09- 30 - 2006

AL-QAIDA NO. 2 CALLS PRESIDENT BUSH FAILURE, LIAR 

   CAIRO, EGYPT  -- Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri condemned President Bush in a video statement released Friday, calling him a failure and a liar. "Why don't you tell them how many million citizens of America and its allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people's sons in order increase your profits?" al-Zawahri said in a portion of the video released by the Virginia-based IntelCenter.

    It said the message was titled "Bush, the Pope, Darfur and the Crusades." The video was the latest to come from al-Zawahri since earlier this month. Al-Qaida released a string of videos for the anniversary of Sept. 11, showing increasingly sophisticated production techniques in a likely effort to demonstrate that it remains a powerful, confident force despite the U.S.-led war on terror.

    An intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. experts view the tape as a typcial propaganda message, whose main thrust is a call for more people to join the jihad. It wasn't immediately clear when the message was recorded, but al-Zawahri made a reference to the pope, indicating the message was produced sometime after Pope Benedict XVI's controversial comments about Islam on Sept. 12, the official said.

VENEZUELA TO CUT OIL PRODUCTION BY 50,000 BARRELS A DAY

   CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --   Venezuela said Friday that it will cut oil production by 50,000 barrels a day to try and stem the recent fall in crude prices. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez has informed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries of Venezuela's decision, the Ministry of Energy said in a statement.

    "(Venezuela) will stop producing 50,000 barrels a day with the intention of mitigating the fall that oil prices have shown in the past weeks," the statement said. Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and a major supplier to the United States.

CONTROVERSY OVER VENEZUELAN BACKED MILITARY BASES IN BOLIVIA

   LIMA, PERU  -- Peruvian ex presidential candidate Ollanta Humala voiced disagreement with Venezuela's funding of military bases property of foreign governments. Reference was made to building of a couple of facilities with Venezuelan money near the Brazilian border.

    "I do not think it is right. I would not accept that. However, here in Peru, we have bases with US military staff oriented to the fight against drug traffic," Humala said. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who shares a common ideology, backed overtly Humala's candidacy. Recently, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced the construction of two bases with Venezuelan funding. Additional facilities are expected in the near future close to bordering countries, including Peru and Chile.

VENEZUELAN FOREIGN MINISTER ASKS UN TO TAKE ACTION IN POSADA CARRILES CASE

      UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK  --  Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro requested Thursday the United Nations (UN) Security Council to take action in the case of anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles. The activist has been wanted in Venezuela for more than one year to face trial in connection with the blasting of a Cuban plane in 1976.

    "We came to request the Security Council to take action and ask the US public opinion to react in the face of the protection of this dangerous terrorist, Maduro told reporters at UN headquarters in New York City. Posada Carriles, also a CIA ex agent, was detained in May 2005 in the United States by immigration authorities. In mid 2005, Venezuela requested Posadas' extradition to sue him for murder and high treason, due to his involvement in an attack on an airliner of Cubana de Aviación killing 73 people in October 1976.

09 - 29 - 2006

THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT HAS TORTURED DR. ELIAS BISCET DURING EIGHT YEARS TRYING TO DRIVE HIM INSANE

   HAVANA, CUBA  --  The prisoner of conscience, Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet, said to Radio Marti from the Prison of Combinado del Este in Havana that  “The government of Cuba has tortured me during eight years; they have done so trying to drive me insane though, thank God, I have been able to preserve my sanity… in reality, they continue torturing me because I live in a box with no windows or natural light, no water…with a mattress that feels as if one were sleeping on a plank, a stone… unfit for a human being … surrounded by criminals and under the threat, as it has happened on previous occasions, of being attacked by the government who instigates these dangerous prisoners…”

    “The Cuban people must do their utmost in their struggle to win their freedom and succeed in obtaining the international support of all free and democratic countries. I trust that the Cuban people prove their dignity as they have done so on other occasions, so that we may enjoy FREEDOM..”

    Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet, 45 years old, is an internal medicine specialist of the black race who established and presides in Cuba the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, an organization that promotes universal human rights through non-violent civil disobedience. He suffers the cruel prison conditions he has been exposed to during eight years, which have seriously deteriorated his physical health.

AHMADINEJAD:  ROTUND NO TO URANIUM-ENRICHMENT HALT

      TEHRAN, IRAN  --  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday his country rejected the suspension of uranium-enrichment activities by Tehran, "even for one day." The comments came after representatives from Iran and the European Union failed to reach a deal in their latest round of nuclear talks, held in Berlin. However, the two sides came to "some positive conclusions," Tehran's chief negotiator said.

    Neither Ali Larijani nor EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana gave any details of what had been achieved, but both spoke positively of the discussions over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.  Solana and Larijani are holding the latest round of talks over a package of incentives that six countries - the United States, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany - are offering Tehran in return for suspending its uranium enrichment program and returning to full-scale negotiations.

    Iran missed an Aug. 31 Security Council deadline over the issue. The six are considering seeking sanctions in the UN Security Council if Tehran does not comply.  "We have had long, constructive negotiations" Larijani said. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Solana on Wednesday and renewed US support for his talks with Iran, she told reporters in Washington, D.C.  Rice said if Larijani agreed to a suspension of processing uranium "we would be on a course for negotiations."

PORTUGUESE PRIME MINISTER'S PHOTO IN CHAVEZ ELECTION CAMPAIGN SPARKS DIPLOMATIC SPAT

     LISBON, PORTUGAL  --  Portugal's Foreign Ministry complained Thursday to Venezuela's ambassador in Lisbon about a billboard featuring Prime Minister Jose Socrates in Hugo Chavez' re-election campaign. Pictures of the streetside billboard in Caracas were published on the front pages of several Portuguese daily papers Thursday.

    The campaign ad - with the phrase "Breaking the blockade! Venezuela is respected!" - shows Socrates and Chavez during a meeting at Lisbon airport in July when the Venezuelan president stopped over en route to Moscow. It also features the Portuguese flag. Pedro Silva Pereira, the Minister for Cabinet Affairs, said the government was "taken aback" by the "inappropriate use" of the prime minister's photograph.

    "We summoned the Venezuelan ambassador to explain. The government made it clear to him its displeasure at the improper use of the prime minister's photograph and the Portuguese flag in the context of an internal election campaign," Silva Pereira told reporters. Chavez is seeking re-election for another six-year term on Dec. 3.

09 - 28 - 2006

HUGO CHAVEZ ADMITS EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE IN LA PARAGUA CASE

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  Following a meeting with Alpha Oumar Konaré, the chair of the African Union Committee, President Hugo Chávez made reference to the recent killing of a group of miners in La Paragua sector, southern Bolívar state, and admitted excessive use of arms by military groups.

    He noted that the Government has been addressing the case from the very beginning. "We are aware that there was, at least, excessive use of weapons by a group of army officers. They, a high-rank officer, a group of officers and troops, will occur to the Attorney General Office."

    "I make a public call to the armed forces and all of us who carry weapons legally. I am one of them. Any officer, soldier, policeman, whoever, misusing the weapons of the Republic will be punished. This cannot continue happening. And it should be punished forcefully." The ruler confirmed that some evidence has been collected and six people dead, including two indigenous, two Brazilians and two Venezuelans, were found.

RUSSIA REJECTS MOVE TO GIVE PUTIN THIRD TERM

      MOSCOW, RUSSIA  --  Russia's top election authority on Wednesday threw out a call for a people's poll that would clear the way for President Vladimir Putin to stay on in power, making it more likely he will step down as he plans in 2008. Putin has said repeatedly he will abide by the constitution that restricts a head of state to serving two consecutive four-year terms in power at any one time, and go in 2008.

    But this has not stopped supporters from urging the 53-year-old Putin to stay on and in the latest such move a group from a southern Russian region formally sought a referendum to get the two-term rule scrapped. Rejecting the move, Russia's election chief Alexander Veshnyakov said: "None of the members of the Central Election Commission, none of the experts, have any doubts that the question in its present form cannot be used for a referendum."

ITALIAN TOURIST KILLED, HUSBAND BEATEN IN VENEZUELA

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  An Italian woman was killed and her husband was beaten Wednesday by a group of men while vacationing on a Venezuelan Caribbean island, an official from the Italian Embassy said. Marcos Petacco said he was not authorized to release the names of the victims until family members were notified of the murder on Gran Roque, the largest in the Los Roques archipelago some 135 kilometers (85 miles) north of Caracas.

    "A group of thugs killed the woman, and her husband was tied and beaten," Petacco. He added that details were still unclear, including the extent of the man's injuries. Petacco said Venezuelan authorities were investigating the crime and had halted all plane and boat departures to prevent suspects from fleeing the island.

7-ELEVEN DROPS VENEZUELA'S CITGO AS GAS PARTNER

      DALLAS, TEXAS  --  7-Eleven Inc. is dropping Venezuela-backed Citgo as its gasoline supplier after more than 20 years as part of a previously announced plan by the convenience store operator to launch its own brand of fuel. 7-Eleven officials said Wednesday that the company’s decision was partly motivated by politics.

    Citgo Petroleum Corp. is a Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-run oil company and 7-Eleven is worried that anti-American comments made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez might prompt motorists to fill-up elsewhere. Source: Decision was made before Hugo Chavez called Bush 'the devil'

09 - 27 - 2006

SECRETARY RICE: VENEZUELA WOULD TURN UNITED NATIONS' SECURITY COUNCIL "UNFEASIBLE"

    WASHINGTON, D.C.  -- Venezuela  entry would render the United Nations Security Council "unfeasible," as the body needs "responsible States" rather than States that only want to aerate their anti-US views, US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice declared. "That (Venezuela entry) would amount to the end of consensus at the Security Council. This is a very serious issue," Rice told The Wall Street Journal.

    "This is about determining whether a State is responsible or whether it simply wants to engage in a constant fight against the United States everyday on every matter, which would render the Security Council unfeasible," she stressed. Venezuela and Guatemala are competing to occupy the position Argentina is leaving vacant as non-permanent member of the UN body for two years.  The vote is scheduled for next October 16. "This is the most important body in the world, and responsible States need to be there," Rice asserted.

    Rice commented on Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez' speech before the UN General Assembly last Wednesday, when he called his US counterpart George W. Bush "devil," "tyrant," and "liar," among other things. "I think Hugo Chávez made no good to himself with his speech. While he may have attracted the attention of the media, he also drew attention from many people who are concerned about responsibilities at the Security Council."

RUSSIA TO ENDORSE VENEZUELA BID TO THE UNITED NATIONS' SECURITY COUNCIL

      MOSCOW, RUSSIA  --  Russian ambassador to Venezuela Mikhail Orlovets confirmed that his country is to vote Venezuela to occupy a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council.

