Venezuela’s Maduro takes new oath amid protests and international rebuke

Venezuela’s legislative palace, where President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in to a third term, was heavily guarded. Crowds of people, many sporting pro-Maduro T-shirts, gathered nearby, a day after hundreds of anti-Maduro protesters took to the streets of the capital.

Venezuela’s opposition leader defies Maduro to lead protests that end in confusing arrest claims

Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado’s aides said she was detained Thursday, followed moments later by official denials of her arrest, in a confusing episode that capped a day of protests seeking to block President Nicolás Maduro from clinging to power.

Guyana to seek help from UN’s top court as Venezuela vies for control of disputed territory

Guyana said Thursday that it will seek help from the United Nations’ top court to deter plans by neighboring Venezuela to elect a governor to rule its western Essequibo region, an area rich in resources long claimed by Venezuela as its own.

More Americans jailed in Venezuela pose a test of Trump’s deal-making foreign policy

As many as 10 Americans are behind bars in Venezuela as President Nicolas Maduro prepares to be sworn in for a third term. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped several architects of the “maximum pressure” campaign against Maduro he pursued during his first term, but it’s not clear whether he’ll pursue the same approach this time.

Trump threats shape Canada’s succession race before it has really begun

The race to be Canada’s next prime minister is still at the starting line and Donald Trump has already cast a shadow over it.

Trump says he will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico

President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would move to try to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” a name he said has a “beautiful ring to it.”

The UN says more than 5,600 people were killed in Haiti last year as gangs rampage

The number of killings increased by more than 20% compared with all of 2023, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. In addition, more than 2,200 people were reported injured and nearly 1,500 kidnapped, it said.

Military police, soldiers from Guatemala, El Salvador arrive in Haiti to help fight gangs

The first fighting contingents of soldiers and military policemen from Latin America arrived in Port-au-Prince on Friday to join the armed international security mission in the country’s fight against terrorizing gangs.

Brazilian miner boosts rare earths output in challenge to China’s grip

Ricardo Grossi, the CEO of Brazil’s Serra Verde Group, sees a chance for the company to become an alternative supplier to the West for critical minerals, especially if China expands export controls against the U.S. to more metals.

Leaked documents show Cuban military sitting on billions of dollars amid humanitarian crisis

Even as Cubans have been dying because of shortages of medicines and supplies at hospitals, and the government claims it doesn’t have the money to buy them due to U.S. sanctions, companies run by Cuba’s military have stashed away billions of dollars, according to financial records obtained by the Miami Herald.