US envoy leaves Venezuela with six Americans after meeting Maduro

US envoy leaves Venezuela with six Americans after meeting Maduro
US President Donald Trump's Special Missions Envoy Richard Grenell (3rd R) posing on board a plane alongside six US citizens released from detention in Venezuela. (Richard Grenell/AFP)
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Updated 01 February 2025
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US envoy leaves Venezuela with six Americans after meeting Maduro

US envoy leaves Venezuela with six Americans after meeting Maduro
  • Richard Grenell met Nicolas Maduro in Caracas
  • Migration, sanctions also discussed

WASHINGTON/BOGOTA: US President Donald Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell said on Friday he was headed back to the United States with six American citizens, a surprise development after he met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.
Officials from the Trump administration had said earlier on Friday that one of Grenell’s top aims for the visit was to secure the release of Americans detained in the country, at a time when the Trump administration has been driving a deportation and anti-gang push in the United States.
Grenell did not name the six men, shown with him aboard an airplane in a photo he posted online. They were dressed in light blue outfits used by the Venezuelan prison system.
“We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens,” Grenell posted on X. “They just spoke to @realDonaldTrump and they couldn’t stop thanking him.”
Trump cheered the move in his own post, saying Grenell was bringing “six hostages home from Venezuela.”
It is unclear exactly how many Americans were being held by Venezuela, but Venezuelan officials have spoken publicly of at least nine.
Maduro’s officials have accused most of them of terrorism and said some were high-level “mercenaries.” The Venezuelan government regularly accuses members of the opposition and foreign detainees of conspiring with the US to commit terrorism. US officials have always denied any plots.
“American hostages that are being held in Venezuela ... must be released immediately,” Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US special envoy for Latin America, said earlier on Friday, adding the Grenell-Maduro meeting was “not a negotiation in exchange for anything.”
In late 2023, Venezuela’s government released dozens of prisoners, including 10 Americans, after months of negotiations, while the US released a close ally of Maduro.
Maduro told officials in an annual speech to the judiciary late on Friday evening that the meeting between him and Grenell had been positive.
“There are things where we’ve reached initial deals and when they are complied with, new issues will open, hopefully new deals for the good of the two countries and the region,” Maduro said, adding he would be looking to see if what had been discussed with Grenell was reflected in what is communicated by the US about the meeting.
“President Donald Trump, we have made a first step, hopefully it can continue,” Maduro said. “We would like it to continue.”
Maduro and Grenell also discussed migration and sanctions at the presidential palace, the Venezuelan government said in a statement earlier on Friday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier on Friday that Grenell was also focused on ensuring 400 members of the Tren de Aragua gang in US custody are returned to Venezuela.
An agreement on Tren de Aragua deportations was “non-negotiable,” Claver-Carone said.
Venezuelan attorney general Tarek Saab said last week that the gang had been dismantled in Venezuela in 2023, but that it was willing to restart legal cooperation with the US in order to extradite gang members.
Since taking power on Jan. 20, Trump has kicked off a sweeping immigration crackdown, pledging mass deportations.
Some 600,000 Venezuelans in the United States were eligible for deportation reprieves granted by the previous administration, but US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she would cut the duration of the protections. She must decide by Saturday whether to terminate them.

SANCTIONS, ELECTIONS AND OIL
Grenell’s visit does not mean the United States recognizes Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, Leavitt said.
The two countries have a fraught recent history marked by broken relations, sanctions and accusations of coup-plotting.
But they share interest in several pending bilateral issues, including a license allowing US oil major Chevron to operate in Venezuela.
The administration of former US President Joe Biden reinstated broad oil sanctions after it said Maduro failed to keep promises for a free presidential election and later increased rewards for the capture or conviction of leaders including Maduro, leaving Trump limited options for further penalties.
Maduro’s government-backed victory in the July 2024 vote is contested by the opposition, international observers and numerous countries, including the United States.
Maduro’s government has always rejected sanctions by the United States and others, saying they are illegitimate measures which amount to an “economic war” designed to cripple Venezuela.
The Financial Times reported on Friday that Chevron is trying to protect a special US license allowing it to operate in Venezuela.
Chevron chief executive Mike Wirth told the newspaper the company would engage with the White House, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the license should be reconsidered and Trump said the US would likely stop buying oil from Venezuela.