    "There is no need to comment on this issue. This decision was made and announced in Moscow last June by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Our stance is based on our principles, and we will not change it. Perhaps there have been speculations on the media," he said in reference to reports published Tuesday in Venezuelan media that Russia is yet undecided on its vote for the UN Security Council. Further, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Vice-Minister for Europe Rodrigo Chaves endorsed Orlovets' remarks.

    Regarding Venezuelan press reports that Russian Foreign Vice-Minister Sergei Kisliak stated in Guatemala that Russia was undecided on its vote for the UN Security Council,  Chaves rejected the fact that not even the Guatemalan press questioned Russian support for Venezuela, while the Venezuelan media did.

HUGO CHAVEZ PLANS PROTEST AGAINST U.S. 

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  Hugo Chavez on Tuesday said Venezuela will summon the U.S. ambassador to issue a diplomatic protest after the foreign minister was temporarily detained by authorities at a New York airport. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro say authorities at John F. Kennedy International airport tried to frisk and handcuff him Saturday as he tried to catch a flight after attending the U.N. General Assembly session.

"We're going to put out a protest note, and the U.S. ambassador in Venezuela will be called," Chavez told reporters. "And in that protest note, it says 'If that happens again, we would be obligated to give at least equal treatment to whomever.'"

U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL ASKS TO INVESTIGATE INTO MADURO'S INCIDENT

      UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK  -- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan entrusted Under-Secretary General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel to investigate into an occurrence last Saturday in Kennedy airport of New York City, where Venezuelan Foreign Minister was withheld for one and a half hour by local authorities. Foreign Minister Maduro was to return Venezuela following his participation in the UN General Assembly. He seemingly bought a one-way ticket and paid in cash. This fact looked suspicious.

UN Spokesman Stephan Dujarric declared Monday that Annan was apprised of the situation that same Saturday by the Venezuelan mission to UN and contacted immediately US authorities, DPA disclosed. Annan asked his legal counsel to investigate and help both the Venezuelan and US sides to solve this inconvenience as soon as possible.

09 - 26 - 2006

POPE BENEDICT XVI ASSURES MUSLIMS OF RESPECT, DIALOGUE

    CASTELGANDOLFO, ITALY  --   Pope Benedict XVI assured Muslims on Monday that he respected them and was committed to dialogue, in an unprecedented encounter to defuse anger at his use of quotes saying their faith was spread by the sword.  In a speech to diplomatic envoys from some 20 Muslim countries plus the leaders of Italy's own Muslim community at his summer residence south of Rome, the Pope said both Christians and Muslims had to reject violence.

    Several of the envoys who attended said they considered the meeting had gone a long way to help end the controversy that began two weeks ago with a speech by the Pope at a university in his native Germany.  "I think this meeting has resolved many problems ... we can close this controversy," said Khalil Altoubat, a member of the Italian Muslim community's liaison group with the government.

    The Pope did not specifically mention the quote that angered Muslims worldwide, saying the circumstances that made the meeting necessary "are well known".  "Christians and Muslims must learn to work together ... in order to guard against all forms of intolerance and to oppose all manifestations of violence," the 79-year-old Pope said at the meeting in a frescoed hall of the papal summer palace.  It was the fourth time he has tried to make amends, without actually apologizing directly, for his speech on September 12.

SENATOR Mccain urges quick bolton confirmation as united nations envoy

      WASHINGTON, D.C. --  U.S. Sen. John McCain on Sunday urged quick confirmation for John Bolton as U.N. ambassador, saying the nominee is needed to talk back to " two-bit dictators" such as Venezuela's president.  McCain, an Arizona Republican, joined lawmakers from both parties in condemning Hugo Chavez's speech last week at the United Nations in which the Venezuelan called President George W. Bush  "the devil."

    "I would say that this is an argument to get John Bolton confirmed as our U.N. ambassador," McCain said on CBS  television's "Face the Nation." "He's smart, he's tough, he will respond to these guys. And he could talk back to these two- bit dictators who have the airfare to New York."  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month was expected to approve along party lines Bolton, whom Bush appointed temporarily to the post last year over opposition by Democrats and a few Republicans. 

    McCain urged Democrats to support Bolton's nomination and branded Chavez " despicable."  "He aspires to be this generation's (Fidel) Castro. I think the people of Venezuela ought to look at the standard of living in Cuba before they would embrace such a thing," McCain said.

CHILE ASKS VENEZUELA TO WITHDRAW AMBASSADOR FOR MEDDLING IN LOCAL POLITICS

      SANTIAGO DE CHILE, CHILE  -- Chile has asked Venezuela to withdraw its ambassador after accusing him of meddling in local affairs, according to a report published Saturday. According to the daily El Mercurio, the request was made in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly attended by the two countries' foreign ministers.  There was no immediate confirmation of the report from the government.

    But on Thursday, Chile's foreign ministry said it had asked Venezuela to "take the necessary measures" after ambassador Victor Delgado criticized Chile's Christian Democratic Party, the largest in President Michelle Bachelet's center-left coalition, for urging Bachelet not to support Venezuela's bid for a seat in the U.N. Security Council.

    In a communique on Thursday the government called Delgado's comments about the Christian Democratic Party "unacceptable."  "Departing from all diplomatic practices, the ambassador from Venezuela has openly interfered in the country's internal affairs," it said.  Chile, it added, "laments this situation and hopes the Venezuelan authorities will take the necessary measures so that these events will not affect the friendly relationship between the two countries."  The public request for Venezuela to "take the necessary measures" has widely been seen here as a request to recall Delgado.

09 - 25 - 2006

VENEZUELA'S FOREIGN MINISTER NICOLÁS MADURO WAS DETAINED AT JFK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

    NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK  --  Venezuela's foreign minister NICOLAS MADURO said he was illegally detained for 90 minutes by officials at a New York airport and accused them of treating him abusively by trying to frisk and handcuff him. "We were detained for an hour and a half, threatened by police with being beaten," Maduro told reporters at Venezuela's mission to the U.N. "We hold the U.S. government responsible."

     A U.N. diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said Maduro's trip was delayed because he had showed up late without a ticket, prompting extra screening. Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke denied that Maduro was mistreated at John F. Kennedy International Airport when he was selected for an added security check. "He began to articulate his frustration with secondary screening right after he went through," a metal detector, Knocke said. "Port Authority officials confronted him when the situation became a ruckus."

    Maduro said when one official ordered him to go to another room for a strip-search, he refused. He told CNN en Espanol that the official pushed him and yelled at him. He told reporters the situation only worsened when he explained he was the Venezuelan foreign minister and presented his diplomatic passport. He said his passport and ticket were seized and eventually returned, but the incident prevented him from flying home Saturday.

CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO CRITICIZES DETENTION OF NICOLÁS MADURO AT JFK

      HAVANA, CUBA  --  DYING CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO, in his role as president of the Nonaligned Movement, decried the detention of Venezuela's foreign minister at a New York airport, calling it a "vulgar provocation."  A statement issued late Saturday said the Cuban leader reacted "with indignation" upon hearing that Nicolas Maduro was detained for 90 minutes at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He said the incident was an "unacceptable violation" of international norms regarding diplomats.

    The leader "extends his most vigorous protest of this vulgar provocation, which could take place again against any member of the Movement."  The Venezuelan official was detained for 90 minutes Saturday while attempting to fly home to Caracas via Miami. He accused airport officials of treating him abusively by trying to frisk and handcuff him.

    U.S. officials called Saturday's incident regrettable and said they had apologized to Maduro. Maduro called that insufficient and said Venezuela would seek a legal challenge through the United Nations to what he called a "flagrant violation of international law" and his diplomatic immunity.

09 - 24 - 2006

HUGO CHAVEZ: "BUSH SHOULD RESIGN AS PRESIDENT IF HE HAS ANY DIGNITY"

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA --  Hugo Chavez launched yet another verbal assault against President Bush  upon returning from a highly charged U.S. visit Friday, calling on the American leader to resign. Chavez also suggested that New York city police were behind a electrical disruption during his speech Thursday in Harlem, but police denied the allegation.

    "He should renounce the presidency if he has any dignity. The president of the United States has failed completely," Chavez said at the inauguration of a natural gas project in northwestern Venezuela.  It was Chavez's first appearance since returning from the United States, where he called Bush "the devil" at the United Nations' General Assembly and later criticized him in a speech to supporters at a church in Harlem.

    The comments coming near U.S. legislative elections have drawn condemnation even from some of Bush's critics. Bush's political foes and fans alike condemned the remarks, U.S. newspapers criticized the Venezuelan leader, and one governor said his state is no longer interested in buying discounted heating oil from Venezuela-owned Citgo this winter.

GENERAL CRADDOCK FEARS CHAVEZ EXPORTING INSTABILITY

      WASHINGTON, D.C. --  The United States is worried about "export of instability" from Venezuela, a US high commander said. In his opinion, the large amount of money from oil drilling enables Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to buy influence.

    General Bantz Craddock made such remark during an interview shortly after a speech delivered by Chávez at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York. There, the head of state labeled his US counterpart George W. Bush as "the devil."

    "I think instability is being exported from Venezuela. There is abundance of petrodollars and buying influence is possible," Craddock lamented.  "Therefore, I think we ought to take it seriously," the US military added.

09 - 23 - 2006

CASTRO'S DAUGHTER, ALINA FERNÁNDEZ, SAYS SHE DOUBTS HE WILL FULLY RETURN TO POWER

    NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA  -- Fidel Castro's estranged daughter said Thursday that although the dictator was ill, "he never lost control" of Cuba. Alina Fernandez said she doubted her father ever would fully return to power in Cuba after handing over control to his brother Raul in July to undergo surgery for intestinal bleeding.

    And while Raul Castro lacks Fidel Castro's charisma, as someone who has overseen the Army and the country's tourism, "he's not a person to be underestimated," Fernandez told reporters before addressing a packed crowd at Christopher Newport University.

    Fernandez was 3 when Castro took power. As his illegitimate daughter, she had sporadic contact with him until she left Cuba disguised as a Spanish tourist in 1993. Her autobiography, "Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba," was published five years later. It was at 3 years old that Fernandez witnessed her first execution, as Castro began killing his political enemies. "For me, life went from white and black and turned gray for a long time," Fernandez told the crowd. "Since the very moment those executions took place, fear embraced the people and the entire country."

HUGO CHÁVEZ WANTS TO BE THE "SUPER STAR"  AGAINST THE UNITED STATES

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA  -- Venezuelan international analysts fear that President Hugo Chávez would like to become the "super star" of the confrontation with the United States following his controversial remarks both at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and in New York City. According to Venezuelan ex ambassador to UN Milos Alcalay, Chávez' stance results in "unbalance" damaging the country, DPA quoted.

    "The President's behavior, by wanting to become a super star is an unbalance and does not benefit the country. Radicalization is endless and they intend to put Venezuela as the center of the world," he told Unión Radio. During a speech delivered in a church located in Harlem, Chávez called his US counterpart George W. Bush "alcoholic, insane and having a complex."

