Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has begun a second term with the economy in ruins and his regime more isolated than ever as regional leaders declared his re-election illegitimate and shunned his inauguration.
The 56-year-old socialist leader was sworn in on Thursday by Supreme Court president Maikel Moreno as an audience of hundreds, including a handful of South American leftist leaders and Venezuela's military top brass, cheered and applauded.
"I swear on behalf of the people of Venezuela … I swear on my life," Mr Maduro said solemnly as he took the oath of office for his second six-year term.
After donning the presidential sash – as well as a ceremonial gold chain bearing the key to the sarcophagus containing the remains of Venezuela's revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar – an ebullient Mr Maduro turned to salute the crowd with a V-sign.
He was re-elected last May in an election boycotted by the majority of the opposition and dismissed as a fraud by the United States, European Union and Organisation of American States.
Even as he was sworn in, the United States said it would not recognise him, and vowed to increase the pressure on his regime.
"The US will not recognise the Maduro dictatorship's illegitimate inauguration," national security adviser John Bolton tweeted.
In a special session in Washington, the Organisation of American States similarly backed a resolution declaring Mr Maduro's government illegitimate.
"Venezuela is the centre of a world war with US imperialism and its satellite governments," the socialist leader retorted in a rambling speech which lasted about two hours.
Mr Maduro also demanded "respect" from the EU, accusing the bloc of "old colonialism" and "old racism" after it said on Thursday that he "lacked any credibility".
The president arrived at the court building serenaded by a choir singing patriotic songs. He blew kisses at a welcoming party of children waving Venezuelan flags, and saluted supporters looking down from the building's multi-tiered galleries.
With the exception of Mexico, the Lima Group – made up of 14 mostly Latin American countries – has urged Mr Maduro to renounce his second term and deliver power to parliament.
Mr Maduro used his speech to call for a summit of Latin American leaders to discuss "with an open agenda all the issues that need to be discussed, face to face!"
Neither the EU nor the Lima Group sent a representative to the inauguration, with Lima Group member Paraguay announcing immediately after the ceremony that it was breaking off diplomatic relations with Venezuela. Peru branded it a "dictatorship".
Leftist presidents Miguel Diaz-Canel of Cuba, Evo Morales of Bolivia, El Salvador's Salvador Sanchez Ceren and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega were present for the inauguration, as were representatives of Russia, China and Turkey. Mexico sent a low-level diplomat.
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Read more:
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A former bus driver and union leader, Mr Maduro is the hand-picked successor of the late leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez.
He has gained control of virtually all of Venezuela's political institutions and enjoys the support of the military.
But his first term saw an exodus of millions of people escaping economic meltdown. The UN has said more than five million will have fled by the end of this year.
The International Monetary Fund predicts that Venezuela's economy will shrink by 5 per cent next year, with inflation – which reached 1.35 million per cent in 2018 – hitting a staggering 10 million per cent.
Mr Maduro says he feels stronger and more legitimate than ever, but many citizens blame him for Venezuela's economic woes, which have left much of the population living in poverty with shortages of basic foods and medicines.
"This is going to lengthen the agony we have lived through in recent years, everything has seriously deteriorated, basic goods and services are becoming more and more unattainable," said Mabel Castillo, 38.
Thursday's ceremony took place in the Supreme Court rather than the sidelined, opposition-controlled parliament, which has refused to recognise Mr Maduro.
Instead, the parliament on Thursday called on the army, Mr Maduro's bedrock, to formally disavow the president.
While the opposition has tried to dislodge Mr Maduro, it remains fractured, having launched a failed bid in March 2016 for a recall referendum aimed at removing the president from office before the end of his term.
Many prominent opposition figures are either in jail or exile and various factions continue to squabble over power while the National Assembly, the one institution they control, has been left impotent after Mr Maduro created the rival Constituent Assembly and filled the Supreme Court with loyalists who annul every decision made by parliament.
Mr Maduro claims US and EU sanctions cost the country US$20 billion (Dh73bn) in 2018. The opposition says the government's control of foreign exchange, in place since 2003, has generated $300bn in illicit gains.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Seoul from Dh3,775 return, including taxes
The package
Ski Safari offers a seven-night ski package to Korea, including five nights at the Dragon Valley Hotel in Yongpyong and two nights at Seoul CenterMark hotel, from £720 (Dh3,488) per person, including transfers, based on two travelling in January
The info
Visit www.gokorea.co.uk
FORSPOKEN
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Starfield
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Company%20profile
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Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff
By Sean Penn
Simon & Schuster
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Superliminal%20
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5