Zohran Mamdani condemns Maduro capture, vows to protect New Yorkers

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Saturday he was briefed on plans to imprison Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife in New York City, calling their capture an “act of war and a violation of federal and international law.”

President Donald Trump announced the couple’s capture in a “large scale strike” Saturday morning, following months of assaults on suspected drug vessels allegedly tied to the Venezuelan regime in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific.

The Venezuelan government said in a statement the attack was carried out to seize the country’s oil and minerals and was an “attempt to impose a colonial war to destroy the republican form of government and force a ‘regime change,’ in alliance with the fascist oligarchy.”

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Mamdani, a democratic socialist inaugurated on New Year’s Day, said during a news conference Saturday he discussed the matter with Trump on the phone, pushing back on the commander in chief’s decision.

“I called the president and spoke with him directly to register my opposition to this act and to make clear that it was an opposition based on being opposed to a pursuit of regime change, to the violation of federal international law and a desire to see that be consistent each and every day,” Mamdani said. “I registered my opposition, I made it clear and we left it at that.”

The mayor later took to X, claiming the “blatant pursuit of regime change” will directly affect New Yorkers and Venezuelans living in New York City.

“My focus is their safety and the safety of every New Yorker, and my administration will continue to monitor the situation and issue relevant guidance,” Mamdani wrote in the post.

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Maduro and Mamdani believe in redistributing wealth downward, with Mamdani focused on taxing the wealthy and corporations to fund public services and Maduro redistributing wealth through oil revenues and state control of resources.

Mamdani also campaigned on public-run housing, childcare, transit and city-owned grocery stores, similar to Maduro’s policies of state-run food distribution, healthcare and housing.

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However, Venezuelan socialism involves nationalization and central control, which led to an economic collapse and authoritarian drift.

Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Venezuelans worldwide rally after Maduro’s capture sparks celebrations

Venezuelans across the globe took to the streets after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, whose rule was marked by economic collapse and mass migration out of the oil-rich nation.

Venezuelans in Miami, Fla., Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Madrid, Spain, donned Venezuela’s national colors and waved flags hours after President Donald Trump announced that Maduro and his wife had been flown out of the country following an overnight U.S. military operation.

In Miami, Venezuelans danced and cheered, with celebrations also taking place outside Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Fla. In Doral, Fla., revelers chanted “Liberty!” and draped Venezuelan flags over their shoulders.

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Outside the El Arepazo restaurant, a hub of the Venezuelan culture of Doral, one man held a piece of cardboard with “Libertad” scrawled with a black marker. It was a sentiment expressed by other native Venezuelans hoping for a new beginning for their home country as they chanted, “Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!”

“We’re like everybody — it’s a combination of feelings, of course,” Alejandra Arrieta, who came to the U.S. in 1997, told The Associated Press.

“There’s fears. There’s excitement,” he said. “There’s so many years that we’ve been waiting for this. Something had to happen in Venezuela. We all need the freedom.”

Ecstatic crowds also gathered in Santiago, Chile, where one child held a sign reading “Somos Libres,” meaning, “We Are Free.”

The demonstrations reflected the scale of Venezuela’s diaspora, which has grown dramatically during Maduro’s years in power, as millions fled what critics describe as a period of economic collapse marked by hyperinflation and widespread food shortages.

Since 2017, roughly 8 million people have fled Venezuela, making it one of the world’s largest displacement crises, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.

More than 6.9 million Venezuelans are currently hosted in Latin American and Caribbean countries, while hundreds of thousands more live in the United States and Europe, where diaspora communities have remained politically active and closely engaged with events back home.

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Maduro has been in power since 2013, when he succeeded longtime Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez following Chávez’s death, presiding over a period marked by economic decline, political unrest and mass migration.

Not all reactions to the U.S. action were celebratory.

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Protests both in favor of and against the strikes have been scheduled in Buenos Aires and other cities across the region, underscoring deep divisions over Venezuela’s future and Washington’s role in the crisis.

In Greece, members of the Greek Communist Party demonstrated against Maduro’s capture.

Venezuelan golf star Vegas shares cryptic message after US operation against Maduro

President Donald Trump ordered a “large scale strike” against Venezuela to capture its leader and transport him to the United States, where his administration plans to put him on trial.

The U.S. Army’s Delta Force, an elite special operations unit, led the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a U.S. official briefed on the matter told Fox News. The operation has drawn reactions from those in the political arena as well as sports figures with close ties to Venezuela.

Jhonattan Vegas, a Venezuelan golfer who competes on the PGA Tour, appeared to react to the events.

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“Long live Venezuela, DAMN IT ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL,” Vegas wrote on X in a post translated from Spanish.

