Venezuela may be on the brink of civil war. What should we be doing?

International intervention in a country’s affairs almost always ends in conquest or civil war.

Far from bringing freedom and democracy to these countries, US intervention left all of them is chaos.

It would be mackerel stupid to believe that the international campaign to expel Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait in 1990 was undertaken, at vast expense in lives, treasure, and political-system capital, to defend democracy — or for what then passed, and still does, for democracy in the Middle East. There was other, far more lucrative skin in that game.

Investigators believe prisoners started the blaze that killed 68 people in one of the worst jail fires in Venezuela's history by setting some mattresses on fire, the country's chief prosecutor said.

Venezuela's constitutional assembly has ordered presidential elections by April 30 as the ruling socialist party seeks to consolidate its grip on power amid a worsening economic crisis.

Vitaly Mutko is now Russia's deputy prime minister, president of the Russian Football Union and the chairman of the organising committee for Russia 2018.

The European Union is banning arms sales to Venezuela and setting up a system to restrict travel and freeze assets of some Venezuelan officials to ramp up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

The news comes in response to an invitation from the Dominican Republic to explore the possibility of resuming talks on resolving the country's political upheaval.

Venezuela's high court has issued an arrest order for the ousted chief prosecutor's husband after authorities accused him of running a US$6m extortion ring.

US vice president Mike Pence is meeting people who have fled from Venezuela to Colombia as he seeks to draw attention to a deepening political crisis under Nicolas Maduro.

US vice president Mike Pence has tried to strike a balance between Latin American opposition to US military intervention in neighbouring Venezuela, and his boss Donald Trump's assertion that action is an option.

Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro is bloodthirsty and corrupt. Bernard-Henri Lévy asks why left-wing leaders in the West refuse to speak out against him

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

President Nicolas Maduro has vowed that anti-government fighters who attacked a Venezuelan army base will get the "maximum penalty" as his administration roots out his enemies.

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.

The official count of Venezuelans who participated in the election of an all-powerful constituent assembly was tampered with - off by at least one million votes - the head of a voting technology company said.

The US has hit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with financial sanctions after an election to rewrite the constitution.

A leading activist and an opposition candidate have been killed as voting gets underway in Venezuela for a controversial new assembly.

A few thousand protesters have attempted to reach Venezuela's Supreme Court before clashing with national guardsmen, who responded by launching tear gas.

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

Venezuelan opposition leaders have called for supporters to escalate street protests after more than 7.1 million people rejected a government plan to rewrite the constitution and consolidate its power.

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.            

A Venezuelan minister has denounced the international community for not condemning the actions of a helicopter pilot the government accuses of using gunfire and grenades to attack the Supreme Court and Interior Ministry.

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.

The US has slapped new sanctions on eight members of Venezuela's Supreme Court, accusing them of abusing power and damaging their nation's democratic fabric as the Trump administration raises concerns that socialist president Nicolas Maduro is moving toward one-party, authoritarian rule.

At least 12 people have been killed following looting and violence in Venezuela's capital amid a spiralling political crisis in the South American country.

Thousands of protesters demanding new elections have faced off with security forces who launched tear gas and stood shoulder-to-shoulder blocking roads in the Venezuelan capital.

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.

Some of the more unusual news from around the globe.

A Venezuelan supermarket chain that officials accuse of hoarding products will be brought into the state food distribution system.

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.

ENGLAND: Hapless jobseekers are using their CVs to boast that their “outside interests” include browsing Facebook, sleeping and watching TV, according to a new poll.

CONTROVERSY IN VENEZUELA OVER CHAVEZ PRAYER

A university student beauty queen was mourned yesterday in the provincial Venezuelan city where she was killed this week during a political protest.

The Venezuelan military planned to send additional troops to a border region where unrest has been particularly fierce, officials said.

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.

Venezuela’s president is ordering the expulsion of three US consular staff, accusing them of infiltrating the country’s universities.

Hundreds of Venezuelans paid their final respects to a popular actress whose killing in front of her five-year-old daughter has reignited debate about the nation’s rampant crime.