PRESIDENT HIKES MINIMUM WAGE, GIVES AWAY FREE HOMES

CARACAS Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is hiking salaries and handing out free homes as he tries to counter a strengthening protest movement calling for his removal.

Maduro said on his Sunday TV show that the minimum wage will rise 60 per cent starting May 1. Workers will earn at least 200,000 bolivars per month including food subsidies, or less than US$50 at the black market exchange rate. It’s the third wage increase this year amid triple-digit inflation.

The president also watched as authorities in several states also handed over keys to hundreds of new apartments.