leader

BEIJING — A leader of the Canadian government is visiting China this week for the first time in nearly a decade, a bid to rebuild his country’s fractured relations with the world’s second-largest economy — and reduce Canada’s dependence on the United States, its neighbor and until recently one of its most supportive and unswerving allies.

The push by Prime Minster Mark Carney, who arrives Wednesday, is part of a major rethink as ties sour with the United States — the world’s No. 1 economy and long the largest trading partner for Canada by far.

Carney aims to double Canada’s non-U.S. exports in the next decade in the face of President Trump’s tariffs and the American leader’s musing that Canada could become “the 51st state.”

“At a time of global trade disruption, Canada is focused on building a more competitive, sustainable, and independent economy,” Carney said in a news release announcing his China visit. “We’re forging new partnerships around the world to transform our economy from one that has been reliant on a single trade partner.”

He will be in China until Saturday, then visit Qatar before attending the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week.

Trump’s tariffs have pushed Canada and China to look for opportunities to strengthen international cooperation, said Zhu Feng, the dean of the School of International Studies at China’s Nanjing University.

“Carney’s visit does reflect the new space for further development in China-Canadian relations under the current U.S. trade protectionism,” he said. But he cautioned against overestimating the importance of the visit, noting that Canada remains a U.S. ally. The two North American nations also share a deep cultural heritage and a common geography.

New leaders have pivoted toward China

Carney has been in office less than a year, succeeding Justin Trudeau, who was prime minister for nearly a decade. He is not the first new leader of a country to try to repair relations with China.

Australian Premier Anthony Albanese has reset ties since his Labor Party came to power in 2022. Relations had deteriorated under the previous conservative government, leading to Chinese trade restrictions on wine, beef, coal and other Australian exports. Unwinding those restrictions took about 18 months, culminating with the lifting of a Chinese ban on Australian lobsters in late 2024.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to repair ties with China since his Labor Party ousted the Conservatives in 2024. He is reportedly planning a visit to China, though the government has not confirmed that.

The two governments have differences, with Starmer raising the case of former Hong Kong media magnate Jimmy Lai, a British citizen, in talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in late 2024 in Brazil.

Trump, who has said he will come to China in April, has indicated he wants a smooth relationship with China, though he also launched a tit-for-tat trade war, with tariffs rising to more than 100% before he backed down.

Bumpy relations, with Washington in the middle

In Canada, Trump’s threats have raised questions about the country’s longstanding relationship with its much more powerful neighbor. Those close ties have also been the source of much of Canada’s friction with China in recent years.

It was Canada’s detention of a Chinese telecommunications executive at the request of the U.S. that started the deterioration of relations in late 2018. The U.S. wanted the Huawei Technologies Co. executive, Meng Wenzhou, to be extradited to face American charges.

China retaliated by arresting two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on spying charges. While they were imprisoned, Meng was under house arrest in Vancouver, a Canadian city home to a sizable Chinese population. All three were released under a deal reached in 2021.

More recently, Canada followed the U.S. in imposing a 100% tariff on electric vehicles and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum from China.

China, which is Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the U.S., has hit back with tariffs on Canadian exports including canola, seafood and pork. It has indicated it would remove some of the tariffs if Canada were to drop the 100% charge on EVs.

An editorial in China’s state-run Global Times newspaper welcomed Carney’s visit as a new starting point and called on Canada to lift “unreasonable tariff restrictions” and advance more pragmatic cooperation.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday that China looks forward to Carney’s visit as an opportunity to “consolidate the momentum of improvement in China-Canada relations.”

Canada is also repairing ties with India

Carney met Xi in late October in South Korea, where both were attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

He has also tried to mend ties with India, where relations deteriorated in 2024 after the Trudeau government accused India of being involved in the 2023 killing of a Sikh activist in Canada. The fallout led to tit-for-tat expulsions of senior diplomats, disruption of visa services, reduced consular staffing and a freeze on trade talks.

A cautious thaw began last June. Since then, both sides have restored some consular services and resumed diplomatic contacts. In November, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said the two countries would move quickly to advance a trade deal, noting the government’s new foreign policy in response to Trump’s trade war.

Carney is also expected to visit India later this year.

Moritsugu writes for the Associated Press. AP journalists Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi and Jill Lawless in London, and researcher Shihuan Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.

MEXICO CITY — Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had “a very good conversation” with President Trump on Monday and that their two governments will continue working together on security issues without the need for U.S. intervention against drug cartels.

The approximately 15-minute call came after Sheinbaum said Friday she had requested dialogue with the Trump administration at the end of a week in which he had said he was ready to confront drug cartels on the ground and repeated the accusation that cartels were running Mexico.

Trump has repeatedly offered to send the U.S. military after the cartels and Sheinbaum has always declined, but after the U.S. removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump’s comments about Mexico, Cuba and Greenland carried new weight.

“He (Trump) asked me my opinion about what they had done in Venezuela and I told him very clearly that our constitution is very clear, that we do not agree with interventions and that was it,” Sheinbaum said.

Trump “still insisted that if we ask for it, they could help” with military forces, which Sheinbaum said she again rejected. “We told him, so far it’s going very well, it’s not necessary, and furthermore there is Mexico’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and he understood.”

In an interview with Fox News aired last Thursday, Trump said, “We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water and we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico. It’s very sad to watch.”

