Politics

  Caracas / AFP Venezuela’s opposition held new protests, seeking to convert widespread anger over food shortages and economic havoc into pressure for a referendum on removing embattled President Nicolas Maduro. Clad in the red, yellow and blue of the Venezuelan flag, hundreds of opposition supporters rallied on a square in eastern Caracas, brandishing messages aimed at the allegedly pro-Maduro ...

  Los Angeles / AFP Hillary Clinton stands poised to claim the Democratic mantle with Tuesday’s primaries including California, overwhelming her rival Bernie Sanders and setting up a historic US presidential election showdown with Republican Donald Trump. The frontrunner is all but assured of locking in her party’s nomination, a monumental step towards fulfilling a dream of returning to the White ...

  Sydney / AFP Wild weather which has smashed into Australia’s east coast and whipped up giant waves on Sydney beaches has left at least three people dead and others missing, police said on Monday as the clean-up began. Ferocious storms pounded the coast over the weekend, causing flooding in New South Wales while huge seas resulted in coastal erosion, ...

  Sydney / AFP Australia’s election campaign took a personal turn on Monday, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull telling voters how his father raised him alone after his mother walked out. The multi-millionaire from Sydney’s wealthy eastern suburbs posted an emotional online video tribute to his late father Bruce, saying: “I wouldn’t be where I am today without my dad.” ...

  Washington / AFP President Barack Obama welcomes India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House this week in a low-key nod to the improved ties between the world’s biggest democracies. That the pair would get along was not a given: When Obama came to office in 2009, the Hindu nationalist was banned from entering the United States over ...

  Xalapa / AFP Mexico’s ruling PRI party was trailing early Monday in key races for governor in elections considered as a test for its hopes of retaining the presidency in 2018. Results trickled in slowly late into the night in 12 states, out of 32, that voted on Sunday for new governors following an election day marked by incidents ...

  Berlin / AFP German President Joachim Gauck was expected to reveal on Monday that he will not stand for a second term, creating a political headache for Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of an election year. The popular Gauck, 76, who has held the largely ceremonial post of head of state since 2012, will give a statement at Berlin’s Bellevue ...

  Beijing / AFP President Xi Jinping said China and the US needed to trust each other more as both sides sought to minimise tensions over the South China Sea at the opening on Monday of key annual talks in Beijing. China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea despite competing claims by several Southeast Asian neighbours, and has ...

  Nairobi / AFP A Burundian journalist was arrested over the weekend and handed over to the dreaded secret service, witnesses and his colleagues said on Monday, expressing fears over his well-being. Egide Ndayisenga from Bonisha FM, a leading radio station, was arrested on Sunday morning in the northwestern city of Cibitoke, a witness said. “He was visiting friends,” the ...

  ANKARA / AP A bus carrying schoolchildren, teachers and parents has plunged into an irrigation canal in southern Turkey, killing 14 people — six of them children, officials and reports said on Monday. Twenty-six other people were injured in the accident which occurred late Sunday as the bus was returning from a school trip to a national park and ...