Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

Osted Venezuela and President Nicolas Maduro and his wife made their first appearance in U.S. Federal Court today.

They each pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges against them.

Here's NPR's Ryan Lucas.

Nicolas Maduro faces narcoterrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and

weapons charges. His wife, Celia Flores, faces three of those same counts. At a hearing in

federal court in Manhattan, both Maduro and Flores entered pleas of not guilty. During the

proceedings, Maduro introduced himself as the president of Venezuela and a prisoner of war.

The first court appearance comes two days after U.S. military operation captured the couple in the heart of Venezuela's capital, Caracas, and took them to New York to face trial.

U.S. prosecutors alleged Maduro presided over a large-scale drug trafficking operation, working hand-in-hand with drug cartels to ship tons of cocaine to the United States.

Ryan Lucas and PR News, Washington.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, is dropping his re-election campaign for a third term.

The Democratic Party's 2024 vice presidential nominee said today, he needs to focus his energy on

investigating alleged fraud in the state's child care programs, rather than fighting battles with

Republicans he accuses of politicizing the allegations at the expense of Minnesotans.

We've got conspiracy theorist right-wing YouTubers breaking into our daycares,

demanding access to our children. We've got the President of the United States, demonizing our

Somali neighbors, and wrongfully confiscating funds that Minnesotans rely on.

Late last month, a right-wing media influencer posted a video that went viral to expose

what he described as evidence of fraud at Somali-American-run daycare facilities in Minnesota.

The Trump administration froze federal funding of child care centers across the country.

Secretary of Defense Pete Heeth, is taking administrative action

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