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Aug 29, 2026 - World

Call it socialism, imperialism, corruption or theft — senators, conservatives, journalists, former ambassadors and economists all agree President Donald Trump's "deal" to control 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil is a very bad move. Trump's Truth Social announcement on Friday of a deal with Delcy Rodríguez — who became Venezuela's acting president in January after the U.S. military captured former President Nicolás Maduro — spurred an uproar over cries of corruption."Using our troops for a private oil grab is corruption at epic scale," said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA). "Here’s a guarantee—this will pad the pockets of Trump family and Big Oil companies and delay transition to cleaner energy."Kaine was not the only U.S. senator to condemn Trump's deal with Venezuela — or to claim corruption was the cause. "This isn't a win," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). "This is proof Trump put our service members at risk to get Venezuelan oil for his billionaire buddies. Putting our soldiers’ lives on the line for private profit is a gross dereliction of his constitutional duty." Independent journalist Juliet Jeske of Decoding Fox News also looked at the deal from a humanitarian perspective. "Trump is stealing oil from country that just had a catastrophic earthquake and where most of the populace lives in extreme poverty," Jeske wrote on X. "I don’t think he ever really cared about Maduro. He just wanted their oil."This perspective was shared by Michael McFaul, a Stanford University professor of political science who served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014."Delcy Rodriguez is a dictator," McFaul wrote. "Cutting a deal with her to steal Venezuelan oil to benefit Americans is both immoral and impractical. The Venezuelan people will never go along with this deal." McFaul fumed that Trump had yanked the U.S. back to the 19th century and the age of imperialism."We are now acting like a typical imperialist empire," McFaul said. "His Venezuelan oil deal is just that- straight-up imperialism, using military force to seize the assets of a country in the south. Deeply regrettable."CNN's Jim Acosta echoed this concern — arguing the president had taken the U.S. back to the 1700s — but added a jab at Trump's rising gas-price problems."Trump is desperate," Acosta wrote. "Trump is choosing oil over freedom for the Venezuelan people. Experts say this won’t lower gas prices right away."Even some conservatives fumed at Trump's fuel fix, among them conservative think tank Cato Institute economics expert Scott Lincicome. "So, after taking 31 US government equity stakes in private companies over the last year, Trump just announced a MAJORITY-STATE-OWNED oil company?" wrote Lincicome. "This isn't even 'creeping' socialism anymore."Independent journalist Aaron Rupar likened the "deal" to a form of socialism as well — National Socialism. "Nazi Germany also pillaged the natural resources of countries it conquered," Rupar wrote.

Aug 29, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump admitted to befuddlement late Friday night when he took to Truth Social to rage at a political foe. Trump lashed out at New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) after she refused to start calling Lake Ontario "Lake America" and cast blame on the president for prioritizing semantics over serious issues such as inflation."Governor Kathy Hochul is for Canada, a Country that has been ripping off New York State for years, especially under her Administration, instead of the good ‘ol U.S.A," Trump raged. "Can you imagine her saying that she won’t respect or acknowledge LAKE AMERICA."While Trump argued "Dumocrats" such as Hochul were "bad for our country," Hochul argued his mounting war with Iran and trade war with Canada were worse. "New York families are being hit with higher costs for energy, groceries, and prescription drugs because of Trump's actions," Hochul wrote on X. "Instead of fixing these issues, the president is trying to rename Lake Ontario. Shame on him for deflecting from the real needs of Americans. Hochul also argued Trump's rename was telling, as it changed the acronym students use to remember the great lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior) from HOMES to SHAME.Trump's Thursday order to rename Lake Ontario has drawn much criticism from analysts who say it's risky to antagonize one of the nation's top trading partners with a rehash of a past move that was deeply unpopular ahead of the midterm elections.

Aug 29, 2026 - World

Fighters in legal limbo after accepting ‘total peace’ plan of Petro government just days before hardliner Abelardo De la Espriella took overIn mid-June, 99 guerrilla fighters were flown by helicopter to a small settlement in a rural area of southern Colombia where they lined up and, one by one, handed their weapons to government officials: rifles, pistols, machine guns and grenade launchers.They also stripped off their heavy tactical vests, field packs and camouflage uniforms, which were each piled into a bonfire to mark the beginning of a new life away from an armed conflict that has claimed nearly half a million lives in the last six decades. Continue reading...

Aug 29, 2026 - World

This live blog is now closed‘The flood took everything I have’: survivors grieve for relatives and homes swept away in NepalVisual guide: how the deadly flooding unfoldedTell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?More now on the Nepali army’s rescue operation to save about 100 people trapped in a tunnel at a hydropower project swamped by Wednesday’s flooding.“Two helicopters have been dispatched but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel,” army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet told AFP.Relief efforts are also under way to provide the rescued people what they need.The army is still working to safely evacuate more than 100 people trapped in the same tunnel. Continue reading...

Aug 28, 2026 - World

US president says US will have ‘majority’ control of 65bn barrels of proven oil reservesDonald Trump announced Friday a new US oil agreement with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez, saying the US will have “majority” control of 65bn barrels of proven oil reserves.The terms of the agreement remain to be seen, but the US president said on his social-media platform that it had been brokered “through a partnership with ⁠private business” by his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Continue reading...