President-elect Donald Trump says Venezuela's embattled opposition leader must be protected as President Nicolas Maduro takes the oath of office for a third six-year term.

Maduro’s inauguration seals an election outcome that opposition politicians and the US government say was stolen.

Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term with all the pomp and circumstance of an inauguration, a sash with the colors of the country’s flag around his chest.