Sheinbaum said Monday the two leaders agreed to continue working together.

Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente spoke Sunday with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio asked for “tangible results” and more cooperation to dismantle the cartels, according to a statement from the U.S. State Department.

Sheinbaum said Mexico shared those results, including a significant drop in homicides, falling U.S. fentanyl seizures and fentanyl overdose deaths.

Experts still see U.S. intervention in Mexico as unlikely because Mexico is doing what the U.S. asks and is a critical economic partner, but expect Trump to continue using such rhetoric to maintain pressure on Mexico to do more.

Sheinbaum said the two leaders did not speak about Cuba, which Trump threatened Sunday. Mexico is an important ally of the island nation, including selling it oil that it will need even more desperately now that the Trump administration says it will not allow any more oil shipments from Venezuela to Cuba.

One of the most important political stories in American history — one that is particularly germane to our current, tumultuous time — unfolded in Los Angeles some 65 years ago.

Sen. John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, had just received his party’s nomination for president and in turn he shunned the desires of his most liberal supporters by choosing a conservative out of Texas as his running mate. He did so in large part to address concerns that his faith would somehow usurp his oath to uphold the Constitution. The last time the Democrats nominated a Catholic — New York Gov. Al Smith in 1928 — he lost in a landslide, so folks were more than a little jittery about Kennedy’s chances.

“I am fully aware of the fact that the Democratic Party, by nominating someone of my faith, has taken on what many regard as a new and hazardous risk,” Kennedy told the crowd at the Memorial Coliseum. “But I look at it this way: The Democratic Party has once again placed its confidence in the American people, and in their ability to render a free, fair judgment.”

The most important part of the story is what happened before Kennedy gave that acceptance speech.

While his faith made party leaders nervous, they were downright afraid of the impact a civil rights protest during the Democratic National Convention could have on November’s election. This was 1960. The year began with Black college students challenging segregation with lunch counter sit-ins across the Deep South, and by spring the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee had formed. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was not the organizer of the protest at the convention, but he planned to be there, guaranteeing media attention. To try to prevent this whole scene, the most powerful Black man in Congress was sent to stop him.

The Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was also a warrior for civil rights, but the House representative preferred the legislative approach, where backroom deals were quietly made and his power most concentrated. He and King wanted the same things for Black people. But Powell — who was first elected to Congress in 1944, the same year King enrolled at Morehouse College at the age of 15 — was threatened by the younger man’s growing influence. He was also concerned that his inability to stop the protest at the convention would harm his chance to become chairman of a House committee.

And so Powell — the son of a preacher, and himself a Baptist preacher in Harlem — told King that if he didn’t cancel, Powell would tell journalists a lie that King was having a homosexual affair with his mentor, Bayard Rustin. King stuck to his plan and led a protest — even though such a rumor would not only have harmed King, but also would have undermined the credibility of the entire civil rights movement. Remember, this was 1960. Before the March on Washington, before passage of the Voting Rights Act, before the dismantling of the very Jim Crow laws Powell had vowed to dismantle when first running for office.

That threat, my friends, is the most important part of the story.

It’s not that Powell didn’t want the best for the country. It’s just that he wanted to be seen as the one doing it and was willing to derail the good stemming from the civil rights movement to secure his own place in power. There have always been people willing to make such trade-offs. Sometimes they dress up their intentions with scriptures to make it more palatable; other times they play on our darkest fears. They do not care how many people get hurt in the process, even if it’s the same people they profess to care for.

That was true in Los Angeles in 1960.

That was true in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.

That is true in the streets of America today.

Whether we are talking about an older pastor who is threatened by the growing influence of a younger voice or a president clinging to office after losing an election: To remain king, some men are willing to burn the entire kingdom down.

YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow

Jan. 9 (UPI) — Some leaders of the Southern Transitional Council in Yemen announced the dissolution of the group that controlled southern Yemen territory, but others in the separatist group say it is still active amid peace talks Friday.

STC Secretary-General Abdulrahman Jalal al-Sebaihi announced the STC’s pending dissolution on Yemeni TV while attending peace talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His counterparts in Yemen said his declaration was made under duress and was not true.

“The decisions relating to the Southern Transitional Council cannot be taken except by the Council in its entirety, with all its institutions, and under the chairmanship of the president,” STC spokesman Anwar al-Tamimi said in a social media post.

“This will happen as soon as the STC delegation present in Riyadh is released,” he said.

“The STC will continue positive and constructive engagement with all political initiatives, which give the southern people the opportunity to determine their future.”

A coalition backed by Saudi Arabia has taken control of the territory in southern Yemen that formerly was held by the STC, which is supported by the United Arab Emirates.

The conflicting statements regarding the STC were made after STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi secretly left Yemen on Tuesday night with the help of the UAE instead of traveling to Riyadh to negotiate matters in Yemen.

Instead, he was taken to Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, which raised tensions between Saudi and UAE officials.

In addition to leading the STC, al-Zubaidi was a member of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, which expelled him on Wednesday when he did not show up in Riyadh to discuss matters in Yemen.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia recently worked together to oppose Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, and the STC wants to have an independent state recognized in South Yemen.

The STC’s dissolution could imperil efforts to re-establish a former north-south divide in Yemen, which existed prior to the nation’s unification in 1990.

