Venezuela confirms 4 more deaths

in anti-government protests

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — At least four people were killed and eight injured during anti-government protests in central Venezuela, authorities said Saturday.

Chief prosecutor Luis Ortega Diaz confirmed that four deaths occurred Friday in clashes in Barquisimeto. The city’s mayor blamed the deaths on armed militias that support Venezuela’s socialist government.

The deaths brought to at least 80 the number of people killed since anti-government protests erupted three months ago.

A few thousand opponents of President Nicolas Maduro took to the streets of Caracas on Saturday to show support for Diaz. The government is threatening to force her from office even though Venezuela’s constitution says that can be done only by the legislature, which is now controlled by the opposition.

Obama pushes tolerance, respect

in childhood home Jakarta

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Following another week of dust-ups between the media and President Donald Trump, his predecessor shared a bit of wisdom from the other side of the world about tolerance and taking the daily news cycle in stride.

“I wasn’t worried about what was in the newspapers today,” former President Barack Obama said Saturday during a nostalgic visit to Indonesia’s capital, his childhood home. “What I was worried about was, ‘What are they going to write about me 20 years from now when I look back?'”

Obama has largely stayed away from U.S. politics and the Trump administration, but he did tout one of his accomplishments while in office.

“In Paris, we came together around the most ambitious agreement in history about climate change, an agreement that even with the temporary absence of American leadership, can still give our children a fighting chance,” he said.

Trump shocked many countries last month by announcing he was pulling out of the accord. He has also had a difficult relationship with members of the press and was recently condemned by Democrats and Republicans for a tweet that attacked a female MSNBC host.

Obama stressed the importance of stepping away from news sites where only like-minded views are shared, and warned about social media giving rise to resentment of minorities and bad treatment of people.