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Blinken says Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro lost election before claiming victory with 'no supporting evidence'

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Blinken says Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro lost election before claiming victory with 'no supporting evidence'

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said a Venezuelan opposition leader, not socialist and Hugo Chavez successor Nicolás Maduro, won the country’s presidential election. Maduro has claimed victory and threatened the opposition since July 28, sparking widespread protests.

“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,” Blinken said. 

Maduro is widely believed to have lost before declaring victory, and numerous regional governments have cast doubt on the results. 

EXPERTS FEAR VENEZUELA’S MADURO COULD STEAL SUNDAY’S ELECTION AS OPPOSITION LEADS IN POLLS

President Nicolas Maduro votes in the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 28, 2024. (AP)

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Government officials from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have been trying to convince Maduro’s administration that he must show the vote tally sheets from Sunday’s election and allow impartial verification, a Brazilian government official told the Associated Press on Thursday. Doing so would dispel any doubt about the results, the official said. Argentina’s newly elected libertarian President Javier Milei has called for the anti-Maduro protests to continue.

On Wednesday, Maduro asked Venezuela’s highest court to conduct an audit of the election, but that request drew almost immediate criticism from foreign observers who said the court is too close to the government to produce an independent review.

Polls taken over the course of the summer consistently showed opposition candidate Edmundo González winning by double-digit margins.

When the National Electoral Council, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, announced around midnight that Maduro had received 51% of the vote compared to main opposition candidate González’s 44% support, council President Elvis Amoroso said the results were based on 80% of voting stations and represented an irreversible trend.

VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS’ BARBARIC CRIMES COME AS MADURO REFUSES TO TAKE BACK ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM US

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The opposition’s presidential candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, leaves the polling station with his wife, Mercedes Lopez, center, and daughter Mariana after voting in presidential elections in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 28, 2024. (AP)

“Meanwhile, the democratic opposition has published more than 80% of the tally sheets received directly from polling stations throughout Venezuela,” Blinken said. “Those tally sheets indicate that Edmundo González Urrutia received the most votes in this election by an insurmountable margin.”

“The CNE’s rapid declaration of Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the presidential election came with no supporting evidence,” the State Department said Thursday. “In the days since the election, we have consulted widely with partners and allies around the world, and while countries have taken different approaches in responding, none have concluded that Nicolás Maduro received the most votes this election.”

Since the election, protesters have taken to the streets to voice anger at the results, prompting a heavy-handed response by authorities in some instances. Blinken called for authorities to protect opposition leaders like González and María Corina Machado, the release of protesters who were arrested, and for the peaceful transition of power.

Supporters of Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado hold their pictures during a campaign rally in Maracaibo on July 23, 2024. (Raul Arboldea/AFP via Getty Images)

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“Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful, peaceful transition in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law and the wishes of the Venezuelan people,” Blinken said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Several injured after car plows into Italy crowd, driver stabs passerby: report

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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)

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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.

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Lampedusa migrant landing: newborn dies, probe opened

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Lampedusa migrant landing: newborn dies, probe opened

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Supreme Court rejects Virginia’s bid to restore congressional map favoring Democrats

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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.

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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.

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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.

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“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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