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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on Wednesday met in Venezuela with acting President Delcy Rodríguez in the latest sign of the Trump administration’s intent to exercise control over the South American country’s natural resources. Burgum, who leads U.S. President Donald Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council, was expected to meet with U.S. and Venezuelan companies and “work for a legitimate mining sector and safe critical mineral supply chains,” according to a post on X by the U.S. diplomatic mission in Venezuela. It characterized the two-day visit as “another vital and historic step” that backs the administration’s phased plan to turn Venezuela around. Burgum is the latest U.S. official to travel to Caracas to meet with Rodríguez, who was sworn in following the capture by U.S. forces of then-President Nicolás Maduro two months ago. His trip follows a February visit by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, which was focused on the country’s oil potential. Laura Dogu, the U.S. top diplomat in Venezuela, joined Burgum for the meeting with Rodríguez at the presidential palace. The Trump administration last month announced that it wants to create a critical minerals trading bloc with its allies and partners to defend against China’s hold on the key elements needed for everything from fighter jets to smartphones. In addition to oil, Venezuela is rich in gold, copper, diamonds and other precious mined resources, while unsafe working conditions are common in the poorly regulated industry. Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed U.S. hostility was motivated by lust for Venezuela’s rich oil and mineral resources. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has formally nominated Kevin Warsh, a former top Federal Reserve official, to be the next Fed chair when Jerome Powell’s term ends in two months. Warsh’s nomination, which was initially announced Jan. 30, was forwarded to the Senate Wednesday, where it will be taken up by the Senate Banking Committee. Yet the nomination could stall there. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican on the committee, has said he will oppose confirming Warsh until a criminal investigation into Powell is resolved. Powell revealed Jan. 11 that the Justice Department had subpoenaed the Fed over Powell’s Senate testimony last June about the central bank’s $2.5 billion building renovation project. Tillis said last month that the committee could hold a hearing about Warsh’s nomination, but he would vote to block confirmation. If all Democrats on the committee voted against Warsh as well, the nomination wouldn’t pass out of the committee to the full Senate. Warsh has harshly criticized the Fed’s policies in recent years, including its low interest rate policies coming out of the pandemic, which he says contributed to the United States’ largest inflation spike in four decades in 2021-2022. Yet Warsh now has echoed President Donald Trump’s demands for lower rates. Warsh says that productivity gains from artificial intelligence will help the economy grow more quickly without spurring inflation, enabling the Fed to reduce borrowing costs. Many Fed officials, however, disagree that AI’s development will support rate cuts. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

The Portland Thorns announced the hiring of head coach Robert Vilahamn on Wednesday. The 43-year-old Sweden native most recently coached Tottenham Hotspur in England’s Women’s Super League from 2023-25, leading the team to the Women’s FA Cup final in his first season. Vilahamn replaces Rob Gale, who was fired after last November’s loss in the semifinals of the NWSL playoffs. “Robert arrives with managerial experience at the highest levels of the women’s game, possesses a strong track record of helping players grow and will strengthen our team environment by providing new global perspectives and insights,” Thorns general manager Jeff Agoos said. “His proactive, front-foot approach aligns with the identity and expectations of the Thorns and our supporters, and we look forward to welcoming him to Portland.” Vilahamn coached the BK Hacken women’s team in Sweden from 2021-23, qualifying for the UEFA Women’s Champions League in both seasons and making consecutive Swedish Cup finals. The Thorns have made the playoffs in all but one season since joining the NWSL as a founding club in 2013. Portland won league championships in 2013, 2017 and 2022. “I’m very excited and thankful to be the new head coach of the Portland Thorns,” Vilahamn said. “The club has everything I look for, with a clear ambition to win, an incredible fan base and a strong environment for developing talented players. The NWSL is the most competitive league in the world, and coming to the U.S. to be part of it is a major step in my career. I’m really looking forward to starting this next chapter in Portland.” –Field Level Media Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

March 4 (Reuters) – U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum met with Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Wednesday afternoon after arriving in the South American country earlier in the day, in an encounter filmed briefly by media outlets. The two met with the U.S. representative in Venezuela, Laura Dogu, in Caracas’ Miraflores presidential palace. Burgum met earlier with executives from foreign mining companies, two sources said, as the interim Venezuelan government weighs changes to mineral regulations. The visit is part of U.S. efforts to open Venezuela to American investment, especially in oil, gas and minerals, as the Trump administration tries to exert more control over the country following a January U.S. raid that captured President Nicolas Maduro. It is the second visit by a U.S. cabinet secretary since the ouster of Maduro, who courted the likes of China and Russia as allies. In public, Trump has heaped praise on Rodriguez for cooperating with the U.S. and hailed Venezuela as “our new friend and partner” in his annual State of the Union address. Behind the scenes, the Trump administration has been applying pressure, building a legal case against Rodriguez that could include corruption and money laundering charges, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing four people familiar with the matter.  Burgum, who also heads the U.S. Energy Dominance Council, which focuses on boosting U.S. energy production, is in Venezuela to discuss supply chains for critical minerals, the Venezuela Affairs Unit, as the U.S. diplomatic mission in Venezuela is known, said in a post on X. MINING LAW REFORMS Venezuela’s national assembly is preparing a reform of the country’s main mining law, including provisions that would allow foreign companies to exploit gold, diamonds and rare earths, Rodriguez’s brother Jorge Rodriguez, the assembly’s head, said this week. Venezuela’s current mining legislation dates to 1999. The South American country owes billions of dollars to industrial conglomerates, oil and mining companies after deep waves of nationalizations two decades ago, including to Crystallex, Gold Reserve and Rusoro Mining. Burgum is paying attention to the mining law proposal, the sources told Reuters, and met on Wednesday morning with several mining companies. He is expected to meet with oil and gas companies on Thursday to discuss expansion and investment, the sources added. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited last month. Exploration has not yet taken place in Venezuela to confirm reserves of rare earths, a grouping of 17 minor metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion. Rare earths are a subset of critical minerals, much of which is produced globally by China. A report from the Venezuelan government in 2018 on mineral deposits used key mining industry terms like reserve and resource interchangeably, making it difficult to ascertain what the true measurements are. An official map published in 2021 showed reserves of antimony, copper, nickel, coltan, molybdenum, magnesium, silver, zinc, titanium, tungsten and uranium, but did not list volumes. As part of bilateral agreements, Iranian companies in past years have explored for mining resources in the country, but the work did not lead to investments. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Reuters) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service is hiring restructuring advisers to help address its mounting financial troubles, Postmaster General David Steiner told Reuters in an interview. Reuters first reported in December that Steiner believed the Postal Service could run out of money as soon as early 2027. USPS has reported net losses of about $120 billion since 2007 as first-class mail, its most profitable product, has fallen to its lowest volume since the late 1960s. USPS hired consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal for a brief engagement to help with planning for all scenarios, Steiner said. “We are out of cash in 12 months if we don’t do anything different,” Steiner told Reuters Thursday. “I do not want to be in a position where we’re six weeks out from running out of cash, and we say, Oh heck, what are we going to do?” Steiner will testify before the U.S. House of Representatives on March 17 to talk about the Postal Service’s financial situation and will warn that without improvements there could be no Valentine’s Day cards delivered in February 2027. Steiner noted that USPS mail volumes are down 110 billion pieces of mail per year from the peak 15 years ago, which translates into $86 billion in revenue at current prices. Last month, USPS reported a net quarterly loss of $1.25 billion. USPS has called on policymakers to reform the Postal Service Civil Service Retirement System obligations, give USPS more flexibility over pricing and increase its $15 billion statutory debt limit, which it hit years ago. “If we can’t get help from the outside, from either our regulator or from Congress on the debt limit — everything’s got to be on the table,” Steiner said. Steiner wants to be able to raise prices over the current 78 cents for first-class mail and thinks Americans would be willing to pay 90 or 95 cents per letter, when much of the world pays $2 or more. USPS in January launched an online bidding platform to take proposals for access to its last‑mile delivery network, opening more than 18,000 destination delivery units and local processing centers nationwide to a broader range of customers that could raise badly needed funds. USPS delivers to more than 170 million U.S. addresses six days a week, with the last mile the most expensive part of deliveries. The last mile is also expensive for companies like FedEx UPS and Amazon.com. In 2022, Congress provided about $50 billion in financial relief over a decade and required its future retirees to enroll in a government health insurance plan. The law eliminated requirements for USPS to pre-fund retiree health benefits for current and retired employees for 75 years, a requirement no business or other federal entity faces. Steiner’s predecessor, Louis DeJoy, told Congress in 2021 the postal service was on a “death spiral” without reforms. (Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and David Gregorio) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com