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Vince Zampella, the acclaimed co-creator of video gaming juggernaut “Call of Duty,” has died in a car crash, gaming giant Electronic Arts confirmed on Monday. He was 55.The developer and executive died on Sunday while driving his Ferrari on a scenic road north of Los Angeles, according to local broadcaster NBC4. “For unknown reasons, the vehicle veered off the roadway, struck a concrete barrier, and became fully engulfed,” the California Highway Patrol said in a statement, without identifying the two victims in the crash.The CHP added that both the driver and a passenger who was ejected from the vehicle succumbed to their injuries. Witnesses posted video of the mangled cherry-red Ferarri, engulfed in flames, on the mountain road. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.His studios created some of the world’s best-selling video games, and Zampella was considered an innovator in first-person military shooter style games. This year, when his “Battlefield 6” video game set a new sales record for the franchise, Zampella expressed gratitude, saying “we never take moments like this for granted” — despite a long career of success in gaming. The mass-combat game has won over 100 million players in the past two decades, in its various iterations. And yet, that number isn’t a first. To this day, “Call of Duty” boasts more than 100 milion active players, monthly.”You have that dream of the game being popular, but I don’t think you’re ever ready for that level of success,” Zampella told gaming site IGN in a 2016 interview.- Profound, far-reaching -Zampella was best known for co-creating the “Call of Duty” franchise and founding Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind “Titanfall,” “Apex Legends,” and the “Star Wars Jedi” games.After starting out in the 1990s as a designer on shooter games, he co-founded Infinity Ward in 2002 and helped launch “Call of Duty” in 2003. Activision later acquired his studio.He left Activision under contentious circumstances and established Respawn in 2010, which Electronic Arts acquired in 2017.At EA, he eventually took charge of revitalizing the “Battlefield” franchise, cementing his reputation as one of the most influential figures in modern first-person shooter games.”This is an unimaginable loss, and our hearts are with Vince’s family, his loved ones, and all those touched by his work,” Electronic Arts said in a statement.”Vince’s influence on the video game industry was profound and far-reaching,” the company said, adding that “his work helped shape modern interactive entertainment.”A statement by Respawn, posted on the “Battlefield” X account, praised Zampella “for how he showed up every day, trusting his teams, encouraging bold ideas, and believing in Battlefield and the people building it.”Zampella “championed what he believed was right for the people behind those studios and our players because it mattered.””It was a bold, transgressive method of storytelling, of a moment in time that was political, that was violent and that was impactful,” Washington Post video game reporter Gene Park told NBC4.”He really knew how to create stories and create experiences, that really hit at the heart of human experience — whether it was terror, dread, heroism. I think he was really able to kindof encapsulate that through the designs of the video games that he made,” Park said.

US President Donald Trump said Monday it would be “smart” for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down, as US naval forces pressed a blockade on the South American country’s oil wealth.Venezuela’s key ally Moscow, however, expressed its “full support” for Maduro’s government, as Washington has dialed up military operations and threats against Caracas.Asked by reporters at his Florida home if Washington’s threats were designed to force Maduro to leave office after 12 years, Trump said: “That’s up to him, what he wants to do. I think it would be smart for him to do that.”But he added: “If he wants to do something — if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough.”Firing back just hours later, Maduro said that Trump would be “better off” if he focused on domestic problems rather than threatening Caracas.”He would be better off in his own country on economic and social issues, and he would be better off in the world if he took care of his country’s affairs,” Maduro said in a speech broadcast on public television.The pledge from Moscow, which is embroiled in the war in Ukraine, came on the eve of a UN Security Council meeting Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis.In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the allied nations blasted the US actions, which have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and the seizure of two oil tankers.A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Sunday.”The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian foreign ministry said of the call between Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.”The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added in a statement. US forces have since September launched strikes on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.More than 100 people have been killed — some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.The latest strike hit a “low-profile vessel” in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one occupant, the US military said on Monday.Last week, Trump also announced a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” sailing to and from Venezuela.Trump claims Caracas is using oil money to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”Caracas, in turn, fears Washington is seeking regime change, and has accused Washington of “international piracy.”Moscow’s statement said Lavrov and Gil agreed in their call to “coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN.”Russia and China, another Venezuela ally, backed Caracas’s request for a UNSC meeting to discuss what it called “the ongoing US aggression.”- Russia’s ‘hands full’ -On Telegram, Venezuela’s Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed “the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government.”Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow’s “full support in the face of hostilities against our country.”Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside Moscow’s stated support for Caracas.Washington, he said, was “not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela” as “they have their hands full in Ukraine.”US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.Gil on Monday also read a letter on state TV, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning the US blockade “will affect the supply of oil and energy” globally.

