seeks

BRADENTON, Fla. — A Florida man convicted of crimes after grabbing then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern and posing for photographs with it during the U.S. Capitol riot is running for county office.

Adam Johnson filed to run as a Republican for an at-large seat on the Manatee County Commission on Tuesday. That was the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, where he was photographed smiling and waving as he carried Pelosi’s lectern, commonly known as the speaker’s podium, after the pro-Trump mob’s attack on the Capitol as people there sought to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election win.

Johnson told WWSB-TV that it was “not a coincidence” that he filed for office on Jan. 6, saying that “it’s definitely good for getting the buzz out there.” His campaign logo is an outline of the viral photograph of him carrying the lectern.

He’s far from the first person implicated in the Jan. 6 riot to run for office. At least three ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2024 as Republicans. And there are signs that the Republican Party is welcoming back more people who were convicted of Jan. 6 crimes after President Trump pardoned them.

Jake Lang, who was charged with assaulting an officer, civil disorder and other crimes before he was pardoned, recently announced he is running for Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s vacant U.S. Senate seat in Florida.

Johnson placed the lectern in the center of the Capitol Rotunda, posed for pictures and pretended to make a speech, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty in 2021 to entering and remaining in a restricted building or ground, a misdemeanor that he equated in the interview to “jaywalking.”

“I think I exercised my 1st Amendment right to speak and protest,” Johnson said.

After driving home on Jan. 6, 2021, Johnson bragged that he “broke the internet” and was “finally famous,” prosecutors said.

Johnson served 75 days in prison followed by one year of supervised release. The judge also ordered Johnson to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 200 hours of community service.

Johnson told U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton at sentencing that posing with Pelosi’s lectern was a “very stupid idea,” but now says he only regrets his action because of the prison sentence.

“I walked into a building, I took a picture with a piece of furniture and I left,” he now says.

Four other Republicans have filed to run so far in the Aug. 18 primary in the deeply Republican county. The incumbent isn’t seeking reelection.

In March, Johnson filed a lawsuit against Manatee County and six of its commissioners, objecting to the county’s decision not to seek attorney’s fees from someone who sued the county and dropped the lawsuit. The county has called Johnson’s claims “completely meritless and unsupported by law.”

Johnson said he objects to what he sees as high property taxes and overdevelopment in the county south of Tampa, and he says current county leaders are wasteful.

“I will be more heavily scrutinized than any other candidate who is running in this race,” Johnson said. “This is a positive and a good takeaway for every single citizen, because for once in our life, we will know our local politicians who are doing things.”

US President Donald Trump has asked for at least $100bn (£75bn) in oil industry spending for Venezuela, but received a lukewarm response at the White House as one executive warned the South American country was currently “un-investable”.

Bosses of the biggest US oil firms who attended the meeting acknowledged that Venezuela, sitting on vast energy reserves, represented an enticing opportunity.

But they said significant changes would be needed to make Venezuela an attractive investment. No major financial commitments were immediately forthcoming.

Trump has said he will unleash the South American nation’s oil after US forces seized its leader Nicolas Maduro in a 3 January raid on its capital.

“One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices,” Trump said in Friday’s meeting in the White House.

But the oil bosses present expressed caution.

Exxon’s chief executive Darren Woods said: “We have had our assets seized there twice and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we’ve historically seen and what is currently the state.”

“Today it’s uninvestable.”

Venezuela has had a complicated relationship with international oil firms since oil was discovered in its territory more than 100 years ago.

Chevron is the last remaining major American oil firm still operating in the country.

A handful of companies from other countries, including Spain’s Repsol and Italy’s Eni, both of which were represented at the White House meeting, are also active.

Trump said his administration would decide which firms would be allowed to operate.

“You’re dealing with us directly. You’re not dealing with Venezuela at all. We don’t want you to deal with Venezuela,” he said.

The White House has said it is working to “selectively” roll back US sanctions that have restricted sales of Venezuelan oil.

Officials say they have been coordinating with interim authorities in the country, which is currently led by Maduro’s former second-in-command, Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez.

But they have also made clear they intend to exert control over the sales, as a way to maintain leverage over Rodríguez’s government.

The US this week has seized several oil tankers carrying sanctioned crude. American officials have said they are working to set up a sales process, which would deposit money raised into US-controlled accounts.

