Articles about Officials

• The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on April 5, 2026, against three Venezuelan oil executives accused of funding electoral fraud that displaced 200,000 migrants toward the US border. • Targets include PDVSA Vice President Carlos Vargas, with assets frozen and US travel bans; Secretary Blinken noted, 'These actions undermine democracy and fuel instability.' • Measures aim to pressure Maduro regime amid humanitarian crisis, where 8 million Venezuelans have fled since 2015, straining US border resources.

Elections seem top-of-mind for the Maha movement as key polling indicates anti-vaccine views are a liabilityUS health officials appear to be shying away from voicing negative views of vaccines in public as November’s midterm elections loom and key polling indicates anti-vaccine views are a liability.Health officials have made unprecedented changes to routine vaccine recommendations in the past year – slashing one-third of the US childhood schedule, including the recommendation for hepatitis B immunization at birth. But even before a federal judge essentially invalidated these moves, officials haven’t championed their dramatic changes after Donald Trump’s pollsters recommended veering away from anti-vaccine ideology ahead of the midterms. Continue reading...

US National Park Service lawyers cite materials that will be installed to make ‘heavily fortified’ facilityDonald Trump’s administration is arguing that a judge’s order to halt construction of a $400m White House ballroom creates a security risk for the US president as his team asks a federal appeals court to pause the ruling.In a motion filed on Friday, US National Park Service (NPS) lawyers say that the federal judge’s order to suspend construction of the new facility is “threatening grave national-security harms to the White House, the president and his family, and the president’s staff”. Continue reading...

Carasses wash ashore Guemes Island in ‘creepy mystery’, with authorities saying canines appear to be the same sizeOfficials are investigating after nearly two dozen dead canines washed ashore on a Washington state island, in what one local has compared to “the start of a horror movie”.The Skagit county sheriff’s office said 21 canines had been found on the shoreline of Guemes Island, about 80 miles north of Seattle, between 26 March and Friday. Continue reading...

State department says it is working to ensure release of freelancer ‘as soon as possible’ after abduction in BaghdadAn American journalist, Shelly Kittleson, has been kidnapped in Baghdad by a suspected Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group, the US said, as regional security deteriorates after the US-Israeli attack on Iran.Kittleson is a longtime freelancer in the region, reporting extensively from Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Continue reading...

Chad Bianco, running for governor, previously confiscated 650,000 ballots for baseless voter fraud investigationSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA Republican sheriff in California has confiscated additional ballot materials from a special election, escalating his conflict with state lawmakers who say he is conducting a baseless investigation into claims of voter fraud.On Tuesday, Chad Bianco, the Riverside county sheriff who is running for governor, was already at the center of a legal controversy after seizing 650,000 ballots from last year’s special election. Earlier this week he ordered his office to seize 426 additional boxes of ballot materials as part of the alleged criminal investigation, prompting criticism from lawmakers including Rob Bonta, California’s Democratic attorney general. Continue reading...

Removal of Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez after arrest during green-card appointment decried as ‘flagrant violation’ of legal rightsA federal judge ordered the Trump administration to return a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) to the United States, ruling that her deportation to Mexico last month was a “flagrant violation” of the legal protections afforded to immigrants who arrived in the country as children.Judge Dena Coggins said in her Monday ruling the administration must return Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, a Daca recipient, to the United States within seven days. She was arrested on 18 February in Sacramento during her green-card appointment, and was deported to Mexico the next day. Continue reading...

• Reps. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.) and Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) introduced the Preventing Real-time Exploitation and Deceptive Insider Congressional Trading Act on March 25, 2026, prohibiting members of Congress, the president, vice president, spouses, dependents, and senior executive branch employees from trading in prediction markets on political events or policy decisions. • The bill imposes civil penalties of 10% of the violating transaction's value plus full disgorgement of profits to the U.S. Treasury, amid rising bipartisan concerns over platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi. • 'The American people are tired of politicians using their influence for personal gain, and the rise of prediction markets has made those concerns even more relevant,' Budzinski stated.

Cargo plane carrying between 80 and 110 soldiers crashes shortly after takeoff in southern Amazon regionScores of Colombian soldiers are feared dead after military transport plane crashed on takeoff in the south of the country.The defense minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the accident happened as the Lockheed Martin Hercules C-130 plane was taking off from Puerto Leguízamo, deep in Colombia’s southern Amazon region on the border with Peru, as it transported troops from the armed forces.More details soon … Continue reading...

