US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a television interview on Wednesday that the United States was prepared to take military action to stem the ongoing turmoil in Venezuela.
"Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Mr Pompeo said in an interview with Fox Business Network, but added that the United States would prefer a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela.
He said he would speak to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday as tensions rise over the crisis in the country. On Tuesday, he accused Russia of intervening when Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was prepared to leave the country in the face of a call for an uprising by opposition leader Juan Guaido.
Venezuelans were expected to take to the streets on Wednesday for what Mr Guaido pledged would be the "largest march" in the country's history, a day after he called for the military to remove Mr Maduro.
In his boldest effort yet to gain the support of the armed forces, Mr Guaido appeared early on Tuesday morning outside a Caracas air force base with dozens of National Guard members. That triggered a day of violent protests, leaving more than 100 injured but without any concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership.
"We know that Maduro does not have the backing or the respect of the armed forces," Mr Guaido said in a video message posted to his social media accounts on Tuesday evening. "We have seen that protest yields results. We should keep up the pressure."
Whether the protest turnout meets those lofty hopes will provide a key test, as some supporters grow frustrated that Mr Maduro remains in office more than three months after Mr Guaido – who leads the opposition-controlled National Assembly – invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing Mr Maduro's May 2018 re-election was illegitimate.
While Mr Guaido earned the backing of the US and most western countries, the armed forces have stood by Mr Maduro, who retains the support of allies such as Russia, China and Cuba. That has frustrated Mr Guaido's bid to assume the day-to-day functions of government on an interim basis – which he says would be a prelude to calling new elections.
Venezuelan living standards have declined even further in the first several months of the year, with a series of blackouts and water shortages adding to hyperinflation and chronic shortages of food and medicine that have prompted millions to emigrate.
"I hope this will be the last time we have to take to the streets," said Claudia Riveros, a 36-year-old bakery worker carrying a Venezuelan flag during Tuesday's protest. "I want to see the end of this usurping government."
Mr Maduro, a socialist who calls Mr Guaido a US puppet seeking to orchestrate a coup against him, has also called on supporters to march on Wednesday.
"Tomorrow, the first of May, we will have a large, millions-strong march of the working class," Mr Maduro said in a Tuesday night television address. "We have been confronting different types of aggression and attempted coups never before seen in our history."
Mr Guaido's choice of International Workers' Day for a major march comes as he is making appeals to union leaders and public workers, a traditional base of support for Maduro and his predecessor and mentor, the late president Hugo Chavez.
"If he does get some degree of participation from labour movements, then that can be an additional feather in his cap," said Risa Grais-Targow, the Latin America director at Eurasia Group in Washington, adding that the march would be "a significant barometer of his support and capacity to mobilise."
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
RESULTS
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