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Trump Not Thinking ‘Purely Of Peace’ In Greenland Push

Emmanuel Egobiambu — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 08:09:02 +0000

Donald Trump warned he no longer feels obliged to think “purely of peace” after being snubbed for a Nobel prize, in a text message published Monday as the US president ramps up his campaign to take over Greenland.

In an extraordinary exchange with Norway’s prime minister, Trump questioned Denmark’s right to the vast Arctic island, over which he said he wanted “complete and total control”.

“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” Trump wrote to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents.

“The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”

The message came days after Trump threatened hefty new tariffs on European allies who oppose his plan to buy Greenland, raising alarm in allied capitals and sending stock markets plummeting when they opened on Monday.

German and French leaders denounced those tariff threats as “blackmail,” while Paris said Europe needed to prepare to hit back.

That prompted pre-emptive rebuke from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“I think it would be very unwise,” he told AFP as he arrived at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump’s latest broadside has yet again left allies scrambling to chart a course between pushing back firmly enough, and not angering the mercurial US leader.

The European Union said it would hold an emergency summit on Thursday to weigh its response, and that while its priority was to “engage not escalate” it was ready to act.

Greenland, where thousands took to the streets over the weekend carrying banners with anti-US slogans like “Make America Go Away,” said Trump’s tariff threats made no difference to the island.

“We will not be pressured,” Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post, adding that the autonomous territory “is a democratic society with the right to make its own decisions”.

Nobel Prize claim

Norway PM Store said Trump’s text came in response to a message from him and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, where they had “conveyed our opposition” to the tariff threats.

“I have clearly explained, including to President Trump, what is well known — the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee,” not the Norwegian government, he said in a statement.

Despite the direct link that Trump himself was drawing, Bessent told AFP in Davos there was no connection between the award and the billionaire’s quest for Greenland.

“I think it’s a complete canard that the president will be doing this because of the Nobel Prize,” he said.

‘Blackmail’

Trump has repeatedly said his country needs vast, mineral-rich Greenland for “national security”, despite the United States already having a base on the island and security agreements with NATO ally Denmark.

Denmark’s Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen Monday, met with the organisation’s chief Mark Rutte to present a proposal for surveillance operations based in Greenland.

Rutte wrote on X that he had discussed “how important the Arctic — including Greenland — is to our collective security” with the Danish minister and Greenland’s top diplomat. “We’ll continue to work together as Allies on these important issues,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, aircraft from North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint US-Canada military organization, were announced to arrive “soon” at the US Pituffik Space Base in Greenland for “long planned” activities, the organization said Monday.

Trump’s tariff threats, which he said would see Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland hit with a 10-percent duty on all goods sent to the United States from February 1, sent investors scurrying for safety.

Precious metals surged, with silver up four percent to a new high as market players sought shelter from falling stocks.

Frankfurt was down 1.3 percent at the close, while Paris was off 1.8 percent.

US markets were shut for the Martin Luther King Day public holiday, but futures trading looked dismal, with both the broad-based S&P 500 and the tech-focused Nasdaq off around one percent.

AFP

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Canada Will Not Pay For Trump ‘Peace Board’ Seat — Government Source

Emmanuel Monye — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 20:00:49 +0000

Canada will not pay to be on US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace”, a government source told AFP Monday, after Prime Minister Mark Carney indicated he would accept an invitation to join the body.

“Canada will not pay for a seat on the board, nor has that been requested of Canada at this time,” the government source said.

The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but its charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.

Member countries — represented on the board by their head of state or government — would be allowed to join for three years or longer if they paid more than $1.0 billion in cash within the first year, the charter says.

“The proposed Charter is still a document under discussion and many terms and conditions are still being worked out,” the government source further said.

The source added that Carney had initially indicated he would join the board “because it is important to have a seat at the table to shape this process from within.”

AFP

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Trump To Charge $1bn For Permanent ‘Peace Board’ Membership

Channels Television — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 15:35:12 +0000

US President Donald Trump’s government has asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, according to US media reports.

The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban, and Canada’s Mark Carney.

Member countries — represented on the board by their head of state — would be allowed to join for three years, or longer if they contributed more than $1 billion within the first year, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the sum.

US President Donald Trump participates in a video call with military service members from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 27, 2025, during the Thanksgiving holiday. Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP

“Each Member State shall serve a term of no more than three years from this Charter’s entry into force, subject to renewal by the Chairman,” stated the board’s draft charter obtained by Bloomberg and other media.

“The three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force.”

The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but its charter, widely cited by US media, does not appear to limit its role to the Palestinian territory.

