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Aug 30, 2026 - World

Buried within President Donald Trump’s unprecedented oil deal with Venezuela is a provision designed to exert a level of control over the South American company for 100 years, the Wall Street Journal exclusively reported Saturday night.Announced on Friday, the deal will see the United States be granted rights to Venezuela’s untapped oil fields for a century. Furthermore, the U.S. government would take a direct stake in Venezuela's oil reserves, the single-largest proven oil reserves on earth.According to “people involved in negotiating the agreement” who spoke with the Journal on the condition of anonymity, the U.S. government “plans to take a 35% passive stake” in North American Blue Energy Partners, a private oil-and-gas company led by controversial Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt. The company’s structure was also set up in such a way as to tie the hands of future Venezuelan governments.“The private company structure was deliberately intended to bind future Venezuelan governments to the agreement and make it difficult to unwind, one of the people involved said,” the Journal’s report reads. “They consider it unlikely that a new government would expropriate a private company, the people said.”Trump has faced bi-partisan scrutiny over the deal since announcing it on Friday, including from one of the chief supporters of his operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), who slammed the deal in a social media post before quickly deleting it.Venezuelans have been critical of the deal as well.“It’s an operation that’s absolutely unconstitutional because it’s an illegitimate government,” said Diego Arria, a former Venezuelan cabinet minister, speaking with the Journal. “They are seizing [the oil] — there’s no other word for it.”

Aug 30, 2026 - World

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) published a scathing rebuke Saturday of President Donald Trump’s Venezuela oil deal only to quietly delete it and swap it for a post championing the deal as “great,” the New York Post reported.“Any oil ‘deal’ with Venezuela’s interim regime has an expiration date: the day President Trump leaves the White House,” Salazar wrote in a now-deleted social media post on X, according to journalist Orlando Avendaño. “A lasting deal can only be made with a democratically elected government that respects the rule of law, protects private property, and is backed by strong democratic institutions.”The post, as noted by countless onlookers, had soon been deleted, and Salazar later published a new post with commentary about the deal that included “a very different message,” the Post’s report reads.“The oil agreement between the United States and Venezuela is a great deal for the United States and for the Venezuelan people,” Salazar wrote.Trump recently touted what he called “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY,” revealing on Friday that the United States would be given a stake in Venezuela’s oil reserves — the single-largest proven oil reserves on earth.Per the Associated Press, the new deal would grant the U.S. government “rights to untapped oil fields for 100 years.” The provision bears a striking resemblance to a prediction Salazar issued last year when she told Fox News that “American oil companies will be operating in Venezuela for the next 100 years.”Salazar was also among the most vocal supporters of the Trump administration operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and insisted that Venezuelans were "waiting for the Americans to come and help them be free again."

Aug 30, 2026 - World

On a cold morning, Ntlhane Sehloho grabbed his backpack containing medical equipment and embarked on a three-hour journey, navigating the curving gravel roads leading to a clinic nestled in a valley of mountainous Lesotho.

Aug 30, 2026 - World

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee was condemned Saturday for ignoring a brutal attack on an American news crew that occurred earlier that same day.A crew of three NBC News correspondents was reporting from the occupied West Bank on Saturday near the Palestinian village of Jalud when a vehicle accelerated toward them with Israeli license plates, the outlet reported.“They jumped out, beat us, then jumped back in the car,” said NBC News correspondent Matt Bradley, who the outlet notes was “hit twice in the arm and later treated at a nearby clinic.” Aida Ahmed Abdullah, a Palestinian woman being interviewed by the NBC News crew, was also injured in the attack.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a vague statement Saturday condemning the attacks, calling them “acts of violence” that harm “Israel’s standing in the world,” though did not mention that Americans were attacked in the incident.Responding to Netanyahu and other Israeli officials’ remarks, Huckabee called them “strong statements,” but similarly made no mention of the attack on Americans. He also called on the Palestinian Authority to “join in condemning violence against Israel by Palestinians.”Huckabee's ignoring of an attack on Americans left several critics outraged.“There is literally nothing in this statement to indicate that it’s the U.S. ambassador to Israel talking about Israeli violence against Americans,” wrote Jasper Nathaniel, a journalist known for his coverage of the West Bank and Israeli settler violence, in a social media post on X. “Reads entirely like a statement by an Israeli official.”Journalist and NBC News contributor Hooman Majd further suggested Huckabee’s allegiance was stronger to Israel rather than the United States, and urged the Trump administration official to “protect American citizens.”“You're the American ambassador, not the spokesman for the Israeli government,” Majd wrote in a social media post on X. “Rather than congratulating the IDF and the Israeli FM, take a moment to protect American citizens trying to do their job.”Foreign policy analyst Trita Parsi went as far as to suggest that Israeli officials knew in advance that Huckabee “wouldn’t lift a finger” in defense of the victimized Americans.“When you read about [the] members of an NBC News Team being beaten by Israeli settlers today in the West Bank, it's important to note two things: The [settlers] wouldn't do this to Americans had they not received a green light from the Israeli gov,” Parsi wrote. “[And], Israel's gov would not have given such a green light unless it felt confident that the US gov — and Amb. Huckabee — wouldn't lift a finger to defend the Americans.”Huckabee has appeared to endorse the idea of “Greater Israel” in the past, with “Greater Israel” referring to the territorial aspirations of some Israelis to significantly expand the nation’s borders. Netanyahu — who was indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes — said as recently as last August that he “absolutely” subscribed to a “vision” for “Greater Israel.”So when you read about eight members of an NBC News Team being beaten by Israeli settlers today in the West Bank, it's important to note two things:1. The settler wouldn't do this to Americans had they not received a green light from the Israeli gov.2. Israel's gov would not… pic.twitter.com/UY5jX0CqgV— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) August 29, 2026

Aug 29, 2026 - World

CIA Director John Ratcliffe raised eyebrows this week after secretly jetting off to Moscow, Russia, and while the Kremlin denied that any meetings between Russian officials and Ratcliffe took place, two insiders on Saturday revealed at least one apparent reason for the mysterious trip.Two sources briefed on the matter told Axios Saturday that while in Moscow, Ratcliffe proposed a “trilateral meeting” between President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in just the latest effort to end the Russo-Ukraine war. Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has struggled to bring about an end to the conflict despite his repeated efforts.“Ratcliffe's visit was partly aimed at determining whether Russia's heads of intelligence services could help convince Putin to move toward resuming U.S.-mediated negotiations with Ukraine, the sources said,” Axios’ Barak Ravid wrote in the outlet’s report.“On Friday, U.S. officials briefed Zelensky on Ratcliffe's talks in Moscow and the proposal for a trilateral summit.”Ratcliffe’s trip was so secretive that even top White House aides were “in the dark” about the expedition. The trip reportedly sent European officials “scrambling for information,” according to the Wall Street Journal.According to reports, Ratcliffe took a secretive route to Moscow aboard an unmarked U.S. C-17 military cargo plane flying out of Latvia. Trump, when asked about the trip by reporters, downplayed the mission as being “semi-routine.”“This was the first time Ratcliffe got personally involved in the diplomatic push to broker a breakthrough between Russia and Ukraine,” Axios’ report reads.“Ratcliffe met with his Russian counterparts: SVR foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin and FSB director Alexander Bortnikov. Trump told Axios that Ratcliffe's visit was ‘standard business’ and not intended to warn Russia against attacking NATO territory.”