Venezuelan Prez Maduro sworn in

Caracas (Venezuela): Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in Friday to a third term despite credible evidence that his opponent won the latest election and following protests in the South American country and abroad against his increasingly repressive rule.

Maduro took the oath of office before the ruling party-controlled National Assembly a day after the political opposition’s most prominent leader reported she had been briefly detained by state security forces. The government swiftly denied the accusation, but the claim again drew global attention to Venezuela’s protracted political crisis.

The crisis escalated when electoral authorities aligned with the ruling party declared Maduro the winner on July 28, but withheld detailed vote counts. Meanwhile, the opposition collected data from over 80 per cent of voting machines, posting online results showing González had twice as many votes as Maduro.