Saudi Arabia supports the PLC, which is the internationally recognized government in Yemen, while the UAE backs the STC.

Jan. 8 (UPI) — Separatist leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi exited Yemen with the help of the United Arab Emirates after he was charged with treason and expelled from Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council.

Al-Zubaidi led the Southern Transitional Council in Yemen, which is supported by the UAE, and a Saudi-led coalition said he left the port city of Aden while aboard a boat on Tuesday night, the BBC reported.

The vessel carried him to the UAE-owned port of Berbera in Somaliland, where he boarded a cargo aircraft that flew him to Mogadishu, Somalia, and then a military airport in Abu Dhabi, according to The Guardian.

Neither the UAE nor the STC commented on the matter, which has raised tensions between officials in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The PLC expelled al-Zubaidi on Wednesday and accused him of treason when he did not arrive in the Saudi capital of Riyadh for peace talks.

The STC had sought to have southern Yemen declared an independent state and re-establish a north-south divide within Yemen that existed before the nation was unified in 1990.

The STC has controlled Aden for many years, and its leaders recently vowed to wage a guerrilla campaign while al-Zubaidi and many of his supporters remain safely in the UAE.

The STC, though, is undergoing an internal divide that has weakened it and prompted al-Zubaidi and others to leave Yemen.

Saudi-backed forces have regained territory previously held by the STC.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE grew after separatists supported by the UAE captured territory in Yemen that reached the border with Saudi Arabia.

Saudi officials called the action a threat to their national security after earlier opposing Houthi forces in Yemen that are supported by Iran.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia had jointly opposed the Houthis, which gained control of northwestern Yemen in a 2022 cease-fire agreement.

Since then, the Saudis have backed Yemen’s PLC, which is in charge of the internationally recognized government of Yemen, while the UAE supports the separatist STC.

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The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen launched air strikes against secessionist forces in the south, after their leader failed to attend peace talks in Riyadh. Yemen’s internationally recognised government has accused Aidarous al-Zubaidi of “high treason.”

Leader of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council removed from government with the Saudi-led coalition saying he ‘fled to unknown location’.

SEOUL, Jan. 7 (UPI) — The leader of South Korea’s main opposition People Power Party apologized Wednesday for former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief declaration of martial law last year, distancing the conservative party from the impeached ex-leader while pledging sweeping reforms aimed at broadening its political appeal ahead of upcoming local elections.

Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok, chairman of the People Power Party, delivered the apology during a press conference at party headquarters in Seoul, as Yoon awaits trial on insurrection charges stemming from the failed December 2024 move.

“The emergency martial law declared on December 3, 2024, was a wrongful measure that did not fit the situation,” Jang said. “It caused great confusion and inconvenience to our people and inflicted deep wounds on our party members who have defended the constitutional order of liberal democracy.”

Jang said the People Power Party bore a “heavy responsibility” for the episode, acknowledging that it failed to fulfill its role as a governing party. He was among 18 PPP lawmakers who rushed overnight to the National Assembly to vote down the decree, which was overturned within hours.

“I gravely acknowledge that responsibility and offer my deepest apology to the people,” he said.

Seeking to move beyond the fallout, Jang unveiled what he called a “Change to Win” initiative, outlining plans to rebuild the party around youth participation, expert-driven policymaking and expanded public outreach.

Proposed measures include mandatory youth nominations in upcoming local elections, new platforms to recruit outside policy experts and standing committees focused on labor, social welfare and generational issues.

The announcement comes less than five months before nationwide local elections scheduled for June 1, as the People Power Party looks to reassert itself as a viable alternative to the current administration of President Lee Jae Myung.

Jang also signaled a willingness to broaden the party’s political coalition, saying the PPP would work with other opposition parties to win future elections.

“If they agree with the values of liberal democracy and share the will to stop the dictatorship of the Lee Jae Myung regime, we will open our hearts and join forces with anyone,” he said.

Lee, a former opposition leader, won the presidency in June following Yoon’s removal from office, with his Democratic Party holding a commanding majority in parliament. Conservatives have accused Lee’s administration of overreach, arguing that the party’s legislative dominance has marginalized the opposition, while the government says its actions are necessary to ensure stability and advance voter-mandated reforms.

Jang said the PPP would press ahead with internal reforms, including stricter anti-corruption rules, centralized oversight of candidate nominations and a possible change of the party’s name.

Past political turmoil, including the martial law episode and Yoon’s impeachment, should be left to the courts and historians, Jang said, urging the party to focus instead on restoring public trust.

“We will cross the river of martial law and impeachment and move toward the future,” he said.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro – recently abducted with his wife by US commandos from his home – has appeared in a federal courtroom in New York City for a hearing on alleged “narco-terrorism” and other charges.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were brought before US District Judge Alvin K Hellerstein at 12pm (17:00 GMT) on Monday for a brief legal proceeding that kicks off a long legal battle over whether they can face trial in the United States.

Handcuffed and wearing blue jail uniforms, Maduro and his wife were led into the court by officers, and both put on headsets to hear the English-language proceeding as it was translated into Spanish.

Maduro pleaded not guilty in the US court, telling the judge: “I was captured. I am innocent and a decent man, the president of my country.”

