Venezuela's opposition protests ending term limits

Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Caracas on Saturday to oppose a constitutional amendment that could allow President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely.

Marchers waved the nation's flag and peered through glasses framed by the word "No" to encourage people to vote against ending term limits for all elected officials in a Feb. 15 referendum backed by Venezuela's socialist leader.

"Everything's gotten worse," said Yraiber Davila, a 24-year-old mechanical engineer who complained of rampant crime, a lack of government services and the difficulty of buying a house with annual inflation running at 31 percent in Caracas.

"I have a 10-year-old daughter and she's never seen another president," Davila said.

One protester carried a sign depicting Chavez as TV tough-guy Mr. T _ complete with a Mohawk hairstyle and long, feathery earrings _ beneath the phrase: "Indefinite Aggression."

Marchers chanted and wore emblems saying "No is no," a reference to a failed 2007 referendum that would have scrapped term limits and expanded Chavez's power. Chavez was first elected in 1998, and is barred under the current constitution from running again when his term expires in 2012.

Polls show Chavez gaining momentum before the vote.

Approval for the amendment stood at 51 percent in January _ up from 38 percent a month earlier _ the independent Venezuelan firm Datanalisis reported. The January poll of 1,300 likely voters had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Chavez's supporters say he needs to stay in power to oversee the completion of his socialist project, which they say has given the poor access to affordable food, education and health care.

But Ignacio Martinez, a 19-year-old economics student at the Metropolitan University in Caracas, said he believes allowing one person to stay in power for too long breeds corruption.

"A just and efficient democracy can't develop," he said.

While the march was largely peaceful, a group of four or five Chavez supporters attacked some straggling protesters as they began to march _ punching them and burning their protest signs.

Chavez has spoken out against opposition-aligned student protesters for allegedly inciting violence _ calling on authorities to disperse them with tear gas.

On Saturday, he also disowned groups of violent supporters, lamenting that they have enabled critics to accuse him of condoning violence.

He called on the Attorney General to detain Valentin Santana, leader of the pro-Chavez group "La Piedrita." A recently published interview with Santana quoted him as claiming responsibility for tear gas attacks and threatening to use arms against political opponents.

Police did not provide an estimate of the crowd's size, but protesters filled a major Caracas avenue and AP reporters at the scene estimated it to be in the tens of thousands.

Stocks Slide in Early Trading

Stocks pulled back early Thursday as investors grappled with further declines in the dollar, a spike in oil and gold prices and as the investment fund Carlyle Capital appeared close to collapse. The major indexes each lost more than 1 percent, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling nearly 200 points.

Investors were also getting their first look at prepared remarks by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson who is calling for stronger regulatory oversight of mortgage lenders, whose lax lending standards are blamed for touching off the latest stagnation in the credit markets.

Adding to investors' unease about the state of the economy, the government said retail sales fell by a worse-than-expected 0.6 percent in February, rather than rising 0.2 percent as Wall Street had expected.

The spike in gold prices _ hitting $1,000 an ounce for the first time in electronic trading Thursday, according to Dow Jones Newswires _ underscores investors' nervousness as investing in the precious metal is often regarded as a defensive move. Gold prices recently changed hands up $16.20 at $996.70 an ounce.

The developments weighed on already weaker stock market futures contracts that were lower amid a further decline in the dollar.

Carlyle Capital Corp., which is managed by Carlyle Group, warned late Wednesday it expects creditors will seize all the fund's remaining assets after unsuccessful negotiations to prevent its liquidation. World markets shuddered last week after the Amsterdam-listed fund missed margin calls from banks on its $21.7 billion portfolio of residential-mortgage-backed bonds.

Carlyle's troubles have added to concern that billions of dollars of depressed mortgage-backed securities will flood the market, reducing their value even further.

In the first minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 192.78, or 1.59 percent, to 11,917.46.

Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 21.84, or 1.67 percent, to 1,286.93, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 31.42, or 1.40 percent, to 2,212.45.

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NCAA Fumbles in Ruling on NU's Autry

Which comes first, the student or the athlete?

We're not sure the NCAA knows, in light of its ruling on DarnellAutry, Northwestern University football player and theater major.

The 19-year-old running back, who has been offered the role of"audience member" in a little movie titled "The Eighteenth Angel,"has been told that if he accepts the offer, he loses his eligibilityto play NCAA football - even though it's an unpaid role.Student-athletes are prohibited from appearing in commercialfilms under an NCAA rule designed to protect amateur talent frombeing exploited. It's the principle of the thing, says the NCAA.We agree, but we thought the point of NCAA regulations …

Hispanic activists wary of Huckabee's new hard-line stance on illegal immigration

Hispanic activists who viewed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as a voice of moderation on illegal immigration say they have been taken aback by the hard-line stance he has adopted as a Republican presidential candidate.

While governor, Huckabee gained favor with Hispanic leaders by denouncing a high-profile federal immigration raid and suggesting some anti-illegal immigration measures were driven by racism. He advocated making children of illegal immigrants eligible for college scholarships.

Huckabee's Republican presidential rivals have tried to make an issue of the scholarship plan, portraying him as soft on illegal immigration, an important issue for …

New Zealand-German relations: quietly deepening: Astrid Fritz surveys New Zealand-German relations, and foreshadows how both countries will address global challenges such as international security.

