Venezuela’s first shipment of liquefied petroleum gas has left Venezuela bound for the US
The Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) Amuay oil refinery at the Paraguana Refinery Complex in Punto Fijo, Falcon State, Venezuela. (Photographer: Betty Laura Zapata/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez announced on Sunday that the country’s first shipment of liquefied petroleum gas had been exported.
The announcement in a post on her Telegram channel on Sunday comes almost a month after President Donald Trump ordered a military operation that led to the capture of Venezuela’s former President Nicolas Maduro, who now faces federal charges in the U.S.
Rodriguez, Maduro’s former vice president, was sworn in as the interim president after his capture in January.
Rodriguez said the ship, the Chrysopigi Lady, had set sail from Venezuela “with the first shipment of Liquefied Petroleum Gas,” in a post, originally in Spanish.
The Singapore-flagged Chrysopigi Lady left from a port in northern Venezuela on the evening of Feb. 1 and is set to arrive in Providence, Rhode Island, according to marinetraffic.com.
“Proud to share this moment: the vessel Chrysopigi Lady has set sail from Venezuela with the first shipment of Liquefied Petroleum Gas,” Rodriguez said in the post. “We are marking this historic milestone by exporting the country’s first molecule of gas; an achievement for the well-being of the people of Venezuela.”
Rodriguez faces key tests in the weeks ahead. Since becoming the country’s de facto leader, she has struggled with her new twin responsibilities of maintaining order at home and managing diplomatic relations with the United States who conducted a military operation on her country’s soil weeks ago.
Last week, Rodriguez appeared to struggle publicly with the appropriate tone to both satisfy Washington and assert Venezuela’s independence.
Rodriguez said Venezuela has “opened a space for political dialogue,” but warned “those who seek to perpetuate harm and aggression against the people of Venezuela should stay in Washington,” in public comments during a ceremony recognizing her as Venezuela’s Commander-in-Chief in Caracas on Jan. 28.
Rodriguez also said “no one” in Venezuela surrendered during the military operation on Jan. 3. “That is why I say honor and glory to the heroes and heroines of January 3, 2026,” she said during the ceremony on Jan. 28.
About 100 people overall were killed during the U.S. military operation on Jan. 3, Venezuela’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, said on Jan. 8, according to Reuters. Out of the 100, 32 Cuban security officials were killed during the attack, the Cuban government confirmed on Jan. 4.
A general view of Le Constellation wine bar after a memorial ceremony in tribute to victims of the Crans-Montana bar fire on January 09, 2026 in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Harold Cunningham/Getty Images
(LONDON) — Prosecutors on Friday detained the owner of a Swiss bar where a deadly New Year’s Day fire killed 40 people and injured 116 others, according to officials.
Jacques Moretti was placed in pre-trial detention after a meeting with prosecutors in Sion, the prosecutor’s office for Switzerland’s Valais region said.
The blaze ripped through Le Constellation, a popular bar in the resort town of Crans-Montana in the Swiss Alps, early on Jan. 1.
Moretti’s wife and business partner Jessica Moretti also attended the meeting but was not detained, according to the office. She was present at the bar during the fire and was burned on her arm.
“My constant thoughts are with the victims and those who are fighting today. This is an unimaginable tragedy,” Moretti told reporters outside the prosecutor’s office.
The bar had not had any inspections in the last five years, Swiss officials said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“There was a culture of reckless risk-taking”, Nicolas Féraud, the municipal chief of Crans-Montana, said at a press conference earlier this week. “This endangered customers and staff,” he said.
Féraud said that the municipal government had “never received any alerts” about problems in the bar. He also confirmed that there was an emergency exit in the basement, but could not say whether it was open, closed or blocked.
The blaze of “undetermined origin” broke out at the bar at about 1:30 a.m. local time on Jan. 1, the Cantonal Police of Valais said in a statement at the time of the fire.
On Jan. 2, the Valais attorney general told reporters that investigators are “pursuing several hypotheses” based on evidence they’ve gathered.
“We currently assume that the fire was caused by sparklers attached to champagne bottles that came too close to the ceiling,” she said at a news conference.
The Hookers’ boat, “Soulmate,” is seen in Marsh Harbor on Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, April 8, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — The husband of a woman who was reported missing in the Bahamas after going overboard on a dinghy was questioned again by police on Monday as he awaits any charging decision in connection with her disappearance, according to his attorney.
Lynette Hooker, 55, of Michigan, has been missing for over a week. She and her husband, Brian Hooker, 58, had departed Hope Town on the Abaco Islands for their yacht, Soulmate, in Elbow Cay around 7:30 p.m. on April 4, when bad weather caused Lynette Hooker to fall overboard, her husband told authorities.
Brian Hooker was arrested on Wednesday in connection with his wife’s disappearance and interviewed by Bahamian police for approximately three hours on Friday. Police subsequently requested an extension to give them until Monday evening to make any charging decision, according to his attorney, Terrel Butler.
He was questioned by police again on Monday for about an hour, according to Butler, who said investigators did not present any new evidence. She also said police have not given Brian Hooker any updates on the search for his wife since his arrest.
