After a confusing 24 hours of dueling protests and rival claims of military backing, Venezuela ended up Wednesday morning roughly where it started the day Tuesday: Deeply divided, with President Nicolás Maduro in charge.

Maduro, sitting next to the heads of the armed forces, said in a televised address Tuesday night that his troops had thwarted a putsch by Venezuela's "coup-mongering far right," backed by the "deranged" Trump administration. He said the "serious crimes" of the opposition would "not go unpunished" and denied Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's assertions that he had been on the cusp of fleeing to Cuba, saying, "Señor Pompeo, please."

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó, recognized as interim president by the U.S. and much of Europe and Latin America, said that the "peaceful rebellion" was not over, and he urged supporters to flood the streets again on Wednesday for the "largest march" in Venezuelan history. "We know that Maduro does not have the backing or the respect of the armed forces," Guaidó said in a message posted to social media Tuesday evening. "We have seen that protest yields results."

Guaidó's video message "was a motivational pep talk that felt hollow," and his claim that Maduro lacks military support was belied by Maduro's address, writes BBC South America correspondent Katy Watson. "This is seen by many as another failed attempt by the opposition to take power," though Maduro's "future is not secure either."

"There's no doubt that across the country, and within its governing bureaucracy, there is profound discontent with Maduro and broad support for a transition," Bloomberg News reports. But Tuesday's events were "so bizarre — with Guaidó seemingly lacking the military might to have any chance at all — that it was hard to understand the day's events." Something didn't go right for the opposition, and "while likely not a fatal blow to Guaidó and the three-month-old push to unseat Maduro, it was certainly the biggest setback yet." Peter Weber

President Trump commuted the 40-month sentence of his friend and confidant Roger Stone, he announced Friday evening.

"Mr. Stone would be put at serious risk in prison," the White House said in a statement, calling him a "victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years." Stone was convicted witness tampering and making false statements to Congress, among other charges, after being indicted in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe.

Stone was set to begin his prison term on Tuesday, though his lawyers did request a 60-day delay in starting that sentence, saying he would face medical risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The White House cited that "medical danger" in its statement announcing Trump's motion of clemency.

Trump called Stone "very unfairly treated" when talking to journalists earlier Friday, and was reportedly expected to pardon him soon. Still, Stone told journalist Howard Fineman on Friday he didn't want a pardon because it implies guilt. Kathryn Krawczyk

Amazon employees can apparently download TikTok again.

On Friday, The New York Times broke the news that Amazon sent an email to employees telling them they had to delete TikTok from their cell phones due to "security risks." Staffers were reportedly told they needed to have the app deleted by Friday in order to continue accessing their Amazon email. It was major news that generated headlines across the internet following Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying earlier this week the United States was considering potentially banning the Chinese-owned app.

But just hours later, Amazon says actually, forget about all that, as the company now claims it sent the email to employees accidentally.

"This morning's email to some of our employees was sent in error," an Amazon spokesperson told The Verge. "There is no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok."

If it was an error, it's quite a mistake to make given all the attention the news got, although considering the company did evidently have an email ready to go for this scenario, "right now" may be the key phrase in that statement. Brendan Morrow

Valentina Sampaio says she has overcome "snickers, insults, fearful reactions, and physical violations," to become Sports Illustrated's first transgender swimsuit model.

Sampaio, who writes for SI that she was "born trans in a remote, humble fishing village in northern Brazil," will appear in SI's annual swimsuit edition out July 21. She's been on the cover of Vogue Brazil and had a Victoria's Secret campaign last year, and now helps SI take its latest step in including groundbreaking, diverse models on its pages.

In an essay for SI, Sampaio describes how "Brazil is a beautiful country, but it also hosts the highest number of violent crimes and murders against the trans community in the world." "Being trans usually means facing closed doors to peoples' hearts and minds," Sampaio continues, which often holds trans people back from "growing up in a loving and accepting family, having a fruitful experience at school, or finding dignified work."

