MIAMI: US President Donald Trump on Monday urged Venezuela’s military to accept opposition leader Juan Guaido’s amnesty offer, or stand to “lose everything,” as a crisis deepened over President Nicolas Maduro’s refusal to let in desperately needed humanitarian aid.
Bringing in humanitarian aid is crucial to the viability of Guaido, who has denounced Maduro’s re-election last year as fraudulent and in January declared himself interim president, a move recognized by some 50 countries.
He has given the Maduro government until Saturday to let shipments of mainly US aid into the country, which is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis due to shortages of food and medicine exacerbated by hyperinflation.
Addressing supporters and Venezuelan expatriates in Miami, Trump said he had a message for officials helping keep Maduro in place.
“The eyes of the entire world are upon you today, every day and every day in the future.
“You cannot hide from the choice that now confronts you. You can choose to accept president Guaido’s generous offer of amnesty to live your life in peace with your families and your countrymen.
“Or you can choose the second path: continuing to support Maduro. If you choose this path, you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything.”
Guaido has set a target of signing up to a million volunteers to help bring in the aid, with 600,000 already registered.
“On February 23, we have the opportunity to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans,” he said.
Maduro countered with his own announcement of 300 tons of aid from Russia, which he said would reach Venezuela by Wednesday — three days ahead of a potential showdown brought about by his February 23 deadline.
Speaking at an official event broadcast on TV, Maduro said the shipment contained “high-value medicine.”
Maduro has previously announced the arrival of aid from China, Cuba and Russia, his main international allies.
Earlier, opposition officials hit out at state Internet provider CANTV for blocking the website where volunteers are signing up to help bring in the US aid stockpiled in Colombia just over the border from Venezuela.
A second aid collection center is due to begin operations in Brazil’s northeastern state of Roraima, which borders Venezuela. But there is much uncertainty over the aid in Brazil, with officials there saying they have no information at this point.
Military officials in Roraima said they had yet to receive orders, although a collection center could be set up quickly, with some businesses having already provided warehouses to that effect.
A third center is due to open this week on the Dutch island of Curacao, off Venezuela’s north coast.
The humanitarian aid standoff is due to come to a head this weekend, when caravans of buses are set to carry volunteers to border entry points to meet and transport arriving cargo.
It is unclear how Guaido will overcome the border barriers put up by the Venezuelan military, on Maduro’s orders.
Volunteer groups have begun meeting in “humanitarian camps” in several Venezuelan states to organize and prepare for the arrival of the aid to alleviate hardship from an imploding economy has driven an estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans to migrate from the oil-rich country.
Maduro, who denies the existence of a humanitarian crisis, dismisses the opposition moves as a “political show” and a cover for a US invasion.
“Whoever prevents the entry of humanitarian aid is condemned to spend the rest of their lives fleeing international justice, because that is an international crime,” US Senator Marco Rubio said as he toured the Colombian collection center in Cucuta on Sunday.
Three US military cargo planes delivered several dozen tons of food assistance to Cucuta on Saturday. Another US aircraft is due in Curacao from Miami on Tuesday.
Guaido has ordered the armed forces to let the aid pass, but they remain loyal to Maduro, who has instructed his army to prepare a “special deployment plan” for the 2,200-kilometer (1,370-mile) border with Colombia.
Maduro has dismissed the humanitarian assistance as “crumbs” and “rotten and contaminated food,” while blaming shortages of food and medicine on US sanctions.
The government also said Monday it will stage a concert on the Colombian border the same day Richard Branson has said he will hold one just over the frontier to push for aid to be allowed in. This will unfold on February 22-23.
Trump urges Venezuela military to back Guaido or ‘lose everything’
Trump urges Venezuela military to back Guaido or ‘lose everything’
- ‘The eyes of the entire world are upon you today, every day and every day in the future’
- ‘You cannot hide from the choice that now confronts you’
Pope Francis hurts his right arm after falling for the second time in just over a month
- Francis didn’t break his arm, but a sling was put on as a precaution
- On Dec. 7, the pope whacked his chin on his nightstand in an apparent fall
ROME: Pope Francis fell Thursday and hurt his right arm, the Vatican said, just weeks after another apparent fall resulted in a bad bruise on his chin.