A self-described foodie, social butterfly and New Yorker for 20 years, Lina Axmacher has long loved exploring the city’s famed restaurant culture.Then she started Ozempic.She lost her appetite — “my desire for cocktails and desserts and anything sweet” — and also more than 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms) in less than two months.But “I still wanted to maintain my social lifestyle, and I still wanted to be included in dinners,” the Swedish 41-year-old who works in the tequila industry told AFP.One of her favorite restaurants, Manhattan’s Le Petit Village, made that easier: it’s among the dining establishments in the city offering smaller portions at lower prices, as the prevalence of medications that reduce hunger like Ozempic grows.The West Village restaurant decided to shrink a corner of its brunch menu, including French toast and a smoked salmon tartine, not least to accommodate diners on GLP-1s who want to go out but can’t eat much.Approximately one in eight American adults are currently taking drugs from the class of GLP-1 agonists that are increasingly popular for weight loss, according to a November poll by the non-profit health policy tracker KFF.And one in five say they’ve taken the medications whose brand names include Ozempic and Wegovy — which are also prescribed to manage chronic conditions like diabetes — at some point.On Monday, Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk announced US authorities had approved Wegovy to be administered in pill form for weight loss, potentially making it even more accessible.Some in the restaurant industry are taking note.”I was going out and seeing people eat a lot less and take one bite of their food and one sip of their drink and that was it,” said Aristotle Hatzigeorgiou, who owns Clinton Hall, which has five locations across New York.And on top of that, much of the dishes his kitchens prepared ended up in the trash — “a mass amount of waste,” he said.So he developed the “teeny-weeny mini meal” — for $8, diners get a bite-sized burger, a small portion of fries and their choice of a 3-oz beer, martini or glass of wine.It’s a stark contrast to some of the beer hall’s other offerings, which include a “doughnut grilled cheese” and a “fondue burger” (they are what they sound like.)But the mini-meal has proven a hit, Hatzigeorgiou said, not only for those dropping weight but for those cutting costs.”I think people are definitely strapped with rents going up and inflation,” said the restaurant owner.Offering “a cheaper option to come out,” he said, has “been working.”- ‘Vast human experiment’ -For now, GLP-1s for weight loss purposes remain too expensive for many Americans.But experts expect that will shift; even US President Donald Trump has promised affordable options.And researchers are starting to examine how wider GLP-1 use is shaking cultural connections to food.”Food is your enemy, instead of your great pleasure in life? I mean, that’s very different,” Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition at New York University, told AFP in an interview. “I think the jury is out on all of it.”Side effects of GLP-1s can include unpleasant gastrointestinal issues, but for some people, Nestle said, the medications have proven “miraculous.”The nutritionist said it’s far too soon to have a grasp on long-term impact, physiologically or socioculturally: “It’s a vast human experiment.”Axmacher told AFP she’s taken Ozempic on and off. When she first decided to take a break, “I was ready to feel like I could enjoy life a little bit more again.””I do enjoy the sense of hunger and satisfaction when I get to eat something I’m in the mood for,” she said, adding that on Ozempic, “I missed that.”But using the medication also helped her develop positive and sustainable habits, she said: Axmacher cut down on alcohol, exercised more, and focused on eating enough protein.Ozempic or not, a trend of smaller restaurant dishes in the wake of America’s 1990s-2000s Super Size Era can only be positive, Nestle said.Le Petit Village management told AFP they’re considering expanding their menu of half-sized portions to dinner service, and Clinton Hall is working on developing a mini-meal featuring chicken.Some customers, Hatzigeorgiou said, have noted that “this is what meals used to look like.””We think it’s something different, but maybe it’s not so different,” he said with a chuckle. “Maybe it’s the right-sized meal.”

