Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 4 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “light,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown. All times on the map are Philippine time.The New York Times
A strong, 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck in the Philippine Sea on Wednesday, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The temblor happened at 11:02 a.m. Philippine time about 17 miles east of Santiago, Philippines, data from the agency shows.
U.S.G.S. data earlier reported that the magnitude was 6.7.
As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.
Aftershocks in the region
An aftershock is usually a smaller earthquake that follows a larger one in the same general area. Aftershocks are typically minor adjustments along the portion of a fault that slipped at the time of the initial earthquake.
Quakes and aftershocks within 100 miles
Source: United States Geological Survey | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Philippine time. Shake data is as of Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 10:16 p.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 3:32 a.m. Eastern.
In 2017, as political outsider Donald Trump headed to Washington, Delcy Rodríguez spotted an opening.
Then Venezuela’s foreign minister, Rodríguez directed Citgo — a subsidiary of the state oil company — to make a $500,000 donation to the president’s inauguration. With the socialist administration of Nicolas Maduro struggling to feed Venezuela, Rodríguez gambled on a deal that would have opened the door to American investment. Around the same time, she saw that Trump’s ex-campaign manager was hired as a lobbyist for Citgo, courted Republicans in Congress and tried to secure a meeting with the head of Exxon.
The charm offensive flopped. Within weeks of taking office, Trump, urged by then-Sen. Marco Rubio, made restoring Venezuela’s democracy his driving focus in response to Maduro’s crackdown on opponents. But the outreach did bear fruit for Rodríguez, making her a prominent face in U.S. business and political circles and paving the way for her own rise.
“She’s an ideologue, but a practical one,” said Lee McClenny, a retired foreign service officer who was the top U.S. diplomat in Caracas during the period of Rodríguez’s outreach. “She knew that Venezuela needed to find a way to resuscitate a moribund oil economy and seemed willing to work with the Trump administration to do that.”
Nearly a decade later, as Venezuela’s interim president, Rodríguez’s message — that Venezuela is open for business — seems to have persuaded Trump. In the days since Maduro’s stunning capture Saturday, he’s alternately praised Rodríguez as a “gracious” American partner while threatening a similar fate as her former boss if she doesn’t keep the ruling party in check and provide the U.S. with “total access” to the country’s vast oil reserves. One thing neither has mentioned is elections, something the constitution mandates must take place within 30 days of the presidency being permanently vacated.
This account of Rodríguez’s political rise is drawn from interviews with 10 former U.S. and Venezuelan officials as well as businessmen from both countries who’ve had extensive dealings with Rodríguez and in some cases have known her since childhood. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from someone who they almost universally described as bookishly smart, sometimes charming but above all a cutthroat operator who doesn’t tolerate dissent. Rodríguez didn’t respond to AP requests for an interview.
Father’s murder hardens leftist outlook
Rodríguez entered the leftist movement started by Hugo Chávez late — and on the coattails of her older brother, Jorge Rodríguez, who as head of the National Assembly swore her in as interim president Monday.
Tragedy during their childhood fed a hardened leftist outlook that would stick with the siblings throughout their lives. In 1976 — when, amid the Cold War, U.S. oil companies, American political spin doctors and Pentagon advisers exerted great influence in Venezuela — a little-known urban guerrilla group kidnapped a Midwestern businessman. Rodriguez’s father, a socialist leader, was picked up for questioning and died in custody.
McClenny remembers Rodríguez bringing up the murder in their meetings and bitterly blaming the U.S. for being left fatherless at the age of 7. The crime would radicalize another leftist of the era: Maduro.
Years later, while Jorge Rodríguez was a top electoral official under Chávez, he secured for his sister a position in the president’s office.
But she advanced slowly at first and clashed with colleagues who viewed her as a haughty know-it-all.
In 2006, on a whirlwind international tour, Chávez booted her from the presidential plane and ordered her to fly home from Moscow on her own, according to two former officials who were on the trip. Chávez was upset because the delegation’s schedule of meetings had fallen apart and that triggered a feud with Rodriguez, who was responsible for the agenda.
“It was painful to watch how Chávez talked about her,” said one of the former officials. “He would never say a bad thing about women but the whole flight home he kept saying she was conceited, arrogant, incompetent.”
Days later, she was fired and never occupied another high-profile role with Chávez.
Political revival and soaring power under Maduro
Years later, in 2013, Maduro revived Rodríguez’s career after Chávez died of cancer and he took over.
