AFP USA

Don’t say the c-word.Global temperatures soared in 2025, but a NASA statement published Wednesday alongside its latest benchmark annual report makes no reference to climate change, in line with President Donald Trump’s push to deny the reality of planetary heating as a result of human activities.That marks a sharp break from last year’s communications, issued under the administration of Democrat Joe Biden, which stated plainly: “This global warming has been caused by human activities” and has led to intensifying “heat waves, wildfires, intense rainfall and coastal flooding.”Last year’s materials also featured lengthy quotes from the then-NASA chief and a senior scientist and included graphics and a video. By contrast, this year’s release only runs through a few key facts and figures, and totals six paragraphs.”The press release and publicly available data provide the official agency analysis,” the US space agency said in response to a request for comment about the shift in tone.According to NASA, Earth’s global surface temperature in 2025 was slightly warmer than in 2023 — albeit within a margin of error — making it effectively tied as the second-hottest year on record after 2024.Other global agencies, including the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which use different methodologies and modeling, say 2025 ranked as the third-hottest.”The US government is now, like Russia and Saudi Arabia, a petrostate under Trump and Republican rule, and the actions of all of its agencies and departments can be understood in terms of the agenda of the polluters that are running the show,” University of Pennsylvania climatologist Michael Mann told AFP.”It is therefore entirely unsurprising that NASA administrators are attempting to bury findings of its own agency that conflict with its climate denial agenda.”Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, added: “I’m just happy they were allowed to put out a press release.””Pretty much all federal scientists working on climate in the US have had to self-censor and leave out reference to human influences on climate change, unfortunately,” he told AFP. “Thankfully much of the underlying science is still occurring, even if they cannot talk about it.”NASA’s analysis found that average temperatures for 2025 were 2.14 degrees Fahrenheit (1.19 degrees Celsius) above the 1951–1980 average.It was based on data from more than 25,000 meteorological stations worldwide, ship- and buoy-based instruments measuring sea surface temperatures, and Antarctic research stations, with the data analyzed and corrected for changing distributions of temperature stations and urban heating effects that could skew the results.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had held a “long call” with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, the first known contact between the two leaders since the ouster of Nicolas Maduro.”We just had a great conversation today, and she’s a terrific person,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.He later said on social media that he and Rodriguez had discussed “many topics,” including oil, minerals, trade and national security.”We are making tremendous progress,” Trump said.After Maduro’s capture in a deadly US special forces operation on January 3, Trump said he was content to let his former deputy Rodriguez take over — as long as she gave the United States access to Venezuelan oil.He has suggested the United States could maintain oversight of the Caribbean country for years.Rodriguez has been walking a diplomatic tightrope, trying to meet Trump’s demands without alienating Maduro loyalists, who control Venezuela’s security forces and feared paramilitaries.Writing on Telegram, she described her call with the US leader as “productive and courteous” and characterized by “mutual respect.”- ‘New political era’ -The 56-year-old added that she and Trump, 79,  had discussed a “bilateral work agenda for the benefit of our people, as well as outstanding issues in relations between our governments.”Earlier, she said at her first press conference as interim president that Venezuela was entering a “new political era” marked by greater tolerance for “ideological and political diversity.”Under pressure from Washington, Venezuela has released dozens of political prisoners in the past week, but kept hundreds still behind bars.Rodriguez claimed a total of 406 political prisoners had been released since December in a process that “has not yet concluded.”The Foro Penal legal rights NGO, which defends many of the detainees, gave a much smaller tally of around 180 freed.AFP’s count, based on data from NGOs and opposition parties, showed 70 people released since the fall of Maduro, who was taken to the United States to face trial for alleged drug trafficking.Trump has so far sidelined opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from Venezuela’s post-Maduro transition, claiming the Nobel Peace Prize laureate does not have enough “respect” in the country.Machado, who is currently residing outside of Venezuela, will meet Trump on Thursday at the White House to press her demands for the opposition to be given a pre-eminent role.