US President Donald Trump on Monday announced a new class of heavily armed warships that will be named after himself — an honor usually reserved for leaders who have left office.Two of the Trump-class ships will be built initially, but that number could grow substantially, according to the president, who said they will be “some of the most lethal surface warfare ships” and “the largest battleship in the history of our country.”Trump made the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida alongside Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Navy Secretary John Phelan, with images of the planned high-tech vessels on stands nearby.Asked if the planned warships are a counter to Washington’s rival Beijing, Trump declined to specify, instead saying: “It’s a counter to everybody, it’s not China. We get along great with China.”He said the ships will weigh between 30,000 and 40,000 tons and will be armed with missiles and guns as well as weaponry still in development, such as lasers and hypersonic missiles.They will also be capable of carrying atomic weapons in the form of the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile, Trump said.The Trump-class ships will be substantially larger than existing US destroyers and cruisers, but the projected displacement cited by the president is somewhat smaller than the last American battleships — from the Iowa class — which were retired in the 1990s.- ‘Most powerful fleet anywhere’ -Trump — who has complained in the past about the appearance of US ships — said he would be involved in the design along with the Navy “because I’m a very aesthetic person.”Trump’s announcement came just days after the Navy publicized plans for another new class of ships — frigates dubbed the FF(X) that it said will “complement the fleet’s larger, multi-mission warships.”Phelan has said the FF(X) will be based on an existing design from shipbuilder HII that is already in use by the United States Coast Guard, and that the aim is for the first of the new frigates to be in the water by 2028.The new frigate plans were announced after Phelan said in late November that four of six planned ships from the Constellation class of frigates would be canceled, while two that are already under construction are “under review.”Washington has fallen significantly behind Beijing when it comes to the number of ships in its Navy, and a report to Congress earlier this year noted that US military officials and other observers are concerned by the pace of China’s shipbuilding efforts.”We’re going to restore America as a major shipbuilding power,” Trump said on Monday, adding: “We’re going to ensure the USA has the most powerful fleet anywhere in the world, and long into the future, with battleships helping lead the way.”

Victims of disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein joined a chorus of criticism on Monday over the Trump administration’s slow release and heavy redaction of records from the investigation into his alleged sex crimes.President Donald Trump said meanwhile, in his first comments since the release of the files, that people who “innocently met” Epstein in the past risked having their reputations ruined.The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump mandated the complete release of the Epstein files by Friday of last week.But the Trump Justice Department has released only one batch of documents so far, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche blaming the delay on the need to redact the identities of Epstein’s more than 1,000 victims.In a statement, a group of Epstein victims complained that only a “fraction” of the files have been released and were “riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation.””At the same time, numerous victim identities were left unredacted, causing real and immediate harm,” they added.EFTA co-sponsors Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Republican, threatened over the weekend to bring contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to comply with the law.And Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution on Monday calling for legal action against the administration for failing to release the complete Epstein files.”Instead of transparency, the Trump administration released a tiny fraction of the files and blacked out massive portions of what little they provided,” Schumer said in a statement.”This is a blatant cover-up. Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche are shielding Donald Trump from accountability, and the Senate has a duty to act.”- ‘We need no such protection’ -Blanche denied on Sunday that the Justice Department was redacting the files to protect the president, a formerly close friend of Epstein, a convicted sex offender with connections to the rich and powerful.Trump initially tried to block the disclosure of the files linked to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in what was ruled a suicide.The president, who cut ties with Epstein years before his arrest and faces no accusations of wrongdoing, finally bowed to mounting pressure from Congress and signed the law compelling publication of the files.Trump on Monday dismissed the furor over Epstein as a distraction from his party’s achievements.”This whole thing with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago home.Former Democratic president Bill Clinton featured prominently in the first batch of photos from the Epstein files released by the Justice Department and Trump was asked for his reaction.”I like Bill Clinton,” he said. “I hate to see photos come out of him.”There’s photos of me too,” Trump noted. “Everybody was friendly with this guy (Epstein).””You probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago, and they’re highly respected bankers and lawyers and others,” he said.”But they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party and you ruin a reputation of somebody.”Clinton urged the Justice Department in a statement on Monday to release any materials in the files related to him, saying he had nothing to hide.”Someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection,” Clinton said.Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes and is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting underage girls for the disgraced financier.

