2026

In the wake of last weekend’s U.S. military action in Venezuela, the news media got something it has seldom heard from the Trump administration: a “thank you.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited news organizations that had learned in advance about last Saturday’s strike that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro with not putting the mission in jeopardy by publicly reporting on it before it happened.

Rubio’s acknowledgment was particularly noteworthy because Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has cited a mistrust of journalists’ ability to responsibly handle sensitive information as one of the chief reasons for imposing restrictive new press rules on Pentagon reporters. Most mainstream news organizations have left posts in the Pentagon rather than agree to Hegseth’s policy.

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Rubio said the administration withheld information about the mission from Congress ahead of time because “it will leak. It’s as simple as that.” But the primary reason was operational security, he said.

“Frankly, a number of media outlets had gotten leaks that this was coming and held it for that very reason,” Rubio said. “And we thank them for doing that or lives could have been lost. American lives.”

Semafor, citing “people familiar with communications between the administration and news organizations,” reported that The New York Times and The Washington Post had both learned of the raid in advance but held off reporting on it to avoid endangering U.S. military personnel. Representatives for both outlets declined comment to The Associated Press on Monday.

Withholding information on a planned mission for that reason is routine for news organizations, said Dana Priest, a longtime national security reporter at the Post who now teaches at the University of Maryland. Even after the fact, the Post has asked government authorities about whether revealing certain details could endanger people, she said.

When The Atlantic magazine editor Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently included in a text chain last spring where Hegseth revealed information about a military attack in Yemen, the journalist did not report on the events until well after U.S. personnel was out of danger and the information had been thoroughly checked out.

Most Americans learned of the Venezuela attack in the predawn hours of Saturday when President Donald Trump announced it on his Truth Social platform upon completion.

While The Associated Press did not have advance word that the operation would happen, its journalists in Venezuela heard and observed explosions taking place there, and that was reported on the news wire more than two hours before Trump’s announcement. The U.S. involvement was not made clear until Trump’s post, however.

Hegseth, in defending rules that restrict reporters’ movements and reporting in the Pentagon, told Fox News last year that “we have expectations that you’re not soliciting classified or sensitive information.” The Times last month filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the rules.

Decisions on whether to report information that could put lives or a mission in danger often involve high-level discussions between editors and government officials. But Priest stressed that in a country with freedom of the press, the ultimate decision on whether to report the information lies with the news organization.

Generations ago, President John F. Kennedy persuaded editors at the Times not to report when it learned in advance of a U.S.-backed attack by Cuban exiles on Fidel Castro’s forces at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The mission proved a monumental failure and a Times editor, Bill Keller, later said that Kennedy expressed regret that the newspaper had not reported on what it had known because it could have prevented a fiasco.

Many mainstream journalists covering the military and national security have extensive experience dealing with sensitive issues, Priest said. But there’s a difference, she said, between reporting information that could put someone in danger and that which could prove embarrassing to an administration.

“The reporters are not going to be deterred by a ridiculously broad censorship edict by the Trump administration,” Priest said. “They’re going to dig in and work even harder. Their mission is not to curry favor with the Trump administration. It’s to report information to the public.”

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The death toll in violence surrounding protests in Iran has risen to at least 35 people, activists said Tuesday, as the demonstrations showed no signs of stopping.

The figure came from the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which said more than 1,200 people have been detained in the protests, which have been ongoing for more than a week.

It said 29 protesters, four children and two members of Iran’s security forces have been killed. Demonstrations have reached over 250 locations in 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces,

The group, which relies on an activist network inside of Iran for its reporting, has been accurate in past unrest.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported late Monday that some 250 police officers and 45 members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force have been hurt in the demonstrations.

The growing death toll carries with it the chance of American intervention. U.S. President Donald Trump warning Iran on Friday that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”

While it remains unclear how and if Trump will intervene, his comments sparked an immediate, angry response, with officials within the theocracy threatening to target American troops in the Mideast. The comments took on new importance after the U.S. military on Saturday captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran.

The protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the protests have yet to be as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.

Iran has faced rounds of nationwide protests in recent years. As sanctions tightened and Iran struggled after a 12-day war with Israel, its rial currency collapsed in December, reaching 1.4 million to $1. Protests began soon after.

Understanding the scale of this latest round of protests has been difficult. Iranian state media has provided little information about the demonstrations. Online videos offer only brief, shaky glimpses of people in the streets or the sound of gunfire. Journalists in Iran also face limits on reporting in general such as requiring permission to travel around the country, as well as the threat of harassment or arrest by authorities.

But the protests do not appear to be stopping, even after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday said “rioters must be put in their place.”

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BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares and U.S. futures advanced Tuesday after stocks closed higher on Wall Street.

Oil prices fell back after gaining Monday following the capture by U.S. forces of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a weekend raid.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.1% to 52,389.63 on strong buying of tech related shares like precision tools maker Disco Corp., which jumped 5.3%.

South Korea’s Kospi pushed further into record territory, gaining 0.8% to 4,495.49, buoyed by gains for automakers and some electronics manufacturers.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 1.8% to 26,815.75 and the Shanghai Composite index was up 1.1% at 4,069.38.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.4% to 8,697.10.

Taiwan’s Taiex climbed 1.2%, while in India, the Sensex edged 0.1% lower.

Monday’s gains on Wall Street were broad, with particularly big jumps for energy companies and banks. Elsewhere, industrial companies and retailers joined in to help boost major indexes.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 6,902.05 and is just below its record set in late December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average set a record, adding 1.2% to 48,977.18.

The Nasdaq composite rose 0.7% to 23,395.82.

Smaller company stocks had a particularly strong day, outpacing other indexes, in a sign of broader investor confidence. The Russell 2000 rose 1.6%.

Energy companies and the oil market were a key focus after the capture of Maduro by U.S. forces. The price of U.S. crude jumped 1.7% to $58.32 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1.7% to $61.76 per barrel.

However, oil fell back early Tuesday. U.S. crude shed 18 cents to $58.14 per barrel, while Brent crude lost 14 cents to $61.62 per barrel.

Chevron jumped 5.1%, Exxon Mobil rose 2.2% and Halliburton surged 7.8% for some of the strongest gains in the market after President Donald Trump floated a plan for U.S. oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry.

Venezuela’s oil industry has been decimated by neglect and international sanctions and may require years of substantial investments to restore past production levels.

Investors will get several updates on the U.S. economy this week.

On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management released its manufacturing index for December showing the sector continued shrinking. More importantly, the business group will release its December report on the services sector on Wednesday. The services sector makes up the bulk of the U.S. economy and it grew, even if only slightly, throughout most of 2025.

Reports on the job market later this week, which include updates for job openings and overall employment, will be a bigger focus for the Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank has been weighing a slowing job market against risks for rising inflation as it decides whether to cut interest rates. It cut its benchmark rate three times late in 2025, but inflation has remained above its 2% target and that has made the Fed more cautious.

Wall Street still expects the Fed to hold rates steady at its upcoming meeting later in January.

Technology companies, especially artificial intelligence, were in the spotlight Monday as the industry kicked off the annual CES trade show in Las Vegas. Nvidia fell 0.4% and Applied Materials jumped 5.7%.

AI advances helped propel the broader market to a series of records in 2025. Updates from influential technology companies could help shed more light on whether the big investments in AI are worth the potential financial risks.

In other trading early Tuesday, the U.S. dollar slipped to 156.36 Japanese yen from 156.40 yen. The euro rose to $1.1735 from $1.1724.

Gold gained 0.6% after a 2.8% jump on Monday. The price of silver added another 2.7% after soaring 7.9% on Monday. Such assets are often considered safe havens in times of geopolitical turmoil. The metals have notched record prices over the last year amid lingering economic concerns brought on by conflicts and trade wars.

Bitcoin fell back 1.5% after rising to its highest level since mid-November, falling to $93,700.

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