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Photos show Venezuelans celebrating Holy Innocents’ Day

CAUCAGUA, Venezuela (AP) — Hundreds of people in northern Venezuela took to the streets for the annual Bandos and Parrandas of the Holy Innocents of Caucagua, a celebration rooted in Afro-descendant cacao-growing communities.

Marked on Dec. 28 alongside the Catholic Feast of the Holy Innocents, the festivity dates back more than 200 years, when enslaved people were given the day off and turned it into a moment of satire and resistance. Today, participants preserve that rebellious spirit by wearing costumes inspired by plantation owners and using humor, riddles and parody to poke fun at authority.

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Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

By WTOP Staff
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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