President Donald Trump says the United States will run Venezuela at least temporarily after an audacious military operation plucked leader Nicolás Maduro from power and removed him from the country. Trump on Saturday also described plans to tap Venezuela's vast oil reserves to sell to other nations. The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on the South American nation and its autocratic leader and months of secret planning. It resulted in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts immediately raised questions about whether the operation was lawful.
Florida man executed for the killings of a man and his girlfriend during a 1987 home invasion.
The Associated Press has documented 145 incidents in what Western officials say is a campaign of disruption across Europe masterminded by Russia since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Officials say the campaign aims to deprive Ukraine of support, create divisions among Europeans and identify the continent’s security weak spots. Officials say each act sucks up valuable security resources. While the campaign places a heavy burden on European security services, officials say it costs Russia next to nothing. That’s because Moscow is carrying out cross-border operations that require European countries to cooperate extensively — while often using foreigners with criminal backgrounds as cheap proxies for Russian intelligence operatives.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reaffirmed his refusal to cede territory, resisting U.S. pressure for compromise with Russia. He emphasized Ukraine's legal and moral stance against giving up land. On Tuesday, Zelenskyy met with Pope Leo XIV and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. The Vatican has urged continued dialogue for peace. Zelenskyy met with other European leaders Monday to strengthen support amid U.S. pressure. In remarks published Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump again pressed Zelenskyy to accept the U.S. proposal that Ukraine cede territory to Russia, arguing that Moscow has the “upper hand” in its nearly 4-year-old invasion.