Venezuela VP Attacks 'Chavez Health Lies'

Chavez Illness Leaves Power Vacuum

Updated: 2:55am UK, Saturday 05 January 2013

By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

It seems almost certain that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez will not be well enough to attend his own inauguration ceremony next Thursday, sparking a dispute between his supporters and opponents over what should happen next.

Venezuela finds itself in the middle of a power vacuum which Mr Chavez himself attempted to fill by telling people in the event of his death he wanted the Vice President Nicolas Maduro to be his successor.

Mr Chavez has not been seen for three weeks since he made the journey from Venezuela to Cuba for treatment for recurring cancer.

Officials in his government have said he is suffering from complications from the surgery - a "respiratory deficiency" following a severe lung infection.

They have described the 58-year-old's condition as "stable" but beyond that refuse to discuss further details about Mr Chavez's health or indeed what the long-term prognosis for him is.

That is central to Venezuela's current political crisis.

The opposition argues it is written in the country's constitution that if he is not well enough to attend his own inauguration then the country must hold fresh elections within 30 days.

But Mr Maduro says Mr Chavez can continue in office even if he is unable to take the oath of office next week.

Speaking on Venezuelan television, Mr Maduro said "the constitution allows him to be sworn in by the Supreme Court at a later date".

Mr Chavez's supporters want him to be given time to recover - but they've given no public indication that he is even getting better let alone whether he will make a full recovery or become fit enough to take up his role as President.

There are reports - which his supporters have been quick to dispel - of an internal power struggle within his own camp.

We know who Mr Chavez wants to continue his individual brand of socialism - yet others insist Diosdado Cabello, the current head of the National Assembly, should take over in the short-term.

In October Mr Chavez was elected for a fourth term in office having come to power in 1999.

He is one of the most visible, vocal and controversial leaders in the world - presenting his own weekly TV show and championing his own brand of revolutionary socialist policies.

People are divided over the legacy of Mr Chavez. He sought to create a new form of socialism with populist policies aimed at helping the poor with free health care, subsidised food and land reform.

But poverty and unemployment are still widespread in spite of the huge wealth his country enjoys from its vast oil reserves.

Mr Chavez has always denounced the wealthy elite but over time in power his critics say the champion of the poor turned himself into a dictator, changing Venezuela's constitution so he could keep running for office.

He has nationalised much of Venezuela's economy including the oil sector and his supporters say that's helped benefit the poor from oil export revenues.

But Mr Chavez's health and leadership are significant far beyond his country of 29 million people.

For decades he has been a counter to the regional and global power of Washington - a "bad boy" to the US.

A strident critic of America's foreign policy, he has been a thorn in Washington's side and has always been quick to offer shelter and vocal support to the countries America has struggled with.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Missoni Fashion House Boss Missing

Rescue crews are using boats and aircraft to search for a small plane that disappeared off Venezuela carrying the boss of Italy's iconic Missoni fashion house.

The BN-2 Islander aircraft disappeared from radar screens on its short flight from the Venezuelan resort islands of Los Roques to Caracas.

"We have no other news", said Paolo Marchetti from Missoni.

The plane was carrying carrying 58-year-old Vittorio Missoni, the head of the company; his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni; two of their Italian friends; and two Venezuelan crew members.

Missoni's younger brother, Luca, who is active in the family-run business, was reportedly travelling to Venezuela to monitor search efforts.

"We're holding onto a glimmer of hope," said Oswaldo Scalvenzi , a relative of Elda Scalvenzi, one of the Missoni friends aboard the flight.

"Until we can see the wreckage, hope will remain," Scalvenzi told Italian state TV on Saturday night.

Search teams were using a plane and a helicopter, working together with the Venezuelan coast guard, the country's National Civil Aviation Institute said in a statement.

The twin-engine plane had enough fuel on board for a three-hour flight, said Francisco Paz Fleitas, president of the civil aviation agency.

Paz said the plane took off at 11.39am on Friday and had been expected to arrive at Caracas' Simon Bolivar International Airport 42 minutes later.

The civil aviation agency said the authorities declared an alert after the plane did not make contact with the control tower at the Caracas airport or with the tower in Los Roques.

