Sunday newspaper round-up: Maduro in US custody, Starmer denies involvement, North Korean missile launch, Syrian missile strike, Iran criticises Trump, electrical equipment shortage

(Sharecast News) - Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is in US custody after being seized by American forces in an operation the Trump administration claims now leaves Washington effectively running his government, The Times reported. A Boeing aircraft carrying Maduro and his wife landed at Stewart Air National Guard Base less than a day after he was taken from his compound in Caracas by US Delta Force personnel. President Trump described the operation as a show of force not seen "since World War Two". Prime minister Keir Starmer said the UK had no involvement in the US operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, according to The Guardian. Starmer said he had not spoken to Donald Trump and that the government was working to establish "the facts" of the fast‑moving situation. He added that officials were liaising with the British embassy in Caracas to support the roughly 500 UK nationals in the country.

North Korea launched several ballistic missiles towards the sea early on Sunday, hours before South Korea's president was due to travel to China for talks expected to include Pyongyang's nuclear programme, The Guardian reported. South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said the missiles were fired from the capital region around 0750 KST and travelled roughly 900km, with Seoul and Washington analysing the details.

RAF Typhoons and French aircraft carried out a joint strike on an underground facility in Syria previously occupied by Islamic State, the Ministry of Defence said, according to The Telegraph. Guided bombs targeted access tunnels at the site, located in mountainous terrain near Palmyra, on Saturday evening. The MoD said the facility was likely used to store weapons and explosives and was situated in an area without civilian presence.

Iran's foreign minister has criticised Donald Trump's warning that the US would intervene if peaceful protesters in Iran were killed, describing the remarks as "reckless and dangerous", The Independent reported. Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US was "locked and loaded and ready to go" if Iran "shots [sic] and violently kills" demonstrators. The paper noted that previous US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites under Trump prompted retaliatory attacks on a US base in Qatar. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the country's armed forces were on standby and "know exactly where to aim" if attacked.

A shortage of key electrical equipment risks undermining the UK's push to deliver clean electricity by 2030, Hitachi has warned, The Telegraph reported. Laura Fleming, the company's UK managing director, said unprecedented demand for power infrastructure, combined with shortages of raw materials and skilled labour, could leave operators unable to expand the grid at the required pace to meet Ed Miliband's net‑zero ambitions.