“We are open for business,” Trump said.

Venezuela’s oil production has been hit in recent decades by disinvestment and mismanagement – as well as US sanctions. At roughly one million barrels per day, the country accounts for less than 1% of global supply.

Chevron, which accounts for about a fifth of the country’s output, said it expected to bolster its production, building on its current presence, while Exxon said it was working to send in a technical team to assess the situation in the coming weeks.

Repsol, which currently boasts output of about 45,000 barrels per day, said it saw a path to triple its production in Venezuela over the next few years under the right conditions.

Executives at other firms also said Trump’s promises of change would encourage investment and they were hoping to seize the moment.

“We are ready to go to Venezuela,” said Bill Armstrong, who leads an independent oil and gas driller. “In real estate terms, it is prime real estate.”

But analysts say meaningfully increasing production would take significant effort.

“They are being as polite as humanly possible, and being as supportive as they can, without committing actual dollars,” said David Goldwyn, president of the energy consultancy Goldwyn Global Strategies and former US state department special envoy for international energy affairs.

Exxon and Shell are “not going to invest single-digit billions of dollars, much less tens of billions of dollars”, without physical security, legal certainty and a competitive fiscal framework, Goldwyn said.

“It’s not really welcome from an industry point of view,” he said. “The conditions are just not right.”

While smaller companies might be more eager to jump in and help boost Venezuela’s oil production over the next year, he said those investments would likely hover in the $50m range – far from the “fantastical” $100bn figure that Trump has floated.

Rystad Energy estimates it would take $8bn to $9bn in new investments per year for production to triple by 2040.

Trump’s suggested $100bn of investment into Venezuela could have a major impact – if it were to materialise, said the firm’s chief economist, Claudio Galimberti.

He said companies would only be likely to invest on that scale with subsidies – and political stability.

“It’s going to be difficult to see big commitments before we have a fully stabilised political situation and that is anybody’s guess when that happens,” he said.

Additional reporting by Danielle Kaye

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s administration on Wednesday sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announcing plans to relax some sanctions so the U.S. can oversee the sale of Venezuela’s petroleum worldwide.

Trump’s administration intends to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following its ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid. Besides the United States enforcing an existing oil embargo, the Energy Department says the “only oil transported in and out of Venezuela” will be through approved channels consistent with U.S. law and national security interests.

That level of control over the world’s largest proven reserves of crude oil could give the Trump administration a broader hold on oil supplies globally in ways that could enable it to influence prices. Both moves reflect the Republican administration’s determination to make good on its effort to control the next steps in Venezuela through its vast oil resources after Trump has pledged the U.S. will “run” the country.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that the oil taken from the sanctioned vessels seized in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea would be sold as part of the deal announced by Trump on Tuesday under which Venezuela would provide up to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S.

“One of those ships that was seized that had oil in the Caribbean, you know what the interim authorities are asking for in Venezuela?” Rubio told reporters after briefing lawmakers Wednesday about the Maduro operation. “They want that oil that was seized to be part of this deal. They understand that the only way they can move oil and generate revenue and not have economic collapse is if they cooperate and work with the United States.”

Seizing 2 more vessels

U.S. European Command said on social media that the merchant vessel Bella 1 was seized in the North Atlantic for “violations of U.S. sanctions.” The U.S. had been pursuing the tanker since last month after it tried to evade a blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed U.S. forces also took control of the M Sophia in the Caribbean Sea. Noem said on social media that both ships were “either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it.”

The two ships join at least two others that were taken by U.S. forces last month — the Skipper and the Centuries.

The Bella 1 had been cruising across the Atlantic nearing the Caribbean on Dec. 15 when it abruptly turned and headed north, toward Europe. The change in direction came days after the first U.S. tanker seizure of a ship on Dec. 10 after it had left Venezuela carrying oil.

When the U.S. Coast Guard tried to board the Bella 1, it fled. U.S. European Command said a Coast Guard vessel had tracked the ship “pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court.”

As the U.S. pursued it, the Bella 1 was renamed Marinera and flagged to Russia, shipping databases show. A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, said the ship’s crew had painted a Russian flag on the side of the hull.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had information about Russian nationals among the Marinera’s crew and, in a statement carried by Russia’s state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti, demanded that “the American side ensure humane and dignified treatment of them, strictly respect their rights and interests, and not hinder their speedy return to their homeland.”

