AFP USA

The United States could run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, President Donald Trump said in an interview published Thursday, less than a week after toppling Nicolas Maduro.”Only time will tell” how long Washington would demand direct oversight of the South American country, Trump told The New York Times.But when asked whether that meant three months, six months or a year, he replied: “I would say much longer.”His assertion of US dominance over Venezuela comes despite its interim leader Delcy Rodriguez saying there is no foreign power governing Caracas.”There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history,” Rodriguez said of the US attack to depose her predecessor.US special forces snatched president Maduro and his wife Saturday in a lightning raid and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges, underscoring what Trump has called the “Donroe Doctrine” of US dominance over its backyard.”We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now” following the capture operation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.”We’re continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America.”Trump has said the United States will “run” Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.”They’re giving us everything that we feel is necessary,” Trump told the Times.But Washington has no boots on the ground, and appears to be relying on a naval blockade and the threat of further force to ensure Rodriguez’s cooperation.- ‘Not just winging it’ -Caracas announced on Wednesday that at least 100 people had been killed in the US attack and a similar number wounded.Among those hurt were Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said, though the couple were seen walking unassisted during a New York court appearance earlier this week.According to Havana, the death toll includes 32 members of the Cuban military. Maduro, like his firebrand predecessor Hugo Chavez, employed specialized Cuban soldiers as bodyguards.Trump’s administration has so far indicated it intends to stick with Rodriguez and sideline opposition figures, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado. But it has given few details about its plans.Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Wednesday, after meeting lawmakers on Capitol Hill critical of the post-Maduro planning, that the United States was “not just winging it”.But so far, the US plan relies heavily on what Trump said on Tuesday was an agreement for Venezuela to hand over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States for it to then sell.Trump said Wednesday that under the deal Venezuela “is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive” from the oil.That would include agricultural products, machinery, medical devices and energy equipment, he added.Rubio said that in a second “recovery” phase, US and Western companies would have access to the Venezuelan market and “at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela”.- ‘Indefinitely’ -Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA said it was discussing oil sales with the United States for the “sale of volumes of oil” under existing commercial frameworks.But Washington is looking at longer term control, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright.”We’re going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela, first this backed-up stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela,” Wright said Wednesday.Trump and his advisors are considering a plan for the US to exert some control over PDVSA, the Wall Street Journal reported.The US would then have a hand in controlling most of the oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, as Trump aims to drive oil prices down to $50 a barrel, the paper reported.Trump will Friday meet executives from US oil companies, whom he has said will invest in Venezuela’s crumbling facilities, despite no firm having yet made such pledges.

US President Donald Trump’s administration said Wednesday it will dictate decisions to Venezuela’s interim leaders and control the country’s oil sales “indefinitely” after toppling Nicolas Maduro.The United States could effectively run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, Trump later told the New York Times.The American leader’s assertion of US dominance over the oil-rich South American country comes despite its interim leader Delcy Rodriguez saying there is no foreign power governing Caracas.”There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history,” Rodriguez said about the US attack to depose her predecessor.US special forces snatched president Maduro and his wife on Saturday in a lightning raid and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges, underscoring what Trump has called the “Donroe Doctine” of US dominance over its backyard.”We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now” following the capture operation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.”We’re continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America.”Trump has said the United States will “run” Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.”They’re giving us everything that we feel is necessary,” Trump told the Times. “Don’t forget, they took the oil from us years ago.When asked if US control of the country would last three months, six months or a year, Trump told the paper: “I would say much longer.”But Washington has no boots on the ground, and appears to be relying on a naval blockade and the threat of further force to ensure the cooperation of the interim president.Meanwhile Caracas announced Wednesday that at least 100 people were killed in the US attack and a similar number injured.Among those hurt were Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said. The couple were seen walking on their own power during a New York court arraignment earlier this week.According to Havana, the death toll includes 32 members of the Cuban military. Maduro, like his firebrand predecessor Hugo Chavez, employed specialized Cuban soldiers as bodyguards.- ‘Not just winging it’ -Trump’s administration — which has so far indicated it intends to stick with Rodriguez and sideline opposition figures, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado — has given few details about its plans.Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Wednesday, after meeting lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have been critical about the post-Maduro planning, that the United States was “not just winging it.”But so far, the US plan relies heavily on what Trump said on Tuesday was an agreement for Venezuela to hand over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States for it to then sell.Trump said Wednesday that under the deal Venezuela “is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive” from the oil profits they receive.That would include agricultural products, machinery, medical devices and energy equipment, he added.Rubio said that in a second “recovery” phase, US and Western companies would have access to the Venezuelan market and “at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela.”Venezuela’s state oil firm said it was discussing oil sales with the United States for the “sale of volumes of oil” under existing commercial frameworks.But Washington is looking at longer term control, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright.”We’re going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela, first this backed-up stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela,” Wright said Wednesday.- ‘Immense opportunity’ -Trump will on Friday meet executives from US oil companies, whom he has said will invest in Venezuela’s crumbling facilities, despite no firm having yet made such pledges amid the turmoil in the country.”It’s just a meeting to discuss, obviously, the immense opportunity that is before these oil companies right now,” Leavitt told reporters.Trump also invited leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro to meet at the White House “in the near future,” after the two leaders had their first phone call Wednesday since Trump took office last year.Washington moved further to stamp its authority on Venezuela when it seized two oil tankers, including a Russian-linked vessel that it pursued from Venezuela to the North Atlantic.Moscow condemned the operation but Leavitt insisted the oil tanker had been “deemed stateless after flying a false flag.”

Fresh demonstrations were expected in Minneapolis Thursday after a US immigration officer shot dead an American woman in the city, sparking outrage from local leaders who rejected Trump administration claims her actions amounted to “domestic terrorism.”The woman, identified in local media as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was hit at point-blank range as she apparently tried to drive away from agents who were crowding around her car, which they said was blocking their way.Footage of the incident shows a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent attempt to open the woman’s car door before another masked agent fires three times into the Honda SUV.The vehicle then hurtles out of control and smashes into stationary vehicles, as horrified onlookers hurl abuse at the federal officers.Her bloodied body is then seen slumped in the crashed vehicle. President Donald Trump’s administration moved quickly to claim Good had been trying to kill the agents, an assertion Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called “bullshit” and urged ICE to get out of his city.Thousands of protesters took to the frigid streets of Minneapolis after the shooting, holding signs reading “ICE out of MPLS,” a common abbreviation for the city.Similar protests demanding ICE leave were set to take place in front of a federal building and elsewhere in the Minneapolis area on Thursday, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper.ICE’s federal agents have been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s immigrant deportation drive, despite the objections of local officials.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched an aggressive recruitment campaign last summer to add 10,000 additional ICE agents to the existing 6,000-strong contingent.That sparked criticism that new officers in the field were insufficiently trained.DHS chief Kristi Noem said “any loss of life is a tragedy” but called the incident “domestic terrorism” and said Good “had been stalking and impeding (ICE’s) work all throughout the day.””She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle,” she said.Wednesday’s incident came during protest action against immigration enforcement in the southern part of Minneapolis, located in the midwestern state of Minnesota.The Department of Homeland Security, which runs ICE, said on X the victim had tried to run over its officer who fired “defensive shots.”- Grisly scene -Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz called the federal government’s response to the incident “propaganda” and vowed his state would “ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation.”Witness Brandon Hewitt heard “three shots.””I got a bunch of video of them carrying the body to the ambulance,” he told MS NOW. Another witness interviewed by local station FOX9 described a grisly scene. “The surviving passenger got out of the car covered in blood,” the witness said.He recounted seeing a man who identified himself as a doctor attempting to reach Good but being refused access by officers.- Anti-ICE protests -There have been passionate protests against immigration operations of the Trump administration, which has vowed to arrest and deport what it says are “millions” of undocumented migrants.The DHS called the violence a “direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers.”The officer who opened fire, who was released from the hospital following the incident, was rammed and dragged along a road by an anti-ICE protester in June, Noem said. The victim’s mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her daughter “was probably terrified.”Good was “not part of anything like” challenging ICE officers, Ganger added.The 37-year-old was a mother and a poet who loved movies, according to US media. She studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.Trump has made preventing unlawful immigration and expelling undocumented migrants priorities during his second term, and has tightened conditions for entering the United States and obtaining visas.ICE — which critics accuse of transforming into a paramilitary force under Trump — has been tasked with deporting an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants.US authorities said up to 2,000 officers were in Minneapolis for immigration sweeps.A US immigration enforcement officer shot dead an undocumented immigrant in Chicago in September after federal authorities alleged the man tried to resist detention by driving his car into the official.