- Released out of view -The trickle of prisoner releases continued on Wednesday, with the release of 17 journalists and media workers.Roland Carreno, a journalist and prominent opposition activist, who was detained in August 2024 during post-election protests, was part of the group.A leading member of the Popular Will party, he was previously imprisoned between 2020 and 2023 on charges of terrorism — a charge frequently used to lock up opposition members in Venezuela.In a video shared by another freed journalist, Carreno called for “peace and reconciliation.”To avoid scenes of jubilant opposition activists punching the air as they walk free from prison, the authorities have been releasing them quietly at other locations, far from the TV cameras and relatives waiting outside detention centers.Carreno was released at a shopping mall.Former presidential candidate Enrique Marquez, one of the first to be released, was driven home in a patrol car.A US State Department official confirmed on Tuesday that Americans have been released, without saying how many or from where.burs-cb/des

US President Donald Trump held open the possibility Wednesday for a resolution on his designs over Greenland after Denmark’s top diplomat said he failed to change the administration’s mind on wanting to conquer the island.The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous territory under Copenhagen’s sovereignty, met at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a meeting the visitors had requested to clear up “misunderstandings” after Trump’s bellicose language toward the fellow NATO member.Trump, speaking after the meeting which he did not attend, for the first time sounded conciliatory on Greenland, acknowledging Denmark’s interests even if he again said he was not ruling out any options.”I have a very good relationship with Denmark, and we’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out,” Trump said without explaining further.He again said Denmark was powerless if Russia or China wanted to occupy Greenland, but added: “There’s everything we can do.”Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, speaking after leaving the White House, said a US takeover of Greenland was “absolutely not necessary.””We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Lokke told reporters.”We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree.”He said the issue was “very emotional” for the people of Greenland and Denmark, a steadfast US ally whose troops died alongside Americans in Afghanistan and, controversially, Iraq.”Ideas that would not respect territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right of self-determination of the Greenlandic people are, of course, totally unacceptable,” Lokke said.He nonetheless said the tone was “constructive” and said the sides would form a committee that would meet within weeks to see if there was possible headway.Referring to the British prime minister who trumpeted his diplomacy with Hitler, Lokke said, “I am not a Chamberlain to say “Peace for our time,” but we must seize the opportunities that present themselves.”- Mocking tone -While the talks were underway, the White House posted on X: “Which way, Greenland man?”The post included a drawing of two dogsleds — one heading towards the White House and a huge US flag, and the other towards Chinese and Russian flags over a lightning-bathed Kremlin and Great Wall of China.Neither country has claimed Greenland, and Lokke said no Chinese ship had been spotted there in a decade and that there were no major Chinese investments.Denmark promised ahead of the meeting to ramp up its military presence further in the vast, sparsely populated and strategically located island.Trump has derided recent Danish efforts to increase security for Greenland as amounting to “two dogsleds.” Denmark says it has invested almost $14 billion in Arctic security.Denmark also announced immediate military exercises that will include aircraft, vessels and soldiers, with Sweden also participating.In another show of solidarity with Denmark following Trump’s threats, Germany and France both said Wednesday they will send troops to Greenland. German’s defense ministry said it would send a 13-person team.- Signs of relief -On the quiet streets of the capital Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity during the talks.Ivaana Egede Larsen, 43, said she felt relief that the meeting appeared to be cordial.”I am more calm now, and I feel more safe. I had felt very much unsafe lately,” she said.In Copenhagen, Thomas Fallesen, 56, voiced similar sentiments.”They are now at least talking together instead of talking through the press. I think it’s a very positive thing,” he said.Vance, who slammed Denmark as a “bad ally” during an uninvited visit to Greenland last year, is known for a hard edge, which was on display when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last February.Wednesday’s meeting, however, was closed to the press, meaning there was no on-camera confrontation.Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland — which he views as in the US backyard — since ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.