Separately, a senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Klishas, decried the U.S. action as “blatant piracy.”

The Justice Department is investigating crew members of the Bella 1 vessel for failing to obey Coast Guard orders and “criminal charges will be pursued against all culpable actors,” Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said.

“The Department of Justice is monitoring several other vessels for similar enforcement action — anyone on any vessel who fails to obey instructions of the Coast Guard or other federal officials will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Bondi said on X.

The ship had been sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024 on allegations of smuggling cargo for a company linked to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

Easing sanctions so U.S. can sell oil

The Trump administration, meanwhile, is “selectively” removing sanctions to enable the shipping and sale of Venezuelan oil to markets worldwide, according to an outline of the policies published Wednesday by the Energy Department.

The sales are slated to begin immediately with 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil. The U.S. government said the sales “will continue indefinitely,” with the proceeds settling in U.S.-controlled accounts at “globally recognized banks.” The money would be disbursed to the U.S. and Venezuelan populations at the “discretion” of Trump’s government.

Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA said it is in negotiations with the U.S. government for the sale of crude oil.

“This process is developed under schemes similar to those in force with international companies, such as Chevron, and is based on a strictly commercial transaction, with criteria of legality, transparency and benefit for both parties,” the company said in the statement.

The U.S. plans to authorize the importation of oil field equipment, parts and services to increase Venezuela’s oil production, which has been roughly 1 million barrels a day.

The Trump administration has indicated it also will invest in Venezuela’s electricity grid to increase production and the quality of life for people in Venezuela, whose economy has been unraveling amid changes to foreign aid and cuts to state subsidies, making necessities, including food, unaffordable to millions.

Ships said to be part of a shadow fleet

Noem said both seized ships were part of a shadow fleet of rusting oil tankers that smuggle oil for countries facing sanctions, such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran.

After the seizure of the now-named Marinera, which open-source maritime tracking sites showed was between Scotland and Iceland earlier Wednesday, the U.K. defense ministry said Britain’s military provided support, including surveillance aircraft.

“This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fueling terrorism, conflict, and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine,” U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said.

The capture of the M Sophia, on the U.S. sanctions list for moving illicit cargos of oil from Russia, in the Caribbean was much less prolonged.

The ship had been “running dark,” not having transmitted location data since July. Tankers involved in smuggling often turn off their transponders or broadcast inaccurate data to hide their locations.

Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document that at least 16 tankers had left the Venezuelan coast since Saturday, after the U.S. captured Maduro.

The M Sophia was among them, Madani said, citing a recent photo showing it in the waters near Jose Terminal, Venezuela’s main oil export hub.

Windward, a maritime intelligence firm that tracks such vessels, said in a briefing to reporters the M Sophia loaded at the terminal on Dec. 26 and was carrying about 1.8 million barrels of crude oil — a cargo that would be worth about $108 million at current price of about $60 a barrel.

The press office for Venezuela’s government did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment on the seizures.

Toropin, Boak, Lawless and Biesecker write for the Associated Press. Lawless reported from London.

Italy called on Wednesday in a letter to EU’s Agriculture Commissioner ChristopheHansen to lift the bloc’s carbon border tax in order to ease pressure on fertilizer prices for European farmers. The date for the Mercosur signature is still not clear.

Expectations for Rome to greenlight the trade deal had risen in Brussels after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged on Tuesday to unlock additional funding for farmers to the tune of €45 billion as soon as 2028 in a designed to sway the pivotal support of the Italian government in favour of the deal.

“If in today’s meeting these conditions are certified by the Commission, Italy will support the deal (Mercosur),” Meloni’s agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida told reporters in Brussels.

Italy’s request comes as the Commission convened EU agriculture ministers in Brussels on Wednesday for talks on the future Common Agricultural Policy funding -a key piece of the common budget and highly sensitive to domestic politics – and reciprocity in production standards between Latin America and Europe, a key French demand.

France still opposes the Mercosur deal.

Farmers furious as Mercosur enters final stretch

The Mercosur agreement would create a free-trade area between Latin America, including heavyweight economy Brazil and the EU, cutting tariffs across sectors the board for European companies but also opening market access to Latin America.