A lawyer educated in Britain and France, Rodríguez speaks English and spent large amounts of time in the United States. That gave her an edge in the internal power struggles among Chavismo — the movement started by Chávez, whose many factions include democratic socialists, military hardliners who Chávez led in a 1992 coup attempt and corrupt actors, some with ties to drug trafficking.
Her more worldly outlook, and refined tastes, also made Rodríguez a favorite of the so-called “boligarchs” — a new elite that made fortunes during Chávez’s Bolivarian revolution. One of those insiders, media tycoon Raul Gorrín, worked hand-in-glove with Rodríguez’s back-channel efforts to mend relations with the first Trump administration and helped organize a secret visit by Rep. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, to Caracas in April 2018 for a meeting with Maduro. A few months later, U.S. federal prosecutors unsealed the first of two money laundering indictments against Gorrin.
After Maduro promoted Rodríguez to vice president in 2018, she gained control over large swaths of Venezuela’s oil economy. To help manage the petro-state, she brought in foreign advisers with experience in global markets. Among them were two former finance ministers in Ecuador who helped run a dollarized, export-driven economy under fellow leftist Rafael Correa. Another key associate is French lawyer David Syed, who for years has been trying to renegotiate Venezuela’s foreign debt in the face of crippling U.S. sanctions that make it impossible for Wall Street investors to get repaid.
“She sacrificed her personal life for her political career,” said one former friend.
As she amassed more power, she crushed internal rivals. Among them: once powerful Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami, who was jailed in 2024 as part of an anti-corruption crackdown spearheaded by Rodríguez.
In her de-facto role as Venezuela’s chief operating officer, Rodríguez proved a more flexible, trustworthy partner than Maduro. Some have likened her to a sort of Venezuelan Deng Xiaoping — the architect of modern China.
Hans Humes, chief executive of Greylock Capital Management, said that experience will serve her well as she tries to jump-start the economy, unite Chavismo and shield Venezuela from stricter terms dictated by Trump. Imposing an opposition-led government right now, he said, could trigger bloodshed of the sort that ripped apart Iraq after U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein and formed a provisional government including many leaders who had been exiled for years.
“We’ve seen how expats who have been outside of the country for too long think things should be the way it was before they left,” said Humes, who has met with Maduro as well as Rodríguez on several occasions. “You need people who know how to work with how things are not how they were.”
Democracy deferred?
Where Rodríguez’s more pragmatic leadership style leaves Venezuela’s democracy is uncertain.
Trump, in remarks after Maduro’s capture, said Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado lacks the “respect” to govern Venezuela despite her handpicked candidate winning what the U.S. and other governments consider a landslide victory in 2024 presidential elections stolen by Maduro.
Elliott Abrams, who served as special envoy to Venezuela during the first Trump administration, said it is impossible for the president to fulfill his goal of banishing criminal gangs, drug traffickers and Middle Eastern terrorists from the Western Hemisphere with the various factions of Chavismo sharing power.
“Nothing that Trump has said suggests his administration is contemplating a quick transition away from Delcy. No one is talking about elections,” said Abrams. “If they think Delcy is running things, they are completely wrong.”
In Sudan, victims of sexual violence are often forced to suffer in silence, their tears shed where no one can hear them. But for women like Mariam*, the horror of war followed her even as she tried to flee.
Attempting to escape from Gezira State to Khartoum early last year, Mariam’s vehicle was stopped by armed men. She was the only passenger singled out.
“We were coming from Gezira State… They stopped us on the street and forced us down,” Mariam told Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent Asma Mohammed.
“They said they wanted to search us. Two of them consulted with each other, then called me over,” she recounted, her voice trembling. “They took me to a place… It was an empty room with a mattress. They told me to lie down, and then they raped me.”
Mariam returned to her family in the waiting car, shattered.
“She told us immediately what happened… How many of them there were,” her aunt told Al Jazeera. “Of course, they were from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).”
‘Is there a girl in this house?’
Mariam’s story is not unique. In el-Fasher, the tragedy repeats itself with even greater brutality.
Um Kulthum*, a medical student, told Al Jazeera she was forced to witness mass rape and murder before becoming a victim herself.
“The RSF forces entered … and besieged the area,” Um Kulthum said. “They killed my uncle, the one who raised me … right in front of us.
