Latest: Donald Trump has rejected a request from the Venezuelan president to speak with him on the phone.

Venezuela's ruling party has installed a new super assembly that supporters promise will bring peace to the country and critics fear will be a tool for imposing dictatorship.

Manipulation or even outright control of the media cannot explain the enduring popularity, borne out by opinion polls, of illiberal leaders, writes Daniel Gros.

Irish union official Adrian Kane was one of the international observers invited to Venezuela by the National Electoral Council for this weekend’s poll. He tells the Irish Examiner of what he saw in the troubled South American state.

A nationwide strike against plans to rewrite the constitution shut down much of Venezuelan's capital before erupting into violence that left at least two young men dead.

As the protest death toll tops 115, many in Venezuela are wondering how much longer their country must suffer violence and misrule, write Anne-Marie Slaughter and Fabiana Perera

The ruling clique is prolonging the agony by rejecting a democratic transition. The desperate, and repressed Venezuelan people deserve their country back, writes Enrique ter Horst.            

Venezuela's president has said a stolen police helicopter fired on the country's Supreme Court in what he called a thwarted "terrorist attack" aimed at ousting him from power.

This book is not just another book explaining why we do not speak our own language, and why we should, and how we might. 

The former Exxon Mobil oil giant boss has more influence than most presidents and knows how to cut a deal. He would be an able secretary of state, says Amir Handjani

The word “populism” was everywhere in 2016. Political leaders claiming to speak for the people have achieved significant victories in Europe, Asia, and, with the election of Donald Trump, the United States, writes Margaret Macmillan.

If Dilma Rousseff is impeached, she will be the 18th elected Latin American president since 1985, excluding Haiti, forced to leave office by means other than the ballot box, says Gretchen Helmke.

Brent crude hit an 11-year low of $36.20 this week, in part because Opec has ceased to function.

Ecstatic opposition leaders vowed to use their new majority in Venezuela’s legislature to free jailed opponents of the Socialist government, but also said they would not move to dismantle popular welfare policies.

Venezuela’s opposition has won control of the National Assembly by a landslide, delivering a major setback to the ruling party and altering the balance of power after 17 years of socialist rule.

People in Venezuela took to the polls yesterday in what seems to have become a tightening race for control of the country’s national legislature.

MALTA: An Italian couple ran out onto the tarmac of Malta’s international airport to stop a Ryanair jet from leaving for Italy without them, a Maltese court heard.

Some of the more unusual news from around the globe.

Venezuela’s economy is struggling to emerge from a deep recession but President Nicolas Maduro said the crisis engulfing the oil-rich nation could have been a lot worse.

JUST as our personal virtues, over time, become our vices, so, too, our national advantages, over time, can become disadvantages.

The Venezuelan government has started to fingerprint shoppers at some state-run supermarkets in a plan to combat food scarcity.

CONTROVERSY IN VENEZUELA OVER CHAVEZ PRAYER

Arial, Times New Roman ... and now the ‘Hugo Chavez’ font

ENGLAND: When David Yarrow was sent to the heart of Africa to photograph lions in the wild, he spiced up the job with the help of some aftershave.

Held at a military jail, opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez waited to learn if he will be charged for violence that has erupted during protests in Venezuela.

Books for grown-ups

Ohio man pops the question with pumpkins

Ohio man pops the question with pumpkins

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is known for his devotion to late leader Hugo Chavez – and admits he sometimes sleeps in the mausoleum where his mentor’s remains are kept.

A plane carrying Bolivian president Evo Morales was rerouted to Austria after France and Portugal refused to let it cross their airspace because of suspicions that CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board.

Whistelblower Edward Snowden has apparently not caught the Cuban-bound flight he was due to leave Moscow on today.

Ecuador’s government is considering an asylum request from Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor wanted for revealing secrets.

Colombia and leftist FARC rebels have reached a deal on land reform, one of the most contentious items in negotiations aimed at ending five decades of insurgency.

Late socialist leader Hugo Chávez’s chosen successor Nicolas Maduro won Venezuela’s presidential election by a whisker, but faces opposition protests plus a host of economic and political challenges in the Opec nation.

Defeated opposition candidate Henrique Capriles has demanded a recount after he was beaten by Hugo Chavez’s hand-picked successor as president in a razor-thin election battle today.

Venezuela’s acting president Nicolas Maduro said his mentor Hugo Chavez had fought for his life “until the last second” and called for a probe into the leader’s death.

WHEN you think about it, the really surprising thing is how surprised we all were.

It is undoubtedly true that Hugo Chávez changed for the better the lives of millions of the most deprived people in Venezuela — his mass support being testament to that.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles has launched his bid to succeed Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president, despite the objections of the opposition who said the move violated the country’s constitution.

From Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Cuba’s Raul Castro, about 30 heads of state joined the funeral of Hugo Chávez in a last goodbye to the charismatic but divisive Venezuelan leader who changed the face of politics in South America.