World
Biden's Venezuela policy feeds Maduro strongman image, emboldens dictator in election controversy: Rubio
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., criticized the Biden administration’s handling of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, arguing that it has fed his regime’s strongman image and emboldened him in his more authoritarian aims.
“In my view, it strengthened them internally, and I think gave him the boldness to say: I can get away with this now,” Rubio argued. “I’ll be condemned. They’ll snap back some sanctions, people will say mean things about me, but in a few months… 2 million more people will leave Venezuela. I’ll put some people in jail and crack down on them, and the people around me and the regime will remain loyal, because I’ve proven that I can win and, I can win in negotiations.”
Rubio explained that he believes the root problem lies with the people President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have around them, which includes “people who are convinced that you can negotiate a good outcome anywhere.”
“There are some people that you simply can’t just close because of their nature and because of their interests,” Rubio insisted. “There isn’t going to be a diplomatic solution, unfortunately, in the short term… particularly when you’re dealing with authoritarians that are trying to figure out how to stay in power.”
BLINKEN SAYS VENEZUELA’S NICOLAS MADURO LOST ELECTION BEFORE CLAIMING VICTORY WITH ‘NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE’
Anti-government protests have continued in the days following the late July presidential election that the Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council handed to the incumbent with an alleged victory margin of 51%, compared to 44% support for the opposition.
Pre-election polling (which is illegal in the country) showed that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had double the support that Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) had. Venezuelans took to the streets in peaceful protest, but Maduro sent out police to crackdown on them and to clear the streets, leading to violent clashes and escalation.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, on July 16. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Maduro on Wednesday asked the country’s Supreme Court to audit the election, responding to claims that the opposition had won the election and international claims that the election was not fair and free, but many argue that PSUV has such thorough control over every part of the country’s judiciary it is “compromised.”
Ultimately, the Biden administration on Thursday declared Gonzalez the rightful winner of the election, arguing that, “Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election.”
MADURO BOWS TO PRESSURE FOR JUDICIAL AUDIT OF ELECTION RESULTS AS ARGENTINA’S MILEI ENCOURAGES PROTESTS
“The democratic opposition has published more than 80% of the tally sheets received directly from polling stations throughout Venezuela,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release. “Those tally sheets indicate that Edmundo González Urrutia received the most votes in this election by an insurmountable margin.”
The U.S. State Department stressed that Maduro’s victory followed with “no supporting evidence” and that the U.S. “consulted widely with partners and allies around the world” and “none have concluded that Nicolás Maduro received the most votes this election.”
Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government protest at the Petare neighborhood in Caracas on Monday, a day after the Venezuelan presidential election. (Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)
The U.S. helped broker the Barbados Agreement between the Venezuelan president and the opposition parties in his country last October, seeking free and fair elections in exchange for sanctions relief. Maduro immediately backtracked on the agreement by suspending primaries over alleged corruption just one month after signing the deal.
The State Department then in April allowed the relief, known as General License 44, to expire. The license allowed Venezuela to perform transactions related to oil and gas sector operations, despite acknowledging that Maduro had delivered on “some of the commitments” on the electoral roadmap.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM CALLS ON ISRAEL TO ‘DESTROY’ IRANIAN OIL REFINERIES
A National Security Council spokesperson told Fox News Digital that it is “inaccurate to characterize” the Barbados Agreement as a “quid pro quo.”
“We significantly changed the sanctions policy we inherited from the previous administration because there is no question that the previous administration’s sanctions policy was not working and led to the exodus of 8 million Venezuelans,” the spokesperson said.
President Biden and Vice President Harris receive an updated briefing in the White House Situation Room from homeland security and law enforcement officials.
“In October we calibrated our sanctions policy following the Barbados Agreement to show Maduro and his representatives that things could be different, if only they followed through on their commitments — which they now are not doing, and you can anticipate swift USG [United States Government] action very soon,” the spokesperson argued.
Jorge Jraissati, a Venezuelan foreign policy expert and President of the Economic Inclusion Group, bemoaned that the Biden administration has “not done enough at all” through an “erratic” policy towards Venezuela at a time when America’s support remains essential to achieving meaningful progress.
“It lacks strategy,” Jraissati said. “It has relied on empty promises on the part of Maduro, and, as a result, the Maduro regime has been able to strengthen their position internationally, as well as their finances.”
“To bring freedom to Venezuela, we need a real strategist in the White House,” Jraissati added. “We need a foreign policy doctrine that leverages America’s mind power and its vast geoeconomic tools. We need a president that understands the national security and economic importance of Venezuela.”
“When it comes to the American people, we need their brightest minds to join our cause,” he urged. “We need the strategic mind of U.S. businessmen, new technologies built in Silicon Valley and the intellect of America’s greatest experts.”
The State Department did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
World
Several injured after car plows into Italy crowd, driver stabs passerby: report
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A car reportedly drove into a crowd in the northern Italian city of Modena on Saturday, injuring several people.
The vehicle slammed into a store window, and its driver allegedly stabbed a passerby who attempted to intervene, Reuters reported, citing local Italian media.
Mayor Massimo Mezzetti told Italian TV no one was killed but eight people were injured, including four who were in critical condition, according to The Associated Press.
Blood is seen next to a destroyed car on a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)
He said a woman pinned against a shop window may require the amputation of both legs.
Financial Police patrol a scene after a car incident in a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)
The driver is a 31-year-old man born in Bergamo and raised in Modena with Maghreb origins, Mezzetti said.
The man was detained and was being questioned at police headquarters as authorities worked to determine whether he was under the influence of substances or acted deliberately, the mayor said.
Mezzetti said the vehicle entered one of the city’s main streets and “drove onto the sidewalk, sending several people flying,” before crashing into the shop window.
