Spartan Echo

  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — All day, the political heirs of Hugo Chavez filled Venezuela’s airways with a steady drumbeat of attacks on the man who says they stole the presidency from him. They called opposition leader Henrique Capriles a coup-plotter and said he was inciting post-election violence that had claimed seven lives and injured [...]

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Hugo Chavez’s hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, has officially won Venezuela’s presidential election by a stunningly narrow margin that highlights rising discontent over problems ranging from crime to power blackouts. His rival demanded a recount, portending more headaches for a country shaken by the death of its dominating leader. One key Chavista [...]

  NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The charges Uhuru Kenyatta faces at the International Criminal Court would have crippled a U.S. or European politician. Instead, the accusations that he orchestrated murder and rape in Kenya’s 2007-08 postelection chaos, along with a cold shoulder from the West, may have helped propel Kenyatta to Kenya’s presidency. Kenyatta on [...]

  NEW YORK (AP) — Long seen as a leading contender, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn formally launched Sunday, March 10, what she hopes will be a history-making mayoral bid. A veteran of city politics, Quinn would be a groundbreaking mayor across two personal dimensions: She would be the first female and first openly gay mayor [...]

  NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Dozens of shack homes have been burned to the ground in recent weeks in Mathare, Nairobi’s most dangerous slum. Families are moving into zones controlled by their own clans, fearful of attacks between the tribes of Kenya’s top two presidential candidates. Kenya on Monday, February 25, holds its first presidential election [...]

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Twice burned, Republicans are treading carefully around tea party groups as they pursue a Senate majority that slipped through their fingers in 2010 and 2012. “You’d have to be an idiot not to prepare” for primary election challenges from the right, no matter the state, says Rob Jesmer, who was [...]

  PATERSON, N.J. (AP) — It had all the makings of a goodbye: a triumphant return to his hometown, a standing ovation, signs declaring him a legend, even a “We love you, Frank!” shouted from the back of the room. But U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg made one thing clear: He’s not going anywhere yet. The [...]