VENEZUELA OPPOSITION RENEWS ASSAULT AGAINST PRESIDENT
CARACAS: Venezuelan opposition lawmakers on Monday renewed assaults against President Nicolas Maduro saying that he has effectively “abandoned his post” by failing to stem the “economic devastation” in the oil- rich country. The opposition blames Maduro for an “unprecedented economic crisis” that has prompted deadly riots and looting amid shortages of food and medicine. However, the Supreme Court, which has consistently sided with Maduro, was expected to overrule the motion. It has stated that “the National Assembly is not qualified to remove the president.”
AFRICAN LEADERS UP PRESSURE AS JAMMEH FACES ISOLATION
BANJUL, Gambia: West African leaders announced they would return to The Gambia this week to try and persuade President Yahya Jammeh to step down, but said the use of force remains an option. “Violence should be avoided but nothing is ruled out,” Nigeria’s foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama said. There are worries in The Gambia over worsening security, a potential refugee crisis and a media crackdown that has taken several radio stations off air. The mandate for Jammeh’s five-year term expires on January 18, after which president-elect Adama Barrow is supposed to take power. But the strongman, in power for 22 years, has vowed to stay in office until a dispute over the election result is resolved, despite becoming increasingly isolated at home and abroad.
DEEP FREEZE CLAIMS SIX MORE VICTIMS IN POLAND
WARSAW: Six people died in Poland over a 24-hour period as temperatures plunged across Europe, bringing the toll of hypothermia deaths in the country to 71 since November, authorities said Tuesday.Police urged people to aid those most vulnerable to hypothermia, especially the homeless, as the mercury sank to below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) in some regions. Local authorities have also issued smog alerts across Poland urging the children and the elderly to remain indoors as coal and waste-fired home furnaces drove up air pollution to the highest levels recorded in years. A deep freeze sweeping across Europe has left at least 40 dead since the weekend, many of them migrants or homeless people.