Vegas, 41, is ranked No. 85 in the world. He had a historic run at the 2025 PGA Championship, becoming the first Venezuelan to take the lead at one of the four major tournaments. 

Vegas finished 8-under par after the first 36 holes, placing him atop the leaderboard at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May. He ultimately finished the major in a tie for fifth place.

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Vegas first took an interest in golf when he was just 2 years old.

“As a kid, I would hit anything that I could find. Rocks, broomstick, everything,” he told reporters after the opening round of last year’s PGA Championship. “I would grab anything that I could swing and I would do it. Feel like I was a good athlete as a young kid, so that’s kind of how things started.

“We grew up near a nine-hole golf course owned by the oil companies, and we had access to a course and, plus the love of my dad for the game, put it together, and we started playing.”

Once he reached his teens, Vegas left Venezuela and relocated to the U.S. He learned English and later took his golf talents to the Texas Longhorns.

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Vegas further cemented his name in history when he won the Bob Hope Classic in 2011, making him the first Venezuelan to win a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. He also represented his native country twice at the Olympics.

On Saturday, Trump described Maduro as being “highly guarded” in a presidential palace that was “a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas.” Maduro had nearly made it to a safe room inside it, Trump told reporters, although “he was unable to close it.”

In an interview earlier Saturday morning on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Trump said that American forces were armed with “massive blowtorches,” which they would have used to cut through steel walls had Maduro locked himself in the room.

Deadly ‘superbug’ is spreading across US as drug resistance grows, researchers warn

A deadly, drug-resistant fungus already spreading rapidly through U.S. hospitals is becoming even more threatening worldwide, though there may be hope for new treatments, according to a new scientific review.

Candida auris (C. auris), often described as a “superbug fungus,” is spreading globally and increasingly resisting human immune systems, Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) researchers said in a review published in early December.

The findings reinforce prior CDC warnings, which have labeled C. auris an “urgent antimicrobial threat” — the first fungal pathogen to receive that designation — as U.S. cases have surged, particularly in hospitals and long-term care facilities.

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Approximately 7,000 cases were identified across dozens of U.S. states in 2025, according to the CDC, and it has reportedly been identified in at least 60 countries.

The review, which was published in Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, helps explain why the pathogen is so difficult to contain, and warns that outdated diagnostics and limited treatments lag behind. It was conducted by Dr. Neeraj Chauhan of the Hackensack Meridian CDI in New Jersey, Dr. Anuradha Chowdhary of the University of Delhi’s Medical Mycology Unit, and Dr. Michail Lionakis, chief of the clinical mycology program at the National Institutes of Health.

Their findings stress the need to develop “novel antifungal agents with broad-spectrum activity against human fungal pathogens, to improve diagnostic tests, and to develop immune- and vaccine-based adjunct modalities for the treatment of high-risk patients,” the researchers said in a statement.

GROWING ANTIBIOTIC CRISIS COULD TURN BACTERIAL INFECTIONS DEADLY, EXPERTS WARN

“In addition, future efforts should focus on raising awareness about fungal disease through developing better surveillance mechanisms, especially in resource-poor countries,” they added. “All these developments should help improve the outcomes and prognosis of patients afflicted by opportunistic fungal infections.”

First identified in 2009 from a patient’s ear sample in Japan, C. auris has since spread to dozens of countries, including the U.S., where outbreaks have forced some hospital intensive care units to shut down, according to the researchers.

The fungus poses the greatest risk to people who are already critically ill, particularly those on ventilators or with weakened immune systems. Once infected, about half of patients may die, according to some estimates.

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Unlike many other fungi, C. auris can survive on human skin and cling to hospital surfaces and medical equipment, allowing it to spread easily in healthcare settings.

“It is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, and it tends to spread in hospital settings, including on equipment being used on immunocompromised and semi-immunocompromised patients, such as ventilators and catheters,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone, previously told Fox News Digital.

It is also frequently misdiagnosed, delaying treatment and infection control measures.

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“Unfortunately, symptoms such as fever, chills and aches may be ubiquitous, and it can be mistaken for other infections,” Siegel said.

In September, he said intense research was ongoing to develop new treatments.

Only four major classes of antifungal drugs are currently available, and C. auris has already shown resistance to many of them. While three new antifungal drugs have been approved or are in late-stage trials, researchers warn that drug development has struggled to keep pace with the fungus’s evolution.

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Despite the sobering findings, there is still room for cautious optimism.

In separate research published in December, scientists at the University of Exeter in England discovered a potential weakness in C. auris while studying the fungus in a living-host model. 