HUGO CHÁVEZ HAS BECOME HEZBOLLAH'S NEW IDOL

       BEIRUT, LEBANON  --  HUGO Chávez, who verbally attacked his US counterpart George W. Bush at the United Nations 61st General Assembly in New York last Wednesday, is now revered -because of his daring- by Hezbollah Shiite militias in Lebanon, AFP reported. "Thank you, Chávez," read huge placards posted by activists across the suburbs in southern Beirut. Last July and August, this place suffered heavy shelling from the Israeli aviation.

    In another placard hanging from a bridge destroyed by the Israeli aviation, Chávez is depicted next to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The poster reminds "the coalition from Gaza to Beirut, passing by Damascus, Tehran and our brother Chávez," quoting the Shiite leader. With his virulent attacks on Bush, Chávez exceeded the expectations and displaced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Washington's number one enemy worldwide, US press reports claimed.

    Venezuela takes the lead in the battle of speeches," was the headline of the New York Times article on Chávez' address before the 61st UN General Assembly. "Even under the standards of the United Nations, where the United States is often questioned as the world's super power, Chávez anti-US speech was extraordinarily inflammatory," said The Washington Post.

09 - 22 - 2006

HUGO CHAVEZ PROPOSES TO REORGANIZE UNITED NATIONS

    UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK  --  Approximately at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, President Hugo Chávez started his speech at the United Nations (UN) 61st General Assembly. There, he criticized the remarks made Tuesday by US President George W. Bush, the US imperialist policy and shelling on Lebanon and the Middle East. In his view, the UN system, born after World War II "collapsed and does not work." "They have turned us in a merely deliberative body with no power at all."

    As in the prior General Assembly, the head of state proposed to reorganize the UN; enlarge the number of both permanent and temporary members of the Security Council, in order to include developed and developing countries; implement effective, transparent methods to solve international conflicts, and "removal of this anti-democratic mechanism, which is the veto on the decisions of the Security Council."

    During his speech that took more than 20 minutes, Chávez favored strengthening the incumbency of the UN Secretary General and blamed the US Government for protection of "terrorism and taking a cynical stance." 

BRAZIL COURT TO PROBE PRESIDENT LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA'S CAMPAIGN

      BRASILIA, BRAZIL --  President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's campaign manager stepped down Wednesday over his alleged involvement in a plot to incriminate a leading opposition politician.  Silva's campaign said in a statement that campaign manager Ricardo Berzoini, president of the Workers' Party, will be replaced by Marco Aurelio Garcia.

    The scandal surfaced over the weekend after federal police arrested an attorney who allegedly had been hired by Workers' Party leaders to purchase incriminating documents involving Jose Serra of the Social Democratic Party.  Serra is widely favored to win the gubernatorial race in Sao Paulo, Brazil's wealthiest state. His main contender is Aloizio Mercadante of the Workers' Party.

    Police allege attorney Gedimar Pereira Passos was given $770,000 by Workers' Party officials to buy documents, photos and DVDs allegedly linking Serra to graft when he was health minister between 1998 and 2002. Brazil's highest electoral court Tuesday opened an investigation to determine if Silva was involved in the alleged plot.

DEFENSE MINISTRY ANTICIPATES PURCHASE OF ADDITIONAL RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  Purchase of an additional fleet of Russian choppers to equip the Venezuelan armed forces and reinforce operations on the border and remote sectors in the national territory is being considered, Defense Minister Raúl Isaías Baduel said.

    "In principle, we proposed to buy 55 aircraft of classes MI-17, Panare for us; MI-35, that is, the Caribbean system; and MI-26, the Pemon system. Procurement of 33 had been approved and should be completed this year," Baduel stated.

    As reported by the senior officer, about 50 percent out of the 100 Russian rifles previously bought has arrived in the country. "This first stage (concerning purchase of military equipment) amounted approximately to USD 200 million." However, he clarified that he did not have the accurate numbers available.

09 - 21 - 2006

AT UNITED NATIONS, CHAVEZ CALLS PRESIDENT BUSH "THE DEVIL" 

    UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK  --  Hugo Chavez took his verbal battle with the United States to the floor of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, calling President Bush "the devil." "The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said. "He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world."

    The leftist leader, who joined Iran last week in an alliance against U.S. influence, accused Washington of "domination, exploitation and pillage of peoples of the world." "We appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our head," he said.

    He also said the U.N. in its current system "doesn't work" and is "antidemocratic." Chavez called for reform, saying the U.S. government's "immoral veto" had allowed recent Israeli bombings of Lebanon to continue unabated for more than a month. "Venezuela once again proposes today that we reform the United Nations," the ex-lieutenant colonel said.

DENGUE FEVER ON THE UPSWING IN HAVANA

      HAVANA, CUBA  --  Dengue fever is on the upswing in Havana, according to one researcher who said she had recorded six thousand cases in the Párraga neighborhood of Arroyo Naranjo municipality in the city.

    The researcher said the ward where dengue cases are referred in the local Julio Trigo hospital is completely full. A nurse in the municipality who said new cases are admitted daily to the Covadonga, Calixto García, and Dependientes hospitals, said public health authorities cannot explain the increase in the number of cases.

    Authorities have been waging a campaign against the mosquito that transmits the disease, with aerial fumigation in open areas and daily home visits by public health personnel looking for mosquito breeding grounds. Nonetheless, critics say authorities have not acknowledged the outbreak in the city.

ANTI-GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATORS DEMAND RESIGNATION OF HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER

  BUDAPEST, HUNGARY  --  Hungarian police said on Wednesday that hard-core soccer hooligans had hijacked peaceful anti-government protests, but embattled Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany blamed the opposition for two nights of violence.  Hungary's capital, Budapest, has been wracked by the worst disturbances since the end of communism after a leaked tape in which Gyurcsany admitted he had lied to win April's election and police expected fresh violence on Wednesday.

     Gyurcsany, who faced calls from the opposition to step down as well as from thousands of peaceful protesters camped outside parliament in the evenings, sought to shift blame for the riots to the main opposition Fidesz party, whose leader Viktor Orban has termed his government "illegitimate".  Police said that there was a hard core of 1,000-2,000 rioters who had attached themselves to peaceful protesters, and were on the alert for a repeat on Wednesday.

    Police said around 200 people had been injured during the rioting and that they had made 137 arrests.  Gyurcsany, whose government's popularity has plunged to 25 percent from around 40 percent at the election after he introduced austerity measures, blamed "radicals" for the riots and said the opposition had not acted to calm protests

09 - 20 - 2006

THAI COMMANDER TAKES OVER AFTER COUP

    BANGKOK, THAILAND  --  Thailand's army commander ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a military coup Tuesday night while he was in New York, circling his offices with tanks, declaring martial law and revoking the constitution. An announcement on national television signed by army Commander-in-Chief Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin ordered all troops to report to their duty stations. Sondhi, a Muslim in this Buddhist-dominated country, is known to be close to Thailand's revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

    A senior army general, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said the armed forces chiefs were meeting with the king to discuss forming an interim government, suggesting it would probably be led by civilians. As soldiers and armored vehicles moved through a drizzly Bangkok, an announcement from the military had earlier declared a provisional authority loyal to the king. It declared that a "Council of Administrative Reform" had seized power in Bangkok and nearby provinces without any resistance. It recognized the king as head of state.

    "The armed forces commander and the national police commander have successfully taken over Bangkok and the surrounding area in order to maintain peace and order. There has been no struggle," the announcement said. "We ask for the cooperation of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience." Thaksin, who has faced calls to step down amid allegations of corruption and abuse of power, was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly, and he declared a state of emergency in an audio statement via a government-owned TV station in Bangkok.

ALMADINEJAD AND CHÁVEZ VOICE FULL AGREEMENT ON NUKE ISSUES

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, paying a two-day official visit to Venezuela, claimed that his country's nuclear program is "clear and transparent," adding that he has a goal to manufacture nuclear fuel. "We have a very transparent logic: we have said that if the production chain of nuclear fuel is good, then everybody should have it; and if it is bad, then nobody should have it," he said, as quoted by DPA.

    Ahmadinejad claimed that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports have confirmed the purity of Iranian nuclear activities. "We have always informed that we are willing to negotiate. Those who have tested atomic bombs are an obstacle for the development of our people, while our path is the production of nuclear fuel," he added. Meanwhile, President Chávez hailed Iran's stance and ensured he endorses such a position. Further, the Venezuelan ruler stressed that the Iranian nuclear program has been "demonized" by the US empire and news networks.

    "What my brother Ahmadinejad has said is fair, straightforward and logical. We do not want anyone to own the bad part of nuclear energy. On what moral grounds, the Unites States, the world's largest nuclear power, intends to stop atomic energy for peaceful purposes? That is immoral and cynical. We endorse Iran's right to develop atomic energy for peaceful purposes," Chávez exclaimed. He added that Venezuela is pondering the possibility to engage in a nuclear energy program. Ahmadinejad warned that Iran and Venezuela "will stay together until the end" no matter what obstacles.

VICENTE FOX: CHAVEZ IS MEDDLING IN MEXICAN AFFAIRS

  MEXICO CITY, MEXICO  -- Mexican President Vicente Fox Tuesday accused his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez of interfering with Mexican domestic affairs, as he has made repeated statements about the election held in Mexico last July 2, Efe reported. "I believe this is an intromission of Mr. Chávez and his opinion about Mexican affairs that do not pertain to him," Fox told reporters in New York, where he is taking part as of Wednesday in the United Nations General Assembly.

    "Mexico has strong institutions, and it does complete successions, and we certainly reject all of these criticisms, particularly because they come from a Head of State of a friendly nation such as Venezuela," Fox added in a communiqué issued by his office.

    Last weekend, Chávez told news network CNN that last July 2 presidential election was "robbed." Pro-government Felipe Calderón won the election over leftwing candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador with a 0.56 percent lead.  When asked about a likely meeting with Chávez in New York, Fox replied that such a meeting "is not scheduled."

09 - 19 - 2006

MAHMOUD ahmadinejad: the revolutionary people who are against world hegemony will claim victory

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --IRANIAN PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is paying a two-day official visit to Venezuela, said in Caracas that despite physical distance, "we currently have common thoughts, goals and interests," and therefore "we should stay united" to achieve such goals for the sake of "peace and justice and against oppression in the world."

     "My greetings to the brave Bolivarian people, their brave President and all of the free, liberator countries. Greetings to all of the revolutionary people who are against world hegemony. I am sure our peoples will claim the victory," Ahmadinejad said. Chávez arrived in Venezuela a few minutes before Ahmadinejad. They both came from Cuba, where they attended the Non-Aligned Movement 14th Summit.

