In the latest escalation of a monthslong pressure campaign against Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro, President Trump called for a blockade this week on all US-sanctioned oil tankers sailing to or from the South American country.

The move threatens to cripple Venezuela’s already shaky economy, which relies almost entirely on crude oil. It makes up more than 90% of Venezuela’s export income, and roughly 40% of the tankers that have transported the key asset came under US sanctions in recent years, according to the ship monitoring group TankerTrackers.com.

Venezuela reportedly skirts US sanctions by operating so-called shadow fleets that digitally spoof their locations and sometimes fly other countries’ flags, a practice the US is cracking down on. Amid Trump’s threat to slap 25% tariffs on any nation buying Venezuelan oil, the country’s supply of dollars fell 30% in the first 10 months of the year.

Trump is ramping up military action

The blockade follows months of Pentagon strikes on alleged drug boats near Venezuela, and comes shortly after US troops seized a sanctioned tanker off Venezuela’s coast, which immediately spooked other ships. At least six massive carriers scheduled to fill up on Venezuelan crude have made U-turns, according to TankerTrackers.com. Venezuela’s navy has started to escort some outgoing tankers since Trump’s announcement.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded” by an armada of US warships and aircrafts that will “only get bigger” until Venezuela returns “all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” Trump wrote on Truth Social this week in a post that also designated Venezuela’s government as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

He’s possibly referring to…Venezuela’s 1970s nationalization of its oil industry, which ultimately led US oil companies to leave, costing them $5 billion in assets, according to the New York Times. Chevron is the only one that remained, and a special license from the US exempts it from sanctions on Venezuela tankers.—ML

WBD board urged shareholders to reject Paramount’s hostile takeover bid. It could be back to the drawing board for Paramount Skydance and CEO David Ellison’s quest to buy rival Warner Bros. Discovery after the latter’s board told investors that Netflix’s bid is better. In a letter to shareholders, the WBD board said Paramount’s offer contains “gaps, loopholes, and limitations” that put the company at risk. WBD also accused Paramount of misleading it about financing. Paramount’s latest offer included billions in funding from three Middle East sovereign wealth funds, as well as backing from Affinity Partners, the private equity firm founded by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, though Affinity pulled out of the deal on Tuesday. Ellison said he believes the Paramount offer is still superior to Netflix’s and was “encouraged” by feedback he received from WBD shareholders.

Four House GOPers break with Johnson to force healthcare vote. A day after House Speaker Mike Johnson blocked a vote on extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits before they expire Dec. 31, four Republicans joined Democrats in signing a petition that forces the House to vote on a measure early next year. Even if the bill—which would require the government to fund the ACA credits for another three years—passes the House, it’s unlikely to be approved by the Senate, experts have said. Still, the rare move by four politically vulnerable lawmakers suggests healthcare costs remain top of mind for US voters, and will be a key issue in the 2026 midterms.

The Oscars are headed to YouTube in 2029. Hollywood’s biggest and most prestigious evening will soon move to the platform where MrBeast asks volunteers to sit in a tub of snakes for money. Starting in 2029, the Academy Awards will stream exclusively—and for free—on YouTube after its current deal with ABC expires. The Oscars have aired on the Disney-owned network every year since 1976, but have hemorrhaged viewers in recent years as people increasingly consume content online. In a statement, the Academy said that the move will allow the award show to reach “the largest worldwide audience possible.” According to Variety, Disney execs were shocked to learn the news just moments before it became public.—AE

Tesla is in a standoff with the DMV that’s more tense than that time you thought you could get away with just documents from column B.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles announced this week that a federal judge ordered a 30-day suspension of Tesla’s sales license in the state over allegedly misleading marketing related to the EV maker’s Autopilot feature. For years, different regulatory bodies have challenged Tesla’s claims over the safety and legitimacy of its self-driving abilities.

Tesla has a 60-day window to either comply or appeal the order. After that, it could face a monthlong suspension in one of its biggest markets:

• California is the largest market for car sales in the US, responsible for ~11% of the total worldwide number of EVs that Tesla sold in the first nine months of 2025 (about 135,000).
• Tesla is already facing slowing sales, as federal tax credits for EVs lapsed in September. Its stock price, however, hasn’t noticed.

It’s typically rare for the office that’s famous for taking your worst picture to put its foot down like this, but California has a bit of a history doing so: In 2023, the Calif. DMV grounded General Motors’ fleet of driverless Cruise vehicles after one of the cars dragged a pedestrian.

Tesla’s response: Prior to the judge’s decision, Tesla had claimed its Autopilot marketing was protected by freedom of speech. A statement from the company following the ruling didn’t provide many additional details, just that “sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”—MM

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same is true for the city’s Colosseum subway station. It finally opened on Tuesday after 11 years of construction and careful digging—some of it done by hand—to preserve the artifacts that are now part of a museum in the terminal.

The preserved history on display at the Colosseum stop gives tourists extra incentive to go underground and help alleviate the city’s infamous traffic problems:

• The atrium in the Colosseum station has marble remains left behind from the amphitheater’s deposits. There are also vases, plates, wells, and buckets dating back to the first century, as well as video of what Ancient Rome would have looked like in this location.
• The Porta Metronia station, which also opened on Tuesday, uncovered a military barracks, bronze coins, and jewelry during its excavation. That stop’s museum could open as early as next year.

More work to be done: Two dozen of the 31 stations in Rome’s $8.3 billion Metro C subway line are open, but it’s still at least a decade away from completion. In the time since it missed its original deadline of the year 2000, there have been six Final Destination movies released.—DL

The average US home will spend nearly $1,000 on heating this winter, up by 9.2% compared to last year, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. There are two big reasons:

• Utility companies are spending billions to upgrade the electrical grid in order to accommodate AI data centers—and they’re likely passing some of those costs onto consumers.
• This winter is expected to be unusually cold in parts of the US, requiring more heat consumption.

If you’re hoping that all this cold at least means that there will be a white Christmas this year, don’t get your hopes up: Meteorologists say it’s looking unlikely, unless you’re in parts of the central and northern Rockies. And remember, they never get anything wrong.—AE