The team found that during infection, the fungus activates specific genes to scavenge iron — a nutrient it needs to survive, according to their paper, which was published in the Nature portfolio journal Communications Biology in December.

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Because iron is essential for the pathogen, researchers believe drugs that block this process could eventually stop infections or even allow existing medications to be repurposed.

“We think our research may have revealed an Achilles’ heel in this lethal pathogen during active infection,” Dr. Hugh Gifford, a clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter and co-author of the study, said in a statement.

As researchers race to better understand the fungus, officials warn that strict infection control, rapid detection and continued investment in new treatments remain critical.

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Health experts emphasize that C. auris is not a threat to healthy people.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the CDI researchers and additional experts for comment.

Read the warning Bryan Kohberger’s sister sent him just after Idaho murders

Bryan Kohberger’s younger sister says she warned her brother that a “psycho killer” was on the loose after four University of Idaho students were killed, unaware she was speaking to the man later convicted of the brutal murders.

Mel Kohberger, Bryan’s sister, recalled the conversation with her brother during a recent interview with The New York Times, saying she felt a sense of alarm after hearing about the murders in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger pleaded guilty to murdering Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves, who were killed on November 13, 2022.

“Bryan, you are running outside and this psycho killer is on the loose,” she remembers telling her brother. “Be careful.”

Bryan thanked her for checking in and assured Mel that he would be safe. Mel said that Bryan was the kind of person who would go on late-night jogs and leave his door unlocked, prompting her to check in.

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Mel recalled how Bryan was constantly bullied as a teenager as friends previously said he was overweight and had a standoffish personality. In online posts while Bryan was a teenager, according to the outlet, he said that he had no emotion, little remorse, and felt like he was “an organic sack of meat with no self-worth.”

Bryan, who was addicted to heroin as a teenager, once stole Mel’s phone and sold it at a mall so he could buy more drugs, the sister said. Mel said her family was worried Bryan was on a pathway to an early death, something that happened to one of his friends. However, Mel said Bryan received treatment and was doing better.

“We were all so proud of him because he had overcome so much,” Mel said.

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After treatment, Mel said while Bryan remained socially awkward and abrasive at times, she never saw him as a violent person. 

Bryan did not discuss the Idaho murders while staying at his parents’ Pennsylvania home in the days before the FBI raid, but Mel recalled him mentioning the case once, noting investigators were still searching for a suspect.

When Bryan was arrested Dec. 30, 2022, Mel recalled getting a phone call from her older sister, Amanda.

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“She was like, ‘I’m with the FBI, Bryan’s been arrested,’” Mel said. “I was like, ‘For what?’”

“The Idaho murders,” Amanda responded. 

Mel initially thought her sister might have been pranking her before becoming nauseous at the thought that her own brother was behind the murders of four college students.

Overnight, Mel said her world was flipped upside down. Bryan’s sister said she was training to start her new job as a mental health counselor in New Jersey, but agreed to step down after the new employer became inundated with inquiries.

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Mel said she became angry after seeing online posts from people who speculated that her family may have known that Bryan had killed the four University of Idaho students.

“I have always been a person who has spoken up for what was right,” Mel said. “If I ever had a reason to believe my brother did anything, I would have turned him in.”

America’s best coffee isn’t in cafes anymore — it’s showing up at gas stations

Some of America’s best coffee isn’t hiding in trendy cafés anymore. It’s popping up in and behind gas stations, inside convenience stores and on the edges of parking lots nationwide.

In Denton, Texas, the best new lattes are served piping hot out of a yellow food truck hidden behind a Shell station, the Dallas Observer recently reported. 

The Flower Shop Coffee Co. serves coffee in perfectly balanced flavors such as pecan pie, s’mores, pretzel-mint and pumpkin French toast, along with seasonal options like Gingerbread Toast Crunch, according to the outlet, which dubbed the spot a “hidden gem” despite its location in a tiny parking lot with no seating.

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And Denton isn’t the only town rethinking where “good coffee” belongs. For years, chains like Wawa and Buc-ee’s have reset expectations for what gas station coffee can be and helped dismiss the idea that quality coffee can only be found inside cafés.

From Rhode Island to Massachusetts to Kentucky, more shops are bypassing traditional cafés and setting up shop in gas stations and former fuel stops.

The trend is brewing largely in rural areas, said Stephanie Summers-Mayer, an HSN guest host who owns Pickle & Perk, a craft coffee and pickleball café housed in a former gas station, with her husband in Ironton, Missouri.

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“These spaces already sit inside people’s routines,” Summers-Mayer told Fox News Digital of gas stations. “When you bring something thoughtful into them, people seem to notice immediately.”

