CEO Nicolas Maes said in a statement.

General Matter said under its contract with the Department of Energy, it will build domestic enrichment capacity that will help fuel “the next generation of American nuclear power” and enable “American leadership in AI, manufacturing and other critical industries.”

“Rebuilding U.S. domestic enrichment capacity will reduce our reliance on foreign providers, strengthen our nuclear industrial base and lower energy costs for utilities and consumers,” it said in a social media post.

“American reactors need American uranium. In partnership with the Department of Energy, we will deliver it.”

Jan. 5 (UPI) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday announced that it is changing its childhood vaccination schedule to align with other developed nations.

The change, which is based on the vaccine practices in 20 “peer, developed nations,” most specifically Denmark, is aimed at reducing the number of vaccines and vaccine doses that children in the United States receive based on what officials at the Department of Health and Human Services say is too high a count of shots.

“After an exhaustive review of the evidence, we are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said in a press release.

“This decision protects children, respects families and rebuilds trust in public health,” he said.

The change was met with concern by a range of professional healthcare societies, including the American Association of Pediatrics and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

“Today’s announcement by federal health officials to arbitrarilly stop recommending numerous routine childhood immunizations is dangerous and unnecessary,” Andrew D. Racine, president of the AAP, said in a statement.

“The longstanding, evidence-based approach that has guided the U.S. immunization review and recommendation process remains the best way to keep children healthy and protect against health complications and hospitalizations,” Racine said.

Kennedy has long been associated with anti-vaccine sentiments, including the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism and doubts expressed about COVID-19 vaccines that disregard study and real-world data.

Although he told Congress during his confirmation hearing in January 2025 that he is not anti-vaccine, since taking over the HHS he has canceled several vaccine research programs at the CDC and Food and Drug Administration and fired a wide range of experts who have long worked on vaccines and vaccine policy amid what he has said is an effort to rebuild citizens’ trust in government health agencies and the advice they offer.

Among Kennedy’s actions was firing all 17 members of a committee that makes recommendations about vaccines to the CDC and replacing them with a hand-picked selection of vaccine skeptics.

Kennedy last February said he was going to make investigating the benefits of the childhood vaccine schedule a priority, noting that he would take an “open mind” to what many consider “settled science” for vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B and other infectious diseases.

According to the HHS, the CDC will continue to recommend that all are children receive vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Haemophilus influenza B, pneumococcus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, HPV and chickenpox.

Vaccines that the agency is recommending for high-risk groups are RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue and meningococcus.

And the CDC is now recommending that vaccines for rotavirus, COVID-19, influenza, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A and hepatitis B are given based on shared clinical decision-making.

The HHS and the CDC said the changes are based on the United States recommending more childhood vaccine doses than any other peer nation, and twice as many as some European nations, and that data is insufficient to suggest the formerly recommended shots are necessary.

The agencies also said that the new schedule allows for more flexibility and choice, with less coercion.

Experts have expressed doubt about the need or benefits for the changes, saying that there is not data to back up the changes and they will potentially lead to the spread of diseases that can be prevented.

Amesh Adalja, physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told UPI that the effect of the changes, which he called intentional, will be to decrease the uptake of certain vaccines in the United States and that there is no scientific justification for them.

“This will lead to predictable increases in illness, disruption, hospitalizations and — with certain infections — deaths,” Adalja said. “Individuals will be confused regarding what is actually recommended.”

He said that the burden on primary care doctors will increase as they not only help their patients navigate issues and decisions, but will likely increase the care that some people need.

“The decision was entirely arbitrary because some people ‘felt’ that the number of diseases vaccinated against was too high, akin to those who are afraid of the numbers 13 or 666,” Adalja said.

Jan. 5 (UPI) — The trial of former Uvalde school police officer Adrian Gonzales is underway Monday, four years after 19 students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at a Texas elementary school.

The jury selection process will begin the trial proceedings for Gonzales in Corpus Christi, Texas. He faces 29 felony charges, one for each of the 19 fourth-grade victims and 10 surviving students of the shooting on May 24, 2022.

Gonzales is accused of putting the children at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in “imminent danger” when he failed to respond to an active shooting. He was one of the first officers on the scene, the prosecution says.

It took the nearly 400 officers who responded in various capacities 77 minutes to engage the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos. Ramos was armed with an AR-15-style rifle.

State and federal investigators reviewed bodycam footage, 911 calls and eyewitness accounts before determining that a series of failures in the law enforcement response contributed to the incident.

The jury is expected to view bodycam footage and hear from investigators and survivors during Gonzales’ trial.

The site of the trial was moved by a judge in October after his attorneys argued it would be unlikely to fill an impartial jury in Uvalde.

Gonzales is one of two law enforcement officers facing criminal charges related to their response to the shooting. Pedro Arredondo, former police chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department, faces 10 counts of abandoning and endangering children.

Jan. 5 (UPI) — Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has said “enough” on Monday to President Donald Trump‘s threats to take the country and urged him to let go of his “fantasies of annexation.”