    Ahmadinejad and Chávez exchanged mutual compliments. The Iranian ruler called his Venezuelan counterpart "my brother and brave revolutionary," and said his stay in Venezuela would be "very important to strengthen relations" and "one of the best memories of my life." Chávez stressed that the Venezuelan and Iranian revolutions "are two revolutions that are shaking hands, two dignities that are meeting." "Only through revolution the peoples will be able to leave misery and backwardness behind," the Venezuelan President said.

UNITED STATES: VENEZUELA HAS FAILED TO COMPLY WITH ANTI-DRUG AGREEMENTS 

  WASHINGTON, D.C.  -- The White House claimed Monday that Venezuela failed to take on its commitments to anti-drug efforts this current year and accused Bolivia of allowing for expansion of coca crops, Efe reported. Venezuela "failed overtly at the time of fulfilling the obligations contracted under international anti-drug agreements and adopting the measures laid on the US law," the White House said in a report on "certification" of countries in anti-drug efforts issued to the US Congress.

    The report was disclosed Monday by Spokesman Tony Snow. However, the report noted, "US President George W. Bush decided to keep the US aid programs for democratic institutions, community development projects, and strengthening of the Venezuelan partisan system."

    During a press conference, Christy McCampbell, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), explained that Venezuela will continue receiving US aid for considering that "support to aid programs for democratic institutions is vital and in the US national interest," Efe reported. "It has not been a void cooperation though, because they (Venezuelans) do carry out some eradication and interdiction. But they have not been very outspoken to communicate us such efforts," the official clarified.

MEXICO BACKS GUATEMALA, NOT VENEZUELA FOR SECURITY COUNCIL

  MEXICO CITY, MEXICO  -- The Mexican Government vowed Monday to "back and further" Guatemala's nomination for a seat at the United Nations (UN) Security Council, contended currently against Venezuela, Efe reported.

    "For strategic reasons and due to the partnership with Central American countries, Mexico will not only support, but foster Guatemala's nomination," said in a press conference Rubén Aguilar, the spokesman of Mexican President Vicente Fox.

    A new temporary member at the UN Security Council will be elected next October. Both Guatemala and Venezuela expect to fill the Latin American post that will be fell vacant by Argentina.

09 - 18 - 2006

CUBAN EXILES HEEDS DISSIDENTS' CRY

    MIAMI, FLORIDA  --  Cuban exile activists clogged the sidewalks of Southwest Eighth Street between 16th and 13th Avenues Saturday to answer a call from Cuba's dissidents and political prisoners asking folks to not cooperate with Castro's regime. Many protesters wore T-shirts bearing the words Yo No (I Don't) and shook anti-Castro placards at drivers. A nonstop procession of supporters leaned on car horns, waved at friends and pumped fists through open windows and sunroofs.

    The drive for noncooperation, launched on July 25, asks those on the island to drop out of Communist organizations and to not ''snitch'' on fellow dissidents or participate in actos de repudio, meaning ''public attacks.'' The latter is a Cuban term used to describe the verbal and physical assaults dissenters typically endure when they protest in public. Cubans off the island are asked to promote the campaign as widely as possible. The Cuban Committee for Human Rights; Agenda: Cuba; the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Forum; the Miami Medical Team and the Democracy Movement are among the groups who helped organize the event and are spearheading the noncooperation campaign.

    At about noon, the protesters clustered at the north end of Cuban Memorial Boulevard, in front of the Assault Brigade 2506 monument, to hear a taped statement from Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antúnez, a political prisoner at Kilo 7 prison in Camagüey. ''This is a call to the conscience of all, young and old, laborers and professionals, soldiers and civilians,'' Antúnez said in Spanish. “Refuse to keep cooperating with a repressive regime. Fight for the rights and dignity of all Cubans.''

MEXICAN GOVERNMENT REEVALUATES VENEZUELA RELATIONS

  MEXICO CITY, MEXICO  -- Mexico said Sunday that it is reevaluating its diplomatic relations with Venezuela after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused the Mexican government of stealing its country's recent presidential election .  Chavez said last week that his government had not recognized the victory of Mexican ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon because of concerns about alleged election irregularities.

    Chavez apparently expanded on his allegations Saturday when interviewed by CNN at the Nonaligned Movement summit in Havana. According to a CNN anchor, Chavez again accused Mexico's conservative National Action Party of stealing the election, and said Calderon's campaign had "destroyed" the opportunity for good relations with Venezuela. Attack ads by the National Action Party compared leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to Chavez, calling the candidate "a danger for Mexico."

    "The Mexican government rejects completely the judgments expressed about the Mexican electoral process and its results," Mexico's foreign ministry said in an e-mail to reporters. "Even though false, they constitute an inadmissible intervention in the internal affairs of our country."  "The Mexican government is evaluating the level of relations it will maintain with the government of Venezuela for the rest of this administration," it continued.  Mexican President Vicente Fox hands power to Calderon on Dec. 1.

ITALIAN NUN SHOT DEAD BY SOMALI GUNMEN

    MOGADISHU, SOMALIA  --  Two gunmen killed an Italian nun and her bodyguard at a hospital Sunday, and a security official for an Islamic militia controlling the capital speculated the attack was linked to worldwide Muslim anger over a speech by Pope Benedict XVI .  The nun, whose identify was not released, was shot in the back four times at the entrance to the Austrian-run S.O.S. Hospital in northern Mogadishu, said Dr. Mohamed Yusuf, a physician at the facility, which serves mothers and children.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came hours after a leading Somali cleric condemned remarks by the pope that quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman."  The head of security for the Islamic militia, Yusuf Mohamed Siad, said one man had been arrested and a second was being hunted. He said the killing might have stemmed from the uproar over the pope but stressed he didn't know for sure.

   "They could be people annoyed by the pope's speech, which angered all Muslims in the world, or they could have been having something to do with S.O.S," he said. "We will have to clarify this through our investigation."  A Vatican spokesman called the nun's slaying "a horrible episode," the Italian news agency ANSA said.  "Let's hope that it will be an isolated fact," the Rev. Federico Lombardi said. He expressed hope Muslim anger would ease following Benedict's explanation Sunday that the quotation he cited did not reflect his personal opinion about Islam.

09 - 17 - 2006

MANUEL LÓPEZ OBRADOR PROTESTS END IN MEXICO CITY

  MEXICO CITY, MEXICO  -- Supporters of leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday ended the street protest that clogged the heart of the capital for nearly seven weeks, but they vowed to find other ways to resist the incoming conservative president. The announcement of the end of the protest camps came a day after President Vicente Fox decided to move Friday night's annual independence celebration away from the main square to avoid the protesters.

    The president moved the ceremony to the city of Dolores Hidalgo, 170 miles away. Mexican media quoted Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal as saying the feuding parties had struck a deal - Fox agreed to relocate the celebration in exchange for Lopez Obrador supporters dismantling their protest camp.

     The former Mexico City mayor, who claims that his narrow loss in the July 2 presidential election  was fraudulent, said he planned to travel across the country to meet with his supporters.  Spokesman Cesar Yanez told The Associated Press the protesters would not retake Mexico City's Reforma Avenue and its main plaza, the Zocalo, after they hold a convention there Saturday.  "Everything will return to normal," Yanez said.

IRAQI MILITANT GROUP THREATENS VATICAN IN INTERNET MESSAGE

    BAGHDAD, IRAQ  --  An Iraqi insurgent group threatened the Vatican  with a suicide attack over the pope's remarks on Islam, according to a statement posted Saturday in its name on the Web. The statement coming days after Pope Benedict XVI  made comments deemed offensive by many Muslims, does not state the seat of the Holy See directly, but is addressed to "you dog of Rome" and threatens to "shake your thrones and break your crosses in your home."

    "We swear to God to send you people who adore death as much as you adore life," said the message posted in the name of the Mujahedeen Army on a Web site frequently used by militant groups. The message, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified, also contained links to video recordings of what the group claimed were rocket attacks on U.S. bases.

    On Tuesday, Benedict, quoting from an obscure Medieval text, cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, Islam's founder, as "evil and inhuman."  The Mujahedeen Army's statement vowed, "our minds will not rest until we shake your thrones and break your crosses in your home."

TWO ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES ATTACKED IN PALESTINIAN AREAS

    NABLUS, WEST BANK --  Gunmen set ablaze the main door of a Roman Catholic church in the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday, then opened fire on the building before escaping, witnesses said.  In Gaza City, militants opened fire from a car at the Greek Orthodox church, witnesses said. There were no injuries in either attack.

    The attacks bring to four the number of churches attacked in Palestinian areas on Saturday.  A group claiming responsibility for the first two attacks said it was protesting remarks about Islam by Pope Benedict XVI  by  that many Muslims view as disparaging. 

09 - 16 - 2006

HUGO CHAVEZ VOWS AID FOR IRAN AND CUBA AGAINST ATTACK FROM THE UNITED STATES

  HAVANA, CUBA  -- Hugo Chavez pledged Thursday that Venezuela will support Iran  if it is invaded as a result of the Middle Eastern nation's high-stakes nuclear standoff with the United Nations Security Council. "Iran is under threat; there are plans to invade Iran, hopefully it won't happen, but we are with you," Chavez told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a meeting of the Group of 15 developing nations.

    Chavez said Venezuela stands with Iran in this time of crisis, just as it has with Cuba, where Fidel Castro handed over power to Raul while recovering from intestinal surgery. If they don't defend each other, no one else will, Chavez said.

    "Under any scenario we are with you just like we are with Cuba," Chavez said. "If the United States invades Cuba, blood will run... We will not have our arms crossed while bombs are falling in Havana or they carry Raul off in a plane."

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES A REFERENDUM FOR CUBANS TO DECIDE IF THEY WANT TO BE RULED BY RAUL CASTRO

    WASHINGTON, D.C.  --  The Bush administration is proposing that the Organization of American States help arrange a referendum for Cubans to decide if they want to be ruled by Raúl Castro, U.S. officials say. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez will outline the idea in a speech today at The Miami Herald's Americas Conference being held at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. ''Let the Cuban people determine their own destiny in a free and fair referendum, in which the OAS could be involved,'' an aide to Gutierrez said, requesting anonymity in keeping with his department's rules.

     Gutierrez, a Cuban American, is expected to cite the example of Chile, which in 1988 held a yes-no referendum on whether Gen. Augusto Pinochet should stay in power. The dictator lost that vote. Cuba's communist government is considered highly unlikely to accept any such referendum. It has never replied to a request for a referendum on democratic changes pushed by Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá and backed by thousands of signatures from other Cubans.

