A residential building burns after a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)2026-01-09T03:58:19Z Russia said Friday it has used the new Oreshnik ballistic missile along with other weapons in a massive strike on Ukraine.Ukrainian officials said four people were killed and at least 22 wounded in the capital overnight. Russia didnt say where Oreshnik hit, but Russian media and military bloggers said it targeted a huge underground natural gas storage in Ukraines western Lviv region.Russias Defense Ministry said the attack was a retaliation to what Moscow said was a Ukrainian drone strike on Russian President Vladimir Putins residence last month. Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump have rejected the Russian claim of the attack on Putins residence.Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said that Russia struck critical infrastructure with a ballistic missile, but didnt give details. He said the missile traveled at a speed of 13,000 kilometers (more than 8,000 miles) per hour, and that the specific type of rocket was being investigated. Russia first tested the Oreshnik Russian for hazelnut tree to strike a Ukrainian factory in November 2024. Putin has bragged that Oreshniks multiple warheads plunge at speeds of up to Mach 10 and cant be intercepted, and that several of them used in a conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack. Oreshnik can also carry nuclear weapons. The Russian leader has warned the West that Russia could use the Oreshnik next against allies of Kyiv that allowed it to strike inside Russia with their longer-range missiles. After the overnight strike on Ukraines capital, those killed included an emergency medical aid worker, said Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. Five rescue workers sustained injuries while responding to the site of ongoing attacks, said Ukraines security service.Several districts in Kyiv were hit in the attack, said Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. In the Desnyanskyi district a drone crashed onto the roof of a multi-story building. At another address in the same district the first two floors of a residential building were damaged. In Dnipro district, parts of a drone damaged a multistory building and a fire broke out.Running water and electricity were disrupted in parts of the capital as a result of the attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. The attack took place just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alerted the nation about Russias intentions for a large-scale offensive. He said that Russia aimed to take advantage of the frigid weather in the capital, making roads and streets perilously icy.

Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence hearing, Thursday , Dec. 18, 2025, in New York. (Shannon Stapleton/Pool Photo via AP)2026-01-09T05:00:09Z NEW YORK (AP) Luigi Mangione is due in federal court Friday for a pivotal hearing in his fight to bar the government from seeking the death penalty against him in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.Mangiones lawyers contend that authorities prejudiced his case by turning his December 2024 arrest into a Marvel movie spectacle and by publicly declaring their desire to see him executed even before he was formally indicted.If that doesnt work, they argue, the charge that has enabled the government to seek the death penalty murder by firearm should be thrown out because it is legally flawed.Federal prosecutors say Mangiones lawyers are wrong, countering that the murder charge is legally sufficient and that pretrial publicity, even when intense is hardly a constitutional crisis. Any concerns about public perceptions can be alleviated by carefully questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case, prosecutors wrote in a court filing. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges, which carry the possibility of life in prison.Fridays hearing, Mangiones first trip to Manhattan federal court since his April 25 arraignment, is also expected to cover the defenses bid to exclude certain evidence. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett has said she also plans to set a trial date. A cause clbre for people upset with the health insurance industry, Mangiones court appearances have draw dozens of supporters, some of whom wear green clothing or carry signs expressing solidarity with him. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on Mangiones lawyers have asked the judge to bar the government from using certain items found in a backpack during his arrest, arguing that the search was illegal because police had not yet obtained a warrant. Those items include a gun that police said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which he purportedly described his intent to wack a health insurance executive. One big question is whether Garnett will need to hold a separate hearing on the evidence issue like one last month that took three weeks in Mangiones parallel state murder case.Mangiones lawyers want one. Prosecutors dont. They contend police were justified in searching the backpack to make sure there were no dangerous items and that the gun, notebook and other evidence would have eventually been found anyway.Thompson, 50, was killed Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Groups annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say delay, deny and depose were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.Mangione, 27, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.Hes already had success paring down his state case. In September, a judge threw out state terrorism charges against him. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced last year that she was directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, declaring that capital punishment was warranted for a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.Mangiones lawyers argue that Bondis announcement, which she followed with Instagram posts and a TV appearance, showed the decision was based on politics, not merit. Her remarks tainted the grand jury process that resulted in his indictment a few weeks later, they said.Bondis statements and other official actions, including a choreographed perp walk in which armed officers led Mangione from a Manhattan pier, have violated Mr. Mangiones constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case, his lawyers said.On Wednesday, federal prosecutors pushed back on what they said were the defenses meritless and misleading claims that Bondis decision was tainted by her past work as a lobbyist for a firm whose clients include UnitedHealthcares parent company. MICHAEL R. SISAK Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement, courts and prisons. He is based in New York. twitter mailto

Officers shot the driver of a BMW that had been involved in a motor vehicle incident after he drew an imitation firearm, the police said.

Nature, Published online: 09 January 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-04112-2Chatbots put through psychotherapy report trauma and abuse. Authors say models are doing more than role play, but researchers are sceptical.

In late 2024, Nimrod Shimrony, an emergency medical technician for the New York City Fire Department, tried to end his life. After completing an intensive outpatient treatment program, he and his wife searched for a therapist for months.Valeria Caldern, a special education teacher with New York Citys public school system, suffered a miscarriage that same year. Before she tried to have a baby again, she sought help with the depression and anxiety she had been struggling with. She called more than a dozen therapists.The therapists Shimrony and Caldern contacted were listed in their insurance plans provider directory, meaning they were supposedly in-network and the fees associated with visiting them would be lower. Given the number of names listed, there should have been lots of options. But Shimrony and Caldern couldnt find any in-network provider who would see them.It blows my mind that I couldnt find a therapist through the directory, Shimrony said. It was impossible.I was hanging on by a thread, said Caldern, who eventually paid more for an out-of-network provider. Theres only so much you can vent to your family about and only so much support that they can do.Shimrony and Caldern are among the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last week against EmblemHealth, which offers the most popular health plan for New York City employees.The city employees allege that extensive errors in EmblemHealths directory left them with a deceptive and misleading impression about the size of the insurers provider network. The employees were forced to delay care, forgo treatment or seek help from costlier out-of-network providers, said the lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status.Valeria Caldern, a special education teacher in New York Citys school system, struggled to find an in-network mental health provider. Sarah Blesener for ProPublicaHealth insurers rarely face consequences for errors in their provider directories that make it difficult for many consumers to find in-network mental health care. ProPublicas 2024 series, Americas Mental Barrier, examined the harms that patients face from so-called ghost networks. The series, which is cited in the lawsuit, also detailed the many ways that insurers have prompted mental health providers to quit accepting insurance.Many insurers overseeing ghost networks have faced only small and sporadic fines from regulators, and patients often have limited legal recourse against them because of restrictions on the damages that typically can be recouped under federal law.But there are health plans, such as ones local governments offer to employees or that some individuals buy through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, that arent covered by the federal law that restricts damages. Damages levied against those plans in lawsuits can be more substantial. Thats the basis for the current suit.We hope this case can use state consumer protection laws to better advocate for plan members, said Sara Haviva Mark, an attorney representing the city employees.ProPublica sent EmblemHealth a list of questions about the lawsuit. Shimrony and Caldern also signed documents waiving their rights to privacy so the insurer could answer questions. We dont comment on pending litigation, a spokesperson for EmblemHealth wrote in an email.Attorneys have filed lawsuits similar to the New York one in at least two other states against insurers such as Kaiser Permanente and Molina. Last spring, the mother of an Arizona man who died after being unable to find mental health treatment sued his plan, which was overseen by Centene, saying it broke the law by publishing false information that misled its customers. (ProPublica had chronicled the mans struggles to find mental health care.) Those lawsuits are still ongoing and the insurers in those cases have disputed the allegations.This past fall, health insurers overseen by Centene agreed to a $40 million settlement over a similar lawsuit that had been filed by San Diegos city attorney. A spokesperson for Centene did not respond to ProPublicas request for comment.The New York lawsuit was also filed on behalf of the American Psychiatric Association, which alleged that some of its 39,000 members had been listed in EmblemHealths directory without their consent. It also claimed that those listings artificially inflate[d] its provider network at psychiatrists expense. The lawsuit claims that the directory contained many duplicate listings, with one psychiatrist listed 29 times.The directory errors increased the chances that its psychiatrists reputations could be damaged, the lawsuit said. Thats because customers reaching out for appointments couldnt actually get care and could post negative reviews.What we do is based on trust, said Dr. Robert Trestman, a leading ghost networks expert for the association. So when our name appears in a listing that says you can get care, and then they call us, and we say, Sorry, not taking new patients, it has a really negative impact.Caldern at her apartment in Queens. After suffering a miscarriage in early 2024, I was hanging on by a thread, she said. Sarah Blesener for ProPublicaThe insurance industrys top trade group, AHIP, has told lawmakers that its members take steps to keep their directories accurate. AHIP claims errors could be fixed faster if providers better updated listings after they move or retire. Mental health experts have disputed that point: They say that insurers dont always remove listings even after providers formally drop out of a network.EmblemHealth covers more than 3 million people in New York and in neighboring states. New York city employees have been offered numerous options for health plans as part of their employment. But in recent years, roughly 3 out of every 5 city employees chose an EmblemHealth plan in which the premium was fully covered by the city. That plan was replaced by another one from EmblemHealth and UnitedHealthcare at the beginning of 2026.The employees had expected to pay $15 or less to see an in-network mental health provider under the old plan, according to the lawsuit. All they had to do was find one in the companys directory.But, according to the lawsuit, some employees using the directory were unable to find an in-network provider willing to take their insurance. Some providers in the directory had long waitlists and many had incorrect contact information, which the insurer is supposed to check. Others no longer accepted EmblemHealth, and a few never had accepted it.The plaintiffs claims follow a series of practices by EmblemHealth and the companies that merged over the years to form it that have come under scrutiny from state officials.In 2010, the New York state attorney generals office found that Group Health Inc., one of the insurers that merged into EmblemHealth, had failed to maintain an accurate directory. As part of a settlement, Group Health Inc. was supposed to confirm each year that the listed providers were still in the network and to correct inaccurate listings.In 2014, the attorney generals office reached a separate settlement with EmblemHealth after it found that the insurer improperly denied coverage of treatment for mental health and substance use disorders. EmblemHealth agreed to change some of its practices to reduce barriers to getting those treatments. At the time of the settlement, an EmblemHealth spokesperson said in a statement that the insurer was working to improve the management of behavioral services.And in 2023, the attorney generals office published a report that found that EmblemHealth and another dozen insurers had failed to keep their listings of mental health providers free of extensive errors. The offices staff had contacted a sample of doctors nearly 400 providers listed in the 13 insurers directories and the vast majority of them were unreachable, not in-network, or not accepting new patients, the report said. In EmblemHealths directory, the report found, 82% of the providers that were called were not available for an appointment.The report called on health plans to conduct routine checks of its directories to ensure the listings were accurate. It also recommended that the states insurance regulator vigorously enforce the law and fine insurers over violations.When ProPublica previously reached out to New Yorks insurance regulator, a spokesperson couldnt point to a single fine related to a ghost network. Last year, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a new regulation to eliminate so-called ghost networks. But the states insurance regulator, which publishes enforcement actions on its website, hasnt posted any notice of fines against EmblemHealth or other health insurers for inaccurate provider directories since then.ProPublica asked the states insurance regulator if there had been any fines against health insurers for inaccurate provider directories since the 2024 story. The regulator did not answer our questions.The post They Couldnt Access Mental Health Care When They Needed It. Now Theyre Suing Their Insurer. appeared first on ProPublica.

