Hugo Chavez speaks during news conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, 30 Nov 2006

Venezuela Election: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is celebrating victory, after being re-elected to another six-year term on an anti-American platform of socialist change.
President Chavez won re-election Sunday after his challenger, Zulia state Governor Manuel Rosales, conceded defeat.
Preliminary voting results show Mr. Chavez winning by a landslide. The National Electoral Council says after 78 percent of the ballots had been counted, the incumbent president had 61 percent.
Hundreds of supporters cheered and waved Venezuelan flags outside the presidential palace Sunday as fireworks burst overhead. Speaking to supporters, Mr. Chavez
said his victory was a defeat for U.S. President Bush, who the Venezuelan leader called a "devil who wants to dominate the world."

Lebanon: Lebanese authorities have deployed more troops to Sunni neighborhoods of Beirut after street clashes erupted Saturday between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims, leaving one person dead and at least 12 wounded.

Lebanese Hezbollah supporters shout anti-government slogans during a demonstration in Beirut

The battles broke out late Saturday as supporters of the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah left an opposition rally and passed through Sunni districts of the capital.
Police say the activists and local residents began fighting and throwing stones. Gunmen then opened fire, wounding several people, including a 20-year-old Shi'ite who later died.

Iraq: President Bush is to meet an influential Iraqi Shi'ite cleric at the White House today (Monday) for talks on how to reduce the sectarian violence in Iraq.

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim at the King Hussein mosque in Amman, Jordan, 1 Dec. 2006

Abdel Aziz al-Hakim is the leader of the pro-Iranian Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), one of the largest factions in the Iraqi government.
Hakim does not hold a ministerial post because Iraqi officials have barred clerics from taking part in day-to-day decision-making. But, he has considerable influence because of his party's military wing, the Badr Brigade, which has thousands of men.
In another development, the U.S. military in Iraq says insurgents killed nine American troops in several battles around the country Saturday and Sunday.

Afghanistan: NATO officials say alliance troops have killed around 80 Taleban rebels in a fierce battle in southern Afghanistan.

Canadian soldiers of ISAF watch as Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers participate in a joint military exercise,

A NATO spokesman said today (Monday) NATO troops and Afghan security forces were on patrol in southern Helmand province's Musa Qala district when they were ambushed early Sunday by a large Taleban force.
The spokesman said military commanders estimated 70 to 80 insurgents had been killed in the battle, with no NATO casualties.
Meanwhile, NATO officials say terrain and weather conditions are preventing troops from reaching the site of a downed chartered civilian helicopter.

Laisenia Qarase

Fiji – Coup: Soldiers threatening to seize power in the South Pacific island nation of Fiji have set up road blocks and raided police armories around the capital, Suva.
Witnesses say troops manned checkpoints today (Monday), blocking some streets but allowing traffic to pass along others.
Military officers say soldiers also confiscated weapons from bodyguards protecting Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and his Cabinet.
The military would not say whether it had launched its long-promised coup. But Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says Fiji's army is slowly taking control of the country.

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