Spartan Echo

  SALTILLO, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man whose home and business were searched as part of an investigation into poisoned letters sent to the president and others has dropped out of sight in order to escape the news media spotlight, but is cooperating with authorities, a friend and his attorney said. Everett Dutschke, 45, [...]

  TACARIGUA, Venezuela (AP) — The razor-close vote to replace late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has sparked what opposition leaders and human rights groups say is a government crackdown on public employees who either didn’t back Chavez’s hand-picked successor or failed to show sufficient support for the ruling party. The April 14 election had revealed [...]

  BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The airwaves in Mali’s capital fell silent on Tuesday, March 12, and newspapers didn’t print a morning edition in protest over the arrest last week of an editor who published an open letter challenging the salary of the country’s coup leader. Boukary Daou, editor-in-chief of The Republican newspaper, was taken away [...]

  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s vice president said Thursday, February, 28,2013  that Hugo Chavez is still fighting for his life, yet a recent poll says three in five Venezuelans believe their president will return to power. Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s self-appointed successor, said on television that his boss “is battling there for his health, for his [...]

  CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian opposition group is using a novel way to protest against President Mohammed Morsi: Sign him up for a chance to win a trip to space. The April 6 Youth Movement said on its official Facebook page on Thursday, February 21, that it had entered the Islamist leader’s name in the [...]

  WASHINGTON (AP) — A new plan by Senate Democrats to head off severe spending cuts in two weeks met an icy reception from Republicans on Thursday as administration officials stepped forward to lay out the biting consequences that could come if no deal is reached soon: thousands of air traffic controllers sidelined, the on [...]

  THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A lawyer for former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo told International Criminal Court judges Wednesday, February 20, that prosecutors are making him a “scapegoat” for deadly violence that erupted after his country’s disputed 2010 elections. Gbagbo lawyer Emmanuel Altit claimed at a crucial pretrial hearing that prosecutors are focused solely [...]