break-ups

Ind: coup attempt fails in Philippines

LAT: President Musharraf could lift General Musharraf's emergency rule soon
LAT: meanwhile, many Pakistanis wonder when inflation, economic troubles will end

Gdn: polls suggest Chávez's reform referendum will fail Sun, but they have underestimated his support in the past. on the other hand, the opposition seems more active than it has in the past, so watch for violence and vote-rigging this weekend.
(anectdote: at a soccer game in Bogotá against a team from Colombian border city Cucutá last Dec, fans taunted cucuteños by calling them 'venezolanos' - apparently it's common knowledge that Colombians along the Venezuelan border and Atlantic coast have Venezuelan ids that entitle them to food and gas subsidies in Venezuela; all they have to do to validate them is show up for elections and vote for Chávez. maybe this is one reason polls don't capture his support, though who knows by how much. even hundreds of miles from the border I met several with Venezuelan ids. Colombians even get Venezuelan passports that way, since Venezuelan travelers face fewer restrictions.)
IHT: Chávez breaks up with Colombia for as long as Uribe is president (who so far denies he'll change the constitution again to run for a 3rd term)
NPR: background on the Chávez family, then and now

Gdn: talks on future of Kosovo fell apart yesterday

LAT: report on assassination of Lebanese PM Hariri finds that killers still organized, linked to 18 other political killings

CSM: Marines propose redeployment from Anbar to Afghanistan
"Conway, for one, is convinced that Afghanistan's security needs inevitably will require more American forces – and that the Corps, with its "expeditionary" focus, is well suited to the mission."

Ind: Iraqi refugees returning from Syria in bus caravan

IHT: Girl Scouts still exists, gives Muslim girls "a sense of belonging"
even if it requires some negotiating with parents: "'They are afraid you are going to become a blue-eyed, blond-haired Barbie doll,' said Asma, the girl who at times makes her sash everyday attire. Asma noted that her mother had asked whether she was joining some Christian cabal."