作者： root

US will not allow Venezuelan government to pay Maduro’s legal fees, lawyer says

February 25, 2026 10:02 PM UTC / Reuters

By Luc Cohen

Venezuela’s captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores attend their arraignment with defense lawyers Barry Pollack and Mark Donnelly to face U.S. federal charges including narco-terrorism, conspiracy, drug trafficking, money laundering and others, at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in… [Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab]Read more

• Summary

• Venezuelan law requires government to pay expenses, lawyer says
• Maduro captured in a dramatic U.S. raid in Caracas last month
• Maduro and Flores plead not guilty to drug trafficking charges

NEW YORK, Feb 25 (Reuters) – The U.S. is blocking the Venezuelan government from paying for Nicolas Maduro’s legal representation in the drug trafficking case he faces in New York, the deposed Venezuelan president’s defense lawyer said on Wednesday.

Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores both pleaded not guilty on January 5 to drug trafficking charges that could land them in U.S. prison for decades. They are jailed in New York awaiting trial.

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In a letter addressed to U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing Maduro’s case, defense lawyer Barry Pollack said the Treasury Department on January 9 granted an exception to U.S. financial sanctions on Venezuela allowing the South American country’s government to pay Maduro’s fees, but revoked that permission hours later without explanation.

Pollack said “Venezuelan law and custom” dictate that the government pays the expenses of the President and First Lady.

“The government of Venezuela has an obligation to pay Mr. Maduro’s fees, Mr. Maduro has a legitimate expectation that the government of Venezuela would do so, and Mr. Maduro cannot otherwise afford counsel,” Pollack wrote in a letter dated February 20 but made public on Wednesday.

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A spokesperson for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, which brought the case, declined to comment. The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. special forces captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in a dramatic nighttime raid in Caracas on January 3, following months of pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on the socialist leader to step down. Prosecutors say Maduro abused his power to help drug traffickers throughout his 13-year tenure.

Since Maduro’s capture, his former Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has been running Venezuela. Maduro said in his January 5 court appearance that he was still the country’s legitimate president.

Pollack said Flores could still receive government funds for her legal fees. Her lawyer, Mark Donnelly, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pollack is best known for representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to obtain and disclose classified defense information.

Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by David Gregorio

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USDA selling its flagship South Building in Washington, relocating staff

February 25, 2026 8:28 PM UTC / Reuters

By Karl Plume

February 25, 2026 8:28 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago

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Item 1 of 2 The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Jamie L. Whitten Building is seen on the National Mall, from the Old Post Office Tower after U.S. President Donald Trump threw his support behind calls for a federal government takeover of the U.S. capital, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 21, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

[1/2]The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Jamie L. Whitten Building is seen on the National Mall, from the Old Post Office Tower after U.S. President Donald Trump threw his support behind calls for a federal government takeover of the U.S. capital, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 21, 2025…. Read more

• Summary
• Companies

• Trump has moved to downside and reshape US government
• Thousands of USDA employees have left the government
• Building is “shell of what it once was,” USDA chief says

CHICAGO, Feb 25 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is selling its flagship South Building office hub on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and relocating employees to other locations across the country by the end of the year, the agency said on Wednesday.

The move to vacate and sell the massive but aging building is part of a broader cost-cutting initiative at the department, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said, citing high maintenance costs and low occupancy.

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Thousands of USDA employees have taken buyouts and left the department over the past year amid Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to reshape and reduce the size and footprint of the federal government.

“At one time, the South Building was the beating heart of USDA, alive with research and teeming with activity decades ago. But today, it is a shell of what it once was,” Rollins said at a press conference outside the building on Wednesday.

The building will be turned over to the government’s General Services Administration for sale, Rollins said as Iowa Senator Joni Ernst unveiled a “For Sale By Owner” sign.

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The flagship USDA property, built in the U.S. capital in the 1930s, has $1.6 billion in delinquent maintenance costs while about 80% of its offices are vacant, GSA Administrator Edward Forst said.

The USDA has said it is planning to relocate much of its remaining staff in the U.S. capital to hubs in North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, Colorado and Utah.

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Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Will Dunham

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Kalshi fines and suspends MrBeast employee for insider trading

Updated on: February 25, 2026 / 4:39 PM EST / CBS News

Kalshi on Wednesday said it fined and suspended an employee of the popular YouTuber MrBeast for insider trading, marking one of the first disciplinary actions within the fast-growing prediction market industry.

The case involved bets related to MrBeast’s videos, which were flagged by Kalshi’s surveillance team for their “near-perfect trading success on markets with low odds,” according to the company’s statement.