Italian farmers, alongside France, Poland and Ireland, fear the deal with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay will expose them to unfair competition.

Italy’s backing of the deal is essential to reach a qualified majority of member states needed to support it, or a blocking minority as a tiebreaker.

This is a developing story.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — Sean “Diddy” Combs’ attorney filed an expedited federal appeal in seeking his immediate appeal from federal prison on the hip-hop mogul’s two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

The appeal was filed Tuesday with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, seeking an acquittal or vacating his conviction and remand for resentencing.

In the 84-page appeal, attorney Alexandra A.E. Shapiro argued U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian “acted as the 13th juror” and found that Combs “coerced,” “exploited” and “forced” his girlfriends to have sex and led a criminal conspiracy, which “trumped the verdict.

The speedy appeal process was granted last month. The federal governor’s brief is due by Feb. 20 and Comb’s reply is due by March 13.

Combs, 56, is serving a 50-month prison sentence. He is now in a low-security prison in Fort Dix, N.J. He was moved there after being detained in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., since his arrest on Sept. 16, 2024.

On July 2, a jury in Manhattan convicted Combs after two days of deliberations and a six-week trial. He was found not guilty of one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.

Later that day, Subramanian denied his bail request because he said it would be impossible for him to prove he does not pose a danger.

The defense proposed travel restrictions, regular drug testing and a $1 million bond co-signed by himself, his mother, his sister and the mother of his oldest daughter.

Prosecutor Maurene Comey also opposed the request.

“There is serious, serious conduct here that will mandate a lengthy period of incarceration,” Comey said.

He was sentenced on Oct. 5, along with five years of supervised release after his prison term and a maximum fine of $500,000. Comb has an estimated $400 million net worth.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” the judge said. “These letters, all those letters that I saw, show that you have a universe of people who love you. Let them lift you up now, just like you’ve lifted them up for so many years.”

His expected release date is May 25, 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Shapiro wrote prosecutors failed to provide their case and noted girlfriends and third parties were adults who “willingly and enthusiastically” participated in so-called freak-offs, which are days-long, drug-fueled sexual encounters.

And the sentence was illegal because it was “draconian.”

She said the enhanced sentence violates his constitutional rights.

Shapiro also noted her client had already served 16 months of his sentence, which is the average one for what he was convicted of.

“If the court does not overturn Combs’ conviction, it should release him immediately and instruct the district court to resentence him only for the conduct of which he was convicted,” the filing reads.

This case isn’t Combs’ only legal situation with more than 70 civil lawsuits filed. In October, Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee announced he would represent 120 accusers.

The alleged victims include children, teens and adults. There are short-term and long-term romantic partners.

He has denied all of the allegations and claimed that security footage in which Combs is seen beating ex-R&B star Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fin was altered. His ex-girlfriend testified during the trial.

During sentencing, he addressed the court after he submitted a four-page letter to the judge that included an apology to the victims.

Combs apologized to Fin and another ex-girlfriend, identified as “Jane.”

“I want to personally apologize again to Cassie Ventura for any harm or hurt that I caused to her, emotionally or physically. My actions were disgusting, shameful and sick,” Combs said.

Algeria’s parliament has begun debating a draft law that would criminalise France’s colonial rule from 1830 to 1962. Al Jazeera’s Nada Qaddourah explains what we know about the bill.

Dec. 21 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s industry ministry said Sunday it has raised concerns with Canada over strengthened tariff-rate quota measures on steel set to take effect Dec. 26 and asked Ottawa to consider steps including an exemption or expanded quota for South Korea.

A tariff-rate quota (TRQ) is a trade system under which a limited volume of steel imports can enter Canada at a lower or zero tariff, while shipments exceeding that quota face much higher duties. Under Canada’s revised measures, the amount of South Korean steel that can enter Canada at the lower tariff rate will be reduced, and shipments above that limit would face much higher tariffs.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Trade Negotiations Director General Yeo Han-gu met Canadian Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu and Canadian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Essassi in Toronto on Dec. 18 local time and conveyed the position of South Korean industry on the measures.

