Australia mass shooting latest: PM wants tougher gun laws after 15 killed at Bondi Beach

(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump said the U.S. “successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela” and said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were “captured and flown out of the Country.”

The announcement on Trump’s social media platform came shortly before 4:30 a.m. Saturday a few hours after several explosions were heard in Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas, witnesses said, and photos and videos showed plumes of smoke and a large fireball in the night sky.

Trump said the operation was carried out in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement and said he would hold a news conference at 11 a.m. from Mar-a-Lago.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts” on a slew of charges in New York, including “narco-terrorism conspiracy” and “cocaine importation conspiracy” as well as weapons charges. Maduro has faced the charges in New York for years.

Sources familiar with the matter told ABC News Maduro was being flown to New York. While the sources did not specify where Maduro will be held, defendants awaiting trial in federal court in Manhattan are customarily held at MDC-Brooklyn.

The operation that led to Maduro’s capture was carried out by the Army’s Delta Force after the CIA had identified the leader’s precise location, according to two people familiar with the operation. Delta Force is an elite special operations group of soldiers trained in secret counterterrorism operations and hostage rescues.

One person told ABC News that Trump had given the green light to capture Maduro several days ago and troops were ready to strike on Christmas Day, but were delayed due to military airstrikes in Nigeria against ISIS. Subsequent opportunities were postponed partly due to weather, the person said.

CBS first reported the details on the operation.

In a brief phone interview with The New York Times, President Trump celebrated what he called the success of the mission to capture Maduro, who the U.S. has considered the head of a foreign terrorist organization since a November designation.

“A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people,” Trump told The New York Times. “It was a brilliant operation, actually.”

When asked whether he had sought congressional authorization for the operation or what would come next for Venezuela, Trump said he would address those matters during his news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday morning.

‘No further action’ anticipated

Republican Sen. Mike Lee, of Utah, said in a post on X that he spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the phone about the actions being taken in Venezuela after initially asking “what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.”

According to Lee, Rubio said that Maduro had been “arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States,” and that the “kinetic action” was taken to protect those executing the warrant.

He also said that Rubio told him he anticipates “no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody.”

“This was an incredibly dangerous operation to conduct,” said ABC Contributor Mick Mulroy, a former CIA officer and senior Pentagon official. “It required precise intelligence, detailed planning and flawless execution by these Delta operators and all the support, especially the [Joint Special Operations Command] air component, to pull it off in the manner that they did.”

Senate and House Republicans praised Trump’s actions, with Sen. Rick Scott, of Florida saying “a new day is here for Venezuela and Latin America” in a post on X and Sen. Tom Cotton, of Arkansas saying Maduro “wasn’t just an illegitimate dictator; he also ran a vast drug-trafficking operation.”

But the action was criticized by Democrats.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, blasted Trump’s move, calling it the “second unjustified war in my life time” in a post on X. “This war is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year. There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.”

The latest events come amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela including a build-up of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean and the targeting of alleged drug-smuggling boats.

Some 15,000 U.S. military personnel were in the area as well as the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier.

The operation also comes a short time after the first-known land strike carried out against a dock where Trump said drugs were being loaded onto boats.

International reaction

The Venezuelan government issued a statement condemning what it called “the grave military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America” in Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.

In addition, President Nicolas Maduro ordered the implementation of national defense plans, and declared a “state of External Disturbance throughout the national territory,” according to the statement.

Russia condemned the action as “an act of armed aggression against Venezuela” and said it wanted to prevent “further escalation,” according to the country’s Foreign Ministry. And Colombian President Gustavo Petro said “Alert the world: Venezuela has been attacked!” in a post on X. But Trump ally and Argentinian president Javier Milei praised the move.

The U.S. has long considered Maduro the head of a corrupt dictatorial regime. In 2024, Maduro declared victory after a widely disputed presidential election for a third term.

US recently declares Maduro head of terror organization

In an unprecedented move in November, the Trump administration declared Maduro the head of a foreign terrorist organization, citing alleged links to drug cartels, which Maduro denied.

The designation put the Venezuelan leader on the same list as terror networks like al-Qaeda and the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. In August, Rubio announced the U.S. had increased the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest from $25 million to $50 million.