President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from a bedrock climate treaty was slammed Thursday by the EU, which vowed to keep tackling the crisis with other nations.The White House on Wednesday flagged the US exit from 66 global organizations and treaties — roughly half affiliated with the United Nations — it identified as “contrary to the interests of the United States.”Most notable among them is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements.The treaty adopted in 1992 is a global pact by nations to cooperate to drive down planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.European Union climate chief Wopke Hoekstra said the UNFCCC “underpins global climate action” and brings nations together in the collective fight against the crisis.”The decision by the world’s largest economy and second-largest emitter to retreat from it is regrettable and unfortunate,” Hoekstra said in a post on LinkedIn.”We will unequivocally continue to support international climate research, as the foundation of our understanding and work. We will also continue to work on international climate cooperation.”Trump, who has thrown the full weight of his domestic policy behind fossil fuels, has openly scorned the scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet, deriding climate science as a “hoax.”His administration sent no representative to the most recent UN climate summit in Brazil in November, which is held every year under the auspices of the UNFCCC.Teresa Ribera, the EU’s vice-president for the clean transition, said the Trump administration “doesn’t care” about the environment, health or the suffering of people.- Fight looms -The UNFCCC was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 and approved later that year by the US Senate during George H.W. Bush’s presidency.”The US withdrawal from the UN climate framework is a heavy blow to global climate action, fracturing hard-won consensus,” Li Shuo, a climate expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told AFP.The US Constitution allows presidents to enter treaties “provided two thirds of Senators present concur,” but it is silent on the process for withdrawing from them — a legal ambiguity that could invite court challenges.Trump has already withdrawn from the landmark Paris climate accord since returning to office, just as he did during his first term from 2017–2021 in a move later reversed by his successor, Democratic president Joe Biden.Exiting the underlying treaty could introduce additional legal uncertainty around any future US effort to rejoin.Jean Su, a senior attorney for the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, told AFP: “Pulling out of the UNFCCC is a whole order of magnitude different from pulling out of the Paris Agreement.””It’s our contention that it’s illegal for the President to unilaterally pull out of a treaty that required two thirds of the Senate vote,” she continued. “We are looking at legal options to pursue that line of argument.”- ‘Progressive ideology’ -California Governor Gavin Newsom, an outspoken critic of Trump who is widely seen as a presidential contender, said in a statement “our brainless president is surrendering America’s leadership on the world stage and weakening our ability to compete in the economy of the future — creating a leadership vacuum that China is already exploiting.”The memo also directs the United States to withdraw from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body responsible for assessing climate science, alongside other climate-related organizations including the International Renewable Energy Agency, UN Oceans and UN Water.As in his first term, Trump has also withdrawn the United States from UNESCO — the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — which Washington had rejoined under Biden.Trump has likewise pulled the US out of the World Health Organization and sharply reduced foreign aid.Other prominent bodies named in the memo include the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement the organizations were driven by “progressive ideology” and were actively seeking to “constrain American sovereignty.””From DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) mandates to ‘gender equity’ campaigns to climate orthodoxy, many international organizations now serve a globalist project,” he said.

