CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela President Hugo Chavez is still receiving treatment for breathing problems. Two months ago he underwent cancer surgery in Cuba and he has not been seen in public since.

A government spokesman announced today that he hasn’t fully recovered: “The respiratory deficiency that arose in the course of the postoperative period persists, and its tendency has not been favorable, for which reason he continues to be treated,” the information minister, Ernesto Villegas, announced …

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President Obama faced a daunting task when he stepped up to the podium to speak at Hyde Park Career Academy in Chicago last week. He was tasked with changing a widespread perception of gun violence in his adopted hometown from that of a uniquely urban pathology to one of national significance—and one that can be impacted by national policy change.

Reactions to the speech have varied. But some observers have noted that while the president did …

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This week, Florida Atlantic University announced a deal to rename its football stadium after GEO Group, one of the largest private prison companies in the world. The deal came with a $6 million dollar price tag, the “largest one-time gift in the history of FAU athletics.”

But GEO Group has a history of human rights abuses that it would rather keep secret, especially once 30,000 screaming football fans begin seeing the company’s corporate sponsorship. So, in …

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Staring next week, the Supreme Court of the United States will start hearing arguments challenging Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, otherwise known as the “preclearance” provision. Section 5 requires that States with a history of voter discrimination run any changes they make to their voting requirements before the Federal Government prior to instituting any changes. The case title Shelby County v. Holder will …

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With the primary election just 11 days away, donations to independent campaigns are mounting fast in high-stakes races for mayor and school board.

Donations have topped $20 million in the races for three citywide offices, seven City Council seats and three each on the boards of Los Angeles Unified and the Los Angeles Community College District.

In the reports due Thursday, City Councilman Eric Garcetti reported a cash balance of $1.5 million in his run for mayor, …

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The workers represented by UNITE Here Local 11 are going to form a picket line starting at 6 a.m. tomorrow outside the W Hotel Hollywood, the Weekly has learned.

Strikers are unhappy with working conditions and say …

… that the hotel only allows them 25 minutes to clean each room in the upscale hotel that’s home to the celebrity hot-spot Drai’s.

The union described workers’ issues in a flier sent to the Weekly:

Maybe …

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(CNN) — Hardcore Italian football “ultra” Federico is a Lazio supporter who happily admits directing monkey chants at black players.

It is “a means to distract opposition players” says Federico, a member of the Irriducibili (“The Unbeatables”) group which follows the Rome-based team.

“I am against anyone who calls me a Nazi,” Federico told academic Alberto Testa, who spent time “embedded” with Lazio and Roma ultras for the book “Football, Fascism and Fandom: The UltraS of Italian …

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With little more than a note to Congress, President Obama announced Friday morning that he has ordered the deployment of approximately 100 armed US soldiers to the west African country of Niger.

President Obama has order US soldiers to the west African nation of Niger. (AP) According to the Associated Press, Obama’s letter stated that the mission would be to conduct “intelligence sharing” with French troops stationed in the neighboring country of Mali who have joined …

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The execution of three death row inmates is an ominous and regressive move by Japan’s new Liberal Democratic government, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

The executions are the first since the administration took office in December and raises fears that the pace of executions may increase during Prime Minister Abe’s term.

Masahiro Kanagawa, 29, was hanged at Tokyo Detention Centre on Thursday, along with Kaoru Kobayashi, 44, at Osaka Detention Centre and Keiki Kano, 62, at Nagoya …

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China may soon get its very own tax on carbon emissions. That’s the latest scuttlebutt from state-owned news service Xinhua, which noted that the levy would be part of a broader effort to improve the country’s environment.

Carbon tax, you say?

It’s easy to see why this move is attracting so much attention. China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Yet the country has earned a reputation for bogging down international efforts to tackle climate …

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