Maduro has faced charges in the United States of narcotics-terrorism since 2020, when federal prosecutors in New York accused him of partnering with a Colombian rebel group to “flood the United States with cocaine in order to undermine the health and wellbeing” of the nation.

The charges include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and weapons possession conspiracy. Prosecutors allege that Maduro and 14 current or former officials ran a vast criminal enterprise for the last 20 years, using state resources to fuel the international drug trade, including in the U.S.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia is ready to fight a war if Europe seeks one and claimed European countries are trying to make changes in President Donald Trump’s proposal on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine, ahead of his high-stakes meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Tuesday.

“We can clearly see that these changes are aimed at only one thing: to block the entire peace process,” Putin said in remarks to reporters while accusing Europe of being “on the side of war.”

“We are not going to fight Europe, I have said this a hundred times. But if Europe suddenly wants to fight and starts, we are ready right now,” Putin said.

Russia would allow Europe to return to negotiations on Ukraine if it takes into account the realities on the ground, Putin said.

Putin’s meeting with Witkoff is underway, Russian state media TASS reported Tuesday night local time. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is also taking part.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the meeting had no time limit and would go on for “as long as necessary.”

Ahead of the meeting, the White House said it was “very optimistic,” as U.S. officials continue their push to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The sit-down follows a series of meetings between top U.S. and Ukrainian officials, during which the parties sought to revise the original peace-plan proposal presented by the Trump administration to Ukraine last month.

Witkoff and other top U.S. officials — including Kushner and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — met on Sunday in Florida with a Ukrainian delegation to attempt to find a deal that Ukraine and Russia might both accept to end the war.

“I think the administration feels very optimistic,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday, following the Florida meeting. “They had very good talks with the Ukrainians in Florida. And now, of course, Special Envoy Witkoff is on his way to Russia.”

The top Ukrainian official at the Florida talks said there had been progress, but, he added, “some issues still require further refinement.”

The Kremlin on Monday said a meeting between Witkoff and Putin was scheduled for Tuesday. Putin prepared in recent days by holding meetings with military commanders and a governor of a frontline territory, according to Russian officials.

“We have no doubt that this will be a very important step towards peace and a peaceful settlement,” Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday.

There was little expectation Putin would agree to a deal. The Russian leader signaled last week he would not compromise, repeating in hardline remarks his demand that Ukraine withdraw from territory he claims as Russian soil and saying it was “pointless” to negotiate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Putin then on Monday claimed without evidence that Russian forces had taken control of two Ukrainian cities where intense fighting has been happening for weeks in the eastern part of the country, a move intended perhaps to burnish the perception of Russia’s leading position on the battlefield.

Zelenskyy, who, along with Trump, was not directly involved with the talks in Florida, met on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The meetings in France were “substantive and important — above all, focused on the steps that bring a just peace closer,” he said on social media. Zelenskyy landed on Tuesday in Dublin, where he’s expected to meet with Taoiseach Micheal Martin, the Irish prime minister.

As Zelenskyy pushed for European unity against Russian aggression, members of his delegation in Florida were sending updates on what was being discussed. He said on Monday that there were still several “tough issues” to work through in the negotiations, but did not elaborate. Ukraine’s potential relinquishment of some of its territory to Russia was thought to be part of the talks.

Zelenskyy on Monday also said he, Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had again been briefed by Witkoff and the head of the Kyiv delegation, Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. 

“Over two very productive days in the United States, we held many hours of meetings and negotiations,” Umerov said in a separate social media update on Monday. “We achieved significant progress, although some issues still require further refinement.”

Umerov and the rest of the negotiating team met with Zelenskyy in person on Tuesday, with the president saying they discussed “the matters that cannot be addressed over the phone.” He praised Ukrainian allies for their partnership. And he also accused Russia of beginning new disinformation campaigns prior to Putin’s meeting with Witkoff.

“Ukraine approaches all diplomatic efforts with utmost seriousness — we are committed to achieving a real peace and guaranteed security,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “This is exactly the level of commitment that must be compelled from the Russian side, and this task can be accomplished only together with our partners.”

