Monday Morning Briefing: Venezuela's victorious Maduro says 'revolution is here to stay'

venezuela

Venezuela’s socialist leader Nicolas Maduro faced fresh international censure after re-election in a vote foes denounced as a farce cementing autocracy in the crisis-stricken OPEC nation. The 55-year-old successor to former president Hugo Chavez hailed his win as a victory against “imperialism,” but his main rival refused to recognize the result alleging irregularities.

Venezuela has had massive turnouts at its recent presidential elections, but turnout dropped drastically for Sunday’s election due to a boycott from the opposition. Reuters Graphics charts the results.

Poor Venezuelans scanned state-issued “fatherland cards” at red tents after voting yesterday in hope of receiving a prize promised by Maduro, a practice opponents said was akin to vote-buying.

 

Nicolas Maduro is Venezuela's president for another 6 years and many Venezuelans are extremely unhappy. Watch my report from Caracas: https://reut.tv/2GAm2Tq

5:25 AM - May 21, 2018

China

China on Monday praised a significant dialing back of trade tension with the United States, with the government saying agreement was in the interests of both countries while state media trumpeted what it saw as China’s refusal to surrender.

The Philippines expressed “serious concerns” over the presence of China’s strategic bombers in the disputed South China Sea and its foreign ministry has taken “appropriate diplomatic action”, the spokesman of President Rodrigo Duterte said.

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world

Hawaii faced a new hazard as lava flows from Kilauea’s volcanic eruption could produce clouds of acid fumes, steam and glass-like particles as they reach the Pacific, authorities said.

Cubans in eastern Holguin province held a funeral on Sunday for an art instructor and her small child, the first of 67 Holguin residents to be brought home for burial out of 110 people who died Friday in Cuba’s worst plane crash since 1989.

At Reuters, more than 50 editors, producers and reporters from Botswana to Brixton coordinated coverage of the latest union in the British royal family. In this podcast, Jamillah Knowles, a Reuters social media editor, looks at how the world’s largest news organization curated real-time updates from Windsor.

 

Two @Reuters journalists have been detained in Myanmar for 161 days. Read coverage of their trial: https://reut.rs/2LddMfF

12:00 PM - May 21, 2018

Business

Exclusive: BP back on its feet but CEO senses no respite

After the near collapse of his company following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster and a three-year slump in oil prices, BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley is hardly relaxed. BP is stronger today than at any other time since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig accident.

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Hyundai Motor Group scraps revamp plan in victory for hedge fund Elliott

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group has shelved a restructuring plan which would have given the son of its aging chairman more control of the conglomerate, following opposition from investors including U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management Corp.

4 min read

Energy may give further impetus to U.S. small-cap stocks

U.S. small-cap stocks look poised to extend a breakout rally, especially if oil prices advance deeper into levels last seen in 2014 to drive further gains in the small energy companies that have provided leadership in recent week, analysts and investors said.

4 min read

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