Senator Chris Coons from the Democratic Party speaks during a press conference with the American delegation, consisting of senators and members of the House of Representatives, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)2026-01-17T11:28:31Z COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation on Saturday sought to reassure Denmark and Greenland of their support following President Donald Trumps threat to punish countries with tariffs if they dont back the U.S. taking over the strategic Arctic island.Delegation leader Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said the current rhetoric around Greenland is causing concern across the Danish kingdom. He said he wants to de-escalate the situation.I hope that the people of the Kingdom of Denmark do not abandon their faith in the American people, Coons said in Copenhagen, adding that the U.S. has respect for Denmark and NATO for all weve done together.Meanwhile, thousands of people marched through Copenhagen, many of them carrying Greenlands flag, on Saturday afternoon in support of the self-governing island. Others held signs with slogans like Make America Smart Again and Hands Off. Another rally was planned in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, Coons comments contrasted with that emanating from the White House. Trump has sought to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals. The White House hasnt ruled out taking the territory by force. There are no current security threats to Greenland, Coons said. Trump for months has insisted that the U.S. should control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in U.S. hands would be unacceptable. During an unrelated event at the White House about rural health care, he recounted Friday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals. I may do that for Greenland, too, Trump said. I may put a tariff on countries if they dont go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that, he said. He had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington this week with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. That encounter didnt resolve the deep differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views. European leaders have insisted it is only for Denmark and Greenland to decide on matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies.There is almost no better ally to the United States than Denmark, Coons said. If we do things that cause Danes to question whether we can be counted on as a NATO ally, why would any other country seek to be our ally or believe in our representations?__Associated Press writer Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.

Snow covered, damaged Russian military vehicles are on display in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)2026-01-17T11:29:22Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) A Ukrainian delegation arrived in the United States for talks Saturday on a U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly 4-year-old war as Russian attacks again took aim at Ukraines power grid, cutting electricity and heating in freezing temperatures.Kyrylo Budanov, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys chief of staff, said he arrived in the U.S. to discuss the details of the peace agreement.Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Budanov said he, together with Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Davyd Arakhamia, would meet with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. Zelenskyy said Friday that the delegation would try to finalize with U.S. officials documents for a proposed peace settlement that relate to postwar security guarantees and economic recovery. If American officials approve the proposals, the U.S. and Ukraine could sign the documents next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelenskyy said at a Kyiv news conference with Czech President Petr Pavel.Trump plans to be in Davos, according to organizers. Russia would still need to be consulted on the proposals.Russia struck energy infrastructure in Ukraines Kyiv and Odesa regions overnight into Saturday, the Ministry of Energy said. More than 20 settlements in the Kyiv region were left without power following the attacks, the ministry wrote on its official Telegram channel. Russia has hammered Ukraines power grid, especially in winter, throughout the war. It aims to weaken the Ukrainian will to resist in a strategy that Kyiv officials call weaponizing winter.Ukraines new energy minister, Denys Shmyhal, said Friday that Russia had conducted 612 attacks on energy targets over last year. That barrage has intensified in recent months as nighttime temperatures plunge to minus 18 degrees Celsius (0 Fahrenheit). Ukraine has introduced emergency measures, including temporarily easing curfew restrictions to allow people to go whenever they need to public heating centers set up by the authorities, Shmyhal said. He said hospitals, schools and other critical infrastructure remain the top priority for electricity and heat supplies.Officials have instructed state energy companies Ukrzaliznytsia, Naftogaz and Ukroboronprom to urgently purchase imported electricity covering at least 50% of their own consumption, according to Shmyhal.___Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Welcome back to the Abstract! These are the studies this week that entered the belly of the beast, craved human blood, exposed primate bonds, and pranked birdsFirst, a prehistoric chew toy for a puppy opens a window into a doomed lineage. Then: why saving species could save your own skin, the dazzling diversity of same-sex behavior in primates, and the exploits of asexual yams.As always, for more of my work, check out my book First Contact: The Story of Our Obsession with Aliens or subscribe to my personal newsletter the BeX Files.Im so hungry, I could eat a woolly rhinocerosGujnsdttir, Slveig et al. Genome Shows no Recent Inbreeding in Near-Extinction Woolly Rhinoceros Sample Found in Ancient Wolf's Stomach. Genome Biology and Evolution.Record scratch, freeze frame: Yep, that's me, an Ice Age woolly rhinoceros in a mummified wolf stomach. Youre probably wondering how I got into this situation. Well, the good news is that it was not because I am inbred, according to a new study.Thats my pitch for a movie based on the true story of some half-digested woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) remains that were wolfed down by a permafrost-preserved pupsicle from 14,400 years ago.Incredibly, scientists were able to sequence the genome of the rhino, which revealed that this individual still had a high level of genetic diversity in its lineage, and no signs of inbreeding. Considering that woolly rhinos vanished from the fossil record around 14,000 years ago, this study suggests that they may have experienced a very sudden population collapse, rather than a gradual demise.The piece of woolly rhino tissue found inside the stomach of the Tumat-1 puppy. Image: Love Daln/Stockholm University.While Late Pleistocene remains of woolly rhinoceros are numerous, very few remains exist from around the estimated time of extinction, said researchers led by Slveig M. Gujnsdttir of Stockholm University. At 14,400 years old, the mummified tissue found in the wolf is one of the youngest known woolly rhinoceros remains.Given our results, we suggest that any change at the genomic level associated with the species extinction must have taken place during the last few hundred years of the species' existence, the team added. We conclude that their decline toward extinction likely occurred rapidly after 14,400 years ago, most likely driven by rapid changes in environmental conditions.In other words, the last supper of a wolf that died when giant ice sheets still covered much of the Northern Hemisphere has opened a window into the rich heritage of this rhinocerosand the sudden downfall that awaited its relatives.And for anyone interested in cryptids, the authors note that the last appearance dates in the fossil record do not exclude the possibility that the species persisted for longer. Does this mean that woolly rhinos live on in some untrammeled wilderness to this day? Definitely not, they are dunzo. But it does raise the tantalizing question of when and where the last woolly rhino took its final steps, ending a long and storied line.In other newsSave wildlife, stay off the menuAlves, Dlete Cssia Vieira et al. Aspects of the blood meal of mosquitoes (Diptera: culicidae) during the crepuscular period in Atlantic Forest remnants of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.Heres one way to get people to care about biodiversity loss: tell them that the mosquitos are out for their blood.In a new study, scientists captured and studied 145 engorged mosquitoes from a deforested area in Brazil, which revealed a growing reliance on human blood. The results suggest that mosquitoes are more likely to seek out human blood in areas experiencing biodiversity loss.In the present study, human blood meals were detected in nine species including mosquitoes that spread dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and chikungunya, said researchers led by Dlete Cssia Vieira Alves of the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. The results revealed a clear tendency for the captured mosquito species to feed predominantly on humans.Deforestation reduces local biodiversity, causing mosquitoes, including vectors of pathogenic agents, to disperse and seek alternative food sourcessuch as humans, the team said.In other words, a future of biodiversity collapse is going to be buzzy, and itchy, and deadly, given that mosquitoes are notoriously the most dangerous animals to humanskilling roughly a million people per yeardue to their capacity to spread pathogens. It would be great if we could all conserve wildlife for solely altruistic reasons, but a little nightmare fuel is useful in small doses.Same-sex sexual behavior plays many roles in primatesCoxshall,Chlo et al. Ecological and social pressures drive same-sex sexual behaviour in non-human primates. Nature Ecology & Evolution.Same-sex sexual behavior (SSB) is common in naturedocumented in more than 1,500 animalsespecially among socially complex species like primates. Now, scientists have presented a comprehensive review of these sexual bonds in dozens of non-human primates, which revealed that the interactions are context-dependent and may serve a variety of evolutionary functions.In baboons, for example, females form affiliative networks, through grooming and possibly SSB, to manage group tension, especially during unstable periods such as hierarchical shifts, said researchers led by Chlo Coxshall of Imperial College London. Male rhesus macaques use SSB to navigate aggression and shifting dominance by forming coalitions. Those engaging in SSB are more likely to ally and support each other in competition.While the study focused on non-human primates, the team also speculated about the possible evolutionary links between SSB in humans and non-human primates, but warned that the study does not address human sexual orientation, identity or lived experience.While acknowledging that cultural biases have historically shaped how SSB is reported in animals, we hope this study encourages further research into its evolutionary and social roles in primates at large, the team concluded.Dont be deceived by the asexual yamsChen, Zhi and Chomicki, Guillaume et al. Berry Batesian mimicry enables bird dispersal of asexual bulbils in a yam. