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‘Oh my god’: Watch the emotional moment Venezuela’s ‘Iron Lady’ María Corina Machado discovers she won the Nobel Peace Prize

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A pre-dawn phone call from the Norwegian Nobel Institute to Venezuela on Friday morning captured a genuine moment of surprise and emotion. Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, called Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado—his hands and voice both shaking—to deliver the news.

“Oh my god,” she said repeatedly.​

The Norwegian Nobel Institute released the audio recording of the call on YouTube, X, and other social media just minutes before the official announcement in Oslo. Harpviken, speaking from Oslo, told Machado: “I’m calling to inform you that in a few minutes it shall be announced here at the Nobel Institute that you will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025.” After her repeated exclamations of shock, he quoted directly from the official announcement, explaining she was receiving the prize “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

“I have no words,” Machado said during the phone call. “I thank you so much. But I hope you understand this is a movement. This is an achievement of a whole society. I am just one person. I certainly do not deserve this.”

Machado said she felt “honored, humbled, and very grateful on behalf of the Venezuelan people,” but added, “we’re not there yet. We’re working very hard to achieve it, but I’m sure that we will prevail, and this is certainly the biggest recognition to our people that certainly deserve it.”

María Corina Machado: A Leader in hiding

A 58-year-old industrial engineer, Machado—who got the nickname of Venezuela’s “Iron Lady” due to her adoration of, and similarities to, former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher—has spent much of the past year living in hiding within Venezuela, facing death threats and an arrest warrant from President Nicolás Maduro’s government. The Norwegian Nobel Committee described her as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times” and praised her as a “key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided.”

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, emphasized the significance of her decision to remain in Venezuela despite the personal risk.

“Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions,” he said during Friday’s announcement.

Machado’s recognition comes as Venezuela has undergone what the Nobel Committee called a transformation “from a relatively democratic and prosperous country to a brutal, authoritarian state that is now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis.” Most Venezuelans now live in deep poverty despite the country’s vast oil reserves, with nearly 8 million people having fled the country.

The crisis intensified following Venezuela’s disputed July 2024 presidential election. Machado was barred from running despite winning the opposition primary, leading her to support Edmundo González Urrutia as the opposition candidate. While the government-controlled National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote, the opposition presented evidence from 80% of polling stations showing González had won decisively.

González fled to Spain in September 2024 after an arrest warrant was issued, but Machado chose to remain in Venezuela. She made a brief public appearance during opposition protests in January, but has otherwise remained concealed.

A life of opposition

Born in Caracas on Oct. 7, 1967, Machado comes from an upper-class family and earned degrees in industrial engineering and finance before entering politics in 2002 as cofounder of Súmate, a vote-monitoring organization. She served in the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2011 to 2014, winning a record number of votes, before being expelled by the regime.

Machado leads the Vente Venezuela opposition party and helped found the Soy Venezuela alliance in 2017, uniting pro-democracy forces across political divides. She established the Atenea Foundation in 1992 to help street children in Caracas and was a Yale World Fellow, and both Machado and González were awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize in December 2024.

The White House criticized the Nobel Committee’s decision on Friday, with spokesman Steven Cheung posting on X: “President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives… The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.” Trump had repeatedly claimed he deserved the award for his role in resolving conflicts, including the recent Gaza ceasefire negotiations.

In her post-award interview with the Nobel Institute, Machado emphasized the collective nature of Venezuela’s democratic struggle.

“I accept this as a recognition to our people, to the millions of Venezuelans that are anonymous and are risking everything they have for freedom, justice and peace,” she said.

Whether Machado will be able to attend the December ceremony in Oslo remains uncertain due to security concerns. When asked about her chances of attending, she expressed optimism: “I trust the Venezuelan people and I trust our allies. I definitely believe we are in the final stage of a very long, painful struggle for freedom. Certainly it would be the highest honor to represent my country and meet you personally.”

The prize carries a monetary award of 11 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.15 million). Machado becomes only the 20th woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize since its inception in 1901 and the first Venezuelan recipient. For now, she remains in hiding in Venezuela, continuing her fight for democracy in what the Nobel Committee describes as an increasingly authoritarian world.

​You can watch Machado learn the news of her award in the Nobel Prize’s video below.

For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.



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Pluck eyebrows. Avoid surveillance cameras: Luigi Mangione’s to-do list as he tried to avoid arrest revealed in court

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Pluck eyebrows. Buy less conspicuous shoes. Take a bus or a train west toward Cincinnati and St. Louis. Move around late at night. Stay away from surveillance cameras.