Few names in Venezuela conjure as much fear and reverence as Diosdado Cabello — the man that Washington is offering $25 million to capture.Loathed by opponents and cheered by pro-government “Chavistas,” fast-talking with a wicked sense of humor, the former army captain has loomed over public life in the Caribbean nation for more than 20 years.Now that US forces have removed his old boss Nicolas Maduro as president and put him on trial, Venezuelans are watching Cabello, the man widely considered Venezuela’s second-most powerful figure.After Maduro was deposed, he voiced defiance on behalf of the leftist government in the face of US pressure.”The unity of the revolutionary force is more than guaranteed,” he said.- Street militia boss -Several times a minister and secretary-general of the ruling United Socialist Party, Cabello is perhaps best known for setting up the feared “colectivos,” a rifle-wielding, motorbike-riding militia that intimidates opponents.”The government has not much control over them,” said Brian Naranjo, a former US diplomat who met Cabello in the late 1990s.He branded the colectivos “ideologically committed thugs and goons that can be deployed on the street to maintain order” — though their supporters say they prevent crime.Cabello’s face is well known from his television show, “Hitting With A Mallet.”Cabello fills the show with edgy jokes about opposition figures, such as its one-time figurehead Juan Guaido — “that rat” — and current opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whom he compared with a mythical Venezuelan bogeywoman, La Sayona.”When the bogeywoman sees her, the bogeywoman starts crying,” he cracked.- Coup comrade -Cabello was born on April 15, 1963, in El Furrial, then a mostly rural community in eastern Monagas state. He is married with three children.After graduating from Venezuela’s military academy, he joined the army, where he met Hugo Chavez, the future leader of the socialist “Bolivarian revolution.”He joined Chavez in a 1992 coup attempt to overthrow President Carlos Andres Perez.He was imprisoned for that until being pardoned in 1994, along with Chavez and other officers involved in the uprising.Once free, Cabello helped Chavez in the campaign that led to his presidential victory in 1998 and entered his administration the following year.His critics accuse him of having amassed a vast fortune through corruption and front companies.- Chavez appointee -Cabello served briefly as acting president following a 2002 coup that briefly deposed Chavez, Maduro’s predecessor.”Commander Chavez appointed me interior and justice minister amidst all the mayhem,” Cabello said in 2024.”At that time, with the people beside us, we prevailed.”Cabello was reappointed interior minister in August 2024, giving him control of the security apparatus and intelligence services.”He was brought back in by Maduro, after internal exile from the inner circle,” said Naranjo.Under Cabello, more than 2,000 people were detained during protests at Maduro’s declaration of victory in that year’s election, which was branded a fix by the United States and several of its allies.- Tensions in new government -With Maduro, “Cabello has been in and out of favour” over the years, said Naranjo.In a murky political world, Cabello is rumored to be at odds with Maduro’s successor Delcy Rodriguez and her powerful brother Jorge, leader of parliament.Observers warn that tensions between the Rodriguez pair, Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez threaten the stability of the current interim leadership.”Diosdado Cabello has a lot of informal control, Vladimir Padrino has the formal control,” said David Smilde, a US academic specializing in Venezuela at Tulane University.”At any time they could turn on her… on the other hand, she is in a position that she could remove one of them.”- Internal exile -Chavez passed over Cabello in naming Maduro as his successor for president.”Before Chavez died, there was a battle between Nicolas Maduro and Diosdado Cabello,” but the two eventually forged a unified front for stability, said Smilde.Cabello clung onto his position of influence through the recent years of economic sanctions and international pressure, not least from US President Donald Trump.The United States has posted a $25-million reward for his capture — accusing him of drug trafficking and terrorism alongside Maduro.

