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Venezuela’s Maduro replaces oil company chief

Photo: NBC News

January 6th | By AFP |

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday replaced a cousin of his predecessor Hugo Chavez as head of state oil company PDVSA with engineer and military officer Pedro Rafael Tellechea.

The change comes as Venezuela, once an oil-exporting giant, seeks to regain some of its former glory and play a bigger role in a market rattled by the war in Ukraine.

Tellechea, head of the Pequiven petrochemical company, “will consolidate the momentum of the national oil industry,” Maduro wrote on Twitter.

Outgoing PDVSA head Asdrubal Chavez, at the helm since April 2020, “will soon have new responsibilities,” he added.

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Venezuela was once one of the world’s largest oil producers, with output of more than three million barrels per day in 2008.

Production plummeted over time to about 300,000 barrels per day due to a combination of poor management and lacking investment, but has recently risen again to about 700,000 barrels per day.

Maduro blames US sanctions for the decline, but most experts say it predates the punitive measures against a president whose 2018 reelection was dismissed as fraudulent by dozens of countries.

Washington insisted this week it still did not consider Maduro to be Venezuela’s legitimate president.

But in March last year, shortly after the start of the Ukraine war, the Biden administration sent a delegation to meet Maduro and in November gave the green light for US oil giant Chevron to resume operations in Venezuela.

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Tellechea had led a successful offensive of the Maduro government to reclaim control in Colombia of petrochemical company Monomeros, a subsidiary of Pequiven.

Colombia’s former president Ivan Duque had entrusted control of Monomeros to Juan Guaido, who the US and dozens of other countries had viewed as Venezuela’s legitimate president.

Maduro clung on to power and ties between the neighbors, suspended under Duque, have been reset under Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first-ever leftist president.

Maduro also announced that Yvan Gil Pinto, deputy foreign minister for Europe, would take over as foreign minister from Carlos Faria, in the post since May 2022.

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International

Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide

Moderna reduces production of COVID-19 vaccine

COVID-19 vaccines prevented an estimated 2,533,000 deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2024, according to an international study led by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy and Stanford University in the United States, published in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Researchers calculated that one death was prevented for every 5,400 doses administered.

The analysis also found that the vaccines saved 14.8 million years of life, equivalent to one year of life gained for every 900 doses given.

The study, coordinated by Professor Stefania Boccia, revealed that 82% of the lives saved were people vaccinated before becoming infected with the virus, and 57% of deaths avoided occurred during the Omicron wave. In addition, 90% of the beneficiaries were adults over 60 years old.

“This is the most comprehensive analysis to date, based on global data and fewer assumptions about the evolution of the pandemic,” explained Boccia and researcher Angelo Maria Pezzullo.

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International

Trump administration blasts judge’s ruling reinstating TPS for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump criticized a federal judge’s ruling on Friday that reinstated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, stressing that the immigration program was never intended to serve as a “de facto asylum system.”

On Thursday, Judge Trina Thompson extended protections for about 7,000 Nepalese immigrants, whose TPS was set to expire on August 5. The ruling also impacts roughly 51,000 Hondurans and nearly 3,000 Nicaraguans, whose TPS protections were scheduled to end on September 8.

Immigrants covered by TPS had sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), alleging that the program’s termination was driven by “racial animus” and stripped them of protection from deportation.

DHS Deputy Undersecretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement saying the decision to end TPS was part of a mandate to “restore the integrity” of the immigration system and return the program to its original purpose.

“TPS was never conceived as a de facto asylum system; however, that is how previous administrations have used it for decades,” McLaughlin emphasized.

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She also criticized Judge Thompson, calling the ruling “another example” of judges “stirring up claims of racism to distract from the facts.”

McLaughlin added that DHS would appeal the decision and take the legal battle to higher courts.

The Trump administration has also terminated TPS protections for approximately 160,000 Ukrainians, 350,000 Venezuelans, and at least half a million Haitians, among other immigrant groups.

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International

Trump to build $200M ballroom at the White House by 2028

The U.S. government under President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that it will begin construction in September on a new 8,000-square-meter ballroom at the White House.

The announcement was made by Karoline Leavitt, the administration’s press secretary, during a briefing in which she explained that the expansion responds to the need for a larger venue to host “major events.”

“Other presidents have long wished for a space capable of accommodating large gatherings within the White House complex… President Trump has committed to solving this issue,” Leavitt told reporters.

The project is estimated to cost $200 million, fully funded through donations from Trump himself and other “patriots,” according to a government statement. Construction is scheduled to begin in September and is expected to be completed before Trump’s term ends in 2028.

The Clark Construction Group, a Virginia-based company known for projects such as the Capital One Arena and L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C., has been selected to lead the project.

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The new ballroom will be built on the East Wing of the White House, expanding the iconic residence with a space designed for state dinners, official ceremonies, and large-scale events.

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