Trump Orders Sanctioned Oil Tanker Blockade in Venezuela; US Readies New Russia Sanctions

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Good morning.
I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the
stories we're following today.
And Karen, that surgeon oil comes on new pressure from
the US. President Trump has ordered a blockade of sanctioned
oil tankers off Venezuela. On social media, the President added
he is designating Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro's government a foreign
terrorist organization. We get more from Bloomberg Steven Stepchinski.
You can look at this as a play for regime change.
I think you know he's been putting pressure on this regime.
In one way to tighten that pressure even more would
obviously be taking one of their biggest revenue areas, and
that's oil, putting curbs on their oil exports. Already, he's
been tightening that through the seizure of a ship earlier
this month, as well as just restrictions in general have
helped the curb the amount of money flowing into Venezuela
and in particular US. But by doing this, you're really
siphoning off a very large portion of the revenues from
that that the regime can get.
And as a result, Bloomberg Steven Stebchinsky says oil is
advancing from its lowest level since twenty twenty one. The
crew does remain on track for a yearly loss.
Meanwhile, Nathan Bloomberg News has learned the US is preparing
a fresh run of sanctions on Russia's energy sector if
President Vladimir Putin rejects a peace agreement with Ukraine. The
discussions over further sanctions come as US and Ukrainian negotiators
have made some advances toward the terms of a potential
peace accord, but sticking points remain over issues such as
territory and security guarantees.
Now, Karen, we want to turn to the latest on
the death of actor director Rob Reiner. The Hollywood Legend's son,
Nick Reiner, has been charged with first degree murder in
the deaths of his father and mother, Michelle Singer Reiner.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hakman says prosecutors are
still deciding whether to seek the death penalty now.
Prosecuting these cases involving family members are some of the
most challenging and most heart wrenching cases that this office
faces because of the intimate and often brutal nature of
the crimes involved.
Relay County DA Nathan Hockman says Nick Rener will undergo
a standard medical clearance before he's brought to court to
formally hear the charges. He says there if there is
evidence of mental illness, it will be presented in court.
Nick Reiner was arrested Sunday night after his parents were
found dead in their Brentwood home. Robin Michelle Reiner's closest
friends have issued a joint statement mourning the couple as
a quote special force together, dynamic, unselfish and inspiring. The
list includes Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Martin Short, Larry David,
and their wives in.
New England, Nathan, the search continues for the suspect and
the mass shooting at Brown University. The FBI has released
a five minute video timeline of the suspected gunman walking
and sometimes running through the streets of Providence, Rhode Island,
before and after the shooting. Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez
is appealing to the public for more information.
If you have any camera systems or any teslas like
I mentioned, that you look at that footage and that
you can reach out to us and plash.
Provide us anything that you have providence. Felice Chief Oscar
Perez and other officials have not named any new persons
of interest since an initial suspect was released Sunday night.
They also have not indicated a motive, with witnesses giving
varying accounts about whether the shooter spoke as he opened fire.
The FBI is offering fifty thousand dollars for information that
leads to an arrest and conviction.
Turned out to Australia Karen, where authorities have charged the
surviving gunman in the deadly Sydney Hanukah attack with fifty
nine offenses, including murder and terrorism. Twenty four year old
Navid Akram remains under police guard in the hospital. Here's
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony ALBINIZI, this is.
An incredibly traumatic time for members of the Australian Jewish community.
It has old sized shiken an nasen and nism will respond,
will hold people do account for what has occurred.
That's Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi. Meanwhile, donations to a
go Fundme page for achmedal Akhmed, the forty three year
old who tackled and disarmed. One of the shooters has
passed two point four million dollars.
We turned to Europe now, Nathan, and the Trump administration
is threatening retaliation against the European Union in response to
efforts to tax American tech companies. At issue our regulations
governing digital COMMERSUS, the EU moves to regulate and tax
US tech giants including Alphabet, Meta and Amazon. Begin more
from Bloomberg Chief Europe Correspondent Oliver Crook and Brussels.
