World News Roundup: Venezuela, Socialists snatch congress from Guaido; Students, clash broke out in India's capital and more

 

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Venezuela Socialists snatch congress from Guaido, opposition denounces coup

Venezuela's government on Sunday used troops to block lawmakers from re-electing opposition leader Juan Guaido as Congress chief, allowing the ruling Socialist Party to hand the post to a lawmaker recently expelled from the opposition. The gambit was dismissed as a sham by opposition leaders and an official in Washington, who accused President Nicolas Maduro of snatching control of congress - the only major state institution not controlled by his allies.

Students, the youth wing of pro-ruling party outfit clash in India's capital

Clashes broke out late on Sunday between students of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who were protesting against a fee hike, and youth wing members of a group closely tied to India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), injuring over a dozen people, witnesses and officials said. Sahiba Mazid, who spoke by telephone from inside one of the university hostels, said many men wearing masks and carrying batons had entered the hostel.

Rain brings brief respite in Australian bushfire crisis

A second day of light rain brought relief for firefighters battling bushfires that have killed 24 people across southeastern Australia, but hot, windy conditions are expected to return later in the week, officials warned on Monday. Sooty rain came down all along the coast, from Sydney all the way to Melbourne, with temperatures much lower in the low 20s Celsius (low 70s Fahrenheit), down from nearly 40 degrees C (104F) in some areas over the weekend.

Nigerian police on heightened alert after U.S. killing of Iranian commander

Nigerian police have been placed on a heightened state of alert after the U.S. killing of a top Iranian military commander in Iraq sparked fears of public disturbances in the West African country, the police said on Sunday. Qassem Soleimani was killed on Friday in a U.S. drone strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport. The attack has prompted concern of ramping tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

Croatia's former PM Milanovic wins presidential vote

Former Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, candidate of the top opposition party the Social Democrats, will be Croatia's next president, the results of the presidential election showed on Sunday. In the second and final round of the election, Milanovic won 52.7% of votes, while the incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, candidate of the ruling center-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) garnered 47.3% of the votes.

Taiwan election is make or break for fleeing Hong Kong protesters

A small but growing number of Hong Kong protesters who fled to Taiwan for safety over the past few months fear an opposition victory in the island's election this week will put them in peril and force them to leave. The mostly young men and women who came to Taiwan after taking part in increasingly violent protests in support of democracy in Hong Kong have no legal way to gain permanent asylum, but President Tsai Ing-wen's broadly sympathetic government has allowed about 60 of them to temporarily extend their stay.

Angola and Congo tell dos Santos to cooperate with justice after asset freeze

The presidents of Angola and Congo said on Sunday Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of Angola's previous leader, and her Congolese husband Sindika Dokolo should cooperate with the justice system after their assets were frozen. In a statement, the presidents said the best way forward for dos Santos and Dokolo, as well as Mario Leite da Silva, chairman of Banco de Fomento Angola (BFA), was "maximum cooperation with the competent authorities of the state and the Angolan court".

Iraq wants foreign troops out after airstrike; U.S. urges leaders to reconsider

Iraq's parliament called on Sunday for U.S. and other foreign troops to leave amid a growing backlash against the U.S. killing of a top Iranian military commander that has heightened fears of a wider Middle East conflict. In a war of words between Iran and the United States, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would target any Iranian decision-makers it chose if there were further attacks on U.S. interests by Iranian forces or their proxies.

Iran says no limits on enrichment, stepping further from 2015 deal: TV

Iran announced on Sunday it would abandon limitations on enriching uranium, taking a further step back from commitments to a 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers, but it would continue to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Iran had been expected to announce its latest stance on the deal this weekend. But its announcement coincided with a major escalation of hostilities with Washington following the U.S. killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike on Friday in Baghdad.

Three Americans killed in al Shabaab militant attack on base in Kenya

Three Americans - one U.S. military servicemember and two contractors - were killed by Somalia's al Shabaab militant group during an attack on Sunday on a military base in Kenya used by both U.S. and Kenyan forces, the U.S. military said. The military's Africa Command confirmed the deaths and said two other Americans who work for the U.S. Department of Defense were also wounded in the attack on the Manda Bay Airfield in Lamu county, close to the Somali border.

(With inputs from agencies.)