Dispute erupts over who will represent former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in court.


Defence attorney Barry Pollack, who sat with Maduro in court, accused lawyer Bruce Fein of trying to join the case without authorization. Fein, an associate deputy U.S. attorney general during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, said he was asked by a judge on Friday to let Maduro settle the dispute.

Fein told Manhattan federal Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein that “individuals credibly situated” within Maduro’s inner circle or family had sought out Fein’s assistance to help him navigate what the lawyer called the “extraordinary, startling, and viperlike circumstances” of his capture and criminal case.

Fein said in a letter to the judge that he’d had no telephone, video or other direct contact with Maduro, who is being held at a federal jail in Brooklyn. But, Fein wrote, Maduro “had expressed a desire” for his ”assistance in this matter.”

The dispute first came to light on Thursday when Pollack asked Hellerstein to rescind his approval for Fein to join Maduro’s legal team. Pollack said that Fein was not Maduro’s lawyer and that he had not authorized Fein to file paperwork telling the judge otherwise.

Pollack was the only lawyer representing Maduro on Monday as the deposed South American leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he worked with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. Two days earlier, U.S. special forces seized Maduro and Flores from their home in Caracas.

In a written declaration to Hellerstein, Pollack said he attempted to contact Fein by telephone and email to ask him on what basis he was seeking to enter his appearance on behalf of Maduro and what authorization he had to do so.

“He has not responded,” Pollack said.

Pollack said he spoke to Maduro by phone on Thursday and confirmed that Maduro “does not know Mr. Fein and has not communicated with Mr. Fein, much less retained him, authorized him to enter an appearance, or otherwise hold himself out as representing Mr. Maduro.”

Pollack said Maduro authorized him to ask Hellerstein to modify the court docket so that it no longer showed Fein as representing Maduro.

Fein, in his response Friday, told the judge he doesn’t dispute or question the accuracy of Pollack’s assertions. Instead, he suggested that Hellerstein question Maduro in private to “definitively ascertain President Maduro’s representation wishes,” including whether he wants to be represented by Pollack, Fein or both.

“Maduro was apprehended under extraordinary, startling, and viperlike circumstances, including deprivation of liberty, custodial restrictions on communications, and immediate immersion in a foreign criminal process in a foreign tongue, fraught with the potential for misunderstandings or miscommunications,” Fein wrote.

Michael R. Sisak And Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press

#MOSCOW, January 9. Russian Special Presidential Envoy on Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Kirill Dmitriev reminded EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas that there are no air defense systems capable of intercepting the Oreshnik.

"Kaja [Kallas] is not very bright or knowledgeable, but even she should know that there are no air defenses against the Oreshnik hypersonic Mach 10 missile," Dmitriev wrote on X, commenting on Kallas’ remarks following an Oreshnik strike by the Russian Armed Forces.

Earlier, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had carried out a massive strike on critical Ukrainian targets, including by the Oreshnik missile system, in response to Kiev’s December attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in the Novgorod Region. The ministry said the objectives of the strike had been achieved.

U.S. intercepts fifth sanctioned tanker as it exerts control over Venezuelan oil distribution.

The pre-dawn action was carried out by Marines and Navy sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, part of the extensive force the U.S. has built up in the Caribbean in recent months, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the tanker called the Olina. The Coast Guard then took control of the vessel, officials said.

Southern Command and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem both posted unclassified footage on social media of a U.S. helicopter landing on the vessel and U.S. personnel conducting a search of the deck and tossing what appeared to be an explosive device in front of a door leading to inside the ship.

In her social media post, Noem said the ship was “another `ghost fleet’ tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil” and it had departed Venezuela “attempting to evade U.S. forces.”

The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolas Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

#MOSCOW, January 8. Moscow calls on Washington to adhere to the rule of law and immediately cease illegal actions against the oil tanker Marinera, according to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"We call on Washington to resume compliance with the fundamental norms and principles of international maritime navigation and immediately cease its illegal actions against the Marinera and other vessels engaged in law·abiding activities on the high seas," the ministry said.

"We reiterate our demand that the US ensure humane and dignified treatment of the Russian citizens comprising the tanker’s crew, strictly observe their rights and interests, and make no obstacles to their prompt return to their homeland," the Foreign Ministry added.

US President Donald Trump does not intend to sign a pardon for Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, The New York Times (NYT) reported.

According to the newspaper, during an interview with the US president, its journalists asked about the possibility of pardoning several individuals charged in the United States, including Maduro. Trump, the NYT noted, made it clear that he has "no intention of pardoning" those mentioned.