A to-do list and travel plans found during Luigi Mangione’s arrest and revealed in court this week shed new light on the steps he may have taken — or planned to take — to avoid capture after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killing last year.

“Keep momentum, FBI slower overnight,” said one note. “Change hat, shoes, pluck eyebrows,” said another.

The notes, including a hand-drawn map and tactics for surviving on the lam, were shown on Monday at a pretrial hearing as Mangione’s bid to prevent prosecutors from using evidence seized during his Dec. 9, 2024, arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Excerpts of body-worn camera footage of the arrest, previously unseen by the press or the public, were released on Tuesday.

Police said they discovered the notes in Mangione’s backpack, along with a 9 mm handgun that prosecutors said matches the one used to kill Thompson five days earlier; a loaded gun magazine and silencer; and a notebook in similar handwriting which he purportedly described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive.

Mangione’s lawyers haven’t disputed the authenticity of the notes or the provenance of the gun, pocket knife, fake ID, driver’s license, passport, credit cards, AirPods, protein bar, travel toothpaste, flash drives and other items seized from him and his backpack.

But they argue that anything found in the bag should be barred because police didn’t have a search warrant and lacked the grounds to justify a warrantless search. Prosecutors contend the search was legal — officers said they were checking for a bomb — and that police eventually obtained a warrant.

The notes, along with other evidence highlighted at the pretrial hearing, underscore that Mangione’s stop in Altoona, a city of about 44,000 people about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan, was only meant to be temporary.

One note said to check for “red eyes” from Pittsburgh to Columbus, Ohio or part way to Cincinnati (“get off early,” it reads). The map drawn below shows lines linking those cities, as well as other possible destinations, including Detroit, Indianapolis and St. Louis.

Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for his company’s investor conference on Dec. 4, 2024. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind and then fleeing the area. Over the next hours and days, police released photos of a suspect — first showing him in a mask and hooded coat and then his face and thick eyebrows.

Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. The pretrial hearing, which resumes for a sixth day on Thursday, applies only to the state case. His lawyers are making a similar push to exclude the evidence from his federal case, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Among the notes revealed this week was one with a heading “12/5” and a starred entry that said: “buy black shoes (white stripes too distinctive).”

Another, also written in to-do list style, suggested spending more than three hours away from surveillance cameras and using different modes of transportation to “Break CAM continuity” and avoid tracking. Below that, it said: “check reports for current situation,” a possible reference to news reports about the search for Thompson’s killer.

According to prosecutors, Mangione fled to Newark, New Jersey, immediately after the shooting and took a train to Philadelphia. Among the evidence shown at the pretrial hearing was a Philadelphia transit pass purchased at 1:06 p.m. — a little more than six hours after the shooting — and a ticket for a Greyhound bus, booked under the name Sam Dawson, leaving Philadelphia at 6:30 p.m. and arriving in Pittsburgh at 11:55 p.m.

A note with the heading “12/8” lists a number of tasks, including an apparent trip to Best Buy to purchase a digital camera and accessories, “hot meal + water bottles,” and “trash bag(s).” Under “12/9,” the day of Mangione’s arrest, the note lists tasks including “Sheetz,” an Altoona-based convenience store chain, “masks” and “AAA bats.” Under “Future TO DO,” it listed “intel checkin” and “survival kit.”

Mangione had a Sheetz hoagie in his backpack when he was arrested, along with a loaf of Italian bread from a local deli, according to police officers testifying Monday and Tuesday. It had been raining, and the bag and items inside it were wet, the officers said. They were heard on body-worn camera footage played in court theorizing that Mangione had gotten soaked walking from the city’s bus station.

Police responded to the McDonald’s after a manager called 911 to relay concerns from customers who thought that Mangione, eating breakfast in a back corner, resembled the man wanted for killing Thompson. On the call, played in court, the manager could be heard saying that because Mangione was wearing a medical mask, she could only see his eyebrows and that she searched online for a photo of the suspect for comparison.

Altoona Police Officer Stephen Fox testified on Tuesday that Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, expressed concern for the 911 caller’s wellbeing. Fox said Mangione asked if police had planned on releasing her name, which they didn’t. The officer recalled him saying: “It would be bad for her” and “there would be a lot of people that would be upset.”