Canada plans to lower the TRQ utilization rate for free trade agreement partners including South Korea from 100% to 75% and for non-FTA countries from 50% to 20%, the ministry said. Imports exceeding the quota would face a 50% tariff and a new 25% tariff would be applied to certain steel derivative products, according to the ministry.

The ministry said Yeo traveled to Canada one week after a phone call with Sidhu on Dec. 11 to hold detailed discussions. It said he asked Canada to take favorable measures for South Korea, citing large-scale investments by South Korean companies in Canada including battery makers and cooperation potential in sectors such as steel, electric vehicles, batteries, energy and critical minerals.

Yeo also said some steel items, including pipelines used in Canada’s oilsands crude production, are difficult to produce domestically and are largely supplied through imports, including from South Korea. Tightening TRQ measures on South Korean steel could affect both South Korean exporters and Canadian industry, he said, according to the ministry.

The ministry said Yeo and Sidhu agreed to establish a new strategic sector dialogue channel between trade ministers under the Korea-Canada free trade agreement, which marks its 10th anniversary this year. They also agreed to set up a hotline for discussions on issues including steel, electric vehicles, batteries, energy and critical minerals, the ministry said.

Sidhu proposed using Canada’s duty drawback system, which the ministry said remains in operation through the end of January 2026 for certain steel items not produced domestically. The ministry said South Korea plans to continue consultations on steel TRQs through high-level and working-level channels.

The ministry said Yeo also met South Korean companies operating in the Toronto area in sectors including steel, autos, home appliances and minerals to hear concerns about trade uncertainty. It said he visited a battery plant backed by LG Energy Solution in Windsor on Dec. 19 and toured the facilities.

The ministry said Yeo later held a meeting in Detroit with South Korean auto parts companies and reviewed issues including Section 232 tariffs on automobiles, Mexico’s announced tariff increases on non-FTA countries and trends related to USMCA revisions. It said he also met potential foreign investors in the auto parts sector to discuss investment opportunities tied to South Korea’s smart factory and manufacturing AI capabilities.

Yeo said shifting trade conditions across the United States, Canada and Mexico pose challenges for South Korean firms operating locally, but also create opportunities tied to changes in North American supply chains, the ministry said.

– Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Maxwell, a former British socialite and Epstein accomplice, says her conviction for trafficking a ‘miscarriage of justice’.

Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend and accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has asked a federal judge in the United States to set aside her sex trafficking conviction and quash her 20-year prison sentence.

Maxwell made the long-shot legal bid in a Manhattan court on Wednesday, saying “substantial new evidence” had emerged proving that constitutional violations spoiled her trial in 2021 for recruiting underage girls for wealthy financier Epstein, who died in 2019.

In the lengthy filing, Maxwell, 63, argues that “newly discovered evidence” proves that she “did not receive a fair trial by independent jurors coming to Court with an open mind”.

“If the jury had heard of the new evidence of the collusion between the plaintiff’s lawyers and the Government to conceal evidence and the prosecutorial misconduct they would not have convicted,” Maxwell wrote.

She said the cumulative effect of the constitutional violations resulted in a “complete miscarriage of justice”.

Maxwell submitted the filing herself, not in the name of a lawyer.

Proceedings of the type brought by Maxwell are routinely denied by judges and are often the last-ditch option available to offenders to have their convictions overturned, the AFP news agency reports.

Maxwell’s filing also comes just days before records in her legal case are scheduled to be released publicly as a result of US President Donald Trump’s signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The law, which Trump signed after months of public and political pressure on his administration, requires the Department of Justice to provide the public with Epstein-related records by December 19.

The circumstances of Epstein’s death and his influential social circle, which spanned the highest reaches of business and politics in the US, have also fuelled conspiracy theories about possible cover-ups and unnamed accomplices

Critics also continue to press President Trump to address his own once-close relationship with Epstein.

The Justice Department has said it plans to release 18 categories of investigative materials gathered in the massive sex trafficking probe, including search warrants, financial records, notes from interviews with victims, and data from electronic devices.

Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges but was found dead a month later in his cell at a New York federal jail, and his death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell, once a well-known British socialite, was arrested a year later and convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021.

In July, she was interviewed by the Justice Department’s second-in-command and soon afterwards moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas.

Maxwell’s transfer from the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Tallahassee – a low-security prison in Florida – to the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, was carried out without explanation at the time.