“We were four girls, along with our neighbour’s daughter. The RSF forces then gang-raped us in a brutal manner.”
These exclusive accounts align with a harrowing new report released last November by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), which documented nearly 1,300 cases of sexual and gender-based violence across 14 states since the war began in April 2023.
Speaking to Al Jazeera in November, Hala Al-Karib, the regional director of SIHA, explained that these are not random acts, but a strategy rooted in viewing women as “property”.
“Kidnappings often occur at the beginning of an invasion… When homes are entered, there is a specific question asked: ‘Is there a girl in this house? Are there young women?’” Al-Karib said.
“We have heard from many witnesses who were told by RSF soldiers: ‘I am coming to take this girl.’”
Sexual slavery and trafficking
The violence extends beyond immediate assault to long-term captivity. Al-Karib described a terrifying reality of “sexual slavery” and forced labour.
“Women are kidnapped for ‘sexual slavery’, specifically young, middle-aged women, and also to serve the soldiers – forced labour, washing clothes, cooking,” Al-Karib told Al Jazeera.
Even more disturbingly, she revealed that the exploitation has crossed international lines.
“Women are also kidnapped for the purpose of enslavement and sale in markets,” Al-Karib said. “They are transported across the border to African countries neighbouring Sudan.”
She added that women’s bodies are being used “as weapons in this war … to defeat communities”, leaving survivors crushed by stigma and often refusing to return to their families out of shame.
Punishing the Masalit
The systematic nature of these crimes was further confirmed by Arnold Tsunga, a lawyer and former Africa director for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), who led a fact-finding mission to eastern Chad to interview refugees fleeing the violence.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic from Harare, Tsunga described his mission to Adre and Geneina as “heartbreaking”.
“The RSF are the ones who attacked the Masalit group… They were the majority of those subjected to sexual violence and rape,” Tsunga said.
“It is sad to see that violence is now being used systematically as a means and weapon of war … to forcibly remove people from their land and to punish Masalit men who tried to defend their land.”
Tsunga warned that the collapse of the rule of law has created an “absolute environment” for these crimes.
“The RSF are now the responsible authority in these areas… There are no justice institutions working,” he explained. “Impunity leads to more impunity … and this problem is related to rewarding criminals.”
Targeting infants
The scale of the violence has overwhelmed local hospitals. At the Omdurman Maternity Hospital, the director general described a pattern of atrocities that spares no one – not even babies.
“The rapes are in very large numbers, far more than what is recorded,” Imad al-Din Abdullah al-Siddiq told Al Jazeera.
“More than 14 female infants less than the age of two were raped. An infant! This is documented by NGOs,” he said.
Al-Siddiq noted that the hospital received a flood of victims aged 11 to 23, mostly unmarried girls. “They come as a result of pregnancy… Abortions were performed for those less than three months… For those more than three months, we didn’t have a licence to abort, so the pregnancy continued, and births took place here.”
UNICEF has confirmed more than 200 cases of sexual assault on children since the start of 2024, some less than the age of five.
A systematic pattern
The SIHA report outlines a calculated three-stage pattern accompanying RSF advances: Initial home invasions and looting accompanied by rape, followed by attacks in public spaces, and finally long-term detention.
This violence occurs against a backdrop of worsening famine. The United Nations’ World Food Programme warned it will cut rations in Sudan from January due to severe funding gaps, leaving millions at risk of starvation.
Meanwhile, international pressure is mounting. The United Kingdom recently sanctioned four senior RSF commanders over alleged mass killings and sexual violence.
But for survivors like Mariam and Um Kulthum, the diplomatic moves offer little solace. As Al-Karib noted, the international investment in reintegrating these women remains “very, very small”.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of survivors.
Universal Music Group has struck its latest major AI partnership. And it’s a big one.
The world’s largest music rights company announced Tuesday (January 6) a strategic collaboration with AI computing giant NVIDIA, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization, currently valued at approximately $4.56 trillion.
According to a press release, the partnership will see NVIDIA and UMG “undertake collaborative research and development to promote shared objectives of advancing human music creation and rightsholder compensation.”
The release added that the collaboration will combine NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure with what the companies describe as “the world’s leading music catalog comprising millions of culture-defining tracks” to pioneer what they call “responsible AI for music discovery, creation, and engagement.”
UMG said that, via the partnership, the companies aim to “enrich and enhance the music experience of the billions of music consumers worldwide who enjoy the world’s most popular form of entertainment”.