The family of the woman shot dead by a US immigration officer in Minneapolis has hired a law firm to probe the killing that sparked protests but which the White House says was self-defense.Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot dead in her car by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on January 7 as the Trump administration pressed operations to catch undocumented migrants in the midwestern state of Minnesota.The move announced Wednesday by Good’s family to hire the Romanucci and Blandin law firm to conduct a probe could pave the way for them to sue the US government for wrongful killing.”The legal team intends to conduct its civil investigation with an understanding that transparency is essential in this case of national importance,” the lawyers said in a statement.The firm represented the family of George Floyd, a Black man whose May 2020 murder by a white police officer in Minneapolis led to nationwide racial justice protests, in their lawsuit against the city.Local officials have complained that federal investigators have refused to share information and evidence linked to the investigation into the Good case with state and city law enforcement. “The community is not receiving transparency about this case elsewhere, so our team will provide that to the country,” Romanucci and Blandin said, vowing to provide regular public updates.Because of the “many immunities” afforded to federal officers, bringing legal action in the case would be challenging and complex, the law firm said.”This process will not deter us in any way from fervently pursuing justice on behalf of Renee Good,” said founding partner Antonio Romanucci.A vigil for Good took place at 9:37 am (1637 GMT) on Wednesday, exactly one week after the incident that thrust US President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation effort into the spotlight again. Minnesota has sought a temporary restraining order for the ICE operation in the state which, if granted by a federal judge, would pause the sweeps.There have been confrontations between federal agents and protesters who have demanded a full investigation of the killing, with officers seen using pepper spray.A number of school children have walked out of classes in protest at the ICE operation in the city.The officer who fired the shots that killed Good, Jonathan Ross, has neither been suspended nor charged with any crime. Trump and his officials insist that he acted in self-defense.The federal immigration sweeps in Minneapolis occurred amid a highly politicized fraud investigation in Minnesota.

California launched an investigation Wednesday into Elon Musk’s xAI after its Grok chatbot generated sexualized images of women and children, as European officials said they were assessing corrective measures promised by the company.The probe comes after Indonesia and Malaysia blocked access to Grok entirely, while Britain’s media regulator launched its own investigation after users created lewd images using simple text prompts.”The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.”I urge xAI to take immediate action to ensure this goes no further. We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material.”Bonta said the investigation would determine whether and how xAI violated state law after the explicit imagery was “used to harass people across the internet.”Grok’s so-called “Spicy Mode” feature allowed users to create sexualized deepfakes of women and children using prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes.”There was no immediate response from xAI about Grok, which is integrated into Musk’s social media platform X, formerly Twitter.But the European Commission, which acts as the EU’s digital watchdog, said it had taken note of “additional measures X is taking to ban Grok from generating sexualised images of women and children.””We will carefully assess these changes to make sure they effectively protect citizens in the EU,” EU Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said in a statement.- ‘Not a solution’ -Regnier did not specify what measures had been promised by the company.When AFP asked the chatbot if xAI had banned the creation of sexualized deepfakes, Grok said: “xAI has imposed restrictions on Grok’s generation of sexualized deepfakes following global backlash and investigations, but no full ban has been announced.””Spicy Mode appears partially functional, though limited in some regions,” it added.Last week, Grok appeared to deflect the criticism with a new monetization policy, announcing on X that image generation and editing were now “limited to paying subscribers.”But that announcement only fueled further outrage, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office condemning the move as an affront to victims and “not a solution” and the EU calling for a complete halt to the generation of such content.Indonesia on Saturday became the first country to block access to Grok entirely, with neighboring Malaysia following on Sunday.India said Sunday that X had removed thousands of posts and hundreds of user accounts in response to its complaints.Britain’s Ofcom media regulator said Monday it was opening a probe into whether X failed to comply with UK law over the sexual images.And France’s commissioner for children Sarah El Hairy said Tuesday she had referred Grok’s generated images to French prosecutors, the Arcom media regulator and the European Union.The European Commission, which acts as the EU’s digital watchdog, has ordered X to retain all internal documents and data related to Grok until the end of 2026 in response to the uproar.Last week, an analysis of more than 20,000 Grok-generated images by Paris non-profit AI Forensics found that more than half depicted “individuals in minimal attire” — most of them women, and two percent appearing to be under-18s.

