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election that was supposed to cement the self-styled "Bolivarian Revolution" of their beloved president as Venezuela's destiny. National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, who many consider Maduro's main rival within their movement, tweeted: "The results oblige us to make a profound self-criticism." • Maduro's victory followed an often ugly, mudslinging campaign in which the winner promised to carry on Chavez's legacy, while challenger Henrique Capriles' main message was that Chavez put this country with the world's largest oil reserves on the road to ruin. • Despite the ill feelings, both men sent their supporters home and urged them to refrain from violence. • Maduro, acting president since Chavez's March 5 death, held a double-digit advantage in opinion polls just two weeks ago, but electoral officials said he got just 50.7 percent of the votes compared to 49.1 percent for Capriles, with nearly all ballots counted. • ___
Oblivious to tensions abroad, North Koreans celebrate birthday of late president
• PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- Oblivious to international tensions over a possible North Korean missile launch, Pyongyang residents spilled into the streets Monday to celebrate a major national holiday, the birthday of their first leader, Kim Il Sung. • Girls in red and pink jackets skipped along streets festooned with celebratory banners and flags and parents pushed strollers with babies bundled up against the spring chill as residents of the isolated, impoverished nation began observing a three-day holiday. • There was no sense of panic in the North Korean capital, where very few locals have access to international broadcasts and foreign newspaper headlines speculating about an imminent missile launch and detailing the international diplomacy under way to try to rein Pyongyang in, including a swing through the region by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to try to tamp down emotions and coordinate Washington's response with Beijing, North Korea's most important ally. • Foreign governments have been struggling to assess how seriously to take North Korea's recent torrent of rhetoric -- including warnings of possible nuclear war -- as it expresses its anger over continuing U.S.-South Korea military maneuvers just across the border. Officials in South Korea, the United States and Japan say intelligence indicates that North Korean officials, fresh off an underground nuclear test in (Continued on page 19)
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