Venezuelans once again watched as Nicolás Maduro was sworn into office on Friday, donning the executive sash and declaring himself president despite irregularities and questions around his election.

He repeated his attacks against the United States and any foreign leaders who did not recognize his return to power and vowed to squash all of those who oppose him.

“I come from the people. The power I represent belongs to the people and I owe it to the people,” Maduro told allies and supporters in his inauguration speech.

For many Venezuelans, there will have been a sense of déjà vu as Maduro assumed his third six-year term in office following the contested July 28 election.

The country’s National Electoral Council, the body responsible for supervising and certifying the vote, which is stacked with some of his closest loyalists, had declared Maduro the winner without providing detailed evidence or data to support his victory.

But the opposition disputed the claim, releasing tens of thousands of voting tallies from around the country claiming that their candidate, Edmundo González, had actually won with 67% against Maduro’s 30%.

Several nations, including the United States, have since recognized González as Venezuela’s rightful president-elect and have issued new sanctions against Maduro and some of the country’s electoral authorities.

Fellow opposition leader Maria Corina Machado accused Maduro of a coup d’état in a video posted to social media after he was sworn in for the third time. She said that with his inauguration “they decided to cross the red line” and “they stomp on our constitution.”

“Today, Maduro did not put the presidential band on his chest, he put it on his ankle like a shackle that would tighten more every day,” she added.

A contested comeback

This is not the first time a Maduro victory has been called into question. In fact, every presidential vote in which he’s been a candidate, dating back to when he first took office nearly 12 years ago, has been disputed.

Maduro first became president following the death of his predecessor and mentor Hugo Chavez in March 2013. The larger-than-life populist strongman – who had enshrined himself in power for nearly 15 years as the anti-establishment leader and transformed the country under his socialist-leaning Bolivarian Revolution – had hand-picked Maduro as his successor.

Despite the endorsement, Maduro struggled in the polls and only beat his then-challenger Henrique Capriles by a razor-thin margin of 1.49%. It was considered at the time as one of the closest ballots in decades and the opposition claimed irregularities and fraud in the vote.

Capriles, who had run against Chavez six months earlier and lost by 12%, called for an audit with the National Electoral Council and appealed the results with the Supreme Court. Both bodies were stacked with Chavez and Maduro supporters and the opposition’s claims were discredited.

By the time Maduro’s second presidential election was scheduled to take place, Venezuela had fallen into a deep economic and political crisis. The once oil-rich country was suffering from hyperinflation and widespread economic woes. There were massive food shortages, rampant crime and millions of people had fled the country in fear and desperation.

Many opposition leaders, including Capriles, were banned from running for political office with some arrested or forced into exile due to trumped-up accusations and charges.

Maduro was reelected to his second term in May 2018, in what the opposition and many foreign leaders called a sham election due to the low voter turnout and an opposition boycott following the bans against its candidates. Only 46% of the country’s population participated in the vote, the National Electoral Council said at the time, and Maduro was sworn into office in January 2019.

Massive protests broke out in the streets of the capital Caracas and throughout the country, questioning his legitimacy and calling for him to step down. This was not the first time the country had seen protests, but they were heavily repressed by the Maduro-supporting National Guard, police forces and militia groups and led to several deaths, injuries and arrests.

Global leaders shun Maduro return

As Maduro takes office for the third time, he finds himself more isolated than ever.

His inauguration lacked the usual pomp and pageantry that normally surrounds the event. Cuba and Nicaragua were the only two countries with their presidents in attendance. Meanwhile, the ceremony itself was markedly lowkey in comparison to previous events, held in a small room of the National Assembly rather than the building’s main hall.

Protesters also returned to the streets of Venezuela and the country’s growing diaspora staged marches in Ecuador, Spain and Mexico, among other locations.

Biden administration officials met earlier this week in Washington DC with González, who was recognized by the US as Venezuela’s rightful president-elect.

González, who has been living in exile after being accused of terrorism by the Maduro government, had vowed to return to the country to challenge the inauguration but said the “conditions for his entry” were not met. He posted a video message to his social media accounts from the Dominican Republic, in which he also accused Maduro of staging a coup.

“Maduro has violated the Constitution, and the sovereign will of Venezuelans expressed on July 28,” González said. “He carried out a coup d’état and crowned himself a dictator.”

