WORLD Radio News - WORLD Radio News: 1-5-26 (3/3)

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

The latest headlines in three minutes from WORLD updated three times throughout the day.Sign-up for the daily Sift email at thesift.org.Support sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth at wng.org/donate.

With World Radio News, I'm Kent Covington. Former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maruro pleaded not guilty Monday in a New York courtroom to U.S. drug trafficking charges. Speaking through a translator, he told the judge, quote, I was captured, insisting he is Venezuela's rightfully elected president before being cut off. Maruro and his wife entered the courthouse under heavy guard two days after U.S. forces seized them in a weekend military operation at a Venezuelan military. base near Caracas. The FBI took part in that operation, and FBI director Cash Patel said Maduro was running a criminal regime. Venezuela acted not only as a large and massive transshipment point by air and by sea, but also allowed drug traffickers to operate with reckless abandoned inside their borders, and their direct target of deployment was the United States of America in

large part. Prosecutors accused the former dictator of working with drug cartels to move large amounts of cocaine into the United States. Maduro's lawyers argued the arrest was illegal. In Ukraine, first responders worked to evacuate the injured today at a medical facility in Kiev. Officials say one person was killed and three others were injured after a Russian strike on the center. Meantime, in Washington. I don't believe that strike happened. President Trump is casting doubt on previous claims from Russian leader Vladimir Putin

that Ukraine targeted his residence with a drone strike. There is something that happened fairly nearby, but it had nothing to do with this. Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has consistently denied the attack. Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, is pulling the plug on his 2026 re-election campaign. That, as investigators uncover more and more state funding fraud, among predominantly Somali groups, Waltz announced the withdrawal on Monday. Every minute that I spend defending my own political interest would be, a minute I can't spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who pray

on our generosity and the cynics who want to prey on our differences. His withdrawal comes weeks after an independent journalist exposed more alleged fraud within the state. A Paris court has convicted 10 people of cyberbullying Bridget Macron, France's first lady, for spreading false online claims about her gender, among other things. Judges called the comments degrading and malicious. One defendant received a six-month prison sentence, while others were given suspended sentences and ordered to attend cyberbullying awareness training.

The case centered on conspiracy theories falsely claiming Macron is transgender and calling her a pedophile over the large age gap in her marriage to President Emmanuel Macron. For World Radio, I'm Kent Covington. For more sound journalism grounded in facts in biblical truth, visit world radio.com. Thank you.