"The last position registered in radar data and those supplied by a system on board the aircraft" was about 11 miles south of Los Roques, the agency said in the statement.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

South Africa: Women Drinking To Harm Babies

By Alex Crawford in Port Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape

Mothers in one of South Africa's poorest areas are drinking heavily to deliberately damage their unborn babies - just so they can claim disability benefit.

Life is so tough with unemployment high and crime rampant in South Africa's Eastern Cape, that a newborn baby represents a form of income for the mothers.

State benefits mean 250 South African rand (£20) per child per month for an impoverished family. But disability allowance is a far more lucrative 1200 rand a month (£85).

It has led to a spike in the numbers of babies born with disabilities.

Mothers who drink heavily during pregnancy run a far higher risk of giving birth to a child born with what is known as Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). The condition is usually irreversible and can mean speech problems, physical deformities, learning difficulties and behavioural issues.

More than three-quarters of the children at the Miracle Kids Centre in Helenvale suffer from FASD.

South Africa has the highest prevalence of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

The centre manager Genevieve Hendricks says the children struggle at school, end up dropping out and then many turn to crime to get by.

"It's so sad to see," she says cradling one of her young charges. "But we need to educate these mothers to know they are causing a lifetime of difficulties."

The Eastern Cape Liquor Board has now been prompted to launch a campaign to educate young mothers about the dangers of drinking heavily whilst pregnant.

South Africa has had the highest number of FASD cases in the world since 2002, according to the World Health Organisation.

Many of the problems link back to the prevalence of illegal shebeens, or drinking houses, where homemade, highly addictive and damaging alcohol is sold cheaply. For about two rand (14p), you can buy a litre of kah-kah as the locals call it.

"If I don't drink this, I'm like someone who is sick," Ruth tells us swigging from a transparent bottle containing kah-kah. "I can't sleep, and I cant think straight but when I have this then I am better and I can do anything."

Within two sips Ruth (not her real name) was slurring and dribbling. She staggered up to the door to try to change her baby's nappy before plonking the child on her lap, letting the baby breastfeed while she carried on drinking the toxic liquid.

She told me she drank about "five or six bottles a day" and that this started from "about nine o'clock" in the morning.

"I don't drink through the day because I have things to do," she said.

I'm afraid to say I didn't believe her and when we dropped by her house the following morning, her eight-year-old twins were at home alone with her 15-year-old daughter.

"She's at the shebeen," we were told.

Homemade alcohol is available in illegal drinking houses

The police continually conduct raids on the shebeens, closing them down and throwing away the illegal alcohol. But no sooner one is shut down, another springs up.

"It's cheap to produce and this represents an income to these people," Colonel Abdoerahgmaan Humphries told Sky News.

We are with the Gelvendale police team as they raid one of the shebeens.

The filthy shed is packed full of people, including at least two women cuddling tiny babies. Most appeared intoxicated.

The police move onto what appears to be a small concrete room opposite. Against the wall is a brown wooden panel and when the police pull it down, it reveals a small hole, just big enough for an adult to crawl through. It opens out into another room which is the brewery. There are three barrels half filled with a milky brown liquid - the kah-kah. There are also numerous crates of bottles - all filled and ready to be sold.

"Asse blief  bass (please boss)!" the man pleads. He wants to at least finish his own drink. Most of the brewers are themselves addicts.

The police take the crates out and pour the liquid away in front of the assembled residents, many of whom are drunk and now angry.

"Leave them! Leave us! It makes us happy," one of the women screams at them.

There are several attempts to try to snatch bottles before they are poured on the wasteground.

The police move off to attend to a shooting elsewhere in the area.

"They'll be back brewing some more right now," one says to me as we speed off.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Honduras: Ambassador Quits Over Wild Party

Honduras has axed an ambassador amid reports his personal aide held a wild party - attended by prostitutes - at the embassy.

Ambassador to Colombia, Carlos Rodriguez, quit his post after the government requested his withdrawal, the Honduras foreign ministry said.

Mr Rodriguez's personal aide went out with friends on December 20, picking up some prostitutes in Bogota's red-light district before going to the Honduran Embassy in Bogota.

