Venezuela Oppn sets new showdown for assembly's inauguration

Maduro faces mounting accusations at home and abroad of trampling on democracy with his "Constituent Assembly," elected Sunday in a vote boycotted by the opposition and allegedly marred by fraud. The 545-member assembly — whose members include Maduro's wife and son — was initially due to start work on Thursday. The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which holds a large majority in congress, had called for a major protest in Caracas on the same day. But the Leftist leader rescheduled the inauguration to Friday, vowing the assembly would open "in peace and calm." His opponents, too, then pushed back their protest. Venezuela is in the grips of four months of violent protests that have left more than 125 people dead as opposition demonstrators armed with stones and Molotov cocktails battle the security forces and armed motorcycle gangs of Maduro supporters. Despite the protests and international condemnation, Maduro insists the new assembly is the solution to a drawn-out economic and political crisis gripping Venezuela, whose oil-fueled socialist economic model has been driven to the brink of collapse by a plunge in global crude prices.