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      2026 is already pure chaos. Is that Trump’s electoral strategy? | Moustafa Bayoumi

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      Less than two weeks into the year, the US is stoking mayhem at home and abroad – with midterms coming in the autumnHave we ever seen a year in recent memory begin with as much deliberate turmoil as 2026 has? Less than two weeks into 2026, we have witnessed Donald Trump deploy US forces to depose and abduct the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, along with Cilia Flores, his wife and close political adviser. The US president then informed the world that the United States would “run” Venezuela for the time being, which he later explained could potentially last for several years.Trump has also threatened – and then seemingly made peace with – the president of Colombia; seized at least five oil tankers in the Caribbean (actions that UN experts label illegal armed aggression); promised US military strikes targeting cartels in Mexico against the wishes of Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum; and frightened the people of Cuba with the prospect that Marco Rubio could be their next president. Continue reading… More

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      Trump news at a glance: White House doubles down on threat of ‘lethal force’ against Iran amid unrest

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      Trump also announced a 25% tariff for ‘any country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran’ – key US politics stories from 12 JanuaryLast week, as growing protests in Iran were met with violent crackdowns, Donald Trump issued a threat to the country’s leadership: “You’d better not start shooting, because we’ll start shooting too.”This week the White House is doubling down on Trump’s saber-rattling. Continue reading… More

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      Trump says countries doing business with Iran face 25% tariff on US trade

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      President posts online as US weighs response to situation in Iran, which is major facing anti-government protestsDonald Trump has said any country that does business with Iran will face a tariff rate of 25% on trade with the US, as Washington weighs a response to the situation in Iran, which is seeing its biggest anti-government protests in years.“Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” the US president said in a post on Truth Social on Monday. Tariffs are paid by US importers of goods from those countries. Iran has been heavily sanctioned by Washington for years. Continue reading… More

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      Gunboat Diplomacy Returns: US Resource Grab in Venezuela

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      In the early hours of January 3, US forces stormed a military compound in Caracas, capturing Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro. Hours later, from his Mar-a-Lago estate, US President Donald Trump dismissed Venezuela’s democratic opposition, asserting the US would “run the country until transition.” Thus began what US forces dubbed “Operation Absolute Resolve.” The name implies… Continue reading Gunboat Diplomacy Returns: US Resource Grab in Venezuela
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      ‘Have you ever smelled a cadaver?’ Family recounts horror after Costa Rican man deported in vegetative state

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      Much of what happened to Randall Gamboa Esquivel, 52, over his last weeks in federal custody in Texas remains a mystery to his familyFamily seeks answers after ICE deports man to Costa Rica in vegetative stateA few days before Christmas in Pérez Zeledón, a city in Costa Rica, Greidy Mata stared at two photographs of her late brother. In one image, Randall Gamboa Esquivel flashed a smile prior to his immigration to the United States a year before. In the second, he was lying in a hospital bed in a vegetative state, after being deported back home.Dinner was served, but Mata seemed indifferent. She kept switching between one photograph and the other until she suddenly recounted that a year ago, in what would become the last family reunion, Gamboa announced he would be leaving for New Jersey. Continue reading… More

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      Family seeks answers after ICE deported man to Costa Rica in vegetative state

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      Exclusive: Before Randall Gamboa Esquivel died, his health had deteriorated badly while he was in ICE custodyCosta Rican family demands answers after ICE deportation and death: ‘Have you ever smelled a cadaver?’The family of a Costa Rican man who was deported from the United States in a vegetative state and died shortly after arriving back in his home country is still urgently seeking answers from the authorities about what happened to him while he was in detention.Randall Gamboa Esquivel had left Costa Rica in good health and crossed the United States-Mexico border in December 2024, according to his family. However, Gamboa was detained by the US authorities for re-entering American soil unlawfully, as he had previously lived there undocumented between 2002 and 2013. Continue reading… More

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      US urges its citizens to flee Venezuela amid reports of paramilitaries

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      State department says armed ‘colectivos’ appear to be setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for AmericansThe United States has urged its citizens to leave Venezuela immediately amid reports that armed paramilitaries are trying to track down US citizens, one week after the capture of the South American country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.In a security alert sent out on Saturday, the state department said there were reports of armed members of pro-regime militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence that the occupants were US citizens or supporters of the country. Continue reading… More

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      Why Russia’s economy is unlikely to collapse even if oil prices fall | Phillip Inman

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      Hopes that tougher sanctions and lower oil prices could derail Putin’s war effort underestimate how far the Kremlin has rewired its economyPacing inside the Kremlin last weekend, as news feeds churned out minute-by-minute reports of Donald’s Trump’s Venezuelan coup, Vladimir Putin may have been wondering what it would mean for the price of oil.Crude oil has lubricated the Russian economy for decades – far more than gas exports to Europe – and so the threat of falling oil prices, prompted by US plans for control of Venezuela’s rigs, will have been a source of concern. Continue reading… More