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What the failure on background checks tells us about Washington

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The failure of an amendment to expand background checks on gun purchases - the signature piece of a legislative package backed by the White House to curb gun violence - ends a journey that began in late December when 20 children and six adults were murdered in Newtown, Connecticut.

Studying the path from Newtown to the vote on the amendment offered by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) that came up short of the 60 votes it needed is an instructive exercise in how Washington works.

We've spent a lot of time thinking about what the failure of the background checks compromise means. Our lessons learned are below.

Megaphone

Syria's Assad warns West over Qaeda, says defeat of his regime 'not an option'

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President Bashar al-Assad warned on April 17 the West that it will pay a heavy price for its alleged support of Al-Qaeda in Syria and said his regime's defeat is not an option.

Assad, whose regime has been battling an uprising since March 2011, reiterated in an interview with official television Al-Ikhbariya his long-held claim that the roots of Syria's conflict lie in a foreign-backed conspiracy.

He also warned the conflict could spill over into Jordan, and that there would be no dialogue with the exiled opposition.

"The West has paid heavily for funding Al-Qaeda in its early stages in Afghanistan. Today it is doing the same in Syria, Libya and other places, and will pay a heavy price in the heart of Europe and the United States," Assad said.

Last week, the jihadist rebel group Al-Nusra Front pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had previously urged rebels to establish an Islamic state in Syria.

Che Guevara

Iran slams innocent killings anywhere: Leader

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Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei leads prayers after a meeting with Army commanders in Tehran on April 17, 2013.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the Islamic Republic condemns the death of innocents in the US or anywhere else in the world.
"Pursuant to Islamic logic, the Islamic Republic of Iran opposes any blast or the killing of innocents be it in Boston in the US or Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria and condemns it," Ayatollah Khamenei told a group of Army commanders on Wednesday.
"The US and other so-called human rights advocates remain silent on the massacre of innocents in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but they cause a ruckus after a few blasts in the United States," the Leader stated.

Eye 2

Video: Israeli soldiers blindfold and arrest young boy in Hebron


A two-minute video uploaded to YouTube yesterday by the International Solidarity Movement shows a blindfolded Palestinian boy being led away by two heavily-armed Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron that same day.

Israeli soldiers demand to see the passports of internationals observing the arrest of the child. The soldiers tear the passports from the internationals' hands and soon they are flanked by persons who appear to be Jewish settlers.

"Go today!" a soldier repeatedly shouts at the woman holding the video camera. A man, presumably a settler, approaches and the woman asks the soldier, "Who is this man?" The man answers in English with a North American accent, "Who are you? I live here."

Another man in civilian clothes carrying a large gun approaches the woman in an aggressive manner. Soon more settlers come to the scene, as if they were backing up the Israeli army.

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© FlickrHuman rights volunteers say the boy, 14, was arrested by Israeli soldiers at his home

Eye 1

U.S. refuses to accept Venezuela election result

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AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos
The Obama administration is refusing to accept the official results of Venezuela's weekend presidential election, which gave victory to the protege of the country's late leftist leader Hugo Chavez.

The State Department said Tuesday that a full recount of the vote and an investigation into alleged irregularities were needed, given the close tally that almost evenly divided the country. On Monday, the U.S. had called for a full recount before results were certified but the election commission went ahead with certification without one.

Brick Wall

Quebec govt. pushes for separation from Canada


The government of Quebec, a predominantly French speaking province of Canada, is making efforts to make the province an independent country, Press TV reports.

Under the leadership of the separatist Parti Quebecois (PQ) -- the current ruling party of Quebec -- the Quebec sovereignty movement gained momentum last year, Press TV correspondent Ashantai Hathaway reported from Montreal on Tuesday.

Taking the issue a step further, the New Movement for Quebec (NMQ) will hold a convention, or "the Convergence Nationale", in May.

The meeting will make efforts to unite members of all the pro-independence groups in Quebec and get them to rally behind one party and one cause.

Crusader

Bolivia's president says U.S. planning coup in Venezuela

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Bolivia's President Evo Morales speaks at a press conference in the capital, La Paz, April 16, 2013.
Bolivia's President Evo Morales says the United States is planning to stage a coup in Venezuela, condemning Washington's questioning of the Venezuelan presidential election results as interference.

In a press conference on Tuesday, the Bolivian president said that the US is getting ready for a coup d'état in Venezuela.

He also rejected the White House's moral authority to question electoral results worldwide, after Washington demanded Caracas to hold a full vote recount.
"I am certain that behind those remarks, the United States is preparing a coup d'état in Venezuela," said Morales.

USA

Honduras most dangerous country in world thanks to us

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Tom Loudon is the co-director of the Friendship Office of the Americas and former executive secretary of the Commission of Truth in Honduras. He says that following the 2009 coup Honduras has spiraled into becoming the most dangerous country on earth, with much of the violence funded by the U.S. State Department, and with that Department clearly being less than forthcoming with the U.S. Congress or the public.

Total run time: 29:00

Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Music by Duke Ellington.

Stormtrooper

Boston citizens turn hostages while police chase "suspects"




Police sealed off densely populated portions of the Boston metro area early Friday
after a violent night of chasing the Boston Marathon terror suspects left one of the men and a police officer dead.

The manhunt effectively shut down a large portion of the nation's fifth-largest metro area.

Developments moved quickly:

-- Police swarmed over a Watertown, Massachusetts, neighborhood looking for the surviving suspect, identified by Boston police as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, age 19.

-- The slain suspect was wearing explosives and a triggering device when he died, a source briefed on the investigation told CNN's Deborah Feyerick. Several sources identified him as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26. He was the fugitive suspect's older brother.

-- A Maryland man who said he was the suspects' uncle told CNN affiliate WBZ that Tamerlan Tsarnaev "got what he deserved." "What can I say for people who have been murdered? Sympathy," Ruslan Tsarni, referring to those who died in the bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Comment: Despite the lack of information about how the suspects are implicated in the Marathon Day bombings, the police is keeping all residents of the area in a lock-down and a state of shock, while they patrol the streets fully armed and using the "bombing suspect" excuse to abuse anyone who they deem "suspect". Boston today is officially a Police Sate.

This video will give you an idea of the steps in this process. Watch it so that you know what comes next:




V

More prisoners join Guantanamo Bay hunger strike

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Prisoners used "improvised weapons" during clashes on Saturday
Seven prisoners have joined a hunger strike at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, bringing the total number to 52, US military officials have said.

Fifteen of the protesters are being force fed, and three of them are being observed in hospital.

Human rights groups say prisoners are frustrated with the military's failure to decide their future.

The US is currently holding 166 men at the facility, most without charge.