Across the street from the courthouse, the police separated a small but growing group of protesters from about a dozen pro-intervention demonstrators, including one man who pulled a Venezuelan flag away from those protesting the US abduction.

The left-wing leader, his wife, son and three others could face life in prison if convicted of allegedly working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the country. Some observers say there is no evidence linking him to cartels.

Maduro’s lawyers said they’ll contest the legality of his arrest, arguing he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of a foreign state, though he is not recognised as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by the US and other nations around the world.

Flores also pleaded not guilty to US charges against her during the arraignment. Hellerstein ordered the Venezuelan leader to next appear in court for a hearing on March 17.

‘Attacks’ against US people

Near the end of the hearing, Maduro’s attorney Barry J Pollack said his client “is head of a sovereign state and entitled to the privilege” that the status ensures.

Pollack said there were “questions about the legality of his military abduction”, and there will be “voluminous” pretrial filings to address those legal challenges.

Earlier, images showed the pair being led handcuffed and under heavy guard from a helicopter en route from a detention facility to the courthouse, two days after they were forcibly removed from Caracas in a brazen US special forces operation.

“The United States arrested a narco-trafficker who is now going to stand trial in the United States,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told an emergency UN Security Council meeting about the US attack on Venezuela on Saturday.

Waltz accused Maduro of being “responsible for attacks against the people of the United States, for destabilising the Western Hemisphere, and illegitimately repressing the people of Venezuela”.

Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, accused the US of carrying out an illegal armed attack against his country.

Venezuela was subjected to bombing, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, the loss of civilian and military lives, and the “kidnapping” of Maduro and his wife, Moncada said.

The abduction of a sitting head of state breached a core norm of international law, the personal immunity of leaders in office, he added, warning that such actions set a dangerous precedent for all countries.

Vast oil wealth

All eyes are on Venezuela’s response to the swiftly moving events after US President Donald Trump said late on Sunday that the US is “in charge” of the South American nation, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who took the place of her ally Maduro, initially took a defiant stand against the seizure of the president in what some observers labelled a return to “US gunboat diplomacy”. But she has now offered “to collaborate” with Washington.

Venezuela’s opposition appreciates US intervention to remove Maduro from power, but is alarmed by Trump’s comments about US plans to “run” Venezuela, apparently with members of his government, one analyst said.

“Trump doesn’t recognise the decision of the Venezuelan people. We are not a colony of the US. We are an independent country,” Jose Manuel Puente, a professor at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administracion, a private university in Caracas, told Al Jazeera.

“We want to initiate a transition to democracy, to rebuild the institutions, to rebuild the economy, to rebuild the oil sector. And we don’t see that from Trump until now.”

Rodriguez has served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, overseeing much of Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy and its feared intelligence service, and was next in the presidential line of succession.

She’s part of a band of senior officials in Maduro’s administration who now appear to control Venezuela, even as Trump and other US officials say they’ll pressure the government to fall in line with their vision for the oil-rich nation.

On Sunday, some 2,000 Maduro supporters, including rifle-wielding men on motorcycles, rallied in Caracas with crowds shouting and waving Venezuelan flags. The Venezuelan military, loyal to Maduro, announced it recognised Rodriguez and urged calm.

The White House indicated on Sunday that it does not want regime change, only Maduro’s removal and a pliant new government that will enable US companies to exploit the country’s vast oil reserves – even if the government is filled with his former associates.

The missile test comes as President Lee Jae Myung arrives in Beijing to meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, their second in two months.

North Korea has launched multiple ballistic missiles off its east coast into the sea as South Korea’s leader begins a state visit to China in its first barrage of the new year.

According to South Korea’s military, the missiles launched at about 7:50am on Sunday (22:50 GMT on Saturday) flew about 900km (560 miles).

The military added that the country, as well as the United States, was “closely analysing the specifications” while “maintaining a full readiness posture”.

In a statement, the US forces for the Asia Pacific said the missile launches did not pose an “immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies”.

Japan also reported that at least two missiles had reached distances of 900km (560 miles) and 950km (590 miles).

“North Korea’s nuclear and missile development threatens the peace and stability of our country and the international society, and is absolutely intolerable,” Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters.

The last time Pyongyang tested its ballistic missiles was on November 7.

According to North Korean state media, leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday called for the doubling of production capacity of tactical guided weapons while visiting a munitions factory.

In recent weeks, Kim has visited a series of weapons factories and a nuclear-powered submarine, overseeing missile tests in advance of the ninth party congress of the Workers’ Party, which will take place later this year and set out key policy goals.

Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, told the Reuters news agency the launches from Pyongyang represented “a message to China to deter closer ties with South Korea and to counter China’s stance on denuclearisation”.

Lim added that it was North Korea sending a message of strength that they were different from Venezuela, after the US launched a series of attacks on Saturday and “captured” President Nicolas Maduro.

China visit

On Sunday morning, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung had arrived in Beijing on a four-day visit.

Lee, accompanied by more than 200 South Korean business leaders, is expected to discuss supply chain investment, the digital economy and cultural exchanges.

The South Korean leader will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, for their second meeting in just two months. According to analysts, the short frequency of the meetings signals Beijing’s interest in increasing economic collaboration and tourism.

Seoul has said peace on the Korean Peninsula would be on the agenda during the Beijing trip.

