News headlines in April 2013, page 14

CARACAS, Apr 12 (IPS) - Venezuelans will cast their ballots this Sunday to elect a successor to late president Hugo Chávez. The choice is between his political heir Nicolás Maduro – the front-runner in the polls - and the leader of the revitalised opposition, Henrique Capriles.

ROME, Apr 12 (IPS) - The flood of elegiac articles on former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is in itself a good measure of how we have all become Thatcherites without realising it. Only those who are not graced by a young age can see how the world and politics have changed so deeply since her days that it is correct to call her a "great revolutionary".

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Apr 12 (IPS) - In Haiti, a simple spring shower that would barely be noticed in most countries can cause devastating floods, due to the severe deforestation and erosion that impedes the absorption of rain.

WASHINGTON, Apr 12 (IPS) - Is sustainability still possible? Yes. Is it still probable? No. With bold action today, tomorrow, and in years to come, we could succeed in creating a sustainable and prosperous society. But what does bold action actually mean?

GOMA, DR Congo, Apr 12 (IPS) - The children of deceased police and army officers in North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, are finding themselves forced to adopt their late fathers'careers in the armed services to help their families survive.

JERUSALEM, Apr 12 (IPS) - At Dar el-Eitam Islamic Orphanage, a secondary school under Waqf (Islamic trust) supervision located in Jerusalem's walled Old City, Palestinian twelfth graders prepare their Tawjihi (A-Level) in history. On the wall behind the teacher are two portraits of "martyrs" killed during the Second Intifadah uprising (2000-2005).

STEPANAKERT (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Caucasus), Apr 12 (IPS) - Sixty-year-old Irina Grigoryan's voice is drowned out by the merry noise of 230 children waiting for their lunch. Director of kindergarten N3, located in Stepanakert, capital of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Region (NKR) deep in the Caucasus, Grigoryan smiles tolerantly at the din.

JOHANNESBURG, Apr 12 (IPS) - Kholekile Dlamini has been devastated by the death of her son Xolani Dlamini, a South African National Defence Force soldier who died in the Central African Republic. Like many South Africans, she had not even been aware of the SANDF deployment to the resource-rich nation.

WASHINGTON, Apr 12 (IPS) - With France withdrawing troops after chasing Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) from towns in northern Mali, the central government in Bamako should urgently launch a serious process of national reconciliation, particularly with the Tuareg and Arab minorities, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) released Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Apr 12 (IPS) - Civil society groups here are praising parts of President Barack Obama's newly unveiled budget proposal, saying it appears to build on momentum gathered in recent years toward a robust overhaul of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the country's main foreign aid agency.