At the heart of the partnership is NVIDIA’s Music Flamingo model, an advanced audio AI system designed to deliver what the companies describe as a “rich, human-like understanding of songs.”
Equally significant is a dedicated artist incubator that the companies explicitly position as “a direct antidote to generic, ‘AI slop’ outputs.”
The “AI slop” language is notable. Sir Lucian Grainge, UMG’s Chairman and CEO, used similar terminology in an October memo to staff outlining the company’s AI strategy. In it, he characterized low-quality AI content on streaming platforms as “essentially platform pollution” and noted that UMG’s 2023 Artist-Centric principles were designed to combat AI ‘slop’.
By framing elements of the NVIDIA partnership as an ‘antidote’ to such content, UMG is drawing a clear distinction between what it views as responsible, artist-led AI development and the proliferation of AI-generated music on streaming services.
“We’re excited to establish this ground-breaking strategic relationship which unites the world’s leading technology company with the world’s leading music company in a shared mission to harness revolutionary AI technology to dramatically advance the interests of the creative community and the role of music in global culture,” said Sir Lucian Grainge.
Photo: Austin Hargrave
“We eagerly embrace the opportunities that AI presents, and the fact that NVIDIA is choosing to take a leadership position in the tech industry in their commitment to responsible AI principles is critically important.”
Sir Lucian Grainge, UMG
He added: “We eagerly embrace the opportunities that AI presents, and the fact that NVIDIA is choosing to take a leadership position in the tech industry in their commitment to responsible AI principles is critically important.
“We look forward to working closely with NVIDIA to direct AI’s unprecedented transformational potential towards the service of artists and their fans as we work together to set new standards for innovation within the industry, while protecting and respecting copyright and human creativity.”
“We’ll do it the right way: responsibly, with safeguards that protect artists’ work, ensure attribution, and respect copyright.”
Richard Kerris, NVIDIA
Richard Kerris, NVIDIA VP/GM of Media, added: “We’re entering an era where a music catalog can be explored like an intelligent universe, conversational, contextual, and genuinely interactive.
“By extending NVIDIA’s Music Flamingo with UMG’s unmatched catalog and creative ecosystem, we’re going to change how fans discover, understand, and engage with music on a global scale.”
Kerris added: “And we’ll do it the right way: responsibly, with safeguards that protect artists’ work, ensure attribution, and respect copyright.”
According to the press release, the partnership spans three main areas:
1. ‘Revolutionizing Music Discovery’
The companies say they will be “extending” the NVIDIA Music Flamingo model to “transform how fans discover music.”
Music Flamingo is an AI model developed by NVIDIA that can analyze and understand music. Published by NVIDIA researchers in November 2025, it can process full-length songs up to 15 minutes long, identifying everything from chord progressions and instruments to lyrics and cultural context.
The system was trained on approximately 2 million full songs spanning more than 100 genres and cultural contexts, with detailed annotations describing musical elements.
NVIDIA claims Music Flamingo can outperform competing models in tasks like music captioning, instrument recognition, and lyric transcription across multiple languages. In one example, the model achieved a 12.9% word error rate for Chinese lyric transcription, compared to 53.7% for GPT-4o.
The press release describes Music Flamingo as setting “a new standard in music intelligence by moving beyond surface-level recognition to deliver rich, human-like understanding of songs.”
According to the announcement, “By interpreting the deeper layers of each track, Music Flamingo enables listeners to explore music in ways that go far beyond traditional tags or genres, making discovery more personal and meaningful.”
2. ‘Enhancing Fan Engagement’
The press release stated these technologies will “help unlock interactive experiences that allow artists to connect with audiences beyond conventional playlists or search.”
It added that, “For fans, it powers richer discovery experiences, surfacing songs not just by genre or tempo, but by emotional narrative and cultural resonance, helping established artists reach fans in deeper, more interactive ways, while providing emerging artists with greater opportunities to be discovered by music lovers who are the most likely to become dedicated fans.”
3. ‘Empowering Artists with Creation Tools’
According to the announcement, “to ensure AI-driven music creation tools genuinely empower artists”, NVIDIA and UMG will establish a dedicated artist incubator.
The incubator will bring together “artists, songwriters, and producers to co-design and test new AI-powered tools, integrating them into real-world creative workflows.”