At another point, Fox said, a shackled Mangione stumbled while trying to keep up with the brisk-moving officer. Fox said he apologized and said, “I forgot you were shackled.”

He said Mangione responded: “It’s OK, I’m going to have to get used to it.”



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MacKenzie Scott’s $7 billion year: Philanthropist reveals inspiration for monumental giving

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It’s official—we finally have a total figure for MacKenzie Scott’s donations this year: an eye-popping $7.2 billion. That brings the billionaire philanthropist’s total gifts since 2020 to $26 billion and more than 2,700 gifts. This squarely places Scott among the most generous philanthropists, alongside fellow billionaires Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett—all of whom announced major giving plans this year.

“This dollar total will likely be reported in the news, but any dollar amount is a vanishingly tiny fraction of the personal expressions of care being shared into communities this year,” Scott wrote in an essay published Tuesday. “To use just one year in the United States as an example, the total donated to US charities of all kinds in 2020 was $471 billion, nearly a third of it in increments of less than $5,000.”

This year, the philanthropist, novelist, and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made donations to more than 180 organizations, many of which were focused on DEI, education, disaster recovery, and humanitarian causes.

Her largest disclosed donations this year, according to her organization Yield Giving, include:

  • Blackfeet Community College: $80 million
  • Projeto Saúde e Alegria: $80 million
  • Filantropía Puerto Rico: $80 million
  • Thurgood Marshall College Fund: $70 million
  • HSF: $70 million
  • UNCF (United Negro College Fund): $70 million
  • Prairie View A&M University: $63 million
  • North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University: $63 million
  • California State University, Northridge: $63 million
  • Morgan State University; $63 million
  • Howard University: $63 million

Scott’s giving style

Many of these gifts were the largest single donations ever received by the respective organizations. And many have gone to organizations working on issues that have experienced major cuts from the Trump administration—namely a $60 million donation to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy this fall. The gift came after the Trump administration’s cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—an organization Americans rely on for help during and after hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, and floods.

“All sectors of society—public, private, and social—share responsibility for helping communities thrive after a disaster,” CDP president and CEO Patricia McIlreavy told Fortune. “Philanthropy plays a critical role in providing communities with resources to rebuild stronger, but it cannot—and should not—replace government and its essential responsibilities.”

But what makes Scott’s philanthropic efforts so impactful is her giving style. Scott makes unrestricted gifts, meaning the organizations can use the donations however they choose to do so.

“She practices trust-based philanthropy,” Anne Marie Dougherty, CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, told Fortune.

The veterans-focused Bob Woodruff Foundation has received two gifts from Scott: a $15 million gift in 2022, and a subsequent $20 million donation this fall. The $15 million gift was the largest in history at the time for the organization, which is almost two decades old now—founded the same year military reporter Bob Woodruff was severely injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq. It was cofounded by Woodruff and his family to provide support for injured service members, veterans, and their families.

Noni Ramos, CEO of Housing Trust Silicon Valley, also previously toldFortune that Scott’s donations are “unlike traditional funding processes,” which typically involve lengthy applications, specific restrictions, and reporting requirements. 

“Her style empowers organizations like ours to determine how best to direct funds quickly and innovatively to address pressing issues,” Ramos said. Her organization received a $30 million donation from Scott in 2024.

In fact, some say Scott’s philanthropic style is so transformative it could change giving for years to come. 

“At a moment when philanthropy is deciding its role in shaping our future, [her gifts point] to a path forward in the second half of this defining decade,” Melanie Allen, co-director of Hive Fund, said in a statement. The climate- and gender-justice-focused Hive Fund received part of a $140 million gift to climate-focused organizations, also including Equity Fund and The Solutions project. 

“As federal climate commitments are rolled back and public funding becomes increasingly uncertain, frontline climate leaders are met with growing challenges but with fewer resources to enact innovative, locally responsive solutions,” Gloria Walton, CEO of The Solutions Project, added. “I hope this is just the beginning of an urgently-needed infusion of investment.”

Why Scott donates so much money

Although Scott had a career writing novels before her marriage to Bezos, the vast majority of her wealth came as the result of her 2019 divorce from the world’s fifth-richest man. During their marriage, Scott played a key role in Amazon’s founding and early operations, including helping with business plans and contracts. She received roughly a 4% stake in Amazon upon their divorce—a cut equivalent to roughly 139 million shares at the time. 

