Talks to Ease Venezuela's Crisis Set to Resume

Talks to ease Venezuela's dire political and economic straits are scheduled to resume Thursday, even as severe food shortages fuel looting and the president and parliament spar anew over access to humanitarian aid. "We are on the verge of a social explosion," Jorge Millan, an opposition lawmaker in the National Assembly, said Tuesday in arguing for "palliatives" to the protracted crisis that already sparked four months of near-daily protests last year. The legislature agreed to push President Nicolas Maduro's administration to allow international deliveries of food and medical supplies to ease suffering in the country of 30 million. Maduro condemned the legislature's move as an attempt to foment foreign intervention. More…