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Even in all of its diverse configurations, sex is simply not everyones bag. Lots of species have opted to eschew it entirely in favor of asexually cloning themselves, such as the Asian yam Dioscorea melanophyma.This yam has evolved a clever technique to disperse its version of bulbils, the asexual version of seeds, by dressing them up like berries so that birds will eat them, reports a new study. This helps the plant spread its clones far and wide without the need for sexual reproduction.We show that the yam Dioscorea melanophymawhich has lost sexual reproductionevolved black, glossy bulbils that mimic co-occurring black berries and entice frugivorous birds to ingest and disperse them, said researchers co-led by Zhi Chen of the Kunming Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Science and Guillaume Chomicki of Durham University.The false berry bulbils of the yam. Image: Gao ChenThe team found that birds preferred real berries yet they significantly consumed bulbils too and could not visually discriminate bulbils from berries. In this way, the yams use mimicry to deceive birds and achieve longer dispersal distance, the study concludes.Its amazing how many adaptive strategies boil down to pranking ones fellow Earthlings. So if youre a bird, beware the sham yam yums. And if you are looking to name a band, the Asexual Yams is officially out there as an option.Thanks for reading! See you next week.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio makes a statement to reporters while meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)2026-01-17T13:42:15Z TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) Two of President Donald Trumps closest confidants, a former British prime minister, an American general and a collection of top officials from Middle Eastern governments are at the forefront of the U.S. Gaza ceasefire plan.The White House this week announced the members of a new Palestinian committee to run Gazas day to day affairs, along with an executive committee of international experts who will supervise these efforts. They include a high-powered group of people with strong connections across the region and varying degrees of leverage of Israel and Hamas.The entire effort will be overseen by the Board of Peace a collection of world leaders led by Trump whose other members still have not been named.Still, this weeks appointments mark an important step forward for Trumps ambitious ceasefire plan. The White House this week said the plan had entered its second phase, which includes the new Palestinian committee in Gaza, deployment of an international security force, disarmament of Hamas and reconstruction of the war-battered territory.Heres a closer look at the appointments of the executive committee: Marco RubioRubio is the U.S. secretary of state and national security adviser, putting him at the center of American foreign policy.Steve WitkoffWitkoff has served as the White House Mideast envoy during Trumps second term in office. A real estate developer and close friend of Trump, he was a key architect of the ceasefire plan, which took effect on Oct. 10. Jared KushnerKushner is Trumps son-in-law who has long been a key foreign policy adviser to Trump. Kushner was a driving force in the Abraham Accords, a series of diplomatic agreements between Israel and Arab countries during Trumps first term. Kushner has returned to the White House as an important player in pushing forward the new ceasefire.Tony BlairThe British prime minister from 1997 to 2007, Blair has decades of experience in the Middle East. He took the United Kingdom into the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 despite strong public opposition. He later served as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of Mideast mediators the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. The post began with great promise but struggled to deliver results in its quest to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Maj. Gen. Jasper JeffersJeffers has been appointed commander of the International Stabilization Force, an on-the-ground multinational force meant to enforce and guarantee the ceasefire. Jeffers previously served as head of the U.S. militarys special operations command and oversaw implementation of the 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.Hakan FidanFidan has been the Turkish foreign minister since 2023 and is close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. While Turkey has a strained relationship with Israel, it has good relations with Hamas and could play an important role in persuading the Islamic group to yield power and disarm.Ali Al-ThawadiAli Al-Thawadi is a diplomat from Qatar, which has been a key mediator between Israel and Hamas throughout the war. Gen. Hassan RashadRashad is the director of Egypts intelligence agency. Egypt borders