US President-elect Donald Trump issued a harsh warning against Maduro following reports that Machado had been briefly kidnapped following a protest. The Maduro government denied any involvement.

Shortly after the inauguration, the US announced a $25 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro and his closest officials, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. Washington also announced an 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status for eligible Venezuelan nationals, which could benefit some 600,000 people living in the US.

Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have left the country over the last decade, the second largest displacement in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The strongman leader may have succeeded in reclaiming Venezuela’s highest office but with so many – both at home and abroad – still questioning if he stole the election, he could find himself struggling for allies on the world stage.

Two trams collided in Strasbourg in eastern France on Saturday, causing dozens of injuries, though none critical, authorities said.

The accident took place during the afternoon in a tunnel leading to the station near the city’s central train station.

An additional 100 people, though uninjured, were assessed for shock or stress, said René Cellier, director of the Bas-Rhin Fire and Rescue Service.

Emergency services deployed 130 firefighters, 50 rescue vehicles and established a wide safety perimeter.

“Around 50 people are in a state of relative emergency, with injuries such as scalp wounds, clavicle fractures and knee sprains. But there are no critical injuries. It could have been much worse,” Cellier said.

The exact cause of the collision was unclear but local media reported that one of the trams was reversing at the time.

Mayor Jeanne Barseghian, who visited the site, described the incident as a “brutal collision” and expressed her gratitude to emergency responders.

“I am at the station with the injured and rescuers. Thank you for your mobilization,” she said on X. She urged the public not to obstruct rescue operations.

Images shared on social media showed two severely damaged tram cars, one of which had derailed in the tunnel.

Strasbourg, the first major French city to reinstate tram services in 1994, had not experienced a significant tram accident until now, according to French media. Authorities launched an investigation to determine what caused the collision.

Cleanup operations continued Saturday evening, and residents were advised to avoid the area around the train station.

Israel will send the chief of its Mossad intelligence agency to Qatar to continue talks over a potential ceasefire-for-hostages deal in Gaza, in a possible sign the negotiations may be advancing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Saturday it had directed the chief of the Mossad, David Barnea, to head a delegation “to depart for Doha to continue advancing a deal for the release of our hostages.”

It did not say when Barnea and his delegation will arrive in Qatar.

The delegation will also include Nitzan Alon, the head of the Israel Defense Forces’ hostage’s unit and Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency.

Netanyahu’s decision came on the heels of a meeting with US “negotiators of both the incoming and outgoing administrations,” his office added.

Netanyahu met Saturday with Steve Witkoff, US president-elect Donald Trump’s designated envoy to the Middle East.

Despite talks appearing deadlocked, with Hamas claiming that Israel has introduced new conditions and Egyptian mediators sounding downbeat about progress, Netanyahu’s decision could be a sign that talks are advancing.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas have carried on even as official negotiations have been deadlocked for months, with the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden pushing for a deal.

This is a developing story. More to come.

A former child star from Australia died when the Los Angeles wildfires ripped through his family’s Malibu estate in California earlier this week, according to his mother.

Rory Callum Sykes was at the family’s 17-acre Mount Malibu TV Studios estate, where he had his own cottage, when it burned down on January 8, his mother Shelley Sykes wrote on X Thursday.

Shelley Sykes described her son, who appeared on the 1998 British TV series “Kiddy Kapers,” as “beautiful” and “wonderful” and said she was “totally heart broken” by his death.

She said she had tried to put out the wildfire cinders on her property’s roof using a hose but couldn’t because the water wasn’t working.

“He said, ‘mom leave me’ and no mom can leave their kid. And I’ve got a broken arm, I couldn’t lift him, I couldn’t move him,” Sykes told Australia’s 10 News First.

Her son, 32, was born blind with cerebral palsy on July 29, 1992, and had become famous for his speeches on overcoming disability. He was the co-founder of Happy Charity, which according to its site offers, “Hope, Happiness & Health to those that are Hurting.”

“He overcame so much with surgeries and therapies to regain his sight and to be able to learn to walk. Despite the pain, he still enthused about traveling the world with me from Africa to Antarctica,” Shelley Sykes wrote on X.

