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Maduro declares Christmas in October amid Venezuela’s post-election strife

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Maduro declares Christmas in October amid Venezuela’s post-election strife

“Whatever happened to Christmas?” Frank Sinatra once asked. In Venezuela, the answer is that it has been brought forward to October.

The country’s strongman president, Nicolás Maduro, made the curious announcement that this year’s festivities would begin in October on Monday, in the midst of a political bleak midwinter for his crisis-stricken land.

“It’s September and it already feels like Christmas. So this year – as a way of paying tribute to you and thanking you – I’m going to decree that Christmas be brought forward to 1 October,” Maduro proclaimed during one of his frequent TV appearances.

Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, who is facing what experts call the greatest political challenge of his turbulent 11-year rule, promised all Venezuelans a Christmas of “peace, happiness and security”.

That is unlikely given the uncertainty and anger produced by Maduro’s decision to claim victory in July’s presidential election without providing proof. A growing body of evidence suggests Maduro actually lost the election badly to his opposition rival Edmundo González – hence his refusal to release detailed voting tallies from polling stations. On Monday authorities issued a warrant for González’s arrest.

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Whenever it starts, Christmas is likely to prove a cold winter’s night for senior members of Maduro’s ever-more authoritarian regime.

On Monday Bloomberg reported that the US was poised to announce individual sanctions against 15 senior administration figures for their alleged obstruction of “the holding of free and fair presidential elections”. Those expected to be targeted reportedly include the foreign minister, Yván Gil, the supreme court president, Caryslia Beatriz Rodríguez Rodríguez, and a top member of the electoral council, Rosalba Gil Pacheco.

Military officials responsible for a harsh post-election clampdown nicknamed Operación Tun Tun (Operation Knock Knock) are also expected to face sanctions as a result of the repression that saw more than 20 people killed and 1,700 thrown in jail as authorities moved to snuff out post-election protests.

That crackdown was given a yuletide soundtrack by security chiefs, though one distinctly lacking in Christmas cheer. A propaganda video produced by Venezuela’s military counterintelligence unit, DGCIM, set the arrest of one government target to the sinister music of a horror-film adaptation of Carol of the Bells.

The song’s adapted Spanish-language lyrics warn naughty children that a devil-like creature called Krampus is coming for them at Christmas. “If you’ve done wrong, then he will come!” the carol goes. “He’ll look for you! You’d better hide!”

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While unusual, Maduro’s decision to move Christmas celebrations forward is not unprecedented. The politician has done the same on several occasions since taking office after the premature 2013 death of his mentor, Hugo Chávez. The Christmastide manoeuvre appears at least partly designed to shift attention from the woes of an administration that has overseen one of the worst peacetime economic collapses in modern history.

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Neil Gaiman has responded to sexual misconduct allegations

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Neil Gaiman has responded to sexual misconduct allegations

Neil Gaiman attends the 73rd National Book Awards in November 2022 in New York City.

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Neil Gaiman, one of today’s most influential and commercially successful novelists, has been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct. The author has denied the allegations. This is what you should know.

  • Gaiman’s books include the graphic novel The Sandman, the children’s novella Coraline and a novel he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. The British author has won prestigious literary honors, including multiple Hugo, Locus and Nebula awards and the John Newbery Medal. His works have inspired movie and TV adaptations. Time magazine included him in its list of the 100 Most Influential People of 2023.
  • The sexual misconduct accusations, stretching back decades, first became public in the summer of 2024 in a six-episode series from Tortoise Media called The Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman. In the podcast, five women accused the writer of unwanted sexual behavior, some of it alleged to be violent in nature. Gaiman denied the accusations. No charges have been filed. The podcast included interviews with the women, plus what it said were WhatsApp messages and phone call recordings between Gaiman and two of his accusers. In one conversation, Gaiman allegedly says he “obviously f*** up” and offers to pay an accuser, who goes by the name “Claire,” $60,000 to cover the cost of her therapy. NPR has not been able to independently verify the recordings because “Claire’s” identity is not public.
  • More women have now accused Gaiman of sexual misconduct in a New York Magazine cover story published Monday. Some of the alleged behaviors include violent sexual assault and sexual misconduct that occurred while his young son was in the room. Gaiman has denied this. Gaiman’s accusers are adults, but much younger than the author, 64, including one who is nearly 40 years his junior.
  • Gaiman responded to the allegations on Tuesday in a lengthy post on his website. Gaiman wrote that he watched the news of the allegations “with horror and dismay”: “As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen. I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.” He also denied “there was any abuse.”
  • Recent fallout has included the suspension of screen adaptations of Gaiman’s works. Deadline reported that Amazon will end production of Good Omens with a 90-minute final episode to be produced this year, instead of a full third season. “Gaiman contributed to the writing of the series finale but will not be working on the production and his production company the Blank Corporation is no longer involved,” Deadline said. Disney paused an adaptation of The Graveyard Book.
  • Trade magazine The Bookseller reported that Gaiman hired the crisis management firm Edendale Strategies and lawyer Andrew Brettler, who has represented Danny Masterson and Prince Andrew. Neither party has responded to NPR’s request for comment.

