Opposition, government rallies grip Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelans on both sides of the nation’s political divide took to the streets on Saturday after nearly two weeks of mass protests that have President Nicolas Maduro scrambling to reassert his leadership of this economically stricken country.
In Caracas, tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro filled several city blocks in their biggest rally to date against Maduro’s 10-month-old government. Across town, a mostly female crowd of government backers gathered in T-shirts and baseball caps, forming a sea of red – the color of Maduro’s Socialist party.
The dueling protests capped a violent week in which a government crackdown jailed hard-line opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez and dozens of other activists. The violence also left at least nine people dead on both sides and injured at least 100 others.
Venezuelans woke up Saturday to smoldering barricades of trash and other debris in the streets of some major cities, but there were no reports of major violence. Protesters have called on Maduro to either resolve problems such as rising crime and galloping inflation or step aside.
Egypt police officers acquitted of killings
CAIRO – An Egyptian court acquitted six police officers Saturday on charges of killing 83 protesters during the country’s 2011 uprising, something rights activists say could allow toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak to walk free on similar charges.
It’s the last case in a string of acquittals for nearly 100 officers charged in the killings of more than 840 demonstrators during the 18-day revolt. That’s as Mubarak’s successor, ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, finds himself entangled in multiple court cases carrying the death penalty.
“The sequence of events show that Mubarak will most probably get acquitted,” said human rights lawyer Mohsen el-Bahnasi, who also represents the families of 83 protesters killed in Alexandria.
Mubarak and his top security official Habib el-Adly were sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2012 before a court overturned the verdict on appeal. They also face a retrial with others for failing to stop killings of protesters.
Unrest rages as Iraq hands out election IDs
BAGHDAD – Iraqi election officials began handing out new, computerized voter identification cards Saturday across the capital as the country prepares for its first nationwide election since the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
But the more than $100 million push to modernize voting comes as officials can’t distribute cards in embattled Anbar province, where al-Qaida fighters seized control of parts of two cities, and as militant attacks rage on unabated, killing at least 14 people Saturday and wounding nearly two dozen.
The new voter cards, which include a computer chip, will allow election officials to check a voter’s identity and try to halt fraud. Several Iraqi political blocs alleged some people voted multiple times in the last vote in 2010, although the results of the election were not widely disputed.
In previous elections, voters had to go through lists glued outside balloting centers to find their names before going inside. Spanish technology firm Indra signed a five-year deal with Iraq to supply the new system and train election officials.
Nearly 22 million Iraqis are eligible to cast their ballots in coming April 30 parliamentary elections. Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki is eying a third term in office despite objections from political rivals who accuse him of marginalizing partners and seizing control of state institutions to consolidate power.
Italy’s new premier sets to work as economy ails
ROME – Matteo Renzi became Italy’s youngest premier on Saturday, promising a new era of stable government after using old-school politicking to engineer the ouster of a fellow Democrat he deemed too timid to get the nation back to work.
The unabashedly ambitious Renzi, 39, quit his post as Florence mayor to take up his first national government job, insisting Italy’s political leadership needed to be bolder. He tweeted before being sworn in it would be “tough,” but “we’ll do it.”
The Italian economy is only just beginning to show signs of rebounding after several years of stagnation. Youth unemployment hovers around at 40 percent.
The new environment minister, Gian Luca Galletti, told Sky TG24 TV the down-to-business, bluntly talking premier conducted his first Cabinet meeting “more like a board meeting.”
Renzi has alienated some factions in his own party because of the steely determination he used to dispatch predecessor Enrico Letta only days after publicly saying he would seek the premiership only through general elections.
Associated Press