Lee’s trip comes at a time of heightened tensions between China and Japan after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that her country’s military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan.

Before his trip, Lee gave an interview to CCTV, in which he assured that South Korea consistently respects the “One-China” policy when it comes to Taiwan. He said the healthy development of Beijing-Seoul relations depends on mutual respect. Lee also praised Xi as a “truly reliable neighbour”.

Leaders around the world have responded with a mix of condemnation and support to the US capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro.

Following a large-scale strike on Venezuela on Saturday, Maduro and his wife were captured by US forces and removed from the country. The pair have been indicted on drug charges in New York.

In an initial response, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his government would “shed no tears” for the end of Maduro’s regime.

Neighbouring Latin American countries condemned the actions, as did Venezuela’s long-term allies, Russia and China. China said it was “deeply shocked and strongly condemns” the use of force against a sovereign country and its president.

Russia accused the US of committing “an act of armed aggression”.

Iran, which is locked in its own dispute with Trump over his promise of intervention in its country, called the strikes a “flagrant violation of the country’s national sovereignty”.

Trump said the US will “run” Venezuela “until we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition”.

Many Latin American leaders condemned the US actions.

President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva in Brazil wrote on X that the actions “cross an unacceptable line”, adding “attacking countries in flagrant violation of international law is the first step toward a world of violence, chaos, and instability”.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the strikes an “assault on the sovereignty” of Latin America, while Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel described it as a “criminal attack”.

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric expressed “concern and condemnation” on X and called for “a peaceful solution to the serious crisis affecting the country”.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Cane accused the US of a “criminal attack”, while Uruguay said in an official statement it was monitoring developments “with attention and serious concern” and “rejects, as it always has, military intervention”.

Trump has indicated that Cuba could become part of a broader US policy in the region, calling it a failing nation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Cuba was a disaster run by incompetent leaders who supported Maduro’s administration. He said the government in Havana should be concerned

The Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello urged citizens to remain calm and to trust the country’s leadership and military, saying, “The world needs to speak out about this attack,” according to the Reuters news agency.

But Argentinian President Javier Milei – who Trump has described as his “favourite president” – wrote “Freedom moves forward” and “Long live freedom” on social media.

Meanwhile UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer refused to be drawn into whether or not the military action may have broken international law.

In an interview with the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme on Saturday morning, the prime minister did not condemn the US strikes.

He said he was waiting to establish all the facts but would not “shy away from this”, adding he was a “lifelong advocate of international law”.

The UK was not involved in the strikes and Sir Keir said he had not spoken to Trump about the operation.

Later on Saturday, Sir Keir posted on X that the UK “regarded Maduro as an illegitimate president and we shed no tears about the end of his regime”.

“The UK government will discuss the evolving situation with US counterparts in the days ahead as we seek a safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate government that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people,” he added.

The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas reiterated the bloc’s position that Maduro lacks legitimacy, that there should be a peaceful transition of power, and that the principles of international law must be respected.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the transition of power “must be peaceful, democratic, and respectful of the will of the Venezuelan people” in a post on X.

He added he hoped González – the opposition’s 2024 presidential candidate – could ensure the transition.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the legality of the US operation was “complex” and international law in general must apply.

He warned that “political instability must not be allowed to arise in Venezuela”.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected”, his spokesperson said. He was “deeply alarmed” by the strikes, which set a “dangerous precedent”.

He called on all actors in Venezuela to engage in inclusive dialogue, in full respect of human rights and the rule of law”.

In the US, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said, “Let me be clear, Maduro is an illegitimate dictator, but launching military action without congressional authorization, without a federal plan for what comes next, is reckless”

The reported capture of Venezuelan president evokes previous eras when other leaders were seized by the US.

President Donald Trump’s claim that the United States has captured his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro and his wife amid “large scale” attacks on Venezuela, has stunned the world.

Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez says the government does not know the whereabouts of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

In an audio message broadcast on state television on Saturday, Rodriguez said the government was demanding proof that Maduro and Flores are still alive.

The rapidly escalating developments follow repeated deadly strikes by US forces in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean on what Washington claims are drug-smuggling boats, and an attack on a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats.

The reported capture of Maduro evokes previous eras when other leaders, such as Panama’s former military leader Manuel Noriega and former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, were seized by the US.

Manuel Noriega

In another direct intervention into Latin America, the US invaded Panama in 1989 to depose military and de facto leader Manuel Noriega, citing the protection of US citizens in Panama, undemocratic practices, corruption and the illegal drug trade.

Before attacking Panama, the US indicted Noriega for drug smuggling in Miami in 1988, just as it has targeted Maduro.

Noriega forced Nicolas Ardito Barletta to resign in 1985, cancelled the elections in 1989 and backed anti-US sentiment in the country, before the operation took place.

The US foray into Panama was at the time the largest US combat operation since the Vietnam War. The US government trotted out various justifications for the operation, such as improving the lot of the Panamanians by hauling Noriega off to the US to face drug-trafficking charges.

When the general began to show signs of being less obliging to US regional designs, however, he was rendered persona non grata by Washington.

He was tried on the Miami indictment after being flown to the US and was imprisoned there until 2010, when he was extradited to France to face another trial. France then sent him back to Panama a year later.

Noriega died in prison in Panama in 2017, where he was serving a sentence for his crimes.