    The Bush administration has said it would launch a diplomatic offensive to put pressure on the Cuban government after the July 31 announcement that Fidel Castro was temporarily handing his leadership responsibilities to his brother Raúl. U.S. officials believe the 80-year-old Fidel Castro, who is recovering from intestinal surgery, is either too ill to return to power or will do so only in a diminished form. Havana has never explained exactly what ails the man who ruled Cuba for 47 years. The aide said Gutierrez will reiterate the U.S. position that the United States ``will not do business with another dictator, Raúl.''

U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN REFUSES TO FILL OUT FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE DESPITE URGING BY TOP AIDES

    UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK  --  Secretary-General Kofi Annan has refused to fill out a new financial disclosure form, rejecting advice from his inner circle that it would send a good signal as the U.N. seeks to counter charges it is closed to public scrutiny, U.N. officials said Thursday. The world body unveiled new rules last year that tightened requirements in effect since 1999 for U.N. staff to disclose their finances.

    Annan is not covered by the rules because he is technically not a staff member. But two U.N. officials told The Associated Press that several of Annan's top aides had urged him to disclose his finances, arguing that as head of the organization he should embody its reform ideals.  Annan, whose second five-year term ends Dec. 31, rejected that advice from Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, Undersecretary-General Christopher Burnham and others, said the officials, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name because the discussions were private.

    Annan's refusal is awkward because Malloch Brown and Annan's chief spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, both promised that he would fill out the form. The U.N. chief has been a leading advocate of reforms aimed at cleaning up the organization and its image in the wake of corruption allegations involving the U.N. procurement division and the Iraqi oil-for-food program during Saddam Hussein 's regime.

09 - 15 - 2006

UN'S KOFI ANNAN ANNOUNCES TRIP TO SUMMIT OF NONALIGNED MOVEMENT

  UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK  -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will travel to Havana for this week's summit of the Nonaligned Movement, and hopes to meet with Cuban President Fidel Castro while he is there, the United Nations said Wednesday.

    Annan will arrive on Thursday and address the summit's plenary meeting on Friday morning, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Annan will focus his remarks on the need for poor countries to have more say in international affairs.

    Annan hopes to meet with either Castro, who has stayed out of the spotlight as he recovers from intestinal surgery, or his brother Raul, the defense minister and now acting president. Raul Castro will head the Cuban delegation to the summit.

RUSSIAN CENTRAL BANK OFFICIAL KILLED 

    MOSCOW, RUSSIA  --  A senior Russian Central Bank official died Thursday after being shot in an attack that officials suggested was prompted by his efforts to clean up the country's banking system. Andrei Kozlov, 41, the bank's first deputy chairman, died hours after he was hospitalized in critical condition following the shooting late Wednesday, Moscow prosecutor's office spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said.

    Kozlov's driver was also killed in the attack, which Russian media said was carried out by two unidentified gunmen who fled after the shooting. It occurred outside a sports arena where bank employees were having a soccer game. While on a lesser scale than in the turbulent 1990s, contract killings of businessmen and bankers still regularly occur in Russia, where business conflicts often turn violent and President Vladimir Putin's government is seeking closer control over economic activity.

    Vice Premier Alexander Zhukov said the assassination was likely linked to Kozlov's duties, and suggested the possibility of a connection with the Central Bank's revocation of licenses of unreliable commercial banks, the Interfax news agency reported.

09 - 14 - 2006

SEVERAL CUBAN EXILE GROUPS TO OFFER LOANS IN CUBA

  MIAMI, FLORIDA  --  Several Cuban-American business leaders are seeking to boost the Cuban entrepreneurial spirit with small-business startup loans they believe could help stimulate the island's economy, but the plan first has to overcome restrictions enforced by the U.S. and Cuban governments. The idea is to give microloans to people who want to start businesses such as selling food in the street.

    But the plan is a long shot, said Miami businessman Carlos Saladrigas, co-chairman of The Cuba Study Group, a nonpartisan Washington-based organization that has pledged $10 million in seed money and plans to announce the program today. The Cuban government prohibits most private enterprise, while U.S. law sets strict limits on sending money to the communist nation.

    Officials with the U.S. State and Treasury departments had no immediate comment on the proposal. And despite Fidel Castro's recent hand-off of power to his brother, Raúl, there is little sign of any major changes in Cuba's economic policies. ''But we believe we have to take risks and seize opportunities, and we believe change is under way in Cuba,'' Saladrigas said. “Raúl Castro is not a spring chicken, and collective leadership always harbors the seeds of reform.''

CUBAN ECONOMIC MINISTER SAYS NO TO OPENING UP THE ECONOMY OR MIMICKING CHINA 

    HAVANA, CUBA  --  Fidel Castro's health problems will not lead to any changes in Cuba's economic system, nor is there any interest in adopting a Chinese economic model here, the island's economics minister said Tuesday at a summit of the Nonaligned Movement.

    Jose Luis Rodriguez's comments appeared aimed at dispelling speculation that Raul Castro, the communist-run island's acting president while his elder brother recovers from stomach surgery, would open up the Cuban economy and take pointers from China if given full power.  "If people are thinking that there could be a change in Cuba's policies toward an opening of the economy in the hypothetical case of the Comandante (Fidel Castro) remaining ill, I can firmly say no," Rodriguez told a news conference.

    "It's not planned, nor is it the desire of the people," he said. The official said there is one Chinese example, however, that Cuba will likely follow: putting an end to its dual currency system. The plan, Rodriguez said, is to eventually merge the Cuban peso with the island's convertible Cuban peso.

09 - 13 - 2006

GUNMEN ATTACK UNITED STATES EMBASSY IN SYRIA

  DAMASCUS, SYRIA  --  Four gunmen shouting religious slogans attempted to storm the US embassy in Damascus today. Reports said at least one Syrian guard was killed and a car blown up outside the building before Syrian security forces stopped the attack. At one stage, a grenade was thrown into the embassy's yard by the assailants, who were believed to be Islamist militants. Witnesses said the gunmen and security forces exchanged heavy fire before the attackers were overwhelmed.

    The Syrian interior ministry said three of the gunmen had been killed and a fourth wounded in what it described as a "terrorist attack". One Syrian official, quoted by Reuters, said all four attackers had been killed.  No staff at the embassy, located in Rawda, the capital's diplomatic district, were hurt, officials said. It was unclear how many Syrian casualties there had been, but reports suggested at least one guard had been killed.

    Peter Ford, Britain's ambassador to Syria, said that the incident did not seem similar to an al-Qaida attack, but appeared to be "an operation by a small group".  Security forces have clashed with Islamist militants several times since last year, usually in raids carried out to arrest them.
 Hugh Macleod, a freelance reporter at the scene, said hundreds of troops and other security personnel were at the embassy following the attack.  "This looks to have been a suicide mission by Islamist militants," Macleod told Guardian Unlimited. "This is one of the most heavily guarded streets in Damascus.

LUIS POSADA CARRILES SHOULD BE RELEASED, MAGISTRATE TELLS JUDGE 

    EL PASO, TEXAS  --  Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles should be released from immigration custody because the attorney general has not classified him as a terrorist and his continued detention runs counter to a 2001 Supreme Court ruling barring indefinite detention for foreign nationals who cannot be deported, a federal magistrate ruled Monday.

    In a 24-page decision, U.S. Magistrate Norbert Garney in El Paso, Texas, wrote that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should put Posada under supervised release because the federal government had failed to find a country willing to take the 78-year-old exile, who has Venezuelan citizenship. ''The court recommends that petitioner's request for habeas relief be granted and that petitioner be released subject to the terms and conditions of supervised release,'' Garney wrote.

MINISTER RAMIREZ: VENEZUELA READY TO PREVENT OIL FROM "FALLING DOWN" 

   CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  The Venezuelan Government does not want oil prices to collapse, said Rafael Ramírez, the Minister of Energy and Petroleum and head of state-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa). Therefore, they want the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to adopt "some measure" if the downward trend noted over the last few weeks continues.

    "We cannot let oil prices to fall down. We think that they could not be lower than USD 60 / barrel," the official said at the beginning of OPEC discussions. As far as the international oil cartel is concerned, it will "wait and assess" the evolution of pricing.

    "Our position is that, depending on that price, some action will have to be taken at the end of this current year or next year to take out of the market any production surplus," Ramírez explained.

09 - 12 - 2006

COLOMBIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE OAS CERTAIN THAT VENEZUELA EXTRACTS URANIUM

    BOGOTA, COLOMBIA  -- Camilo Ospina, Colombian ex Defense Minister and current ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), is certain that Venezuela has two front plants to extract uranium from two mines. The diplomat made these remarks during a conference delivered in a Bogotá university one and a half month ago, when he was getting ready to travel to Washington as the Bogotá ambassador before OAS, DPA reported.

    "There are two factories, a bicycle plant and a motorcycle plant. Both of them are a front to extract uranium," the senior official told a journalist, as quoted by Colombian TV show Noticias Uno. The diplomat expressed concern about Venezuela starting to enrich the uranium extracted. "It could be a real problem" for Colombia, he said.

     According to the outgoing Defense Minister, the two mines lie at 400 kilometers to the border on Arauca Department (northeast Colombia). "Venezuela has not the capacity to enrich uranium, but Iran has. If this were to happen, we will have troubles indeed," the Colombian ambassador regretted.

OPEC AGREES TO LEAVE PRODUCTION TARGETS UNCHANGED BUT 'VIGILANTLY MONITOR' PRICES

    VIENNA, AUSTRIA  --  OPEC decided Monday to leave its current production targets unchanged, but the 11-nation cartel said it would "vigilantly monitor" oil market conditions that have driven prices to five-month lows.

    The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said there were ample supplies to handle world demand and weather geopolitical turmoil, but that the group's president, Edmund Daukoru, would consult with other members "should market conditions warrant" action before they meet again in Nigeria in December.  "We said we would monitor closely. We are monitoring as I speak," said Daukoru, who is also Nigeria's oil minister.  OPEC's decision means its current output quota will hold steady at 28 million barrels a day.

    Crude dipped below US$65 Monday after OPEC announced its decision. Light, sweet crude for October delivery was down US$1.37 to US$64.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.  Prices have plunged by more than US$13 since light sweet crude hit a record US$78.40 in mid-July, just after fighting erupted in Lebanon. Each US$10 drop in price, analysts say, translates into a 25-cent drop at the gas pump.

09 - 11 - 2006

POPE BENEDICT XVI SAYS NOT TO REJECT GOD FOR SCIENCE 

    MUNICH, GERMANY  --  POPE BENEDICT  XVI  on Sunday warned modern societies not to let faith in science and technology make them deaf to God's message, and suggested that Asia and Africa could teach the wealthier West something about faith.  In his sermon to some 250,000 pilgrims at an open-air Mass in Munich, Benedict said modern people suffered from "hardness of hearing" when it comes to God. 

    "Put simply, we are no longer able to hear God - there are too many different frequencies filling our ears," he said. "What is said about God strikes us as pre-scientific, no longer suited to our age."  "People in Asia and Africa admire our scientific and technical progress, but at the same time they are frightened by a form of rationality which totally excludes God from man's vision, as if this were the highest form of reason."