Nasa confirms meteor after residents reported hearing thunder-like noises about the time the fireball was visibleA suspected meteorite crashed into a home in suburban Houston on Saturday night, according to local residents and officials.Speaking to the local news outlet KHOU11 over the weekend, Spring area resident Sherrie James recalled the incident, saying: “My grandson went to check and said there was a hole in the ceiling … then I saw the rock, and I thought, ‘That looks like a meteor.’” Continue reading...

Kyiv sources say they think injection contained relaxant meant to make people more talkative in interrogationsHungarian security operatives administered a “forced injection” to one of the Ukrainians detained earlier this month during a dramatic raid on bank vehicles carrying gold bars and tens of millions of dollars and euros in cash, sources have told the Guardian.Hungary’s TEK anti-terrorism police detained seven Ukrainians from the state savings bank, Oschadbank, on 5 March. They were accompanying a convoy of two armoured cars from Vienna to Ukraine, as it transited Hungary in what Kyiv claims was a regular transfer of state funds. Hungarian officials have claimed it was money for the “Ukrainian war mafia”, without giving details. Continue reading...

• Intelligence officials testified before Congress on March 18 regarding Iran war threats and national security, with National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard deflecting questions about pre-war intelligence she offered Trump, while facing Democratic accusations of misusing national security powers for domestic political interference. • FBI Director Kash Patel made his first Capitol Hill appearance since a viral video showed him celebrating with the U.S. men's hockey team at the Winter Olympics; Patel has fired dozens of FBI agents in his first year, raising concerns about loss of national security expertise during elevated terrorism threats. • Multiple terrorism-related incidents occurred this month, including a gunman inspired by Iranian ideology killing two at a Texas bar, suspects arrested for explosives near New York City, a shooting at Old Dominion University in Virginia, and a car attack on a Michigan synagogue.

There is growing confidence that the 20 people diagnosed with the illness have not infected anyone outside the areaHealth officials increasingly believe they have contained the fatal outbreak of meningitis in Kent, with no cases emerging that are not linked to the original cluster of 20.In another boost to efforts to contain the infection, the bug that caused it has been identified as a known strain of meningitis B, the Guardian understands. Continue reading...

US based Covid vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant people on ideology instead of evidence, critics saySign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThere was scant data behind ending the Covid vaccine recommendation for pregnant people and children, according to internal memos made public because of a lawsuit against the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).The memos overlooked hundreds of studies on the benefits and safety of Covid vaccination and set the precedent for making changes to vaccine recommendations based on ideology instead of evidence, critics say. Continue reading...

Cuba's president confirmed his government held recent discussions with US officials as the nation faces a severe energy crisis attributed to the ongoing American blockade. The talks address humanitarian power shortages affecting millions, with blackouts persisting for weeks. US diplomats renewed alerts for Iraq but no direct link to Cuba noted. Observers see potential for eased restrictions if negotiations advance.

Cuba's president confirmed his government held recent talks with US officials as the nation grapples with a major energy crisis exacerbated by the ongoing American blockade. The discussions aim to address crippling power shortages affecting millions. This diplomatic outreach occurs against backdrop of US Middle East deployments drawing resources. Outcomes of the talks remain undisclosed, with energy imports strained.

Cuba's president confirmed on March 14, 2026, that his government held recent discussions with U.S. officials as the nation grapples with a severe energy crisis exacerbated by the American blockade. The talks focused on humanitarian aid and potential easing of restrictions, amid blackouts affecting millions. Cuban officials described the dialogue as 'constructive,' while U.S. sources noted exploring limited cooperation. Analysts suggest this could signal a diplomatic thaw with implications for regional stability.

Alexandria airport center would hold migrant families and children inside converted barracks before deportationThe Trump administration is poised to expand immigration detention operations at a controversial site inside a rural Louisiana airport, the Guardian has learned.The administration is seeking to establish a “first of its kind” short-term facility that would hold migrant families and unaccompanied children next to a runway that has become a central node for the White House’s mass deportation agenda. Continue reading...

Negotiations aimed to ‘find solutions to the bilateral differences’ between the countries, Miguel Díaz-Canel saidCuban officials have held talks with the US government, the country’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, confirmed on Friday, amid growing pain inflicted by a punishing US fuel blockade and frequent power failures.“These talks have been aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences we have between the two nations,” Díaz-Canel said in a prerecorded statement to senior Communist officials. Continue reading...