both Israel and Gaza and, like Qatar, has been a key mediator throughout the war.Reem Al-HashimyAl-Hashimy is a Cabinet minister for the United Arab Emirates. The wealthy Gulf country has strong ties with Israel and is expected to play an important role in the reconstruction process of Gaza.Ajay BangaBanga is the president of the World Bank. Born in India, since moving to the U.S. in the early 2000s, Banga has held prestigious positions in the corporate world, including heading Mastercard and serving as director of Exor and Temasek, large holding companies.Marc RowanRowan is a co-founder, chief executive and chairman of Apollo Global Management, a U.S. asset-management firm. The billionaire businessman is also a philanthropist who has supported projects in Israel, the U.S. Jewish community and the University of Pennsylvania, where he and Trump both studied.Sigrid KaagKaag, the Netherlands former deputy prime minister, has served as the United Nations coordinator for humanitarian aid to Gaza since the war erupted in late 2023. Robert GabrielGabriel served as a policy adviser on Trumps first presidential campaign and currently is deputy national security adviser.Yakir GabayGabay is an Israeli billionaire who is a major shareholder in Aroundtown SA, a global real estate group. He previously was chief executive of Israels largest bank, Leumi. Gabays presence gives Israel an unofficial representative on the executive board.Nickolay MladenovMladenov, a Bulgarian politician and former U.N. envoy to the Middle East, will serve as the high representative for Gaza. He will act as the on-the-ground link between the Board of Peace and the Palestinian technocratic committee.Ali ShaathShaath has been named as head of the new Palestinian committee administering Gazas daily affairs. Shaath, an engineer, is a Gaza native who previously served as deputy transportation minister for the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. SAM MEDNICK Mednick is an AP correspondent for Israel and the Palestinian Territories. She focuses on conflict, humanitarian crises and human rights abuses. Mednick formerly covered West & Central Africa and South Sudan. twitter

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US envoy Steve Witkoff, left, and US businessman Jared Kushner attend a press conference after the signing of the declaration on deploying post-ceasefire force in Ukraine during the 'Coalition of the Willing' summit on security guarantees for Ukraine, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Tuesday, Jan 6, 2026. (Ludovic Marin, Pool photo via AP, File)2026-01-17T19:12:59Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trumps Board of Peace, which was initially seen as a mechanism focused on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, is taking shape with ambitions to have a far broader mandate of other global crises, potentially rivaling the United Nations in what would be a major upheaval to the post-World War II international order.In letters sent Friday to various world leaders inviting them to be founding members of the board, Trump says the body would embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict.Invitation letters from Trump to Argentine President Javier Milei and Paraguays leader Santiago Pea, that were posted Saturday to their official social media accounts note that Trumps 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan, which includes the creation of the Board of Peace, was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council and indicates that the panel of world leaders may not confine their work to Gaza. Now it is time to turn all of these dreams into reality, Trump wrote. At the heart of the plan is the Board of Peace, the most impressive and consequential board ever assembled, which will be established as a new International Organization and Transitional Governing Administration. Other leaders whose governments have confirmed receiving invitation letters include Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was not immediately clear how many or which other leaders would receive invitations. Trumps apparent aspirations to turn to the Board of Peace into an international institution that could provide an alternative to the United Nations is sure to be controversial and opposed by numerous countries, including China and Russia, which hold veto power in the U.N. Security Council and have significant interests in opposing any radical change in the world order. Smaller nations also are likely to have objections as the U.N. system has given them at least a voice in major international decisions since the end of the Second World War.A senior U.S. official said an expanded role for the Board of Peace remains aspirational but that Trump and his advisers believe it is possible, particularly as the U.S. and others have repeatedly expressed frustration with the United Nations and its associated organizations, commissions and advisory boards.