    Benedict gently rebuked the German church for putting social service projects and technical assistance to the poor ahead of spreading the Christian message. African bishops, he said, told him all doors were open to them in Germany when they wanted to talk about aid projects, but added they were greeted with reservations when it came to evangelization.  He said that faith must come first, before progress can be made in social problems, such as the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

CUBA SAYS CASTRO APPEARANCE TO HOST A DINNER FOR VISITING LEADERS UNCERTAIN 

    HAVANA, CUBA  -- CUBA'S FOREIGN MINISTER said Sunday it was not certain that Fidel Castro will host a dinner for visiting leaders as noted in a schedule, raising doubts over whether the ailing leader would make his first public appearance since undergoing surgery.  A dinner hosted by Castro for dignitaries attending this week's Nonaligned Movement summit was mentioned in a schedule sent Sunday by the government to international media.

    But Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said he could not confirm the leader's participation in the Friday event. "Fidel is recovering satisfactorily, the worst has been left behind," Perez Roque said at a news conference.  "I cannot yet confirm his presence at the dinner," Perez Roque said. "I can confirm that the head of the Cuban delegation at that moment will be offering those dignitaries that dinner."

    "If Fidel is not there, then Raul will act as host at the dinner," Perez Roque said. "Logically, the physical absence of Fidel in all of the summit work constitutes a notable loss," Perez Roque said. "All of us would like him to head the delegation and be there all the time. If that does not occur, we have made great preparations under his personal direction."

RAÚL CASTRO SENDS CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE TO NORTH KOREA LEADER

   SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA  --  RAÚL CASTRO sent a congratulatory message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on the occasion of the 58th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, state-run media reported Sunday.

    In a message sent Friday, Raul Castro reiterated Cuba's unequivocal support for North Korea, and reaffirmed "our firm will to steadily boost the fraternal bonds, solidarity and cooperation" between the two sides, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.  The acting president also sent a floral arrangement to North Korea's embassy in Havana,.

    Raul Castro, Cuba's defense minister, is temporarily acting as the island's president while his older brother Fidel recovers from an emergency intestinal operation he had in July.  It was the first time in 47 years of absolute rule over Cuba that Castro relinquished power. North Korea sent a get well soon message to ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro on his 80th birthday last month.  North Korea and Cuba are two of the world's five remaining communist countries along with China, Laos and Vietnam.

09 - 10 - 2006

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR VISITS ISRAEL TO MEET WITH ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER EHUD OLMERT

    JERUSALEM, ISRAEL  --  ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER EHUD OLMERT pledged to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to discuss their differences, in particular the fate of the Jewish state's captured soldiers. At a joint news conference here with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Olmert vowed to "advance the dialogue" according to the stalled road map and warned: "There can be no short cuts in implementing this process."

    "I am ready to work closely with the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, to implement the road map," he said after the pair held brief talks at his Jerusalem residence. "I intend to meet with chairman Abbas in order to make real progress on outstanding issues on our agenda. I have no preconditions or prerequisites for such a meeting."

    Blair -- in the region to seek diplomatic gains and guarantees of goodwill from Israel and Lebanon and to call for a revival of the dormant peace talks with the Palestinians -- is to meet all three soldiers' families Sunday. The British prime minister, who has repeatedly stated his belief that easing tensions in the Middle East would help in the fight against global extremism, said it was vital to re-energize the peace process.

MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR SAYS HE WILL CREATE A PARALLEL GOVERNMENT IN MEXICO 

    MEXICO CITY, MEXICO  --  THE LEFTIST ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR has given up efforts to have himself declared winner of Mexico's presidential race, but he still plans a parallel government to cater to the poor and keep alive his fight against the president-elect, a party spokesman said Friday. Since Mexico's top electoral court rejected Lopez Obrador's allegations of widespread fraud in the July 2 vote, he has focused on a Sept. 16 convention where supporters will declare him leader of a resistance government.

    The plan is to block President-elect Felipe Calderon at every step, including his Dec. 1 inauguration.  "We are not going to let him take office," said Gerardo Fernandez, the spokesman for Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD. "I don't see the usurper government ... lasting for six years." Fernandez said the parallel government will fight for recognition in international forums and launch street protests against free trade reforms and privatization of government enterprises. It also will set up a still-unspecified capital, form a Cabinet and set policy.

    Lopez Obrador plans his own inauguration, complete with a presidential sash presented by his supporters. He has warned followers that such moves may draw ridicule, telling them: "They will make fun of us."  "What are we supposed to do with a crazy man who wants the whole country to capitulate to his whims?" wrote columnist Enrique Canales in the newspaper El Universal.

09 - 09 - 2006

CHAVEZ ANNOUNCES VISIT OF IRANIAN PRESIDENT

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  IRANIAN President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is to visit Venezuela in two-week term, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced Thursday. "Just one month ago, we went to Tehran and in two-week term the Iranian President will be here, and he comes with a huge delegation and also to work and settle, to reach and execute agreements," the ruler said Thursday night after the Venezuela-Belarus first high-level bilateral meeting.

    Venezuela backs Iran's right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Chávez informed also that Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will be in Venezuela next December.

    Chávez paid his fifth visit to Iran last July 29-31, as part of an international tour. He and Ahmadinejad entered into a number of cooperation agreements. On that occasion, the Iranian ruler voiced support to Venezuela's bid to the United Nations (UN) Security Council, where "it will help a lot to strengthen justice in the world."

INDIAN BLAST KILLS 31, INJURES 100  

    NASHIK, INDIA  --  TWO BOMBS rigged to bicycles tore through a crowd of Muslim worshippers leaving Friday afternoon prayers at a mosque, killing 31 people and injuring 100 in what a top official called "a terrorist act". Authorities clamped a curfew over the western city of Malegaon, which has a long history of violence between Muslims and Hindus, to stop revenge attacks. Past sectarian attacks have set off spiraling violence.

    Officials said the bombings were clearly intended to terrorize the city of about 500,000 people, which is 75 percent Muslim.The office of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he "appealed for peace and communal harmony and has urged all citizens across the country to remain calm." The explosions came as Muslims celebrated the festival of Shabe Barat, or the Night of Fortune, when they hold long prayer sessions seeking divine blessings, exchange sweets with neighbors and relatives and set off fireworks.

    "It is a terrorist act. It is done by people who don't want peace," Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said at a press conference in Mumbai, the state capital. He said 56 of the 100 people injured were seriously hurt. Both bombs were rigged to bicycles, he said. Pasricha told reporters that "the motive appears to be to create panic and make Hindus and Muslims fight with each other."

MISSILE TEST FROM RUSSIAN SUB FAILS 

   MOSCOW, RUSSIA  --  A test of a new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile ended in failure Thursday when it fell into the sea shortly after its launch from a nuclear submarine, the Defense Ministry said.

The nuclear submarine Dmitry Donskoy launched the experimental Bulava missile from an underwater position in the White Sea toward a testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula, but it veered off its designated flight path and fell into the sea shortly after the launch, the ministry said.

The military previously had conducted four successful test-launches of the Bulava, which is set to be commissioned by the navy in 2008 and become a new standard weapon of Russian nuclear submarines. The Bulava has a range of 5,000 miles and carries six individually targeted nuclear warheads.

09 - 08 - 2006

BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT EVO MORALES VISITS FIDEL CASTRO IN TRIP TO CUBA

    HAVANA, CUBA  -- BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT EVO MORALES met with Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro during a day trip to the island on Wednesday, state television reported.  Morales told Castro that Bolivians sent their affection for the 80-year-old leader as he recovers from intestinal surgery, but that they don't think he is really sick, just "undergoing repairs," according to a report on the daily public affairs program Mesa Redonda.

     "Fidel thinks that Evo is an exceptional leader," the program's moderator Randy Alonso said, reading from a statement.  In the two-hour meeting the leaders discussed Bolivia's assembly to rewrite the nation's constitution as well as Cuban literacy and medical programs in the South American country. There are currently more than 1,600 Cuban doctors in Bolivia who have treated 1.4 million patients, according to the report.

    The Bolivian leader, who arrived early in the day and left for home in the evening, was greeted at the airport by Raul Castro, acting president while his older brother recovers. Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque also were there. The three had lunch with Morales, the report said.  Television footage showed Morales at the airport with the leaders, as well as visiting some Bolivian students, but the morning meeting with Fidel Castro was not shown.

MANUEL ROSALES ACCUSES HUGO CHAVEZ OF AMBUSH

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  "I WANT TO TELL VENEZUELA that if something happens to me, if I am killed during any of those ambushes that are being laid, this was ordered by (President Hugo) Chávez," single opposition candidate Manuel Rosales claimed during a march in eastern Caracas. Government supporters protected by National Guard and police agents presumably hindered transportation of the challenger to the march.

    "(Chávez) ordered to lay ambushes with National Guard and police officers protecting there those who tried to attack us, but we are not afraid," he admonished. Last Tuesday, a march convened by Rosales in coastal Vargas state was also attacked by alleged government supporters wearing red vests and holding emblems, as is the custom of President Chávez' followers.

MANUEL ROSALES IS SURE OF VICTORY IN EASTERN CARACAS

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  TODAY WE ENTERED CATIA  (a low-income barrio located in eastern Caracas). We embraced the Catia people. And I am sure of winning in Catia. My victory starts here," single opposition candidate Manuel Rosales commented, and claimed not to be afraid of the attacks from government followers.

    The challenger stressed that he would continue walking across the barrios all around the country, because they are calling him. "I will go back to the barrios of Caracas and all over Venezuela to embrace people, to walk with people." Rosales sent his regards to the Catia community, where he could not complete his march due to an "ambush" laid on him. "Beware of threatening, tightening or knocking down people, because Venezuelans are a noble, rebel people, prepared to rise up to a government that has been ruling for eight years."

VENEZUELA DEMANDS THE UNITED STATES TO RESPECT MILITARY AGREEMENTS

   CARACAS, VENEZUELA  -- VENEZUELA Thursday demanded the United States to respect agreements, purchases and deliveries of military equipment "lawfully agreed upon and paid," the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry said in an official communiqué. The Foreign Affairs Ministry rejected a note delivered last September 5th by the US State Department to the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington reiterating their decision to revoke US sales of military components and services to Venezuela.

    In the letter, the US also urged the closure of Venezuela's purchase office in Miami by September 30. Consequently, the Venezuelan Government threatened to adopt "the relevant moves responsibly, but without hesitation." According to the Venezuelan Government, this Washington move "is part of the repeatedly aggressive US imperialist policies against Venezuela, based on a low-intensity conflict scenario."

