Vessel does not appear to be on list of US-sanctioned vessels, which would represent escalation in blockade

US forces on Saturday apprehended a second merchant vessel carrying oil off the coast of Venezuela in international waters in the midst of an American blockade against the country’s oil, according to the US homeland security department.

The stoppage follows the seizure by US forces of another oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast on 10 December. Both vessels were headed to Asia.

Lawyers also attempting to throw out two federal charges, saying US attorney general has ties to UnitedHealth Group

Lawyers for Luigi Mangione are attempting to avoid the death penalty and throw out two federal charges in the justice department’s case against him, arguing that attorney general Pam Bondi is biased because she used to work at a lobbying firm that represents UnitedHealth Group.

In court documents filed on Friday, Mangione’s lawyers said that Bondi has a “profound conflict of interest” because her former employer, Ballard Partners, a DC-based lobbying firm founded by the Trump donor Brian Ballard, counts UnitedHealth Group as one of its clients.

What we know about the deal with TAE Technologies so far – from why it is happening to what fusion energy is

Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, announced a merger on Wednesday with a company developing fusion energy technology.

TAE Technologies, an energy company founded in 1998, will join with Trump Media via a $6bn merger that it promises will propel it to build “the world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant” next year.