The Latest: Trump says US will keep oil tanker. Venezuela calls it piracy

The United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as tensions mount with the establishment of President Nicol s Maduro Venezuela called it blatant piracy exposing how U S pressure has reliably been about controlling the country s vast oil reserves Congress is now scrutinizing President Donald Trump s latest push to increase pressure on Maduro who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States Trump has declared the deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats will expand to attacks on land Maduro reported supporters in Caracas that Venezuela is prepared to break the teeth of the North American empire if necessary Trump s approval on the economic activity and immigration have fallen substantially since March according to a new AP-NORC poll the latest indication that two signature issues that got him elected barely a year ago could be turning into liabilities as his party begins to gear up for the midterms And Trump s tariffs have cost U S households each so far Democrats say The members of Congress Joint Economic Committee tallied the costs of sweeping taxes on imports Their document revealed that they ve cost American consumers nearly billion or per household from February through November The Latest Why Trump gets higher approval on confines prevention than immigration Trump s approval ratings on immigration have declined since March but boundary safeguard remains a relatively strong issue for him Half of U S adults approve of how Trump is handling frontier assurance according to a new AP-NORC poll Just right now approve of how he s handling the issue of immigration Trump s relative strength on territory line defense is partially driven by Democrats and independents who are less likely to approve of his immigration approach Other polls have shown these groups tend to prioritize increasing confines guard more than deporting immigrants even those who are living in the country illegally Shaniqwa Copeland a -year-old independent and home wellness aide in St Augustine Florida mentioned she approves of Trump s overall handling of the presidency but believes his immigration actions have gone too far Now they re just picking up anybody Copeland stated the AP They just like pick up people grabbing anybody It s crazy Read more about the poll s findings Time magazine names Architects of AI person of the year Prediction markets pegged AI as a leading contender along with Trump Pope Leo XIV Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani Trump was already named the person of the year by the magazine after his winning his second bid for the White House succeeding Taylor Swift who was the person of the year The magazine cited as the year when the promising of artificial intelligence roared into view with no turning back For delivering the age of thinking machines for wowing and worrying humanity for transforming the present and transcending the practicable the Architects of AI are TIME s Person of the Year Time stated in a social media post Thursday Ukraine meets urgently with European coalition on latest peace proposals President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared Ukraine would give its latest peace proposals to U S negotiators ahead of his urgent talks Thursday with a coalition of about countries supporting Kyiv s effort to end the war with Russia on acceptable terms The White House did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday on whether that happened Negotiations are at a critical moment German Chancellor Friedrich Merz British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron disclosed in a declaration Washington s goal of a swift compromise to stop the fighting that followed Russia s full-scale invasion in is reducing Kyiv s room for maneuvering Zelenskyy is walking a tightrope between defending Ukrainian interests and showing Trump he is willing to compromise even as Moscow shows no population sign of budging from its demands Zelenskyy s allies are backing his effort seeking a fair settlement that will deters future Russian attacks and defend Europe Read more about the latest negotiations to end Russia s war in Ukraine Senate to reject extending wellbeing care subsidies as costs rise for various The Senate is poised on Thursday to reject measure to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits for millions of Americans a potentially unceremonious end to a monthslong Democratic effort to prevent the COVID-era subsidies from expiring on Jan Despite a bipartisan desire to continue the credits Republicans and Democrats have never engaged in meaningful or high-level negotiations The Senate is expected to vote on two partisan bills and defeat them both essentially guaranteeing that numerous who buy their healthcare insurance on the ACA marketplaces see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year It s too complicated and too challenging to get done in the limited time that we have left noted Sen Thom Tillis of North Carolina who has unsuccessfully pushed his Republican colleagues to extend the tax credits for a short time so they can find agreement on the issue next year Neither side has seemed interested in compromise Read more about the congressional stalemate on strength care Trump s National Guard deployments face Senate questioning Senators for the first time are poised to question military leaders over Trump s use of the National Guard in American cities an extraordinary move that has prompted legal challenges as well as questions about states rights and the use of the military on U S soil The hearing Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to feature tough questioning for Pentagon leaders over the legality of the deployments which in selected places were done over the objections of mayors and governors The hearing will bring the highest level of scrutiny to Trump s use of the National Guard outside of a courtroom since the deployments began and comes a day after the president faced another legal setback over his muscular use of troops in larger federal operations Read more about Senate scrutiny of the Guard deployments First of oil lease sales planned for Gulf of Mexico draws million from companies Oil companies offered million for drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday in the first of sales planned for the region under Republican efforts to ramp up U S fossil fuel production The sale came after Trump s administration in recent days disclosed plans to allow new drilling off Florida and California for the first time in decades That s drawn pushback including from Republicans worried about impacts to tourism Wednesday s sale was mandated by the sweeping tax-and-spending bill approved by Republicans over the summer Under that provision companies will pay a royalty on oil produced from the leases That s the lowest royalty level for deep-water drilling since Thirty companies submitted bids on parcels covering square miles square kilometers Total high bids were down from million offered in the majority newest lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico under former President Joe Biden in December Read more about the sales Trump wants to keep farmers happy with cash They re still worried about the future When Trump promised new tariffs while running for president Gene Stehly worried that commerce disputes would jeopardize his international sales of corn soybeans and wheat A little more than a year later Stehly commented his fears have become a reality and Trump s latest promise of federal assistance is insufficient to cover farmers losses Trump disclosed Monday that his administration would distribute billion in one-time payments to farmers who have suffered from persistently low commodity prices rising costs and declining sales after China cut off all agricultural purchases from America during the exchange war While rural areas remain conservative bastions farmers patience with Washington is wearing thin Several of them described the authorities bailout an echo of similar policies during Trump s first term as a welcome stopgap but one that won t solve the agricultural industry s problems It s a bridge It s not the ultimate resolution we re looking for mentioned Charlie Radman a fourth-generation farmer What we really want to have is a little more certainty and not have to rely on these ad hoc payments Read more about farmers concerns Trump s tariffs have cost U S households each Democrats say Sweeping taxes on imports have cost the average American household nearly since Donald Trump returned to the White House this year according to calculations by Democrats on Congress Joint Economic Committee Using Treasury Department numbers on revenue from tariffs and Goldman Sachs estimates of who ends up paying for them the Democrats statement Thursday determined that American consumers share of the bill came to nearly billion or per household from February through November In his second term Trump has reversed decades of U S agenda that favored free deal He s imposed double-digit tariffs on almost every country on earth According to Yale University s Budget Lab the average U S tariff has shot up from at the beginning of the year to the highest since The president argues that the import taxes will protect U S industries from unfair foreign competition bring factories to the United States and raise money for the Treasury Read more about the Democrats overview Trump s handling of the business activity is at its lowest point in AP-NORC polling Trump s approval on the commercial sector and immigration have fallen substantially since March according to a new AP-NORC poll the latest indication that two signature issues that got him elected barely a year ago could be turning into liabilities as his party begins to gear up for the midterms Only of U S adults now approve of how Trump is handling the market system the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Citizens Affairs Research finds That is down from in March and marks the lowest economic approval he s registered in an AP-NORC poll in his first or second term Trump has also struggled to recover from inhabitants blowback on other issues such as his management of the federal ruling body and has not seen an approval bump even after congressional Democrats effectively capitulated to end a record-long administration shutdown last month Just a inadequate months ago of Americans approved of Trump s handling of crime but that s fallen to in the new poll There s been a similar decline on immigration from approval in March to now Read more about the poll s findings Source