Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado returned to her home country Sunday after almost a year in exile, greeting ecstatic supporters at a church in the city of Barquisimeto. "I am here. With you," Machado announced in Spanish on X. Video shared by her Vente party showed the leader, in a trademark white tee-shirt and blue jeans, embracing cheering supporters at a church. "Venezuela will be free!" the party said. Machado's return is likely to heap pressure on interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who has led the country under Washington's watchful eye since US forces ousted longtime leader Nicolas Maduro in January. A close ally of Machado, exiled opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, reposted her message and said: "Venezuela! I am thrilled to announce to you that our leader, my dear Maria Corina, is on Venezuelan soil." "Very soon I will be with you all and her so that our country can truly advance toward freedom," he added. Gonzalez Urrutia stood against Maduro in the 2024 presidential election after Machado was ruled ineligible. Venezuelan authorities declared Maduro the winner but never shared detailed results, while a tally released by the opposition showed Gonzalez Urrutia winning easily. Machado, 59, has been in exile since covertly leaving her South American homeland in late 2025 to receive her Nobel Peace Prize. While based in Panama, she has tried at least seven times to return but has been blocked by Venezuelan authorities, according to her party. The month after she fled Venezuela, US forces seized Maduro in a stunning nighttime raid and flew him to New York to face criminal charges. Machado has repeatedly praised President Donald Trump for launching the risky operation, and even gifted him the Nobel medal she received. Asked by reporters Sunday about Machado's return, Trump said "I don't know anything about it, but I think she's a very nice woman. She gave me her Nobel prize, so how can I say anything else?" "I hope she's safe. She's a very nice woman. But we're doing very well in Venezuela," he added. Trump has repeatedly expressed satisfaction with Rodriguez – who was Maduro's deputy – as she has acceded to US demands, particularly on granting access to Venezuelan oil. Rodriguez and her brother, who leads Venezuela's legislature, pushed through reforms to the Venezuelan oil industry and passed an amnesty law earlier this year. The interim government has held multiple rounds of negotiations with a faction of the opposition, which has led to an agreement to reform the judiciary but not yet set a date for new elections. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Machado's return had been made possible by the Washington-backed talks – and he urged her to support them going forward. "We expect all political actors to support these talks which represent the best chance Venezuela has had in thirty years to peacefully achieve not just a free and fair election but an enduring democracy," he said. Machado has been sidelined from the discussions, but the opposition delegation welcomed her return "in freedom." Last week, thousands demonstrated in Caracas and other cities, demanding her return, carrying signs that read "Elections NOW and this time they're not going to steal from us" and "Brave MCM," referring to Machado's initials. Her Vente Venezuela party has demanded elections next year and the lifting of the political disqualification that prevented her from running in the last presidential vote. (AFP) Edited by Cecil Wong

