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FP Passport Morning Brief
Monday, April 15, 2013
Maduro scores narrow victory in Venezuelan elections
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*Top news: *Venezuelans narrowly re-elected [1] Nicolas Maduro to serve out
the remainder of Hugo Chavez's term as president, but with about 230,000
votes separating Maduro and his opponent, opposition leader Henrique Capriles
refused [2] to concede defeat, demanded a full recount, and alleged that the
vote had been marred by inconsistencies.

After being tapped by Chavez as his political heir, Maduro had been expected
to cruise to victory amid widespread public grief for Chavez's death and
promises to continue the late commandante's Bolivarian revolution. But with
chronic inflation, crumbling infrastructure, power outages, and goods
shortages, political realities on the ground in Venezuela nearly caught up
with Maduro on Sunday, when he managed to beat Capriles by a mere 1.6 percent
of the vote -- 50.7 to 49.1 percent. After a campaign that hinged on
transferring public support for Chavez onto his presidential bid, Maduro
hailed his predecessor once more last night when he declared [3] that in his
victory Chavez "continues to be invincible."

But Capriles remained defiant on Sunday night and said in arguing for a
recount that his campaign had reached "a result that is different from the
results announced today." Addressing Maduro, Capriles said: "The big loser
today is you -- you and what you represent."

Maduro said Sunday that he would be open to an audit of the vote, but in
announcing the vote totals, the head of the electoral council called the
outcome "the irreversible results that the Venezuelan people have decided
with this electoral process."

Despite Maduro's victory, dissent within the ranks of the Chavista movement,
taken by surprise at the razor-thin margin, boiled to the surface last
night. "The results oblige us to make a profound self-criticism. It's
contradictory that the poor sectors of the population vote for their longtime
exploiters." Diosdado Cabello, the president of the national assembly,
tweeted [4].

*North Korea: *North Koreans celebrated [5] the birthday of Kim Il Sung,
their nation's founder, without incident Monday, a day widely seen as a prime
window for the isolated nation to make good on its threats to fire off
missiles. Amid the tensions, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sought [6] to
de-escalate the situation and provided an opening for a resumption of talks
on the Korean Peninsula, saying that the North would find a willing partner
in the United States if it committed itself to a program of denuclearization.

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Middle East

* Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, resigned
[7], creating an early stumbling block for the Obama administration's
nascent peace initiative.
* A series of bombings and shootings across Iraq killed [8] 27 and wounded
over 100 people.
* A prominent Kuwaiti opposition leader was sentenced [9] to five years in
jail on charges he insulted the country's emir.

Asia

* Opium production in Afghanistan increased [10] for the third year in a
row, raising fears that the crop will become the country's main economic
activity after NATO's withdrawal.
* Chinese authorities reported 11 additional cases of the H7N9 strain of
bird flu, bringing the total number of reported cases to 60.
* The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor discovered [11] yet
another leak, which has likely resulted in contaminated water seeping into
the ground.

Europe

* The London School of Economics accused [12] the BBC of endangering its
students after the broadcaster used a student trip to North Korea to
covertly send a group of reporters there.
* Pope Francis announced [13] the formation of an international panel of
advisers to guide reform efforts and wrest power from the Curia.
* Total worldwide military spending dropped [14] for the first time since
1998 -- though China and Russia still saw major increases -- according to
data compiled by a Swedish watch dog group.

Africa

* Al-Shabab militants stormed [15] the supreme court complex in Mogadishu,
Somalia, in an attack that killed at least 35.
* Sudan and South Sudan agreed [16] to resume oil exports and border trade
after a period of violent tensions along the frontier.
* Chad announced [17] that it will begin withdrawing its troops from Mali, a
move that could set back the military mission there.

Americas

* Using makeshift weapons, inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison clashed [18]
with guards carrying out a raid on a communal living area.
* The United States released [19] the names of Russian officials to be
targeted by sanctions under the so-called Magnitsky act, a move that led
to retaliatory designations of U.S. officials by the Russian government.
* The family of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda agreed [20] to send his remains to
a U.S. lab that will seek to definitively determine the cause of his
death.

/-By Elias Groll /

LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images

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[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/world/americas/venezuelans-vote-for-successor-to-chavez.html?collection=homepage
[2] http://news.yahoo.com/opposition-candidate-demands-recount-venezuela-050306986.html
[3] http://news.yahoo.com/chavezs-heir-over-divided-venezuela-074347933.html
[4] http://news.yahoo.com/chavez-heir-squeaks-win-venezuela-election-044911889.html
[5] http://news.yahoo.com/nkoreans-mark-key-holiday-oblivious-tensions-055847958.html
[6] http://news.yahoo.com/us-talks-diplomacy-nkorea-takes-hard-line-160454630--politics.html
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/world/middleeast/salam-fayyad-palestinian-prime-minister-resigns.html
[8] http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-string-morning-attacks-kills-27-074905241.html
[9] http://news.yahoo.com/kuwait-opposition-leader-sentenced-5-years-080421682.html
[10] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/world/asia/afghanistan-opium-production-increases-for-3rd-year.html?ref=asia
[11] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/world/asia/new-leak-found-at-fukushima-nuclear-plant.html?ref=asia
[12] http://news.yahoo.com/london-school-economics-denounces-bbc-tactics-105828164.html
[13] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/14/pope-francis-church-advisory-panel
[14] http://news.yahoo.com/world-military-spending-drops-2012-073045803--finance.html
[15] http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-rises-35-somalia-court-attack-091204255.html
[16] http://news.yahoo.com/sudan-south-sudan-open-border-resume-oil-165940566.html
[17] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22150625
[18] http://news.yahoo.com/prisoners-guards-clash-over-guantanamo-bay-raid-214116253.html
[19] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/world/europe/russia-bars-18-americans-in-tit-for-tat-on-rights.html
[20] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22131916
[21] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/longform_s_picks_of_the_week
[22] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/mirage_across_the_potomac
[23] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/the_outsider_sayed_kashua
[24] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/divorce_italian_style
[25] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/the_road_to_pyongyang_goes_through_helsinki
[26] http://www.foreignpolicy.com
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[28] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/contact_us
[29] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/about_us
[30] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/divorce_italian_style
[31] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/the_love_fest_china_us_military
[32] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/the_world_in_photos_this_week
[33] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/12/the_enabler_south_korea
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