What do a small country on the edge of the world like New Zealand and an economic 'heavyweight' in the middle of Europe like Germany have in common? More than one would expect. Substantial convergence is signalled publicly by high-level visits such as Prime Minister Helen Clark's visits to Germany in 2000 and 2005 and Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright's visit in 2004. These were reciprocated by Federal President Johannes Rau's visit to New Zealand in 2003 and visits by President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Thierse and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in 2005.

What is the political basis of New Zealand-German relations? New Zealand and Germany established their diplomatic links more than 50 years ago. Since then, as a sign of healthy bilateral diplomatic relations, numerous mutual visits have taken place. In the past few years the centre-left political affinity between former German Chancellor Gerhard Schr6der and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has led to a further deepening of New Zealand-German relations. Both leaders regularly participated in the international Progressive Governance meetings, which increased mutual appreciation for each other's system of government and style of leadership. (1)

New Zealand and German government officials emphasised that the cooperation framework between their two countries would be unlikely to be affected by any change of governments. The Social Democrats are still part of the German government through the grand coalition and the Social Democrat Frank-Walter Steinmeier took the position of Foreign Minister. On the other hand, Prime Minister Helen Clark and the new German Chancellor Angela Merkel could find a common basis because they are both women in a leading position.

Even though New Zealand-German relations are positive and not controversial, it remains to be seen how they will develop under a new German government. It is basically a question of how much further the relations can be deepened. A realistic chance exists that both Clark and Merkel might be interested in exchanging their political experiences. If not earlier, the next official meeting will take place in 2007, when Germany will have the presidency of the European Council. Mutual interest in each others' political structures is revealed by the fact that New Zealand and German politicians follow political developments in each other's country to find patterns that could be adapted to their own political system. It is well known that New Zealand adopted the German system of a double vote, which became the mixed member proportional representation system (MMP) in 1996. It is less well-known that German politicians and scholars, too, follow developments in New Zealand, such as in the educational and social system, and study the consequences of the public sector reforms for possible applications to Germany's educational and administrative systems. Germans are primarily interested in studying the consequences of such reforms and evaluating the pros and cons of these reforms from a German perspective. New Zealand is therefore a perfect case study.

What are the mutual challenges of the 21st century? Despite having different …

New Zealand-German relations: quietly deepening: Astrid Fritz surveys New Zealand-German relations, and foreshadows how both countries will address global challenges such as international security.

What do a small country on the edge of the world like New Zealand and an economic 'heavyweight' in the middle of Europe like Germany have in common? More than one would expect. Substantial convergence is signalled publicly by high-level visits such as Prime Minister Helen Clark's visits to Germany in 2000 and 2005 and Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright's visit in 2004. These were reciprocated by Federal President Johannes Rau's visit to New Zealand in 2003 and visits by President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Thierse and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in 2005.

What is the political basis of New Zealand-German relations? New Zealand and Germany established their diplomatic links more than 50 years ago. Since then, as a sign of healthy bilateral diplomatic relations, numerous mutual visits have taken place. In the past few years the centre-left political affinity between former German Chancellor Gerhard Schr6der and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has led to a further deepening of New Zealand-German relations. Both leaders regularly participated in the international Progressive Governance meetings, which increased mutual appreciation for each other's system of government and style of leadership. (1)

New Zealand and German government officials emphasised that the cooperation framework between their two countries would be unlikely to be affected by any change of governments. The Social Democrats are still part of the German government through the grand coalition and the Social Democrat Frank-Walter Steinmeier took the position of Foreign Minister. On the other hand, Prime Minister Helen Clark and the new German Chancellor Angela Merkel could find a common basis because they are both women in a leading position.

Even though New Zealand-German relations are positive and not controversial, it remains to be seen how they will develop under a new German government. It is basically a question of how much further the relations can be deepened. A realistic chance exists that both Clark and Merkel might be interested in exchanging their political experiences. If not earlier, the next official meeting will take place in 2007, when Germany will have the presidency of the European Council. Mutual interest in each others' political structures is revealed by the fact that New Zealand and German politicians follow political developments in each other's country to find patterns that could be adapted to their own political system. It is well known that New Zealand adopted the German system of a double vote, which became the mixed member proportional representation system (MMP) in 1996. It is less well-known that German politicians and scholars, too, follow developments in New Zealand, such as in the educational and social system, and study the consequences of the public sector reforms for possible applications to Germany's educational and administrative systems. Germans are primarily interested in studying the consequences of such reforms and evaluating the pros and cons of these reforms from a German perspective. New Zealand is therefore a perfect case study.

What are the mutual challenges of the 21st century? Despite having different …

Rick Best, recycling activist with great accomplishments

Rick Best, 32, who served as president of the Grass-- Roots Recycling Network, key staffperson to California legislators in bills to fulfill the state's waste reduction mandates plus many critical roles to achieve resource recovery, died Dec. 11th of complications after a car accident. An obituary in the Los Angeles Times cited his major accomplishments that included his work as policy director for Californians …

Activist assaults Maties professor.

AN avowed rightwinger campaigning for a Boer homeland has been arrested for allegedly assaulting Stellenbosch University professor Anton van Niekerk in his campus office yesterday.

Earlier this month Van Niekerk penned an opinion piece in Die Burger saying white people were not justified in fighting in the apartheid border war.

Abel Malan, a prominent member of the Electoral Commission for the Election of a Boer-Afrikaner People's Assembly, is expected in court within 48 hours.

"In addition to the charge of criminal assault, among others, SU is considering its legal position and will work from within the full strength of the law to take all possible steps …