Trump then endorsed the newly compliant Delcy Rodriguez to run Venezuela, took control of the country's oil business, and crucially, set up an oil blockade of Cuba.
In doing so, he indicated that Cuba was now on his list of countries he intends to "deal with".
Iran, already on that list, has recently been at the centre of the president's attention, but all the indicators are that Cuba is most certainly "next".
We know this because Trump has said so.
In reality, the oil blockade is already bringing Cuba to its knees.
Venezuela provided cheap fuel to Cuba, and it was augmented by supplies from Mexico.
These vital lifelines have both stopped on Trump's orders, though Mexico maintains it was a "sovereign decision".
A single Russian oil tanker has reached Cuba this year, but that is for now, all the oil it has received.
Cuba has failed to diversify its power supplies - there's little solar power, little wind power, and very little gas - making it particularly reliant on oil to the point that now it can barely function.
I've recently been inside Cuba, and the effects of the blockade are devastating and immediately obvious.
This oil blockade is an economic war every bit as destructive as bombs and bullets.
There are continuous power blackouts across the country, and now also in the capital Havana, which was traditionally spared this type of treatment.
Government food stores and bakeries selling heavily subsidised household essentials are now regularly closed or virtually empty.
Many Cubans relied on these stores to buy food to survive - and not having this vital supply means there is a growing crisis, with people going hungry.
Petrol stations are largely closed and empty, pharmacies are bare, and people are queuing to get money from cash machines that are often drained and always come with a strict withdrawal limit.
Read more:
Cuba's president has a message for Trump
Cuba leaders' days 'are numbered', warns senator
The tourism industry that once brought billions of dollars of hard currency to Cuba has almost come to a standstill.
Trump's threats, the blackouts, and a lack of aviation fuel have scared tourists away, particularly in Havana.
The traditional safety nets in Cuba, like its healthcare system, have broken. Hospitals are running on generators with very little supplies.
Charities are doing their best to pick up the slack with food handouts for the elderly and the homeless - they say they're now also handing out food to children and trying to help with education.
But they're struggling to find the resources, struggling to keep up with the demand and the need.
Rubbish is piled up on the streets all over the capital, and that's mainly because there's no fuel for the bin trucks to collect it.
I watched as people picked through the rotting food and vegetables in the rubbish, looking for something to eat - sometimes eating it where they stood. In alleyways nearby we filmed as people slept rough.
Countless people I spoke to told me that even though Cuba is a poor country, seeing this type of thing was not common here in the past - this was not how it used to be.
But these types of images have now become a constant visual reminder of how every facet of life in this Caribbean country is being affected by the blockade and Donald Trump's threats.
The once magnificent buildings that marked Havana out as a special place in the region are crumbling, even completely falling apart in places. People still live in these monuments to Cuba's past; they're clinging to a way of life that is disappearing.
A charity director I spoke to, who is also a tour guide mainly for Italian visitors, explained it to me this way: when her clients see Havana's disintegrating buildings, they ask her when the war was that brought this destruction about - there hasn't been a war, she has to explain.
Observers, neutral or otherwise, agree that people can't go on living like this and that Cuba needs help.
So far, Trump and his advisers have shown little regard for the fate of the Cuban population.
His promise that Cuba is next means nothing to the average person, because they don't know what next means, and here many doubt that the president or anyone in the White House knows what next means either, or if there is even a plan for a future in Cuba.
Oisin McGuinness, 21, and Nathan Dunn, 19, both from Watford, and a 16-year-old boy from north London were all charged with arson with intent to endanger life. All three are British nationals.
McGuinness was also charged with dangerous driving. The trio is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
Metropolitan Police said a lit container was thrown at a premises - understood to be the offices of Volant Media, the parent company of Persian news channel Iran International - in Wembley at around 8.30pm on Wednesday.
The container landed in a car park, where the fire went out.
The three suspects fled in a black SUV, with a police armed response unit giving chase after the driver failed to stop.
The SUV later crashed in Ballards Lane, close to the junction with Woodberry Gardens, N12.
McGuinness, Dunn and the 16-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of arson endangering life at the time before being charged on Friday.
Some nearby buildings were evacuated as a precaution but the attempted arson did not cause any injuries or damage.
The attack is not currently linked to recent arson incidents targeting a synagogue in Finchley and ambulances in Golders Green.
Read more from Sky News:
Badenoch urged to go on UK 'apology tour'
On-its-knees Cuba 'is next' on Trump's list
However, the Met said it was aware of claims of responsibility for the attempted arson attacks by the Iran-linked Islamist group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia.
The group, which has claimed other attacks across Europe since the war in Iran began, posted videos on Wednesday on Telegram about the two incidents, according to terror group monitor Site Intelligence.
All above-ground work on the US president's $400m (£296m) pet project must pause after district judge Richard Leon's ruling on Thursday.
But below-ground work can continue on a bunker and other "national security facilities" at the site, where the now-demolished East Wing of the White House once stood.
It means builders are free to proceed with constructing any excavations, bunkers, military installations, and medical facilities below the planned ballroom.
