U.S. interdicting, seizing vessel off Venezuelan coast, officials say:
The United States is interdicting and seizing a vessel off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Saturday, a move which comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

This would mark the second time in recent weeks that the United States has seized a tanker near Venezuela and comes amid a large U.S. military build-up in the region.

The officials, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say where the operation was taking place but added the Coast Guard was in the lead.

The Coast Guard and Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Venezuela’s oil ministry and state oil company PDVSA did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

“I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” Trump said on Tuesday.

In the days since U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, there has been an effective embargo in place, with loaded vessels carrying millions of barrels of oil staying in Venezuelan waters rather than risk seizure.

Since the first seizure, Venezuelan crude exports have fallen sharply.

3 killed in Taiwan knife attack, with the suspect later falling to his death from a department store.


TAIPEI, Taiwan — A man with at least one knife and smoke grenades attacked crowds indiscriminately in Taiwan’s capital on Friday evening, killing at least three people and injuring nine others, according to the national news agency and the city government. The suspect later fell to his death from a department store building.

Police said that the suspect was declared dead at a hospital after jumping from the building’s sixth floor, the Central News Agency reported.

The suspect, identified as a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen, threw smoke grenades near an underground exit of the Taipei Main metro station, close to the city’s main train station, and randomly attacked people with a “sharp object,” sending pedestrians running, according to media reports.

He then headed north to a popular shopping district, where he threw smoke grenades and stabbed multiple people on the first and fourth floors of the Eslite Spectrum Nanxi department store, primarily in the neck, the news agency said, citing police.

Police later revealed that the suspect, between the two scenes, took an underground path to a hotel, where he fetched some “lethal weapon” -- or some kind of edged weapon -- before showing up at a road outside the Zhongshan metro station, near the department store, according to the news agency.

Police said they were yet to find any accomplice and were investigating possible motives. Police said they recovered some “lethal weapons” in both the suspect’s rental home in Taipei and the hotel room where he had stayed for three nights near Zhongshan.

Video footage aired on local television networks showed the suspect, who was wearing a gas mask and clad in black, dropping at least two smoke grenades at the Taipei Main metro station. He was later seen near Eslite and entering the department store while attacking passersby.

Local hospitals reported three deaths from the attacks. The city government said nine others were hospitalized, including one with serious injuries.

Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an told local media that a 57-year-old man immediately tried to stop the suspect at the metro station’s exit, but was fatally wounded. National Taiwan University Hospital told the news agency that the fatal wound was “a penetrating injury about five centimeters in length caused by a sharp object that reached from the right lung to the left atrium.”

Taipei Metro said that a staffer was hospitalized after he inhaled excessive smoke while responding to the attack.

Another man died after he was attacked near the department store, according to EBC News.

A female victim told EBC that she was hit by the suspect outside the department store when she was waiting for her daughter for a dinner appointment.

“It did not feel like a slash -- it felt more like being hit,” she said. “Then it really hurt.”

When she turned around, she said she saw “people lying on the ground and needing first aid because they were bleeding.”

Chang failed to report for reserve military training in November 2024, and he was wanted for violating the law on mandatory military service, the news agency reported. He apparently didn’t report a change in household registration, resulting in nondelivery of his reserve military service summons, the news agency reported, citing a district prosecutors’ office.

#Ukrainian and Polish presidents show unity against Russia, address historical tensions

#Norway crown princess likely to undergo lung #transplant. The princess announced in October 2018 that she had been diagnosed with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable disease that causes scarring of the lungs and shortness of breath.

“We are approaching the time when a lung transplant must be carried out, and we are making the necessary preparations so that it will be possible when the time comes,” Are Martin Holm, head of pulmonary medicine at Oslo University Hospital, said in a statement from the palace.

“It has not yet been decided when the crown princess will be placed on the waiting list for a lung transplant,” Holm said.

The princess spoke of a “very trying” time in an interview with public broadcaster NRK published Friday.

“I had always hoped we could keep the disease under control with medication. The progression has been quite slow until now, but it has now taken a turn different from what the doctors and I had hoped,” she said.

“We have always known, with this disease, that this was the direction it would take, but it’s happening a bit faster than I imagined and hoped,” she added.
Scandal

The princess’s health problems add to the turmoil in the Norwegian royal family following rape allegations against Marius Borg Hoiby, her son from a relationship prior to her marriage to Crown Prince Haakon.

Born Tjessem Hoiby on Aug. 19, 1973, to an alcoholic father and a bank employee mother in Kristiansand, in Norway’s “Bible Belt,” Mette-Marit has admitted to a tumultuous youth.

In the early 1990s, she was part of Oslo’s house music scene, where drugs circulated abundantly.

But she won the hearts of Norwegians after her 2001 marriage to Prince Haakon, with whom she has two children.

The princess has at times had to limit her public appearances and go on sick leave due to her condition, most recently in October.

“This autumn, several tests have been conducted that show a clear deterioration in the crown princess’s health,” the palace said.

It said she would continue her public engagements as long as she felt well enough to do so.

However, in recent months it is chiefly her son Marius Borg Hoiby who has been making headlines.

In the worst scandal ever to hit Norway’s royal family, the 28-year-old is facing charges of four rapes and 28 other counts, including abuse of former partners.

Hoiby, who denies the charges, is scheduled to go on trial in February and faces up to 10 years in prison.

By Pierre-Henry Deshayes

Russian journalist proposes to girlfriend during Putin’s TV marathon, Under the glittering lights of the Eiffel Tower, during a romantic walk on a tropical beach, or nestled in a quiet corner of your favourite restaurant? Planning the perfect proposal is a struggle familiar to would-be newlyweds the world over.

