South America

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 2 (Xinhua): Brazil legend Pele on Thursday paid tribute to Lionel Messi after the forward scored his 600th goal for Barcelona during his team's 3-0 win over Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal.

The 31-year-old Argentina international reached the milestone with a curling 30-yard free-kick, his second goal of Wednesday's match at the Camp Nou, as Barcelona edged toward a place in the final.

"I would like to congratulate you, Lionel Messi, for your 600th goal. What a way to score it. Sensational," Pele said in a Twitter post.

Caracas; 2 May 2019; GANASHAKTI: The United States government was responsible for leading the attempted coup on April 30 and demanded an investigation against that nation, President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday.

"John Bolton led yesterday's coup, I’m sure of that," the president said, referring to the U.S. National Security Advisor.

He also stressed that the coup conspiracy was defeated because the conscience of the Venezuelan people stood erect before the criminal coup.

1 May 2019; AFP: Demonstrators clashed with police on the streets of the Venezuelan capital Tuesday, spurred by opposition leader Juan Guaido's call on the military to rise up against President Nicolas Maduro -- who said he had defeated an attempted coup.

An apparently carefully planned attempt by Guaido to demonstrate growing military support disintegrated into rioting as palls of black smoke rose over eastern Caracas.

MEXICO, April 30. /TASS/: The move by a group within the Venezuelan military in support of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido shows a split within the country’s armed forces, representative of the Venezuelan National Assembly (parliament) to Mexico Reynaldo Diaz said in an interview with the Noticias MVS radio station.

CARACAS, May 1. /TASS/: At least 83 people were detained on Tuesday in Venezuela during protests against the government, Head of Foro Penal Venezuelan non-governmental organization (NGO) Alfredo Romero said on Twitter.

"We confirm the information on 83 arrests for participation in demonstrations today," he wrote. According to NGO estimates, most people 59 were detained in Zulia state. In other regions, the number of detainees varies from one to four. Earlier, human rights activists talked about 25 people in detention.

MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/: The Venezuelan opposition forces have taken to the streets of Caracas on Tuesday in order to declare support to the country’s opposition leader Juan Guaido. Guaido’s supporters have begun to barricade several streets in Caracas, the EFE news agency reports.

Earlier, Guaido published a video on Twitter, in which he addressed the Venezuelan military to take to the streets in order to "end the usurpation" in the country.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — He called it the moment for Venezuelans to reclaim their democracy once and for all. But as the hours dragged on, opposition leader Juan Guaidó stood alone on a highway overpass with the same small cadre of soldiers with whom he launched a bold effort to spark a military uprising and settle Venezuela’s agonizing power struggle.

30 Apr 2019; DW: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday called for a military uprising to oust acting President Nicolas Maduro, in a video posted alongside soldiers and opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, who had been under house arrest.

In the three-minute video shot early on Tuesday, Guaido, the self-declared president and leader of Venezuela's opposition-controlled National Assembly, said the "final phase" had begun to end Maduro’s "usurpation" of the constitution.   

28 Apr 2019; AFP: US sanctions came into effect Sunday to block Venezuela's economic lifeline of oil exports, in what Washington hopes will be a major blow in its fledgling campaign to topple leftist President Nicolas Maduro.

As of 12:01 am Washington time (0401 GMT), the United States will take action against anyone who deals with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, or any entity in which the company holds at least a 50 percent stake.

BOGOTA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol said Saturday that the Transandino Pipeline (OTA) has been bombed.

It has been the seventh attack against OTA so far this year. The attack happened in a village in Colombia's southern province of Narino.

The oil firm said on its Twitter account it activated a contingency plan following Friday's attack. "The attack resulted in a ruptured pipe and an oil spill," it said.