    Venezuela believes this "new act of hostility" is aimed at imposing "a sort of blockade in the military field." Therefore, the Venezuelan Government urged the US to honor the agreements and purchases negotiated, thus allowing the delivery of defense supplies and goods "that were paid for in our country before August 17, 2006. Otherwise, they should reimburse such payments."

09 - 07 - 2006

MAJOR OIL POOL DISCOVERED IN GULF OF MEXICO

    WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A TRIO OF OIL COMPANIES LED BY CHEVRON CORP. have tapped a petroleum pool deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico could boost the nation's reserves by more than 50 percent. A test well indicates it could be the biggest new domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe Bay a generation ago. But the vast oil deposit roughly four miles beneath the ocean floor won't significantly reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil and it won't help lower prices at the pump anytime soon, analysts said.

    "It's a nice positive, but the U.S. still has a big difference between its consumption and indigenous production," said Art Smith, chief executive of energy consultant John S. Herold. "We'll still be importing more than 50 percent of our oil needs." Chevron on Tuesday estimated the 300-square-mile region where its test well sits could hold between 3 billion and 15 billion barrels of oil and natural gas liquids. The U.S. consumes roughly 5.7 billion barrels of crude-oil in a year.

    The country's reserves currently are more than 29 billion barrels of oil equivalent, according to the U.S. Energy Department. But the U.S. imports most of its oil from abroad and its overall supply is tiny when compared with, say, Saudi Arabia, whose reserves exceed 250 billion barrels. Chevron 's well, called "Jack 2," was drilled about 5.3 miles below sea level. Chevron has a 50 percent stake in the field, while partners Statoil ASA of Norway and Devon Energy Corp. of Oklahoma City own 25 percent each.

U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN TO JOIN HEADS OF STATE OF NONALIGNED SUMMIT, CUBA SAYS

    HAVANA, CUBA  --  U.N. SECRETARY GENERL KOFI ANNAN  will join more than 50 heads of state at next week's summit of the Nonaligned Movement in Havana, a foreign ministry official said Tuesday.  The United Nations was invited "as a courtesy" and Annan will participate as an observer, as in previous summits, Abelardo Moreno, Cuba's vice foreign minister, told journalists at a news conference.

    Moreno said the United States was also invited, but declined to say who would head that delegation. He also said he did not know whether Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro would be able to host the event, which begins Monday.  In his absence, his brother Raul Castro, currently in charge of the country, is expected to take his place.

    Most of the 116 members of the Third-World movement of countries from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America will be represented at the group's summit, which culminates in a meeting of the nations' leaders Sept. 15 and 16. Among the well-known leaders attending are Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran , Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, and Bashar Assad of Syria, as well as Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh of India and Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand.

RUSSIA CANCELS JOINT EXERCISES WITH UNITED STATES

   MOSCOW, RUSSIA  --  RUSSIA said Tuesday it was pulling out of joint military exercises with the United States scheduled for later this month because of unspecified problems with U.S. personnel.  The Torgau-2006 exercises were to be held later this month in the central Russian region of Nizhny Novgorod, about 250 miles east of Moscow.
 
    The Russian statement said the cancellation was related to "unresolved questions connected with the status of foreign military personnel arriving on the territory of the Russian Federation."  The ministry said the exercises could be held at later date once an agreement is reached between NATO member countries and participants in "Partnership for Peace."

    Partnership for Peace is a watered-down NATO program of cooperation between the alliance and former Soviet militaries.  Russia has watched with growing concern as NATO has expanded to include former Soviet bloc nations such as the three Baltic states, Poland, and Hungary. Moscow's relations with Washington have cooled noticeably in recent months.

09 - 06 - 2006

PRESIDENT BUSH REMINDS AMERICAN U.S. IS AT WAR

    WASHINGTON, D.C. --  PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH  used terrorists' own words Tuesday to battle complacency among Americans about the threat of future attack, defending his record as the fall campaign season kicks into high gear. Bush said that despite the absence of a successor on U.S. soil to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the terrorist danger remains potent. "Bin laden and his terrorist's allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them," the president said before the Military Officers Association of America and diplomatic representatives other countries that have suffered terrorist attacks. "The question is `Will we listen? Will we pay attention to what these evil men say?'"

    Quoting extensively from letters, Web site statements, audio recording and videotapes purportedly from terrorists, as well as documents found in various raids, Bush said that al Qaida, homegrown terrorists and other groups have adapted to changing U.S. defenses. For example, Bush cited what he called "a grisly al Qaida manual" found in 2000 by British police during an anti-terrorist raid in London, which included a chapter called "Guidelines for Beating and Killing Hostages."

    He also cited what he said was a captured al Qaida document found during a recent raid in Iraq. He said the document described plans to take over Iraq's western Anbar province and set up a governing structure including an education department, a social services department, a justice department, and an execution unit. "The terrorists who attacked us on September the 11th, 2001, are men without conscience, but they're not madmen," he said. "They kill in the name of a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs that are evil but not insane."

FIDEL CASTRO SAYS HE'S LOST 41 POUNDS, BUT THE WORST IS BEHIND HIM

    HAVANA, CUBA  --  FIDEL CASTRO, looking gaunt and wearing pajamas in new photos released Tuesday, said he has lost more than 41 pounds since intestinal surgery, but his stitches are out and the "most critical moment" of his health crisis is over.  The 80-year-old Castro also said in a statement Tuesday that he's ready to receive "distinguished visitors" - an apparent reference to the heads of state expected in Havana for next week's summit of nonaligned nations. It was not clear, however, whether he would be well enough to actually host the event.

    "Today I am recovering at a satisfactory rhythm," Castro said in the statement published in the Communist Party daily Granma, which was accompanied by seven photographs of him.  Castro said the last stitches from his surgery were recently removed, and "I can affirm that the most critical moment has been left behind."  The photographs of Castro during his convalescence showed his bearded face looking gaunt and his arms and legs long and bony.

    In all of the photographs released Tuesday, Castro was shown sitting up and wearing short-sleeved pajamas - one set a light-blue color, the other a dark navy. In several, he was reading or writing. Most of the pictures showed Castro from the waist up, although one showed his whole body as he sat in a rocking chair with slippers on his feet, reading what looks to be a newspaper.

MEXICAN ELECTORAL COURT ANNOUNCES FELIPE CALDERON'S VICTORY

   MEXICO CITY, MEXICO  --  THE ELECTORAL COURT HAS NAMED CONSERVATIVE FELIPE CALDERÓN  to be Mexico's next president on Tuesday, ending months of legal battles but not spirited protests by leftists who say he stole a July vote. Losing left-winger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador alleges massive fraud in the July 2 election and promises to keep up his fight with street demonstrations, even though the seven electoral court judges tossed out his fraud claims last week.

    The panel meets again on Tuesday morning and unanimously confirmed Calderon's slim victory. On Monday, Calderon aide Juan Camilo Mourino said the new government would make the fight against poverty a central theme, in an attempt to win over the millions who voted for Lopez Obrador and still believe the election was stolen.

    A source close to the court said the judges unanimously approved Calderon, 44, a former energy minister with a Harvard degree. He is expected to become one of the few pro-U.S. leaders in Latin America, where the left has made gains in recent years.  Lopez Obrador is not giving up. He will hold a large rally in the capital's Zocalo square on September 16, Mexico's independence day, and says he will set up a radical parallel government to overhaul corrupt institutions. He has not yet made clear how such a government would function.  

09 - 05 - 2006

ANOTHER FEMALE CUBAN DOCTOR KILLED IN VENEZUELA

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  DURING THE COMMEMORATION of the 196th anniversary of the Venezuelan Military Academy (AMV), President Hugo Chávez talked about the murder on Saturday of Cuban doctor Raquel de los Angeles Pérez Ramírez. He demanded protection for Cuban doctors working in Venezuelan nationwide healthcare plan Barrio Adentro. "Police officers have to be designated for such purposes, as several Cuban doctors have been killed."

OLMERT SAYS ISRAEL HAS TOLD SYRIA IT IS NOT A PARTNER FOR NEGOTIATIONS

    JERUSALEM, ISRAEL  --  PRIMER MINISTER EHUD OLMERT  said that if forced to go to war with Syria, it would strike more harshly than it did in its recent war in Lebanon, Israeli radio stations reported on Monday.  Olmert, speaking before parliament's influential foreign affairs and defense committee, also reiterated his opposition to launching negotiations with Syria, meeting participants said. "He said he would not negotiate with Syria at this time because Syria is the enemy," committee member Ran Cohen added.

    Israel accuses Syria and Iran  of arming and supporting Lebanese Hezbollah  guerrillas, who fired nearly 4,000 rockets at Israel in a five-week war that ended last month. Syria also harbors the political leadership of Hamas, the militant group that rules the Palestinian Authority and is committed to Israel's destruction.

    Israel went to great lengths to keep Syria out of the conflict in Lebanon, apparently to avoid opening another front or closing future peace options. But if war against Syria were to break out, Israel would lift the restrictions it imposed upon itself during that conflict, when it struck at Lebanese targets from the air, land and sea, Army Radio cited Olmert as saying. "Syria knows that we limited ourselves in our operations in Lebanon, and it knows that in an operation against Syria, against Damascus, Israel won't limit itself," Israel Radio cited Olmert as saying.

CRUDE OIL FUTURES DROP BELOW $ 69 

    LONDON, ENGLAND   --  OIL PRICES DROPPED BELOW $69 a barrel Monday, falling below 10-week lows despite continued jitters over the standoff between Iran and the international community over Tehran's nuclear program.

    The crude contract began its decline Friday after the United Nations failed to impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to stop its nuclear enrichment program. Also easing energy prices were strong inventory data, a more-subdued forecast for this year's hurricane season and a mixed U.S. jobs report - suggesting fuel demand probably won't surge sharply.

    Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell 54 cents to $68.64 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe. The contract fell $1.07 Friday to close at $69.19 a barrel - its lowest settlement price since finishing at $68.94 on June 20. Gasoline futures dropped nearly 2 cents to $1.7155 a gallon (3.8 liters) while heating oil fell more than two cents to $1.9470 a gallon. Natural gas prices rose 3 cents to $5.910 per 1,000 cubic feet.

09 - 04 - 2006

nO. 2 AL-QAIDA LEADER IN IRAQ CAPTURED

    BAGHDAD, IRAQ  --  IRAQI AND COALITION FORCES have arrested the second most senior figure in al-Qaida in Iraq, Iraq's national security adviser announced on Sunday, saying the group now suffered from a "serious leadership crisis." Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, was captured north of Baghdad a few days ago "along with another group of his aides and followers," Mouwafak al-Rubaie said.

    He was the second most important al-Qaida in Iraq leader after Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who took over the group after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. air strike north of Baghdad on June 7, al-Rubaie said. "We believe that al-Qaida in Iraq suffers from a serious leadership crisis. Our troops have dealt fatal and painful blows to this organization," the security adviser said. Al-Saeedi was "directly responsible" for Haitham Sabah Shaker Mohammed al-Badri, the alleged mastermind of the February bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, al-Rubaie added without elaborating.

