US government says it has seized plane used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, citing sanctions violations

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — US government says it has seized plane used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, citing sanctions violations.

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    China announced steps against nine U.S. military-linked firms on Wednesday over U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, freezing their property within China, in the latest move to put added pressure on the United States to halt its arms sales to the island. China has repeatedly called on the White House, an important international backer and arms supplier for democratically-governed Taiwan, to refrain from formal dealings with the island's leadership.

  • ‘New era’ of war beginning, Israel says, as more Hezbollah devices explode across Lebanon

    Israel said a “new era” of war was beginning Wednesday, tacitly acknowledging its role in shock twin attacks targeting Hezbollah that have pushed the Middle East back to the brink of wider conflict.

  • Trump asked New Yorkers ‘what have you got to lose’ by voting for him. The answers came thick and fast

    ‘With crime at record levels, with terrorists and criminals pouring in, and with inflation eating your hearts out, vote for Donald Trump,’ Republican nominee pleads

  • Melania Trump Resurfaces To Defend Her Nude Pics, And Stephen Colbert Is Totally Baffled

    The former first lady, who hasn't been seen much on the campaign trail, defended her "celebration of the human form."

  • Can Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump? Latest poll updates

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  • King departs for four-day state visit to China, his first since ascending throne

    KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 — His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia departed for a four-day state visit to China this m...

  • What Does Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim Stand for?

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  • Would Malaysia’s Muda rather vanish than age?

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  • Afghan women continue medical studies in Scotland after Taliban ban

    When the Taliban banned women from attending university in Afghanistan, Zahra Hussaini thought her dream of becoming a doctor was over.The foundation, formed by her parents in her name, said that the students had often been confined to their homes since the Taliban issued its ban on women studying at universities in December 2022.

  • Hillary Clinton says Melania Trump was like a ‘little kid’ in awkward meeting last year

    Clinton said she spotted Melania alone, ‘waiting at the edge of the circle,’ as the entourage of former first ladies arrived at Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service

  • Israeli Air Force Launches Strikes on Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon

    The Israeli Air Force (IAF) said it targeted military buildings belonging to Hezbollah in the Jibbain area of southern Lebanon on Wednesday, September 18.The IAF said it targeted several buildings in southern Lebanon’s Al Jibin region using fighter jets, after one of its divisions identified several Hezbollah fighters operating in these buildings.According to the IAF, warplanes also struck a launcher and other military structures belonging to Hezbollah in Merhavim, Halta, Kfar Kila, Al Adisa and Shema, in southern Lebanon.Between 4:39 pm and 4:44 pm, sirens were activated in Israel’s Upper Galilee area, close to the Israel-Lebanon border, after “about 20 launches” were detected nearby, the air force said.The IAF said it intercepted some of them, while a missile landed in the Tel-Hai area, causing no injuries.Footage released by the IAF shows strikes on multiple buildings in the Al Jibin area. Credit: Israeli Air Force via Storyful

  • China pushes back on US probe of uranium exports

    The Chinese government on Wednesday pushed back on a U.S. probe of whether China is helping its neighbor Russia dodge a U.S. ban on Russian uranium imports saying Beijing has always opposed "illegal unilateral sanctions". Reuters reported exclusively on Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Energy and other relevant agencies are closely tracking the imports from China to "ensure the proper implementation" of the ban on Russian enriched uranium that President Joe Biden signed in May. The U.S. is concerned that China is importing and using Russia's uranium in its own power plants, and then exporting domestically produced uranium to the United States – effectively undermining the U.S. ban that is intended to deprive Moscow of revenue for its invasion of in Ukraine.

  • Families of Americans detained in China share their pain and urge US to get them home

    The families of four Americans detained in China said Wednesday that their loved ones are suffering both physically and mentally, urging the U.S. government to take action to bring them home. Appearing before the Congressional-Executive Commission of China, the families of Kai Li, Mark Swidan, Dawn Michelle Hunt and Nelson Wells Jr. — all of whom have been detained in China for at least eight years — cast a spotlight on the longstanding issue that has gained new attention with the release this week of American pastor David Lin, who was behind bars for almost 20 years. More Americans are detained in China than in any other foreign country, according to the commission created by Congress to monitor human rights in the communist country.

  • Cash-strapped Sri Lanka eyes China development

    Sri Lanka's economic collapse was partly blamed on struggling high-debt Chinese mega-projects, but candidates in Saturday's presidential election are banking on at least one of them to buck the trend.When the island nation plunged into chaos, CIA chief Bill Burns blamed its economic collapse on what he called "dumb bets" on Chinese-funded projects.

  • 'Daily Show' Uses Trump's Own Words To Nail His Biggest New Hypocrisy

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  • Melania Trump says she stands ‘proudly behind my nude modeling work’

    Former first lady Melania Trump posted a new video on social media Wednesday defending her previous nude modeling work as she promoted her new book.

  • Fed cuts interest rates by half point for first time in years. Here’s what that means for you

    The major move signals end to inflation fight while shoring up job market for ‘soft landing’ as borrowing to get cheaper

  • Russia advances in the Kursk region, commander says

    Russia has taken two villages in the western Kursk region, a senior commander said, as Russian forces advance against thousands of Ukrainian forces who smashed through the Russian border last month. Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two, bursting through the border into the western Kursk region supported by swarms of drones and heavy weaponry, including Western-made arms. Major General Apti Alaudinov, commander of Chechnya's Akhmat special forces and deputy head of the Russian defence ministry's military-political department, said that Russia had taken Nikolayevo-Darino and Darino.

  • Hungary refuses to pay fines for breaking EU asylum rules. Brussels is taking the money anyway.

    The European Union on Wednesday began the process of clawing back hundreds of millions of euros in funds meant to go Hungary after its ant-migrant government refused to pay a huge fine for breaking the bloc’s asylum rules. In June, the EU’s top court ordered Hungary to pay 200 million euros ($223 million) for persistently depriving migrants of their right to apply for asylum. The European Court of Justice described Hungary’s actions as “an unprecedented and extremely serious infringement of EU law.”

  • China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat

    China presents the top challenge to the United States in all of its history, surpassing the Cold War, a top US official said Wednesday, as he urged Europe to get tougher on Beijing."Frankly, the Cold War pales in comparison to the multifaceted challenges that China presents," he said.