In a regulatory notice, Kalshi identified the individual behind the wagers as Artem Kaptur, whom the company said was employed as an editor for MrBeast while he traded on non-public information he obtained through his job.

“If you insider trade or manipulate the market, there will be consequences,” Kalshi said in a social media post.

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, runs the most popular channel on YouTube, with roughly 468 million subscribers, according to vidIQ.

In a statement to CBS News, Beast Industries, the media company behind MrBeast, said it “has no tolerance for this behavior, whether by contestants or our own employees.”

“With regard to this particular matter, we’ve already initiated an independent investigation as part of our overall ongoing efforts to ensure the integrity of our workplace and trust with our global audiences,” a spokesperson for Beast Industries said.

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Insider trading risks

Kalshi and rival prediction markets such as Polymarket allow people to place bets on sports, politics, entertainment and any other events. For example, users can wager on the Super Bowl or which celebrity romances might fall apart.

In recent months, some trades on the sites have prompted speculation about possible insider trading. In January, one unidentified Polymarket user won $436,000 on a bet that appeared to anticipate former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces.

On Wednesday, Kalshi noted that it has opened 200 investigations into potential insider trading, which is banned on its site, in the past year.

Kaptur was fined $15,000 and ordered to return $5,397.58 in profits related to his trading on Kalshi, according to the company. The prediction market also suspended Kaptur for two years from the site.

Gubernatorial candidate bet on himself

Separately, Kalshi on Wednesday also said it imposed a five-year ban on Kyle Langford, who used the platform to wager $200 on his candidacy for governor of California. Langford was banned from the site for five years and fined $2,000, as well as required to return profits of $246.36.

“Note: this candidate recently announced he is no longer running for Governor and is now instead running for Congress,” Kalshi said in a filing.

In both Kaptur and Langford’s cases, their trades were flagged by Kalshi’s systems, leading its surveillance team to freeze their accounts, the company said.

“Neither trader withdrew any profits. These penalties are not indicative of future penalties — everything depends on the case, including amount traded and rules violated,” the company noted.

Kalshi said it has reported both cases to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and will donate the fines to a nonprofit that provides consumer education on derivatives markets.

Edited by Alain Sherter

Ukrainian president says his country is ready to freeze conflict along current lines but won’t surrender uncaptured territory

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia is trying “to play with the president of the United States” in stalling U.S.-brokered efforts to end the war.

In an interview with Fox News in Kyiv, Zelenskyy pushed back on suggestions from President Trump that Ukraine is the one holding up the peace process.

“We always supported peace,” Zelenskyy said. “When you are at your home, in your house, on your territory, in your city, of course you want to stop it.” Instead, Zelenskyy charged that Russia is attempting to drag out discussions, to avoid making concessions. “They try to play with the president of the United States,” he said.

[image_1]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is interviewed by Fox News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot in Kyiv, Ukraine on Feb. 25, 2026.(Fox News)

Asked by Fox News if he thinks Vladimir Putin is playing a game, Zelenskyy replied: “Yeah, I think so. Yeah. He needs to postpone any kind of negotiations.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready to freeze the conflict along its current lines, proposing a ceasefire to be followed by negotiations. But he said he would not accept a Russian demand for Ukraine to surrender territory the Russian army has not been able to capture in four years of fighting.

Fox News spoke with Zelenskyy at his offices in Kyiv, a heavily guarded complex where the lights are dimmed and sandbags dot the corridors. Among the grand marble staircases and high ceilings, walls are decorated with giant portraits of soldiers, standing some 12 feet tall.

[link_1]

[image_2]

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a press conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Ala., Aug. 15, 2025.(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Speaking one day after the conflict entered its fifth year, Zelenskyy accepted that some in Ukraine are weary of war. But he said peace proposals so far are heavily tilted toward Russia’s demands.

“Everybody wants peace, and a lot of people are tired,” Zelenskyy said. “But believe me, not everybody is ready… to eat what Putin cooked for us.”

[image_3]

The Ukrainian leader urged President Trump to visit his country, saying: “He will see such a result of the attacks. And he will see how the nation really lives. Not just surviving.”

[image_4]

Portraits of Ukrainian soldiers are seen at the Memorial for the Fallen at Independence Square Maidan on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Kyiv Monday, Feb. 24, 2025.(Bo Amstrup/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite massive losses, Zelenskyy hailed Ukraine’s fight. “Russia couldn’t and can’t occupy us. They didn’t win, and for us it’s a victory. We defended our independence and freedom.

[link_2]

“They didn’t change the country. They didn’t change our flag.

