Top 5 US news stories
January 5 2026
U.S. Strike Captures Venezuelan Leader Maduro, Leaves 80 Dead in Two-Hour Operation
Trump Declares U.S. 'In Charge' of Venezuela, Demands Total Access to Oil and Resources
Trump Administration Signals Extended U.S. Governance of Venezuela Without Election Timeline
Trump Invokes 'Donroe Doctrine' as Latin American Nations Divide Sharply Over Venezuela Intervention
Trump's Venezuela Pledge Sends U.S. Energy Stocks Surging, Precious Metals Rally
U.S. Strike Captures Venezuelan Leader Maduro, Leaves 80 Dead in Two-Hour Operation
President Trump announced Saturday that U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in a large-scale military operation involving 150 aircraft and ground troops. The mission, ordered late Friday by Trump, took approximately two hours and 20 minutes as forces dismantled Venezuelan air defenses before delivering troops to Caracas by helicopter, according to Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Venezuelan officials reported at least 80 casualties, including military personnel and civilians, while Cuban state media said 32 Cubans from that nation's armed forces were killed. No American deaths occurred, though about half a dozen U.S. soldiers sustained injuries.
NYT
Trump Declares U.S. 'In Charge' of Venezuela, Demands Total Access to Oil and Resources
President Trump declared Sunday that the United States is "in charge" of Venezuela, reinforcing his earlier assertions with blunt language while Secretary of State Marco Rubio adopted a more diplomatic tone in describing the administration's approach to the country's new leadership. Trump told reporters he wants "total access" to Venezuela's oil and other resources to rebuild the nation, while Rubio emphasized maintaining a military "quarantine" on oil exports to pressure Caracas rather than establishing an occupation authority similar to the one used in Iraq. Acting Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice president under Maduro, responded diplomatically Sunday night, stating the country deserves "peace and dialogue, not war."
NYT
Trump Administration Signals Extended U.S. Governance of Venezuela Without Election Timeline
President Trump listed drug trafficking, gang activity and nationalized U.S. oil assets as justifications for capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro but made no mention of restoring democracy, instead stating the U.S. would run Venezuela indefinitely until a "safe, proper and judicious transition" could be arranged. Trump dismissed opposition leader María Corina Machado, a recent Nobel Peace Prize winner, as lacking popularity while expressing willingness to work with Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro's vice president and a hard-line socialist. Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed expectations for quick democratic reforms Sunday, calling demands for immediate elections "absurd" given Venezuela's decades-long history under the Chavismo political movement.
WSJ
Trump Invokes 'Donroe Doctrine' as Latin American Nations Divide Sharply Over Venezuela Intervention
Leftist governments in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Spain and Uruguay jointly condemned the U.S. bombing and capture operation as "an extremely dangerous precedent," warning against external control of Venezuela's natural resources, while Argentina's right-wing President Javier Milei praised the action as choosing "the side of GOOD" over evil. Trump invoked the Monroe Doctrine—the 1823 policy limiting European interference in the Americas—claiming his approach supersedes it as the "Donroe Doctrine" that ensures American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will "never be questioned again." The intervention marks a significant departure from three decades of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America that emphasized democracy and free trade, as Trump refocuses the approach on direct American interests.
NYT
Trump's Venezuela Pledge Sends U.S. Energy Stocks Surging, Precious Metals Rally
U.S. energy company shares jumped in premarket trading Monday after President Trump promised to deploy American drillers to revive Venezuela's oil production, with Chevron—the sole remaining U.S. oil major in the country—rising 8 percent while ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and oilfield services firms also gained significantly. The ouster of President Nicolás Maduro sparked a broader rally in precious metals as investors anticipated heightened geopolitical tensions, pushing gold futures up 2.5 percent and silver more than 6 percent, while global defense stocks also rose. Despite Venezuela holding the world's largest oil reserves, analysts noted the country accounts for only 1 percent of an oversupplied global market, with oil prices remaining choppy as markets anticipated lower prices from newly available Venezuelan supply rather than pricing in instability.
WSJ / Unhedged Newsletter
January 2 1933: Construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge
From groundbreaking on January 5, 1933 to opening on May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was built in just over four years. In many U.S. cities today, environmental review, community processes, and litigation can make permitting alone take longer than that entire construction timeline.
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