US delegation aims for Black Sea ceasefire in Ukraine, Russia talks

US delegation aims for Black Sea ceasefire in Ukraine, Russia talks
Updated 23 sec ago
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US delegation aims for Black Sea ceasefire in Ukraine, Russia talks

US delegation aims for Black Sea ceasefire in Ukraine, Russia talks
  • Talks follow meeting between US, Ukrainian officials on Sunday
  • Teams will also discuss “the line of control” between the two countries

RIYADH/KYI: A US delegation will seek progress toward a Black Sea ceasefire and a broader cessation of violence in the war in Ukraine when it meets for talks with Russian officials on Monday, after discussions with diplomats from Ukraine on Sunday.
The so-called technical talks come as US President Donald Trump intensifies his drive for a halt to Russia’s three-year-old assault against Ukraine. Last week, he spoke with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A source briefed on the planning for the talks said the US side was being led by Andrew Peek, a senior director at the White House National Security Council, and Michael Anton, a senior State Department official.
They met the Ukrainians on Sunday night and plan to sit down with the Russians on Monday.
The White House says the aim of the talks is to reach a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, allowing the free flow of shipping.
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the US, Russian and Ukrainian delegations were assembled in the same facility in Riyadh.
Beyond a Black Sea ceasefire, he said, the teams will discuss “the line of control” between the two countries, which he described as “verification measures, peacekeeping, freezing the lines where they are.” He said “confidence-building measures” are being discussed, including the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russia.

ussia will be represented by Grigory Karasin, a former diplomat who is now chair of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sergei Beseda, an adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service.
Ukraine’s defense minister, Rustem Umerov, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, said on Facebook that the US-Ukraine talks included proposals to protect energy facilities and critical infrastructure.
After Russian forces made gains in 2024, Trump reversed US policy on the war, launching bilateral talks with Moscow and suspending military assistance to Ukraine, demanding that it take steps to end the conflict.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who met Putin in Moscow in early March, played down concerns among Washington’s NATO allies that Moscow could be emboldened by a deal and invade other neighbors.
“I just don’t see that he wants to take all of Europe. This is a much different situation than it was in World War Two, Witkoff told Fox News.
“I feel that he wants peace,” Witkoff said of Putin.

Somewhat under control
Trump has long promised to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two. But his outreach to Putin has unnerved European allies, who fear it heralds a fundamental shift after 80 years in which defending Europe from Russian expansionism was the core mission of US foreign policy.
The war has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and reduced entire towns to rubble.
Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, said earlier this month he supported in principle Washington’s proposal for a truce but that his forces would fight on until several crucial conditions were worked out.
Heorhii Tykhyi, a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Friday the Ukrainian and American sides were due “to clarify the modalities, the nuances of possible different ceasefire regimes, how to monitor them, how to control them, in general, what is included in their scope.”
Last Tuesday, Putin agreed to Trump’s proposal for Russia and Ukraine to stop attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure for 30 days and ordered the Russian military to cease them.
The agreement fell short, however, of a wider agreement that the US had sought, and which Kyiv backed, for a blanket 30-day truce in the war.
Trump said on Saturday that efforts to stop further escalation in the Ukraine-Russia conflict were “somewhat under control.”
The US hopes to reach a broad ceasefire within weeks, targeting a truce agreement by April 20, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the planning.
Despite all the diplomatic activity, Russia and Ukraine have both reported continued strikes, while Russian forces have also continued to advance slowly in eastern Ukraine, a region Moscow claims to have annexed.
 


Gaza killing ‘must stop’, EU foreign policy chief says in Cairo

Gaza killing ‘must stop’, EU foreign policy chief says in Cairo
Updated 23 March 2025
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Gaza killing ‘must stop’, EU foreign policy chief says in Cairo

Gaza killing ‘must stop’, EU foreign policy chief says in Cairo
  • EU’s Kaja Kallas held a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty
  • UN said that Gaza was facing a 'nightmare' since Israel resumed military operations after a six-week ceasefire