Mr Trump has since taken to social media to express his dismay at the decision of the "Trump hating" judge.
He said Judge Leon "has gone out of his way to undermine National Security, and to make sure that this Great Gift to America gets delayed, or doesn't get built".
Government lawyers argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of possible threats, including drones, ballistic missiles, and biohazards.
Read more from Sky News:
Israel accused of 'violating' ceasefire deal with Lebanon
Trump's oil blockade is bringing Cuba to its knees
But the judge disagreed, writing: "Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated.
"That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!"
The Trump administration said it will take the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued to challenge the project in December, said in a statement that it was pleased with the court's ruling.
If it is completed, Mr Trump's plan to build a 90,000sq ft ballroom for up to 999 people will mark the biggest structural change to the White House in more than 70 years.
The judge's ruling marks the latest development in the legal fight over the project.
Earlier this month Judge Leon barred construction of the ballroom without congressional approval.
But days later the plans were approved by the National Capital Planning Commission, the agency responsible for approving construction on federal property in Washington DC.
Mr Trump says the project is funded by private donations, although public money is paying for the bunker construction and security upgrades.
Speaking on Sky's Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Ruth Davidson said there is "the sense that the Tories haven't done their contrition tour yet", and the party "will not get a hearing until that's been done".
She also said that the party's headquarters have not grasped the "sense of urgency" required to "get ourselves back on the pitch after one term" due to Reform UK splitting the right-wing vote.
The Conservatives were booted out of government in July 2024 after 14 years in power, in an election campaign dominated by Labour's slogan of "change".
After winning the subsequent leadership contest, Ms Badenoch has repeatedly admitted the Tories made "mistakes" in office under previous leaders, and argued the party is now "under new management".
She has undertaken a "policy renewal" programme in a bid to reorient the party's ideological stance, focusing on "common sense" principles and a "sensible" right-wing positioning.
But although her personal approval ratings have risen in recent months to make her the least unpopular party leader, the Tories still languish down at 19%, according to Tuesday's Sky/Times/YouGov poll.
In a bid to fix that, Baroness Davidson argues that, although Ms Badenoch has gone some way towards changing the public perception of her, not enough has been done to fix the party's reputation.
She told Sky's political editor Beth Rigby: "One of the complaints that I've had about Kemi is that it's hard to scold people into liking you.
"And when she started, she was very much in that mode of kind of chastising people into what she wanted them to think. And I have seen a modification of that.
"There's also the sense that the Tories haven't done their contrition tour yet. We got kicked out of office after a really long time as the government after having made many mistakes, and we haven't done the apology tour that needs to be made.
"And I think that for a lot of people, we will not get a hearing until that's been done and it's been done in an authentic way."
Read more from Sky News:
UK military to find £3.5bn savings
Teens silent for fear of being 'cancelled'
Baroness Davidson went on to say that for the first time back in opposition, the Tories have "a real and present danger on our right flank" in Reform UK.
She added: "There is an alternative, a genuine alternative to the Tories as the alternative to Labour. We needed to get ourselves back on the pitch within one term.
"And usually there's not that kind of sense of urgency once you've been kicked out of office after a long time. And there is that sense of urgency now.
"And I think that CCHQ needs to grasp that in a much stronger way."
The former Scottish Tory leader is from a different wing of the party to Ms Badenoch, and is considered more of a centrist than the leader.
Alongside fellow centrist Tories no longer serving in government, she launched Prosper UK in January 2026, which is a political movement designed to appeal to "politically homeless" voters and bring the Conservative Party back to the centre-right.
The group has been touring the country to speak to voters and "bring together people from politics, business and public life who believe the country can do better" - arguing that only the Conservative Party with a "practical, centre-right approach" can provide an alternative to Labour and Reform UK at the next general election.
The 21-year-old musician had been under investigation by a grand jury after the remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez were found in a car registered to him in September.
Los Angeles police said the Houston-born singer - whose legal name is David Anthony Burke - was being held without bail on suspicion of murder.
The decomposed remains of Ms Hernandez were discovered in a Tesla registered to D4vd on 8 September - the day after she would have turned 15 - when police were called to a Hollywood tow yard because of reports of a foul smell coming from the vehicle.
The vehicle had been towed from the Hollywood Hills, where it appeared to have been abandoned.
Inside the car, investigators found a cadaver bag containing a head and torso, and a second bag containing dismembered body parts, according to court documents, although the cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
Ms Hernandez, who was identified after forensic examinations, had been reported missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore - about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles - since 2024.
Court documents show authorities had given her age as 14 when she was killed.
In a statement, D4vd's lawyers vowed to "vigorously defend" his innocence, adding: "Let us be clear - the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death."
Read more from Sky News:
Bank robbers hold 25 hostage - and use sewer to flee
Eyewitness - Trump's oil blockade is bringing Cuba to its knees
D4vd had been on tour when the body was discovered, and a spokesperson for the artist said at the time he was "fully cooperating with the authorities".
The singer, who went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit Romantic Homicide, subsequently cancelled his world tour.




