NEWS

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Former United States Senator Ben Sasse has announced that he has been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, describing the illness in stark terms as a death sentence. The announcement came in a lengthy and deeply personal message posted on social media, where Sasse spoke openly about his condition, his faith, and his determination to keep fighting.

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Amazon has disclosed that it has blocked over 1,800 job applications from individuals suspected of being North Korean agents. According to a LinkedIn post by Amazon's chief security officer, Stephen Schmidt, these applicants sought remote IT positions using stolen or fabricated identities. Schmidt further explained that their objective was to secure employment, earn wages, and then channel those funds back to support North Korea's weapons programs, a trend he believes is occurring extensively across the US technology industry.

Authorities in the US and South Korea have warned about Pyongyang's operatives carrying out online scams.

Amazon has seen a nearly one-third increase in job applications from North Koreans in the past year, said Mr Schmidt in his post. He said the operatives typically work with people managing "laptop farms" - referring to computers based in the US that are run remotely from outside of the country.

The firm used a combination of artificial intelligence marks tools and verification by its staff to screen job applications, he said.

The strategies used by such fraudsters have become more sophisticated, Mr Schmidt said.

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Venezuela has accused the United States of the "greatest extortion" at an emergency session of the UN Security Council in New York.

Washington's seizure of two Venezuelan oil tankers was "worse than piracy," the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN said.

The emergency meeting of the Security Council was called to discuss the seizure of the tankers, which took place off the coast of Venezuela earlier this month.

The US has also said it was pursuing a third Venezuelan oil tanker.

President Trump has accused Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro of leading a drugs cartel and said gangs had operated with impunity for too long.

On 16 December, Trump ordered a naval blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

The US president has said the US will keep or sell the crude oil it has taken, as well as the vessels themselves.

The US has been building up its military presence in the Pacific and Caribbean Seas in recent months, sending 15,000 troops and a range of aircraft carriers and warships to the area.

It is the largest deployment to the region since the US invaded Panama in 1989, and the stated aim is to stop the flow of fentanyl and cocaine to the US.

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CBS News has come under scrutiny following its last-minute decision to pull a segment from its Sunday broadcast concerning the Trump administration's deportations of Venezuelan men to an El Salvador detention center. The move, attributed to top editor Bari Weiss, drew extensive criticism, notably from CBS correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who reported the story and privately labeled the decision "political" in a leaked note to colleagues.

CBS had promoted the segment on social media ahead of its scheduled airtime on 60 Minutes, but said in a statement on Monday that the piece needed additional reporting.

The programme was set to document allegations of "brutal and torturous conditions" at the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador, known as CECOT.

The Trump administration had deported about 250 Venezuelan men there earlier this year, accusing them of being members of a dangerous gang.

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Three inmates who escaped from a jail east of Atlanta, including a murder suspect, commandeered a terrified Lyft driver’s car to reach south Florida before she was rescued and they were captured, according to details revealed in court records.

The driver told FBI agents that the men used a fake name to order the ride, put a rope around her neck from behind her, dragged her into the backseat and threatened to kill her, according to a court affidavit filed late Tuesday and obtained by The Associated Press.

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The United States Department of Justice has released an initial tranche of documents linked to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, a figure whose criminal case has remained a source of public anger and political tension for years. The release follows the passage of a law by Congress requiring the Justice Department to make the Epstein files public by a set deadline. While the release was highly anticipated, it has already sparked controversy due to delays, redactions and the removal of some materials shortly after publication.

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The United States and Ukraine have reached a consensus on several critical issues aimed at bringing an end to the nearly four-year conflict, but sensitive issues around territorial control in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, along with the management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, remain unresolved, Ukraine’s president said.

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German prosecutors have charged a suspected former member of Syrian intelligence with crimes against humanity and the torture and murder of dozens of prisoners held in a Damascus prison under Bashar al-Assad, a statement said on Monday.