Nielsen posted on Facebook that Trump should stop his claims that the United States will annex his country, which is a territory of Denmark, a member of NATO and the European Union.

“Alliances are built on trust. And trust requires respect,” Nielsen said in his post. “Threats, pressure and talk of annexation do not belong anywhere between friends. That’s not how you talk to a people who have repeatedly shown responsibility, stability and loyalty.”

“This is enough.”

After the invasion of Venezuela on Saturday, Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday that the United States needs Greenland for national security. The operation in Venezuela also renewed fears that Trump may actually move to take Greenland.

“They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know … But we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense,” Trump said when asked if the action in Venezuela should be interpreted by other nations as a signal that his administration might use military action to pursue more goals.

Nielsen’s post told Trump to let it go.

“No more pressure. No more hints. No more fantasies about annexation,” he said.

“We are open for dialogue. We are open to conversations. But it has to be through the right channels and with respect to international law. And the right channels are not random and disrespectful posts on social media. Greenland is our home and our territory. And that’s how it continues to be.”

The EU backs Nielsen and Denmark on the matter.

“The EU will continue to uphold the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders,” EU foreign policy spokesperson Anitta Hipper told reporters. “These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them, all the more so if the territorial integrity of a member state of the European Union is questioned.”

Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said it made “absolutely no sense to talk about the U.S. needing to take over Greenland.” She said the United States has “no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish kingdom.”

The Danish Kingdom also includes the Faroe Islands.

“The principle of the inviolability of borders is enshrined in international law and is not up for negotiation,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Berlin after a meeting with Frederiksen in June. “We stand firmly alongside our Danish friends on these issues and that will remain the case.”

On Air Force One, Trump told reporters he didn’t want to discuss Greenland saying he would talk about it “in 20 days.” He then mocked Greenland and Denmark.

“You know what Denmark did recently to boost security in Greenland? They added one more dog sled. It’s true. They thought that was a great move,” Trump said.

“Right now, Greenland is full of Chinese and Russian ships everywhere. We need Greenland for national security reasons. Denmark will not be able to handle the task.”

Sweden, Norway and Finland have all said they support Denmark.

“Only Denmark and Greenland have the right to decide on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland,” said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. “Sweden fully supports our neighboring country.”

Jan. 4 (UPI) — The International Bar Association on Sunday expressed concerns over the United States military intervention in Venezuela, stating it “raises serious questions under international law.”

The United States removed Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro, and arrested his wife on Saturday in a clandestine military operation following months of speculation amid a U.S. military build in the region.

The Trump administration has framed its military action as a law enforcement operation as Maduro was indicted in the United States on narco-terrorism and drug conspiracy charges in 2020.

While Maduro’s claim to the presidency has been challenged for years following widely disregarded elections, his arrest in Venezuela by the United States has drawn allegations, including from ally France, that his detainment is illegal under international law.

In a statement emailed to UPI on Sunday night, the International Bar Association, the world’s largest association of lawyers, said it “expresses concern” over the U.S. military action in the South American country, while citing the United Nations Charter, which prohibits intervention in matters within domestic jurisdiction, the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.

“Measures or policies aimed at coercing political change in another state, when undertaken outside internationally recognized legal frameworks, are inconsistent with these obligations and risk normalizing conduct that international law was designed to prevent,” the IBA said.

“Even in the face of ongoing reprehensible conduct by state leaders, adherence to international law remains essential to preserving the integrity of the rules-based international order.”

Maduro is a long-time foe of U.S. President Donald Trump, who tried to oust the South American leader during his first term.

During his reign as Venezuela’s leader, Maduro has been accused of committing human rights violations against his own people, millions of whom have left the country over the last decade.

The IBA said it is aware of the allegations and conduct of Maduro’s regime that have led to widespread suffering and that they warrant “robust scrutiny and accountability both under domestic and international law, pursued through lawful mechanisms, including international or independent domestic judicial processes.”

“The IBA encourages a democratic transition in Venezuela that respects the rule of law,” it said.

Jan. 4 (UPI) — Former New York City cop, U.S. Secret Service agent and conservative media personality Dan Bongino has exited his post as deputy director after less than a year in the office.

“It was a busy last day on the job. This will be my last post on this account. Tomorrow I return to civilian life,” Bongino, 51, posted on X Saturday.

“It’s been an incredible year thanks to the leadership and decisiveness of President [Donald] Trump. It was the honor of a lifetime to work with Director [Kash] Patel, and to serve you, the American people. See you on the other side.”

On Bongino’s last shift Saturday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia were captured by U.S. special forces and FBI agents, and flown to New York where they are to be arraigned on weapons and drug charges on Monday.

“Dan heads back to the private sector after helping orchestrate a record year for the @fbi,” Patel wrote on X Sunday.

“-Historic 20% drop in nationwide murder rate-100% increase in arrests year to year -1,800 gangs and criminal enterprises disrupted (210% increase)-2,000+ kilos of Fentanyl seized (up 31%) enough to kill 130 million Americans-Nihilistic Violent Extremism arrests up 490%-Over 6,000 child victims located (up 22%),” Patel continued.

