<span style="color: #222222;">Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro has threatened to bring forward parliamentary elections this year in a bid to sideline opposition leader Juan Guaido's challenge to his authority. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Parliamentary elections are scheduled for the end of 2020.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">  </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Guaido is the Parliament president and declared himself acting President of the country on January 23. He led a mass opposition street protest in Caracas yesterday demanding Maduro resign and hold new Presidential elections. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Meanwhile four major European nations – Britain, France, Germany and Spain – have said they will join the United States and several Latin American countries in recognizing Guaido as interim President if Maduro doesn't call the Presidential elections by midnight on Sunday.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">In a related development, a top US official has called on Venezuela's military to follow the lead of a general who sided with opposition leader Juan Guaido. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">National Security Advisor John Bolton said in a tweet that the US calls on all military members to follow General Francisco Yanez's lead, and to protect the peaceful protestors supporting democracy. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Yanez had posted a video of himself rejecting Maduro's authority and recognising Guaido, the National Assembly head, as the acting President. </span><br />'' <br />''