Four crewmembers aboard the International Space Station were set to depart Wednesday after a medical issue prompted their mission to be cut a month short — a first for the orbiting laboratory.American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui were set to undock from the ISS at 2205 GMT on Wednesday, after five months in space.NASA has declined to disclose which crewmember has the health problem or give details about the issue, but the US space agency has stressed the return is not an emergency situation, saying the person’s condition was stable.The four are scheduled to splash down off the California coast at around 0840 GMT on Thursday aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.”First and foremost, we are all OK. Everyone on board is stable, safe, and well cared for,” Fincke, the pilot of SpaceX Crew-11, said in a social media post.”This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists. It’s the right call, even if it’s a bit bittersweet.”James Polk, NASA’s chief health and medical officer, said “lingering risk” and a “lingering question as to what that diagnosis is” led to the decision to bring back the crew earlier than originally scheduled.The four members of Crew-11 arrived at the ISS in early August and had been scheduled to stay onboard the space station until they were rotated out in mid-February with the arrival of the next crew.American astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, who arrived at the station in November aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, will remain on the ISS.The Russian Roscosmos space agency operates alongside NASA on the space station, and the two agencies take turns transporting a citizen of the other country to and from the orbiter — one of the few areas of bilateral cooperation that still endure between the United States and Russia.- Ready for the unexpected – Continuously inhabited since 2000, the International Space Station seeks to showcase multinational cooperation, bringing together Europe, Japan, the United States, and Russia.Located some 400 kilometers (248.5 miles) above Earth, the ISS functions as a testbed for research that supports deeper space exploration — including eventual missions to return humans to the Moon and onward to Mars.The four astronauts being evacuated had been trained to handle unexpected medical situations, said Amit Kshatriya, a senior NASA official, praising how they have dealt with the situation.The ISS is set to be decommissioned after 2030, with its orbit gradually lowered until it breaks up in the atmosphere over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo, a spacecraft graveyard.

Denmark’s top diplomat said Wednesday he failed to change the mind of US President Donald Trump’s administration on his threats to seize Greenland after flying to the White House for talks.The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an an autonomous territory of Copenhagen, met with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in what they hoped would clear up “misunderstandings” after Trump’s bellicose language toward the NATO ally.”We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters after the meeting.”And we made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the kingdom.”The minister said a US takeover of Greenland, where Washington has long had a military base, was “absolutely not necessary.”He said the issue was “very emotional” for the people of Greenland and Denmark, a steadfast US ally whose troops died alongside Americans in Afghanistan and, controversially, Iraq.”Ideas that would not respect territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right of self-determination of the Greenlandic people are, of course, totally unacceptable,” Lokke said.”We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree.”He said the two sides would form a committee that would meet within weeks to see if there was possible headway.Trump insisted hours before the talks that NATO should support the US effort to take control of Greenland, even though major European allies have all lined up to back Denmark.Trump said Greenland was “vital” for his planned Golden Dome air and missile defense system.”Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote on his Truth Social network. “IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”- Mocking tone -While the talks were underway, the White House posted on X: “Which way, Greenland man?”The post included a drawing of two dogsleds — one heading towards the White House and a huge US flag, and the other towards Chinese and Russian flags over a lightning-bathed Kremlin and Great Wall of China.Neither country has claimed Greenland, and Lokke said no Chinese ship had been spotted there in a decade.Denmark promised ahead of the meeting to ramp up military presence further in the vast, sparsely populated and strategically located island.Trump has derided recent Danish efforts to increase security for Greenland as amounting to “two dogsleds.” Denmark says it has invested almost $14 billion in Arctic security.The row over Greenland has deeply shaken transatlantic relations. Both Denmark and Greenland insist only Greenlanders should decide the autonomous island’s fate.In the quiet streets of the capital Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags were flying in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity as the talks got underway.”We are standing together in these times when we might feel vulnerable,” the Nuuk municipality wrote on Facebook.Greenland’s leader said Tuesday that the island prefers to remain part of Denmark, prompting Trump to say “that’s going to be a big problem for him.”Vance, who slammed Denmark as a “bad ally” during a visit to Greenland last year, is known for a hard edge, which was on display when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last February.The meeting, however, was closed to the press, meaning there was no on-camera confrontation.- Emboldened by Venezuela – Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told AFP earlier Wednesday his country was boosting its military presence in Greenland and was in talks with NATO allies.The Danish defense ministry then announced that it would do so “from today,” hosting a military exercise and sending in “aircraft, vessels and soldiers.”Swedish officers were joining the exercise at Denmark’s request, Stockholm said.Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland — and on what he views as the US backyard as a whole — since ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.The White House has repeatedly said military action against Greenland remains on the table.

Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez declared Wednesday her country was entering a new era marked by greater tolerance towards political rivals, following the US ouster of her former boss Nicolas Maduro.At her first press conference since Maduro’s dramatic capture by US forces on January 3, Rodriguez cast herself as a unifier.Following 12 years of repressive rule by Maduro, Venezuela is “opening up to a new political era,” Maduro’s former deputy told reporters at the presidential palace.The new Venezuela, she said, “allows for understanding despite differences and through ideological and political diversity.”After toppling Maduro, US President Donald Trump agreed to let Rodriguez take over, provided she toes Washington’s line.- Calls for ‘peace’ -In doing so, Trump sidelined the leader of the anti-Maduro opposition, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, claiming she did not have enough “respect” in Venezuela.Machado will meet Trump on Thursday at the White House to press her demands for a democratic transition that includes herself and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, her candidate in 2024 elections which the opposition claims were stolen by Maduro.So far, Trump has focused his energies on securing access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.But he claimed that he had also been planning a second attack on Venezuela until the government last week announced the release of “large numbers” of the dissenters languishing in prison, sometimes for years.Rodriguez claimed authorities had released 406 prisoners since December in a process that accelerated since last week, and which she said “has not yet concluded.”The Foro Penal legal rights NGO, which defends many of the detainees, gave a much smaller tally of around 180 freed.AFP’s count, based on data from NGOs and opposition parties, showed 70 people going free since January 8.They include some Americans, a US State Department official confirmed on Tuesday, without saying how many.The trickle of releases continued on Wednesday, with the release of 17 journalists and media workers.Roland Carreno, a journalist and prominent opposition activist, who was detained in August 2024 during post-election protests, was part of the group.According to the National Union of Press Workers he spent “one year, five months, and 12 days” behind bars.A member of the Popular Will party, he  was previously imprisoned between 2020 and 2023 on charges of terrorism — a charge frequently used to lock up opposition members in Venezuela.In a video shared by another freed journalist, he called for “peace and reconciliation.”Political analyst Nicmer Evans, director of the Punto de Corte news outlet was also released. – Balancing act -Rodriguez has been engaged in a delicate balancing act, trying to meet US demands without alienating the Maduro loyalists, who control the security forces and intelligence services.To avoid scenes of jubilant opposition activists punching the air as they walk free from prison, the authorities have been releasing them quietly at other locations, far from the TV cameras and relatives waiting outside detention centers.Carreno was released at a shopping mall.Former presidential candidate Enrique Marquez, one of the first to be released, was driven home in a patrol car.A number of Spanish and Italian citizens have also walked free from Venezuelan prisons in the past week.The United States had already secured freedom for some of its nationals in a deal with Maduro last year.- X access restored -Domestically, Venezuelans regained one freedom on Tuesday — the ability to post on social media platform X, which had been blocked for more than a year by Maduro’s government.Rodriguez updated her profile’s bio to “acting president” — she served as vice president under Maduro — and wrote: “Let us stay united, moving toward economic stability, social justice, and the welfare state we deserve to aspire to.”Maduro’s X account was updated Tuesday with a photo of the deposed leader and his wife, Cilia Flores.”We want you back,” the post reads. burs-cb/des