“-Espionage arrests up 35%-Multiple successful surges including Summer Heat which had almost 9,000 arrests in just three months This FBI is saving lives, protecting innocent kids, and taking deadly drugs off our streets at levels not seen in decades. None of it would’ve been possible without Dan’s leadership and support. And he paved the way for even better things to come. Thank you @dbongino.”

Bongino replied to Patel, stating: “Thank you my friend, it was an honor to serve with you. You’re doing an incredible job and I KNOW you’re focused, resolute, and over the target. We got a lot done in a year and there’s a lot more coming.”

Bongino announced last month that he was planning to leave.

At the time, Trump told reporters Bongino had done a “great job,” but wants to “get back to his show.”

CNN said Bongino exited because he frequently clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi and because the job was taking a toll on his personal life.

Fox News said Andrew Bailey is now the only deputy director at the FBI.

Jan. 4 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said in an interview published Sunday that the United States needs to annex Greenland “for defense,” while his deputy chief of staff’s wife was reproached by Denmark’s ambassador to the U.S. for a social media post about the possible move.

Trump has consistently discussed annexing Greenland since before retaking office in January 2025, but has also long been rebuffed on the idea by officials in both Denmark and Greenland.

But at a news conference on Saturday morning after the U.S. apprehension of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both alluded to the potential of U.S. military action elsewhere in the Americas.

When asked on Sunday if Maduro’s apprehension should be interpreted by other nations — for instance, Greenland, which does not want to be annexed — as a signal that his administration might consider military action to pursue more goals, Trump demurred.

“They are going to have to view it themselves,” Trump told The Atlantic in an interview on Sunday. “I really don’t know … But we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense.”

He also noted that the NATO ally is “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.”

Trump previously has refused to rule out military action to annex Greenland, saying in May that he wouldn’t “say I’m not going to do it but I don’t rule out anything … We need Greenland very badly,” The Guardian reported.

Greenland, which is the world’s largest island, is a self-governing territory of Denmark. It is largely covered with ice, though it has oil, natural gas and mineral resources, and already is home to the United States’ northernmost military base.

Trump said in a nationally televised speech in March that his administration was “working with everybody involved to try and get it.”

“We need it really for international world security,” he said during the speech, adding that he thought “we’re going to get it, one way or the other.”

At the time, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede said in a Facebook post that Greenland would determine it’s own future and does not what to be Americans any more than they want to be Danish.

Trump’s recently named Greenland envoy, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, said in December that the United States is not going to “go in there trying to conquer anybody.”

Landry also said in December that he was thankful to Trump for the “honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the United States,” The Guardian reported.

Denmark’s ambassador to the United States, Jesper Moeller Soerensen, responded to a Saturday post on X by Katie Miller, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, that depicted Greenland with a U.S. map overlaid on it with the word “SOON,” the BBC reported.

“Just a friendly reminder about the U.S. and Denmark: We are close allies and should continue to work together as such,” Soerensen said in a response on X.

“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Soerensen added.

Jan. 4 (UPI) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in interviews on Sunday that it is “premature” to discuss elections in Venezuela because higher priorities, including reinvigorating the country’s oil industry, must be addressed first.

In interviews with ABC, CBS and NBC, Rubio said that the United States will continue to strike drug boats and detain oil tankers as the Trump administration moves to stabilize and “run” Venezuela after the apprehension of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday.

The Trump administration plans to keep its “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil in place as it pressures the remainders of Maduro’s government to end their cooperation with South American drug gangs, as well as stop selling oil to the United States’ adversaries, Rubio said.

“As we move forward here, we’ll set the conditions so that we no longer have in our hemisphere a Venezuela that’s the crossroads for many of our adversaries around the world, including Iran and Hezbollah,” Rubio said on ABC News’ “This Week.”

Rubio added that Venezuela would also no longer be “a narcotrafficking paradise for all those drugs coming out of Colombia … and toward the United States.”

Offshore armada is ‘leverage’

In a press conference on Saturday, Trump told reporters that there was a second strike planned in the case that Venezuelan forces responded to Maduro’s capture or the plan was not successful, but U.S. military commanders decided against launching it.

Trump noted Saturday, and Rubio reiterated on Sunday, that the roughly 15,000 troops offshore of Venezuela spread across more than a dozen warships would remain in the Caribbean.

Their objectives, he told CBS’ “Face The Nation,” are striking drug trafficking boats, apprehending tankers suspected to be carrying sanctioned Venezuelan oil and using the armada, as Trump has referred to it, of U.S. military ships offshore to encourage the remaining members of Maduro’s administration to comply with U.S. demands.

“What’s going to happen here is that we have a quarantine on their oil,” Rubio said. “That the means that their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and of the Venezuelan people are met.”

“So, that leverage remains,” he added. “That leverage is ongoing. And we expect that it’s going to lead to results here.”

No elections yet

Although the Trump administration “cares about elections, we care about democracy, we care about all of that,” the priority is the U.S.’ goals of stopping the flow of drugs into the United States and U.S. “safety, security, well-being and prosperity,” Rubio told NBC News’ “Meet The Press.”