They drank alcohol and destroyed the facilities, El Heraldo daily reported. Mobile phones and computers were also stolen.

It was not clear if Mr Rodriguez was present but the ministry said an investigation was under way.

"Jorge Mendoza, an employee of the Embassy of Honduras, received us and informed us that the previous night (December 20) there had been a party inside the Honduran Embassy, in some of the offices and that two computers had been stolen," said Jose Baquero of the Bogota police.

"The sparse information that this man gave to the Bogota police is that they hired two sex workers from the Chapinero district but he did not give us any description of these people," he added.

Last year, about a dozen US secret service employees were accused of misconduct for bringing women, some of them prostitutes, back to their hotel rooms ahead of a visit to Colombia by President Barack Obama, in the biggest scandal to hit the agency.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

iPhone Thief Caught In Dating Sting

A New York musician who had his iPhone stolen on New Year's Eve created a fake dating profile and arranged a romantic rendezvous with the thief.

Trombonist Nadav Nirenberg, 27, accidentally left his phone in the back of a taxi while on his way to a gig in Brooklyn. But despite repeatedly calling the phone and leaving messages offering a reward, he heard nothing.

He then discovered the person who had his phone had logged in to his OKCupid dating account and was sending "weird" messages from his profile to girls on the site.

"Not only had he stolen my phone, he was creepy and disturbing," said Mr Nirenberg. "So I created another OKCupid account as 'Jennifer Gonzalez' a ficticious 24-year-old girl who just moved to Brooklyn. Then I chatted him up".

Mr Nirenberg confronted the thief with $20 and a hammer (pic: Glasspiegel)

'U wanna meet?' the thief said in a message posted on the site.

'Yeah I kinda do,' Mr Nirenberg wrote back, suggesting that they meet at 'Jennifer's' place that night.

A few hours later the thief was on his way while Mr Nirenberg armed himself with a hammer and waited.

"Little did he know that on his way up the stairs I would pop out behind him, calmly give him $20 for my phone and tell him the cops were on the way," he said.

"I saw through the peephole that he was a small Indian dude. When he realised what had happened the look of shame on his face was priceless. He must have felt like an idiot. He was all dressed up, he was carrying a bottle of wine and he stank of cologne.

"I had the hammer in case he was insane or huge. I was scared but I never threatened him in any way.

"The $20 was because I wanted to lead with a peace offering instead of a confrontation. I could easily have kept the $20, his wine and probably his wallet, but I wanted it to be over as quickly as possible".

Mr Nirenberg has little sympathy for the thief, whom he believes was the taxi driver in whose cab he left his phone.

"The dude thought that a 24-year-old girl who lives alone would invite a complete stranger over for wine. He also believed 'Jennifer' wouldn't care about the message she received from him: 'Hay the pic u see on my profile it not my pic it my friend pic'.

'Jennifer' got messages from 30 men on OKCupid in the five hours she existed. "My apologies to the girl whose picture I used," said Mr Nirenberg.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bashar al Assad's Speech Changes Nothing

He has been seen but barely heard since June last year, but in a highly choreographed speech to an audience of the faithful, Bashar al Assad addressed the nation from an opera house in Damascus.

The raucous crowd regularly interrupted the president's hour-long speech with cries of "We will sacrifice our blood and soul for you Bashar," as he called on Syrians to rise up and defend the nation.

Throughout he blamed foreign powers and al Qaeda jihadist "terrorists" for the country's descent into a conflict that has displaced half a million people and killed 60,000. 

He insisted it was a plot against Syria.

"We are in a state of war, an extended vicious war," he said. "It is more harmful than normal war. We have to defend our country."

The president unveiled an apparent peace initiative; promising a "national charter", a referendum, elections and a new government.

But he made it clear he wouldn't be standing down any time soon and that he would not negotiate with those who have taken up arms against him.

He said any changes would be to assist - not replace - what is existing in Syria.

That means he is not going anywhere until he decides to stand down.

Reaction from inside and outside Syria to the speech was swift and unanimous in its condemnation.