Yemen's Houthis on Sunday said they launched a fresh strike on Saudi Arabia's international airport in capital Riyadh, hours after the kingdom announced that flights had resumed despite repeated attacks by the Iran-backed group. King Khalid International Airport's website showed several domestic and international flights scheduled on Sunday, including arrivals to the kingdom from Dubai, Paris and Cairo, while tracking website Flightradar24 showed some flights departed, though most were cancelled. The renewed operations at the airport came as explosions rattled Riyadh early Sunday, after a text message was sent to residents warning of a hostile threat targeting the city. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree later said the group had "conducted three military operations with dozens of ballistic missiles," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on X, claiming the strike on the airport "achieved its target". The Houthis have carried out waves of strikes on the airport, including an attack this month that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade. Saudi authorities have not commented on a new airport attack. Saree added that the Houthis targeted King Khalid air base in Khamis Mushait and a naval base in Jazan in the kingdom's south. The Riyadh airport closure was a major blow for Saudi Arabia, with the kingdom's flagship investment conference postponed until 2027 as residents scrambled to find alternatives to enter and exit the country. The prestigious motor sport race, the Dakar Rally, also added its name to a long list of events to be cancelled, postponed or relocated amid the fallout from the war. Saree had earlier warned that Riyadh airport was still "unsafe" and a "military target". "The Yemeni Armed Forces warn all international, regional and local airlines – as well as staff and travellers – against using King Khalid Airport in Riyadh, as it is unsafe and serves as a military target for our forces," he said. "The Saudi regime shall bear the consequences of any operations at the airport." Later on Sunday, Saree said Saudi Arabia had struck Yemen 56 times over the previous 24 hours. "During the past 24 hours, Saudi warplanes launched 56 airstrikes and missiles targeting civilian objects in the governorates of Hajjah, Lahj, Amran, Saada, Al-Jawf, Taiz and Ibb using F-15 and 'Typhoon' planes that took off from the bases of Khamis Mushait and Taif, and missiles from Najran," he said on X. As operations at the airport restarted, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis arrived in Riyadh and met with Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. During the meeting, Mitsotakis "responded favourably to the kingdom's request to keep the Patriot system in Saudi Arabia, given the current challenging circumstances", his office said. Greece has deployed a battery to operate the US-made Patriot air defence system in Yanbu, a major oil export hub on the Red Sea coast. Earlier, the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis said it intercepted at least 10 ballistic missiles. The kingdom's civil defence agency later said two people were injured in the south by falling debris, also reporting damage to several buildings and vehicles. (AFP) Edited by Cecil Wong

Serbia's student-led movement declared victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday, ending 14 years in power for Aleksandar Vucic's right-wing populist party. The victory in the snap vote comes after nearly two years of anti-government protests sparked by the 2024 collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people. The disaster has been widely blamed on corruption and triggered some of Serbia's largest protests since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. "Preliminary results show that students are convincingly leading in almost all polling stations," Radomir Saicic, a candidate for the Students' List, said in a speech at the movement's election HQ. "Students won and with them also a hope that Serbia can be a country of justice, freedom and dignity." Voters cast ballots in huge numbers on Sunday, with the country recording its highest parliamentary election turnout in more than three decades. Vucic conceded defeat less than two hours after polls closed, triggering raucous scenes in the capital as supporters of the movement celebrated the defeat of a government they blamed for deep-rooted corruption. "I feel incredible," student Mila Martic told AFP from the List's headquarters. "I feel as though I am finally living in a free country." Thousands poured into the capital's streets to celebrate the victory, with passing cars honking, crowds chanting, and fireworks lighting up the skyline. According to the country's election officials, nearly 65 percent of its 6.4 million registered voters had cast their ballots by 6.00 pm local time, two hours before polls closed. The figure surpassed the 1993 parliamentary election, when just over 61 percent voted. During his speech to supporters, Vucic said preliminary figures suggested the student movement could win between 135 and 140 seats, handing it an outright majority in the 250-seat parliament. The 56-year-old statesman blamed foreign powers for the result. "I want people to know, this was the validation of a revolution carried out with the direct support of various European countries and the US deep state, the one that is also against President Trump," he said. For nearly two years, students have staged rallies and marched across the Balkan nation to reach voters directly and counter the media machine of Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party. Their protests have drawn huge crowds, a final pre-election rally in Belgrade on Thursday attracting around 150,000 people, according to an independent protest monitor. "A two-year-long dream has come true," Mirjana Nikolic, a candidate on the Students' List, said shortly after the win was announced. Most of the student list's 250 candidates are experts from fields including academia and the arts with little political experience. The movement has a broad platform, centred on a pledge to fight corruption. It evolved from demands for a transparent investigation into the Novi Sad tragedy into calls for an early election. Despite pushing back against the movement for almost two years, Vucic under mounting pressure, called the vote last month, citing "major turbulence on the domestic political scene". The right-wing populist leader resigned the presidency to run for prime minister. Domestic and international observers were monitoring the vote, with students mobilising large numbers of volunteers to oversee the process. (AFP) Edited by Cecil Wong

DETROIT (AP) -- Former President Barack Obama on Saturday seized on what he described as cruelty and indecency coming from President Donald Trump and

With the possibility of all sides seeking pretexts for action, the conflict is entering a dangerous phase