At this point, he said, considering new elections in Venezuela “is premature at this point” as Trump has tasked Rubio with “running policy” in the South American country.

In the next several months, Rubio said that the main priorities are to end entanglements between the Venezuelan government and drug gangs, as well as to prevent Iran, Russia, China and Cuba, among other nations, from investing in the country and gaining a foothold in the Western Hemisphere.

Maduro and his wife, who are in a jail in New York City awaiting trial, along with four other people in the Venezuelan government who were not arrested in Saturday’s raid, have been indicted for allegedly working with Colombian drug gangs and rebel groups to assist them in trafficking cocaine.

The quarantine on ships transporting Venezuelan oil is linked to Trump’s goal of sending U.S. oil companies to inspect and reinvigorate Venezuela’s ailing oil industry, while keeping the oil in the Americas.

While noting that the United States, which is a net oil exporter, does not need the oil, he questioned why Iran, Russia or China should need Venezuelan oil considering all three are nowhere near South America.

“They’re not even in this continent,” Rubio said. “This is where we live, and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operations for adversaries, competitors and rivals of the United States.”

Jan. 2 (UPI) — Chinese electric car maker BYD surpassed Tesla in annual sales in 2025.

BYD said it sold 2.26 million battery electric vehicles in 2025, a boost of 28% year over year, the company said in a statement Thursday. BYD’s total deliveries from BEVs and plug-in hybrids were about 4.6 million vehicles.

Tesla sold 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, which is about an 8% decline from 2024, the company announced Friday. It’s the company’s second-straight annual drop.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk once laughed at BYD cars in an interview on Bloomberg TV in 2011. He said, “I don’t think they have a great product,” CNBC reported Musk said.

Musk spent the first half of 2025 working for the federal government in the administration of President Donald Trump as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency. He left in May amid a fight with Trump.

In November, Tesla shareholders approved a new pay package for Musk.The firm said 75% of shareholders with voting rights backed Musk’s 10-year pay deal, which could net him $1 trillion over that time by boosting his stake in Tesla by more than 423 million shares.

Though shares dropped significantly in the first quarter of 2025, they are back on track with an all-time closing high of $489.88 last month, after Musk said it had been testing driverless vehicles in Austin, Texas.

Jan. 3 (UPI) — Former Milwaukee County (Wisc.) Judge Hannah Dugan resigned on Saturday following her federal felony conviction for obstruction of law enforcement in April.

Dugan, 66, submitted her resignation letter to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Saturday and said it is effective immediately.

“Behind the bench, I have presided over thousands and thousands of cases — with a commitment to treat all persons with dignity and respect, to act justly, deliberatively and consistently, and to maintain a courtroom with the decorum and safety the public deserves,” Dugan said in the resignation letter.

She said that she is the “subject of unprecedented federal legal proceedings” that “present immense and complex challenges that threaten the independence of our judiciary.”

A federal jury found her guilty of obstruction last month for her effort to help an “undocumented immigrant” from Mexico elude Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when they arrived at the county courthouse to arrest him.

Dugan is appealing her conviction, but she is resigning amid a potential impeachment effort by Wisconsin Assembly Republicans.

Dugan served on the bench for nine years, and Evers’ spokesperson, Britt Cudaback said the governor acknowledged receiving the letter of resignation on Saturday and won’t delay in filling the vacant bench seat.

Jan. 3 (UPI) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are indicted on federal charges accusing them of narco-terrorism conspiracy and three related charges.

They also are accused of cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices in a federal grand jury indictment in the U.S. District Court for Southern New York.

“For over 25 years, leaders of Venezuela have abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States,” said Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for Southern New York, in the federal indictment.

Maduro “is at the forefront of that corruption and has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and the institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States,” Clayton said.

He said Maduro has “tarnished every public office he has held” by engaging in narco-trafficking while protected by Venezuelan law enforcement since at least 1999.

Clayton accuses Maduro of partnering with criminal organizations, including the Sinaloa and Zetas cartels in Mexico and Tren de Aragua in Venezuela, and Colombian Marxist rebel groups Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia aka FARC and Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional aka ELN to engage in narco-trafficking.

He said Maduro provided drug traffickers with diplomatic passports and diplomatic cover for planes used by money launderers to retrieve drug proceeds from Mexico and fly them to Venezuela.

Maduro “now sits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that for decades has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking,” Clayton argued.

He said Maduro illegitimately claimed to have won the 2018 Venezuelan election for president after succeeding former President Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013, while Maduro was vice president.

Maduro also falsely claimed to have won Venezuela’s 2024 election and never has been a legitimately elected president, according to Clayton.

Maduro’s wife, Flores, also been a highly placed politician in Venezuela and was president of the National Assembly and attorney general before marrying Maduro in 2013.

Both are accused of participating in, perpetuating and protecting a “culture of corruption in which powerful Venezuelan elites enrich themselves through drug trafficking and the protection of their partner drug traffickers,” Clayton said.