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal Trump administration thinking, did not say the Board of Peace is intended to replace the United Nations but suggested that it could perhaps galvanize the world body into action.The Trump administration has often been at odds with the United Nations as it zeroed in on eliminating billions of dollars in funding to international organizations and humanitarian assistance at large. Trump and his allies have blasted the world body for not reaching its potential and for bloated and redundant agencies that push woke ideology.The letters follow Trumps post on social media Thursday, saying the Board of Peace had been formed and that the names of its members would be announced shortly. Officials say a formal announcement is expected to be made next week during the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. It comes after the White House on Friday evening released the names of some of the leaders who will play a role in overseeing next steps in Gaza, including an executive board that will work to carry out the vision of the Board of Peace. Israels government objected Saturday, saying it was not coordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy.That executive committee includes Trump administration officials Secretary of State Marco Rubio and envoy Steve Witkoff as well as businesspeople like Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan and others like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and World Bank President Ajay Banga. The White House did not respond to a request for comment Saturday on Trumps ambitions for the Board of Peace nor the letters posted by leaders. The United Nations also did not immediately respond.___Associated Press writers Rob Gillies in Toronto, Cinar Kiper in Istanbul, Farnoush Amiri in New York and Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez arrives at the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)2026-01-17T16:15:12Z WASHINGTON (AP) When President Donald Trump announced the audacious capture of Nicols Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S., he portrayed the strongmans vice president and longtime aide as Americas preferred partner to stabilize Venezuela amid a scourge of drugs, corruption and economic mayhem.Left unspoken was the cloud of suspicion that long surrounded Delcy Rodrguez before she became acting president of the beleaguered nation earlier this month.In fact, Rodrguez has been on the radar of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for years and in 2022 was even labeled a priority target, a designation DEA reserves for suspects believed to have a significant impact on the drug trade, according to records obtained by The Associated Press and more than a half dozen current and former U.S. law enforcement officials. The DEA has amassed a detailed intelligence file on Rodrguez dating to at least 2018, the records show, cataloging her known associates and allegations ranging from drug trafficking to gold smuggling. One confidential informant told the DEA in early 2021 that Rodrguez was using hotels in the Caribbean resort of Isla Margarita as a front to launder money, the records show. As recently as last year she was linked to Maduros alleged bag man, Alex Saab, whom U.S. authorities arrested in 2020 on money laundering charges. The U.S. government has never publicly accused Rodrguez of any criminal wrongdoing. Notably for Maduros inner circle, shes not among the more than a dozen current Venezuelan officials charged with drug trafficking alongside the ousted president. Rodrguezs name has surfaced in nearly a dozen DEA investigations, several of which remain ongoing, involving agents in field offices from Paraguay and Ecuador to Phoenix and New York, the AP learned. The AP could not determine the specific focus of each investigation. Three current and former DEA agents who reviewed the records at the request of AP said they indicate an intense interest in Rodrguez throughout much of her tenure as vice president, which began in 2018. They were not authorized to discuss DEA investigations and spoke on the condition of anonymity.The records reviewed by AP do not make clear why Rodrguez was elevated to a priority target, a designation that requires extensive documentation to justify additional investigative resources. The agency has hundreds of priority targets at any given moment, and having the label does not necessarily lead to being charged criminally.She was on the rise, so its not surprising that she might become a high-priority target with her role, said Kurt Lunkenheimer, a former federal prosecutor in Miami who has handled multiple cases related to Venezuela. The issue is when people talk about you and you become a high-priority target, theres a difference between that and evidence supporting an indictment.Venezuelas communications ministry did not respond to emails seeking comment. The DEA and U.S. Justice Department also did not respond to requests for comment. Asked whether the president trusts Rodrguez, the White House referred AP to Trumps earlier remarks on a very good talk he had with the acting president Wednesday, one day before she met in Caracas with CIA Director John Ratcliffe. Almost immediately after Maduros capture, Trump started heaping praise on Rodrguez this past week referring to her as a terrific person in close contact with officials in Washington, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Have a news tip?Contact APs global investigative team at [emailprotected]. For secure and confidential communications, use the free Signal app +1 (202) 281-8604. The DEAs interest in Rodrguez comes even as Trump has sought to install her as the steward of American interests to navigate a volatile post-Maduro Venezuela, said Steve Dudley, co-director of InSight Crime, a think tank focused on organized crime in the Americas.The current Venezuela government is a criminal-hybrid regime. The only way you reach a position of power in the regime is by, at