Write a short, clear, factual news headline based on this article:
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will appear on Thursday in a New York court for the second time since his capture by US forces in an extraordinary nighttime raid.
Maduro, 63, and his wife Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail for almost three months after American commandos seized the pair from their compound in Caracas in early January.
The stunning operation deposed the strongman who had led Venezuela since 2013 and has since forced the oil-rich country to largely bend to the will of US President Donald Trump.
Maduro has declared himself a “prisoner of war” and pleaded not guilty to four counts: conspiracy for “narco-terrorism,” conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Thursday’s hearing at 11:00 am (1500 GMT) is likely to see Maduro push for the dismissal of his case, as lawyers tussle over who will pay the former leader’s legal fees. Venezuela’s government is seeking to cover the costs, but because of Washington’s sanctions, his lawyer Barry Pollack must obtain a US licence that has not yet been issued.
Pollack argued in a court submission that the licence requirement violated Maduro’s constitutional right to legal representation and demanded the case be thrown out on procedural grounds.
Detained in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison known for unsanitary conditions, Maduro is reportedly alone in a cell with no access to the internet or newspapers. A source close to the Venezuelan government said the incarcerated Maduro reads the Bible and is referred to as “president” by some of his fellow detainees.
He is only allowed to communicate by phone with his family and lawyers for a maximum of 15 minutes per call, the source added.
“The lawyers told us he is strong. He said we must not be sad,” said his son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, adding that his father told him: “We are fine, we are fighters.”
Maduro and his wife were forcibly taken by US commandos in the early hours of 3 January in airstrikes on the Venezuelan capital, backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment. At least 83 people died and more than 112 were injured in the assault, according to Venezuelan officials. No US service members were killed.
At his first US court appearance in January, Maduro struck a defiant tone as he identified himself as the president of Venezuela despite being captured.
The South American country is now led by Delcy Rodriguez, who had been Maduro’s vice president since 2018. Under US pressure, she is grappling with leading a country saddled with the world’s largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles.
Rodriguez has since enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed under Maduro and reformed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country’s vast natural wealth. This month, the State Department said it was restoring diplomatic ties with Venezuela in a sign of thawing relations.
Security is expected to be heightened around the New York courthouse for Thursday’s hearing. Presiding over the case is Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old judge credited with overseeing several high-profile trials during his decades on the bench.
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Article:
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will appear on Thursday in a New York court for the second time since his capture by US forces in an extraordinary nighttime raid.
Maduro, 63, and his wife Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail for almost three months after American commandos seized the pair from their compound in Caracas in early January.
The stunning operation deposed the strongman who had led Venezuela since 2013 and has since forced the oil-rich country to largely bend to the will of US President Donald Trump.
Maduro has declared himself a “prisoner of war” and pleaded not guilty to four counts: conspiracy for “narco-terrorism,” conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Thursday’s hearing at 11:00 am (1500 GMT) is likely to see Maduro push for the dismissal of his case, as lawyers tussle over who will pay the former leader’s legal fees. Venezuela’s government is seeking to cover the costs, but because of Washington’s sanctions, his lawyer Barry Pollack must obtain a US licence that has not yet been issued.
Pollack argued in a court submission that the licence requirement violated Maduro’s constitutional right to legal representation and demanded the case be thrown out on procedural grounds.
Detained in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison known for unsanitary conditions, Maduro is reportedly alone in a cell with no access to the internet or newspapers. A source close to the Venezuelan government said the incarcerated Maduro reads the Bible and is referred to as “president” by some of his fellow detainees.
He is only allowed to communicate by phone with his family and lawyers for a maximum of 15 minutes per call, the source added.
“The lawyers told us he is strong. He said we must not be sad,” said his son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, adding that his father told him: “We are fine, we are fighters.”
Maduro and his wife were forcibly taken by US commandos in the early hours of 3 January in airstrikes on the Venezuelan capital, backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment. At least 83 people died and more than 112 were injured in the assault, according to Venezuelan officials. No US service members were killed.
At his first US court appearance in January, Maduro struck a defiant tone as he identified himself as the president of Venezuela despite being captured.
The South American country is now led by Delcy Rodriguez, who had been Maduro’s vice president since 2018. Under US pressure, she is grappling with leading a country saddled with the world’s largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles.
Rodriguez has since enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed under Maduro and reformed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country’s vast natural wealth. This month, the State Department said it was restoring diplomatic ties with Venezuela in a sign of thawing relations.
Security is expected to be heightened around the New York courthouse for Thursday’s hearing. Presiding over the case is Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old judge credited with overseeing several high-profile trials during his decades on the bench.
“With both the United States and Iran signalling a willingness to negotiate, a glimmer of hope for peace has emerged,” Wang told Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty, according to a Beijing readout published late on Wednesday and reported by Agence France-Presse.
The statement came hours before Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that “so far, no negotiations have taken place, and I believe our position is completely principled”.
Speaking of negotiations now is an admission of defeat.
Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that Iran was taking part in peace talks, suggesting Tehran’s denials were because Iranian negotiators fear being killed by their own side.
Wang told Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, during the call that the rights and wrongs of the conflict in the Middle East were “crystal clear”, offering support to the country in helping to facilitate the resumption of negotiations.
Turkey has engaged in “intense” diplomatic efforts to end the war by talking to both Washington and Tehran, Fidan said this month.
Wang said:
Prolonging this war would only result in further casualties and needless losses, leading to a further spillover of the conflict.
Key events
Asian stocks were mostly lower and oil prices gained on Thursday as a de-escalation of the Iran war remained uncertain.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was trading 0.3% lower, South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.9%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.4% and the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.6%, the Associated Press reports.
Australia’s S+P/ASX 200 edged down 0.2%, whileTaiwan’s Taiex was trading 0.4% higher. US futures were down 0.1%.