On January 3, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto said the United States had attacked civilian and military facilities in Caracas, calling Washington’s actions an act of military aggression. A state of emergency was declared in Venezuela. Trump later confirmed the strikes and announced that Maduro and his wife had been seized and taken out of the country. They were transported to a detention facility in Brooklyn, southern New York. On January 5, Maduro and his wife appeared before the federal court for the Southern District of New York. US authorities accuse them of involvement in drug trafficking. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Protests in Iran sparked by economic woes spread nationwide, activists say.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- People in Iran’s capital shouted from their homes and rallied in the street Thursday night after a call by the country’s exiled crown prince for a mass demonstration, witnesses said, a new escalation in the protests that have spread nationwide across the Islamic Republic. Internet access and telephone lines in Iran cut out immediately after the protests began.

The protest represented the first test of whether the Iranian public could be swayed by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose fatally ill father fled Iran just before the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Demonstrations have included cries in support of the shah, something that could bring a death sentence in the past but now underlines the anger fuelling the protests that began over Iran’s ailing economy.

Thursday saw a continuation of the demonstrations that popped up in cities and rural towns across Iran on Wednesday. More markets and bazaars shut down in support of the protesters. So far, violence around the demonstrations has killed at least 39 people while more than 2,260 others have been detained, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

The growth of the protests increases the pressure on Iran’s civilian government and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. CloudFlare, an internet firm, and the advocacy group NetBlocks reported the internet outage, both attributing it to Iranian government interference. Attempts to dial landlines and mobile phones from Dubai to Iran could not be connected. Such outages have in the past been followed by intense government crackdowns.

Meanwhile, the protests themselves have remained broadly leaderless. It remains unclear how Pahlavi’s call will affect the demonstrations moving forward.

“The lack of a viable alternative has undermined past protests in Iran,” wrote Nate Swanson of the Washington-based Atlantic Council, who studies Iran.

“There may be a thousand Iranian dissident activists who, given a chance, could emerge as respected statesmen, as labor leader Lech Wałęsa did in Poland at the end of the Cold War. But so far, the Iranian security apparatus has arrested, persecuted and exiled all of the country’s potential transformational leaders.”
Thursday’s demonstration rallies at home and in street

Pahlavi had called for demonstrations at 8 p.m. local (1630 GMT) on Thursday and Friday. When the clock struck, neighborhoods across Tehran erupted in chanting, witnesses said. The chants included “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the Islamic Republic!” Others praised the shah, shouting: “This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!” Thousands could be seen on the streets.

“Great nation of Iran, the eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets and, as a united front, shout your demands,” Pahlavi said in a statement. “I warn the Islamic Republic, its leader and the (Revolutionary Guard) that the world and (President Donald Trump) are closely watching you. Suppression of the people will not go unanswered.”

Pahlavi had said he would offer further plans depending on the response to his call. His support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past -- particularly after the 12-day war Israel waged on Iran in June. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some demonstrations, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian officials appeared to be taking the planned protests seriously. The hard-line Kayhan newspaper published a video online claiming security forces would use drones to identify those taking part.

Iranian officials have offered no acknowledgment of the scale of the overall protests, which raged across many locations Thursday even before the 8 p.m. demonstration. However, there has been reporting regarding security officials being hurt or killed.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency report a police colonel suffered fatal stab wounds in a town outside of Tehran, while the semiofficial Fars news agency said gunmen killed two security force members and wounded 30 others in a shooting in the city of Lordegan in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.

A deputy governor in Iran’s Khorasan Razavi province told Iranian state television that an attack at a police station killed five people Wednesday night in Chenaran, some 700 kilometres northeast of Tehran.
Iran weighs Trump threat

It remains unclear why Iranian officials have yet to crack down harder on the demonstrators. Trump warned last week that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” America “will come to their rescue.”

Trump’s comments drew a new rebuke from Iran’s Foreign Ministry.

“Recalling the long history of criminal interventions by successive U.S. administrations in Iran’s internal affairs, the Foreign Ministry considers claims of concern for the great Iranian nation to be hypocritical, aimed at deceiving public opinion and covering up the numerous crimes committed against Iranians,” it said.

But those comments haven’t stopped the U.S. State Department on the social platform X from highlighting online footage purporting to show demonstrators putting up stickers naming roads after Trump or throwing away government-subsidized rice.