“I’m sure that Russia recognized — really recognizes now — that it was a big mistake.”

Simon Owen is a Fox News Senior Field Producer based in its London, UK bureau. Simon can be followed on Instagram at @simon384

沈泽玮：当赖清德喊“中国大陆”

发布/2026年2月26日 05:00

台湾总统赖清德（台上左五）星期二（2月24日）在海基会举行的“2026大陆台商春节活动”上致词时，在两岸方面用了“中国”、“中国大陆”、“大陆”三种称呼。 （自由时报）

台湾总统赖清德用“中国大陆”称呼海峡对岸，被敏感的台媒捕捉到，上了新闻版面。

台独倾向者一般以“中国”直呼对岸，凸显“中国”与“台湾”为两个不同政治实体，甚至是两个“平起平坐的对等国家”，即地图上的雄鸡和鸡腿棒毫不相干。以“中国大陆”或“大陆”称呼，则符合《中华民国宪法》或《两岸人民关系条例》对两岸关系的定义。

台媒报道，赖清德星期二（2月24日）在海基会举行的“2026大陆台商春节活动”上致词时，在两岸方面用了“中国”、“中国大陆”、“大陆”三种称呼。这与他过去在总统就职演说和“双十”演说中直呼“中国”不太一样。

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Clinton accuses GOP voter bill of targeting married women — Republicans call it ‘nonsense’

Trump urged Republican lawmakers to pass the SAVE Act

By Brooke Singman
Fox News
Published February 25, 2026 3:21pm EST

Hillary Clinton is claiming that Republican voter legislation will make it harder for married women to vote — an assertion GOP lawmakers and officials already say they’ve debunked.

“You didn’t have to listen to Trump’s rambling speech last night to know that Republicans are trying to make it harder for millions of Americans to vote—especially married women,” Clinton posted on X Wednesday. “They’ve already made it clear. Time to fight back.”

Clinton was referring to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.

The president called on Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which would tighten election rules and require voters to present a photo ID at the polls and proof of U.S. citizenship.

Hillary Clinton is claiming that Republican voter legislation will make it harder for married women to vote — an assertion GOP lawmakers and officials already say they’ve debunked.(Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)

The president said the legislation is critical in order to stop “illegal aliens and other unpermitted persons from voting.”

Congressional Democrats have panned the SAVE Act as a tool of voter suppression — saying it’s a bill that allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to monitor Americans’ voter information and create barriers for married women to vote, among several other claims.

The bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, mandate states to actively verify and remove noncitizens from voter rolls, expand information sharing with federal agencies, including DHS, to verify citizenship, and create new criminal penalties for registering noncitizens to vote.

President Donald J. Trump delivers the first State of the Union address of his second term to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.(Kenny Holston /Pool via Reuters)

But Clinton isn’t alone — other House Democrats earlier in February also similarly claimed that the legislation would leave married women unable to vote unless they changed their birth certificates to match other government-issued ID.

REPUBLICANS SHRED ‘NONSENSE’ DEM CLAIMS AGAINST TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID BILL

But Republicans say they’ve already addressed the claim and debunked it.

“This is absolute nonsense, and we specifically allow for a provision to make sure that no one can possibly be left behind,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who led both the SAVE Act and SAVE America Act in the House, said, while arguing Democrats were “really reaching” for criticism.

“If a woman tried to register to vote with different names on her birth certificate and driver’s license,” Roy said, “we literally put in the statute that all you have to do is sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury that, ‘I am that person. This is my birth certificate… and this is my driver’s license that is reflecting my married name.’”

The bill does list a birth certificate as one way voters can confirm their identity. It does not specify a last-name match requirement.

Voters can use “a certified birth certificate issued by a state in which the applicant was born… (that) includes the full name, date of birth and place of birth of the applicant” to supplement other forms of identification.

President Donald Trump delivered the longest-ever State of the Union address on Feb. 24, 2026.(Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Among other forms of valid paperwork, voters can also display a passport, a REAL ID or a military identification card to prove their citizenship.

Conservative legal group The Federalist Society presented a breakdown of the bill, which explicitly says that Americans who have changed their names — because of marriage or otherwise — are “not prevented from voting.”

“The bipartisan federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is commanded by the SAVE Act to establish guidelines for states to accept supplementary documents — for instance, a marriage license — to prove citizenship when a voter’s birth certificate and current name do not match,” the group’s page reads. “Those on the Left who claim that the SAVE Act will disenfranchise millions of married women are simply wrong; they ought to read the bill’s text and see that it provides mechanisms to ensure that this does not happen.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.