The White House said there would be a main board, a Palestinian committee of technocrats meant to govern the war-wracked territory, and a second “executive board” that appears designed to have a more advisory role.

“The Board of Peace is an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” the charter says.

‘Failed institutions’

FILE: US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. AFP

The document was sent to dozens of world leaders who were invited to join the board, the Times of Israel reported.

It appears to take a swipe at international institutions such as the United Nations, saying that the board should have “the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed.”

Trump has regularly criticized the United Nations and announced this month that his country will withdraw from 66 global organizations and treaties — roughly half affiliated with the UN.

Membership of the board would be “limited to States invited to participate by the Chairman”, according to the full draft charter published by the Times of Israel.

Trump would have the power to remove member states from the board, subject to a veto by two-third of members, and choose his replacement should he leave his role as chairman.

The “Board of Peace” began to take shape on Saturday as the leaders of Egypt, Turkey, Argentina and Canada were asked to join.

Trump also named his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and senior negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff as members.

Israel has objected to the line-up of a “Gaza executive board” to operate under the body, which includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi.

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Putin Invited To Trump’s ‘Board Of Peace’ — Kremlin

Channels Television — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 11:12:47 +0000

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to join US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts globally and oversee governance and reconstruction in Gaza, the Kremlin said Monday.

Moscow for years tried to balance relations with all major players in the Middle East — including Israel and the Palestinians.

But since the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s assault on Ukraine, Putin has moved away from Israel, boosting ties with its foes like Iran.

FILE: US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. AFP

Moscow has also sought closer relationships with the Gulf states amid growing Western isolation.

“President Putin also received an invitation to join this Board of Peace,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, including AFP.

Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, he said, without adding if the Kremlin chief as inclined to join.

The White House has reached out to various figures around the world to sit on the “Board of Peace”, chaired by the US president himself.

Putin has previously praised Trump’s efforts to resolve conflicts.

“He’s really doing a lot to resolve these complex crises, which have lasted for years, even decades,” Putin said last October.

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meets with Iranian Foreign Minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 23, 2025. (Photo by Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL / AFP)

Referring to the situation in the Middle East, Putin said: “If we succeed in achieving everything Donald has strived for… it will be a historic event.”

The assault on Ukraine and the war in Gaza have strained Moscow’s traditionally good relations with Israel, home to a large Russian-born community.

The Kremlin has repeatedly criticised Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks and called for restraint.

“The Gaza Strip is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe in the full sense of the word,” Putin was quoted as saying by the news agency RIA Novosti, at a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas last May.

“Russia, as a friend of the Palestinian people, is trying to provide regular assistance,” the Russian president added.

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Trump Threatens To Invoke Insurrection Act Over Minnesota Protests

Emmanuel Monye — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 07:11:40 +0000

US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke an emergency law that allows the domestic deployment of the military, after federal agents killed one person and injured another in Minnesota, sparking mass protests.

Protesters have denounced the aggressive tactics of Trump’s broad-reaching immigration raids in rallies in the Midwestern city, which is a Democratic stronghold.

Federal agents fired their weapons in two separate incidents, wounding a man from Venezuela Wednesday and killing an American woman last week.

The Insurrection Act allows a president sidestep the Posse Comitatus Act to suppress “armed rebellion” or “domestic violence” and use the armed forces “as he considers necessary” to enforce the 19th century law.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of ICE, who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT,” Trump warned on Truth Social.

Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accused federal agents of waging “a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota,” in a video posted to X Wednesday night.

In the short clip, Walz noted a number of violent incidents, including “breaking windows, dragging pregnant women down the street,” and the January 7 killing of 37-year-old Renee Good as examples.

“We must protest loudly, urgently, but also peacefully,” Walz said, calling on Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “end this occupation.”

Walz also urged people to record any interaction they may have with ICE for future prosecution.

Noem told reporters at a White House press briefing Thursday that it’s up to Trump if he decides to invoke the law.

Demonstrations against ICE in Minneapolis have stretched into the night in recent days and protesters have clashed with federal agents, who have deployed pepper spray and tear gas to disperse crowds.

Shots Fired

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the shooting late Wednesday resulted from a struggle between an ICE agent and a man he was trying to apprehend.

“During the struggle, the federal agent discharged his weapon, striking one adult male,” O’Hara told a press conference.

Amid the tussle, two people emerged from a nearby residence and attacked the federal agent with a snow shovel and a broom handle, the Department of Homeland Security said, identifying the wounded man as an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.

The man suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his leg and was taken to hospital, while the two others were taken into custody, officials said.