Halfway through Vladimir Putin’s end-of-year press conference -- televised across Russia and coming after the Russian leader threatened to level Ukrainian cities and not back down in his nearly four-year military offensive in the country -- is not high on many lovers’ list.

For regional journalist Kirill Bazhanov, it was just the moment.

Dressed in a red bow tie and holding a poster reading “I want to get married”, Bazhanov caught the eye of the longtime ruler and got his chance.

“I know that my girlfriend is watching the press conference now. Olechka, marry me!” he said, drawing applause from the audience of mostly pro-government regional journalists.

Putin uses his hours-long TV marathon both as a forum for fiery foreign policy statements and to offer up all sorts of advice on love and family matters, recite poetry or promise to fix potholes.

Bazhanov, who went on to ask about a question about the high cost of living in Russia, was made to wait for his answer.

After an hour or so, the hosts interrupted Putin to deliver the happy news. Olechka had said yes. Cue fresh whoops and applause.

#Putin did not respond to the invitation to attend the upcoming nuptials, but did offer to organise a whip-round.

“Kirill was just asking about the material conditions for young families. And that’s right -- a man should be the breadwinner. Now we’ll pass the hat around and collect at least enough for the wedding,” he said.

The #US #military said it killed five more alleged drug traffickers aboard two vessels in the Pacific Ocean, bringing the divisive campaign’s death toll to over 100.

#Brazil’s Senate passes bill that could reduce #Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison sentence.


SAO PAULO — #Brazil’s Senate has passed a bill that could significantly reduce the 27-year prison sentence of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was arrested in November for attempting a coup.

The Chamber of Deputies had already approved the text, and it now goes to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for signature.

Gleisi Hoffmann, Minister of Institutional Relations, said Wednesday evening that Lula will veto the bill.

“Those convicted of attacking democracy must pay for their crimes,” Hoffmann said on X, calling it a “sign of disrespect for the Supreme Court’s decision and a serious setback to legislation that protects democracy.”

The text is also expected to be challenged at the Supreme Court.

The bill reduces the final sentences of defendants convicted under multiple charges stemming from the coup attempt, including Bolsonaro.

The former president’s lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court after his conviction, saying his prison term was excessive. They also argued that the sentences for abolishing the rule of law and attempting a coup should not be added because they arose from a single episode.

The proposed law would speed up sentence progression from harsher to more lenient prison regimes for those convicted.

There is no consensus on how much time Bolsonaro would actually serve if the bill takes effect. Under current rules, the former president could move to a less restrictive prison system after seven years if he met legal requirements while incarcerated.

Paulinho da Força, the bill’s rapporteur in the Chamber of Deputies, has estimated that period could be cut to just over two years if the law passes.

The bill would also allow sentence reductions of up to two-thirds for crimes committed in a crowd, benefiting defendants convicted of storming public buildings during the Jan. 8, 2023, insurrection in Brasilia.

Under the bill, those who did not finance or lead the actions could receive reductions ranging from one-third to two-thirds.

Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of the former president and a prospective presidential candidate in next year’s election, praised fellow lawmakers for approving the bill, calling it a “first step.”

“There shouldn’t even be a debate about amnesty, but about annulling the farce that the entire process was,” he said.

Sen. Bolsonaro is expected to challenge Lula, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, as the candidate of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party in the 2026 presidential race.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of Brazilians protested against the bill. Demonstrations took place in the capital Brasilia and in other major cities across the country, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife.

Gabriela Sá Pessoa, The Associated Press

Exclusive: Poland to start producing anti-personnel mines to lay along eastern borde

Israel fires mortar into Gaza residential area, wounding at least 10.

JERUSALEM — Israeli troops fired a mortar shell over the ceasefire line into a Palestinian residential area in the Gaza Strip, in the latest incident to rock the tenuous ceasefire with Hamas. Health officials said at least 10 people were wounded, and the army said it was investigating.

The military said the mortar was fired during an operation in the area of the “Yellow Line,” which was drawn in the ceasefire agreement and divides the Israeli-held majority of Gaza from the rest of the territory.

The military did not say what troops were doing or whether they had crossed the line. It said the mortar had veered from its intended target, which it did not specify.

Fadel Naeem, director of Al-Ahli Hospital, said the hospital received 10 people wounded in the strike on central Gaza City, some critically.

It was not the first time since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10 that Israeli fire has caused Palestinian casualties outside the Yellow Line. Palestinian health officials have reported over 370 deaths from Israeli fire since the truce.

Israel has said it has opened fire in response to Hamas violations, and says most of those killed have been Hamas militants. But an Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military protocol, said the army is aware of a number of incidents where civilians were killed, including young children and a family traveling in a van.

Palestinians say civilians have been killed in some cases because the line is poorly marked. Israeli troops have been laying down yellow blocks to delineate it, but in some areas the blocks have not yet been placed.

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is struggling to reach its next phase, with both sides accusing each other of violations. The first phase involved the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The second is supposed to involve the deployment of an international stabilization force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.

The remains of one hostage, Ran Gvili, are still in Gaza, and the militants appear to be struggling to find it. Israel is demanding the return of Gvili’s remains before moving to the second phase.

Hamas is calling for more international pressure on Israel to open key border crossings, cease deadly strikes and allow more aid into the strip.

Julia Frankel, The Associated Press

Tunisian President Kais Saied's supporters rallied in the capital on Wednesday calling the opposition "traitors", following mounting street protests in recent weeks that have highlighted widening political divisions.