Humanoid robots danced, somersaulted, dealt blackjack and played ping-pong at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, but some in the industry are impatient for them to become more useful, not just a promise of things to come.As robots take their usual spotlight at the annual CES gadget fest, insiders caution that making them truly like humans will take several more years and require lots of training.To become autonomous, humanoid robots need AI that translates what is seen and heard into actions, which is beyond the scope of today’s large language models that power tools like ChatGPT.Training a large language model relies on massive amounts of data — mainly vacuumed up from the internet — that is of little use when it comes to human-like robots seeking to be useful in the kitchen or on a factory floor.”If you want (robots) to learn embodied things, you have to put them inside a body,” said Henny Admoni, an associate professor at the robotics institute at Carnegie Mellon University.Humanoid Guide founder Christian Rokseth, who specializes in the technology, likened the situation to locking a child in a room and expecting it to learn about the world.Even if the pace of development accelerated last year, particularly on the hardware side, Rokseth expressed a degree of impatience about innovation.”They’ve shown robots dancing and doing kung fu; now show us that they can be productive,” Rokseth said.EngineAI founder Evan Yao told AFP that the Shenzhen-based company is working with tech titans such as Amazon and Meta to give its creations AI brains.”We are trying to simulate humans, but the robots will never become human,” Yao told AFP as one of his robots kicked in his direction.”Because a human is emotional and much more.”Nearby, Yiran Sui was part of a Robotera team whose humanoid robot, developed for researchers, is training to complete the Beijing marathon a few months from now.- Factories first? -According to the Consumer Technology Association that runs CES, the robotics industry is showing dynamism and potential.It projects the global market will hit $179 billion by 2030.The bulk of that growth is expected in factories, warehouses and other business operations, where robots — not necessarily humanoid ones — work in controlled environments.But for Artem Sokolov, founder of the Humanoid robotics startup based in London, humans work in factories so robots copying their bodies can thrive there too.South Korean automotive giant Hyundai used CES to unveil a humanoid robot called Atlas, created in collaboration with Boston Dynamics, that it plans to test in factories.Given the training limitations, industry trackers advise caution when it comes to companies claiming to have humanoid robots that can operate without flesh-and-blood managers overseeing them.”There has been a ton of new companies claiming that they are developing autonomous humanoid robots,” Admoni told AFP.But “these systems tend to be teleoperated; you have a person in a suit or using controllers and every movement of that person is then translated into the robot.”To solve the training problem, new startups are using methods such as having people wear cameras and haptic gloves while doing chores at home, according to Rokseth.”To make robots general machines, they need to be let out in the real world,” Rokseth said, not just assembly lines or warehouses.

If President Donald Trump is serious about bolstering the US presence in Greenland, he has options — but he may still want the most provocative one.Trump has insisted that the United States needs the strategically located island, with Russia and China increasing military activities nearby and Arctic ice melting due to climate change.He has repeatedly refused to rule out force to seize Greenland, infuriating Denmark, a steadfast US ally and founding NATO member that controls the autonomous island.Washington already has a military presence in Greenland — the Pituffik base, which dates from World War II when the United States sent forces to defend Greenland after Denmark fell to Nazi Germany.Some 150 personnel are permanently stationed at the frigid base, but the United States stationed up to 6,000 troops across Greenland during the Cold War, largely out of concerns that any Soviet missile would cross the island on its way to North America.Under a 1951 treaty, the United States could simply notify Denmark it is again sending more troops.”The United States could significantly increase its military presence in Greenland without anything really needing to be done,” said Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.Under different circumstances, Denmark and other NATO allies might be delighted at Trump demonstrating interest in European security, as Russia pursues its grinding invasion of Ukraine.- For MAGA, size matters -But for Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, the security presence may not be the point.Trump has ramped up threats to Greenland after sending US forces to remove Venezuela’s leftist president Nicolas Maduro.The Republican president has spoken of a new “Manifest Destiny” — the 19th-century belief the United States was destined to expand — and of a “Don-roe” Doctrine, his own aggressive take on the 1823 Monroe Doctrine that declared the Western Hemisphere out of bounds to other powers.Trump’s motivation may lie more in “this notion of maps and legacy,” Berzina said.”Perhaps the size of the country harkens back to this idea of American greatness, and certainly for the MAGA movement, American greatness matters a lot,” she said.Greenland, which lies in the Western Hemisphere, is the size of the biggest US state of Alaska and has only 57,000 people.Its integration would catapult the United States past China to having the third largest land mass after Russia and Canada.- Art of the deal -The White House, while not ruling out an invasion, has said that Trump, a real estate tycoon, is studying an offer to buy Greenland.Both Greenland and Denmark have made clear the island is not for sale. But there is precedent, if not recent, for a purchase.The United States bought what are now the US Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million in gold.Denmark had initially resisted the deal, in part due to concerns about how segregated America would treat the island’s largely Black population, but agreed after the United States threatened force, with Washington fearing Germany would seize the archipelago and gain a Caribbean foothold in World War I.After World War II, president Harry Truman made his own offer to buy Greenland, but did so quietly and was rebuffed by Denmark.The issue had appeared moot with the creation of NATO, the alliance that Trump has belittled as unfair to the United States.Diplomats say that another option mulled by the Trump administration has been to offer a compact association like the United States has with Pacific island nations, which are independent but rely for their defense on the United States.Greenland’s leaders have made clear they do not want to be part of the United States.Even if Trump could persuade Greenlanders with cash payouts, he would face formidable hurdles of seeking consent from the US Congress, let alone Denmark.”There are a lot of options that might exist in principle but they seem fairly far-fetched,” said Brian Finucane, a former legal expert at the State Department now at the International Crisis Group.”There are a lot of hurdles to incorporating Greenland into the United States and it’s hard to know how much of this is bluster from Trump and trolling,” he said.