Francis didn’t break his arm, but a sling was put on as a precaution, the Vatican spokesman said in a statement
On Dec. 7, the pope whacked his chin on his nightstand in an apparent fall that resulted in a bad bruise.
The 88-year-old pope, who has battled health problems including long bouts of bronchitis, often has to use a wheelchair because of bad knees. He uses a walker or cane when moving around his apartment in the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel.
The Vatican said that Thursday’s fall also occurred at Santa Marta, and the pope was later seen in audiences with his right arm in a sling. At one of the meetings, Francis apologetically offered his left hand for a handshake when he greeted the head of the UN fund for agricultural development, Alvaro Lario.
“This morning, due to a fall at the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis suffered a contusion to his right forearm, without fracture. The arm was immobilized as a precautionary measure,” the statement said.
Speculation about Francis’ health is a constant in Vatican circles, especially after Pope Benedict XVI broke 600 years of tradition and resigned from the papacy in 2013. Benedict’s aides have attributed the decision to a nighttime fall that he suffered during a 2012 trip to Mexico, after which he determined he couldn’t keep up with the globe-trotting demands of the papacy.
Francis has said that he has no plans to resign anytime soon, even if Benedict “opened the door” to the possibility. In his autobiography “Hope” released this week, Francis said that he hadn’t considered resigning even when he had major intestinal surgery.
WHO appeals for $1.5 billion to tackle ‘unprecedented’ global health crisis
- The UN health agency estimated that health crises would leave 305 million people in need
- “WHO is seeking $1.5 billion to support our life-saving work for the emergencies,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said
GENEVA: The World Health Organization appealed Thursday for $1.5 billion for emergency operations this year, warning that conflict, climate change, epidemics and displacement had converged to create an “unprecedented global health crisis.”
The UN health agency estimated that health crises would leave 305 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance this year.
“WHO is seeking $1.5 billion to support our life-saving work for the emergencies we know about and to react swiftly to new crises,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as he launched the appeal.
The agency’s emergency request, which was for the same amount as last year’s ask, outlined the critical priorities and resources needed to address 42 ongoing health emergencies.
“Conflicts, outbreaks, climate-related disasters and other health emergencies are no longer isolated or occasional — they are relentless, overlapping and intensifying,” Tedros said in a statement.
He pointed to the emergency health assistance provided in conflict zones ranging from the occupied Palestinian territories to the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sudan, as well as its work conducting vaccination campaigns, treating malnutrition and helping control outbreaks of diseases like cholera.
“Without adequate and sustainable funding, we face the impossible task of deciding who will receive care and who will not this year,” Tedros said at Thursday’s event.
“Your support helps to ensure that WHO remains a lifeline, bridging the gap between sickness and health, despair and hope, life and death for millions of people worldwide.”
Dozens of migrants may have drowned in attempt to cross to Spain, NGO says
- Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people on Wednesday from a boat that had left Mauritania
- Forty-four of those presumed to have drowned were from Pakistan, Walking Borders CEO Helena Maleno said on X
MADRID: As many as 50 migrants, many of them Pakistanis, may have drowned in the latest deadly wreck involving people trying to make the crossing from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, migrant rights group Walking Borders said on Thursday.
Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people on Wednesday from a boat that had left Mauritania on Jan. 2 with 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis, on board, the group said.
Forty-four of those presumed to have drowned were from Pakistan, Walking Borders CEO Helena Maleno said on X.
“They spent 13 days of anguish on the crossing without anyone coming to rescue them,” she said.
The boat capsized off the coast of the disputed region of Western Sahara and several of the survivors, which included some Pakistanis, were taken to a camp near the port of Dakhla, Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a post on X.
Pakistan said the boat was carrying 80 passengers.
Asked about what warnings it had received from NGOs regarding a missing boat, Spain’s maritime rescue service said it had learned on Jan. 10 about a vessel that had left Nouakchott in Mauritania and was experiencing problems but it could not confirm if it was the same boat.
The service said it had carried out air searches without success and had warned nearby ships.
