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Image copyright AFP Image caption Opposition leaders say this was the biggest anti-government protest in two years Hundreds of thousands of people have marched through the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in rival demonstrations. Opposition supporters, staging their largest rally for two years, called for President Nicolas Maduro's removal. They blame him for Venezuela's economic crisis and accuse the electoral commission of delaying a referendum that could shorten his stay in power. Mr Maduro, whose supporters also rallied in huge numbers, accused the opposition of trying to stage a coup. What has gone wrong in Venezuela? Dark humour: Venezuelans vent anger on social media Growing discontent on the streets Why have Chavez strongholds turned? The government said the opposition had failed to attract the one million people they were expecting in their march, in what the authorities dubbed the "Takeover of Caracas". "The nation has triumphed. They wan...

Melania Trump sues Daily Mail and US blogger for $150m over sex worker claims 1 hour ago   From the section US & Canada Share Image copyright AFP/GETTY Image caption The allegations against Mrs Trump are "outright lies", her lawyer says Melania Trump is suing a British newspaper and a US blogger for $150m (£114m) over allegations she was a sex worker in the 1990s, her lawyer says. The Daily Mail suggested Mrs Trump may have worked as a part-time escort in New York, and met husband Donald Trump, who is now running for the White House, earlier than previously reported. Blogger Webster Tarpley wrote that Mrs Trump feared her past becoming public. The claims were "outright lying", lawyer Charles Harder said. "These defendants made several statements about Mrs Trump that are 100% false and tremendously damaging to her personal and professional reputation," Mr Harder said in a statement. "Defendants' action...

SpaceX rocket explodes at Cape Canaveral ahead of launch Image copyright @KRISN99 Image caption An employee at the Kennedy Space Center took this image of the blast A rocket operated by the aerospace company SpaceX has exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral where it was being test-fired ahead of a launch. In a statement, the company blamed the blast on "an anomaly" and said no-one had been injured. It said the rocket's payload, a satellite due to be launched on Saturday, was also destroyed. The force of the blast shook buildings several miles away and sent a plume of smoke high above the complex. Image copyright FRANK JAKUBETZ Image caption The explosion happened as SpaceX was preparing for a launch this weekend Image copyright SPACEX Image caption The Falcon-9 booster is designed to return to Earth and land on a floating platform SpaceX is seeking to create a new era of reusable rockets and affordable private space travel and has used its Falcon-9 r...

Photo: ABC. Linda Burney The first Aboriginal woman elected to Australia's lower house of parliament has promised to bring the "fighting spirit of her clan" to political life. In her maiden speech, Linda Burney wore a traditional kangaroo-skin cloak with her personal totem, the white cockatoo, known as the noisy messenger bird. She lambasted calls for the Racial Discrimination Act to be watered down. She warned that indigenous Australians still suffered disproportionately high rates of poverty and ill-health. Usual protocol in the House of Representatives in Canberra was relaxed to allow a woman from Ms Burney's Wiradjuri clan to sing a welcome from the public gallery. Referring to her people, she promised to bring the Wiradjuri fighting spirit into federal parliament. "I was born at a time when the Australian government knew how how many sheep there were but not how many Aboriginal people," the former schoolteacher told the House. "I...

Image copyright GETTY IMAGES Image caption Senator Jacqui Lambie has made disparaging remarks about one of her parliamentary colleagues An outspoken Australian senator has compared her conservative counterpart to an "angry prostitute" before apologising to sex workers. Independent Jacqui Lambie has a history of clashing with government senator Cory Bernadi. Senator Bernardi was this week critical of Labor Senator Sam Dastyari, who had a travel bill paid by a Chinese donor. Senator Lambie compared Mr Bernardi's outrage to a "prostitute lecturing us about the benefits of celibacy". "Before I receive unfair criticism from the sex workers, I apologise to them profusely for comparing them to Senator Bernardi - I know that is a really terrible low-down thing to do,"  she told parliament . "Prostitutes are far more honest, sincere, humane, compassionate and better bang-for-buck than Senator Bernardi will ever be able to deliver." ...

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has insisted Mexico will pay for a border wall "100%", in a major immigration speech. Credit: Talking point memo He told a cheering crowd in Arizona that he would secure the border, and left open the possibility that millions of illegal immigrants be deported. Hours earlier, he met Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto but said they had not discussed financing the wall. The president later insisted he had told Mr Trump Mexico would not pay. There had been speculation that the Republican candidate would back off his plan to deport the estimated 11m undocumented immigrants living in the US. In his speech in Phoenix, there were conflicting signals about this. He said their fate was not a "core issue" and that deporting "criminal aliens" would be the priority. "We will treat everyone living or residing in our country with great dignity," he said. But later he struck a more ...