The press release emphasizes that “By prioritizing hands-on artist involvement, the incubator develops solutions that enhance originality and authenticity, serving as a direct antidote to generic, ‘AI slop’ outputs, and placing artists at the center of responsible AI innovation.”
UMG’s studio operations, including Abbey Road Studios in London and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, will serve as what the companies call “creative laboratories” for this development process.
The NVIDIA partnership arrives as UMG accelerates its positioning in the music-related AI landscape.
In Grainge’s memo to staff outlining the company’s AI strategy, he stated that UMG was “very actively engaged with nearly a dozen different companies on significant new products and service plans.”
Grainge drew a firm line on certain AI applications, writing: “We will NOT license any model that uses an artist’s voice or generates new songs which incorporate an artist’s existing songs without their consent.”
That positioning has been followed by rapid-fire partnership announcements in recent months. In late October, UMG announced a strategic alliance with Stability AI to develop “next-generation professional music creation tools.”
Most notably, that same month, UMG settled its copyright infringement lawsuit against AI music platform Udio, with the companies agreeing to collaborate on a new licensed AI music platform slated to launch in 2026.
UMG has yet to sign a deal with/settle with AI music generator Suno, however. (UMG rival WMG signed a deal and settled its copyright lawsuit with Suno in November).
Meanwhile, at the end of 2025, UMG also inked deals with AI music platform KLAY and AI-powered music creation platform Splice to develop AI-powered music tools, in November and December, respectively.
Throughout today’s announcement, both companies, UMG and NVIDIA, emphasized responsible AI development and artist compensation.
UMG noted that its Music & Advanced Machine Learning Lab (MAML) previously trained its models using NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure. The new collaboration will employ both companies’ research capabilities, with NVIDIA working directly with UMG and its artists to obtain feedback on product development.
The companies stated they will “pursue new approaches to leverage AI in order to protect artists’ work and ensure proper attribution of music-based content,” though specific technical details on these protection mechanisms were not disclosed in the announcement.
In addition to using NVIDIA AI infrastructure for music discovery and engagement tools, UMG will deploy NVIDIA’s technology in developing “responsibly trained AI-driven business and creative processes.”
NVIDIA’s participation in the music sector extends beyond UMG.
In September, the chip maker secured a strategic investment in AI audio startup ElevenLabs, which launched its Eleven Music platform in August to compete with Suno and Udio.
Eleven Music has already inked licensing agreements with prominent rightsholders, including Merlin and a potentially precedent-setting deal with publisher Kobalt.
Russia has deployed navy assets to escort an oil tanker also being pursued by US forces across the Atlantic, CBS News, BBC’s media partner in the US, reported.
The ship, which currently isn’t carrying anything, historically has transported Venezuelan crude oil and was thought to be between Scotland and Iceland on Tuesday.
The US Coast Guard tried to board the Bella 1 last month in the Caribbean when it was believed to be heading towards Venezuela. It had a warrant to seize the ship, which was accused of breaking US sanctions and shipping Iranian oil.
It then dramatically changed course – as well as its name to Marinera – reportedly reflagging from a Guyanese to a Russian vessel.
Its approach to Europe has coincided with the arrival of around 10 US military transport aircraft as well as helicopters.
Russia says it is “monitoring with concern” the situation around the ship.
Two US officials told CBS News earlier on Tuesday that American forces were planning to board the ship, and that Washington preferred to seize it rather than sink it.
On Tuesday, the US military’s Southern Command posted on social media that it “remains ready to support our US government agency partners in standing against sanctioned vessels and actors transiting through this region.
“Our sea services are vigilant, agile, and postured to track vessels of interest. When the call comes, we will be there.”
The Marinera was believed to be between Scotland and Iceland overnight Tuesday, with the distance and weather making boarding difficult.
Before any US military operation was launched from the UK, Washington would be expected to inform its ally.
For now, the UK Ministry of Defence says it will not comment on other nations’ military activities.
AIS (automatic identification system) tracking data for the tanker, which can be spoofed or faked, suggests it was in the North Atlantic approximately 2,000km (1,200 miles) west of continental Europe on Tuesday.
Under international law, vessels flying a country’s flag are under the protection of that nation but Dimitris Ampatzidis, senior risk and compliance analyst at maritime intelligence firm Kpler, told BBC Verify changing the ship’s name and flag might not change much.
“US action is driven by the vessel’s underlying identity [IMO number], ownership/control networks, and sanctions history, not by its painted markings or flag claim,” he said.