There's been a big issue for the Trump administration since
the very beginning. We're now getting the US Trade representative
coming out on Twitter really amping up the rhetoric and
saying that if things do not change, they're going to
target European companies. What is sort of a peculiar about
this time around is that he has named all of
the companies that they're looking at. They are Accenture, Amedeis,
cap Gemini, DHL, Mistral Publicists, SAP, Zieman's and Spotify. So
there you get a sort of real cross cut of
companies across Europe, mainly focused in France and Germany, the
two biggest economies within the Eurozone.
Bloomberg Chief you're of correspondent Oliver Crooks as critics of
the EU's digital tax plans say they are slowing down
technological innovation and unfairly seeking to raise revenue.
In the nation's capital, Karen Moderate House lawmakers will not
get to vote on extending Affordable CARECT premium subsidies before
they expire at the end of this year. We get
more from Bloomberg z Amy Morris.
In Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson is blocking a Republican
push for a vote on renewing expiring Obamacare subsidies. There
are three discharge petitions aimed at forcing the vote. Republican
Representative Mike Lawler of New York says there should be
a vote, and he's sounded off on the House floor.
Eleven Republicans have signed on to those discharge petitions. Now,
why is that necessary?
Because House Republican leadership will.
Not allow a vote.
It is idiotic and shameful, and yet my Democratic College
will not join us.
Now, the House is set to vote on a consensus
GOP healthcare package, but an ACA fix is not likely
to be among what passes. In Washington. Amy Morris, Bloomberg Radio.
Right, Amy, thank you about President Trump is delivering a
prime time addressed to the nation tonight. The White House
says the President will use the speech to detail his
historic accomplishments and he's some policy coming in the new year.
It comes at a pivotal time, with the President's pull
numbers softening any economy facing headwinds.
Well Karen, Chicago FED President Austin Golesby says he expects
strong economic growth into twenty twenty six. He says interest
rates should be able to fall if inflation declines toward
the Fed's target. Your schools be speaking on CNN.
I'm still pretty optimistic that the economy will sustain at
a stabilized rate that's pretty decent. And if it can
do that and inflation go back headed down to something
like two percent, can go down.
Chicago Fed President Austin Golesby defended his recent dissent against
a FED rate cut. He says he wants to see
more data before agreeing to more easing.
In company news, Nathan Bloomberg has learned open Ai is
in initial discussions to raise at least ten billion dollars
from Amazon and use its chips. Sources say the deal
under discussion could value open Ai north of five hundred
billion dollars and see it adopt Amazon's Trainium chip. A
deal would mark a win for Amazon's fledgling semiconductor division
and complement its cloud division, Amazon Web Services. Amazon shares
They're up one point three percent this morning.
And Karen, Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners is getting out of
the bidding war for Warner Brothers Discovery, the private equity firm,
withdrew it's backing of Paramount Skydance's hostile takeover proposal. Sources
say Kushner's involvement in a deal that the president has
said he would personally review drew a lot of unwelcome attention.
Of course, Jared Kushner is President Trump's son in law.
Bloomberg News has learned Warner Brothers is urging its shareholders
to reject Paramount's latest offer, as they recommend supporting the
existing deal with Netflix.
Time now for look at some many o their stories
making news in New York and around the world, and
for that we're joined by Bloomberg's John Tucker. John, Good morning,
h Good morning, Karen.
The proposed White House ballroom will now cost as much
as four hundred million dollars. President Trump gave the latest
estimate last night. The proposed cost of the ballroom has
steadily risen, from two hundred million to the president's latest estimate.
Its scale has also grown, with a president at first
saying it won't interfere with the current building before instead
bulldozing the entire East wing. President Trump says he's standing
by his chief of staff Susie Wiles, following her explosive
interview with Vanity Fair While saying Trump has an alcoholics personality,
she also said Vice President jd Vance has been a
conspiracy theorist for a decade. Vans responded, sometimes I am
a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in the conspiracy
theties that are true. Well also points of finger at
Attorney General Pam Bondy, saying Bondy completely whiffed her handling
of demands to release the files on Jeffrey Epstein, a
professor at MIT, was fatally shot in his Boston area home.
