Venezuela's new petroleum minister sees her South American home not as a dilapidated former oil giant, but as an emerging energy economy ripe for U.S. and foreign investments in new oil and gas exploration, both onshore and offshore.
Paula Henao, who took over as the hydrocarbons minister in March after the forced U.S. removal of former leader Nicolás Maduro, told an overflowing Houston energy audience on Wednesday that Venezuela is much more than just its famed heavy-grade crude oil. There are more than 916 exploration opportunities awaiting foreign investment, she said, including natural gas and other untapped oil basins. She cited an estimated 192 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, as well as the country's world-leading proven oil reserves of more than 300 billion barrels.
"It's an entire world waiting to be discovered, just waiting for us to reach these agreements so we can develop these new areas," Henao said in Spanish to the crowd at the posh Post Oak Hotel in Houston.
Henao and leaders of the Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA, were in Houston this week for meetings and a showcase event in advance of a bigger Venezuela Energy Week in February in Caracas.
"Go to Venezuela to invest, go to Venezuela to develop businesses there," said PDVSA Vice President Jovanny Martinez, also speaking in Spanish. "We are at the right place at this historical moment. We have the energy that the world requires."

#venezuela #henao

Comedian Bill Maher argued Friday that immigrants must **** imilate to American culture and accept certain fundamental values like gay rights, women's equality and free speech, saying those principles are "not White values," but liberal ones.
During his latest episode of HBO's "Real Time," Maher blasted both sides of the political spectrum for their approach to immigration within the country, adding there's "no doubt" Democrats and Republicans "went to extremes."
"If you want the American dream, you have to take the American values," he said.
However, a public policy professor at Penn State University told Fox News Digital Maher had it wrong.
Dem Rep Seth Moulton Says Party Has No Immigration Plan, Is Only 'Opposition To Trump'

#Friday

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, after weeks of in-patient care following a fall in mid-June, announced via a statement on Thursday that he has been discharged from a rehabilitation center and will continue his recovery at home.
"Earlier today, I was discharged from the rehabilitation center to continue my recovery at home," McConnell said in a statement. "Elaine and I are grateful for the many well wishes and support from friends, colleagues, and Kentuckians, and for the attentive care I've received from excellent doctors, nurses, therapists, and hospital staff."
"On the advice of my doctors, I'll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I'll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business," McConnell added.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images - PHOTO: Mitch McConnell delivers an opening statement during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the FY2027 budget request in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 12, 2026 in Washington, DC.
McConnell was first hospitalized on June 14 for reasons that were initially undisclosed by his office.

#mitch

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., came under fire after claiming the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would "merge parts of our military with the Israel Defense Forces," drawing accusations that she distorted what the legislation actually does.
The fight centers on Section 219 of the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act, a provision that calls for deeper U.S.-Israel defense integration through expanded cooperation on military technology, supply chains, research, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and joint exercises.
On Wednesday, the House passed its version of the FY2027 NDAA in a 219-206 vote, leaving Section 219 intact.
But ahead of the vote, Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X that the NDAA "includes a provision to merge parts of our military with the IDF."
The Us-israel Strategic Alliance – Partnership, Not Charity

#passed #national #authorization

(NewsNation) — Gary Siders Jr., the Ohio father of 16 charged with child endangerment after his children were found living in a "house of horrors," was charged in four separate public indecency incidents over a nine-day span just a month before his arrest.
Siders, 36, was charged with four counts of public indecency before authorities raided his home in Hamden, a village about 75 miles south of Columbus. Court records obtained by People show the alleged incidents occurred May 23, 27, 29 and 31.
Ohio 'House of Horrors': Who is Gary Siders Jr.?
While details of the allegations were not available, court records indicate all four counts stem from an alleged violation of an Ohio law that prohibits "recklessly exposing the person's private parts."
In Ohio, public indecency is a fourth-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $250 on each count.

Thessaloniki, Greece — A man was nearly sucked out the window of a Ryanair flight when it "detached" midair en route to Germany, with other passengers pulling him back inside, a witness told Greek media on Friday.
The passenger, described as a tourist from Serbia on a flight from Thessaloniki in Greece to Memmingen in Germany, was hospitalized with friction burns but was otherwise in good condition, authorities said. The ****** ociated Press quoted an unnamed Greek hospital official as saying the 61-year-old man was treated for neck and shoulder injuries and friction burns.
"Most of us had fallen asleep, we had closed our eyes. There was a noise, like a tire bursting," a fellow passenger told Radio Thessaloniki.
"We immediately realized there had been a decompression. There were screams ... for a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door," the woman said. "The masks dropped and there was a strong smell. The head and shoulders of one passenger were outside the window. Fortunately, he hadn't taken off his seat belt."
Other passengers near the man helped to pull him in, she said.

HAMDEN, Ohio (AP) — Sixteen children from the same family who were rescued from a dilapidated home in rural Ohio were living in wretched conditions with human waste all around, confined to just one room over much of the past four years, authorities said Wednesday.
Some of the children discovered Tuesday were unable to speak and one — an 18-year-old who was developmentally disabled — could not even write her name, investigators said.
"Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children," said Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain. "Just a disgusting scene."
The children's parents and two grandparents were charged with felony child endangerment, a prosecutor said.
Authorities found the children while carrying out a search warrant in an unrelated investigation, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said Wednesday at a news conference.

By Humeyra Pamuk and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday it may never be known who was ‌at fault for a deadly strike on a girls' school in ‌Iran on February 28, the first day of the Iran war, that killed scores of children.
Reuters first reported in March that an initial internal U.S. military investigation showed U.S. forces were likely responsible for the fatal strike in Minab in southern Iran. The Pentagon has since elevated the probe but it has not acknowledged any preliminary findings.
"I ‌don't know that they ⁠are ever going to solve that problem," Trump told reporters.
"I don't know that they are ever going to solve that problem ⁠in terms of whose fault was it because there were missiles flying all over the place, and it's horrible what happened but there were missiles flying all over the place," he said.