Whether four oil tankers in the Gulf were attacked by Iran or whether the incident was orchestrated by the US, both should desist for the sake of peace, says John Andrews.

After a brief ceremony in Tokyo today, Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan, will become emperor and ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne.

It appeared to be a confrontation between humanitarianism and military force.

Protesters carrying coffins draped with the flags of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan have gathered outside Leinster House to urge Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to tell US president Donald Trump to stop invading other countries amid talk of a Venezuelan intervention.

These shipments are rarely just about saving lives, writes Morten Wendelbo.

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

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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

THE Trump White House may be the most spectacular and worrying example of what happens when we take democracy for granted.

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

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.

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.

CONTROVERSY IN VENEZUELA OVER CHAVEZ PRAYER

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

Former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden has not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela, the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said after a Russian lawmaker posted a statement to that effect on Twitter and then deleted it.

Presidents Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela said today they were willing to grant asylum to US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden.

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.

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.

World leaders, athletes and left-wing celebrities gathered at a music-filled state funeral honouring Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez today, with multitudes waiting outside the venue.

Venezuela’s opposition says it will not attend the swearing-in of Hugo Chavez’s anointed successor as interim president.

Nicolas Maduro will be sworn in as acting president of Venezuela today after a state funeral is held for Hugo Chavez.

President Hugo Chavez died of a heart attack after great suffering and inaudibly mouthed his desire to live, said the head of Venezuela’s presidential guard.

Venezuela’s acting president has said Hugo Chavez’s embalmed body will be permanently displayed in a glass casket so that “his people will always have him”.

Some marked Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez’s death with tears; others with cheers.

Venezuela’s government has revealed for the first time that President Hugo Chavez has been receiving chemotherapy as he “continues his battle for life”.

Allies of cancer-stricken president Hugo Chavez on Saturday chose to keep the same National Assembly president — a man who could be in line to step in as a caretaker leader in some circumstances.