    The bombing inflamed tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and triggered reprisal attacks that have killed hundreds of Iraqis and continue to this day. Al-Badri remains at large. "Al-Saeedi carried out al-Qaida's policies in Iraq and the orders of the slain al-Zarqawi to incite sectarian violence in the country, through attempting to start a civil war between Shiites and Sunnis - but their wishes did not materialize," al-Rubaie added.

AMERICAN AL-QAIDA: U.S. SHOULD CONVERT TO ISLAM

    ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN  --  A NEW VIDEOTAPE  has surfaced featuring Osama bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and an American member of al Qaeda wanted by the FBI, according to a counterterrorism expert. The tape, called "Invitation to Islam," runs 48 minutes. Al-Zawahiri speaks for about 4 minutes on the tape, and the American narrates the rest.

    Californian Adam Gadahn, wearing a white robe and turban, introduces the message by calling on Westerners to convert.  Gadahn says that even Americans working with President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are invited to embrace Islam, but they should hurry. "We invite all Americans and believers to Islam, whatever their role and status in Bush and Blair's world order," Gadahn says. "Decide today, because today could be your last day."

    Gadahn, also known as "Azzam the American," previously has been featured in al Qaeda tapes and is listed as armed and dangerous by the FBI on its Web site.  He is wanted by the FBI in connection with possible terrorist threats against the United States. Gadahn appeared on a tape last year on the fourth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He also was on a tape earlier this year, on the first anniversary of the London subway bombings

PALESTINIANS REPORT ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE IN NORTHERN GAZA STRIP

    GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP  --  AN ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE  destroyed a home belonging to a Hamas militant in the northern Gaza Strip late Saturday night, wounding two bystanders, Palestinian officials and witnesses said. The officials said the occupants of the home were ordered to leave about an hour before the airstrike. Two men who were walking in the area were wounded, one lightly and one moderately, medical officials said.

    The Israeli army said the airstrike targeted a weapons-storage facility. It confirmed that residents of the building were warned ahead of the attack.  Israel has carried out a number of airstrikes against suspected weapons facilities in Gaza in recent weeks, ordering occupants to leave ahead of time. It says the warnings are meant to avoid civilian casualties.

09 - 03 - 2006

CUBANS GRAPPLE WITH CASTRO'S NEW FRAIL IMAGE 

    HAVANA, CUBA  --  NEW VIDEO FOOTAGE SHOWED A FRAGILE AND AGING FIDEL CASTRO. Cubans said on Saturday that it was clear their felled leader was still ailing a month after he temporarily ceded power following intestinal surgery.  Castro's careful crafted image of invincibility since sweeping to power in a 1959 revolution and entering into battle with the United States has been broken by two government broadcast videos showing him vulnerable and ailing at age 80.

    Communist authorities on Friday broadcast a seven-minute video of Castro receiving friend and ally Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president who stopped briefly in Havana on his return from a foreign tour. "It makes me sad every time I see him in his sickbed. For me he has been a guide, always leading the way, and to see him like that, even if he is better, fills me with sorrow," said Antonio, a retiree.

    Photographs published Saturday by the official press showed Castro was sitting on his bed at the time, with the table alongside and Chavez in a chair. "He looks better, but honestly for a month after surgery and even at 80 years old, something very bad must have happened to the Comandante," a Cuban surgeon said.  "If he just had an ulcer, or some other not too serious condition, he would be up and around by now, running things on the phone," he said on condition of anonymity.

VOTE INTENTION FOR CHAVEZ IS DIMINISHING, SAYS POLLING FIRM

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  -- POLLING FIRM HINTERLACES Friday reported that vote intention for President Hugo Chávez fell to 48 percent from 55 percent one month after the electoral campaign began.  Hinterlaces director Oscar Schemel said that a survey carried out by mid-August suggested that “vote intention [for Chávez] is decreasing.”

    “By June, vote intention for the President was around 55 percent, and two month later it lost 7 points and lowered to 48 percent. This means that there is growing dissatisfaction, discouragement, hopelessness in those population sectors that traditionally have supported Chávez’ work and speech,” Schemel told Unión Radio.

MANUEL ROSALES CALLS CHAVEZ'S ELECTION PROPOSAL "TYRANNICAL" 

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  -- VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION presidential candidate Manuel Rosales on Saturday termed "messianic and tyrannical" a proposal by his rival, incumbent President Hugo Chavez, to bring the issue of "indefinite" re-election before voters in a plebiscite.  

    The governor of the oil-rich western state of Zulia countered by saying that, if elected in the Dec. 3 balloting, he will seek to have the presidential term in office reduced from six to four years, with only one opportunity for re-election.  Rosales said during a visit to the western city of Barquisimeto.

09 - 02 - 2006

manuel rosales: DRUG TRAFFIC HAS COME OVER OUR VENEZUELAN BORDERS

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  DURING A MARCH IN CENTRAL ARAGUA STATE,  opposition single candidate Manuel Rosales warned against sweeping drug traffic on Venezuelan borders.

    "Therefore, we, Venezuelans, demand care of our borders. We want our military to play their appropriate role under the Constitution, be the guardians of our sovereignty and not be involved in asymmetric wars," he said in reference to the recent death of a raiser and his wife in western Zulia state.

    On Friday afternoon, the candidate planned to head for the city of La Victoria to continue his march and hold a meeting with local businesspersons. Earlier, Alberto Jordán Hernández, member of Rosales campaign team, explained that the candidate will make emphasis on preventing closing of the industrial park and fighting insecurity in the area.

ALI RODRIGUEZ IS THE NEW VENEZUELAN AMBASSADOR TO CUBA

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER will replace Adán Chávez, the brother of President Hugo Chávez at the Venezuelan embassy in Havana, diplomatic sources told Efe.   Rodríguez' appointment was published in the last edition of magazine "Ojo Pelao," released by the Venezuelan embassy in Havana. In Caracas, Foreign Ministry sources noted that "there is nothing official so far."

     Adán Chávez became the Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba in 2004, and left the position last July to take up the President's Ministry. The sources stated that the date of Rodríguez' taking office is still unknown. Rodríguez was Foreign Minister until August 9th, but left his position for health reasons, and was replaced by National Assembly (AN) chair Nicolás Maduro

HUGO CHAVEZ RESUMES CAMPAIGN in venezuela WITH RALLY  in caracas

    CARACAS, VENEZUELA  --  ON RETURNING from an international tour of 15 days, President Hugo Chávez planned to resume Friday morning his activities as a candidate running for re-election with a march in western Caracas and the participation of "battalions, platoons and squadrons of Caracas and central Miranda and Vargas states.

    "Encouragers" will organize a revolutionary human cord to welcome the head of state, Darío Vivas, head of the campaign team for Miranda state, said. This is the first of two rallies that will take place over the next 10 days in the capital city. The second rally will be held on Saturday, September 9th, on Bolívar Avenue. There, over 295,000 "encouragers" from all around the country will be sworn in.

    "We completed the first stage of the election campaign. The stage included organization of the national, regional and municipal campaign teams," the official explained.

09 - 01 - 2006

FIRST CUBAN CABINET CHANGE ANNOUNCED SINCE DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO CEDES POWER TO BROTHER

    HAVANA, CUBA  -- RAMIRO VALDES, a "historic revolutionary commander" and former Interior Minister, was named Cuba's new Minister of Information Science and Communications on Thursday in the first major government change since Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother Raul a month ago. The announcement in the Communist Party daily Granma comes amid a government crackdown on illegal satellite antennas that receive international television signals, including those from the U.S.-funded anti-Castro TV Marti.

    The appointment of another military man to Cuba's Cabinet also could indicate growing influence in government affairs by Gen. Raul Castro, the Defense Minister and now acting president. Fidel Castro, now 80, ceded leadership to his 75-year-old brother on July 31 after announcing he had undergone an emergency operation for sustained intestinal bleeding. Specifics about the older Castro's health are being treated as a state secret.

    Born in 1932, Valdes was among the small band of rebels led by Fidel Castro in 1956 who were attacked by soldiers of Fulgencio Batista's government after landing on the island aboard the yacht Granma from Mexico. He later fought alongside Argentine-born revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Cuba's eastern mountains and became a commander in his own right. He served as Interior Minister twice, from 1961-69 and again from 1978-1986, overseeing the island's vast domestic security and intelligence forces.

DESPITE POLITICAL TENSIONS, CUBA AND U.S. QUIETLY COOPERATE ON TRACKING HURRICANES

    WASHINGTON, D.C. --  FOR DECADES, the U.S. and Cuban governments have quietly worked together to track tropical storms and hurricanes in hopes of saving their citizens' lives. The two sides share meteorological data on storms. Cuban forecasters have received training in the U.S. And earlier this week, eight U.S. Air Force C-130 planes crossed into Cuban airspace to gather information on Tropical Storm Ernesto's wind speed, center and other information.

    In an unusual public acknowledgment Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center commended Fidel Castro's communist government for its assistance. "Special thanks to the government of Cuba for permitting the recon aircraft (to) fly right up to their coastline to gather this critical weather data," forecaster Stacy Stewart wrote in an advisory.

    Cuba has long pumped money into meteorological research. In 1900, Cuban meteorologists tried to warn U.S. weather officials of the danger of a hurricane that was moving into the Gulf of Mexico. Their predictions were dismissed by Americans and the storm killed at least 8,000 people in Galveston, Texas, according to Erik Larson, author of "Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History."

DENGUE OUTBREAK ON THE UPSWING IN CUBA

    SANTIAGO DE CUBA, CUBA -- SWARMS OF MOSQUITOES and two reported deaths from dengue fever suggest an increase in the outbreak of the disease, in the face of silence by health authorities.

    Two youths were reported to have died in the past week. One of them, an 18-year-old, had gone to hospital and had been sent home, only to fall violently ill and die hours later. At least one patient, Mirtha Pérez, of the Vista Alegre neighborhood, was in critical condition at the Clínico Quirúrgico hospital on the road to El Caney.

ANTI-GOVERNMENT GRAFFITI IN HOLGUÍN

    HOLGUÍN, CUBA  --  SOMEONE wrote anti-government slogans on the walls of a bus stop across the street from a military post in Banes, Holguín municipality last weekend.The graffiti read "Down with Fidel" and "We don't want Raúl," in chalk. A detachment from the political police, headed by Major Wilson Ramírez, of the Department of State Security, converged on the site in the early morning and cleaned up the wall after thoroughly photographing it.

    Later in the day, the local contingent of the "Rapid Response Brigades," the government directed mobs who prosecute all those not in agreement with government policies, were gathered at the fire station and told to "be watchful of acts of disobedience like this one."