CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government has announced the arrest of a fourth U.S. citizen in connection with an alleged plot to kill President Nicolás Maduro in which authorities claim the CIA, Spain’s intelligence agency, organized crime groups, sex workers and members of the opposition are involved. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello revealed the arrest and details of the plot during a speech before the National Assembly, whose members applauded the detention. Cabello did not identify the most recently detained American.  “Those who try to mess with Venezuela, we will screw them, regardless of their name,” Cabello said.

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union on Wednesday began the process of clawing back hundreds of millions of euros in funds meant to go Hungary after its anti-migrant government refused to pay a huge fine for breaking the bloc’s asylum rules. In June, the EU’s top court ordered Hungary to pay 200 million euros ($223 million) for persistently depriving migrants of their right to apply for asylum. The court imposed an additional fine of 1 million euros for every day it failed to comply.  The European Court of Justice described Hungary’s actions as “an unprecedented and extremely serious infringement of EU law.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán slammed its ruling as “outrageous and unacceptable.”  

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NEW YORK (Xinhua) - An estimated 3.4 million children under five are at high risk of deadly epidemic diseases in Sudan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said in a statement. With heavy rains and flooding in the country, diseases such as cholera, malaria, dengue fever, measles and rubella “can spread more rapidly and severely worsen the outlook for the children in the affected states and beyond,” UNICEF Representative to Sudan Sheldon Yett was quoted as saying in the statement. The crises stem from significant declines in vaccination rates and the destruction of health, water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure due to the ongoing internal conflict, he said, adding that the deteriorating nutritional status of many children in Sudan puts them at even greater risk.

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CARACOLLO, Bolivia (AP) — Thousands of anti-government demonstrators marching in support of Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales have clashed with counterprotesters blocking their way, a stark sign of an escalating power struggle in the volatile Andean nation. In his most brazen show of force yet against current President Luis Arce, Morales sent word to his followers to mobilize what he called a “March to Save Bolivia,” a 190-kilometer (118 mile)-trek from the small village of Caracollo to the capital, La Paz, denouncing the government of his protege-turned-bitter rival. Morales, a former coca grower, has retained significant support among poor and Indigenous Bolivians despite his resignation in 2019 amid mass protests over his disrupted re-election. The march in solidarity with him began peacefully Tuesday morning, but turned violent hours later when hundreds of counterprotesters, armed with tear gas bombs, stones and firecrackers, spread across the highway waiting to confront the nearly 10,000 marchers. Some of them set a giant effigy of Morales on fire.

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LISBON, Portugal (AP) — More than 100 wildfires stretched thousands of firefighters to the limit in northern Portugal on Wednesday, with seven deaths since the worst spate of fires in recent years spread out of control over the weekend. Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro declared a state of calamity for the hardest-hit areas late on Tuesday, invoking powers to mobilize more firefighters and civil servants. He also called on police investigators to redouble their efforts to find those who started the fires and pledged help for those who have lost their homes or have been evacuated. The European Copernicus satellite service said that over 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) had been scorched and a combined 13 kilometers (8 miles) of fire fronts had been detected as on Tuesday night. It added that an area home to 210,000 people was exposed to the fire risk.