President Donald Trump is withdrawing the United States from a foundational climate treaty and the world’s leading global warming assessment body, as part of a sweeping exit from the United Nations system, the White House announced Wednesday.A total of 66 international organizations were named in a White House memorandum as “contrary to the interests of the United States.”Most notable among them is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements. Trump, who has thrown the full weight of his domestic policy behind fossil fuels, has openly scorned the scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet, deriding climate science as a “hoax” at the UN’s high-level summit last September.The UNFCCC was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 and approved later that year by the US Senate during George H.W. Bush’s presidency.The US Constitution allows presidents to enter treaties “provided two thirds of Senators present concur,” but it is silent on the process for withdrawing from them — a legal ambiguity that could invite challenges.Trump has already withdrawn from the landmark Paris climate accord since returning to office, just as he did during his first term, a move that Democratic president Joe Biden later reversed.Exiting the underlying treaty could introduce additional legal uncertainty around any future US effort to rejoin.”President Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low and yet another sign that this authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people’s well-being and destabilize global cooperation,” Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists told AFP.The memo also directs the United States to withdraw from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body responsible for assessing climate science, alongside other climate-related organizations including the International Renewable Energy Agency, UN Oceans and UN Water.As in his first term, Trump has also withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement and from UNESCO — the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — which Washington had rejoined under Biden.Trump has likewise pulled the US out of the World Health Organization and sharply reduced foreign aid, slashing funding for numerous UN agencies and forcing them to scale back operations on the ground, including the High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme.Other prominent bodies named in the memo include the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which works on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which focuses on trade, investment and development.Speaking before the General Assembly in September, Trump delivered a scathing broadside against the UN, saying it was “not even coming close to living up” to its potential.

An immigration officer in Minneapolis shot dead a woman Wednesday, triggering outrage from local leaders even as President Donald Trump claimed the officer acted in self-defense.Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey deemed the government’s allegation that the woman was attacking federal agents “bullshit,” and called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducting a second day of mass raids to leave Minneapolis.Thousands of people gathered for a nighttime vigil at the scene, social media showed, while demonstrators also assembled in Manhattan, an AFP correspondent saw.A widely shared video of the incident shows a Honda SUV apparently blocking unmarked law enforcement vehicles as they attempt to drive down a snow-covered street.  The driver, named by local media as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, attempted to drive off as officers approached and tried to open her door, with one agent firing three times with a handgun as the vehicle pulled away.Trump, who has ordered nationwide anti-immigrant raids, accused the victim of “viciously” trying to run over the agent.”The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting,” he said on Truth Social, adding the agent “seems to have shot her in self-defense.”ICE’s federal agents have been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s immigrant deportation drive, despite the objections of local officials.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched an aggressive recruitment campaign last summer to add 10,000 additional ICE agents to the existing 6,000-strong contingent.That sparked criticism that new officers in the field were insufficiently trained.DHS chief Kristi Noem said “any loss of life is a tragedy” but called the incident “domestic terrorism” and said Good “had been stalking and impeding (ICE’s) work all throughout the day.””She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle,” she said.Wednesday’s incident came during protest action against immigration enforcement in the southern part of Minneapolis, located in the midwestern state of Minnesota.The Department of Homeland Security, which runs ICE, said on X the victim had tried to run over its officer who fired “defensive shots.”- Grisly scene -Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz called the federal government’s response to the incident “propaganda” and vowed his state would “ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation.”Witness Brandon Hewitt heard “three shots.””I got a bunch of video of them carrying the body to the ambulance,” he told MS NOW. Another witness interviewed by local station FOX9 described a grisly scene. “The surviving passenger got out of the car covered in blood,” the witness said.He recounted seeing a man who identified himself as a doctor attempting to reach the scene but being refused access by officers.- Anti-ICE protests -There have been passionate protests against immigration operations of the Trump administration, which has vowed to arrest and deport what it says are “millions” of undocumented migrants.The DHS called the violence a “direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers.”The officer who opened fire, who was released from the hospital following the incident, was rammed and dragged along a road by an anti-ICE protester in June, Noem said. The victim’s mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper that her daughter “was probably terrified.”Good was “not part of anything like” challenging ICE officers, Ganger added.Trump has made preventing unlawful immigration and expelling undocumented migrants priorities during his second term, and has tightened conditions for entering the United States and obtaining visas.ICE — which critics accuse of transforming into a paramilitary force under Trump — has been tasked with deporting an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants.US authorities said up to 2,000 officers were in Minneapolis for immigration sweeps.A US immigration enforcement officer shot dead an undocumented immigrant in Chicago in September after the man tried to resist detention by driving his car into the official, according to authorities.

