Reuters World News - Trump's Maduro ultimatum, Ukraine, Honduras and music copyright

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is running out of options after U.S. President Donald Trump gave him an ultimatum in a November phone call. Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Moscow to discuss an end to the Ukraine war. And the U.S. Supreme Court grapples with a music copyright case between Cox Communications and major record labels. Plus, Honduras' presidential election is on a knife edge with the two main candidates tied.  Listen to Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in New York. It's Tuesday, December 2nd, today. Venezuela's Maduro rejects Trump's order to step down. Wikov heads to Moscow to meet Putin and try and move the needle on a Ukraine peace deal. Presidential candidates in Honduras are locked in a tie, and the U.S. Supreme Court grapples with a music copyright case. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to be. to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. The pressure on Venezuela is intensifying.

Trump met with top advisors, including Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday to discuss Venezuela. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt has confirmed that two strikes were ordered on one boat off Venezuela's coast in early September. September 2nd, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated. The Washington Post had reported that Hegset ordered the second strikes specifically to kill two survivors from the first one. Now lawmakers from both parties are calling for an investigation into what happened and the legality of the strikes.

Meanwhile, in Caracas. Peace. Forever, forever. Venezuela's president, Nicholas Maduro, told supporters at a march that Venezuela doesn't want war with the United States, swearing loyalty to his people. The remarks come after Maduro spoke by phone with President Donald Trump. Reuters has learned that during that November call,

Trump gave Maduro a deadline of one week to leave the country with his family for a destination of his choice. When that deadline expired, Trump declared Venezuela's airspace closed. Latin America editor Christian Plum has more on the remarkable call and what was asked and offered between the two leaders. Interestingly, Trump did make an offer to provide Maduro and his family with safe passage out of the country. So it does suggest that in spite of all his bellicose talk,

Trump is still interested in some kind of solution that avoids bloodshed. But at the same time, that wasn't enough for me. Maduro, he asked for various other conditions, such as full legal amnesty. He wanted the International Criminal Court case against him dropped, removal of sanctions for a bunch of other Venezuelan government officials, about 100 of them. So I think that Maduro is looking at history a little bit here, and he can see the way housed leaders in Latin America elsewhere have been treated, and it's not a great history. So I think he sees that and for now is opting to try hang on and maybe even call Trump's bluff a little bit.

Sources say that Trump rejected Maduro's requests for amnesty and sanctions removal. US peace envoy Steve Whitkoff is in Moscow today, sitting down with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting follows talks in Florida between U.S. and Ukrainian officials, discussions Washington has called productive. But so far, neither side has said what this new plan is. The original US proposal saw Ukraine giving up territory and shelving its NATO ambitions, a plan which Kiev pushed back hard against. Whitkoff's visit comes as commanders tell Putin they've fully captured the city of Proklovsk in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has not acknowledged Russia's statement. To Honduras now, where the presidential election is on a knife's edge. Two candidates are effectively tied after the latest. count, each holding just under 40% of the vote. Conservative National Party candidate Nasri Asfura, telling his supporters to be patient and wait for the final result. The electoral authorities' website shows him ahead by just over 500 votes. His opponent, the Liberal Party's Salvador Nasrallah, posted on X that internal projections

put him ahead. It was not clear how many votes had been counted. because of problems with the electoral portal. Frequent outages on the election website have piled on frustration in this super tight race. Trump, who supports Asfura, took to truth social, saying it appears Honduras was trying to change the results of their presidential election, threatening they'd be hell to pay if they do, and alleging that the country's election commission prematurely stopped counting votes. Now to markets and we've got Amanda Cooper from Morning Bid with us. Amanda, what's on tap for today? Hi Kim, thanks a lot. Today we're taking a look at Bitcoin and that sell-off in the broader crypto market

and how that's rippling across to stocks and affecting the mood generally. We're also taking a look at how US traders are keeping a close eye on the Bank of Japan at the moment and no day is complete without a look at at least one of the magnificent seven. So if you want to hear more, head over to the podcast and have a listen. Thanks, Amanda. And just like you can for Reuters World News, you can also ask your smart speaker for Reuters' morning bid, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch on Spotify. One of Alchapos' sons has changed his not guilty plea in federal court in a major fentanyl trafficking case. Hwaqin-Gusman Lopez is one of four brothers, known as Los Chapitos, who inherited their father's Sinaloa cartel faction. He was arrested in July after allegedly luring Mexican drug kingpin, Almeo Zambada, onto a plane that landed in Texas.

His brother already pleaded guilty and faces life in prison. A federal appeals court has disqualified Alina Haber, a former personal lawyer to Donald Trump, from serving as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, ruling her appointment was unlawful. Hubber, who defended Trump in his defamation case and has no prosecutorial experience, is the latest Trump loyalist blocked from a U.S. attorney post. Judges have now rejected his interim appointments in Virginia, California, and Nevada as well. The ruling affects scores of active criminal cases in New Jersey and forces the Justice Department find a new prosecutor to supervise them. The surviving National Guard member who was shot near the White House last week

is still fighting for his life, according to West Virginia's governor. 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe is in a serious condition, but has given medical staff a thumbs up and is moving his toes. The other guard member, 20-year-old Sarah Bextram, died a day after the shooting. The suspect, 29-year-old Afghan National Ramanullah Lakhanwal, was shot and wounded by other troops. He faces first-degree murder charges. Investigators are still searching for a motive.

We'll hear argument first this morning in case 24-171. Cox Communications versus Sony Music Entertainment. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts opening arguments in a case that could determine how internet providers handle music piracy cases on their networks. The outcome could have big implications for anyone who uses, is the internet in the US. Earlier this year, a jury awarded Sony music, along with Universal and Warner, won billion dollars in damages in the case against Cox Communications before it was overturned

on appeal. Now, the Supreme Court is weighing in on who's liable for illegally downloaded material. Blake Britain covers intellectual property law. The judges seem to be trying to balance copyright interests. They want to protect these record labels, music from getting pirated, But they also don't want to risk catching up innocent internet users in the enforcement of all this. Justice Alito brought up the example of a university with one overarching internet account. So, all right, the ISP tells the university, look, you know, a lot of your 50,000 students are infringing my copyright.

Do something about it. Now, the university then has to try to determine which particular students are engaging in this activity. Does that mean the internet service provider has to cut off access for the entire college? I just don't see how it's workable at all. Justice Sotomayor had an example that was really interesting on kind of the other side of that. If I'm a gun dealer and I'm selling to someone who says to me, I'm going to kill my wife with this gun, I think the common law would say you knew what he was going to do with the gun, you joined in. Why isn't you're continuing to provide intranet?

service the same. The lawyer for Cox has argued that this could cause internet service providers to have to cut off access to entire hospitals, universities, even towns in some cases, based on, say, an allegation that one person is infringing copyrights. The labels have argued this isn't true, and Cox acted particularly badly in failing to address this. I think a loss for the music labels here could theoretically make it tougher for the labels to address music piracy through these internet service providers. And for today's recommended read, to Lebanon, where the Pope is wrapping up his first overseas trip. Pope Leo will prey at the site of the 2020 chemical explosion at the Beirut port

and lead a mass on the city's waterfront before heading back to Rome. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.