古来塑料厂大火空污 五校数千学生停课至周五

发布时间 / 来源：2026年2月26日 05:15 / 新明日报

柔佛古来新港这家塑料厂星期二（2月24日）发生严重火灾。消防局直到星期三（25日）晚间仍未完全灭火。图为当局星期三以挖土机挖开火场底层的塑料灭火，并防止复燃。 （取自柔佛州消防局脸书）

柔佛古来一家塑料厂星期二（2月24日）发生严重火灾。大火延烧超过一天后，至星期三（25日）晚间仍未扑灭。火灾引起的空气污染则造成近70名学生身体不适，当局因此下令五所中小学数千名学生立即停课。

据柔佛州消防局官方脸书发布的信息，古来新港亚依淡路一间塑料厂星期二下午发生大火。当局立即调派古来、士乃及士姑来共三所消防局的39名人员前往灌救。

古来新港亚依淡路一间塑料厂星期二（2月24日）下午发生大火。当局立即调派古来、士乃及士姑来共三所消防局的39名人员前往灌救。（取自柔佛州消防局脸书）

消防员在星期二晚间大致控制火势继续蔓延，但工厂的塑料残骸仍在高温下持续闷烧，消防员因此必须继续在现场灌救。

据初步调查，工厂约八成建筑已遭焚毁。具体经济损失与起火原因则有待进一步调查。

据初步调查，大火已经烧毁柔佛古来新港这家塑料厂至少八成建筑。具体经济损失与起火原因则有待进一步调查。（取自柔佛州消防局脸书）

柔佛州负责房屋及地方政府事务的行政议员（州内阁部长）莫哈末嘉福尼星期三晚间发文告说，大火仍未完全扑灭。这是因为灾场的塑料属于易燃物，柔佛州消防局的消防泡沫无法应付需求而必须向外州求援。

莫哈末嘉福尼也是巫统古来武吉柏迈区州议员。他说，马六甲消防局支援25桶消防泡沫，以及布城消防局提供30桶消防泡沫后，灭火行动随即进入最后阶段。

他指出：“目前的重点是扑灭残馀火势，以及仍在燃烧的橡胶原物料与塑料堆。这需要使用消防泡沫才能确保火势完全熄灭并防止复燃。”

火灾发生时适逢当地降雨，大量黑色烟尘与雨水混合后，在古来21哩、北干那那及乌鲁槽一带降下罕见“黑雨”。

不少居民在面子书发布贴文申诉，雨水带有明显黏性与黑色油渍，造成不少停放在屋外的轿车及住家外墙都遭殃。

古来人民公正党武吉峇都区州议员张善深星期三发文告说，大火造成附近地区空气污染，造成大古来国小和大古来国小二校的68名学生身体不适。

他说，古来县教育局已经指示这两所学校，以及附近新港华小、大古来华小和大古来宗教学校的五校数千名学生立即居家学习至星期五。

Trump admin halts Medicaid payments to Minnesota over fraud claims

By Adam Cancryn
27 min ago
PUBLISHED Feb 25, 2026, 6:36 PM ET

CNN

The Trump administration is withholding more than $250 million in Medicaid funds from Minnesota, claiming widespread fraud as it escalates a pressure campaign on the state’s Democratic leadership.

Vice President JD Vance announced the extraordinary move on Wednesday, blaming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for failing to adequately police the safety-net program and warning the pause would continue until the state submitted an acceptable plan for targeting its misuse.

“We are stopping the federal payments that will go to the state government until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American taxpayer,” Vance said.

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The administration’s crackdown comes a day after President Donald Trump vowed during his State of the Union address to take a hard line on fraud, claiming without offering specifics that it has grown rampant across several states.

Vance, who Trump put in charge of a new anti-fraud task force, said Wednesday that Minnesota was the first of several anticipated states that would be targeted as part of the effort. The administration is also putting a nationwide freeze on new companies’ abilities to seek Medicare payments for durable medical equipment, such as canes and walkers, while it investigates suspected fraud in the program.

“Across the board, these crimes are becoming a major source of fraudulent activity,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz said.

The halt to Medicaid payments for Minnesota represents just the latest effort to pressure the state over the last several months, after conservatives surfaced a widespread social services fraud scheme that caught the attention of Trump and his aides.

The scandal prompted the administration to surge immigration forces into the state, a weekslong offensive that led to the fatal shootings of two US citizens.

Trump officials had previously warned that they were considering deferring payments over fraud concerns, but Wednesday’s announcement marks their first effort to unilaterally halt federal funding that is due to the state’s Medicaid program.

Vance dismissed questions about the administration’s legal authority, saying he was “quite confident” about their ability to withhold the money, but declined to offer details.

The vice president was also vague about the criteria that Walz would need to meet to secure the release of the funding, or how quickly the administration was prepared to resume its payments. Oz indicated that in order to restore funds, Minnesota needs to verify that service providers are indeed tending to people with a genuine need for the programs.

“We need to know that the providers actually are the real providers. Oftentimes, there’s no person that you can associate with the treatment itself,” Oz said, adding states also need to ensure the providers aren’t “already in trouble for doing bad stuff.”

“There’s a whole slew of tools that we can use, including checking before you pay the bill, that the bill is legitimate,” he added. “That prepayment review is incredibly important.”

Oz said they’ve imposed a 60-day deadline on the Walz administration to respond.

Kit Maher contributed to this report.

No English content available

Meet the man Trump picked to pursue his war on fraud at the Justice Department

By [Hannah Rabinowitz]

Updated 1 hr 17 min ago

Updated Feb 25, 2026, 5:48 PM ET

PUBLISHED Feb 25, 2026, 4:32 PM ET

[Image_1]

Colin McDonald

Colin McDonald/LinkedIn

The morning after President Donald Trump declared a “war on fraud” during his State of the Union address, senior Justice Department prosecutor Colin McDonald told the Senate Judiciary Committee and said he would steadfastly follow the department’s tradition to focus only on the evidence.

“I am a career federal prosecutor,” McDonald said. “I follow the facts; I apply the law — those are the two considerations that come into play for me.”

His comment paraphrased a promise that’s core to the Justice Department, cited constantly by attorneys general under both Democratic and Republican administrations. But it didn’t directly address what he was asked: Whether McDonald, who is tapped to run a new DOJ division tasked with rooting out fraud, would follow an order from Trump to prosecute one of his own perceived enemies.

“You are now placed in a highly politicized division,” one of the Democratic senators on the committee, Mazie Hirono, warned. “We already know that the president considers the Department of Justice to be his law firm, Pam Bondi to be his lawyer. You are down the chain and I don’t see how you sit there and tell us that you are going to be independent, as much as you might want to be.”

The Trump administration has made allegations of widespread fraud a main focus of their prosecution efforts, as well as a political tool to criticize Democratic officials. Most notably, the administration has focused on a wide-ranging fraud scandal in Minnesota that prosecutors estimate could total more than $9 billion in stolen funds. The president has specifically laid blame at the feet of Democratic officials for allowing the state to become a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”

McDonald’s career was relatively low profile until he moved with his wife and five children to Washington, DC, one year ago, leaving his decadelong post at the federal prosecutor’s office in California’s Southern District to work in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office. There, his work focused on everything from law enforcement issues to co-chairing the so-called Weaponization Working Group.

In January, Trump announced on Truth Social his nomination of McDonald as the “first ever Assistant Attorney General for National FRAUD Enforcement, a new Division at the Department of Justice, which I created to catch and stop FRAUDSTERS that have been STEALING from the American People.”

The new division was under scrutiny before McDonald was even nominated. The Justice Department already has multiple offices that investigate criminal and civil fraud cases, leading some lawmakers and legal experts to question whether creating the new division is necessary.

And Vice President JD Vance told reporters in early January that the role will be like that of a special counsel, but “run out of the White House under the supervision of me and the president United States,” which experts said would run afoul to longstanding department efforts to stay separate from political interference.

Vance, who Trump said in his speech would lead the “war on fraud,” said Wednesday that the effort would be a “whole government approach” that included other federal departments, including the Treasury Department.

McDonald tried to ease concerns of duplicate efforts during the hearing Wednesday, saying that his office would be “complementary” of the department’s preexisting fraud sections and would initially focus on cases that involved abuses of Medicaid and SNAP funds — both of which are alleged to have taken place in Minnesota. He also pointed to a Justice Department organization chart that showed he would report directly to Bondi and Blanche, and pledged to work with federal, state or local partners “regardless of political party.”

None of the senators asked McDonald Wednesday what role Vance’s would play in his office’s efforts. The vice president said at an event later in the day that McDonald “impressed a lot of people. He certainly impressed me.”

McDonald’s attempts to appear non-political largely fell on deaf ears among Senate Democrats, who continued to push him to say definitively that he would not listen to prosecutorial demands from the president.

“If in fact the Constitution requires that the president take care that the laws be faithfully executed, it would be a dereliction of duty if they did not ensure that we stop this fraud,” Republican Sen. Ashley Moody eventually cut in. “Is that correct?”

“I agree with that, senator,” McDonald said.

This story has been updated with additional details.