CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Nicolas Maduro said he is investing part of his personal savings in a gold-backed certificate as part of a much-questioned plan to crush hyperinflation and reactivate Venezuela's moribund economy.

Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were the first in line at the central bank in downtown Caracas on Monday as it began selling the certificates.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Drones armed with explosives detonated near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Saturday in an apparent assassination attempt that took place while he was delivering a speech to hundreds of soldiers being broadcast live on television, officials said.

Caught by surprise mid-speech, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, looked up at the sky and winced after hearing the sound of an explosion pierce the air.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The man who finished second in Venezuela's recent presidential election asked the nation's Supreme Court on Wednesday to order a new vote, citing deep flaws in the process that extends leader Nicolas Maduro's time in power.

The challenge by Henri Falcon came on the same day that Canada registered its protest of the widely criticized vote by imposing sanctions on first lady Cilia Flores and 13 other people linked to the government.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday, less than a week after the embattled socialist leader was re-elected in a vote the U.S. condemned and he kicked out the top American diplomat in the country.

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel met with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro Saturday in his first official act as the country's leader.

Maduro is the first president to visit Diaz-Canel since he was selected by outgoing President Raul Castro to lead the island's government earlier this week.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro welcomed a visit by a top-ranking Republican congressional staffer last month to discuss the possible release of a Utah man jailed for more than 20 months in this volatile South American nation, six U.S. congressional and administration aides told The Associated Press.

NEW YORK (AP) — Two nephews of Venezuela's first lady were sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for drug conspiracy convictions by a judge who said their ineptness at their criminal craft and otherwise crimeless background earned them leniency.

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty said Efrain Campo and his cousin Francisco Flores "were not the most astute drug dealers who existed. They were in over their heads."

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Nicolas Maduro called on his wife and other heavyweights in the ruling socialist party Thursday night to lead the government's campaign to rewrite the constitution.

Maduro said first lady Cilia Flores as well as his foreign minister and other top aides will lead a slate of candidates competing for seats in a special assembly that is to rewrite the constitution.

NEW YORK (AP) — Informants with dirty pasts are a fixture at drug trials, but even by those standards, the father-son team that played a central role in the cocaine trafficking prosecution of the nephews of Venezuela's first lady stands out.

Over several years, the U.S. government and other law enforcement agencies paid about $1 million to Jose Santos-Pena, 55, and hundreds of thousands of dollars more to his son, Jose Santos-Hernandez, 34, for information about drug dealers.

NEW YORK (AP) — Two nephews of Venezuela's first lady who were charged with conspiring to send drugs to the United States were convicted on Friday by a jury that found evidence of the crime even though the government's star witness came across to at least one juror as "slime."

NEW YORK (AP) — Jury selection began Wednesday in the drug trial of two nephews of Venezuela's first lady as a judge agreed to let jurors hear taped recordings of the defendants with U.S. government informants.

The selection of a dozen jurors to decide whether Efrain Campo, 29, and Francisco Flores, 30, conspired to import 800 kilograms of cocaine into the United States likely was to end early Thursday. Opening statements are slated for Monday.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on drug trial of two nephews of Venezuela's first lady (all times local):

5 p.m.

Jury selection has begun in the New York drug trial of two nephews of Venezuela's first lady.

The selection of a dozen jurors to decide whether Efrain Campo and Francisco Flores conspired to import 800 kilograms of cocaine into the United States is expected to end Thursday.