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Maintenance technician Liz Cardenas replaces a conveyor belt roller at a training area in a Walmart distribution center Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Bentonville, Ark. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)2026-01-09T05:01:36Z WASHINGTON (AP) Hiring likely remained subdued last month as many companies have sought to avoid expanding their workforces, though the job gains may be enough to bring down the unemployment rate. Decembers jobs report, to be released Friday, is likely to show that employers added a modest 55,000 jobs, economists forecast. That figure would be below Novembers 64,000 but an improvement after the economy lost jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to slip to 4.5%, according to data provider FactSet, from a four-year high of 4.6% in November. The figures will be closely watched on Wall Street and in Washington because they will be the first clean readings on the labor market in three months. The government didnt issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and Novembers data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12. Another wrinkle: The economy lost 105,000 jobs in October, mostly because federal government employment fell 162,000, reflecting a purge of federal workers earlier last year by Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency. That drop wont be repeated. Still, sluggish hiring in December would underscore a key conundrum surrounding the economy as it enters 2026: Growth has picked up to healthy levels, yet hiring has weakened noticeably and the unemployment rate has increased in the last four jobs reports. Most economists expect hiring will accelerate this year as growth remains solid. Yet they acknowledge there are other possibilities: Weak job gains could drag down future growth. Or the economy could keep expanding at a healthy clip, while automation and the spread of artificial intelligence reduces the need for more jobs. Economists do expect Fridays jobs report to have some good news, driven partly by a rebound from the government shutdown, which likely drove a higher unemployment rate in November. Still, should the rate remain at 4.6% or even tick higher, that would be a cause for concern. Im really looking for a lot of that weakness to reverse in December, said Martha Gimbel, executive director of the Yale Budget Lab, and if it doesnt, I am going to start getting much iffier about the labor market.Either way, Decembers report will cap a year of sluggish hiring, particularly after liberation day in April when President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries, though many were later delayed or softened. The economy generated an average of 111,000 jobs a month in the first three months of the year. But that pace dropped to just 11,000 in the three months ended in August, before rebounding slightly to 22,000 in November. Even those figures are likely to be revised lower in February, when the government completes an annual benchmarking of the jobs figures to an actual count of jobs derived from companies unemployment insurance filings. A preliminary estimate of that revision showed it could reduce total jobs as of March 2025 by 911,000. And last month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the government could still be overstating job gains by about 60,000 a month because of shortcomings in how it accounts for new companies as well as those that have gone out of business. The Labor Department is expected to update those methods in its report next month. Last November, the U.S. economy had just 770,000 more jobs than 12 months earlier, down from 1.9 million in the 12 months ending in November 2024 and the smallest yearly gain since early 2021. The benchmark revisions next month will likely reduce that figure even further. With hiring so weak, the Federal Reserve cut its key short-term interest rate three times late last year, in an effort to boost borrowing, spending, and hiring. Yet Powell signaled that the central bank may keep its rate unchanged in the coming months as it evaluates how the economy evolves. Should Decembers jobs report come in surprisingly weak, it could strengthen case for a rate reduction at the Feds next meeting Jan. 27-28. Even with such sluggish job gains, the economy has continued to expand, with growth reaching a 4.3% annual rate in last years July-September quarter, the best in two years. Strong consumer spending helped drive the gain. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecasts that growth could slow to a still-solid 2.7% in the final three months of last year. Many economists are optimistic that growth will pick up in 2026, in part because Trumps tax legislation, approved last summer, should lead to outsize tax refunds this spring. If growth does accelerate, its possible hiring may as well. At the same time, there are signs that companies are using technology and other tools to make their workers more efficient, which can spur growth without requiring more jobs. At the same time, inflation remains elevated, eroding the value of Americans paychecks. Consumer prices rose 2.7% in November compared with a year ago, little changed from the beginning of the year and above the Feds 2% target. CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Rugaber has covered the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for the AP for 16 years. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb award for business reporting. twitter mailto

