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Currently, Venezuela is the twelfth-largest oil exporter to China. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun called on Washington to “stop interfering in Venezuela’s internal affairs,” referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 25% tariff on countries that purchase oil from the Caribbean nation.

In addition to calling for the removal of U.S. sanctions against Venezuela, the Chinese diplomat stated that the United States “has long abused illegal unilateral sanctions” and “long-arm jurisdiction.”

Guo asserted that his country firmly opposes brutal interference in the affairs of other nations and urged Washington to “do more to promote Venezuela’s peaceful and stable development.”

“There are no winners in trade wars or tariff wars, and imposing tariffs will only result in greater losses for American businesses and consumers,” the Chinese diplomat added.

The U.S. tariffs on countries that purchase Venezuelan oil and gas will take effect on April 2. Trump left the imposition of these tariffs to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will apply them to the countries he deems appropriate.

In an initial message on the social network Truth Social, Trump stated that “any country that buys oil and/or gas from Venezuela will have to pay a 25% tariff to the United States on any trade transaction” conducted with the U.S.

This “secondary tariff” is in response to Venezuela having “intentionally and fraudulently” sent “tens of thousands of high-level criminals and other offenders” to the U.S, Trump said. Currently, Venezuela is the twelfth-largest oil exporter to the Asian giant, selling 1.4 million metric tons to China in 2024.

Shortly after returning to the White House, Trump had already decided to double the additional tariffs on China to 20%, justifying his decision by claiming that, in his view, Beijing is not doing enough to prevent fentanyl from entering the United States. It is currently unknown whether the potential new tariffs on China related to Venezuelan oil would be in addition to the already mentioned tariff increase.

During his first presidency (2017-2021), Trump had a tense relationship with Beijing, imposing several rounds of tariffs worth approximately US$370 billion annually, to which China responded with tariffs on U.S. exports.

Denmark has one of the world’s highest retirement ages at 67, but a special 'senior pension' was introduced in 2020 to help workers who are too worn out to continue working. The scheme was expected to cover around 17,800 people by 2025, but due to high demand, over 30,000 people are now receiving it.

The senior pension is available to people within six years of retirement who have worked for many years but can now work no more than 15 hours per week due to health issues. However, Denmark’s largest trade unions — 3F, FOA, and HK — are reporting a growing number of unjustified rejections of applications. In 2020, 93% of applicants were approved, but by 2023, this dropped to 62%, raising concerns that financial considerations are influencing decisions.

Applicants have had to fight for their rights, with cases revealing that officials ignored medical assessments from applicants' general practitioners. Many rejected cases were later overturned after unions took legal action. A landmark court ruling in late 2024 forced the government to grant senior pension to a worker whose general practitioner had deemed him unable to work. Unions hope this will set a precedent for future cases.

The crisis highlights a difficult reality: Denmark’s economic success has come at the cost of its aging workforce. While neoliberal pension reforms are praised by establishment voices for strengthening the economy, they leave behind workers who have given their lives to labor, only to find themselves struggling when they need help the most.

In extraordinary blunder top Trump cabinet members added Atlantic editor to chat discussing strikes on Houthis.

Senior members of Donald Trump’s cabinet have been involved in a serious security breach while discussing secret military plans for recent US attacks on the Houthi armed group in Yemen.

In an extraordinary blunder, key figures in the Trump administration – including the vice-president, JD Vance, the defence secretary Pete Hegseth, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard – used the commercial chat app Signal to convene and discuss plans – while also including a prominent journalist in the group.

Signal is not approved by the US government for sharing sensitive information.

Others in the chat included the Trump adviser Stephen Miller; Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles; and the key Trump envoy Steve Witkoff.

The breach was revealed in an article published on Monday by Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the Atlantic magazine, who discovered that he had been included in a Signal chat called “Houthi PC Small Group” and realising that 18 other members of the group included Trump cabinet members.

In his account, Goldberg said that he removed sensitive material from his account, including the identity of a senior CIA officer and current operational details.

The report was confirmed by Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the national security council, who told the magazine: “This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.”

Hughes added: “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”

Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he was unaware of the incident. “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of the Atlantic,” Trump said.

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, later released a statement saying: “President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.”

The incident is likely to further raise concerns over the Trump administration’s trustworthiness with intelligence shared by erstwhile allies – not least as Hegseth boasts at one stage of guaranteeing “100 percent OPSEC – operations security” while a celebrated journalist is reading his message.

The discussions seen by Goldberg include comments from Vance, who appeared unconvinced of the urgency of attacking Yemen, as well as conversations over what price should be expected of Europeans and other countries for the US removing the threat to a key global shipping route.

Security and intelligence commentators in the US described the breach of operational security as unprecedented – both for the use of a commercial chat service and for the inclusion of Goldberg.

In the US military, the highest political echelon and intelligence services operate under strict rules for communication of classified material and for the discussion of issues concerning operational security where lives and outcomes could be compromised by disclosure.

While Signal is regarded as a secure encrypted chat service, its weakness is that phones on which it is installed can themselves be vulnerable.

Among those aghast at the breach was the Democratic representative Pat Ryan, an army veteran who sits on the House armed services committee who described it using the second world war-era epithet “Fubar” – meaning “fucked up beyond all recognition”.

“If House Republicans won’t hold a hearing on how this happened IMMEDIATELY, I’ll do it my damn self.”

Shane Harris, a longtime national security reporter – formerly of the Washington Post and now with the Atlantic – wrote on BlueSky: “In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this.”

Goldberg writes that he was initially dubious about whether the messages might be some kind of foreign disinformation operation, but became convinced they were genuine both because of the language and positions presented and because the plan discussed coincided with an actual attack on Yemen.

One striking exchange involved Vance and Hegseth making disparaging remarks about Europe.

“The account identified as ‘JD Vance’ addressed a message at 8:45 to @Pete Hegseth: ‘if you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again,’” Goldberg wrote. (The administration has argued that America’s European allies benefit economically from the US navy’s protection of international shipping lanes.)

Goldberg continues: “The user identified as Hegseth responded three minutes later: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC. But Mike is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this.

“Nobody else even close. Question is timing. I feel like now is as good a time as any, given POTUS directive to reopen shipping lanes. I think we should go; but POTUS still retains 24 hours of decision space.”

In reality, about 20 countries are involved in the mission to protect shipping from Houthi attacks including British warships.

As Goldberg became aware of the attack on Yemen taking place, he recorded how he went back to the Signal channel:

“‘Michael Waltz’ [US national security adviser] had provided the group an update. Again, I won’t quote from this text, except to note that he described the operation as an ‘amazing job.’’’

A few minutes later, [another individual wrote]: “A good start.”

Not long after, Waltz responded with three emojis: a fist, an American flag and fire. Others soon joined in, including “MAR”, [Marco Rubio]. He wrote: “Good Job Pete and your team!!” and “Susie Wiles”. She texted: “Kudos to all – most particularly those in theater and CENTCOM! Really great. God bless.”