"I recognize that I am one of the fortunate ones, and my intention is to honor that as best I can," Sampaio said, thanking SI for "seeing and respecting me as I truly am." Read all of what Sampaio has to say about her big gig at Sports Illustrated. Kathryn Krawczyk

A moratorium on political ads may be coming to Facebook this fall.

Facebook is considering imposing a ban on political ads "in the days leading up to" November's presidential election, Bloomberg reported on Friday. As of now, the idea is "still only being discussed," the report says.

Facebook has long faced criticism for its decision not to fact-check political ads, something CEO Mark Zuckerberg has defended by saying that "people should decide what is credible, not tech companies." Last year, more than 250 Facebook employees signed a letter arguing that this policy "allows politicians to weaponize our platform by targeting people who believe that content posted by political figures is trustworthy."

Facebook is now facing an ad boycott from companies urging it to crack down on hate speech and misinformation, and an independent audit concluded this week that it "has been far too reluctant to adopt strong rules to limit misinformation and voter suppression."

According to Bloomberg, part of the reason the potential ad ban hasn't been decided upon is that there's still some concern it "could hurt 'get out the vote' campaigns, or limit a candidate's ability to respond widely to breaking news or new information." The New York Times is also confirming the news of the potential ban while cautioning that it's still possible Facebook will decide against it and "continue with its current political advertising policy."

Facebook previously announced it would let users opt out of seeing political ads altogether, with Zuckerberg saying last month, "for those of you who've already made up your minds and just want the election to be over, we hear you."

Back in March, everyone in the U.S. but essential workers scrambled to adapt to remote work to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Well, everyone but President Trump's 2020 campaign headquarters. The Arlington, Virginia, office has remained packed with workers through the past four months, only closing this week for its first deep cleaning in a while because a staffer tested positive for the virus, people familiar with the HQ's operations detail to Politico.

Social distancing doesn't exist inside the Trump HQ, where "dozens of staffers" are "often sitting in close proximity to conduct phone calls and other urgent campaign business," three people tell Politico. Staffers wear masks outside the office "in case they're spotted by reporters," but are free to take them off inside, Politico continues. Except free might not be the right word for it: One person told Politico "You get made fun of if you wear a mask. There's social pressure not to do it.”

All of that became obvious when Vice President Mike Pence tweeted a picture from a visit to the headquarters last month showing a jam-packed, maskless office. The tweet has since been deleted, but it sparked questions into whether Virginia officials would step in and enforce the state's social distancing guidelines and mandatory mask policy. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) ultimately declined to get involved so he didn't "get bogged down in a political fight," an individual familiar with the situation told Politico.

"The campaign takes the health and safety of our staff very seriously," spokesperson Tim Murtaugh told Politico. That includes a "weekly deep cleaning, daily temperature checks," and "widely available masks and PPE, and testing of staff both before events and before returning to the office," Murtaugh said. Read more at Politico. Kathryn Krawczyk

FedEx is threatening to remove its signage from the Washington Redskins' stadium unless the team's name is changed, The Washington Post reports.

The shipping company, which owns the naming rights to the Washington Redskins' stadium under a more than $200 million deal signed in 1999, recently announced it was asking the team to change its controversial name, and the Post is now reporting that FedEx informed the Redskins in a private letter that unless it does so, "it will remove its signage from the stadium after the NFL's 2020 season, six years before the deal's expiration."

This was reportedly communicated in a letter from FedEx's general counsel sent on July 2, the same day the statement saying that FedEx was requesting a name change was released. The company privately described how the Redskins' name, which has long been criticized as racist, "poses the risk of harming FedEx's brand reputation and is inconsistent with its commitment to a more inclusive society," the Post writes.

Following FedEx's initial statement that it was requesting the name be changed, the Redskins announced it would begin a "thorough review." In the days since, Redskins merchandise has been pulled from Amazon, as well as Walmart, Target, and Dick's Sporting Goods. Brendan Morrow