Chapter 1: What recent events are influencing President Trump's actions regarding Venezuela?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. President Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota. This comes after federal authorities say an ICE agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis yesterday. Authorities say the agent feared for his life.
That's what federal officials said last week when another ICE agent shot and killed a woman in the city. There have been many protests, and most of them have been peaceful in Minnesota. The Pentagon says U.S. forces have seized another tanker ship in the Caribbean. U.S. Southern Command says the oil tanker ship was under U.S. sanctions. The U.S.
military has taken several tankers that it says are able to carry sanctioned Venezuelan oil. The Pentagon says that the only oil that can leave Venezuela will be coordinated properly and lawfully. This development comes as President Trump is set to welcome Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado to the White House today. That happens more than a week after the U.S.
deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. And Piers Carey-Kahn reports Trump has also thrown his support behind Venezuela's interim leader and its existing government.
win back Trump's support, heaping praise on him in media interviews and pledging to share her Nobel Peace Prize. But Trump has signaled for now his support is solidly behind Venezuela's interim leader, Delce Rodriguez, with whom Trump says he recently had a good conversation.
Machado's political party is widely seen as the legitimate winners of the 2024 presidential election that then-leader Nicolás Maduro claimed to have won. Machado led huge protests, and according to multiple recent polls remains widely popular inside Venezuela. However, following the U.S.
military action, Trump surprisingly dismissed Machado and has diminished calls for new elections and democratic reforms. Carrie Conn, NPR News, Rio de Janeiro.
Stocks opened higher on Wall Street this morning as crude oil prices fall. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 210 points in early trading.
Mass demonstrations in Iran had briefly pushed crude oil prices higher, but those prices dropped again after President Trump signaled a possible cooling in the Iranian government's crackdown. The benchmark price for crude oil in the U.S.
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Chapter 2: How are U.S. military actions affecting oil sanctions on Venezuela?
is back below $60 a barrel. Fewer people filed new applications for unemployment benefits last week than the week before. That suggests that even though the pace of hiring has slowed down, layoffs remain relatively rare. As of late December, 2.2 million people were receiving some form of jobless assistance. Asian stocks were mixed overnight down in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, but up in Seoul.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
On Wall Street, the Dow is now up about 220 points. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, is up about 170 points. This is NPR. Ukraine's president has declared a state of emergency in the country's energy sector. Repeated Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy grid have left cities without heat and power. NPR's Joanna Kakisis says there are freezing temperatures and snow.
Writing on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said energy imports will be increased and he is considering lifting midnight curfews so people can access shelters. Kyiv is among the hardest hit areas with power outages lasting more than 12 hours at a time.
And Pierre's Joanna Kakissis reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine.
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Chapter 3: What is the current state of the economy in relation to unemployment benefits?
The two-time national champions in pairs figure skating won't be competing for the U.S. in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Italy. From member station GBH in Boston, Craig LeMoult explains.
The married couple of Elisa Afimova and Misha Mitrovanov had hoped to represent the U.S. in the Olympics. But Afimova, who has Finnish citizenship, didn't manage to get an American passport in time.
I'm very thankful that we got so far. And overall, I'm very honored to be here in the United States with an important person to me and doing the thing I really love.
While they're not headed to the Olympics, they say they're trying to focus on another major competition that's happening later this month in Beijing. Three other athletes from the skating club of Boston will compete in Milan, pair Emily Chan and Spencer Howe, and Max Nomov, whose parents were among the victims in a Washington, D.C. plane crash last January.
For NPR News, I'm Craig LeMoult in Boston.
And I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News, from Washington.
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