The US Interior Department on Monday said it had paused leases for all five of the country’s offshore wind projects under construction, citing unspecified national security risks and casting new doubt over the future of an industry detested by President Donald Trump.The Republican president has long expressed opposition to windmills, particularly over their appearance, and his administration has made multiple attempts to limit their implementation during his second term.The Interior Department pointed in its announcement to national security risks from the projects, all off the Atlantic coast, that the Pentagon outlined in “recently completed” classified reports.The move comes weeks after a judge ruled that a blanket ban on new offshore permits — signed by Trump on his first day in office in January — was illegal.The Interior Department did not specify what the risks were, but it noted that the Department of Energy had also previously identified potential issues related to radar interference.The pause, effective immediately, would provide time to mitigate the government’s concerns, the Interior Department said.Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said the move “looks more like the kind of vindictive harassment we have come to expect from the Trump administration than anything legitimate.”The Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island’s coast, developed by Danish energy giant Orsted, is 80 percent complete, according to its website.Whitehouse said on X that the project had long ago been “thoroughly vetted and fully permitted by the federal government, and that review included any potential national security questions.”- ‘One’ gas pipeline -Dominion Energy, which is behind a massive wind farm off the Virginia coast, said similary that its project “has been more than ten years in the works, involved close coordination with the military, and is located…so far offshore it does not raise visual impact concerns.”The company said it had been ordered to halt work for 90 days, while warning that stopping the project will “lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs.”Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, seen as close to the fossil fuel industry, expressed concerns for more than just security issues in a post on X, bashing the wind projects as “expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms.””ONE natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as these 5 projects COMBINED,” the former Republican governor wrote.Wind energy represents about 10 percent of US power production, almost entirely from land-based turbines.Other projects targeted by Monday’s order include the Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts, and the New York-area Sunrise and Empire projects.- ‘Ugly monsters’ -Trump has long complained that windmills ruin views and are expensive. During a trip this summer to one of his UK golf courses, the US president urged Britain to stop subsidizing the “ugly monsters.”In addition to his order attempting to ban new wind farm permits, Trump’s administration has also moved to block all federal loans for wind energy.”We should not be kneecapping America’s largest source of renewable power, especially when we need more cheap, homegrown electricity,” the Environmental Defense Fund’s lead counsel Ted Kelly said in a statement.New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul said on X that she was working with other impacted states “to review every available option to get these projects back on track.”Dominion Energy’s stock price closed down around 3.7 percent, while Danish energy giant Orsted — behind the Revolution Wind project — was down 11 percent.

The leadership of CBS News was facing accusations of political meddling on Monday over a last-minute decision to not air a report on the notorious Salvadoran prison where US President Donald Trump has sent deported migrants.CBS had been due to air the investigation late Sunday about alleged abuses at the CECOT center in El Salvador on its flagship “60 Minutes” program, seen by many as one of the most prestigious and hard-hitting institutions in US journalism.But the broadcaster quietly announced hours before showtime that the segment would “air in a future broadcast,” replacing it with a piece on the sherpas working on Mount Everest.CBS, which was purchased by the Trump-linked Ellison family earlier this year, said that the prison report needed “additional reporting.”Multiple US media outlets quoted the “60 Minutes” correspondent who oversaw the report as saying it had been pulled for political reasons.”Pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one,” Sharyn Alfonsi said in a note to CBS staff first leaked by The Wall Street Journal.CECOT is a huge, maximum security facility touted by El Salvador’s right-wing President Nayib Bukele as the centerpiece of his attempt to rid the Central American country of narco-gangs.Human rights activists say inmates there are treated brutally.The facility has been at the center of major US legal case since March, when the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelan and other migrants there despite a judge’s order that they be returned to the United States.Several deportees who have since been released have described repeated abuse at the facility. – CBS owners close to Trump -CBS’s decision to shelve a high-profile story on the Trump administration comes as the broadcaster’s parent company, Paramount Skydance, is in a multi-billion-dollar bidding war with Netflix to buy Warner Bros Discovery.Trump has made clear he is taking a keen interest in the merger, which will likely need regulatory approval.Paramount was purchased by the Ellison family, which is close to Trump, earlier this year. Larry Ellison is one of the world’s richest people and a major Trump donor.The Republican president has frequently criticized “60 Minutes” and sued CBS in 2024 over his claim that the news program had edited an interview with Democrat Kamala Harris in order to help her.Paramount chief David Ellison — son of Larry Ellison — brought in Bari Weiss as a new editor in chief this October, leading to expectations that she would steer the renowned broadcaster to be more friendly to Trump.In her note to colleagues, Alfonsi said the CECOT segment had been cleared by corporate lawyers before being “spiked.””If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.”Weiss told The New York Times in a statement that she would be “airing this important piece when it’s ready.””Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom.”The executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Tanya Simon, told fellow employees that she had resisted Weiss’s order, but “ultimately had to comply.””We pushed back, we defended our story, but she wanted changes,” Simon was quoted as saying by The Washington Post in a transcript of the producer’s private meeting with colleagues.

