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By: Michael Fox www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1934
Venezuela’s President Chavez during his weekly television program Aló Presidente. Credit: Prensa Miraflores
Caracas, Venezuela, April 4, 2006-According to the latest survey conducted by the Venezuelan Institute for Data Analysis (IVAD), 82.7% of the Venezuelan population looks favorably upon the job done by President Hugo Chavez.
Of those interviewed; 22.9% said the President had done a regular to good job; 41.8% good; (…)

Wednesday, Apr 12, 2006 By: Michael Fox www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1943
Chavez supporters gather at the Puente Llaguno to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the April 11 coup against Chavez. Credit: Silvia Leindecker
Caracas, Venezuela, April 12, 2006-Venezuelans commemorated the 4th anniversary of the April 11, 2002, coup d’etat, yesterday, with the unveiling of a monument to the victims at the Llaguno Bridge, one of the centers of the violence in 2002.
The (…)

Robbery, not reconstruction, in Iraq
By Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12770.htm
04/18/06 "Boston Globe" — - The great liberator of Iraq was actually the hyena that cleaned out the nation.
Piece by piece, Halliburton over here, a corrupt company over there, we have heard various individual cases of overcharging and fraud by American firms in the reconstruction of Iraq. Last weekend, a Globe story connected some of the dots of (…)

Prominent U.S. Physicists Send Warning Letter to President Bush
By Newswise
04/18/06 "Newswise" - Thirteen of the nation’s most prominent physicists have written a letter to President Bush, calling U.S. plans to reportedly use nuclear weapons against Iran “gravely irresponsible” and warning that such action would have “disastrous consequences for the security of the United States and the world.”
The physicists include five Nobel laureates, a recipient of the National Medal of Science (…)

Theocons and Theocrats
By Kevin Phillips
04/18/06 "The Nation" - [from the May 1, 2006 issue] — Is theocracy in the United States (1) a legitimate fear, as some liberals argue; (2) a joke, given the nation’s rising secular population and moral laxity; (3) a worrisome bias of major GOP constituencies and pressure groups; or (4) all of the above? The last, I would argue.
The characteristics are not inconsistent. No large nation—no leading world power—could ever resemble theocracies like (…)

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006 Israel Holds Hamas-Led PA Directly Responsible for Tel Aviv Attack as Occupied Territories Starved of International Aid
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/19/1312249
The Israeli government has announced it holds the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority directly responsible for Monday’s suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Meanwhile, millions of dollars of aid to the PA have been cut off worsening the humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Territories. We speak (…)

A top Italian court Wednesday confirmed the slim electoral victory of center-left economist Romano Prodi over Premier Silvio Berlusconi, according to Italian television.
Italian Sky TV news said the Court of Cassation confirmed the result after reviewing 5,200 ballots that were not immediately included in the overall count because they were unclear.
The court said an official announcement about the review would not be made until later Wednesday.
Prodi said he would not comment until (…)

Of course let’s premise the notion of Rumsfeld’s much deserved ouster with the predicate that Bush is the responsible officer in all the fiascos that have characterized this deranged administration...... Rummy was no free agent , running off without presidential authorisation for the mad schemes concocted by himself , Cheney and the Likud Crazies who run the Pentagon and OVP...... We all know what a horror show Iraq has become........... But the current bloodbath taking place in Iraq is (…)

Kucinich Questions The President On US Trained Insurgents In Iran
WASHINGTON - April 18 - Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), Ranking Member of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, sent the following letter today to President George W. Bush:
Dear Mr. President:
Last week I wrote to you regarding reports that U.S. troops are conducting military operations in Iran. I have included a copy of that letter below for (…)

Growing popularity of Sufism in Iran
Roxana Saberi
BBC News Tehran
The lights are dimmed in a home in northern Tehran. The men, women and teenagers gathered in the large living room close their eyes and rock back and forth to the beat of live music.
As the tambourine and drums beat louder and faster, some members of the group climb to their feet. They begin to swirl slowly in circles and raise their hands to the ceiling. A few fall into trances.
"You can somehow touch relaxation," (…)