Saddam Hussein

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by US forces on December 13, 2003, nine months after the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq started based on false intelligence of Baghdad possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Like Noriega, Saddam had for years been a key Washington ally, in his case, during the years of the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s that killed one million people.

The US also claimed in the build-up to the 2003 war, without basis, that Saddam supported armed groups like al-Qaeda.

However, no WMDs were ever found in the country.

Saddam was found hiding in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit.

He stood trial in an Iraqi court and received the death penalty, leading to his execution by hanging for crimes against humanity on December 30, 2006.

Juan Orlando Hernandez

The case of Honduras’s Hernandez demonstrates what some observers suggest is a hypocritical approach by the US.

Hernandez was captured in his home in Tegucigalpa in an operation by the US agents and Honduran forces in February 2022 – only days after he left his position as president of his country.

In April 2022, he was extradited to the US over his alleged involvement in corruption and the illegal drug trade, and in June of the same year, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

However, Hernandez was pardoned by US President Donald Trump on December 1, 2025.

Days later, Honduras’s top prosecutor issued an international arrest warrant for Hernandez, intensifying legal and political turmoil just days after the ex-leader walked free from a United States prison.

Dec. 31 (Asia Today) — South Korean police investigating lobbying allegations involving the Unification Church raided the home of Jeong Won-ju, a former chief secretary to church leader Han Hak-ja, on Wednesday, authorities said.

The National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters special task force carried out a search and seizure at Jeong’s residence in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, in connection with allegations that former Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Jae-su accepted bribes, police said.

Investigators also searched the office of the special prosecutor handling a case involving former first lady Kim Keon-hee in Seoul’s Jongno district, police said, adding they secured materials related to the bribery allegations.

Jeong was sent to prosecutors the previous day on suspicion of violating the Political Funds Act over what police described as split donations to politicians from both major parties in early 2019. In the Jeon case, police are treating Jeong as a witness, according to the report.

Jeon is accused of receiving 20 million won (about $15,000) in cash and a luxury watch worth 10 million won (about $7,700) from the Unification Church in 2018 along with requests tied to church-related issues.

Police previously summoned Jeon as a suspect on Dec. 19 on allegations including violating the Political Funds Act. Investigators executed search warrants on Dec. 23 targeting Bulgari Korea and Cartier as they sought to verify the timing and value of the alleged gifts, the report said.

Police are expected to summon Jeon again after reviewing materials seized in the latest searches, it said.

Separately, police began questioning a former chair of the Universal Peace Federation, a Unification Church affiliate tied to the Korea-Japan undersea tunnel project, as a witness Wednesday, the report said. The tunnel project is considered one of the major issues the church lobbied for in political circles.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Mamady Doumbouya faced eight rivals for the presidency, but the main opposition leaders were barred from running.

Guinea coup leader ⁠Mamady Doumbouya has ​been ‍elected president, according ‍to provisional results, paving the way for a ​return ‌to civilian governing after a military takeover nearly five years ago.

The provisional ‌results announced on Tuesday showed Doumbouya winning ‌86.72 percent of the vote held on ⁠December 28 – an absolute majority that allows him to avoid a runoff.

The ‌Supreme Court has eight days to validate the results in the ‍event of any challenge.

Doumbouya, 41, faced eight rivals for the presidency, but the main opposition leaders were barred from running and had urged a boycott of the vote.

The former special forces commander seized power in 2021, toppling then-President Alpha Conde, who had been in office since 2010. It was one in ​a series of ‌nine coups that have reshaped politics in West and Central Africa since 2020.

Israel on Friday announced it is officially recognising Somaliland, a first for the self-proclaimed republic since 1991.

The leader of Yemen’s Houthi rebels has warned any Israeli presence in Somaliland would be considered a “military target”, in the latest condemnation of Israel’s move to recognise the breakaway region.

“We consider any Israeli presence in Somaliland a military target for our armed forces, as it constitutes aggression against Somalia and Yemen, and a threat to the security of the region,” said the group’s chief, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, according to a statement published by rebel media online.

Israel announced on Friday that it is officially recognising Somaliland, a first for the self-proclaimed republic that in 1991 declared it unilaterally separated from Somalia.

The Houthi chief warned that the move carried grave consequences, saying that recognition is “a hostile stance targeting Somalia and its African surroundings, as well as Yemen, the Red Sea, and the countries along both shores of the Red Sea”.

Somaliland, which has for decades pushed for international recognition, enjoys a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden and has its own money, passport and army.

Regional analysts say a rapprochement with Somaliland would provide Israel with better access to the Red Sea, enabling it to hit Houthi rebels in Yemen.

After launching its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, Israel repeatedly struck targets in Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on Israel, which the Yemeni rebels said were in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The Houthis have halted their attacks since a fragile truce began in Gaza in October.

Somaliland has been diplomatically isolated since its unilateral declaration of independence, even if it has generally experienced greater stability than Somalia, where al-Shabab fighters periodically mount attacks in the capital, Mogadishu.

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland was criticised by the African Union, Egypt, Turkiye, the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

The European Union insisted that Somalia’s sovereignty should be respected.

Mamady Doumbouya may win amid accusations of restrictions on the media and the opposition parties.