As US forces deployed in the Caribbean have zoned in on tankers transporting sanctioned Venezuelan oil, questions have deepened about the real motivation for Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on Caracas.Is the military show of force really about drug trafficking, as Washington claims? Does it seek regime change, as Caracas fears? Could it be about oil, of which Venezuela has more proven reserves than any other country in the world?”I don’t know if the interest is only in Venezuela’s oil,” Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has offered to mediate in the escalating quarrel, said last week.The US president himself has accused Venezuela of taking “all of our oil” and said: “we want it back.”What we know:- Oil ties -Companies from the United States, now the world’s leading oil producer, have pumped Venezuelan crude from the first discoveries there in the 1920s.Many US refineries were designed, and are still geared, specifically for processing the kind of heavy crude Venezuela has in spades.Until 2005, Venezuela was one of the main providers of oil to the United States, with some monthly totals reaching up to 60 million barrels.Things changed dramatically after socialist leader Hugo Chavez took steps in 2007 to further nationalize the industry, seizing assets belonging to US firms.- And now? – Down from a peak of more than three million barrels per day (bpd) in the early 2000s, Venezuela today produces about a million barrels per day — roughly two percent of the global total. US firm Chevron extracts about 10 percent of the total under a special license.Chevron is the only company authorized to ship Venezuelan oil to the United States — an estimated 200,000 barrels per day, according to a Venezuelan oil sector source.The South American country’s domestic industry has declined sharply due to corruption, under-investment and US sanctions in place since 2019.Analysts say the high investment required to rebuild Venezuela’s crumbling oil rigs would be unappetizing for US firms, given the steady global supply and low prices.According to Carlos Mendoza Potella, a Venezuelan professor of petroleum economics, Washington’s actions were likely “not just about oil” but rather about the United States “claiming the Americas for itself.””It’s about the division of the world” between the United States and its rivals, Russia and China, he added.Venezuela exports about 500,000 barrels per day on the black market, mainly to China and other Asian countries, according to Juan Szabo, a former vice president of state oil company PDVSA.- Blockade – Trump on December 16 announced a blockade of sanctioned oil vessels sailing to and from Venezuela.Days earlier, US forces seized the M/T Skipper, a so-called “ghost” tanker transporting over a million barrels of Venezuelan oil, reportedly destined for Cuba.Washington has said it intends to keep the oil, valued at between $50 and $100 million.Over the weekend, the US Coast Guard seized the Centuries, identified by monitoring site TankerTrackers.com as a Chinese-owned and Panama-flagged tanker.An AFP review did not find the Centuries on the US Treasury Department’s sanctions list, but the White House said it “contained sanctioned PDVSA oil” — some 1.8 million barrels of it.On Sunday, officials said the Coast Guard was pursuing a third tanker, identified by news outlets as the Bella 1 — under US sanctions because of alleged ties to Iran.The PDVSA insists its exports remain unaffected by the blockade.This was critical, according to Szabo, as the company only has capacity to store oil for several days if exports stop.- Impact -Whatever Trump’s goal with Venezuelan oil, the blockade, if it continues, is likely to scare off shipping companies and push up freight rates.Szabo expects Venezuela’s oil exports will fall by nearly half in the coming months, slashing critical foreign currency income from Venezuela’s black market sales.This would asphyxiate the already struggling economy of Venezuela, piling more pressure on Nicolas Maduro.The Trump administration has tip-toed around explicitly demanding for Maduro to leave.While Trump has said he does not anticipate “war” with Venezuela, he did say Maduro’s days “are numbered.”US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Monday that the oil tanker seizures send “a message around the world that the illegal activity that Maduro’s participating in cannot stand, he needs to be gone.”

