The United States has made secret contact with Venezuela’s socialist party boss as close allies of President Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle seek guarantees they won’t face prosecution for alleged abuses and crimes if they cede to growing demands to remove him. That's according to a senior Trump administration official who spoke with The Associated Press. Diosdado Cabello, who is considered the most-powerful man in Venezuela after Maduro, is among a handful of top Venezuelan officials who have secretly reached out to the U.S. to negotiate safety guarantees if they help topple Maduro. A second meeting is in the works but has not yet taken place. It’s not clear whether the talks have Maduro’s approval or not. Cabello, who is 56, has also been accused by U.S. officials of being behind massive corruption, drug trafficking and even death threats against a sitting U.S. senator. The administration official said that under no circumstances is the U.S. looking to prop up Cabello or pave the way for him to substitute Maduro. Instead, the goal of the outreach is to ratchet up pressure on the regime by contributing to the knife fight the U.S. believes is taking place behind the scenes among competing circles of power within the ruling party.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for an explosion at a wedding hall in Afghanistan that killed 63 people and injured more than 180 over the weekend. In an IS statement, it said one of its fighters blew himself up at a "large gathering" in the Afghan capital of Kabul, while others "detonated a parked explosives-laden vehicle" as emergency services arrived at the scene. Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack as "barbaric" and blamed the Taliban for "providing a platform to terrorists." The Taliban denied any involvement in the attack, also condemning it. The U.S. and the Taliban continue to hammer out a possible peace deal that will lead to troops leaving Afghanistan in exchange for the Taliban agreeing not to allow the country to be used as a base for terrorist organizations. President Donald Trump said that the U.S. is "having very good discussions" with both the Afghan government and the Taliban on a peace plan to end America's longest running war. Trump said, "It can't be a laboratory for terror." The deal would include a U.S.-Taliban ceasefire, but so far no such truce between the Taliban and the Afghan military.

Organizers claimed that at least 1.7 million protesters turned out for a rally Sunday afternoon in Hong Kong in a massive show of force against unpopular government leaders and a police force they accuse of brutality. The Victoria Park location and neighboring streets looked like a sea of umbrellas despite the heavy rain. Sunday's demonstration marked the eleventh weekend in a row that protesters took to the streets in Hong Kong. The initial rally in early June came in response to a proposed extradition bill that would have make it easier to send criminal suspects to China for trial. Organizers said that the movement has evolved in response to abusive tactics by the Hong Kong police and the heavy influence of Beijing on their city's politics. The enormous turnout was seen by attendees as a positive sign compared to more extreme actions, such as an airport sit-in earlier in the week that grounded hundreds of flights and erupted into violence, which prompted Beijing to describe the protests as the "first signs of terrorism." Organizers plan to march again on August 31.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Moscow will not deploy new missiles on the condition that the United States show similar restraint in Europe and Asia. The announcement comes after Washington withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, a Cold War-era pact prohibiting ground-launched cruise missiles with a range of 310 to 3,400 miles. The U.S. decided to withdraw after accusing Russia of violating the agreement, which Moscow denies. President Vladimir Putin announced Moscow's exit from the treaty following Washington's move, but Shoigu said that doesn't mean that Russia plans on ramping up another arms race between the two countries. Shoigu told the Rossiya-24 TV channel, "Unless there are such systems in Europe [deployed by Washington], we won't do anything there."

An Iranian oil tanker detained in Gibraltar since July 4 left the British overseas territory on Sunday. Gibraltar authorities ordered the release of the tanker, the Grace 1, after receiving written assurances it would not deliver its oil to Syria, which would have violated European Union sanctions. The U.S. had made a last-minute effort to seize the vessel on the grounds that it was linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the U.S. has labeled a terrorist organization subject to U.S. sanctions, but Gibraltar said only E.U. sanctions, not American ones, were applicable in its jurisdiction. Iran has denied the tanker was ever headed to Syria.

A leaked dossier compiled by the United Kingdom's Cabinet Office predicted that the country will hit a three-month meltdown at its ports, a hard Irish border, and shortages of food and medicine if it leaves the European Union without a deal on Oct. 31. Without a withdrawal agreement, the document says, the U.K. will "be vulnerable to severe extended delays" for medical supplies and food, with rising prices also a possibility. A senior source said the document is "not Project Fear," but "the most realistic assessment of what the public face with no deal." U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has maintained that he wants to leave the EU with a deal, but he has demanded a new agreement without the Irish border backstop and is willing to leave without a deal, otherwise.

General Electric defended itself on Monday against fraud investigators who said last week the Boston-based conglomerate had failed to put aside money to cover $29 billion in potential insurance losses and had improperly counted profit from subsidiary Baker Hughes as its own. GE’s shares fell as much as 15% on Thursday after financial investigators Harry Markopolos and John McPherson published the 175-page report alleging fraud but GE shares recouped much of the decline on Friday. On Monday, GE shares were down 0.3% at $8.77 in late morning trading. Steve Winoker, head of investor relations at GE, said in an email, “Our future liabilities (on long-term care insurance) depend on variables that will play out over decades, not years, and are dictated by rigorous testing processes, sound actuarial analysis, and the application of regulatory and accounting rules” GE’s comments follow a report last week that alleged there was fraud in the company’s accounting. GE has disclosed that its accounting is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice.