Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.
Trump sets convicted fraudster free for a second timePresident Trump quietly handed out a raft of pardons this week. Many of them were revealed today for the first time by my colleagues Kenneth Vogel and Susanne Craig. One pardon, in particular, caught my colleagues’ attention: Adriana Camberos, whose fraud sentence was wiped away this week by Trump, had already been freed from prison by the president once before. In 2021, Trump commuted her sentence for an unrelated fraud case, in which she was convicted of selling counterfeit bottles of the caffeinated drink 5-hour Energy. Also among those granted clemency were Camberos’s brother, who was convicted of fraud along with her; a man whose daughter had given millions to a Trump-backed super PAC; a former governor of Puerto Rico; a former F.B.I. agent who had pleaded guilty in a political corruption case; and a former business executive who had been convicted of insider trading. In other Trump administration news:
C.I.A. director met Venezuela’s new leader in CaracasJohn Ratcliffe, the director of the C.I.A., met with Delcy Rodríguez, the interim president of Venezuela, yesterday in Caracas. The visit reinforced the Trump administration’s message that it sees the interim government as the best path to stability in the country, at least in the short term. The support for Rodríguez — a loyalist of the ousted autocrat Nicolás Maduro — is something of a snub to Venezuela’s opposition, which is led by the Nobel laureate María Corina Machado. Trump met with Machado yesterday and accepted her Nobel Peace Prize medal as a gift, but the president’s spokeswoman made clear that he believed Machado lacked the respect and support to be Venezuela’s leader. A C.I.A. assessment last summer described Rodríguez as a pragmatic politician who might work with the U.S. One report mentioned that she wore a $15,000 dress to her inauguration, prompting an official to quip that “she is a socialist but the most capitalistic one I’ve seen.”
Iran’s brutal crackdown appears to have quelled the protestsSeveral residents of Tehran, Iran’s capital, told my colleagues that the streets across the city had largely been quiet this week after the authorities escalated a deadly crackdown on a widespread antigovernment uprising. The residents said that it felt as if the city was under martial law, with shops closing early and security forces ever-present. A communications blackout and a flood of disinformation have made it difficult to know what’s happening on the ground. But a human rights group in Norway said that there had been no large-scale protests documented across Iran since Sunday. Several Israeli intelligence officials concluded that the protests had effectively been subdued.
Chinese fishing boats quietly formed vast sea barriersChina quietly mobilized thousands of fishing boats twice in recent weeks to form floating barriers that were at least 200 miles long, a Times analysis found. The tactic could be used to obstruct U.S. warships. Just last week, about 1,400 Chinese vessels abruptly dropped their usual fishing activities or sailed out of their home ports and congregated in the East China Sea. By Sunday, they had assembled into the dense formation you can see in the image above.
Minneapolis
Other Big Stories
It’s ‘Game of Thrones,’ with no dragons or warring dynastiesOn Sunday, HBO will premiere “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” the latest addition to the “Game of Thrones” franchise. Based on a novella by George R.R. Martin, the show tells the story of an aspiring knight, Dunk, and his adventures at a jousting tournament with Egg, his 9-year-old squire. It will feel familiar to those who have enjoyed previous entries into the land of Westeros. But without mythical beasts or power-hungry dynasties, the series will be a test of whether the “Thrones” formula works on a human scale.
ASAP Rocky returns to rapIn the nearly eight years since ASAP Rocky last released an album, he has acted in two Hollywood movies, faced two criminal prosecutions and seen dozens of his unfinished songs leaked. But today, his long-awaited fourth album, “Don’t Be Dumb,” was finally made public. Before its release, Rocky sat down with my colleagues Joe Coscarelli and Jon Caramanica for an episode of our culture show, “Popcast.” He discussed his return to music, his legal entanglements, his family life with Rihanna, his growing acting career and more. Listen here.
Dinner table topics
Cook: Warm up your evening with this creamy lasagna soup. Mix: Toast to dry January with this satisfying nonalcoholic martini. Watch: Put on “Paris, Texas” or these four other movies that you can stream for free. Read: “Strangers” by Belle Burden is one of our Book Review's top picks of the week. Pack: Here’s what the author of “People We Meet on Vacation” brings on vacation. Test yourself: Take this week’s news quiz. Play: Here are today’s Connections, Wordle and Mini Crossword. |
