Bloomberg Oil prices edged up slightly on Thursday after being hammered the day before by data showing a sharp rise in US stockpiles, while analysts warned a pick-up in the dollar would add further downward pressure. Both main contracts plunged Wednesday after the US Energy Department said commercial inventories in the world’s top oil consumer edged up last week …

  Beirut / AFP Demonstrators crowded the streets on Thursday in a test of strength between Venezuela’s government and opponents seeking a referendum to remove President Nicolas Maduro, raising fears of violence. Thousands of protesters dressed in white marched in the east of the capital, waving signs reading “Change now” in what the opposition dubbed “The Taking of Caracas.” A rival …

  PRAGUE / AP The Czech Republic’s counter-intelligence agency says there’s a threat of a potential attack by radicals on Czech territory. The agency, known as BIS, says in its annual report published on Thursday that such a threat comes from militants linked to the IS group and also from the Nusra Front, Al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria. The announcement comes …