Oil prices were up again on Thursday after an earlier dip. Brent crude – the international standard – rose 1.3% to $98.51 per barrel. It was below $95 on Wednesday. Benchmark US crude was 1.6% higher at $91.75 a barrel.
The rise in oil prices came as Tehran on Wednesday dismissed a ceasefire plan by the US after the Trump administration offered a 15-point proposal to Iran.
The Israeli military has detected a new Iranian ballistic missile attack after a lull of nearly 15 hours, the Times of Israel has just reported.
It said:
Sirens are expected to sound in central Israel and the Jerusalem area in the coming minutes.
An Israeli solder has been seriously injured in mortar fire at its forces in Lebanon, Israel’s military says.
In a post on X it said (in a translation):
The fighter was evacuated to receive medical treatment at the hospital, and his family was notified.
Israel has said it will seize parts of southern Lebanon to create what it calls a “defensive buffer” up to the Litani River, about 30km (20 miles) from the border, and the army has been engaging in ground fighting with Hezbollah fighters south of the river.
The army is slowly advancing northwards despite fierce resistance, with soldiers posting videos in the previously contested towns of Taybeh and Khiam.
Israel is also continuing to pound Hezbollah targets across Lebanon. Read more in this full report from William Christou in Beirut:
China sees ‘glimmer of hope’ for peace
China’s foreign minister has said that a “glimmer of hope” for peace has emerged due to moves to stop the war in the Middle East, despite Tehran vowing to keep fighting.
Wang Yi urged dialogue in separate calls with his Turkish and Egyptian counterparts, suggesting that both Tehran and Washington had shown signals they were willing to return to the negotiating table.
“With both the United States and Iran signalling a willingness to negotiate, a glimmer of hope for peace has emerged,” Wang told Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty, according to a Beijing readout published late on Wednesday and reported by Agence France-Presse.
The statement came hours before Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that “so far, no negotiations have taken place, and I believe our position is completely principled”.
Speaking of negotiations now is an admission of defeat.
Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that Iran was taking part in peace talks, suggesting Tehran’s denials were because Iranian negotiators fear being killed by their own side.
Wang told Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, during the call that the rights and wrongs of the conflict in the Middle East were “crystal clear”, offering support to the country in helping to facilitate the resumption of negotiations.
Turkey has engaged in “intense” diplomatic efforts to end the war by talking to both Washington and Tehran, Fidan said this month.
Wang said:
Prolonging this war would only result in further casualties and needless losses, leading to a further spillover of the conflict.
Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and the consequences for the region, the world and the global economy.
Donald Trump has insisted Iran is still interested in a deal, after Tehran dismissed a US ceasefire proposal, countered with a plan of its own and claimed it had no intention to negotiate.
Iranian state TV quoted an anonymous official as saying Tehran had rejected the plan it had received via Pakistan, saying it would “end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met”. Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi later said the proposals had been “passed on to the country’s senior authorities” but Iran had “no intention of negotiating for now”.
The US president later suggested Tehran’s denials were because Iranian negotiators feared being killed by their own side. “They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people,” Trump said.
“They’re also afraid they’ll be killed by us,” he said, before quipping that no one wanted to lead Iran for fear of being assassinated by the US.
The US military said late on Wednesday its forces had hit more than 10,000 targets so far in the Iran war, including destroying 92% of the Iranian navy’s largest vessels. Thousands more targets had been hit by Israeli forces, claimed US Navy Admiral Brad Cooper from US Central Command. “We have damaged or destroyed over two-thirds of Iran’s missile, drone and naval production facilities and shipyards, and we’re not done yet.”
First responders use an excavator to clean the debris and search for victims at a residential building hit in an strike in Tabriz, in north-western Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, this week. Photograph: Mati Hashemi/AP
In other developments:
Israel’s military said on Thursday its had carried out a wave of strikes across Iran, including extensively in the central city of Isfahan. It said Israeli forces “completed a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in several areas across Iran”.
Kuwait said it had arrested six people over an alleged Hezbollah plot to assassinate leaders in the Gulf state. The interior ministry said five of those arrested were Kuwaiti citizens. It added that 14 more members of the group had fled the country: five Kuwaitis, five more Kuwaitis whose nationalities have been revoked, two Iranians and two Lebanese.
Iran reportedlyreceived the US’s 15-point plan, which Tehran initially rejectedbut Araghchi later suggested was still under review. “If a position needs to be taken, it will certainly be determined,” he said. Earlier it was reported that Tehran had rejected the “excessive” demands in the proposal. Among the demands were a complete termination of Iran’s nuclear program and strict limitations on its missile arsenal.
The White House, meanwhile, warned that Trump was prepared to “unleash hell” if Iran did not accept defeat, and continued to insist that negotiations were ongoing. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt Leavitt said the US president preferred a peaceful path but was prepared to “hit [Iran] harder than they have ever been hit before” if necessary.
Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would expand its occupation of southern Lebanon, with what he described as a “larger buffer zone” to push back the threat of Hezbollah. The Israeli prime minister’s forces have also continued to bomb Beirut. Many in Lebanon fear that Israel’s plans could echo its previous protracted occupation in the south, which ended in 2000.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said negotiations with Israel under fire would amount to “surrender” as the Iran-backed group launched fresh attacks on the country. Hezbollah said it launched missiles early on Thursday at military sites in central Israel, where air raid sirens sounded, Agence France-Presse reported.
Russia is close to completing a phased shipment of drones, medicine and food to Iran, according to western intelligence reports that detail Moscow’s efforts to keep its embattled partner fighting, the Financial Times reported.
“The Gaza model must not be replicated in Lebanon,” the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said. He also told the US and Israel it was “high time” to end the war and called on Iran to stop attacking its neighbours.