The Insurrection Act was last invoked in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush at the request of the Republican governor of California, who was facing unprecedented riots in Los Angeles following the acquittal of police officers who had beaten Rodney King, a Black motorist, the previous year.

Senior White House official Stephen Miller on Thursday accused Minnesota officials of “deliberately, willfully and purposefully” inciting a “violent insurrection.”

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt also lashed out at journalists, saying “media is absolutely complicit in this violence.”

But concerns about the tactics used by ICE are not limited to incidents of violent street enforcement and have raised questions about inadequate training and oversight of agents.

Mexican authorities said Thursday they were also seeking details about the death of one of their citizens at an ICE facility in the southern state of Georgia this week.

ICE broke its record for people dying in detention in 2025 with 30 deaths, according to data released by the agency.

The number of people detained in recent years has similarly increased.

AFP

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Trump Warns Of ‘Very Strong Action’ If Iran Hangs Protesters

Channels Television — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 07:15:06 +0000

US President Donald Trump warned of unspecified “very strong action” if Iranian authorities go ahead with threatened hangings of some protesters, with Tehran calling American warnings a “pretext for military intervention”.

International outrage has built over the crackdown that a rights group said has likely killed thousands during protests posing one of the biggest challenges yet to Iran’s clerical leadership.

Iran’s UN mission posted a statement on X, vowing that Washington’s “playbook” would “fail again”.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky following talks at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 28, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

“US fantasies and policy toward Iran are rooted in regime change, with sanctions, threats, engineered unrest, and chaos serving as the modus operandi to manufacture a pretext for military intervention,” the post said.

Iranian authorities have insisted they had regained control of the country after successive nights of mass protests nationwide since.

Rights groups accuse the government of fatally shooting protesters and masking the scale of the crackdown with an internet blackout that has now surpassed the five-day mark.

New videos on social media, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.

Trump — who earlier told the protesters in Iran that “help is on its way” — said Tuesday in a CBS News interview that the United States would act if Iran began hanging protesters.

Tehran prosecutors have said Iranian authorities would press capital charges of “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”, against some suspects arrested over recent demonstrations.

This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 9, 2026 shows cars set on fire during a protest on Saadat Abad Square in Tehran. (Photo by UGC / AFP)

“We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” said the American leader, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention.

“When they start killing thousands of people — and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them,” Trump said.

The US State Department on its Farsi language X account said 26-year-old protestor Erfan Soltani had been sentenced to be executed on Wednesday.

“Erfan is the first protester to be sentenced to death, but he won’t be the last,” the State Department said, adding more than 10,600 Iranians had been arrested.

Rights group Amnesty International called on Iran to immediately halt all executions, including Soltani’s.

Trump urged on his Truth Social platform for Iranians to “KEEP PROTESTING”, adding: “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

It was not immediately clear what meetings he was referring to or what the nature of the help would be.

‘Rising casualties’

Anti-Iranian regime protesters chant slogans and hold placards during a rally outside the US Consulate in Milan on January 13, 2026. (Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP)

European nations also signalled their anger over the crackdown, with France, Germany and the United Kingdom among the countries that summoned their Iranian ambassadors, as did the European Union.

“The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying,” said EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, vowing further sanctions against those responsible.

Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said it had confirmed 734 people killed during the protests, including nine minors, but warned the death toll was likely far higher.

“The real number of those killed is likely in the thousands,” IHR’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.

Iranian state media has said dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, with their funerals turning into large pro-government rallies.

Authorities in Tehran have announced a mass funeral ceremony in the capital on Wednesday for the “martyrs” of recent days.

Amir, an Iraqi computer scientist, returned to Baghdad on Monday and described dramatic scenes in Tehran.

“On Thursday night, my friends and I saw protesters in Tehran’s Sarsabz neighbourhood amid a heavy military presence. The police were firing rubber bullets,” he told AFP in Iraq.

Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s ousted shah, called on the military to stop suppressing protests.

“You are the national military of Iran, not the military of the Islamic Republic,” he said in a statement.

‘Serious challenge

This handout picture released by the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him addressing the crowd during a meeting with the head of the judiciary and other officials in Tehran on July 16, 2025. (Photo by KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)

The government on Monday sought to regain control of the streets with mass nationwide rallies that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed as proof that the protest movement was defeated, calling them a “warning” to the United States.

In power since 1989 and now aged 86, Khamenei has faced significant challenges, most recently the 12-day war in June against Israel, which forced him to go into hiding.

