World
Top Venezuelan prosecutor launches criminal investigation into Maduro opposition
Venezuela’s attorney general announced a criminal investigation on Monday, into President Nicolás Maduro’s opponents for calling on the country’s armed forces to stop supporting their leader and stop repressing demonstrators.
The Associated Press reported that Attorney General Tarek William Saab released a statement on the investigation tied to a written appeal by presidential candidate Edmundo González and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. The appeal, sent hours before Saab announced the investigation, was about Maduro and the demonstrators who protested in defense of their votes cast during the July 28 election.
In a post on X, Saab accused the duo of falsely announcing “a winner of the presidential election other than the one proclaimed by the National Electoral Council, the only body qualified to do so.”
Saab also said González and Machado openly incited “police and military officials to disobey the laws.”
ARGENTINA’S MILEI RALLIES VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION DESPITE MADURO’S ‘UGLY’ ATTACKS
Nicolas Maduro said Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez should face prison sentences of at least 30 years for promoting post-election violence and seeking to destabilize his government. (Gaby Oraa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
According to Saab, the written appeal by González and Machado exhibits that they committed various crimes like usurpation of functions, dissemination of false information to cause fear and conspiracy.
The two suspects called on leaders of security forces to reconsider their loyalty toward Maduro.
“We appeal to the conscience of the military and police to put themselves on the side of the people and their families,” González and Machado wrote. “We won this election without any doubt. It was an electoral avalanche.”
BLINKEN SAYS VENEZUELA’S NICOLAS MADURO LOST ELECTION BEFORE CLAIMING VICTORY WITH ‘NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE’
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez join hands during a protest against the result of the presidential election on July 30, 2024, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images)
“Now it’s up to all of us to respect the voice of the people,” they added.
The Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council handed victory to the incumbent with an alleged margin of 51%, compared to 44% support for the opposition. They have yet to produce voting tallies to prove Maduro won the race.
Pre-election polling (which is illegal in the country) indicated that opposition candidate González received double the votes of Maduro. The opposition also claims to have collected records from over 80% of the 30,000 polling booths across Venezuela showing it beat Maduro.
The U.S. eventually recognized González as the winner after claiming to have reviewed the tally sheets.
CHAVEZ STATUES TOPPLED ACROSS VENEZUELA AS ELECTION PROTESTS RAGE ON
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado hold their pictures during a campaign a rally. (Raul Arboldea/AFP via Getty Images)
On Saturday, Maduro announced his government had arrested 2,000 opponents and at a rally in Caracas he pledged to detain more and send them to prison. The uprising following the election results has also claimed the lives of at least 11 people, according to Foro Penal, a Caracas-based human rights group, the AP reported.
González and Machado called on Venezuelans with family members serving in the security forces to urge their loved ones to not obey illegal orders and to not attack protesters. The duo said they would offer “guarantees” to soldiers who follow the constitution, even while promising there would be no impunity for those behind abuses and following illegal orders.
González is a former diplomat and Machado was barred by the government from running for office. Both of them are in hiding and have said they fear they will be arrested or killed. Maduro has threatened to lock González and Machado up.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Aitken and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Colin Jost Says ‘SNL’ Rejected Joke About Pete Hegseth Reading ‘Pulp Fiction’ Bible Verse Two Weeks Before It Happened in Real Life
Donald Trump’s defense secretary Pete Hegseth was widely mocked in April after he read a fake Bible verse from Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 classic “Pulp Fiction” during a Pentagon worship service. It turns out Colin Jost sort of saw it coming.
During a recent visit to “The Tonight Show,” Jost revealed that before Hegseth’s viral gaffe he told the “SNL” writers room: “Would it be funny if Hegseth just did that Bible verse that they have in ‘Pulp Fiction’ Remember, from Ezekiel, Samuel L. Jackson?”
The writers shot down Jost’s pitch, deeming it “too ridiculous” and claiming it “would take up all this time in the cold open. “And then he for real did it, like two weeks later and I was like, ‘Well, the good news is, I’m being surveilled, so that’s a relief.’” Jost has been playing Hegseth on “SNL” this season to much acclaim from critics and viewers.
The real Hegseth was at a Pentagon prayer service in April when he read the altered version of Ezekiel 25:17 that’s delivered by Samuel L. Jackson’s character in “Pulp Fiction” before he shoots a man. Hegseth said the prayer was recited by the “Sandy 1” Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission in Iran.
Calling on everyone to pray with him, Hegseth then read a prayer that was nearly word-for-word the line delivered by Jackson in Tarantino’s film: “The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of camaraderie and duty shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother, and you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee. Amen.”
Watch Jost’s full interview on “The Tonight Show” in the video below.
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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.
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.
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