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A protester yells at a Portland police officer outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)2026-01-09T00:09:19Z PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Federal immigration agents shot and wounded two people in a vehicle outside a hospital in Portland on Thursday, a day after an officer fatally shot a woman in Minnesota, authorities said.The shooting drew hundreds of protesters to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building at night, and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield vowed to investigate whether any federal officer acted outside the scope of their lawful authority and refer criminal charges to the prosecutors office if warranted. The Department of Homeland Security said the vehicles passenger was a Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring who was involved in a recent shooting in the city. When agents identified themselves to the occupants during a targeted vehicle stop in the afternoon, the driver tried to run them over, the department said in a statement. Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot, it said. The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene. There was no immediate independent corroboration of that account or of any gang affiliation of the vehicles occupants. During prior shootings involving agents from President Donald Trumps immigration crackdowns in U.S. cities, including the fatal one Wednesday in Minneapolis, video evidence has cast doubt on the administrations characterizations of what prompted the shootings. Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Trump and his allies have consistently blamed the Tren de Aragua gang for being at the root of violence and drug dealing in some U.S. cities. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on The Portland shooting escalates tensions in a city that has long had a contentious relationship with Trump, including due to his recent failed effort to deploy National Guard troops there. The city saw long-running nightly protests outside the ICE building. According to the Portland Police bureau, officers initially responded to a report of a shooting outside Adventist Health hospital at 2:18 p.m. Thursday. A few minutes later, police received information that a man who had been shot was asking for help in a residential area a couple of miles away. Officers went there and found a man and a woman with gunshot wounds. Officers determined that they were injured in the shooting with federal agents, police said. Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Their conditions were not immediately known. Portland police said officers applied a tourniquet to one of them. City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney said during a meeting that as far as we know, both of these individuals are still alive, and we are hoping for more positive updates throughout the afternoon.At a nighttime news conference, Police Chief Bob Day said the FBI was leading the investigation and he had no details about the events that led to the shooting. Mayor Keith Wilson and the City Council called on ICE to end all operations in Oregons largest city until a full investigation is completed. Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez, center, speaks to the media following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez, center, speaks to the media following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More We stand united as elected officials in saying that we cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts, they said in a statement. Portland is not a training ground for militarized agents, and the full force threatened by the administration has deadly consequences.Wilson also suggested at a news conference that he does not necessarily believe the federal governments account of the shooting: There was a time we could take them at their word. That time is long past.Democratic State Sen. Kayse Jama, who lives near where it took place, said Oregon is a welcoming state but he told federal agents to leave.You are not welcome, Jama said. You need to get the hell out of Oregon.The city officials said federal militarization undermines effective, communitybased public safety, and it runs counter to the values that define our region. Well use every legal and legislative tool available to protect our residents civil and human rights.They urged residents to show up with calm and purpose during this difficult time. Several dozen people gathered in the evening near the scene where police found the wounded people. Its just been chaos, said one, Anjalyssa Jones. The community is trying to get answers.U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, urged protesters to remain peaceful.Trump wants to generate riots, he said on the social platform X. Dont take the bait.___Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed. CLAIRE RUSH Rush is an Associated Press reporter covering Oregon state government and general news in the Pacific Northwest more broadly. twitter mailto