Don’t say the c-word.Global temperatures soared in 2025, but a NASA statement published Wednesday alongside its latest benchmark annual report makes no reference to climate change, in line with President Donald Trump’s push to deny the reality of planetary heating as a result of human activities.That marks a sharp break from last year’s communications, issued under the administration of Democrat Joe Biden, which stated plainly: “This global warming has been caused by human activities” and has led to intensifying “heat waves, wildfires, intense rainfall and coastal flooding.”Last year’s materials also featured lengthy quotes from the then-NASA chief and a senior scientist and included graphics and a video. By contrast, this year’s release only runs through a few key figures, and amounts to a handful of paragraphs.According to the US space agency, Earth’s global surface temperature in 2025 was slightly warmer than in 2023 — albeit within a margin of error — making it effectively tied as the second-hottest year on record after 2024.Other global agencies, including the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which use different methodologies and modeling, say 2025 ranked as the third-hottest.”The US government is now, like Russia and Saudi Arabia, a petrostate under Trump and Republican rule, and the actions of all of its agencies and departments can be understood in terms of the agenda of the polluters that are running the show,” University of Pennsylvania climatologist Michael Mann told AFP.”It is therefore entirely unsurprising that NASA administrators are attempting to bury findings of its own agency that conflict with its climate denial agenda.”NASA, one of the world’s premier science and climate agencies, found that average temperatures for 2025 were 2.14 degrees Fahrenheit (1.19 degrees Celsius) above the 1951–1980 average.The analysis was based on data from more than 25,000 meteorological stations worldwide, ship- and buoy-based instruments measuring sea surface temperatures, and Antarctic research stations.The data are analyzed to correct for changing distributions of temperature stations and urban heating effects that could skew the results.The agency did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

Venezuela has freed 15 journalists, including a leading opposition figure, as the slow release of political prisoners begun after Nicolas Maduro’s ouster continues, activists said Wednesday.The administration of acting president Delcy Rodriguez has been releasing prisoners at a trickle over the past six days, in what it calls a goodwill gesture following Maduro’s capture by US special forces in Caracas on January 3.So far it has only released a fraction of the more than 800 political prisoners estimated to be languishing in the country’s penitentiaries. They include some Americans, a US State Department official confirmed on Tuesday, without saying how many.Roland Carreno, a journalist and opposition activist, was among a group of at least 15 reporters whose release was announced on Wednesday by a journalist union and a rights group.- Americans released -“We confirm the release of journalist Roland Carrebo. He had been imprisoned since August 2, 2024: 1 year, 5 months, and 12 days,” the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) wrote on X.Carreno, who was imprisoned between 2020 and 2023 on terrorism charges, was detained again in August 2024 during protests over elections that Maduro was accused of stealing.Caracas said Tuesday it had freed 116 detainees so far, but the Foro Penal rights NGO said it has only been able to confirm about half that number.The US State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, called the release of Americans “an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities.”US President Donald Trump has hailed the releases, saying that he called off a second wave of strikes on Venezuela in light of the gesture.Many of those released were jailed for taking part in protests over the July 2024 elections, in which Maduro was declared the victor despite widespread allegations of vote-rigging.A number of Spanish and Italian citizens have also walked free from Venezuelan prisons in the past week.The United States had already secured freedom for some of its nationals in a deal with Maduro last year.- X access restored -Former deputy president Rodriguez assumed power after Maduro was captured by US forces along with his wife during air raids that left more than 100 dead, according to official figures. The couple were whisked to New York, where they were jailed while awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges.Domestically, Venezuelans regained one freedom on Tuesday — the ability to post on social media platform X, which had been a popular forum for them. It is once again accessible, more than a year after users were blocked by Maduro’s government.Rodriguez updated her profile’s bio — she served as vice president under Maduro — and wrote: “Let us stay united, moving toward economic stability, social justice, and the welfare state we deserve to aspire to.”Access remained spotty to the social media network owned by billionaire Elon Musk, who engaged in heated online exchanges with the ousted Venezuelan leader, until Maduro lashed out in retaliation for criticism of his contested 2024 election and shut X down altogether.Maduro’s X account was updated Tuesday with a photo of the deposed leader and his wife, Cilia Flores. “We want you back,” the post reads. burs-cb/dw