Nicki Minaj long reigned as pop’s unruliest shape-shifter — a hyper-sexual, neon-bright provocateur whose latex-clad persona, explicit lyrics and affinity with outsiders made her a global icon.Today, she commands a different spotlight — conservatively dressed, warmly received by Republican activists and increasingly fluent in the language of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement.In just a few years, Minaj, 43, has moved from condemning the US president’s immigration policies to praising his leadership, trading memes with his vice president and appearing under US government auspices at the United Nations.She has mocked Democratic officials, echoed Republican messaging on transgender youth, and emerged as an unlikely darling of the MAGA right — a turn that has jolted fans, particularly within the LGBTQ community.The shift has recast Minaj as a lightning rod — particularly over rhetoric viewed as dismissive or hostile toward trans people — while making her an improbable guest at political events few would have linked to the artist behind “Super Freaky Girl” and “Trollz.””Nicki Minaj has always been about dominance, independence and answering to no one,” celebrity branding expert Jeetendr Sehdev told AFP.”Aligning with the energy around Donald Trump isn’t about policy — it’s about freedom of expression, resisting cancellation and asserting autonomy.”Minaj’s transformation was on full display at Turning Point USA’s weekend conference in Arizona, where she shared the stage with Erika Kirk — the widow of the group’s slain founder, Charlie Kirk — and hailed Trump as a “role model.” She mocked California Governor Gavin Newsom, using nicknames popularized by Trump.The contrast is jarring — not only politically, but culturally. Hip-hop, though never monolithic, has largely leaned progressive. Stars like Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion and Lizzo have backed Democratic candidates, while a smaller cohort — including Lil Wayne and Kodak Black — stand out as Trump-friendly exceptions.- ‘Childish’ -Gone was the shock-and-awe star in latex and wigs when she sat down in Phoenix. In her place sat a composed figure steeped in conservative grievance and moral certainty.Her remarks drew fierce backlash for comments on transgender youth that critics say mirror Republican framing of gender-affirming care as a threat to children.”For boys: boys, be boys… There’s nothing wrong with being a boy,” she told the crowd, urging a return to traditional gender norms.It was a sharp departure from the artist who once celebrated fluid identities and cultivated one of pop’s most queer-friendly fan bases.Her evolution did not happen overnight. Minaj has long resisted tidy labels, cloaking herself in alter egos and irony. She once rapped about voting Republican, then brushed it off as sarcasm. She called Trump “childish,” even as she admitted finding him entertaining.During Trump’s first term, she condemned family separations at the US–Mexico border — invoking her own arrival in the United States as an undocumented child from Trinidad and Tobago — and later celebrated Joe Biden’s election victory. But the shift towards MAGA gathered pace during the Covid-19 pandemic, when she questioned vaccine safety in ways that echoed conservative skepticism and drew public rebukes from health officials.- ‘The cool kids’ -From there, her rhetoric hardened and Minaj has increasingly aligned with administration messaging — reposting White House videos set to her music and appearing alongside senior officials.She has also appeared under US diplomatic auspices at the United Nations, speaking about violence against Christians in Nigeria — an issue experts say is more complex than often portrayed.The aesthetic shift rivals the political one — the artist who once weaponized excess now favoring restraint, sitting comfortably among Republican operatives and conservative influencers. At the Arizona conference, she joked that she and her allies were “the cool kids.”Supporters say Minaj is simply exercising independence, refusing to be boxed in by expectations tied to her gender, race or fan base.Critics counter that independence does not excuse language that marginalizes vulnerable groups — especially from an artist whose career was built on challenging norms, not reinforcing them.”She will polarize people, but that won’t weaken a brand like hers — it will likely amplify it,” Sehdev, the Hollywood branding expert, told AFP. “It filters out passive fans and deepens loyalty among those who admire strength over approval.”

Russia on Monday expressed “full support” for Venezuela as the South American country confronts a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers by US forces deployed in the Caribbean.The pledge from Moscow, itself embroiled in the war in Ukraine, came on the eve of a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis between Caracas and Washington.In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the allied nations blasted the US actions, which have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and more recently the seizure of two oil tankers.A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Sunday.”The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian foreign ministry said of the call between Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.”The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added in a statement. US forces have since September launched strikes on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.More than 100 people have been killed — some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.US President Donald Trump on December 16 also announced a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” sailing to and from Venezuela.Trump claims Caracas under President Nicolas Maduro is using oil money to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”He has also accused Venezuela of taking “all of our oil” — in an apparent reference to the country’s nationalization of the petroleum sector, and said: “we want it back.”Caracas, in turn, fears Washington is seeking regime change, and has accused Washington of “international piracy.”Moscow’s statement said Lavrov and Gil agreed in their call to “coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN, in order to ensure respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”Russia and China, another Venezuela ally, backed Caracas’s request for a UNSC meeting to discuss what it called “the ongoing US aggression.”- Russia’s ‘hands full’ -On Telegram, Venezuela’s Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed “the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government.”Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow’s “full support in the face of hostilities against our country.”Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside Moscow’s stated support for Caracas.Washington, he said, was “not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela” as “they have their hands full in Ukraine.”US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.Gil on Monday also read a letter on state TV, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning the US blockade “will affect the supply of oil and energy” globally.