History repeats itself. The time-worn tactic of the dominant class that controls the spread of information is to provoke violence and then blame it on the enemy, usually those who struggle for change.

Nero did it when he burned down much of Rome and blamed it on the Christians. Similarly, US newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst used the sinking of the USS Maine in 1898 to create war fervour that led to war with Spain.

Hitler ordered the burning of the Reichstag and blamed it on the Communists. He also had Germans dressed as Poles attack German troops to justify the invasion that began World War II.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident played out a similar scenario to justify US escalating its war on Vietnam. And George Bush Sr. used the same tactic to justify the invasion of Panama in 1989.

In Venezuela, this tactic has been used umpteen times throughout the past 15 years. The most infamous incident was on April 11, 2002 when shootings by snipers on demonstrators justified the US-backed coup against then-president Hugo Chavez.

Thousands of government supporters gathered yesterday in Caracas to call for "peace" after violent clashes left three dead on Wednesday. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles today called supporters to gather for a national march "against paramilitaries and violence".

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro held the mass rally to reject the violent incidents at some opposition protests in recent weeks. The worst of the violence occurred in Caracas on Wednesday, when clashes left three dead and several dozen wounded. There are conflicting accounts as to exactly what happened.

Maduro used yesterday's gathering to attack what he called a "coup plot" by the far right opposition, and to promote his "national pacification plan" to reduce crime and tackle political violence. He told supporters that to construct peace in Venezuela, political differences should be settled through a battle of ideas, not arms.

"We call on all Venezuela to combat in the streets with ideas, with values, in high quality debate, with respect for people's rights, without violence," Maduro declared.

An official of Venezuela's intelligence service has been arrested in connection with the violent clashes last Wednesday in Caracas which left three dead, a Venezuelan newspaper has reported.

An investigation is underway to determine the exact succession of events which led to the deaths of two men that day: Bassil Dacosta, an opposition supporter, and Juan Montoya, a Chavista. President Nicolas Maduro has said that both were killed by the same gun.

The killings occurred two blocks from the Attorney General's office in central Caracas, which footage shows violent opposition supporters attacking beforehand. The events occurred after a large student-led opposition march had concluded in the area, and most participants had already left.

The information on the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) officer's arrest was given to private newspaper Ultimas Noticias by an unnamed "military source". According to the information, the detained official was part of a group of SEBIN officers who ignored presidential orders to remain in the organisation's headquarters that day. The source said the officer is called Melvin Eduardo Collazos Rangel, and was arrested on Saturday.

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) views with great alarm the violence perpetrated against the democratically elected government and civilians in Venezuela that has resulted, as of February 12, 2014, in three confirmed deaths, 61 persons wounded and 69 detained. The carnage and destruction in Caracas on Wednesday comes on the heels of generally peaceful marches held on the 200th anniversary of the battle of La Victoria, a battle in which students played a critical role in a victory against royalist forces during Venezuela's war of independence. While some groups of students marched in celebration of the Day of the Student, anti-government demonstrators used the occasion to protest episodic shortages of some basic goods, persistent crime, and to demand the release of students who had been arrested in earlier demonstrations.

The vicious street attack near the national headquarters of the prosecutor's office in Caracas came after several days of often violent anti-government protests in the streets of Aragua, Lara, Mérida and Táchira. [1] Some of these protests included the use of rocks, guns, and Molotov cocktails, and were largely directed against government buildings, the public (pro-government) television station Venezolana de Televisión, vehicles and other property, the police, and civilians.

Among the injured were three students of the Central University of Venezuela who were reportedly wounded by gunfire as well as 17 Bolivarian National Police personnel, two of whom were attacked with Molotov Cocktails. Among those killed in Caracas were Juan Montoya, a community activist in the pro-Chavista 23rd of January barrio and Bassil Da Costa, a marketing student. A third person was killed in the Chacao neighborhood in the Eastern part of the Venezuelan capital.

In February 2014 David Cameron outright refused to recognise the sacrifices made by some 10,000 British military personnel that were exposed to intense levels of radiation during the 1950s and 1960s.