Venezuela has been a safe haven for drug traffickers who paid for protection and support corrupt Venezuelan officials and military members, who enable them to operate outside the reach of Colombian law enforcement and armed forces that receive anti-narcotics help from the United States.

They ship processed cocaine from Venezuela to the United States “via transshipment points in the Caribbean and Central America, such as Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico,” Clayton said.

State Department officials estimate between 200 and 250 tons of cocaine are trafficked through Venezuela every year.

“The defendants, together and with others, engaged in a relentless campaign of cocaine trafficking” and distributed “thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States,” according to Clayton.

The Maduro’s son, Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra aka Nicolasito aka The Prince also is among four other defendants named in a 25-page federal indictment that was unsealed on Saturday.

None of the other four indicted are in U.S. custody as of Saturday.

Also indicted is Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores aka Nino Guerrero who is the alleged leader of the Tren de Aragua gang that originated in Venezuela.

Diosdado Cabello Rondon, Venezuela’s minister of Interior, Justice and Peace of Venezuela, and Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, who formerly held the same position and is a former naval officer and government liaison with cocaine-producing Marxist FARC rebels in Colombia, also are named in the indictment.

Maduro and his wife likely will be arraigned in federal court next week.

Jan. 3 (UPI) — Nine child care centers shown in a viral video alleging fraud were inspected and operating normally, Minnesota officials said on Friday.

Officials with Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families in a news release said state inspections of the daycare centers showed those that were open had children inside of them and were operating as expected.

“Children were present at all sites except for one — that site was not yet open for families for the day when inspectors arrived,” DCYF officials said.

They did not indicate if the inspections provided advanced notice to the respective daycares, and the news release referenced does not appear on the department’s webpage for news releases.

The most recent news release available is dated for Oct. 27, 2025, and department officials did not immediately respond to a UPI request for comment and access to the cited news release.

DCYF officials also provided information on the nine child care centers and the amounts they received through the state’s Child Care Assistance Program during the 2025 fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30.

The Future Leaders Early Learning Center received $3.68 million, followed by Minnesota Best Child Care Center, $3.4 million, and Minnesota Child Care Center, $2.67 million. All three are located in Minneapolis.

Quality Learning Center received $1.9 million, Mini Child Care Center $1.6 million, and Sweet Angel Child Care $1.54 million.

The Tayo Daycare received $1.09 million, ABC Learning Center $1.04 million and Super Kids Daycare Center $471,787.

The DCYF said the Mako Child Care Center closed in 2022.

The agency said investigators are taking a closer look at four of the nine daycare centers listed but did not identify which ones.

The DCYF released the information on the nine child care centers featured in the YouTube video posted by Nick Shirley that was titled: “I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal.”

The 42-minute video had more than 3.1 million views eight days after it was posted to the social media site.

The video spurred the Health and Human Services Department halt all funding to Minnesota child care centers pending a federal review.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigate fraud claims.

“The onus is on the state to provide additional verification,” Andrew Nixon, HHS deputy assistant secretary for media relations, told CNN.

Minnesota officials have until Friday to provide the Trump administration with information verifying the names of children enrolled at the respective child care centers and their parents.

HHS officials also are requiring supporting evidence from day care centers that receive federal funding in all states to better ensure no fraud is occurring.

Jan. 2 (UPI) — A Washington, D.C., federal magistrate judge ruled Friday that a man who allegedly set pipe bombs outside of political party headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021, must stay behind bars before his trial.

Brian Cole Jr., 30, faces charges of transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials. The charges have a maximum sentence of 30 years.

He allegedly placed two bombs in front of the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters, though the bombs never detonated. He was arrested Dec. 4 and hasn’t entered a plea.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Jones filed a request on Dec. 30 to keep Cole in jail while he awaits trial. Cole’s attorneys wanted him released into the custody of his grandmother.

Judge Matthew Sharbaugh wrote in his ruling filed on Friday: “Although home incarceration and a GPS monitor would provide some check against Mr. Cole’s ability to carry out any menacing or dangerous conduct in the community, the Court is simply not satisfied these conditions rise to the necessary level.

“This is particularly true based on the severity of the potential danger Mr. Cole is alleged to pose, given his alleged persistent acquisition and retention of so-called ‘bombmaking parts,’ and given his reported penchant and capacity to create explosive devices and deploy them in public settings.

“If the plan had succeeded, the results could have been devastating: creating a greater sense of terror on the eve of a high-security Congressional proceeding, causing serious property damage in the heart of Washington, D.C., grievously injuring DNC or RNC staff and other innocent bystanders, or worse,” Sharbaugh wrote.

Sharbaugh announced Dec. 30 that Cole was indicted on the two charges but that he has not yet accepted the indictment because the Justice Department’s move seeking federal charges from a local grand jury is part of an ongoing debate in the courts. That case is pending in the federal appeals court.

According to a court filing, Cole told investigators that he disliked both political parties and was “watching everything, just everything getting worse.”

He believed the allegation that the 2020 election was stolen.

