WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Monday (Dec 22) it would be "smart" for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down, as US naval forces pressed a blockade on the South American country's oil wealth.

Venezuela's key ally Moscow, however, expressed its "full support" for Maduro's government, as Washington has dialled up military operations and threats against Caracas.

Asked by reporters at his Florida home if Washington's threats were designed to force Maduro to leave office after 12 years, Trump said: "That's up to him, what he wants to do. I think it would be smart for him to do that."

But he added: "If he wants to do something - if he plays tough, it'll be the last time he's ever able to play tough."

Firing back just hours later, Maduro said that Trump would be "better off" if he focused on his own country's problems rather than threatening Caracas.

"He would be better off in his own country on economic and social issues, and he would be better off in the world if he took care of his country's affairs," Maduro said in a speech broadcast on public television.

The pledge from Moscow, which is embroiled in the war in Ukraine, came on the eve of a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis.

In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the allied nations blasted the US actions, which have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and the seizure of two oil tankers.

A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Sunday.

"The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington's actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping," the Russian foreign ministry said of the call between Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.

"The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context," it added in a statement.

US forces have since September launched strikes on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.

More than 100 people have been killed - some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.

US President Trump on Dec 16 also announced a blockade of "sanctioned oil vessels" sailing to and from Venezuela.

Trump claims Caracas under Maduro is using oil money to finance "drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping".

He has also accused Venezuela of taking "all of our oil" - in an apparent reference to the country's nationalisation of the petroleum sector, and said: "we want it back."

Caracas, in turn, fears Washington is seeking regime change, and has accused Washington of "international piracy".

Moscow's statement said Lavrov and Gil agreed in their call to "coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN."

Russia and China, another Venezuela ally, backed Caracas's request for a UNSC meeting to discuss what it called "the ongoing US aggression".

RUSSIA'S "HANDS FULL"

On Telegram, Venezuela's Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed "the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government."

Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow's "full support in the face of hostilities against our country."

Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside Moscow's stated support for Caracas.

Washington, he said, was "not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela" as "they have their hands full in Ukraine".

US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.

Gil on Monday also read a letter on state TV, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning the US blockade "will affect the supply of oil and energy" globally.

Queen guitarist Brian May is debuting the previously unreleased Christmas track Not For Sale (Polar Bear) from the band during a special festive broadcast.

The song, written by May and recorded during sessions for Queen’s 1974 album Queen II, never appeared on the final release and has remained unheard in the band’s archive for more than five decades. It has now been remastered ahead of the 2026 reissue of Queen II and will receive its first public airing during May’s festive programme on Planet Rock.

May noted that while some fans may know an old Smile bootleg of the track, this Queen recording has never been released in any form. He described it as a “work in progress” that will feature on next year’s rebuilt edition of the album, adding that he is keen to hear how listeners respond to its long‑delayed debut.

He said: "People might possibly have heard a bootleg version of Not For Sale (Polar Bear) by Smile, it’s a song that goes back a very long way, but to my knowledge no one has ever heard this version. It’s a work in progress and will appear on the forthcoming rebuild of the Queen II album – coming next year – but I’m sneaking this into my Planet Rock special because I’m fascinated to know what people think about it. I hope people have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year!"

Alongside the exclusive premiere, May’s Christmas special features a selection of seasonal songs he has chosen personally, reflecting on the music that has shaped his own festive periods. The programme includes tracks from Slade, Chuck Berry, Bad News, The Crystals, and a Christmas hit from his wife, Anita Dobson.

The broadcast was aired on Monday (Dec 22), with a repeat scheduled for Christmas Day.

A small Mexican Navy plane transporting a 1-year-old medical patient along with seven others, crashed on Monday (Dec 22) near Galveston, killing at least two people, officials said.

Emergency officials rescued four people and were searching for two who were inside the aircraft, Mexico’s Navy said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Four of the people aboard were Navy officers and four were civilians, according to the Navy. It was not immediately clear which ones were missing and which had been killed.

Two of the people aboard were members of the Michou and Mau Foundation, which is a nonprofit that provides aid to Mexican children who have suffered severe burns.

The crash took place on Monday near the base of a causeway near Galveston, along the Texas coast about 80.5km southeast of Houston.

Mexico’s Navy said in a statement that the plane was helping with a medical mission and had an “accident”. It promised to investigate the cause of the crash.

The Navy is helping local authorities with the search and rescue operation, it said in a post on the social media platform X.

Teams from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have arrived at the scene of the crash, the Texas Department of Public Safety said on X.

The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office said officials from its dive team, crime scene unit, drone unit and patrol were responding to the crash.

“The incident remains under investigation, and additional information will be released as it becomes available,” the sheriff’s office said in a post on Facebook, adding that the public should avoid the area so emergency responders can work safely.

Galveston is an island that is a popular beach destination.

It's not immediately clear if the weather was a factor. However, the area has been experiencing foggy conditions over the past few days, according to Cameron Batiste, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

He said that at about 2.30pm on Monday, a fog came in that had about a half-mile visibility. The foggy conditions are expected to persist through Tuesday morning.

The United States Department of Education on Monday (Dec 22) said ⁠it was reviewing safety at Brown University in response to a mass shooting on the campus earlier this month.

Federal officials will scrutinise Brown’s emergency notification and campus surveillance systems, the department said in a statement. Almost a week after the shooting, the suspect - who was also accused of ‍killing an MIT professor ⁠in ‍the Boston area - was found dead.

Brown's president, Christina Paxson, has said her institution is “deeply committed” to campus safety and security. She has said that ⁠one of her university's two emergency notification systems sent text messages and emails to 20,000 ‍individuals after the shooting.

She has also said that a second siren system was not set off for fear it would prompt people to rush for safety into the building where the shooting occurred.

Paxson also said last week that the campus has 1,200 security cameras. Officials said the attack occurred in an older part of a facility that had ‌few or no cameras.

President Donald Trump had previously criticised the university in a Truth Social post for having “so few security ‍cameras”.

The ‌suspect, identified as Claudio Neves Valente, 48, entered a building used for Brown's engineering and physics programmes on Dec 13 and fired at least 44 rounds from his 9mm pistol, killing two students and wounding nine, according to police in Providence, Rhode Island.

He was found dead in a storage ‌rental facility in Salem, New Hampshire, after a five-day manhunt.

The Education Department has ordered Brown to submit extensive records by Jan 30, including crime logs, annual security reports and internal protocols relating to emergency notifications and active shooter response.

The review will look at whether the school violated a law that requires universities to meet certain campus safety and security requirements as a condition of receiving federal student aid.