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Ex-rebel frontrunner in Colombian vote, could shake US ties

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BOGOTA, Colombia -- Fabian Espinel last year helped organize roadblocks where young people protested against police violence and government plans to increase taxes on lower income Colombians. Now, as his country heads into its presidential election Sunday, he walks the streets of the capital’s working-class sectors handing out flyers and painting murals in support of Gustavo Petro, the front-runner candidate who could become Colombia’s first leftist head of state. “Young people in this country are stuck. We hope Petro can change that.” said Espinel, who lost his job as an event planner during the pandemic and received no compensation from his company. “We need an economic model that is different than the one that has been failing us for years.” Colombians will pick from six candidates in a ballot being held amid a generalized feeling the country is heading in the wrong direction. The latest opinion polls suggest Petro, a former rebel, could get 40% of the votes, with a 15-point lead ...
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Pakistan's ex-PM defends decision to call off planned sit-in

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan defended Friday his decision to call off a planned, opened-ended rally and sit-in this week in the capital, Islamabad, saying he wanted to avoid more violence. Khan spoke at a news conference in the northwestern city of Peshawar. His rally ended abruptly on Thursday morning, after thousands of Khan supporters had marched into central Islamabad to protest outside Parliament and demand early election s. Some members from his Tehreek-e-Insaf party were unhappy with Khan’s decision as the sit-in had expected to go on until the government met their demands. Khan, now Pakistan’s top opposition leader, was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April after some of his party's lawmakers and a key coalition partner defected. He has claimed that his ouster was a plot between the opposition and the United States. Washington has denied allegations of any involvement in Pakistan's internal politics. Khan's march on Islamabad...
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Ship expands Iran Revolutionary Guard's reach to new waters

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard is building a massive new support ship near the strategic Strait of Hormuz as it tries to expand its naval presence in waters vital to international energy supplies and beyond, satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press show. The construction of the Shahid Mahdavi provides the Guard a large, floating base from which to run the small fast boats that largely make up its fleet designed to counter the U.S. Navy and other allied forces in the region. Its arrival, however, comes after a series of setbacks for both the Guard and Iran's regular navy, including the loss of its largest warship less than a year earlier. As negotiations over Iran's nuclear deal with world powers also founder, further confrontations at sea between Tehran and the West also remain a risk. “They are looking beyond the Persian Gulf and into the blue waters of the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea and the northern Indian Ocean,” said Far...
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Biden renews sanctions license for Chevron in Venezuela

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MIAMI -- The Biden administration has renewed a license partially exempting Chevron from sanctions on Venezuela so it can keep operating in the oil-rich, socialist-run nation. The license issued Friday by the U.S. Treasury Department allows the California-based Chevron and other U.S. companies to perform only basic upkeep of wells it operates jointly with state-run oil giant PDVSA, dashing the hopes of those who wanted to see a resumption of exports to ease pricing pressure at American pumps. Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and ensuing international sanctions targeting Russia's oil industry have led the Biden administration to reconsider longstanding policies isolating two other oil powers: Venezuela and Iran. In March, three senior Biden officials traveled to Caracas to meet with President Nicolás Maduro to try to lure him back to negotiations with the U.S.-backed opposition and release several Americans imprisoned for years. Their carrot: the possible lifting of crippl...
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