The U.S. recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president is being touted by the Trump administration as the only way to restore the country's democracy. But as Elizabeth Pineda was stocking up on staples Sunday at a sidewalk market near a Caracas slum, she was bracing for things to get a lot worse, not better.

A retired secretary, Pineda survives on a monthly pension of just 18,000 bolivars, or about $6. She supplements her income working as an astrologer, and although the stars have been telling her Venezuelans are on the road to ridding themselves of socialist President Nicolas Maduro, she doesn't expect him to go quickly or quietly.

A military base deep inside Saudi Arabia appears to be testing and possibly manufacturing ballistic missiles, experts and satellite images suggest, evidence of the type of weapons program it has long criticized its archrival Iran for possessing.

Further raising the stakes for any such program are comments by Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who said last year the kingdom wouldn't hesitate to develop nuclear weapons if Iran does. Ballistic missiles can carry nuclear warheads to targets thousands of kilometers (miles) away.

Lebanon has signed a deal with Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, to upgrade and operate storage installations in the country's northern city of Tripoli.

Caretaker Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil signed the deal on Friday, in the presence of Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin, and told reporters that Rosneft will manage storage operations.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accuses the United States of trying to orchestrate a coup against him. While the U.S. says it's trying to rescue Venezuela's democracy, Washington has a long history of interventions — military and otherwise — in Latin American politics.

Backed by Venezuela's military, President Nicolas Maduro went on the offensive against an opposition leader who declared himself interim president and his U.S. supporters, setting up a potentially explosive struggle for power in the crisis-plagued South American nation.

A defiant Maduro called home all Venezuelan diplomats from the United States and closed its embassy on Thursday, a day after ordering all U.S. diplomats out of Venezuela by the weekend because President Donald Trump had supported the presidential claim of Juan Guaido. Washington has refused to comply, but ordered its non-essential staff to leave the tumultuous country, citing security concerns.

One White House aide mused that the shutdown was like a paid vacation for some furloughed workers. President Donald Trump's daughter-in-law said employees' "little bit of pain" was worth it for the good of the country. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross questioned why cash-poor workers were using food banks instead of taking out loans.

The president himself says workers simply need to "make adjustments."

Nadine Labaki is standing taller than usual. The Lebanese director, a source of national pride, this week became the first female artist in the Arab world to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Labaki's foreign language nomination for "Capernaum" makes her one of the only female directors to compete at this year's Oscars, which feature another all-male lineup in the best director category.

Hundreds of Syrian refugees in Lebanon have gone back to Syria, the latest batch to head home to the war-torn country in months.

The refugees had gathered since the early hours of Thursday in the northern Beirut suburb of Burj Hammoud. There, they boarded buses that took them home. Hundreds others also gathered in other parts of Lebanon from where buses took them home.

The fallout from developments in Venezuela and uncertainty over Britain's exit from the European Union are set to be key points of discussions Thursday at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos.

Following two days when much of the debate has centered on issues related to global trade, particularly the dispute between the United States and China, and climate change, the world's political and business elites are digesting what's going on in Venezuela, after the U.S. recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president.

The United States has freed a journalist working for Iran's English-language television station Press TV after 10 days in detention, the channel has announced.