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01/03/2026

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, will face criminal charges after an indictment in New York.

Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple will “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”

Maduro was indicted in 2020 in New York, but it was not previously known that his wife had been.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The United States hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early Saturday and said its president had been captured and flown out of the country after months of intense pressure on Nicolás Maduro's government — an extraordinary nighttime operation announced by President Donald Trump on social media hours after the attack.

The legal authority for the strike — and whether Trump consulted Congress beforehand — was not immediately clear. The stunning, lightning-fast American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.

Multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through the Venezuelan capital, and Maduro's government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets.

With Maduro's whereabouts not known, the vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, would take power under Venezuelan law. There was no confirmation that had happened, though she did issue a statement after the strike.

“We do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores,” Rodriguez said. “We demand proof of life.”

Maduro, Trump said, “has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.” He set a news conference for later Saturday morning.

The attack itself lasted less than 30 minutes and the explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they’d seen and heard. It was not known if there were any deaths or injuries on either side or if more actions lay ahead, though Trump said in his post that the strikes were carried out “successfully.”

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted on X that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had briefed him on the strike and said that Maduro “has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.”

The White House did not immediately respond to queries on where Maduro and his wife were being flown to. Maduro was indicted in March 2020 on “narco-terrorism" conspiracy charges.

Maduro last appeared on state television Friday while meeting with a delegation of Chinese officials in Caracas.

The strike came after the Trump administration spent months increasing the pressure on Maduro, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.

01/03/2026

Israeli woman Inbar Haiman, 27 who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on Oct 7th and held hostage by Hamas in Gaza has been KILLED.

The art student from Haifa was executed by her captors according to The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.

In a statement announcing the tragic news the forum said:

“Inbar was a talented and loving woman, endlessly giving. She was creative and full of life.

A passionate art enthusiast... Inbar leaves behind two parents and a brother.”

Her family have been informed.

01/03/2026

New California Law Requires a Working Fridge and Stove in All Apartments

Image of Contemporary apartment kitchen featuring stainless steel refrigerator, granite countertops, dark wood cabinets, gas stove, water dispenser, and breakfast bar in clean residential interior.
Beginning Jan. 1, California landlords will be required to provide all apartments with a working stove and refrigerator. (Shutterstock)
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Beginning Jan. 1, landlords will be required to provide all apartments with a working stove and refrigerator thanks to a new state law.
The law ends a decades-long phenomenon, mostly in LA, in which some tenants had to buy their own appliances.
Opponents of the law say it will hurt mom-and-pop landlords and cut the supply of rental residences.
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Fridge-less apartments dotting the pricey California rental market will soon be a head-scratching relic.

Beginning Jan. 1, landlords will be required to provide all apartments with a working stove and refrigerator thanks to a new state law.

It marks the end of an unusual, decades-long phenomenon mostly in the Los Angeles area where some tenants have had to buy their own appliances after signing a lease.

The law, Assembly Bill 628, takes effect Thursday, and of the numerous housing reform measures passed by the Legislature in 2025, is one of the more unusual ones.

“A working stove and a refrigerator are not luxuries,” Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, a Democrat from Inglewood, said in a statement earlier this year after she introduced the bill. “They are a necessary part of modern life.”

Tenant Rights Groups Applaud Law
California has the fewest available apartments with refrigerators in the country, according to a 2022 report from the Los Angeles Times that was cited in the bill proposal. There is not a clear reason why, and the mysterious trend is largely region-locked to Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Most tenants don’t have to buy their own bulky appliances. But California law previously required only plumbing, heat and certain other utilities be available. Apartments without the staple appliances will now be illegal unless they are part of housing with communal kitchens, single-room occupancy units or hotels.

Tenant rights groups say the law will help reduce housing costs for low-income residents who have to pay for a refrigerator — which can easily run in the hundreds of dollars — in addition to the first month’s rent and a deposit before moving in.

“To have an added cost of trying to buy a refrigerator and a stove is really economically unfeasible for many tenants,” said Larry Gross, executive director of the Los Angeles housing advocacy group Coalition for Economic Survival.

Headaches for Mom-and-Pop Landlords?
Realtor groups have said it will spur burdensome litigation for mom-and-pop landlords.

The requirement “will lead to heavier burdens on the courts and a dramatic reduction in the state’s availability of rental housing supply,” Bernice Creager, a lobbyist for the California Association of Realtors, said at a Senate judiciary committee hearing earlier this year.

Enforcement will be up to local governments. In Los Angeles, residents will be able to file a complaint with the city’s housing department if a landlord refuses to provide cooking and refrigerated storage appliances.

Tenants can still bring their own refrigerator and stove if they please, but they will be on the hook for maintenance if they do.

01/03/2026