XPost: 24hoursupport.helpdesk, alt.politics.scorched-earth, uk.politics.misc   
   XPost: uk.legal, alt.politics.uk   
   From: burfordTjustice@tues.uk   
      
   Venezuela high court reverses move to strip congress' power   
      
   CARACAS, Venezuela –  Venezuela's president and Supreme Court backed down   
   Saturday from a surprise move to strip congress of its legislative powers that   
   had sparked widespread charges that the South American country was no longer a   
   democracy.   
      
   President Nicolas Maduro asked the Supreme Court in a late-night speech to   
   review a ruling nullifying the lawmaking body after that decision set off a   
   storm of criticism from the opposition and foreign governments. The court on   
   Saturday released new    
   rulings that apparently reinstated congress' authority.   
      
   It was a rare instance of the embattled socialist president backing away from   
   a move to increase his power. Opposition leaders dismissed the backtracking as   
   too little too late and called on Venezuelans to take to the street Saturday   
   morning against what    
   they called an attempted coup. They said the clarification issued by the   
   judges only proved yet again that Maduro controls the courts and there is no   
   longer a real separation of powers in Venezuela.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)