Police have until 7:20 p.m. ET Monday to charge or release him, according to Butler.
Butler said Brian Hooker is considered a suspect in his wife’s disappearance and denies any wrongdoing.
Following his initial interview on Friday, Butler said Brian Hooker was “questioned in relation to causing harm, which resulted in her death.”
“He definitely denies causing her death and he’s still asking about her and is hopeful that she will be recovered,” she continued, saying they have not been informed of any evidence that her body has been recovered.
The attorney said Brian Hooker is “heartbroken” over the disappearance of his wife of 25 years and that his arrest has been “traumatic.”
His arrest came after multiple sources told ABC News a criminal investigation had been opened into whether there was any wrongdoing in the case. The U.S. Coast Guard is leading the probe, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
In a statement posted to social media last Wednesday, Brian Hooker said “unpredictable seas and high winds” caused his “beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy” near Elbow Cay.
“Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus,” he said.
Brian Hooker told police that his wife was holding the boat key when she went overboard, causing the 8-foot hard-bottom dinghy’s engine to shut off, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force. He subsequently paddled the boat back to shore, arriving at a marina at around 4 a.m. on April 5, and reported his wife overboard, police said.
The Hookers documented their sailing travels on social media under the name “The Sailing Hookers.”
Lynette Hooker’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, has called for a “full and complete investigation” into her mother’s disappearance.
She told ABC News her stepfather, Brian Hooker, told her that her mom “fell out of the boat and that he threw a life jacket to her or something, and he doesn’t know if she got it or not.”
Lynette Hooker’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, told ABC News she hopes “we find the truth” amid the investigation and alleged the couple have had a volatile relationship.
“I just want the truth to come out and I’m hoping that they can do that, and I hope they find her and that that will help clear up all of this,” she said.
(LONDON) — Delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States are set to hold trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates on Friday in what officials say will be the first trilateral meeting since Russia launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine almost four years ago in February 2022.
The talks — planned for Friday and Saturday in Abu Dhabi — will be at a technical level and not include heads of state but is still a notable diplomatic engagement amid the ongoing fighting.
Administration officials for U.S. President Donald Trump have projected confidence over reaching a deal in recent days, saying territorial control of eastern Ukraine is the last remaining sticking point. But that issue is arguably the most difficult and many experts remain skeptical an agreement is possible yet.
President Trump’s lead negotiators special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner met for four hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin into the early hours of Friday. But the Kremlin afterwards indicated there was no breakthrough and vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes all of its Donbas region and agrees to a number of other heavy Russian demands.
Ahead of the meeting with Putin Witkoff on Thursday said that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are now down to “one issue.”
“And we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable,” Witkoff said in Davos Thursday.
When Trump was asked what concessions Putin needs to make during the upcoming talks, Trump didn’t mention any specifics but did indicate that concessions from Putin are on the table.
“He’ll make concessions,” Trump said. “Everybody’s making concessions to get it done.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos at the World Economic Forum on Thursday. The talks between the two lasted for about an hour.
“This is the last mile, which is the most difficult,” Zelenskyy said following the meeting. “The dialogue is not easy, but it was positive,”
After the meeting, however, Zelenskyy issued a sharp rebuke to Europe for not doing enough to stop Russia.
“Too often, Europeans turn against each other — leaders, parties, movements, and communities — instead of standing together to stop Russia, which brings the same destruction to everyone. Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” Zelenskyy said.
“Instead of taking the lead in defending freedom worldwide — especially when America’s focus shifts elsewhere — Europe looks lost, trying to convince the U.S. president to change,” he continued.
Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin along with Josh Gruenbaum, who has been newly appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to his Board of Peace.
On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, according to the Kremlin.
Speaking to journalists afterwards, Ushakov indicated Putin will still only accept an agreement that hands control of Donbas to Russia, as Moscow alleges was outlined during the summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska last summer.
“The main thing is that during these negotiations between our president and the Americans, it was once again stated that without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed in Anchorage, one should not expect to achieve a long-term settlement,” Ushakov continued.
Ushakov maintained that the Russian Federation is sincerely interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis through political and diplomatic methods, but wouldn’t retreat on the battlefield during negotiations.
“While this is not the case, Russia will continue to consistently achieve the goals set for the special military operation on the battlefield, where the Russian armed forces have a strategic initiative,” Ushakov said.
Russia’s invasion has killed hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, razed whole Ukrainian cities and forced over 5 million to flee the country, according to the United Nations.
The American delegation shared with Putin “first-hand” their assessments of the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in Davos, according to the Russian delegation.
“Our security negotiating group has already been formed and will fly to the Emirates in the coming hours. It includes representatives of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, headed by Admiral Kostyukov, Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, ” Ushakov said.
In Davos, Zelenskyy suggested he doubted Russia is ready to reach a peace deal, saying “I am not sure Putin wants to end this war in the situation where he is.”
“Maybe they want to find compromises. We are open to different steps, and I said that there are two sides that compromise,” said Zelenskyy. “Russians will not win this war. They did not win and will not.”
ABC News’ Mariam Khan, Patrick Reevell and Will Gretzky contributed to this report.