CAIRO: The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for an end to the renewed fighting in Gaza during a stop in Egypt, before setting off for Israel and the Palestinian territories to press for resumption of a Gaza truce.
Israel on Tuesday resumed intense air strikes in the Gaza Strip, followed by ground operations, after negotiations with Hamas militants stalled over the next stage in the ceasefire.
“We strongly oppose Israel’s resumption of hostilities, which caused appalling loss of life in Gaza. The killing must stop. In a new war, both sides lose,” the EU’s Kaja Kallas said in Cairo during a press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
“From the European side, it is very clear that Hamas must release all hostages and Israel must fully reinstate humanitarian aid into Gaza and negotiations must resume.”
Kallas’ team later confirmed she had departed Egypt and arrived in Israel.
During talks there and the Palestinian territories on Monday she is expected to “call for an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement,” her office said.
Kallas will also refer to “the importance of unimpeded access and sustained distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale into and throughout Gaza,” it said.
The United Nations said on Friday that Gaza was facing a “nightmare” since Israel resumed military operations after a six-week ceasefire.
Aid workers warned of a desperate situation that had been made worse by Israel’s decision earlier this month to cut off aid and electricity to Gaza over the deadlock in negotiations on the next phase of the ceasefire.
Kallas was due to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and opposition leader Yair Lapid.
She will not meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant “for crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
In the occupied West Bank, Kallas will hold talks with Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Mohammad Mustafa, her office said.
Israel and the United States have sought in recent weeks to change the terms of the ceasefire deal.
Hamas, which runs Gaza, has rejected this as a violation of the agreement all parties signed.
The first phase of the truce had enabled the entry of vital food, shelter and medical assistance, and an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
On October 7, 2023, fighters from Hamas launched a cross-border attack in Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s ensuing bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza has killed at least 50,021 people in the territory, the Gaza health ministry said on Sunday.
The United Nations considers its figures to be reliable.


Al-Shabab attack on Kenyan police station kills 6

Police officers in action during an operation in Nairobi. (AFP file photo)
Police officers in action during an operation in Nairobi. (AFP file photo)
Updated 23 March 2025
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Al-Shabab attack on Kenyan police station kills 6

Police officers in action during an operation in Nairobi. (AFP file photo)
  • Terrorists have been fighting for years to overthrow the country’s central government

NAIROBI: At least six police personnel were killed in Kenya while four were injured in an attack on a police camp by suspected militants in Garissa county in the country’s east on the border with Somalia, police said.

The assault which occurred on Sunday was carried out by suspected fighters from Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-allied Al-Shabab group, said a police report sent out to the media.
Al-Shabab frequently carries out cross-border attacks in the area against both military and civilian targets.

FASTFACTS

• Al-Shabab frequently carries out cross-border attacks in the area against both military and civilian ets.

• Militants attacked a c amp housing police reservists and ‘used assorted weapons to overrun the camp,’ the report said.

• Six fatalities have been confirmed with four injured and in hospital.

Attackers from the group launched an assault around dawn on a camp housing police reservists and “used assorted weapons to overrun the camp,” the report said.
“Six fatalities have been confirmed with four (4) injured and in hospital.”
On Tuesday, the US Embassy issued an advisory, telling Americans not to travel to some places in Kenya including Garissa and other counties along the border with Somalia due to threats of terrorism.
Al-Shabab has been fighting for years to overthrow Somalia’s central government and establish its own rule in the Horn of Africa country.
Elsewhere, militants killed at least 44 civilians and severely injured 13 others during an attack on a mosque in southwest Niger, the country’s Defense Ministry said.
The attack occurred on Friday during afternoon prayers in the village of Fombita in the rural commune of Kokorou, which is near the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali known as the epicenter of an insurgency in West Africa linked to Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
The Defense Ministry blamed the attack on the EIGS group, a Daesh affiliate.
Militants encircled a mosque, where people had gathered for prayers and carried out a “massacre of rare cruelty,” it said.
The attackers then set fire to a market and houses before retreating, the ministry said.
Troops deployed to the scene provided a provisional death toll of 44 civilians, with 13 severely injured. Three days of national mourning have been declared.
The insurgency in West Africa’s Sahel region started when militants took over territory in north Mali after a 2012 Tuareg rebellion.
It has since spread into neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, and more recently into the north of coastal West African countries such as Togo and Ghana.
Hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions displaced as militants have gained groups, attacking towns, villages, military and police posts and army convoys.
The failure of governments to restore security contributed to two coups in Mali, two in Burkina Faso and one in Niger between 2020 and 2023. All three remain under military rule despite regional and international pressure to hold elections.
Since the coups, authorities have turned away from traditional Western allies and sought military support from Russia instead.

