World in brief: Ahern must form uneasy coalition

Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, the savvy survivor of Irish politics, looked ahead Saturday to another five years in charge of Europe’s most dynamic economy, but also the challenge of forming a governing coalition likely to include longtime opponents.

Following Thursday’s election triumph, the most likely coalition partners for Ahern’s Fianna Fail party are either the Labour Party or the Greens. Both are strident left-wing critics of Ahern’s pro-business government that, for 10 years, has promoted Ireland as a low-tax magnet for American investment and European immigration.

Ireland faces two weeks of private negotiations to work out whether Ahern can combine policies and share power with politicians who a few days ago were hoping he’d lose office.

At stake is whether Ireland continues on its current path toward a U.S.-style society of fierce competition and car dependency, or heads back toward the continental European norm of better social safeguards, strong public transport and higher taxes.

CARACAS, Venezuela

Thousands protest TV station’s closing

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets Saturday chanting “Freedom, Freedom!” to protest President Hugo Chavez’s decision not to renew the broadcast license of the country’s most-watched TV station, an outlet for the opposition.

Police lined a Caracas avenue while the protesters paraded past, some holding signs reading “No to silence,” while others placed tape over their mouths.

Radio Caracas Television, the sole opposition-aligned TV station with nationwide reach, is due to go off the air at midnight today. Protesters say that by not renewing RCTV’s license, Chavez is attempting to silence critics of his leftist government.

“Our president wants to control everything, even what we watch on television, so his voice is the only voice on the airwaves,” said Roger Montoya, a 23-year-old university student at Saturday’s march. “It’s totalitarianism.”

Chavez defends the decision as a legal move to democratize the airwaves by turning over RCTV’s signal to a public service channel. The president and his supporters have accused RCTV of supporting a failed 2002 coup against him, violating broadcast laws and regularly showing programs with excessive violence and sexual content.

Founded in 1953, RCTV broadcasts a mix of talk shows, sports, soap operas and the popular comedy program “Radio Rochela,” which often pokes fun at Chavez.