Jennifer Vanasco edited this story. Beth Novey produced the web build.

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Upcoming Benefit Concert For L.A. Wildfires Gets Overwhelming Response From Artists, Bands

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Upcoming Benefit Concert For L.A. Wildfires Gets Overwhelming Response From Artists, Bands

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A Couple Kisses That Sealed the Deal

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A Couple Kisses That Sealed the Deal

When Olivia Christine Snyder-Spak matched with Elias Jeremy Stein on Hinge in September 2021, she was a decade into online dating but had never found an ideal partner. “I had probably gone on at least a few hundred first dates, sometimes even doing two in a day,” she said.

Mr. Stein was less versed in internet matchmaking and had been on only a handful of dates over the previous year. “I wanted a serious relationship and decided to try the online route since meeting people in person during Covid was harder,” he said.

At the time, Mr. Stein, 35, was renting an apartment in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; Ms. Snyder-Spak, 36, lived on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

The two exchanged messages for a week about their shared love for cooking classes and art projects and exchanging funny stories. Then, Mr. Stein asked Ms. Snyder-Spak on a mini-golfing date.

When they met, in mid-September, at the Putting Green mini-golf course in Brooklyn, Mr. Stein was struck by Ms. Snyder-Spak’s energy. “She was super cute and seemed bubbly,” he said.

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They played golf for an hour, chatting about their backgrounds and professions as they navigated the course. “We laughed a lot because Olivia kept hitting the ball far away from the hole,” Mr. Stein said. “The conversation was so good that I asked her for drinks afterward.”

They walked to the nearby Other Half Brewing, sat outside and continued talking over beers for the next several hours. “We were easy with each other, and it was clear we had clicked,” Mr. Stein said.

Eventually, it started to rain heavily. As they waited for their Uber rides, Mr. Stein asked Ms. Snyder-Spak if he could kiss her. “I said yes, and when he smooched me, it felt like a movie kiss,” she said, describing it as “very romantic.”

They settled into a dating cadence almost immediately, seeing each other several times a week for activities like sushi-making, comedy shows and museums. On Halloween, they went to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. “The spookiness of a cemetery seemed fitting, and the fact that Eli felt the same way was a big sign that he was going to be a great teammate, down for whatever,” Ms. Snyder-Spak said.

A vacation to Turks and Caicos Islands in January 2022 solidified their commitment. “Our flight back got canceled because of bad weather and a staffing shortage, and the two we booked after that also got canceled,” Mr. Stein said. “We eventually ended up in Miami and got bumped on our flight home.”

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Nevertheless, they had fun. “That’s when I knew that Olivia was the one.”

The experience made Ms. Snyder-Spak “realize that I wanted to do hard things together with Eli forever,” she said.

Mr. Stein grew up in Durham, N.C. He is a product manager on the software development team at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York and the founder of Admissions Intelligence, a college admissions platform that uses artificial intelligence. He has a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Vassar College.

Ms. Snyder-Spak is from Woodbridge, Conn., and works as the director of nonfiction at the entertainment production company Topic Studios, in New York. She has a bachelor’s degree in film from Dartmouth.

After their Turks and Caicos trip, the couple began spending several nights a week at one of their two apartments. In July 2022, they began renting a place, which they’ve since bought, in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

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Their bond grew as they decorated their home and traveled to places like Brazil, Portugal and Costa Rica. “My love for Olivia was getting stronger, and it was the right time to propose,” Mr. Stein said.

[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]

On Dec. 13, 2023, during a nighttime picnic in Prospect Park, Mr. Stein asked Ms. Snyder-Spak to marry him as the Geminids meteor shower brightened the skies. As they kissed after she said yes, they caught a glimpse of a shooting star.

More than a year later, on Dec. 29, they wed on the front stoop of a Park Slope brownstone owned by Rabbi Yael Werber, a friend of the couple and the ceremony’s officiant. Rabbi Werber is affiliated with Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. Afterward, they walked to Mille-Feuille Bakery Cafe in Prospect Heights and indulged in three desserts.

In September, Mr. Stein and Ms. Snyder-Spak had hosted a six-day, pre-wedding celebration in Asheville, N.C., for 140 guests; it included activities such as solving a murder mystery, visiting local breweries and tubing down the French Broad River. The festivities culminated in a symbolic wedding ceremony on Sept. 1 at Yesterday Spaces, an event venue in Leicester, N.C.

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“All my online dating before Eli was worth it because I found the guy I was looking for all along,” Ms. Snyder-Spak said. “I remember the hard work, but now everything feels like magic.”

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