A woman sits in front of a store in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)2026-01-09T13:48:25Z CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) At the White House, President Donald Trump vows American intervention in Venezuela will pour billions of dollars into the countrys infrastructure, revive its once-thriving oil industry and eventually deliver a new age of prosperity to the Latin American nation.Here at a sprawling street market in the capital, though, utility worker Ana Caldern simply wishes she could afford the ingredients to make a pot of soup.Food is incredibly expensive, says Caldern, noting rapidly rising prices that have celery selling for twice as much as just a few weeks ago and a kilogram (2 pounds) of meat going for more than $10, or 25 times the countrys monthly minimum wage. Everything is so expensive. Venezuelans digesting news of the United States brazen capture of former President Nicols Maduro are hearing grandiose promises of future economic prowess even as they live through the crippling economic realities of today. They know that the outlook has significantly changed but they dont see it yet on the ground. What theyre seeing is repression. Theyre seeing a lot of confusion, says Luisa Palacios, a Venezuelan-born economist and former oil executive who is a research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. People are hopeful and expecting that things are going to change but that doesnt mean that things are going to change right now. Whatever hope exists over the possibility of U.S. involvement improving Venezuelas economy is paired with the crushing daily truths most here live. People typically work two, three or more jobs just to survive, and still cupboards and refrigerators are nearly bare. Children go to bed early to avoid the pang of hunger; parents choose between filling a prescription and buying groceries. An estimated eight in 10 people live in poverty. It has led millions to flee the country for elsewhere. Those who remain are concentrated in Venezuelas cities, including its capital, Caracas, where the street market in the Catia neighborhood once was so busy that shoppers bumped into one another and dodged oncoming traffic. But as prices have climbed in recent days, locals have increasingly stayed away from the market stalls, reducing the chaos to a relative hush.Neila Roa, carrying her 5-month-old baby, sells packs of cigarettes to passersby, having to monitor daily fluctuations in currency to adjust the price. Inflation and more inflation and devaluation, Roa says. Its out of control.Roa could not believe the news of Maduros capture. Now, she wonders what will come of it. She thinks it would take a miracle to fix Venezuelas economy.What we dont know is whether the change is for better or for worse, she says. Were in a state of uncertainty. We have to see how good it can be, and how much it can contribute to our lives.Trump has said the U.S. will distribute some of the proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan oil back to its population. But that commitment so far largely appears to be focused on Americas interests in extracting more oil from Venezuela, selling more U.S.-made goods to the country and repairing the electricity grid. The White House is hosting a meeting Friday with U.S. oil company executives to discuss Venezuela, which the Trump administration has been pressuring to open its vast-but-struggling oil industry more widely to American investment and know-how. In an interview with The New York Times, Trump acknowledged that reviving the countrys oil industry would take years.The oil will take a while, he said.Venezuela has the worlds largest proven oil reserves. The countrys economy depends on them.Maduros predecessor, the fiery Hugo Chvez, elected in 1998, expanded social services, including housing and education, thanks to the countrys oil bonanza, which generated revenues estimated at some $981 billion between 1999 and 2011 as crude prices soared. But corruption, a decline in oil production and economic policies led to a crisis that became evident in 2012. Chvez appointed Maduro as his successor before dying of cancer in 2013. The countrys political, social and economic crisis, entangled with plummeting oil production and prices, marked the entirety of Maduros presidency. Millions were pushed into poverty. The middle class virtually disappeared. And more than 7.7 million people left their homeland.Albert Williams, an economist at Nova Southeastern University, says returning the energy sector to its heyday would have a dramatic spillover effect in a country in which oil is the dominant industry, sparking the opening of restaurants, stores and other businesses. Whats unknown, he says, is whether such a revitalization happens, how long it would take and how a government built by Maduro will adjust to the change in power. Thats the billion-dollar question, Williams says. But if you improve the oil industry, you improve the country.The International Monetary Fund estimates Venezuelas inflation rate is a staggering 682%, the highest of any country for which it has data. That has sent the cost of food beyond what many can afford. Venezuelas monthly minimum wage of 130 bolivars, or $0.40, has not increased since 2022, putting it well below the United Nations measure of extreme poverty of $2.15 a day. The currency crisis led Maduro to declare an economic emergency in April.Usha Haley, a Wichita State University economist who studies emerging markets, says for those hurting the most, there is no immediate sign of change.Short-term, most Venezuelans will probably not feel any economic relief, she says. A single oil sale will not fix the countrys rampant inflation and currency collapse. Jobs, prices, and exchange rates will probably not shift quickly.In a country that has seen as much strife as Venezuela has in recent years, locals are accustomed to doing what they have to in order to get through the day, so much so that many utter the same expressionResolver, they say in Spanish, or figure it out, shorthand for the jury-rigged nature of life here, in which every transaction, from boarding a bus to buying a childs medicine, involves a delicate calculation.Here at the market, the smell of fish, fresh onions and car exhaust combine. Calderon, making her way through, faces freshly skyrocketing prices, saying the difference is huge, as the countrys official currency has rapidly declined against its unofficial one, the U.S. dollar.Unable to afford all the ingredients for her soup, she left with a bunch of celery but no meat.___Sedensky reported from New York. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report. MATT SEDENSKY Sedensky is a national writer for The Associated Press. twitter mailto