Choosing an unconventional location doesn’t always mean it’s cheaper, either, Summers-Mayer noted. 

“Opening in an unexpected place meant we had to be excellent,” she said. “There was no coasting on location or trend.

“Our space had history and visibility long before it was a café, and that foundation helped us build something meaningful on top of it.”

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In Rhode Island, growing collaborations between Abid’s Village Gas chain and local businesses have turned gas stations into hubs for small food operators, allowing cafés like Brewology to expand with multiple satellite coffee shops, including a second location that opened earlier this year, according to reports.

And just to the east, Sturbridge Coffee House in Massachusetts opened a new location in April, according to its website and reports, inside a Noble gas station, bringing its handcrafted drink menu to a convenience-driven setting.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts and Kentucky, former gas stations are being repurposed into neighborhood coffee shops.

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In Dayton, Kentucky, Elliott Coffee opened inside a former one-pump service station. 

“There’s something about being tucked away in a neighborhood,” owner Elijah Knapp told the Northern Kentucky Tribune.

In Wareham, Massachusetts, an old gas station on Main Street was transformed into The Blue Foot Café, a Hawaii-inspired coffee and smoothie shop where owner Katie Gallagher said she wanted to create “something different that no other place in Wareham offered.” She converted the long-vacant site into what local radio station FUN 107 described as “welcoming” and “adorable.”

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Barista Magazine covered the trend of cafés transforming retro gas stations in 2021. 

“We were tired of driving to the city to experience something outside the existing chains and coffeehouses,” Conor VanBuskirk, owner of Upshot Coffee Brake Shop, which is located in an old auto shop in St. Charles, Missouri, told the outlet. 

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While training suburban employees to become baristas took time, VanBuskirk said it was worth the effort to create something “so special [that] people from the city would drive out to the suburbs once in a while and enjoy what we have to offer.”

Family mourns Eagles legend and three-time Pro Bowler who ‘had a fabulous life’

Billy Ray Barnes, a Philadelphia Eagles legend, died at age 90 Wednesday, the team announced.

The Eagles released a statement Friday night saying Barnes died in Landis, North Carolina, surrounded by his family and friends.

“He was 90 and had a fabulous life,” Barnes’ daughter, Billi Barnes Akins, said in the Eagles’ announcement.

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Barnes was the team’s second-round pick in the 1957 NFL Draft out of Wake Forest, and he was a key member of the Eagles’ 1960 championship team.

During his career, he earned three Pro Bowl honors in his five seasons with the franchise.

“One of the things that he loved about the Eagles is, in that championship game, they were the underdogs,” Akins added. “Dad always liked being the underdog. He said it made him tougher, made him stronger, made him play harder.

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“He said the only thing that allowed them to win was their team. They were a team that was really tight and believed in each other.”

Barnes was a major contributor to that championship team’s offense, leading the team in rushing and receiving as a halfback.

Through his five seasons in Philadelphia, Barnes rushed for 2,391 yards with 20 touchdowns, while hauling in 120 passes for 1,275 yards with eight scores through the air.

“The fondest memory of everything up there is the fans,” Barnes said in the 2021 feature, “Where Are They Now?” “I played there for five years, but I lived there year-round for about eight years. The people were just great to me in Philadelphia.”

After his time in Philadelphia, Barnes played two seasons each with the Minnesota Vikings and the Washington Redskins.

Then, after his playing days, Barnes served as an assistant coach for the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons.

The Eagles had Barnes and his teammates return to Philadelphia for their 50-year reunion of the 1960 championship during the 2010 campaign.

“He never realized how people thought of these guys as the greatest ever,” Akins recalled. “People you wouldn’t even know would just call him and reach out to him.

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“The biggest thing was the friendships that he had made there. They were lifelong. He talks to a bunch of guys on the phone for years. He enjoyed everything about Philadelphia.”

NBA tells Magic star to stop wearing headband around neck at game start

Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs always began games with his headband around his neck and would move it to his head once he felt the flow of the game.

The NBA reached out to Suggs and told the 24-year-old he could no longer wear his headband in his unique way, and must wear the headband on his head at tip-off, according to the Orlando Magic’s broadcast.

The five-year NBA veteran said he began wearing his headband on his neck once and stuck with it.

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“I wear it on my neck, and once I feel into the game, into the flow, I put it on my head, and we rock,” Suggs said earlier this season, according to USA Today. “That’s just me being J-Suggs.

“Really, it originates as football drip — that’s where it stems from. But I don’t know. There really isn’t much else to it.”

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Suggs is a usual starter, having started every game he has played over the last three seasons. So, he will have to make an adjustment. This season, in 23 games, the Magic guard is averaging 15 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists while playing strong defense.

