HONOLULU (AP) — Hurricane Kiko was tracking to the north of the Hawaiian islands, diminishing the threat of strong winds and widespread rain, the National Weather Service said Saturday.
Kiko was about 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) southeast of Hilo on the Big Island Saturday morning and was forecast to approach the state early to middle next week. Maximum sustained winds were 120 mph (195 kph), the weather service said.
At a Category 3 hurricane Saturday afternoon, Kiko was expected to gradually weaken over the next several days.
On Friday, acting Hawaii Gov. Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation declaring a state of emergency to prepare for possible inclement weather from Kiko.
“The threat for any wind is diminishing,” Joseph Clark, a meteorologist with the weather service in Honolulu, said Saturday. “With the storm going north, it tends to actually make the winds lighter than normal over the islands. So if the current track holds up, the winds will be pretty light, and it might end up being hot and muggy without much wind.”
Any rain will be isolated, sparing Hawaii from widespread, heavy rain, he said.
Kiko is bringing swells that are expected to begin reaching the Big Island and Maui by Sunday. The weather service warned of potentially life-threatening rip currents and surf along east-facing shores that's expected to reach 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters), which can cause some beach erosion issues.
Meteorologists were feeling confident about Kiko's path to the north of Hawaii, but Clark said things can change. If it shifts further south again, that would increase the chance for heavy rain, but if it shifts further north, Kiko's threat diminishes further, he said.
This GOES-West GeoColor satellite image taken Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, at 2 p.m. EDT and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Kiko churning over open waters in the Pacific Ocean. (NOAA via AP)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez is set Thursday to deliver her first state of the union speech, addressing an anxious country as she navigates competing pressures from the United States – which toppled her predecessor less than two weeks ago – and a government loyal to former President Nicolás Maduro.
The speech comes one day after Rodríguez said her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro in what she described as “a new political moment” since his ouster by the United States earlier this month.
In her address to the National Assembly, which is controlled by the country's ruling party, Rodríguez is expected to explain her vision for her government, including potential changes to the state-owned oil industry that U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to reinvigorate since Maduro’s seizure.
On Thursday, Trump was set to meet at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. But in endorsing Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, Trump has sidelined Machado.
After acknowledging a Tuesday call with Trump, Rodríguez said on state television that her government would use “every dollar” earned from oil sales to overhaul the nation’s public health care system. Hospitals and other health care facilities across the country have long been crumbling, and patients are asked to provide practically all supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws.
The acting president must walk a tightrope, balancing pressures from both Washington and top Venezuelan officials who hold sway over Venezuela's security forces and strongly oppose the U.S. Her recent public speeches reflect those tensions — vacillating from conciliatory calls for cooperation with the U.S., to defiant rants echoing the anti-imperialist rhetoric of her toppled predecessor.
American authorities have long railed against a government they describe as a “dictatorship,” while Venezuela’s government has built a powerful populist ethos sharply opposed to U.S. meddling in its affairs.
For the foreseeable future, Rodríguez's government has been effectively relieved of having to hold elections. That's because when Venezuela’s high court granted Rodríguez presidential powers on an acting basis, it cited a provision of the constitution that allows the vice president to take over for a renewable period of 90 days.
Trump enlisted Rodríguez to help secure U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil sales despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term. To ensure she does his bidding, Trump threatened Rodríguez earlier this month with a “situation probably worse than Maduro.”
Maduro, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges.
Before Rodríguez’s speech on Thursday, a group of government supporters was allowed into the presidential palace, where they chanted for Maduro, who the government insists remains the country’s president. “Maduro, resist, the people are rising,” they shouted.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez makes a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez, center, smiles flanked by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, right, and National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez after making a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