Polase are now looking for a suspect. Neighbors tell police
they heard a commotion last night.
At about nine o'clock. I heard through that bangs. I
thought at first it was somebody in our apartment, kicking
in the door or something. So I called the neighbors
and they said no, they thought it was gunshots.
Forty seven year old Union Lorerio head MIT's Plasma Science
and Fusion Center. The incident occurred as authority's continual manhunt
for the person who killed two students Saturday at a
rampage of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, about forty
miles south of Boston. And Pope Leo is expected to
accept Timothy Cardinal Dolan's resignation this week. It will possibly
name a bishop from the pontiff's Illinois home state to
lead the Orange Diocese of New York. According to The
New York Post, the Pope is considering daming Bishop Ron
Hicks of Juliet, Illinois to replace Dolan. Dolan has reached
the mandatory retirement age of seventy five. Global News twenty
four hours Day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News. Now,
I'm John Tucker, and they see his Bloomberg Karen.
Thanks John. Time now for our Bloomberg Sports update, and
for that we bring in John stash Hour.
Thanks Karen.
The Knicks in Las Vegas won the NBA Cup that
Trails San Antonio by eleven late in the third quarter
won the four thirty five to nineteen. Won the game
one twenty four to one thirteen. Jalen Brunson twenty five
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Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. Oil is rallying this morning
with geopolitical Risk Now on a couple of fronts. President
Trump says he is ordering a quote total and complete
blockade of sanctioned tankers in and out of Venezuela, and
sources are telling Bloomberg News that the US is preparing
a fresh round of sanctions on Russian energy if President
Vladimir Putin doesn't agree to a peace deal with Ukraine.
For more on all this, we're joined by Will Kennedy,
Bloomberg's news director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Will,
good morning. Let's start with Venezuela. This seems like a
pretty significant step up in this ongoing campaign between the
US and the Maduro regime.
Good morning, Good morning, Nathan. Great to be with you. Yes,
that's exactly right. It does seem a very meaningful increase
in the economic pressure that the Trump administration is putting
on a Maduro. It's clear that this is ratcheting up.
And we should note how dependent Venezuela is on the
dollar earnings that export of oil brings to them, So
it really if this is enforced, it could really make
life quite difficult for the Venezuelan government.
What could this mean as well for the oil majors
in the US that work with Venezuela well.
The announcement that Trump made talked about sanctioned oil tankers
being blockaded, which suggests to me that those tankers carrying
oil from Chevron, which is the one remaining oil major
still working in Venezuela and determined to stay there will
be allowed to flow. So I think it suggests that
there will be this distinction between oil being carried on
sanctioned tankers, which is being marketed by Pedavessa, the state
old company, and often being sold to buyers in the
Far East into China and places like that will be blockaded,
but the flow of oil from Chevron will probably be
allowed to continue. But we're still trying to learn all
the precise details of how this will work.
Well, what have we learned about these discussions around even
further sanctions against Russia's energy sector. We know that there
have been plenty of sanctions thus far.
Yes, it's another demonstration of how willing Trump and his
administration is to use energy sanctras as energy sanctions, as
leverage as it seeks to pursue its goals internationally. What
Trump wants is for a peace proposal to be agreed
between the US, Ukraine, and European countries and to put
that proposal to Russia in the hope of getting a
truce as soon as possible. What the US is now
telling us is that they are willing if Russia doesn't
come to that process, If Russia doesn't in age. If
it seeks for along the war, it is willing to
impose further sanctions to curtail its oil exports. And again,
Russia is a very meaningful export of on in the world,
and it is very dependent on that revenue to keep
its war economy going. So it is one way in
which to acert fresher on Vladimir Putin's government.
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