Trader Anthony Confusione works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)2026-01-09T04:41:16Z Markets on Wall Street were leaning toward tiny gains early Friday ahead of the Labor Departments release of the latest U.S. employment data. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up around 0.1% before the bell, while Nasdaq futures ticked up 0.2%.U.S. homebuilder stocks continued to rise, though more modestly than they did a day earlier when President Donald Trump said he was directing the federal government to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds. Trump said the move would help reduce mortgage rates at a time rising home prices continue to keep many potential homebuyers on the sideline.KB Home, D.R. Horton and Lennar Corp. were all up between 1% and 2% overnight, a day after bigger gains of around 5%.General Motors fell nearly 2% in premarket after the automaker said it will take close to a $6 billion hit in the fourth quarter as sales of electric vehicles sputter. The charges follow an announcement in October that GM would log a $1.6 billion charge for the same reason in the previous quarter. Investors are also waiting for the governments release of its monthly job report for December, which could influence the Federal Reserves next interest rate decision. The Fed cut its benchmark rate three times to end 2025 as central bank officials became increasingly concerned about a softening U.S. labor market, even as inflation remains above its 2% target. Fridays jobs data will be the first clean readings on the labor market in three months because government didnt issue a report in October due to the six-week government shutdown and Novembers data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12. Economists are expecting the report to show that hiring remained subdued last month as many companies have sought to avoid expanding their workforces. Should Decembers jobs report come in surprisingly weak, it could strengthen case for a rate reduction at the Feds next meeting Jan. 27-28. Also, later Friday morning the Supreme Court is also expected to issue a possible ruling on Trumps far-reaching Liberation Day tariffs, which could lift market sentiment.Elsewhere, in Europe at midday Britains FTSE 100 gained 0.6%, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.9%. Germanys DAX was up 0.4%.In Asian trading, Tokyos Nikkei 225 gained 1.6% to 51,939.89. Shares of Fast Retailing, the fashion company behind Uniqlo, jumped more than 10.6% after its quarterly operating profit surged about 34% year-on-year. It revised its full-year forecasts upward.Hong Kongs Hang Seng gained 0.3% to 26,231.79, and the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.9% to 4,120.43, after official data showed Chinas inflation rate picked up in December, rising at its fastest pace in almost three years. That suggests an improvement in demand, which tends to push prices higher.The Chinese artificial intelligence startup MiniMax, whose shares debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday, surged 109%.In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell less than 0.1% to 8,717.80. Shares of Rio Tinto fell more than 6.2%, after the mining group confirmed that it is in preliminary merger talks with Glencore in a deal that could create the biggest mining company in the world. South Koreas Kospi added 0.8% to 4,586.32. Taiwans Taiex fell 0.2%, and Indias Sensex lost 0.7%.In energy trading, oil prices gained after a volatile week following Trumps ouster of the leader of Venezuela. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 41 cents to $58.17 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 44 cents to $62.43.Supply worries persist. Venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves in the world and the U.S. has sought to assert control over its oil resources. It seized two more oil tankers this week, including one that sailed under a Russia flag that the U.S. said had evaded a blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela. CHAN HO-HIM Chan covers China business, economy and finance for The Associated Press, reporting on key sectors from technology to trade. He is based in Hong Kong. mailto

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The Trump administrations strikes on Venezuela are part of a long history of American involvement in the region. The Onion looks back at the history of U.S. interventions in Latin America.500 B.C.So far so good.1899The United Fruit Company begins its noble quest to spread the love of healthy eating throughout Latin America.1960The CIA does a team-building off-site in Ecuador.1963The U.S. tries to assassinate Fidel Castro by sending him a box of exploding cigars, following unsuccessful attempts using a snake in a can and shocking gum.1983Ronald Reagan turns the small island nation of Grenada into a perennial pub trivia answer.1987Belize continues to hope the U.S. doesnt really notice its there.2003Details to be declassified in 2053.2017Despacito is remixed by Justin Bieber.2024Linzies bachelorette party seizes violent control of the Hilton Tulum Riviera Maya all-inclusive resort.The post Timeline Of U.S. Interventions In Latin America appeared first on The Onion.