Guinea is holding a presidential election in which incumbent military leader General Mamady Doumbouya, who took power in a 2021 coup, is widely anticipated to secure victory.

Some 6.7 million registered voters will go to the polls, which opened at 07:00 GMT on Sunday and will close at 18:00 GMT.

The former special forces commander, aged 41, faces eight other candidates in the election, as ousted President Alpha Conde and longtime opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo remain in exile.

The opposition has called for a boycott of the vote in the mineral-rich country where 52 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to World Bank figures.

While long blighted by coups, Guinea experienced a democratic transition with the November 2010 election of Alpha Conde, the country’s first freely elected president. Doumbouya overthrew him in September 2021.

Under Doumbouya, Guinea effectively “reverted to what it has essentially known since independence in 1958: authoritarian regimes, whether civilian or military”, Gilles Yabi, founder of the West African think tank Wathi, told the AFP news agency.

Provisional results could be announced within two days, according to Djenabou Toure, head of the General Directorate of Elections.

Restrictions on opposition

Political debate has been muted under Doumbouya. Civil society groups accuse his government of banning protests, curbing press freedom and restricting opposition activity.

The campaign period “has been severely restricted, marked by intimidation of opposition actors, apparently politically motivated enforced disappearances, and constraints on media freedom”, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday.

These conditions “risk undermining the credibility of the electoral process”, he added.

Opposition leader Diallo has condemned the vote as “an electoral charade” aimed at giving legitimacy to “the planned confiscation of power”.

In September, Guinea approved a new constitution in a referendum, which the opposition called on voters to boycott.

The new document allowed military leaders to stand for election, paving the way for Doumbouya’s candidacy.

It also lengthened presidential terms from five to seven years, renewable once.

‘Hope things will be sorted’

Guinea holds the world’s largest bauxite reserves and the richest untapped iron ore deposit at Simandou, officially launched last month after years of delay.

Doumbouya has claimed credit for pushing the project forward and ensuring Guinea benefits from its output. His government this year also revoked EGA subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation’s licence after a refinery dispute, transferring its assets to a state-owned firm.

The turn towards resource nationalism – echoed in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – has boosted his popularity, as has his youth in a country where the median age is about 19.

“For us young people, Doumbouya represents the opportunity to send the old political class into retirement,” Mohamed Kaba, a mechanic in Conakry, told the Reuters news agency.

“There is a lot of corruption right now, but I hope these things will be sorted out.”

Syrian officials confirm the arrest of ISIL leader Taha al-Zoubi in a security operation near Damascus.

Syria’s Ministry of Interior has announced the arrest of Taha al-Zoubi, a leading figure in the ISIL (ISIS) group, in the Damascus countryside, the country’s SANA news agency reported.

The report said a “tightly executed security operation” was carried out that led to the arrest of al-Zoubi, adding that “a suicide belt and a military weapon were seized in his possession”.

SANA quoted Brigadier General Ahmad al-Dalati, head of internal security in the Damascus countryside, as saying the raid targeted an ISIL hideout in Maadamiya, southwest of Damascus, and was carried out “in cooperation” with an anti-ISIL alliance that includes the United States-led coalition fighting the group.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) has not publicly confirmed the operation.

Al-Dalati said al-Zoubi, also known as Abu Omar Tibiya, served as the group’s “wali”,or governor, of Damascus and that several alleged aides were also detained.

The official added that the arrest dealt a “crippling blow” to ISIL networks in the capital region and showed the “readiness of the security apparatus”.

“We send a clear message to anyone who dares to engage in the project of terrorism or lend support to ISIS: The hand of justice will reach them wherever they are,” al-Dalati said.

ISIL, which views the new government in Damascus as illegitimate, has mainly concentrated its activities against Kurdish forces in the north.

At its peak, ISIL ruled an area half the size of the United Kingdom, spanning across Iraq and Syria, with Raqqa in the latter being the capital of the armed group’s self-declared “caliphate”.

The group was notorious for its brutality, carrying out massacres of Syrians and Iraqis and beheadings of foreign captives.

ISIL was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, but its fighters and cadres of armed group members still carry out deadly attacks in both countries and elsewhere, including in Africa and Afghanistan.

BNP plans historic rally as Rahman, seen as a key leader, marks his highly anticipated homecoming.

Bangladesh’s main opposition party says it is preparing a vast show of support as its leader, Tarique Rahman, prepares to return home after nearly 17 years in exile.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) aims to mobilise up to five million supporters in the capital to welcome Rahman, who is widely viewed as the party’s prime ministerial frontrunner for the country’s parliamentary elections scheduled for February.

His expected arrival from London on Thursday comes as the BNP regains momentum after the removal of longtime leader Sheikh Hasina in a student-led uprising last year.

Rahman, 60, is the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and currently serves as the BNP’s acting chairman.

Since 1991, power in Bangladesh has largely alternated between Zia and Hasina, apart from brief caretaker administrations. With Hasina’s Awami League barred from contesting the February 12 vote, the BNP now appears positioned to dominate the race.

‘A defining political moment’

BNP leaders say they are coordinating security arrangements with authorities for what they call an “unprecedented” mobilisation, with supporters expected to line the route from the airport to the reception venue.

“This will be a defining political moment,” senior BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said.