She said her son was born in Britain but lived in Australia, then America. He was “a gift born on mine and his grandma’s birthday,” she wrote.

On his website, Sykes describes himself as a professional speaker and consultant for many companies including the Tony Robbins Foundation, and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.

In an appearance with his mother on Australian television show “Mornings with Kerri-Anne” in 2003, he discussed going on a trip to the United States to speak at a Tony Robbins motivational conference.

“It doesn’t matter what happens to you in life, it’s what you do about it that counts,” he told viewers.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to his family. Our thoughts are with them,” DFAT told 9News. “Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.”

Ukraine claimed Saturday to have struck one of Russia’s largest oil refineries in a drone attack, starting a fire at the facility more than 700 miles into Russian territory.

The attack on the Taneco refinery in the city of Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan – one of the largest and most modern refineries in Russia – was the second time the facility had been struck by Ukrainian forces within the space of a year, according to Lieutenant Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation.

Despite the footage, the press service of the Republic of Tatarstan denied there had been a fire at the plant, insisting instead that it had been carrying out a mock evacuation as a safety exercise and that the images of the glowing facility in fact showed “the work of the plant’s torches.”

The Taneco refinery has a refining capacity of over 16 million tons of oil per year and “plays a key role in supplying fuel to the Russian army,” according to the Ukrainian official Kovalenko.

“The destruction of refineries and oil depots directly affects Russia’s ability to wage an intense war,” he added.

Kovalenko said the refinery had also been hit in the spring of 2024, in an attack that damaged its primary processing unit.

The attack last April was at the time the farthest into Russian territory Ukraine had struck since the beginning of the war.

When 35-year-old combat medic Tetyana Tsymbaliuk regained consciousness in the hospital room, she found her boyfriend waiting with a bunch of flowers. He proposed, but she declined. After a serious injury, her leg had been amputated; she worried about being a burden as a wife.

“I realized that before amputation, I was more attractive. I was not sure that I could find a way to fulfil my family role as a woman,” said Tsymbaliuk. It took her a long time to regain her confidence.

Tsymbaliuk says she was one of the first Ukrainian military amputees following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. Almost three years on, nearly 370,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been wounded. Thousands have lost one or more limbs.

While the government does not provide official figures on amputations, a state program issued prostheses to almost 20,000 people across 2023 and the first half of 2024, and many others were helped by private programs in Ukraine and abroad.

In the past two years, Ukraine has implemented protocols for physical and, to some degree, psychological rehabilitation for those injured in conflict. But sexual rehabilitation for people who have lost limbs or suffered other serious injuries has been largely overlooked.

Sex has long been a taboo topic in Ukraine. While modern Ukrainians are more open about sex than in the Soviet era, the topic is still an uncomfortable one for many.

“If I ask veterans about sex issues, they usually say that everything is okay. Only a few of them after a while, when they start to trust me, can talk about the problems they have,” Revunets said.

There are no protocols or recommendations for sexual rehabilitation on the official governmental level, she said, or even any mention of it.

“That’s important because the doctor is required to work according to protocol,” Revunets said. “Sexual rehabilitation is not specified anywhere, so the doctor can only take the initiative if he or she wants to do so. But most doctors aren’t ready to talk about it.”

It takes time even to persuade some doctors of its significance, Revunets said. “When I tell my colleagues about the importance of sexual rehabilitation, they look at me as if I’m crazy, (someone) who doesn’t understand what kind of serious injuries the patient has,” she said.

A good sexologist can help in many ways. Revunets is one of the very few sexologists in the country who works with the military. “I find out what exactly is wrong with the patient. I ask how the person feels. Depending on this, I give advice – it can be advice on how and what to do from a technical point of view, or what medications to take, or help psychologically.”

‘I was told to have sex, but no one told me how’

The war has resulted in an unprecedented number of people with injuries, a situation for which Ukraine was unprepared. The lack of any information on sexual rehabilitation has motivated the Ukrainian nonprofit Veteran Hub, which is specifically dedicated to supporting war veterans and their families, to study the topic.

In 2023, Veteran Hub researchers conducted 39 in-depth interviews with injured soldiers and their partners. Among other things, interviewees spoke anonymously about their sex lives after injury.

Researchers found that sex itself had changed for many. For example, after being injured, some respondents started to prepare for or plan sexual relations due to physical changes.