Analysts have cautioned that it is premature to predict the immediate demise of the theocratic system, pointing to the repressive levers the leadership controls, including the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is charged with safeguarding the Islamic revolution.

Nicole Grajewski, professor at the Sciences Po Centre for International Studies, told AFP the protests represented a “serious challenge” to the Islamic republic, but it was unclear if they would unseat the leadership, pointing to “the sheer depth and resilience of Iran’s repressive apparatus”.

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100,000 Visas Revoked Since Trump’s Return, US Says

Aramide Folorunsho — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 20:11:38 +0000

The United States has revoked more than 100,000 visas since President Donald Trump took office on an anti-migrant platform, a record for a single year, the State Department said Monday.

“The Trump administration has no higher priority than protecting American citizens and upholding American sovereignty,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.

The figure since Trump’s second inauguration on January 20, 2025, is two and a half times the number revoked in 2024, when Joe Biden was president.

The State Department said that “thousands” of the visas were revoked over crimes, which can include assault and also drunk driving.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has proudly highlighted his revocation of visas from students who protested against Israel.

Rubio used a McCarthy-era law that allows the United States to block entry to foreigners seen as going against US foreign policy, although some of his high-profile targets successfully challenged deportation orders in court.

The State Department said 8,000 of the revoked visas were for students.

The Trump administration has also tightened vetting for visas, including moving to screen social media postings of visitors.

The visa revocations are part of a wider campaign of mass deportations, carried out aggressively through a surge of federal agents.

The Department of Homeland Security last month said that the Trump administration has deported more than 605,000 people and that 2.5 million others left on their own.

AFP

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US Prosecutors Open Criminal Probe Into Federal Reserve

Emmanuel Monye — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 10:16:17 +0000

US prosecutors have opened an inquiry threatening a “criminal indictment” against the Federal Reserve, its chairman Jerome Powell revealed Sunday, denouncing new “threats and ongoing pressure” from the administration of President Donald Trump.

Powell said in a video statement that the US central bank received grand jury subpoenas Friday related to his Senate testimony in June, which concerned a major renovation project of Federal Reserve office buildings.He dismissed the subpoenas as “pretexts” after months of bitter conflict with Trump, who has publicly excoriated the Fed for not cutting interest rates aggressively to bolster economic growth.

“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell said.

He branded the “unprecedented action” part of the “administration’s threats and ongoing pressure.”

The Fed, which makes independent monetary policy decisions, has a dual mandate to keep prices stable and unemployment low.

Its main tool in doing so is by setting a benchmark interest rate that influences the cost of borrowing across the economy.

US Treasury bonds, as a gauge of the health of the world’s largest economy, have for decades also been the de facto reference for government bond yields across the world.

The Fed’s independence from political influence is considered vital for investors, who worry that outside meddling in monetary policy would threaten a bedrock of the global economy.

‘He’s Not Very Good’

Federal Reserve board members typically serve under both Republican and Democratic presidents, and Powell was nominated Fed chairman by Trump during his first term.

But since his re-election last year, Trump has relentlessly pressured Powell to move faster in lowering interest rates, in a breach of the long-standing independence of the institution.

Trump said Sunday that he had no knowledge of the Justice Department’s investigation into the Federal Reserve.

“I don’t know anything about it, but he’s certainly not very good at the Fed and he’s not very good at building buildings,” NBC quoted Trump as saying.

Nonetheless, investors reacted warily as financial markets opened Monday, with the dollar falling against major currencies along with the 10-year US Treasury bond, a global benchmark.

Safe-haven assets like gold also surged given the uncertain outlook.

“The combined drop in the dollar, equities and Treasuries was a reminiscence of the ‘sell America’ days of last spring,” when Trump unleashed his global tariffs blitz, said Francesco Pesole, a strategist at ING in London.

“The downside risks for the dollar from any indications of further determination to interfere with the Fed’s independence are substantial.”

‘Corrupt Takeover’

Senators from both sides of the aisle blasted the investigation.

“It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question,” Republican Thom Tillis said.

“I will oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed — including the upcoming Fed Chair vacancy — until this legal matter is fully resolved,” he added.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, called the probe an assault on the Fed’s independence.

“Anyone who is independent and doesn’t just fall in line behind Trump gets investigated,” Schumer said.

Powell’s term as chairman of the Federal Reserve ends in May, and Trump told Politico in an interview last month that he would judge Powell’s successor on whether they immediately cut rates.

Trump has also spoken openly about ousting Powell but stopped short of doing so and focused instead on cost overruns for renovation of the Fed’s Washington headquarters.