“When prices are set so high that neither consumers can afford to buy nor farmers can afford to sell, everyone loses,” the State Department said in one message. “It makes no difference if this rice is thrown away.”

Meanwhile, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi remains imprisoned by authorities after her arrest in December.

“Since Dec. 28, 2025, the people of Iran have taken to the streets, just as they did in 2009, 2019,” her son Ali Rahmani said. “Each time, the same demands came up: an end to the Islamic Republic, an end to this patriarchal, dictatorial and religious regime, the end of the clerics, the end of the mullahs’ regime.”
Biggest protests since Mahsa Amini’s death

Iran has faced rounds of nationwide protests in recent years. As sanctions tightened and Iran struggled after the 12-day war, its rial currency collapsed in December, reaching 1.4 million to US$1. Protests began soon after, with demonstrators chanting against Iran’s theocracy.

Prior to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the rial was broadly stable, trading at around 70 to $1. At the time of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, $1 traded for 32,000 rials. Shops in markets across the country have shut down as part of the protests.

By Jon Gambrell

#Russia frees French political scholar in a prisoner swap for a #basketball player.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on X that Vinatier is “free and back in France,” expressing “relief” and “gratitude” to diplomatic staff for their efforts to win his release.

In exchange, Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin, jailed in France and whose extradition was demanded by the United States, was released and returned to Russia on Thursday, Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said in a statement.

Russian state news agency Tass released what it said was FSB footage showing Vinatier in a black track suit and winter jacket being informed about his release, to which he said “Thank you” in Russian, being driven in a car and boarding a plane after Kasatkin descended from it. It wasn’t immediately clear when the video was filmed.

Vinatier was arrested in Moscow in June 2024. Russian authorities accused him of failing to register as a “foreign agent” while collecting information about Russia’s “military and military-technical activities” that could be used to the detriment of national security. A court convicted him and sentenced him to a three-year prison term.

Last year, Vinatier was also charged with espionage, according to the FSB — a criminal offense punishable by between 10 and 20 years in prison in Russia.

The scholar has been pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the security agency said.

France’s Foreign Ministry said that Vinatier was being welcomed at the Quai d’Orsay alongside his parents by Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

The ministry said that Barrot informed ambassadors of Vinatier’s release “at the moment of the president’s tweet,” during a closed-door address. Barrot would post publicly “after his meeting with Laurent Vinatier and his family,” the ministry said.

Putin had promised to look into Vinatier’s case after a French journalist asked him during his annual news conference on Dec. 19 whether Vinatier’s family could hope for a presidential pardon or his release in a prisoner exchange. The Russian president said at the time that he knew “nothing” about it.

Several days later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia had made “an offer to the French” about Vinatier.

Vinatier is an adviser for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Switzerland-based nongovernmental organization, which said in June 2024 that it was doing “everything possible to assist” him.

The charges that he was convicted on relate to a law that requires anyone collecting information on military issues to register with authorities as a foreign agent.

Human rights activists have criticized the law and other recent legislation as part of a Kremlin crackdown on independent media and political activists intended to stifle criticism of the war in Ukraine.

In recent years, Russia has arrested a number of foreigners — mainly Americans — on various criminal charges and then released them in prisoner swaps with the United States and other Western nations.

The largest exchange since the Cold War took place in August 2024, when Moscow freed journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, fellow American Paul Whelan, and Russian dissidents in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.

Kasatkin, the Russian basketball player freed in Thursday’s swap, had been held since late June after his arrest at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport at the request of U.S. judicial authorities and was held in extradition custody at Fresnes prison while French courts reviewed the U.S. request.

Kasatkin’s lawyer, Frédéric Belot, told The Associated Press that the player had been detained for alleged involvement in computer fraud. Belot said that Kasatkin was accused of having acted as a negotiator for a team of hackers. According to the lawyer, Kasatkin had purchased a second-hand computer that hadn’t been reset.

“We believe that this computer was used remotely by these hackers without his knowledge,” Belot said. “He is a basketball player and knows nothing about computer science. We consider him completely innocent.”

Belot, who represents both Vinatier and Kasatkin, added that the French researcher is “totally innocent of the espionage acts that were alleged against him.”

By Sylvie Corbet, Thomas Adamson and Samuel Petrequin

JUST IN: 🇬🇧🇷🇺 UK Ministry of Defence confirms it provided support to the US in the seizure of the Russian-flagged oil tanker Bella 1.

How do tattoos affect our immune system?


Humans have been tattooing their skin for thousands of years, and the practice has grown in popularity across the world in recent decades.