The meeting in Moscow would be the sixth such Witkoff-Putin sit-down this year and it comes amid a redoubled effort by the White House to produce a peace deal in the almost 4-year-old conflict.

The meeting on Sunday included discussions of a revised 19-point peace plan that was developed a week ago during another round of American-Ukrainian talks in Geneva, Switzerland. Those talks reworked an earlier 28-point plan that the Trump administration had presented and that had alarmed Kyiv and European allies as heavily favoring Russia. Details about whether further revisions may have been made over the weekend had not been released as of Tuesday morning.

Speaking at the White House on Monday, Leavitt did not detail what the U.S. expected to happen during the negotiations in Moscow, instead deferring to those who would be at the meeting.

“We’ve put points on paper. Those points have been very much refined,” she said. “But as for the details, I will let the negotiators negotiate. But we do feel quite good, and we’re hopeful that this work can finally come to an end.”

ABC News’ Emily Chang and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — Iranian students from several universities across the country continued protesting on Monday against the Islamic Republic’s regime for the third-consecutive day since Saturday, when schools reopened for the second semester.

Social media videos verified by ABC News show hundreds of students in Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan shouting slogans, including “Death to Khamenei” and “Woman, Life, Freedom/Iranian Republic,” targeting Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, and pushing for a regime change.

The protests appear to be the most significant to spread since the Iranian regime’s massacre across the country, in which more than 7,000 people were killed, as the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a U.S.-based group, reported earlier this month. ABC News cannot independently verify the group’s figures.

Groups of students also chanted “Pahlavi will return,” calling for the return of Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of the former monarch of the country. Pahlavi’s call for protest in early January, 10 days after the unrest started in Tehran, escalated the nationwide protests just before the regime’s crackdown on the protesters.

Pictures of the victims of the January protests have been held by protesting students in universities. A verified video shows students gathering in the Foreign Languages department at the University of Tehran, with some holding pictures of Raha Bohlouli, a student of Italian language and literature at this school who was said to have been killed during the protests.

In a protest at Tehran’s Amirkabir University on Sunday, protesting students were confronted by pro-regime Basiji students who tried to disrupt their gathering.

Following the protests, some students of Tehran’s renown Sharif University who participated received a text message on Monday stating that they have been banned from getting into the university, the semi-official Asriran News Agency reported.

The current round of students’ protests appeared to be gathering momentum as families of thousands of the victims of January’s massacres have recently been holding 40th-day ceremonies in remembrance of their loved ones.

In Iran, one of the significant commemoration ceremonies after someone’s death is held on the 40th day after the burial, when loved ones gather to reflect on the memories of the departed. These ceremonies have traditionally been seen as potential hubs for more protests over the past decades, as the pain and loss of the families have the potential to stir anger and a demand for justice for those killed by the regime.

Dance of defiance

With the broad scope of the Islamic Republic regime’s massacre across the country, thousands of families are still mourning the loss of their loved ones. Iranian cemeteries, holy shrines and mosques — which normally are venues for the 40th-day ceremonies — have turned into scenes of the most extraordinary ways of mourning in the country, as victims’ families have been dancing to mourn as a sign of defiance.

Hundreds of videos circulating online from these ceremonies show parents, children, friends, wives and husbands of the victims dancing to upbeat music playing at mosques and holy shrine sites as a dramatic representation of their grief.

This is seen by many Iran watchers as an act of defiance, transforming a national collective pain into a form of resistance.

Videos show mourning women — even those from traditional and religious backgrounds — dancing in black, many of them without wearing a headscarf.

This comes as mosques and holy shrines have been important bases for the regime to spread the hardcore ideology its leaders stand by, which bans any kind of dance and music and scorns them as sins — let alone tolerating them in public or at holy sites.

The scenes have been witnessed at young victims’ commemoration ceremonies to highlight the happy life they deserved but were deprived of.

“No tears or words can express my pain,” a family member of one of the victims killed during protests in Tehran told ABC News on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I always dreamt of dancing at his wedding,” she said. “I felt this burning pain in my chest as I was dancing by the side of his grave. My dream was taken away by a bullet.”

The remerging of the protests comes as the United States and Islamic Republic leaders are preparing for another round of talks in Geneva on Thursday to discuss a possible nuclear deal.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.