Ampatzidis added that changing to the Russian registry might cause “diplomatic friction” but would not stop any US enforcement action.
“At present, our vessel is sailing in the international waters of the North Atlantic under the state flag of the Russian Federation and in full compliance with the norms of international maritime law,” Russia’s foreign ministry said.
“For reasons unclear to us, the Russian ship is being given increased and clearly disproportionate attention by the US and Nato military, despite its peaceful status,” it said.
“We expect that Western countries, which declare their commitment to freedom of navigation on the high seas, will begin adhering to this principle themselves.”
The potential stand-off over the oil tanker comes days after the US shocked the world with the Maduro seizure from the capital Caracas. It bombarded targets in the city during the operation to extricate him and his wife on suspicion of weapon and drug offences.
A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser
extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your
connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.
new video loaded: Wintry Conditions Cause Hundreds of Flight Cancellations in Amsterdam
One of Europe’s major travel hubs canceled hundreds of flights this week after days of accumulated ice and snow. More winter weather is expected across Northern Europe through Wednesday.
Fitter and Faster Swim Camps is the proud sponsor of SwimSwam’s College Recruiting Channel and all commitment news. For many, swimming in college is a lifelong dream that is pursued with dedication and determination. Fitter and Faster is proud to honor these athletes and those who supported them on their journey.
Iowa Flyers Swim Club’s Parker Macho has committed to the University of Cincinnati for the fall of 2026.
I am excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my swimming and academic careers at The University of Cincinnati! I want to express my deepest gratitude to my family for their unwavering support and encouragement throughout my journey. A huge thank you to my club and high school coaches for pushing me to reach new heights, always believing in my potential, and helping me grow both as an athlete and as a person. I also want to thank the coaches at Cincinnati for this incredible opportunity and for welcoming me into the Bearcat Family! Go Bearcats!🖤❤️
Macho hails from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and represents Linn-Mar Community High School. As a junior, Macho won a pair of individual state championships titles in both the 100 fly (47.97) and 200 IM (1:48.46). Macho also led off a pair of 3rd place relays for Linn-Mar; he notched best times in the 50 free of 21.04, leading off the 200 free relay, and a best 100 free in 45.12, leading off the 400 free relay.
He recently competed at the Speedo Winter Junior Championships in Austin, where he notched his fastest ever 100 fly in prelims, clocking 47.82. He later finished 21st in finals, touching in 48.13. He also competed in the 200 fly finals, finishing 18th in 1:47.03.
Macho also holds a notable best in the 200 fly in 1:46.41 from the IFLY A3 Midwest Challenge in early November. At that same meet, he set best times in the 100 breaststroke (55.25), 200 breast (2:03.26), 200 back (1:49.32), and 300 IM (4:05.09).
Best Times SCY:
50 Free: 21.04
100 Free: 45.12
100 Fly: 47.82
200 Fly: 1:46.41
100 Breast: 55.25
200 Breast: 2:03.26
200 IM: 1:48.46
400 IM: 4:05.09
100 Back: 50.55
200 Back: 1:49.32
The Cincinnati men finished 6th at the 2025 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships last season.
Based on Macho’s best times, he would have finished 11th in the 200 fly, 21st in the 100 fly, and 23rd in the 100 breast at those championships.
Macho has a very versatile skill set, one that lets him really play around with his event lineup to fit whatever Cincinnati needs from him.
His times are already competitive within the Big 12, and there will be plenty of opportunities for him to get even faster before he makes his debut for the Bearcats, including his senior Iowa State Championships.
Comparing Macho’s times to the current Cincinnati roster, he would currently sit as the fastest 200 flyer on the team, over half a second faster than Michael Sachau’s top time this season of 1:46.99. The same can be said for the 100 fly; Macho would be the only sub-47-second performer on the roster. The Bearcats do boast five sub-49-second 100 flyers.
The butterfly/breaststroke skill set is intriguing. If Macho decides to pursue it further or take another avenue where his secondary focus is more on IM, he could find success collegiately in either scenario.
Macho joins Owen Durham, Hayden Hall, and Brady Julian in the Bearcats’ 2025 recruiting class.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
About the Fitter and Faster Swim Tour
Fitter & Faster Swim Camps feature the most innovative teaching platforms for competitive swimmers of all levels. Camps are produced year-round throughout the USA and Canada. All camps are led by elite swimmers and coaches. Visit fitterandfaster.com to find or request a swim camp near you.
The attack on Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend have sent shockwaves across Latin America, where many countries fear a return to a period of overt United States interventionism.
Those fears are particularly prominent in Mexico, the US’s neighbour and longtime ally.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
The country was one of several — along with Cuba and Colombia — that US President Donald Trump singled out in remarks after Saturday’s attack on Venezuela, which killed dozens of people and was widely condemned as a violation of international law.
Trump suggested that the US could carry out military strikes on Mexican territory in the name of combating drug traffickers.
“Something’s going to have to be done with Mexico,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Saturday morning, after the Venezuela strikes.
“She [President Claudia Sheinbaum] is very frightened of the cartels,” he added. “They’re running Mexico.”
‘We are free and sovereign’
Sheinbaum has responded to Trump’s threats with a firm insistence on Mexican sovereignty.
“We categorically reject intervention in the internal matters of other countries,” Sheinbaum said in comments to the media on Monday.
“It is necessary to reaffirm that, in Mexico, the people rule and that we are a free and sovereign country,” she added. “Cooperation, yes; subordination and intervention, no.”
Even in good times, Mexican leaders have walked a line between seeking productive relations with their powerful northern neighbour and defending their interests from possible US encroachment.
That balancing act has become more difficult as the Trump administration employs rhetoric and policies that have drawn parallels to earlier eras of imperial intervention.
“Historically, there’s a record of US intervention that is part of the story of Mexican nationalism,” Pablo Piccato, a professor of Mexican history at Columbia University, told Al Jazeera.
Many of those instances loom large in the country’s national memory. The US launched a war against Mexico in 1846 that saw US troops occupy Mexico City and annex enormous swaths of territory, including modern-day California, Nevada, and New Mexico.
Later, during the Mexican Revolution, from 1910 to 1920, US Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson worked with conservative forces in Mexico to overthrow the country’s pro-reform president.
US forces also bombed the port city of Veracruz in 1914 and sent forces into northern Mexico to hunt down revolutionary leader Pancho Villa.
“These are seen as important moments in Mexican history,” said Piccato.
“There is a quote attributed to Mexican President Porfirio Diaz, ‘Poor Mexico. So far from God, so close to the United States.’”
In recent statements, Trump has linked the US’s history in the region to his present-day agenda. While announcing Saturday’s strike, he cited the Monroe Doctrine, a 19th-century policy that the US has used to assert primacy over the Western Hemisphere.
“The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. They now call it the ‘Donroe Doctrine’,” Trump said.
On Monday, the US State Department also shared an image of Trump on social media with the caption: “This is OUR hemisphere.”
‘Balancing on a thin wire’
Sheinbaum’s insistence on Mexican sovereignty has not prevented her from offering concessions to Trump on key priorities, such as migration, security and commerce.
When faced with Trump’s threats of 25 percent tariffs last February, Sheinbaum agreed to deploy 10,000 Mexican National Guard troops to her country’s border with the US, to help limit irregular immigration and drug-trafficking.
Mexico has also maintained close security ties with the US and cooperated in its operations against criminal groups, including through the extradition of some drug traffickers.
In February, for instance, Sheinbaum’s government extradited 29 criminal suspects that the US accused of drug trafficking and other charges. In August, it sent another 26 suspects to the US, earning a statement of gratitude from the Trump administration.
Washington has historically pressured Mexico to take a hardline stance towards combating drugs, leading to policies that some Mexicans blame for increasing violence and insecurity in their country.
Still, while Sheinbaum has received praise for managing relations with Trump, she has consistently said that unilateral US military action on Mexican territory would be a red line.
Experts say Sheinbaum’s willingness to cooperate should be an incentive for the US government not to launch attacks on Mexican soil.
“Sheinbaum has gone out of her way to cooperate with the US,” said Stephanie Brewer, the director of the Mexico programme at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a US-based research group. “There would be no rational reason to break this bilateral relationship by crossing the one red line Mexico has set out.”
But the strikes on Venezuela have also underscored the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive posture towards Latin America.
“I don’t think US strikes on Mexican territory are any more or less likely than they were before the attacks in Venezuela,” said Brewer. “But they do make it abundantly clear that the Trump administration’s threats need to be taken seriously, and that the US is willing to violate international law in its use of military force.”
“Sheinbaum is doing a balancing act on an increasingly thin wire,” she added.
