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Chavez won his elections in 1999–from the presidency to the constitutional referendum–by playing us-vs.-them politics. Sounds like traditional Latin populism, right? The votes attracted by Peron in Argentina, Mexico’s PRI, Christian Democrats in Chile or Liberals and Conservatives in Colombia included rich and poor; town and country; young and old; white, brown and black (where relevant); men and women. Not so in Venezuela. Chavez has split society into pro- and anti-Chavistas ideologically and politically, but his sympathizers are not divided....

New York police are stepping up collars of drug dealers, squeezing them for leads on the source of the “hot shots” (deadly doses). So far, there have been no arrests. While new to the Northeast, fentanyl has been linked to more than 100 deaths in California over the last 10 years. It may have come to the New York area as part of an attempt to widen the market with a more intense “designer” substitute for heroin....

A LONGSTANDING RITE OF PASSAGE:As family and friends look on, the initiates lie down on a drop cloth. Using a razor blade, a traditional surgeon removes the clitoris and labia minor.

Cose, who came to NEWSWEEK in 1993, says, “The wonderful thing about being a writer is that everything you’ve done in your life informs your perspective.” And he brings a unique set of qualifications to the daunting task of giving a multiracial audience some plain-language context to volatile racial issues. He’s been a street reporter, a columnist for a major daily newspaper (at the age of 19) and the chairman of the New York Daily News’s editorial board....

HOTELS The charming La Vie en Rose, a repurposed barge docked near Notre-Dame, has room for two guests, and only two (01 43 54 03 46; 650 euros per day). Le Raphel, a luxury hotel near the Champs-Elysees, has hosted some of the world’s most glamorous couples (01 53 64 32 01; 382 euros-992 euros). CAFES The whimsical La Charlotte en l’Ile features some of the richest hot choc-olate in Paris (01 43 54 25 83; 4th arr....

Toxicology reports and multiple investigations are still pending, and Dr. Dean Norman, chief of staff of the hospital, says that details of the five overdose deaths vary by case. But veterans treated at the hospital say that lax supervision of prescription drugs was a serious problem, particularly in the domiciliary, the dorm-like residential halls the VA uses to help veterans make the transition to life outside the hospital. “They were handing the meds out like candy,” said Joe Romo, a member of the local AMVETS post....

Tom Brady, Alex Rodriguez and Serena Williams attended the annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. La La Anthony made a solo appearance at the event amid reports of her split with Carmelo. Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez Serena Williams La La Anthony

In his best-selling new book, perfectly titled “Chutzpah,” Dershowitz argues that American Jews should stop allowing themselves to be treated as second-class citizens. Part autobiography, part call to action, “Chutzpah” includes discussions of Israel, Harvard, Auschwitz and the Pollard spy case. It also takes on the leaders of the American Jewish Congress, president Robert Lifton and executive director Henry Siegman, who last week counterattacked in a four-page letter to Dershowitz....

The chief question Kingsolver poses in “Pigs in Heaven” is who wins in “a conflict between individual and community values.” But she also explores what it’s like to be poor in America. “Fiction creates empathy, and empathy is the antidote to meanness of spirit,” she says. “Nonfiction can tell you about the plight of working people, of single mothers, but in a novel you become the character; touch what she touches, struggle with her self-doubt....

The organizer, Irineo Mujica, said that the caravans expect to meet in Veracruz on November 18. From there, they will head toward the Arizona-Mexico border. This deviates from the original plan to end this journey—which started near the border of Guatemala—in Mexico City. “We are not going to Mexico City, we are now going the northern border, we are going to Sonora,” Mujica said this week in a video posted to social media that was reported on by Border Report....

“We are still grappling with the clandestine network we dis-covered a few years back,” IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said last week, referring to the web created by AQ Khan of Pakistan. “When we know now that on a CD-ROM you have designs for centrifuges [capable of enriching uranium to weapons-grade] and possibly even weapons designs, that makes you very worried.” So does the record of even the most successful investigations so far....

Skelton, two of whose three sons are in the military, comes from a military family. His father lied about his age in order to get into the Navy, where he served on the first battleship Missouri, which had been part of the Great White Fleet that Teddy Roosevelt sent around the world to advertise America’s emergence as a world power. Skelton’s mother was the great-great-granddaughter of Squire Boone who, with his uncle Daniel, fought in August 1782 in northwestern Kentucky at Bryan’s Station....

Binion’s lies away from the Strip, in the slightly seedy old downtown. Outside, it’s a glare-bright day as Mike Caro steers his car through the even seedier Vegas outskirts. A desert wind blows along the vacant lots, trapping tumbling plastic bags in the scrub brush. Caro utters his credo: “In the beginning, every thing was even money.” The self-proclaimed “Mad Poker Genius,” famed author and player, wants this above all to be clear....

The kid with the magic feet could be the face of America’s soccer future. Now 13, he is the youngest member–by two years–of that U-17 team, which trains year-round in Bradenton, Fla. Adu has been leaving opponents breathless and coaches speechless since arriving in this country, at 8, from Ghana. U.S. soccer brass fret about the pressure of high expectations, but they can’t contain their glee over the young scoring marvel....