In July, the cost of the Fed’s facelift of its 88-year-old Washington headquarters and a neighboring building was up by $600 million from an initial $1.9-billion estimate.

That same month, Trump made an unusual visit to the construction site during which the two men, clad in hard hats, bickered over the price tag for the makeover.

AFP

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Trump Tells Cuba To ‘Make A Deal Before It Is Too Late’

Emmanuel Egobiambu — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 16:53:57 +0000

US President Donald Trump urged Cuba on Sunday to “make a deal” or face unspecified consequences, warning that the flow of Venezuelan oil and money to Havana would now stop.

The communist-run island near Florida has been a US foe and ally of Caracas for decades, but Trump has ramped up his threatening language in recent days — particularly after Washington toppled Venezuela’s leftist leader, Nicolas Maduro.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

Trump provided no details about what potential deal he referred to, or what such an arrangement would achieve.

US President Donald Trump and a photo posted on Trump’s Truth Social account on January 3, 2026, shows what President Trump says is Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro onboard the USS Iwo Jima after the US military captured him on January 3, 2026.

His remarks come a week after US forces seized Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Maduro, in a nighttime operation in Caracas that killed dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security forces.

A week ago, Trump stated that “Cuba is ready to fall,” noting that the island’s economic crisis was worsening and that it would be difficult for Havana to “hold out” without receiving heavily subsidized Venezuelan oil.

Earlier on Sunday, the president reposted a message suggesting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio — a child of Cuban immigrants — could become the president of Cuba.

Trump shared that post with the comment: “Sounds good to me!”

In a separate message soon afterwards, Trump said that “Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week’s U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years.”

Cuba’s communist government rejected the suggestion that Havana had been in the pocket of Caracas.

Cuba has “never received monetary or material compensation for the security services it has provided to any country,” Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez posted on X.

He noted Havana has the right to import fuel from any willing exporter, “without interference or subordination to the unilateral coercive measures of the United States.”

‘Beginning of the end’

Under a US trade embargo, Havana, since 2000, has increasingly relied on Venezuelan oil provided as part of a deal struck with Maduro’s predecessor, the firebrand leftist Hugo Chavez.

Trump’s provocative language on Cuba comes as the emboldened American leader has hinted he has other countries in his sights after capturing Maduro.

Trump, who had openly sought last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, has recently threatened Colombia, Mexico, Iran, and Greenland.

Some Republican US lawmakers on Sunday lauded Trump for his aggressive comments on Cuba, including Mario Diaz-Balart, a US congressman from Florida.

“We are witnessing what I am convinced will be the beginning of the end of the regime in Havana,” Diaz-Balart posted in Spanish on X.

“The tyranny in Cuba will not survive the second term of President Trump, and Cuba will finally be free after decades of misery, tragedy, and pain.”

AFP

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Trump Signs Emergency Order To Protect US-Held Revenue From Venezuela Oil

Emmanuel Monye — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 17:59:36 +0000

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order protecting US-held money derived from sales of Venezuelan oil, after the ouster of Nicolas Maduro, the White House said.

In an order signed Friday, Trump — who has made clear that tapping Venezuela’s vast oil reserves was a key goal in the US ouster of Maduro — is acting “to advance US foreign policy objectives,” the White House said in a fact sheet accompanying the order.

The action follows a meeting Friday in Washington where Trump pressed top oil executives to invest in Venezuela, and was met with a cautious reception — with the chief executive of ExxonMobil describing the country as “uninvestable” without sweeping reforms.

ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing demands by then-president Hugo Chavez to cede majority control to the state. They have been fighting to recoup billions of dollars they say Venezuela owes them.

Chevron is currently the only US firm licensed to operate in Venezuela.

Trump’s executive order signed Friday declares a national emergency “to safeguard Venezuelan oil revenue held in U.S. Treasury accounts from attachment or judicial process,” the White House fact sheet said.

In effect, it places those revenues under special protection in order to prevent them from being seized by courts or creditors. The action is decreed to be necessary for US national security and foreign policy.

“President Trump is preventing the seizure of Venezuelan oil revenue that could undermine critical U.S. efforts to ensure economic and political stability in Venezuela,” the fact sheet said.

Sanctioned by Washington since 2019, Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the United States.

But it produced only around one percent of the world’s total crude output in 2024, according to OPEC, having been hampered by years of underinvestment, sanctions and embargoes.

Trump sees the country’s massive oil reserves as a windfall in his fight to further lower US domestic fuel prices.

The executive order comes one week after US forces seized authoritarian leader Maduro in a nighttime operation in the Venezuelan capital that killed dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security forces.

AFP

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