Rahman has lived in London since 2008 after facing multiple criminal convictions in Bangladesh, including money laundering and charges linked to an alleged plot to assassinate Hasina. Courts acquitted him following Hasina’s removal from office, removing the legal obstacles that had delayed his return.

BNP officials said Rahman will proceed directly from the airport to the rally venue before visiting his mother, who has been seriously ill for months.

The homecoming unfolds during a fragile transition overseen by an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. The election is seen as a critical test of Bangladesh’s ability to restore democratic legitimacy after years of political turmoil.

Concerns persist over sporadic violence and recent attacks on media outlets, raising questions about the state’s capacity to ensure a credible vote.

The National Citizen Party (NCP), which emerged from the youth protest movement that toppled Hasina, welcomed Rahman’s return.

“Rahman was forced into exile under severe pressure and threats, so his homecoming carries symbolic weight,” said NCP spokesperson Khan Muhammad Mursalin. “His arrival will undoubtedly energise party leaders and supporters … On the path to democracy, we will stand with him.”

President Maduro’s rival was hurt as she sped on a boat through choppy waters in secret escape from hiding to reach Oslo ceremony.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was injured as she made a clandestine dash to collect her Nobel Peace Prize last week, her spokesperson has said.

Claudia Macero said late on Monday that the right-wing opposition figure fractured a vertebra during a choppy boat ride that had formed part of a risky cloak-and-dagger journey to reach the Norwegian capital, Oslo, for the Nobel award ceremony.

Machado has been in hiding since she was banned from running in Venezuela’s July 24 presidential election, fearing that her life is under threat from long-time Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“The vertebra fracture is confirmed,” Macero told the AFP news agency, adding that no further details would be released beyond what had been reported in the Norwegian daily Aftonbladet.

The newspaper had earlier reported that the 58-year-old Machado sustained the fracture while crossing the sea in a small fishing boat battered by high waves.

The opposition leader was examined by doctors at Oslo University Hospital during her time in the city.

Dangerous dash

Media reports in the United States said Machado’s escape last week involved wearing a disguise, including a wig, and travelling from a small Venezuelan fishing village on a wooden boat to the island of Curacao, before boarding a private plane to Norway.

Machado has said she feared for her life during the voyage, which saw US forces situated in the Caribbean alerted to avoid a strike on the vessel.

Several similar boats have been attacked in recent months in a campaign that the Trump administration asserts is a bid to avert drug smuggling into the US.

Maduro has accused Washington of seeking to engineer regime change in the hope of seizing Venezuela’s large oil reserves.

The leader of the opposition Vente Venezuela party was attempting to reach the ceremony at which she was due to be presented with the Nobel Peace Prize.

She was announced the winner of the prestigious award in October, with the selection committee praising her role in the country’s opposition movement and her “steadfast” support for democracy.

‘Broken soul’

Despite her speedy trip, Machado failed to reach Oslo in time for the ceremony. Her daughter received the award on her behalf and delivered a speech that slammed Maduro and warned of the need to fight for democracy.

Hours after the ceremony, early on Thursday morning, Machado greeted supporters from an Oslo hotel balcony in what was her first public appearance in a year.

Despite the fracture, she climbed over a barrier to greet supporters outside the hotel, AFP reported.

Machado said authorities in Venezuela would have attempted everything possible to prevent her journey to Norway.

Appearing set to challenge Maduro in the vote, the opposition leader was barred from running in the country’s presidential election in July last year.

She then announced that she would be going into hiding within Venezuela due to fear for her life while Maduro is in power.

The Venezuelan president commented dismissively on the reports of Machado’s injury on television on Monday.

Machado “says she has a broken vertebra”, he said. “What’s broken is her brain and her soul because she’s a demon – she hates Venezuela.”

Dec. 15 (Asia Today) — Democratic Party leader Jeong Cheong-rae, whose party holds the presidency, on Monday called for a second, wide-ranging special investigation into an alleged insurrection case, raising questions about Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae after courts rejected arrest warrants for several figures tied to the probe.

Jeong made the remarks at a party Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, as the mandate of a special prosecutor was set to end. He said the special prosecutor made progress byre-arresting former President Yoon Suk-yeol and referring 24 people to trial, but argued the investigation was constrained by court decisions, including warrant denials.

Jeong said the rejection of warrants for figures such as Choo Kyung-ho was “difficult to accept,” and claimed it fueled suspicions that the judiciary was blocking steps that could lead to broader legal consequences for the People Power Party. He also said the circumstances raised questions about whether Chief Justice Cho may have been involved, citing a meeting on Dec. 3, the day martial law was declared.

Jeong said the Democratic Party would work with the government and presidential office to push for what he called a “second comprehensive special investigation,” and urged a tougher approach without leniency. He said a follow-up probe should also examine allegations involving first lady Kim Keon-hee and issues the current special prosecutor did not fully resolve.

He additionally questioned court case assignment procedures, citing media reports that the treason-related trial was assigned through unusual in-person discussions rather than random distribution. He said the party would pursue legislation to create a specialized court for sedition-related cases.

Jeong also criticized the People Power Party’s use of filibusters, including on bills he said were bipartisan or originally proposed by the party, and said the Democratic Party would seek revisions to parliamentary rules governing the tactic. He offered condolences to victims of a collapse at a construction site at the Gwangju Central Library and called fora thorough investigation.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.