These men were ordered to do things like watch nuclear detonations at close range, fly aircraft through mushroom clouds, handle radioactive materials and explore blast zones, all with no protective gear.

Many hundreds have died of cancer and other radiation related illnesses but this isn't even the most horrifying legacy. Due to the genetic damage these men sustained, the families of many of these men have been affected by birth defects, meaning that the legacy of suffering is continuing down the generations.

The European Commission announced having "freed up" Syria's frozen assets, in order to fund the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons.

This unilateral decision runs counter to the OPCW resolution, adopted 15 November 2013, which highlights Syria's financial inability to pay for their destruction and creates a special international fund as a substitute.

Reacting to this measure, the Syrian government has condemned the theft of assets belonging to the Syrian people. It furthermore recalled that member governments of the European Union have and continue to fund terrorism in Syria, in violation of relevant UN resolutions. In addition, EU Member States are illegally buying Syrian oil siphoned off by the Contras at the expense of the Syrian people.

The United States relied on the assistance of dozens of German scientists to develop invasive interrogation techniques targeting the Soviet Union in the early years of the Cold War, according to a new book on the subject. The book, entitled Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America, by American journalist Annie Jacobsen, is to be published this week.

Operation PAPERCLIP was initially set up during World War II by the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Its aim was to recruit scientists that had previously been employed by the German Third Reich, with the primary goal of denying German scientific expertise to the USSR.

Hundreds of former Nazi scientists were brought to the US under secret military research contracts during the second half of the 1940s. Eventually, the recruited scientists were used to augment an entire array of American government-sponsored endeavors, including the space program and several intelligence collection techniques.

Government watchdog group Judicial Watch published a U.S. Navy map on Wednesday showing the locations of ships in the region surrounding Libya on the night of the deadly Benghazi Attack.

The unclassified map was obtained by Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Randall R. Schmidt via a Freedom of Information of Act (FOIA) request. Schmidt is reportedly investigating the U.S. military's response to the Benghazi attack and provided a copy of the map to the group.

"The U.S. military had a multitude of forces in the region surrounding Libya when terrorists attacked the Special Mission in Benghazi and murdered four Americans," Judicial Watch writes.

"Destroyers could have responded to the attack," Schmidt said.

He also said the military had "rapid reaction forces" and "armed predators" in the region. So far, the Department of Defense has refused to provide him records on the air fleet on Sept. 11, 2012.

"The point is there were enough forces to respond," Schmidt added.

This isn't a spoof. In addition to this story, we'll provide you with a round-up of GMO-related news, including why your neighbor may shortly be planting GMO grass right next to you. Action Alerts!

We won't spend time in this article reiterating past research on why genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are dangerous - you probably already know that they can randomly produce toxic effects; introduce alarming levels of chemicals into our ecosystems and diet; and have been shown to cause serious health problems - but there have been some recent developments in GMO politics, science, and regulation that we want to share with you.

Here are the news items we'll cover:

• Monsanto Wins Award for..."Sustainability"?
• GMOs Aren't Enough - Monsanto Wants to Monopolize Conventional and Organic Crops, Too.
• Is Someone Growing Unregulated GMO Grass Right Next to You?
• All Eyes on New Global Precedent for GMO Contamination
• Industrial Herbicides Are Even More Toxic Than We Thought
• Is Industry Persuading Scientists to Quash Chilling Scientific Findings?

South Africa's economy is still mostly under the control of whites who held power under apartheid and the government needs to take more drastic steps to make sure the black majority can benefit from its wealth, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.

Zuma, speaking at the start of a major policy meeting of his ruling African National Congress, said the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality posed long-term risks for Africa's richest country 18 years after the end of apartheid.

"The structure of the apartheid-era economy has remained largely intact," Zuma told several thousand ANC delegates.

"The ownership of the economy is still primarily in the hands of white males as it has always been," he said.

The ANC has drafted a raft of policy documents that call on mining firms to pay more to the state to help finance welfare spending. The proposals also advocate relying on state-owned enterprises to be engines of job creation and growth.