30/03/2026

MONDAY | MAR 30, 2026

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Maduro thanks supporters from US prison

CARACAS: Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, captured by US forces in a nighttime raid in January, said on Saturday that they feel “steadfast” and “serene” in their first social media post from prison. Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail for almost three months, after American commandos snatched the pair from their compound in Caracas, and they have reportedly been without access to the internet or newspapers. “We are well, steadfast, serene and in constant prayer,” the pair said in a message shared on Maduro’s X account, though it was unclear who Ousted TEHRAN: Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said yesterday that the United States was plotting a ground attack despite publicly engaging in diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war. “The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground attack,” Ghalibaf said in a statement. “Our men are waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional allies once and for all,” he said. Washington has dispatched thousands of Marines to the Middle East. The first of two contingents arrived on Friday on an amphibious assault ship, the US military said on Saturday. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that US officials said the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, possibly involving raids by Special Operations and infantry troops. Reuters has reported the Pentagon was considering military operations that could include deploying ground troops in Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday the US could achieve its aims without ground troops but that it was deploying some to the region so Trump would have “maximum” flexibility to adjust strategy. The Pentagon was also expected to deploy thousands of soldiers from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. Pakistan, a potential mediator between Washington and Tehran, is hosting two days of talks with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt, seeking ways to ease regional tensions, a day after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The Israeli military said yesterday it had targeted Tehran’s weapons manufacturing infrastructure, including dozens of storage and production sites the day before. Five people were killed in a strike on a pier in the o Pentagon deploys infantry, marines

Delcy Rodriguez, who had been Maduro’s vice-president since 2018, is now at the helm and grappling with leading a country saddled with the world’s largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles. Since Maduro’s ouster, Rodriguez has enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed during his tenure and reformed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country’s vast natural wealth. This month, the State Department said it was restoring diplomatic ties with Venezuela in a sign of thawing relations. – AFP LONDON: A man has been arrested after seven people were injured when a car hit pedestrians in the central English city of Derby on Saturday night, police said yesterday, adding the force was“keeping an open mind” about the motive. All seven people suffered serious but not life threatening injuries and were treated at the scene before being taken to hospital. Police said officers stopped the vehicle believed to be involved shortly after the incident and arrested the driver, a man in his 30s, who remains in custody. The man, originally from India, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and dangerous driving. – Reuters UK PROTESTERS MARCH AGAINST FAR RIGHT LONDON: Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of central London on Saturday for a “March to Stop the Far Right” with many demonstrators decrying the right-wing Reform UK party of Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, which is topping opinion polls. Backed by trade unions and civil society groups, the Together Alliance demonstration was attended by an estimated 50,000 people, according to police officials. As well as placards opposing Reform UK and its anti-immigration stance, some Iranian flags were held aloft along with pro-Palestinian flags and banners. Reform leads the Labour Party of Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as the other traditional British political parties, according to opinion polls. Zach Polanski, leader of the Green Party, which is also challenging Labour, joined Saturday’s march. – Reuters ALGERIAN EX-PRESIDENT LIAMINE ZEROUAL DIES ALGIERS: Algeria announced three days of national mourning yesterday after the death of 84-year-old Liamine Zeroual, the former soldier who served as the country’s president from 1994 to 1999. Born on July 3, 1941 in the eastern city of Batna, Zeroual served in Algeria’s National Liberation Army, which fought for independence from French rule. After leading a transitional administration during a later civil war, Zeroual organised the country’s first multi party presidential election in 1995, winning by a wide margin. In 1998, however, he unexpectedly cut short his five-year term, making way for Abdelaziz Bouteflika to succeed him and run the country for 20 years. Algeria’s presidency said he had died at a military hospital in Algiers after a serious illness and that flags would fly at half-mast across the country. – AFP CAR MOWS DOWN PEDESTRIANS, 7 HURT

motion over Maduro and his wife’s apparent inability to afford their legal bill without aid from the Venezuelan government. Neither spoke during the court appearance. Maduro has pleaded not guilty to charges of “narco-terrorism” conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. The January operation deposed Maduro, who had led Venezuela since 2013, forcing the oil-rich country to largely bend to US President Donald Trump’s will.

for a maximum of 15 minutes per call, the source said. His son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, known as “Nicolasito”, has said in public appearances that his father is well, calm, and even exercising in prison. Maduro, who has declared himself a “prisoner of war”, had not spoken since being arraigned in New York on Jan 5. “We feel a deep admiration for our people’s ability to remain united in difficult times, to express love, awareness, and solidarity, within Venezuela and beyond our borders,” the couple said in Saturday’s post. During a one-hour hearing on Thursday, the judge rejected a defence

made the post on their behalf. “We have received your communications, your messages, your emails, your letters and your prayers. Every word of love, every gesture of affection, every expression of support fills our souls and strengthens us spiritually.” A source close to the Venezuelan government told AFP that Maduro reads the Bible and is referred to as “president” by some of his fellow detainees in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre, a federal prison known for unsanitary conditions. He is only allowed to communicate by phone with his family and lawyers

Iran ready for ground assault

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Israeli security forces at the site of a strike in Eshtaol, near Beit Shemesh in central Israel, on Saturday. – AFPPIC

saying he had reported on locations of Israeli soldiers. Early yesterday it said one of its soldiers had been killed during combat in Lebanon. Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and several Gulf states. Air defences shot down a drone near the residence of the leader aof the Iraqi Kurdish ruling party, Masoud Barzani, in Erbil, security sources told Reuters early yesterday. Security sources said on Saturday that another drone attack had targeted the home of the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The Houthis carried out a second strike on Israel, said Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree, vowing more to come. The attacks point to a potential new threat to global shipping, already hit by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis have shown an ability to strike targets far beyond Yemen and disrupt shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, as they did in support of Hamas in the Gaza war. – AFP/Reuters

A Lebanese police officer inspecting the car of journalists Al Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, and Al Manar reporter Ali Shaib on Saturday. – REUTERSPIC

Manar TV reported, as well as a Lebanese soldier. A follow-up strike on the rescue workers sent to assist them also caused fatalities. Israel’s military said it had targeted one of the journalists, accusing him of being part of a Hezbollah intelligence unit and

southern port city of Bandar-e Khamir that also destroyed two vessels, Iranian state media reported. Israel also hit targets in Lebanon, resuming its war against Hezbollah, killing three Lebanese journalists in a strike on a media vehicle, Lebanon’s Al