The Headlines - Maduro to Be Arraigned, and Trump Threatens Venezuela’s New Leadership

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Plus, data centers in space? Here’s what we’re covering:Maduro and His Wife to Be Arraigned in Manhattan Federal Court by William K. Rashbaum and Benjamin WeiserTrump Says U.S. Is ‘In Charge’ of Venezuela, While Rubio Stresses Coercing It by Edward Wong‘No One Is Ready for This’: How a Deadly Bar Fire Upended a Swiss Town by Ségolène Le Stradic and Aurelien BreedenVaccines Are Helping Older People More Than We Knew by Paula SpanEven the Sky May Not Be the Limit for A.I. Data Centers by Eli Tan and Ryan MacTune in every weekday morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, January 5th. Here's what we're covering. At noon today, Nicholas Maduro and his wife will appear in a lower Manhattan courtroom, less than 72 hours after the Venezuelan leader was captured in a dramatic raid by U.S. special forces. They're expected to plead not guilty to charges of drug trafficking. African conspiracy and other crimes in what will almost certainly be a years-long prosecution

that could lead to Maduro being imprisoned for life in the U.S. Don't ask me who's in charge because I'll give you an answer and it'll be very controversial. What does that mean? That means we're in charge. As Maduro sits in an American jail cell, President Trump and his administration have been doubling down on their assertion that the U.S. will direct Venezuela's future. So is the United States running Venezuela right now? What we are running is the direction that this is going to move moving forward, and that is we have leverage.

This leverage we are using and we intend to use. In interviews over the weekend, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will keep what he called a military quarantine in place on Venezuela's oil exports in order to pressure the country. We care about Venezuela. We wanted to do well moving forward, but our number one objective here is America. No more drugs. No more trained-out-agwa gangs coming our direction. Rubio said the administration has also not ruled out putting U.S. troops on the ground there. Venezuela is now formally being led by Maduro's vice president, Delci Rodriguez, who was sworn in on Saturday. While she initially denounced the U.S. raid, she struck a more diplomatic tone last night, saying in a statement, our people in our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war.

Trump has explicitly threatened her, saying that if she doesn't, quote, do what's right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro. For now, the Trump administration seems focused on securing Venezuela's oil. It has more oil than any other country in the world, but it has struggled to get it out of the ground and currently produces only about 1% of the global total, which it has sold mostly to China. The White House appears set to force Rodriguez to allow American oil companies

to invest and operate in the country under favorable conditions. though experts say that transforming Venezuela's oil industry would be a years-long multi-billion dollar effort. Meanwhile, the raid on Venezuela, which killed at least 80 people, including civilians, has drawn both celebration and sharp criticism in the region. To many conservatives in Latin America, the American military operation rescued Venezuela from a dictatorship. To many on the left, however, it was a sign that the U.S. is willing to invade, its southern neighbors for its own gain. Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay denounced the strike in a joint statement as a, quote, extremely dangerous precedent.

Trump suggested yesterday that the U.S. could take action against other countries next, including Colombia and Mexico. In Switzerland, managers of the bar were at least 40 people died in a New Year's Eve blaze have been placed under criminal investigation for allegations of negligence. Investigators said yesterday they believe the fire was caused by small fireworks in the bar's basement. Photos and videos show sparklers attached to champagne bottles being held in the air, igniting foam insulation covering the ceiling. Survivors told the times the flames spread quickly as people rushed for the exit in a sea of bodies.

officials are looking at how a narrow staircase out became a choke point. Many of those killed were teenagers or in their early 20s. The youngest was 14. In addition, more than 100 people were injured, with dozens who were critically burned flown to hospitals across Switzerland and to France and Italy. Fire safety experts say the available evidence of a crowded exit, fireworks, and flammable foam suggests the tragedy was avoidable. They said it appeared to involve the same kinds of safety lapses that caused other lethal blazes in crowded venues, like the 2003 blaze in a Rhode Island nightclub that killed roughly 100 people, and a 2013 fire in Brazil that killed more than 200.

When it comes to vaccines, public health experts are clear about the benefit. You take the shingles vaccine to avoid a painful bout of shingles. You take the RSV vaccine to avoid getting hospitalized with a respiratory infection. The flu shot, same thing. But for older people, studies show there's a growing list of other upsides to the shots. They're called off-target benefits, meaning the vaccinations do good things beyond preventing the illness that they're intended to head off. One recent analysis found reduced risks of dementia after some vaccination. vaccinations. Getting the flu shot in particular has been associated with lower risks of heart

attack and stroke. And some researchers are even investigating the effects of the COVID vaccine on cancer survival. Most hypotheses about why there may be off-target benefits center on inflammation. Inflammation happens when you're fighting an infection, and it can damage or stress your body. If you're not fighting off as many diseases, you may have less fallout from inflammation. There is a caveat to all of this research, and that is that most of the studies are subject to healthy volunteer bias. Basically, vaccinated patients may also practice other healthy habits that set them apart from those who don't get the shots. Currently, many older Americans have not gotten updated vaccinations. Data from the CDC shows that as of last month, only about

60% of older adults have gotten a flu shot and less than a third have gotten the most recent COVID vaccine. And finally, if the major players in the artificial intelligence boom are right, years from now, you could find yourself looking up at the night sky to see a data center floating up there, shining like a planet. The idea comes from some tech leader's concern that Earth might just not be big enough to house all the data centers that the industry is going to need. As AI has taken off, there's been a huge concern.

construction boom on the infrastructure to support it. But there have been a lot of limitations, too. In some locations, there may not be enough power for the centers. In others, nearby residents have raised concerns that they're driving up utility bills or worsening water shortages. All of that has some companies trying to get creative. Google is supposed to have test launches on a space data center project next year. The lowest cost way to do AI compute will be with solar-powered AI satellites. So I'd say not more than five years from now. And the biggest names in the field have pledged support for the idea. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Jensen Wong. That's the dream. Yes. That's the dream.

Right. The main benefit would be abundant power. The centers would have nearly 24-7 access to solar power up there. And the idea isn't entirely new. NASA talked about space data centers back in the 60s. But there are a lot of skeptics who say these grand plans aren't that feasible, at least not on a quick timeline. The costs right now are huge, and there is a lot about space,

like the radiation and the extreme cold at minus 455 degrees Fahrenheit that scientists still have to solve for. One former SpaceX executive told the times, the excitement is very of the moment, saying, quote, the hottest thing to invest in right now is AI, and the second hottest thing is space. Now they're converging. Those are the headlines.

I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.