The United States on Wednesday laid out what it called an “energy deal” with Venezuela, saying it will partially roll back sanctions to allow the sale of oil products from the South American country.The details, shared in a Department of Energy fact sheet, came days after Washington captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, leaving his deputy and other allies in charge.US President Donald Trump has since announced that the interim leaders have agreed to US-managed marketing of 30-50 million barrels of crude, repeatedly adding that his country will “run” Venezuela despite having no forces on the ground.Trump also said on social media Wednesday that Venezuela will be buying only US-made products with the money they receive from “our new Oil Deal,” including potential purchases of agricultural goods, medicine and energy equipment.Venezuela’s state petroleum firm separately said that talks for the sale of crude oil to the United States had begun, after Washington’s demand for access to the country’s reserves following Maduro’s ouster.”Negotiations are under way with the United States for the sale of volumes of oil within the framework of existing commercial relations between the two countries,” the firm, PDVSA, said in a statement.US Energy Secretary Chris Wright noted, however, that Washington will control the sales of Venezuelan oil “indefinitely,” telling an event in Miami Wednesday that it needed leverage and control of these sales to drive necessary changes in Venezuela.Venezuela claims to sit on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves.- US ‘discretion’ -Already, the US government has started marketing Venezuelan crude oil internationally, the Energy Department said.It added that all proceeds from the sale of the crude oil and oil products will “first settle in US controlled accounts at globally recognized banks.””These funds will be disbursed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the US government,” the department said, without providing further details.The sales will also “continue indefinitely,” the fact sheet added.Wright separately told CNBC the United States was merely controlling the marketing and flow of funds into Venezuela, maintaining that the money will largely be used to benefit Venezuelan people.”We’re not stealing anyone’s oil,” he added.Meanwhile, US diluting agents will flow into Venezuela as needed to “mix, upgrade, and optimize” production of Venezuela’s very heavy crude, Washington said.Wright, a former oil and gas executive, said it would require “tens of billions of dollars and significant time” to get Venezuela’s production back to historical highs of over three million barrels per day.Observers have also pointed out that a quick ramp-up of output would be hamstrung by issues including Venezuela’s creaking infrastructure, low prices and political uncertainty.- Sanctions rollback -For now, Washington is “selectively rolling back sanctions to enable the transport and sale of Venezuelan crude and oil products to global markets,” the Energy Department said.Among other efforts, the United States plans to authorize the import of certain oil field equipment, parts and services to Venezuela, and said it would work to improve the electricity grid to aid oil production.Separately, the White House told reporters Wednesday that the United States has “maximum leverage” over Venezuela’s interim authorities.Trump is expected to meet with US oil executives on Friday to discuss plans for Venezuela’s oil sector, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.On Saturday, US special forces snatched Maduro and his wife from Caracas and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug charges.Washington appears to be relying on a naval blockade of Venezuelan oil exports, and the threat of potential further force, to ensure the cooperation of interim leader Delcy Rodriguez.