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A United States’ court on Wednesday fixed June 2027 for the trial of ousted Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Recall that the US military captured the duo in a stunning nighttime raid in January 2026.

Both have been held in a Brooklyn jail for over seven months after pleading not guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearms charges.

Recall that American commandos arrested the couple from their compound in Caracas on January 3.

READ ALSO: JAPA: Trump Unveils Stricter Visa Rules For International Students, Journalists

The lightning operation combined naval, air and ground forces, deposing the strongman who had led Venezuela since 2013.

During the 20-minute hearing on Wednesday, Judge Alvin Hellerstein set the trial date for June 1 next year following a joint request from prosecutors and defense counsel.

Meanwhile, protesters with signs reading “Free President Maduro” gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse waving Venezuelan flags, while opposing demonstrators held placards calling Maduro and Flores “dictators.”

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President Donald Trump has vowed that the US would destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant any time its forces attack a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

Potential targets would include ones “located next to, or in,” the capital Tehran, he said in a post on Truth Social.

The military response would follow any form of attack on shipping in the vital waterway, “whether it be by missile, rocket, drone, or any other device or weapon”.

His threat follows the US launching strikes on Iran for the 11th consecutive night, with Tehran warning the US against targeting its nuclear facilities.

US Central Command (Centcom) said the wave of strikes were “designed to continue degrading Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping” in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian state media reported that air defences were activated in the capital Tehran. Explosions were also reported in the north-western city of Tabriz, the south-eastern ports of Chabahar and Konarak, and in the southern city of Bushehr, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.

Iran, which has retaliated against the US and its Middle East allies, warned of reprisals after Trump said the US would soon hit an underground nuclear site near Natanz.

Iran and the US agreed a ceasefire in April, but hostilities resumed last week as both countries battled over control of the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway.

Centcom said US forces had targeted Iranian military operations centres, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure.

It also accused Iran of attacking “more than 30 commercial vessels” passing through the Strait of Hormuz over the past three months.

“The unwarranted attacks have endangered hundreds of innocent mariners and undermined freedom of navigation,” it said, adding the waterway remained “open for commercial vessel transit”.

Kuwait’s army said on Wednesday that its air defences had engaged with drone attacks from Iran, while Bahrain and Jordan said they had also intercepted drone and missile strikes.

The price of oil jumped in response to the latest escalation, reaching $94 on Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Washington is still willing to engage in diplomacy with Tehran, but added that he did not believe Iran was serious about talks.

Why Iran is risking so much over the Strait of Hormuz
Prior to that, the US president said the next military target could be a complex known as Pickaxe Mountain, an underground nuclear site where Iran is suspected of building an undeclared enrichment facility.

“We’ll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily,” Trump said on Tuesday, addressing reporters during a White House meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.

He added that he would not normally announce targets but “there’s not a thing they can do about it”.

Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya military command said it would consider such an attack “as an expansion of war in the region”, threatening strikes on “all the interests of America, the allies and supporters”, state-run broadcaster IRIB reported.

Trump also threatened to “take care of” the Houthi rebels if the Iran-backed militant group in Yemen followed through on its threatened blockade of Saudi ports.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said his administration is examining whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be arrested if he visits the city for the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Speaking on The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast, Mamdani said the city’s legal department is assessing the matter, which aligns with a campaign pledge he made during the mayoral race.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”

When asked about the legal authority available to his office, Mamdani said the issue remains under review.

“That’s an active conversation with our legal department. However, what we’ve seen at the national level is a desire sometimes to write your own laws, to go outside of the bounds of legality. That’s not something we have an interest in.”

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in 2024 over alleged war crimes committed during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Both President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden criticised the court’s decision.

The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC and requires member states to execute the court’s arrest warrants. The Trump administration has also intensified its criticism of the ICC, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently pledging to “dismantle” the court and accusing it of “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles” but with “the force of so-called international law.”

Mamdani has consistently criticised the Israeli government and has described Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a “genocide,” an allegation Israel has repeatedly rejected.

Reacting to the mayor’s remarks, US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz dismissed the comments on Saturday, describing them as “pure political theater” while stressing that the United States is not a member of the ICC.

Netanyahu also played down Mamdani’s position during an interview earlier in the week with WABC radio host Sid Rosenberg.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said on social media on Saturday that Netanyahu “will come to New York, address the United Nations General Assembly with pride, and stand before the world to state Israel’s truth and its unwavering right to defend its citizens.”