 


Pope Francis returns to Vatican after five weeks in hospital

Pope Francis returns to Vatican  after five weeks in hospital
Updated 23 March 2025
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Pope Francis returns to Vatican after five weeks in hospital

Pope Francis returns to Vatican  after five weeks in hospital
  • Though the pope has returned from hospital, his doctors have said it would still take “a lot of time” for his aging body to heal fully

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Sunday after surviving a five-week battle in hospital against double pneumonia that became the most serious health crisis of his 12-year papacy.

The 88-year-old pope, who also made his first public appearance since Feb. 14 before being discharged from Rome’s Gemelli hospital, left the facility shortly after noon.

A car carrying the pontiff was accompanied by police vehicles through Rome, making a short detour to take flowers to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, a church to which Francis has a special devotion and visits frequently.

Though the pope has returned from hospital, his doctors have said it would still take “a lot of time” for his aging body to heal fully.

They have prescribed a further two months of rest at the Vatican and told him to avoid large or stressful meetings, leaving unclear how much activity Francis will undertake in the coming months.

Just before leaving the hospital on Sunday, Francis smiled and waved at a group of well-wishers gathered outside. He used a wheelchair, as he has done for several years.

His face looked swollen and there were bandages visible on both arms underneath his white cassock during the appearance, which lasted only a few moments.

He spoke briefly, with a feeble voice, to thank 79-year-old Carmela Vittoria Mancuso in the crowd below. Mancuso, who visited the hospital each day during the pope’s treatment, had brought yellow flowers for him. She said afterwards that her heart “was bursting” when the pope noticed her.

Francis had only been seen by the public once before during his hospital stay, in a photo the Vatican released last week, showing the pontiff at prayer in a hospital chapel.

The pope, who has been receiving oxygen to help him breathe throughout his hospital stay, was breathing on his own during the public appearance. But he was seen using a small hose under his nose for oxygen while traveling in his car.

In the moments before the pontiff’s appearance on Sunday, the crowd of hundreds of well-wishers called out for him, chanting “Francis, Francis, Francis.”


Fears grow for British couple held by Taliban as trial delayed

Fears grow for British couple held by Taliban as trial delayed
Updated 24 March 2025
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Fears grow for British couple held by Taliban as trial delayed

Fears grow for British couple held by Taliban as trial delayed
  • Peter Reynolds, 79, wife Barbie, 75, have lived in Afghanistan more than 18 years 

LONDON: The family of a British couple fears for their health after their trial in Afghanistan was abruptly delayed, it was reported on Sunday.

Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, who have lived in Afghanistan for more than 18 years and have become Afghan citizens, were arrested in February while traveling to their home in Bamyan Province.

The couple had been presented in chains at a Kabul court on Saturday but were informed “at the last minute” that their judge had been changed, delaying proceedings.

Their daughter Sarah Entwistle told The Guardian the conditions in their maximum-security prison were “brutal” and “what I imagine hell is like.”

Entwistle highlighted the severe deterioration of her parents’ health, saying: “Mum’s health is rapidly deteriorating, and she is collapsing due to malnutrition. She and the other women are provided only one meal a day, while the men receive three.”

She also expressed concern for her father, adding: “Dad’s health is also still declining, and he’s experiencing tremors in his head and left arm.”

She said that at court “they spent four hours sitting on the floor, chained to other prisoners, before being returned to the prison.”

She added: “At the last minute they were informed that they would not be seen by the judge. The guards indicated that a different judge would now be handling the case, and we continue to hope they will receive a fair hearing in the coming week.”

Mrs. Reynolds struggled to climb the four staircases to the courtroom, and Entwistle said: “There are still no charges against them, and no evidence of any crime has been submitted.

“We are, of course, devastated by this delay. It makes little sense, especially given that the Taliban have repeatedly stated that this situation is due to misunderstandings, and that they will be released soon.”

The couple, who married in Afghanistan in 1970, remained in the country following the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, saying they “couldn’t leave the country and the people they love, in their darkest hour.” They were arrested alongside an American friend, Faye Hall, and their Afghan translator, Juya.

Mr. Reynolds has reportedly suffered beatings and is in immense pain. Entwistle said: “His health has significantly deteriorated. We hear he now has a chest infection, a double eye infection, and serious digestive issues due to poor nutrition. Without immediate access to necessary medication his life is in serious danger.”

Appealing for their release, she urged the Taliban to show mercy, adding: “Again, we ask the Taliban to release Dad, Mum, Faye, and the interpreter as a gesture of goodwill during this season of Ramadan.”