She’s since reduced her Amazon stake by about 42% by selling or donating about 58 million shares. Still, Scott is worth about $40 billion today despite having donated more than $27 billion to charitable organizations through her foundation Yield Giving, which she founded in 2022.

Her proclivity for giving began in college when she witnessed two major acts of generosity: Her dentist offered her free dental work when he saw her securing a broken tooth with denture glue, and her college roommate who loaned her $1,000 when she saw her crying about nearly having to drop out during her sophomore year.

“It is these ripple effects that make imagining the power of any of our own acts of kindness impossible,” Scott wrote in the Dec. 9 essay. “The potential of peaceful, non-transactional contribution has long been underestimated, often on the basis that it is not financially self-sustaining, or that some of its benefits are hard to track. But what if these imagined liabilities are actually assets?”

What’s more, Scott also says giving just feels good.

“Generosity and kindness engage the same pleasure centers in the brain as sex, food, and receiving gifts, and they improve our health and long-term happiness as well,” she said.



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International students skipped campus this fall — and local economies lost $1 billion because of it

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This school year, American colleges and universities saw a 17% decline in new international student enrollment. If you set aside the year of the pandemic, that’s the steepest decrease in over a decade. This reduction is making waves far beyond the halls of higher-ed. Based on my recent analysis, it represents a nearly $1 billion hit to the U.S. GDP – a hit that’s particularly concentrated in the Main Street sectors that form the backbone of many communities.

The employers taking the largest hit are in the restaurant industry (700 jobs), retail (350 jobs), and residential and commercial property rental (345 jobs), and auto repair (100 jobs). This is where the science of input-output analysis meets the art of economic impact analysis. We don’t know exactly which specific firms will be impacted. But from my experiences on campus across the country, these are exactly the types of main street college town businesses that exist near campus and serve students of all types. 

My analysis quantified the impact of new international students’ non-tuition spending. The results? Hosting 21,587 fewer new international students (277,118 this year as opposed to last year’s 298,705) means 7,300 fewer jobs and $500 million in lost labor income. 

Further analysis reveals which occupations are most heavily impacted. Of the 7,300 jobs that are affected, 390 are retail sales worker jobs, 370 are food and beverage server jobs, 290 are home health aide jobs, 280 are health care diagnostics jobs, and 260 are material moving worker jobs. This only takes into account non-tuition spending. The effects of lost revenue will hit higher education institutions as well. 

What are the structural reasons that the economic footprint of new international students is so wide-ranging? As a whole, international students are high-spend consumers, shelling out significant sums on housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and retail. The dollars spent by international students cycle through local economies. For example, a landlord uses the student’s rent money to buy pizza, and the pizza shop owner uses the money the landlord spent on dinner to buy a new shipment of cardboard pizza boxes – and so on.

Collectively, this year’s 277,118 new international students’ spending supports 93,000 jobs and $12.6B in GDP. The would-be international students who faced visa application issues or got caught up in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown will spend their money elsewhere, whether it’s in their home countries or in other study-abroad destinations. 

This demand shock hitting local economies and service jobs may seem quiet now, but as the school year goes on, and the spending shortage ripples through local economies, the implications are grim for local consumer spending, small business revenues, commercial real estate around campuses, and even tax collections. College towns and metro areas with large university footprints will see the strongest effects, especially in states with historically heavy international enrollment, like California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. 

Business leaders and government officials need to think about the myriad ripple effects of changes to international enrollment statistics in higher education. The broader linkages to both the local and national economy are underappreciated. Needless to say, fewer international students today can mean fewer skilled workers in sectors like tech, healthcare, and engineering tomorrow. What’s just as important, and maybe less apparent, is the immediate threat to jobs and GDP upstream of enrollment that a decline in new international students represents. 

New rules that make it harder for students to get visas and proposed caps on international students at some institutions present a threat to the U.S. economy at large and to small businesses in our communities – not just institutions of higher learning. We cannot ignore the  economic tradeoffs of national policy changes at the local level. Beyond the immediate economic impacts, my experience as a professor at campuses large and small have informed my view that international students enrich their communities in ways other than just the number of dollars they spend at local businesses. The perspectives they bring on both a personal and intellectual level are invaluable. They have spurred my thinking on topics from economics and development to the personal and profound. We are richer for their presence. 

International students are part of student spending in communities across the country and the number of new international students limits Americans’ ability to work and thrive, too. It is imperative that we not ignore or underestimate how this demand shock prompts a material headwind to growth in key regions.    

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.



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