the very least, abetting criminal activities, said Dudley, who has investigated Venezuela for years. This isnt a bug in the system. This is the system. Those sentiments were echoed by opposition leader Mara Corina Machado, who met with Trump at the White House Thursday in a bid to push for more U.S. support for Venezuelan democracy.The American justice system has sufficient information about her, said Machado, referring to Rodrguez. Her profile is quite clear.Rodrguez, 56, worked her way to the apex of power in Venezuela as a loyal aide to Maduro, with whom she shares a deep-seated leftist bent stemming from her socialist fathers death in police custody when she was only 7 years old. Despite blaming the U.S. for her fathers death, she steadily worked while foreign minister and later vice president to court American investment during the first Trump administration, hiring lobbyists close to Trump and even ordering the state oil company to make a $500,000 donation to his inaugural committee. The charm offensive flopped when Trump, urged on by Rubio, pressured Maduro to hold free and fair elections. In September 2018,the White House sanctioned Rodrguez, describing her as key to Maduros grip on power and ability to solidify his authoritarian rule. She was also sanctioned earlier by the European Union.But those allegations focused on her threat to Venezuelas democracy, not any alleged involvement in corruption.Venezuela is a failed state that supports terrorism, corruption, human rights abuses and drug trafficking at the highest echelons. There is nothing political about this analysis, said Rob Zachariasiewicz, a longtime former DEA agent who led investigations into top Venezuelan officials and is now a managing partner at Elicius Intelligence, a specialist investigations firm. Delcy Rodrguez has been part of this criminal enterprise.The DEA records seen by AP provide an unprecedented glimpse into the agencys interest in Rodrguez. Much of it was driven by the agencys elite Special Operations Division, the same Virginia-based unit that worked with prosecutors in Manhattan to indict Maduro.One of the records cites an unnamed confidential informant linking Rodrguez to hotels in Margarita Island that are allegedly used as a front to launder money. The AP has been unable to independently confirm the information.The U.S. has long considered the resort island, northeast of the Venezuelan mainland, a strategic hub for drug trafficking routes to the Caribbean and Europe. Numerous traffickers have been arrested or taken haven there over the years, including representatives of Joaqun El Chapo Guzmns Sinaloa cartel.The records also indicate the feds were looking at Rodrguezs involvement in government contracts awarded to Maduros ally Saab investigations that remain ongoing even after President Joe Biden pardoned him in 2023 as part of a prisoner swap for Americans imprisoned in Venezuela.The Colombian businessman rose to become one of Venezuelas top fixers as U.S. sanctions cut off its access to hard currency and Western banks. He was arrested in 2020 on federal charges of money laundering while traveling from Venezuela to Iran to negotiate oil deals helping both countries circumvent sanctions.The DEA records also indicate agents interest in Rodrguezs possible involvement in allegedly corrupt deals between the government and Omar Nassif-Sruji, the brother of her longtime romantic partner, Yussef Nassif. Nassif-Sruji and Nassif did not respond to emails and text messages seeking comment.Companies registered by the two brothers in Hong Kong received more than $650 million in Venezuelan government contracts between 2017 and 2019 to import food and dialysis medicine, according to copies of the contracts obtained in 2021 by Venezuelan investigative journalism outlet Armando.info.Taken together, the DEA investigations underscore how power has long been exercised in Venezuela, which is ranked as the worlds third most corrupt country by Transparency International. For Rodrguez, they also represent something of a razor-sharp sword over her head, breathing life to Trumps threat soon after Maduros ouster that she would pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro if she didnt fall in line. The president added that he wanted her to provide the U.S. total access to the countrys vast oil reserves and other natural resources.Just being a leader in a highly corrupted regime for over a decade makes it logical that she is a priority target for investigation, said David Smilde, a Tulane University professor who has studied Venezuela for three decades. She surely knows this, and it gives the U.S. government leverage over her. She may fear that if she does not do as the Trump administration demands, she could end up with an indictment like Maduro.-Mustian reported from New York. -Contact APs global investigative team at [emailprotected] or https://www.ap.org/tips/.-This story is part of an ongoing collaboration between The Associated Press and FRONTLINE (PBS) that includes an upcoming documentary. JIM MUSTIAN Mustian is an Associated Press investigative reporter for breaking news. twitter mailto JOSHUA GOODMAN Goodman is a Miami-based investigative reporter who writes about the intersection of crime, corruption, drug trafficking and politics in Latin America. He previously spent two decades reporting from South America. twitter mailto ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

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