The Latest Breaking News from Irfaan Ali

A British warship arrived off the coast of Guyana on Friday, further fueling tensions over a territorial dispute with Venezuela, which has launched a major military exercise in response to what it termed an "unacceptable" threat.

Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro and Guyana's Irfaan Ali shook hands after a two-hour meeting on the Caribbean island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The presidents of Venezuela and Guyana met Thursday in the Caribbean for talks that analysts said could "de-escalate" tensions but would do little to resolve their countries' long-standing -- and now reheating -- territorial dispute.

The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela are scheduled to meet face-to-face as regional partners urgently seek to defuse a long-standing territorial dispute that has escalated after Venezuelans voted in a referendum to claim two-thirds of their small neighbor

Oil giant ExxonMobil says it will keep ramping up production in offshore Guyana despite the escalation of a territorial dispute with neighboring Venezuela, which claims that oil-rich region as its own

The 2,300-metre (7,550-foot) mountain -- known as a tepui -- looms over the tiny village of Arau, whose residents reject a claim from Caracas that their land belongs to Venezuela, which has sparked fears of a potential conflict.

A freshly planted Guyanese flag flaps on the summit of a table-top mountain rising from thick forests in a remote region near the Venezuelan border.

The leaders of Guyana and Venezuela will meet this week to address an escalating dispute over the Essequibo region that is rich in oil and minerals

Tension has soared over Essequibo, which has historically been controlled by Guyana, since Maduro's government held a controversial referendum last weekend in which 95 percent of voters supported declaring Venezuela its rightful owner, according to official results.

The government of Guyana, under pressure from neighboring Brazil and a Caribbean trading bloc, has agreed to join bilateral talks with Venezuela over an escalating territorial dispute

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Guyanese counterpart, Irfaan Ali, will meet Thursday on their countries' growing dispute over the oil-rich region of Essequibo, amid mounting international warnings against escalating the row.