US President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared a national emergency over threats against American technology. The move, done via executive order, authorised the Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in consultation with other top officials, is aimed at banning all transactions that involve information or communications technology that “poses an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.” The executive order gives now the Commerce Department 150 days to write regulations implementing it.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said Saturday he has instructed his representative in the US to open "direct communication" with the US military. According to the AP, Guido asked Carlos Vecchio, who the US recognises as Venezuela’s ambassador, for the communication on possible military “coordination.”

The Pentagon approved the deployment of a Patriot missile defence battery and a Navy ship to the Middle East amid increasing tensions between the United States and Iran. The USS Arlington and a Patriot battery on Saturday joined the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a US Air Force bomber task force, which were deployed earlier in the week to the region in response to "heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations."

Chelsea Manning was released yesterday from the Virginia jail where she spent 62 days for refusing to testify about her past ties to WikiLeaks before a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia. Attorneys for Manning, however said the release came on a technicality -  the grand jury’s term expired and she has already been served another subpoena. It demands she appear before a different grand jury on 16 May. Manning has vowed not to answer any questions and, therefore, could be returned to custody as early as next week.

Rumours for a coup attempt and expectations for a military uprising to oust President Nicola Maduro were involved in the confused picture of Venezuela's crisis this week. Opposition leader Juan Guaido urged demonstrators to fill the streets for the final phase of so-called Operation Freedom.

Over two decades, Deutsche Bank lent current US President Donald J. Trump billions of dollars, even as his tarnished financial record put him off limits for most of Wall Street. “You are a great friend,” Trump wrote to his Deutsche Bank contact in 1998 in response. “We have a great relationship,” he said in 2013. “They are totally happy with me,” he declared three years later.

The European Union strongly supports the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which is a key multilateral instrument that aims to strengthen responsibility and transparency in the international arms trade and prevent and eradicate illicit trade, thus contributing to international efforts to ensure peace, security and stability. This reads a statement by the EC spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the intention by the US, announced on 26 April, to withdraw its signature from the ATT.

In a move intended to further ramp up pressure on Iran by strangling the revenue it gets from oil exports, The US State Department is poised to tell five nations, including allies Japan, South Korea and Turkey, that they will no longer be exempt from US sanctions if they continue to import oil from the Islamic country. The plans to not renew sanctions waivers for the five countries when they expire on 2 May are expected to be announced today by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The other countries no longer exempt would be China and India.

A panel of judges at the International Criminal Court has rejected a request to proceed with investigating possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, including those allegedly involving US armed forces and the CIA. This comes in response to a request from ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in 2017, a prospect that US officials have strongly criticised.

Venezuelan lawmakers loyal to President Nicolas Maduro stripped opposition leader Juan Guaido of immunity Tuesday - and authorised the high court to criminally prosecute him for proclaiming himself the crisis-hit country's ruler.