WORLD Radio News - WORLD Radio News: 1-5-26 (1/3)

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

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With World Radio News, I'm Kat Covington. Jubilation in Miami, with many Venezuelan immigrants celebrating the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maruro. U.S. forces conducted a surgical operation over the weekend, capturing Maduro and his wife at a military installation near Caracas. They're expected to be arraigned in New York today. And in New York, one Venezuelan immigrant told reporters, This is my dream. This is the best moment for my life in this moment, because he is the bad person. But inside Venezuela, celebrations have been muted. People there are still living under the Maduro regime power structure, which remains in control of the media and security forces. One question now on the minds of many is what's next for Venezuela?

Secretary of State and Acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio told NBC's meet the press. The U.S. has no plans right now to try and enact a full regime change by force. Venezuela and Vice President Delci Rodriguez, a longtime Maduro loyalist, is now the acting leader. And Rubio says problems that the regime has caused for the United States remain, however. We are going to give people an opportunity to address those challenges and those problems. Until they address it, they will continue to face this oil quarantine. They will continue to face pressure from the United States. We will continue to target drug boats if they try to run towards the United States.

We will continue to seize the boats that are sanctioned with court orders. And he said the U.S. is not ruling out other actions if the regime now led by Rodriguez does not cooperate. Publicly, she is condemning the U.S. capture of Maduro and still denies that he stole multiple elections to retain power. But the Trump administration says that privately, Rodriguez is cooperating at least to sort. some degree. That's a claim that Democratic congressman Ami Berra echoed, despite his criticism of the operation. It does look like the interim president is in conversation with the administration. Barra sits on the foreign affairs and intelligence committees. The Trump administration is reportedly demanding that Rodriguez and other top figures maintain stability in Venezuela,

no reprisals, open the books on the country's oil finances, cooperate on drug trafficking, and lay out a credible transition plan. Gas prices in the U.S. already at a five-year low, ticked down another penny this week. AAA puts the new national average at $2.81 per gallon. Oklahoma still enjoys the cheapest gas in the country right now at $2.23 per gallon on average. And Hawaii again tops California as the most expensive state for fuel at $4.41. For World Radio, I'm Kat Covington. For more sound journalism grounded in facts in biblical truth,

at world radio. News.