“If people feel that their votes are like just being thrown away, then … at the very least someone should address it,” Cole said, according to the filing.

“According to the defendant, he was not really thinking about how people would react when the bombs detonated, although he hoped there would be news about it,” the filing said.

“The defendant stated that he had not tested the devices before planting them. He claimed that when he learned that the devices did not detonate, he was ‘pretty relieved,’ and asserted that he placed the devices at night because he did not want to kill people.

“The defendant denied that his actions were directed toward Congress or related to the proceedings scheduled to take place on January 6,” the filing said.

Cole is from Woodbridge, Va., where he lives with his mother and other family members.

The case baffled law enforcement for almost five years. The pipe bombs were made of 1-inch galvanized pipes, 8 inches long with end caps, homemade black powder, wires, metal clips and a kitchen timer. The FBI has said the bombs were viable and could have hurt people nearby if they had detonated. The bombs sat for 15 hours before being discovered.

Jan. 2 (UPI) — Travel restrictions for 20 more nations and locales took effect on Thursday in accordance with President Donald Trump‘s Dec. 16 order expanding travel restrictions to 39 nations.

President Donald Trump has restricted travel from a total of 39 nations and entities due to deficiencies in their respective screening and vetting processes that make it difficult to protect the United States against public safety and national security threats.

“The United States government has identified additional countries that are unable to meet basic criteria for identifying their nationals and residents who may pose national security and public safety risks, or for sharing necessary information with the United States,” U.S. Customs and Immigration Services officials announced on Thursday.

“It is paramount that the United States government ensure aliens in the United States do not intend to threaten its citizens or undermine or destabilize its culture, government, institutions, or founding principles,” USCIS added.

“Entry will not be granted to aliens who advocate for, aid or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security or public safety.”

A dozen high-risk nations identified by the White House are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, and their citizens are fully restricted from traveling to the United States.

Another five nations, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria, plus anyone holding travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority, also are subject to full restrictions on U.S. travel.

Full restrictions also are in effect for travelers from Laos and Sierra Leone, which previously were subjected to partial restrictions.

Prior to the Dec. 16 order, 19 nations were subject to travel restrictions, but the president added the 19 additional nations and the Palestinian Authority amid ongoing violence and recent revelations of fraud.

Some exceptions to the travel bans are allowed for diplomats and athletes competing on teams that are participating in the Olympics, FIFA World Cup and other events.

Jan. 2 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order stopping a semiconductor chips deal between U.S. and Chinese companies citing national security concerns.

The $2.92 million deal would have seen HieFo Corp., a Delaware-based company operated out of China, acquire the semiconductor chips and wafer fabrication businesses of New Jersey’s EMCORE Corp. The two companies announced plans for the deal in 2024.

“There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that HieFo Corporation, a company organized under the laws of Delaware (HieFo) and controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China … might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,” Trump’s order reads.

The executive order, issued under the Defense Production Act, prevents HieFo from having any interest or rights in Encore assets and orders HieFo to divest from Encore within 180 days. The divestment is expected to be overseen by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

Jan. 2 (UPI) — Danish renewable energy giant Orsted filed suit Thursday against the Department of Interior because it paused its lease on a $5 billion off-shore wind farm in Rhode Island.

Orsted’s Revolution Wind project is 87% complete, and “is expected to be ready to deliver reliable, affordable power to American homes in 2026,” a press release said.

Orsted shares jumped more than 4% on the lawsuit news, CNBC reported.

The administration put a halt to the project last month. The Interior Department announced it would pause the leases of five offshore wind farms being built on the East Coast.

Besides Revolution Wind, the projects are Vineyard Wind 1, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind. The projects are in New England, Virginia and New York. Revolution Wind is a joint venture between Orsted and Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables. It’s about 15 miles off the coast of Rhode Island.

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced on X in December: “Due to national security concerns identified by @DeptofWar, @Interior is PAUSING leases for 5 expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms! ONE natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as these 5 projects COMBINED.”

The department explained in a press release that “unclassified reports from the U.S. government have long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called ‘clutter.’ The clutter caused by offshore wind projects obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects,” it said.

But Orsted argues that, “Revolution Wind has spent and committed billions of dollars in reliance upon, and has met the requests of, a thorough review process. Additional federal reviews and approvals included the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service, and many other agencies.”

Revolution Wind faces “substantial harm” from the lease suspension order, Orsted said. “As a result, litigation is a necessary step to protect the rights of the project.”

Orsted’s other project, Sunrise Wind, which also had its lease suspended, “continues to evaluate all options to resolve the matter, including engagement with relevant agencies and stakeholders and considering legal proceedings,” Orsted said. Sunrise Wind is about 30 miles off the coast of New York.

President Donald Trump has made it clear that he dislikes wind energy, calling the turbines “ugly” and saying the noise they make causes cancer.

On Aug. 22, the administration ordered Orsted to stop construction on Revolution Wind to “address concerns related to the protection of national security interest of the United States.”

On Aug. 29, the Department of Transportation announced it was cutting about $679 million in funding to 12 wind farms, calling the projects “wasteful.”

