While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Jan 6, 2026

Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro pleads not guilty to US narcotics charges

Shackled at the ankles and dressed in prison garb, toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stood before a US judge on Jan 5 and declared he was still his country’s rightful leader as he faced charges that could put him behind bars for life.

“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro said through an interpreter, his voice rising before Judge Alvin Hellerstein cut him off.

The 63-year-old, captured days earlier in a dramatic US military raid, wore orange slippers, beige pants and layered black and orange shirts. He scribbled notes on a legal pad while lawyers discussed what promises to be a bruising legal fight.

He faces four US federal criminal counts that include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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Venezuelan Parliament swears in interim president after Maduro’s ouster

Venezuela’s Parliament swore in Delcy Rodriguez as interim president on Jan 5, two days after US forces seized her predecessor Nicolas Maduro to face trial in New York.

Ms Rodriguez, who has indicated she will cooperate with Washington, took the oath of office during a ceremony in the National Assembly, telling lawmakers she did so “in the name of all Venezuelans”.

She said she was “in pain over the kidnapping of our heroes, the hostages in the United States,” referring to Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who face drugs charges along with other Venezuelan officials.

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EU calls Grok’s sexualised AI photos ‘illegal,’ Britain demands answers

The European Commission said on Jan 5 that the images of undressed women and children being shared across Elon Musk's social media site X were unlawful and appalling, joining a growing chorus of officials across the world who have condemned the surge in nonconsensual imagery on the platform.

The condemnation follows reporting, including from Reuters, that X's built-in artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, was unleashing a flood of on-demand images of women and minors in extremely skimpy clothing - a functionality X has in the past referred to as "spicy mode."

The European Commission said it was "very aware" of the fact that X was offering a "spicy mode," spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters.

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US revises childhood vaccine schedule to recommend fewer shots

The United States on Jan 5 said it was revising its childhood immunisation schedule to recommend four fewer vaccines, a move it said aligns the country with other developed nations while also advancing one of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s long-term goals.

Acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jim O’Neill approved the updated guidelines, the Department of Health and Human Services said on Jan 5, a month after President Donald Trump called for reducing the number of vaccines in children’s schedules.

Vaccines for rotavirus, influenza, meningococcal disease, and hepatitis A have been moved to shared decision-making between parents and healthcare providers, HHS said.

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Israel to introduce electronic tagging in West Bank

The Israeli army said on Jan 5 it was introducing a new technological system to enforce movement restrictions in the occupied West Bank for both Israelis and Palestinians, in a move Israeli media said aims to rein in surging settler violence.

The decision allows security forces “to install a technological monitoring device on individuals subject to an administrative order restricting their movement within the (West Bank),” the army said in a statement.

The system would allow for monitoring of “violations of these restriction orders accordingly,” it added.

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