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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Lampedusa migrant landing: newborn dies, probe opened
Published on •Updated
A tragedy unfolded in the night between Friday and Saturday on the island of Lampedusa, where a newborn migrant baby girl just a few weeks old died of hypothermia immediately after disembarking and while being rushed to the island’s outpatient clinic.
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At 4.30 a.m., after being rescued by the V1307 patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza, 55 people from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone landed at Favarolo pier. Among them were seven women and six minors. The baby girl, whose condition immediately appeared critical, was taken together with her mother to the medical facility, where doctors could do nothing but declare her dead.
Investigation opened into the baby girl’s death
The Agrigento prosecutor’s office has opened an inquiry into the tragic case and ordered a post-mortem examination of the child’s body, a necessary step to confirm hypothermia as the actual cause of death.
The body is being transferred to the mortuary at the Cala Pisana cemetery, while in the coming hours the mother will be questioned by investigators to reconstruct the details of the crossing and establish exactly how and when the baby fell ill.
According to accounts from other migrants on board, the group had set off from Sfax-El Amra in Tunisia at around two o’clock yesterday morning, making the journey in a seven-metre metal boat that cost between 400 and 600 euros per person.
The baby girl’s mother, originally from Côte d’Ivoire, was later taken to the hotspot in the Imbriacola district together with her other daughter, aged around two. According to reports, the woman is currently in a severe state of shock over the loss of her child and is receiving continuous support from staff of the Italian Red Cross, which manages the island’s reception centre.
The centre’s director, Imad Dalil, confirmed to Italian media that psychosocial support measures had been activated. “The mother and the sister are here in the hotspot and are in good physical condition; for them and for the other people psychological support was activated immediately and in the coming hours the medical and psychosocial teams will continue their work,” he said.
NGOs’ reaction
The German NGO Sea-Watch voiced its outrage in a strongly worded post on X. “While the state attacks those who save lives at sea, investigating the captain of Sea-Watch, a one-month-old baby has arrived in LAMPEDUSA, dead in her mother’s arms, after a three-day crossing. Who will be held responsible for this injustice?” The outburst refers to the news, received by the NGO after arriving in Brindisi with 166 rescued people, that a criminal investigation has been opened against the captain of the Sea-Watch 5 on suspicion of aiding illegal entry.
The UN agency specialising in the protection and assistance of people forced to flee war, violence and persecution (UNHCR) also intervened to express deep condolences and grave concern over yet another victim claimed along the Mediterranean routes.
“A mother has lost her newborn daughter, who arrived dead this morning together with 54 other people in Lampedusa. Deep sorrow and concern for the many children and adults who should not be dying in the Mediterranean,” reads a post published on social media by UNHCR, which explains that the agency is on the ground providing assistance to the mother and all the other survivors of the landing.
World
Supreme Court rejects Virginia’s bid to restore congressional map favoring Democrats
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Virginia’s bid to restore a congressional map that would have given Democrats a chance to pick up four seats in the closely divided House of Representatives.
The court’s order, issued without any noted dissent, is the latest twist in the nation’s mid-decade redistricting competition. It was kicked off last year by President Donald Trump urging Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines and was supercharged by a recent Supreme Court ruling severely weakening the Voting Rights Act that opened up even more winnable seats for the GOP.
In recent days, the justices have sided with Republicans in Alabama and Louisiana who hope to redo their congressional maps to produce more GOP-leaning seats following the court’s voting rights decision.
But the Virginia situation was different, stemming from a 4-3 ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court that struck down a constitutional amendment that voters narrowly passed just last month.
The state court found that the Democratic-controlled legislature improperly began the process of placing the amendment on the ballot after early voting had begun in Virginia’s general election last fall.
The Supreme Court typically doesn’t intervene in state court proceedings unless they present an issue of federal law. Virginia Democrats had hoped to persuade the justices that the Virginia court misread federal law and Supreme Court precedent that hold that, even if early voting is underway, an election does not happen until Election Day itself.
Virginia’s amendment had been intended as a response to Republican gains in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, and to blunt a new map in Florida that just became law. Once the Virginia amendment passed, it briefly turned the nationwide redistricting scramble into a draw between the two parties.
That was unraveled by the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision.
The state’s attorney general, Democrat Jay Jones, slammed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, saying it was another example of what he described as a national attack on voting rights and the rule of law.
“Let’s be clear about what is happening. Donald Trump, Republican state legislatures, and conservative courts are systematically and unabashedly tilting power away from the people for Trump’s political gain,” Jones said in a statement issued late Friday night.
The state’s top Democrats had disagreed about whether it was even too late for help from the Supreme Court. “Time grows short, but it is not yet too late,” lawyers for the Democratic leaders of the legislature as well as the state told the justices in a brief filed Friday.
A day earlier, the office of Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger already had confirmed that the state will hold this year’s elections under the current districts established in 2021. Last month, Virginia Commissioner of Elections Steve Koski said a court order was needed by this past Tuesday to set the district lines for primary elections on Aug. 4.
Spanberger reacted to Friday’s decision by saying both courts had nullified the votes of the more than 3 million Virginians who cast ballots in the April 21 special election.
“These Virginians made their voices heard — casting their ballots in good faith to push back against a President who said he’s ‘entitled’ to more seats in Congress before voters go to the polls,” she posted on her X account.
The leader of the state Republican Party said the justices made the right call.
“Wisely, the Supreme Court of the United States has confirmed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Virginia,” state party chairman Jeff Ryer said. “This should once and for all put to rest the Democrats’ effort to disenfranchise half of Virginia.
___
Associated Press writer Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.
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