Sectarian Bloodlust Hits Iraq's Yazidis; Looks as if Second Time Is the Charm; Flooding Adds to Korean Hardships; Eyes Right: Likud Goes for 'Bibi'; Venezuela Morphs Into Chávezuela
Eyes Right: Likud Goes for 'Bibi'
Is Israel ready for Binyamin Netanyahu again? The hawkish former prime minister, positioning himself to take on the ruling centrist Kadima party and the left-wing Labor Party, last week easily defeated a radical Jewish settler to lead the right-wing Likud party. Nationally, polls put him far ahead of the unpopular current prime minister, Kadima leader Ehud Olmert, and give him a 10 to 15 percentage-point edge over Labor's standard-bearer, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Israel isn't scheduled to hold general elections until 2010, and with an eye on Netanyahu, Labor isn't eager to force early elections—at least until Barak, now serving as defense minister—sees his poll numbers go up.
Venezuela Morphs Into Chávezuela
Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chávez, is testing the extent of his political muscle—and stoking critics' fears in Washington and elsewhere that he is an authoritarian menace and a bad role model for his regional neighbors. The fiery populist leader last week asked a compliant National Assembly to scrap the constitutional presidential term limits that otherwise would require him to step aside at the end of his second term in 2012. That measure and a raft of others, including one effectively giving him control over the central bank, are intended to consolidate his authority and enablehim to push ahead with his self-proclaimed socialist transformation.
With Jay Tolson, Kevin Whitelaw and Associated Press
advertisement