However, tattoos don’t come without risks to our health and immune systems, experts say.

The risk of contracting an infection or disease via unsanitary or cross-contaminated tattoo needles is well documented, but those risks have declined over time as more sophisticated hygiene standards have been implemented globally.

Less is known, however, about the long-term impacts of tattoo ink once it enters the human body and how it interacts with our immune system once it’s there.

Research has found that certain substances in tattoo ink can be identified by immune cells and carried to the lymph nodes, where they can accumulate over time.

A recent study published in the medical journal Immunity & Inflammation found that this process can “induce a prominent and long-term inflammatory response.”

The study also found that the presence of tattoo ink at the site of vaccine injection “modulated immune responses in a vaccine-specific manner.”

Researchers said they observed a reduced response to the COVID-19 vaccine but an enhanced response to the UV-inactivated flu vaccine, “reflecting differences in the mechanisms of action between these vaccine classes.”

University of Western Ontario chemist Yolanda Hedberg, who was not associated with the study, said anything that causes inflammation is generally not good for tissue, as it can increase the risk of other diseases including cancer and neurodegenerative conditions.
What is in tattoo ink?

Like needle hygiene, tattoo ink itself has become generally less dangerous over time, Hedberg told CTVNews.ca in an interview.

“Older tattoos (from) 100 years ago were containing chromium-6 and nickel and all those bright metal oxide pigments that can be quite highly toxic. Some of them like lead chromate are very toxic – we have gotten rid of most of those,” Hedberg said.

Modern tattoo ink contains a variety of coloured pigments, which Hedberg said are essentially dyes that are contained within a shell so that they remain intact and do not dissolve within the skin once injected.

Those pigments typically contain azo dyes, which are classified as synthetic organic compounds used to add vibrant colour to things like processed food, cosmetics and paints.

Hedberg said that tattoo inks today present significantly lower health risks compared to the older more toxic ones, “but they still have a risk, and the main risks with them are two parts; one is allergy and the other is cancer.”

Allergic reactions, which encompass a wide range of immune responses to substances the body deems unsafe, are the most common negative effects reported by people who have gotten tattoos, Hedberg said.

“The problem with allergies is that you don’t know if you will develop it, and if you develop it, you can’t get rid of the tattoo,” she said.

“Even if you laser it away, it just distributes the dye in your body, so, you get the allergy everywhere. It’s not solvable.”
Do tattoos increase cancer risk?

Hedberg said that the risk of severe reactions or complications from tattoos remains relatively rare, and tattoos have yet to be linked directly to the development of specific cancers. However, recent research has suggested that tattoos can increase someone’s risk of getting the disease.

“In the past five years, we have had several studies that came out that were long term, and they all found a slightly increased (cancer) risk,” she said.

“One of the most convincing studies was a twin study in Denmark, where they basically looked at twins and those that were tattooed versus those that were not, and they clearly saw an increased risk.”

The study, published in January of last year, looked at more than 2,000 twins born between 1960 and 1996. Researchers concluded that the data suggested “an increased hazard of lymphoma and skin cancers among tattooed individuals.”

“It’s not a big risk compared to smoking or something, of course, it’s not that big, but it is a statistically significant increased risk,” Hedberg said.

Despite these findings, current evidence continues to suggest that tattoos represent a “relatively low” overall health risk, Hedberg said, noting that some amount of risk exists in almost every aspect of life.

“Having a #tattoo is increasing some health risks slightly,” she said, “but not very much.”

Shots fired near Venezuela presidential palace: witnesses. Shots were fired late Monday near Venezuela’s presidential palace, witnesses said, days after U.S. forces captured the now-deposed president Nicolas Maduro in a military raid.

A source close to the government said the situation was under control.

Unidentified drones flew over the Miraflores palace in central Caracas and security forces opened fire in response around 8:00 pm (0000 GMT), the source said, hours after Maduro’s deputy Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as interim president following his removal.

Bursts of gunfire rang out but not as strong as in the pre-dawn attack Saturday that toppled Maduro, according to a person who lives five blocks from the palace, who said the incident lasted about a minute.

“The first thing that came to mind was to see if there were planes flying ovehead but there were not. I just saw two red lights in the sky,” the resident near the palace said on condition of anonymity.

“Everyone was looking out their windows to see if there was a plane, to see what was happening.”

The Communications Ministry did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

#Video posted on social media shows what appears to be tracer bullets fired into the sky.

The video showed many security force members rushing to the palace after the shots.