One of the veterans in a long-term relationship said of the doctors who treated him: “I was told to have sex, but no one told me how. If we’re talking about the technical part, it is very important.” He told researchers that without formal resources available to them, men were having to pass on information “by word of mouth.”

In response to the researchers’ findings, Veteran Hub created a guide for veterans on how to restore their sexual lives after being wounded.

“We saw that there was a great demand for this topic. After physical rehabilitation, people start asking themselves whether they will be able to swim in the sea, go skiing, go on dates, or have sex. And usually no one can answer these questions,” said Veteran Hub project manager Kateryna Skorohod.

Olga Serdyuk, the head of a sexual educational program at a network of rehabilitation centers called Recovery, said: “We need to understand that a wounded person works with different specialists – surgeons, physiotherapists, psychologists – on the way to rehabilitation. Because there is a lack of sexologists in Ukraine, those doctors must be ready for the person to open up to them and talk about sexual rehabilitation.”

To help widen their knowledge, Recovery launched a course called “Sexual Life” to train doctors and other professionals working with Ukrainian soldiers.

Serious injury changes the life of not only the veteran but also their partner, Serdyuk explained.

“For some reason, Ukrainian society believes that a good wife should take care of her husband on her own, even if there is an opportunity to get help. A woman becomes a carer. What kind of sex can we talk about then?” Serdyuk said, referring to how the pressures of full-time caring can lessen a couple’s capacity to explore paths to sexual fulfilment.

“Even if we are talking about complete dysfunction or missing genitals, a person (who’s been injured) can still have an orgasm with pleasure. You have to work with your fantasies, study your body.”

People need to learn to accept themselves in a new way, and believe in their integrity, their body, Serdyuk said.

Ukrainian ‘Bachelor’ stars double amputee

Discussions surrounding disabilities are increasingly cropping up in Ukraine as casualties rise.

Popular dating show “The Bachelor” has taken the discussion into the mainstream, with 26-year-old Ukrainian veteran Oleksandr Budko – who lost both his legs in the war – cast as the star of the latest season.

An episode with an intimate scene, shown in November, became one of the most popular in the season. According to data provided by Starlight Media, a Ukrainian broadcasting group, about 2.8 million people all around the country watched it, making it the most viewed program on the day it aired.

“We were concerned about how people would react to seeing a person’s body with visible amputations in such an intimate context. There is no representation of people living with injuries in Ukraine and we didn’t know how people would react to it. It was a big challenge. But it turned out well.”

Kalyna thinks the audience was interested, in part, because they realize that in this time of war their own loved ones could be injured at any moment.

On his Instagram page, Budko said he was not taking part in the show to convince anyone of anything or prove his “normality.”

“My prostheses or even sometimes a wheelchair are just a part of me, but not what defines me,” he posted. “The fact that I have a disability does not make me less worthy of love or a happy life. And this is important to understand.”

Budko also posted that his first experience of sex after injury “was not just sex, but a step back to life.”

Choosing life over suffering

Among those to attend Recovery’s “Sexual Life” course is Oleksandr Batalov. The unit infantry commander, who works as an osteopath in civil life, lost his leg in a fierce battle on the front line. He recalls that it took time for him to get used to his changed body.

“At the beginning, with such trauma, you want no one to look at you. But my wife gave me huge support. So, I got a grip. I chose life, not suffering,” he said. The psychologist helped a lot, he added.

There are very few sexologists in the hospitals, he said, but men who have experienced serious injuries are talking about sex with one another, and that’s important. However, “they need to have specialists they can talk to” as well, Batalov said.

That’s why he is starting this course. “If you survived, you have to live. Despite the injury, my life is full and interesting, I want to leave and study and share the knowledge,” said Batalov, who is now working again as an osteopath.

The same goes for Tsymbaliuk, the injured combat medic. She decided to live a fulfilling life no matter what. Her boyfriend did not give up and proposed again.

After months of rehabilitation in Germany, and later in Ukraine’s Superhumans Center, she finally married him, realizing “she was full of love that she wanted to fulfil.” Four months ago, they welcomed their first child together.

“I’m not hiding my prosthetic. I’m living a full life. And I’m happy,” she said.