Caracas / AFP Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro can pass his 2017 budget without the approval of the opposition-majority legislature, the Supreme Court ruled, triggering an outcry from the leftist leader’s opponents. Maduro and the National Assembly have been at each other’s throats since the center-right opposition took control of the legislature in January, ending the left’s 17-year monopoly on …

  Berlin / AFP Germany’s top court on Thursday gave the government the go-ahead to approve a planned EU-Canada free trade deal, in a setback for activists who had sought to block the agreement. The Constitutional Court did set certain conditions however, stipulating that Germany may only commit to the so-called CETA deal if it wins assurances that it can …

  Brussels / AFP The EU misspent 5.5 billion euros ($6 billion) in 2015, the bloc’s financial watchdog said Thursday, warning that Brussels needed to regain the trust of European citizens shaken by Brexit and other crises. Badly spent funds went on paying overcharged personnel costs for developing cloud computing services, it said. Another example included aid earmarked for small- …