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The Magic selected Suggs with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft out of Gonzaga, and the guard has been a mainstay in their lineup since his debut.

Luann de Lesseps flaunts bikini body at 60, reveals why ‘Europeans are thinner’

At 60 years old, Luann de Lesseps is living her best life. 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, the “Real Housewives of New York City” alum opened up about maintaining a healthy lifestyle and explained how she manages to brush off the haters after years of public criticism. 

“I think it’s about being happy with who you are,” said de Lesseps — who’s performing a lineup of cabaret shows during the holiday season. “I think that’s really where it starts. And when you’re happy, that energy permeates.”

“Confidence came from a lot of doors closed in front of me, but then doors would open. So you know what they say: When one door closes, another door opens. So I think that’s an important mentality to have in life.”

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De Lesseps marked her 60th birthday earlier this year by posting a photo of herself in a bikini, and fans were quick to praise her physical appearance. 

“No one has ever looked better than you in the history of the world,” one fan wrote. 

“Luann, give me your secret to keeping that smoking, hot rocking body!!” another commented. 

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De Lesseps credited her fitness to a few different secrets she’s learned throughout the years.

“The most important thing is — chew your food. We eat on the run a lot, and we don’t chew our food enough because digestion starts in the mouth,” she told Fox News Digital. “That’s why we salivate, because these digestive juices break down the food that we chew. So people eat too fast, they’re on the run. So it’s really taking time to sit down and chew.

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“Then they drink cold beverages while they eat,” she added. “This is why the Europeans are thinner. They’ll sip a little bit of red wine or sip a little bit of wine. They’re not having big gulps and not drinking cold drinks because this water’s down your digestion as well.”

Another key is maintaining a healthy, well-balanced diet while staying active. 

“I do Mediterranean diet because I try not to eat things from a package. Anything that comes in a package is generally going to be full of sodium or carbs or all of that,” she said. “You have to keep it moving… it’s really about being active and having a positive outlook on it and not beating yourself up about it, because I think that also the mental part of it is so important.” 

WATCH: ‘RHONY’ ALUM LUANN DE LESSEPS ON STAYING FIT AT 60

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Throughout the years, de Lesseps has overcome many challenges both on and off camera. Over the past seven years, however, the reality TV star has found a creative way to express herself and work through her ups and downs. 

“When I started cabaret eight years ago now, I didn’t know it would be successful at all. It was very scary because not only was it my first cabaret, but it was being filmed for the ‘Housewives’ as well, no pressure there. And so, that people really loved it and that I’m able to keep on doing my shows. They’re not always the same because life is a cabaret, and it’s constantly changing.”

“To be able to still have a career at 60, because I turned 60 this year, and I’m living my best life,” she continued. “And I thought to myself yesterday, I was like, I get to be creative. I get to do what I want to do … my show is really — it’s pop culture meets cabaret meets comedy meets a fashion show, because I do a lot of changes. I love to bring a lot of glamour, and my fans love that, and it is a great reason for them to get dressed, put on their best sequins, their statement necklaces, and come out and see my show. And that’s a huge nod to what I do.”

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De Lesseps says authenticity and vulnerability are what make her shows so successful — and what helps her navigate the ebbs and flows. 

“I run through iconic moments in my show, talk about what happens behind the scenes, talk about what’s going on in my life,” she said. “And that’s where my show is always different, because my life is ever-changing and ever-evolving like everybody else’s. And I’ve been through 13 years of ‘Housewives,’ and people have seen me get divorced and married again and divorced again and dates.”

“My life is out there, and I think that the camera doesn’t lie. I think if you’re not authentic, and you’re not really living your real life, I think people can really see that.” 

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“I just think that we have to live with our inner diva … I think it’s about being happy with who you are. I think that’s really where it starts. And when you’re happy, that energy permeates. So, when I do my shows, I’m really spreading joy and inspiration for women, and I want them to know that, at any age, you can be living your best life. It’s not about the number. It’s really about how you feel about yourself and the energy that you put out there. And I think that’s very important.”

Despite her fresh outlook on life, de Lesseps said it took time and experience to get to this point in her life. 

“Not everybody’s going to love you. There’s a lot of negative people out there who are behind their social media and who are not living their best lives, obviously,” she said. “So they have to pick on yours. And so how I roll is that I don’t let what people think of me affect me. And I always say I love who I want to, and I cry when I have to, which is true. So when somebody makes me feel uncomfortable or is a negative naysayer or a hater, I feel for them. I really put it off onto them. It’s really about them. It’s really not about me. So I protect myself in so many ways.”

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