Orsted then filed suit in September to reverse the stop-work order. In that filing, it said the project had already spent $5 billion.

Jan. 2 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1788, Georgia ratified the Constitution, the fourth of the original 13 colonies to do so, and was admitted to the Union.

In 1811, Timothy Pickering, a Federalist from Massachusetts, became the first U.S. senator to be censured after being accused of publicly revealing secret presidential documents.

In 1935, Bruno Hauptmann, “The Most Hated Man in the World,” went on trial for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr., eldest son of famed aviator, Charles Lindbergh.

File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

In 1942, Japanese forces occupied Manila, forcing U.S. and Philippine forces under U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur to withdraw to the Bataan Peninsula.

In 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 1, the first unmanned spacecraft to travel to the moon.

In 1967, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as 33rd governor of California.

In 1974, U.S. President Richard Nixon signed a bill requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 mph or lose federal highway funds.

In 1981, police in Britain arrested the so-called “Yorkshire Ripper,” after five years on the run. Peter Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven more.

In 1990, Britain’s most-wanted terrorism suspect, Irish Republican Army gunman Patrick Sheehy, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Republic of Ireland.

In 2006, 12 men were killed in a methane gas explosion in a coal mine in West Virginia’s Upshur County. One man was found alive after 41 hours trapped underground.

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI

In 2011, Prince Harry, grandson of England’s Queen Elizabeth II, was sent home from military service in Afghanistan after a magazine revealed his presence in the war zone. He later returned to continue training as a gunship pilot.

In 2019, two Indian women entered the Hindu Sabarimala temple, the first to do so since the courts ended a longtime ban on women in 2018.

In 2024, Lee Jae-myung, the leader of South Korea’s main opposition party, was stabbed in the neck during an appearance in Busan. Lee survived and a real estate worker was arrested and confessed to attempting to assassinate the politician.

File Photo by Darryl Coote/UPI

Jan. 1 (UPI) — Insurance premiums are set to rise exponentially for Americans who have bought their health care policies through an Affordable Care Act exchange because Congress failed to extend subsidies for them.

Without the extension of the subsidies, people who have bought their health insurance through an ACA exchange will see their premiums increase by roughly 26% on average, with the increases expected to be higher in states that use the federal Healthcare.gov exchange while states that run their own exchanges may see lower increases, The Hill reported.

In 2025, about 24 million Americans bought health insurance through an ACA exchange, which are often referred to as Obamacare, which is the highest number of people who bought policies through the program since it debuted in 2010.

The government shutdown in the fall — which, at 43 days, was the longest in history — was centered around Democrats in the U.S. Senate pushing for an extension of enhanced ACA subsidies that were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to help Americans obtain insurance and care.

In recent weeks, bipartisan plans to extend the subsidies have emerged, including one in the Senate that calls for a three-year extension of the subsidies.

Among the Republicans who support the bipartisan bill are Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who has not specifically commented on extending the subsidies but has said that he is concerned about people whose health insurance costs may increase in the ongoing absence of Congressional action, Fox News reported.

“I think who it’s most disappointing for are the people whose premiums are going to go up by two, three times,” Hawley told reporters this week. “So, it’s not good.”

During the shutdown, Democrat members of Congress pushed for an extension — it was their stated reason for voting against several bills to fund the federal government, causing and extending the shutdown — which Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., promised a vote on in mid-December.

Once the government reopened, the Senate voted on two health care related bills, one from Democrats and the other from Republicans, and both failed on party line votes.

Jan. 1 (UPI) — The Italian government said Thursday that the United States has pulled back on tariffs the Trump administration had placed on several pasta brands based in Italy.

The U.S. Department of Commerce reduced tariffs on 13 Italian pasta brands, rolling back levies that had been announced as the administration alleged that the companies had been trying to undercut U.S. manufacturers, CBS News and The Financial Times reported.

The tariffs, which were originally announced as 92% on brands that include Barilla, La Molisana and Pastificio Lucio Garofalo, would have nearly doubled their cost.

With the rollbacks, the brands will only carry a 2% to 14% tariff: La Molisana will see a 2.26% tariff, Garofalo will see a 13.98% tariff and the other 11 companies will face a 9.09% tariff.

After a preliminary review of the companies’ operations revealed that they had not been trying to undercut the price of U.S. manufactured pasta.

“The recalculation of the duties is a sign that U.S. authorities recognize our companies’ constructive willingness to cooperate,” the Italian foreign ministry said of the shift.

According to a business association in Italy, the tariffs would have affected about half of the pasta that is typically shipped to the United States.

In 2024, roughly $788 million of pasta was imported from Italy to the United States.

Over the course of 2025, the Trump administration introduced high tariffs on a wide range of products — from food and clothes to furniture and kitchen cabinets — but many have been rolled back or canceled as officials have negotiated with other countries’ officials or, such as in the case of Italian pasta, consumers were primed to see significantly increased costs.

Jan. 1 (UPI) — President Donald Trump ended the lease for the National Links Trust, which manages Washington, D.C.-area public golf courses owned by the National Parks Service.

