World
Venezuelan planes sent to US for deportation flights return to country with nearly 200 deportees
Two planes sent by Venezuela returned home Monday with nearly 200 Venezuelans who were in the U.S. illegally as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan.
The 190 migrants returned to Venezuela signals a possible ease in tensions between the two longtime adversaries and a win for the Trump administration as it seeks to have countries take back their citizens found in the U.S. without authorization.
The Conviasa airline flights arrived in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas from Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army base in El Paso, Texas.
“Two planes of illegal immigrants left El Paso today headed to Venezuela – paid for by the Venezuelans,” Trump envoy Richard Grennell, who oversaw the deportations, wrote on X.
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Two planes sent by Venezuela returned to the country from El Paso, Texas, on Monday with nearly 200 Venezuelans who were in the U.S. illegally. (AP)
Deportation flights from the U.S. to Venezuela had been stopped for years, except for a brief period in October 2023 under the Biden administration.
Large numbers of Venezuelans began arriving at the southern border in 2021 and are still among the nationalities with the most people entering the U.S. illegally, which has made Venezuela’s refusal to accept their return a major hurdle.
Venezuela’s newfound willingness to take back the migrants came after Grennell visited Caracas a few weeks ago.
“This is the world we want, a world of peace, understanding, dialogue and cooperation,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said.
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Venezuelans deported from the United States arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP)
The Venezuelan government confirmed the flights earlier on Monday, criticizing in a statement the “ill-intentioned” and “false” narrative surrounding the presence of Tren de Aragua gang members in the U.S. The statement said most Venezuelan migrants are decent and hard-working people and that American officials are attempting to stigmatize the country.
The deportation flights on Monday came days after some illegal aliens were sent to the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp, where they are separated from 15 detainees who were already there, including planners in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.
A federal judge in New Mexico temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan men to Guantánamo Bay on Sunday. Lawyers for the trio argued that their clients “fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantánamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang.”
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, front left, walks off a plane that transported deportees from the United States at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP)
The flights also came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio reached agreements with El Salvador and Guatemala for those countries to accept their citizens and U.S. deportees of other nationalities.
Trump said after Grennell’s visit that the Venezuelan government had agreed to accept “all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” and pay for their flights home. Half a dozen Americans held in Venezuela were released at the time.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Iranians mourning the country’s supreme leader condemned U.S. strikes that Washington called retaliation for Iran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. At a tightly controlled state funeral in Mashhad — one of Iran’s most conservative cities, where opponents of the government were unlikely to be found in the crowd — mourners voiced defiance and called for revenge.
World
Beloved musicians among victims in deadly Bahamas plane crash; aviation authority grounds flights
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A devastating double-aviation crisis in the Bahamas, including a deadly North Andros plane crash and a separate aircraft fire on Friday, prompted the government to suspend flight operations for a local airline and launch a federal safety probe.
Shortly after 1 p.m. local time Friday, a Cessna 402 aircraft with Bahamian registration departed Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau bound for San Andros Airport.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) said the plane “encountered difficulties” and crashed into bushes prior to landing.
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Authorities said 10 people were killed in a Bahamas plane crash on Friday. (Our News Bahamas via AP)
First responders, including the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Airport Authority and emergency medical personnel, rushed to the dense brush where the aircraft went down.
The Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers Union confirmed in a statement Saturday that 10 people died in the crash, including prominent members of the “The Pond Band” and a local DJ, whose artistry the union said “touched so many lives and helped to enrich the cultural fabric of The Bahamas.”
Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said a sole survivor was pulled from the wreckage.
“Ann and I are praying for the families who are now facing unbearable grief,” Davis wrote in a statement on X. “We are also praying for the survivor, whose recovery and care will remain in our thoughts.”
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The identities of those killed in the crash have not yet been released.
While the AAIA’s preliminary reports initially indicated seven people were on board, officials are still establishing the facts of the flight manifest.
Just hours before the fatal crash in North Andros, a Flamingo Air flight en route to Mayaguana was forced to turn back to Nassau after the pilot reported a concern, according to the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Aviation (MoET).
After the aircraft landed and passengers safely deplaned, the plane caught fire on the runway.
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FILE – The Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate following two aircraft incidents Friday. (iStock)
Following the two back-to-back safety incidents, the Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas (CAAB) temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate, according to MoET officials.
“The suspension is a precautionary safety measure and should not be treated as an adverse compliance action against Flamingo Air,” the agency wrote in a statement.
FILE – The plane crashed in North Andros on Friday after taking off from Lynden Pindling International Airport. (Melissa Alcena/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Investigators from the AAIA and inspectors from the CAAB remain at the scene in North Andros as they work to determine what caused the Cessna 402 tragedy.
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Flamingo Air did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on •Updated
Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu nominated businessman Vasile Tofan on Saturday as the country’s next prime minister to replace Alexandru Munteanu, who resigned earlier this month over differences with the ruling majority.
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In a video posted to social media, Sandu said Tofan’s primary responsibility, after his candidacy is approved by the country’s parliament, would be to move the country further towards its path of “integration” into the European Union.
He should also “strengthen the resilience of state institutions and society”, and “revive the economy”, added Sandu.
The Moldovan businessman now has two weeks to secure parliamentary backing, a prospect he hopes to achieve after submitting his government programme and his ministerial cabinet nominations.
Tofan had been mentioned as a possible prime minister last year even before the appointment of Munteanu.
Igor Grosu, who heads Sandu’s Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) which won the last parliamentary elections in September, announced on Friday that he had selected him as his candidate to replace the outgoing premier.
He said Tofan shared “the same objectives” as him and PAS, specifying that “EU accession in the years to come, institutional reform and economic growth”, were among the biggest points of agreement.
The nominee for prime minister, who graduated Harvard Business School and turns 44 on Sunday, has a degree in public management from the Netherlands and is a managing partner at Horizon Capital, a private equity firm with assets primarily in Ukraine and Moldova.
He has also chaired the board of directors of Moldova’s Purcari winery, considered the crown jewel of the country’s winemaking sector.
Munteanu, another businessman who like Sandu previously worked at the World Bank, had been chosen to boost the economy and bring it closer to the EU, but turbulence with PAS saw him vacate his post less than a year into holding office.
He resigned on 3 July after less than eight months, stating that he could no longer carry out his mandate “according to (his) principles and (his) convictions”.
The EU last month officially launched a first round of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. Both countries became official EU candidate countries on 23 June 2022.
Additional sources • AFP
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