
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Washington is not considering “any military action” in Venezuela, as he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to outline the Trump administration’s strategy following the capture of former president Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

Venezuela’s proposed hydrocarbons law overhaul is under intense legislative scrutiny, with more than 80 amendments submitted by lawmakers, legal experts and energy sector associations ahead of a planned final vote, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The United States is preparing a general licence to ease sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector, aiming to facilitate an estimated $2 billion oil supply deal between Caracas and Washington, U.S. government sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The move is part of a strategic shift in U.S. policy after the Jan. 3 capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Chile’s president-elect José Antonio Kast held their first bilateral meeting in Panama on Tuesday, shortly after arriving for the International Economic Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean — an event promoted by organizers and regional media as a “Latin Davos.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will tell the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that Washington is prepared to “use force” again in Venezuela if it determines that acting president Delcy Rodríguez is not cooperating “to the level” expected by President Donald Trump’s administration, according to a draft of his prepared remarks cited by media.

The Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly marked Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, joining people and governments worldwide in a statement centered on remembrance and renewed vigilance against hatred and discrimination.

New Delhi and Brussels announced on Tuesday that they had concluded the largest bilateral trade deal in their histories after almost two decades of negotiations. The pact links India’s 1.4 billion-person economy with the 27-nation European Union and, according to both sides, will create a free-trade zone for around 2 billion consumers and sharply lower tariffs and other barriers that have long hindered commerce between the two regions.

The landing in Ushuaia of a U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying a bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers has reignited political controversy in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province and sharpened attention on the country’s strategic footprint in the South Atlantic and Antarctica, amid deepening ties between President Javier Milei and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Falkland Islands Government Department of Agriculture Agricultural Advisor and Chair of the Beef Suppliers Working Group, Olivia Woodiwiss, represented the Falkland Islands at the Green Overseas Program “Strengthening Food Systems Resilient to Climate Change” workshop in Tahiti, last December where she spoke on beef supply chain challenges, stakeholder coordination, and adapting agriculture to climate change alongside counterparts from 15 Overseas Countries and Territories.

Uruguay’s Central Bank (BCU) cut its benchmark policy rate by 100 basis points to 6.5% and said monetary policy “enters an expansionary phase,” framing the move as a way to prevent inflation from drifting away from its 4.5% target and to respond to recent strains in the foreign-exchange market.