The lawyer for deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro says the United States is blocking funding for the cost of defending himself against drug trafficking charges.

A federal judge has rejected attorney Bruce Fein's bid to join the legal team representing former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro against charges in a long running drug conspiracy.

Nicolás Maduro’s first court hearing — a heavily secured spectacle where he proclaimed he is still Venezuela’s president and pleaded “soy inocente” — was merely the beginning of a legal odyssey that could keep him locked up and out of power for years, maybe even the rest of his life.

Stella Assange has thanked the spectrum of lawmakers who campaigned for her husband, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to be freed.