Netanyahu’s failed attempt to replace Shin Bet’s chief violates longstanding Israeli political taboos, as the apartheid state’s internal power struggle spirals to a new level of crisis while Gaza burns, writes RAMZY BAROUD
Trump piles on the pressure for ‘regime change’ in Venezuela
Further sanctions on Venezuela are illegal, writes TIM YOUNG

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has imposed sweeping new sanctions on Venezuela, this time focused on the gold sector.
These latest sanctions aim to attack Venezuela’s gold production and trade and deny it hard currency to pay for the import of food and medicines.
Venezuela has extensive gold reserves, estimated as the second largest in the world. New gold-processing plants currently being installed to handle production from the country’s 32 gold fields are predicted to bring in about $5 billion in 2019.
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