The Department of the Interior sent a letter Tuesday formally cutting ties with NLT, which has managed three golf courses on public land in the District since 2020 — Langston Golf Course, Rock Creek Park Golf and East Potomac Golf Links.

The letter said that NLT had failed to complete required capital improvements and to provide a plan to fix alleged defaults in the lease.

The goal of the lease was for the NLT to redesign and renovate the historic sites where the golf courses lie. It would use money from donors and the District’s government.

“The Trump administration prides itself on getting the job done for the American people and partnering with others who share that same goal,” the Interior Department told The Hill.

The NLT said it was “devastated” to get the notice and is “in fundamental disagreement with the administration’s characterization of NLT as being in default under the lease.”

“We have always had a productive and cooperative working relationship with the National Park Service and have worked hand in hand on all aspects of our golf course operations and development projects,” the organization said.

NLT will stay in place to keep the courses running, but all renovation projects will stop.

Michael McCartin, NLT co-founder, told the Washington Post that it opted to keep the courses open for the workers and golfers.

“Our mission is to provide affordable and accessible golf,” McCartin said, “and our obligation is to our employees and the community. These are important places, and without an alternative, we can’t let them sit, closed and unavailable to the community.”

The Washington Post reported that Trump has expressed interest in the East Potomac course, wanting to redesign it and potentially host the Ryder Cup. But those potential plans have worried residents who are concerned about access and affordability.

“The DNA of municipal courses is a bit different than those owned and operated privately and much different than country clubs,” Jay Karen, chief executive of the National Golf Course Owners Association, told The Post.

“Munis are all about supporting the widest-possible access to the game, while also preserving critical green spaces, for perpetuity. … There is a greater sense of history and pride in a community around their public parks that happen to be golf courses,” Karen said.

A source told The Hill last week that NLT had hired a lawyer and was considering litigation.

“This is not the update we wanted to send, and we worked tirelessly to try to avoid this outcome,” the NLT said Wednesday. “While this termination is a major setback, we remain stubbornly hopeful that a path forward can be found that preserves affordable and accessible public golf in the nation’s capital for generations to come.”

Jan. 1 (UPI) — New York City has a new mayor Thursday after the private swearing-in ceremony in an abandoned subway tunnel just after midnight.

Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York early Thursday morning. He was sworn in by New York Attorney General Letitia James, with his wife Rama Duwaji holding two Korans for the first Muslim mayor to swear on.

One of the Korans belonged to his grandfather, and another belonged to Arturo Schomburg, a Black historian and writer who was an important intellectual figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

The small ceremony took place in the old City Hall station, which is one of 28 original subway stations that opened in 1904. It was closed in 1945.

“This is truly the honor and the privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani called the station “a testament to the importance of public transit to the vitality, the health and the legacy of our city.”

A public inauguration will happen at 1 p.m. Thursday on the steps of City Hall. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will administer a ceremonial oath of office, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., will make an opening speech. About 4,000 people were invited to that ceremony, Mamdani said, but the block party will be open to all.

“We wanted to ensure that as we celebrated the beginning of our administration, it was a celebration that was not simply for the typical people who would be invited to an inauguration, but in fact, for everyone,” Mamdani told reporters last week.

“This is not my success. It’s our success. It’s not my administration. It’s our administration. Similarly, it’s not my inauguration. It’s for all of us,” the new mayor added.

Mamdani has an ambitious agenda, including free buses, rent freezes and more. He has said funding will come from raising taxes on those who earn more than $1 million. But he needs the state to approve any taxes, and Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, is opposed to raising taxes in the state. She has implied that she supports finding other revenue to fund his plan.

“It is my job as governor to make sure that whomever the mayor is, they’re successful,” Hochul told WNYW-TV in December.

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Dec. 31 (UPI) — Two African countries have announced travel bans against U.S. citizens in retaliation for President Donald Trump‘s travel bans against their own people.

The governments of Mali and Burkina Faso said on Tuesday that they were acting “in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.” They said Americans wanting to travel to their countries would see the same impositions that their citizens face in the United States. Niger’s state news agency announced a travel ban on Americans last week, though no official statement was released.

On Dec. 14, Trump announced travel bans on Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. He also created new restrictions on people seeking entry from Laos and Sierra Leone, as well as those with travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority. There are now 19 countries on the list.

Mali’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it “regrets that such an important decision was taken without any prior consultation and in substance deplores the security grounds put forward, which contradict the actual developments on the ground, in an attempt to justify a decision whose motivation lies elsewhere.”

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are led by military juntas after recent coups, The New York Times said. Their leaders had all mostly cut ties with the United States and developed closer relations with Russia, China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

A United Nations report published on Dec. 18 said that the Sahel region — Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali — now accounts for more than half of the world’s terrorism-related deaths.

Laos and Sierra Leone were moved from partial travel restrictions to full bans. The administration put partial restrictions on 15 other countries.

The State Department ban does not affect lawful permanent residents, many existing visa holders, diplomats or athletes traveling for major sports events.