Walking Borders said it had alerted authorities from all countries involved six days ago about the missing boat. Alarm Phone, an NGO that provides an emergency phone line for migrants lost at sea, also said it had alerted Spain’s maritime rescue service on Jan. 12 about a boat in distress.
A record 10,457 migrants, or 30 people a day, died trying to reach Spain in 2024, most while attempting to cross the Atlantic route from West African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary islands, according to Walking Borders.
Citing the Walking Borders’ post on X, the Canary Islands’ regional leader Fernando Clavijo expressed his sorrow for the victims of the latest wreck and urged Spain and Europe to act to prevent further tragedies.
“The Atlantic cannot continue to be the graveyard of Africa,” Clavijo said on X. “They cannot continue to turn their backs on this humanitarian drama.”
Albania approves luxury resort project linked to Jared Kushner’s company
- The committee said the project complied with legislation on strategic investment
- Last year, Kushner announced plans to build a tourist resort in Zvernec in southern Albania
TIRANA: Albania’s government has granted strategic investor status to a company linked to Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to build a luxury resort on an uninhabited Mediterranean island that was once a military outpost.
The Balkan country’s Strategic Investment Committee, headed by Prime Minister Edi Rama, on Dec. 30 accepted a proposal by Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC for the 45-hectare project on the small island of Sazan, involving a planned investment of 1.4 billion euros ($1.4 billion).
In the written decision, seen by Reuters on Thursday, the committee said the project complied with legislation on strategic investment and on the number of jobs required by the legislation, saying it would employ an estimated 1,000 people.
Under the law, the granting of strategic investment status allows companies to implement an investment project that is deemed strategic as part of a strategic sector of the economy such as tourism.
“The form of the state’s participation in this investment will be realized through the establishment of a joint legal entity,” the committee said, adding that it would include the state-run Albanian Investment Corporation.
Reuters could not immediately reach Atlantic Incubation Partners for comment.
Last year, Kushner announced plans to build a tourist resort in Zvernec in southern Albania as part of a wider investment by his Affinity Partners in the Balkans that also includes the project on Sazan, off the Albanian coast, and a project in a former army headquarters in the Serbian capital Belgrade.
Kushner, who served as a top aide to Trump during his father-in-law’s first term as US president, set up the investment firm in 2021. Trump is due to be inaugurated for a second term on Tuesday.
The projects could boost local economies by enticing visitors, but the company faces opposition from critics who say they will harm the environment or, in the case of Belgrade, threaten sites of cultural significance.
Pakistan ex-PM Khan’s party holds talks with government ahead of ruling in graft case
- The verdict in the graft case due on Friday is the largest that Khan faces in terms of financial impropriety
- The case is linked to the Al-Qadir Trust that Khan and his wife set up while he was in office
ISLAMABAD: The party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday held formal reconciliatory talks with the government, aimed at cooling political instability in the 241-million South Asian nation, both sides said.
The talks come a day ahead of a crucial court ruling in a land corruption case against the 72-year-old former cricket star-turned-politician.
The verdict in the graft case due on Friday is the largest that Khan faces in terms of financial impropriety, involving possible bribes of land in return for a 190-million-British-pound favor to a real estate tycoon.
The case is linked to the Al-Qadir Trust that Khan and his wife set up while he was in office. Prosecutors say it was a front for Khan to receive land as a bribe from a real estate developer. Khan’s party says the land was not for personal gain but was a spiritual educational institution.
Khan’s removal from office in 2022 stoked the instability, which has worsened with his party leading violent protests to urge his release, and threatens an economic recovery under a $7 billion IMF bailout.
“We have presented our demands to the government,” Khan’s aide Omar Ayub, who is leading his side in the talks, told reporters. The government agreed to party leaders’ meeting with Khan in jail, which should be done without any monitoring, he said.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s demands mainly include setting up two judicial commissions to probe into the events which led to his arrest in August 2023, and the violent protest rallies, including one on May 9, 2023, when his supporters rampaged through military offices and installations.
Speaker of the parliament Ayaz Sadiq who is facilitating both the parties said he had received the PTI’s list of demands.
“We will respond to the demands within seven working days,” said Iran Siddique, lead negotiator from the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