The EU called on Assad to step down, Foreign Secretary William Hague tweeted that the promises of reform would "fool no one", and the opposition coalition in Syria dismissed the speech out of hand.

As he left the stage to huge cheers and clapping, supporters mobbed the president as he moved to shake hands. Security guards eventually led him away.

Whatever the support he had inside Damascus there, it's not reflected nationally.

There are a huge number of people now who obviously want him to leave.

As he said, they are in a midst of a very nasty war, and there is nothing to indicate, especially after this speech, that's going to change at all.

Any hope there might be compromise? He's dashed that.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pakistan: Drone Strikes Kill Taliban Militants

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

US drone strikes have killed ten suspected Taliban militants in North West Pakistan according to security officials in the country.

Reports say that several missiles were fired into three hideouts close to the border with Afghanistan.

The targets were near Babar Ghar village in the South Waziristan region known to be a stronghold for militants.

The intelligence sources revealed that the dead were suspected members of the Punjabi Taliban, a group that maintains close links with al Qaeda.

The names and identities of those killed have not been released but two Taliban commanders are thought to among the dead and it is possible the death toll might rise.

The strike follows the killing of Mullah Nazir, a known militant leader, who was killed by a drone strike in the same area last weekearlier this week.

Nazir had previously supported attacks on International Security Assistance Force troops in Afghanistan - thousands of people have protested against his death.

Drone strikes have increased considerably under Barack Obama's presidency. Exact figures relating to strikes and people killed are hard to verify.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Australia Bushfires: Fears For The Missing

Several people are feared dead and hundreds more have been left homeless as bushfires continue to burn in southern Australia.

Specialist rescue teams are moving from home to home searching for the missing in the island state of Tasmania.

Thousands of people have been left stranded and around 100 buildings destroyed across the scorched landscape since Friday.

Fuelled by a record heatwave, the blaze has forced many residents to flee to evacuation centres.

Farmland and businesses have been destroyed, too, with many losing their livelihoods as well as their homes.

Channel 9 correspondent Darren Curtis, in Dunalley, Tasmania, where at least 80 properties have been ravaged by the fires, told Sky News: "A lot of the people that stayed actually said that the fire was so intense when it swept through that it was like being at an international airport and standing behind the jets.

"The roar was so intense - gas bottles were flaring all over the place. In fact, water tanks were actually bubbling and turning to steam.

"People here were right next to the ocean. People were prepared to move, but the fire came down so quickly they actually had to go and lower themselves into the water with their pets and their children, and just have their nose above the water, as the flames swept all around them.

"The fire here was so intense. They were ready for it, but it just moved so quickly.

"Homes cannot be salvaged. The owners say there was so little left inside them they are not even going to bother searching through the debris and look for any treasures that they may be able to find in there.

He added: "The temperatures have dropped a little bit, but the wind still remains high.

"Now that could flare the temperatures up and push the fires out of the bush and into some more of the suburbs around here."

On Saturday, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard pledged to help all those affected by the fires. "We will be working with them, as will the state government, to support people through," she said.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Syrian President Assad Gives Live TV Address

Syria's president has blamed Islamic extremists and "outside forces" for orchestrating the conflict in his country in a rare public address to the nation.

The embattled leader, who appeared before cheering crowds at an opera house in the capital Damascus, struck a defiant tone and was frequently interrupted by supporters chanting: "With our soul with our blood we sacrifice ourselves for you O Bashar."

With insurgents fighting their way closer to the seat of his power, President Bashar al Assad spoke about the latest developments and "suffering" in Syria.

He said the conflict was not between the state and opposition, but the "nation and its enemies".

"We are now in a state of war in every sense of the word," he said.

"This war targets Syria using a handful of Syrians and many foreigners. Thus, this is a war to defend the nation."

An opposition fighter during an air strike in Taftanaz, near Idlib

"We meet today and suffering is overwhelming Syrian land. There is no place for joy while security and stability are absent on the streets of our country.

"The nation is for all, and we must all protect it," he said to rapturous applause inside a packed House of Arts and Culture.

"There are those who seek to partition Syria and weaken it. But Syria is stronger ... and will remain sovereign ... and this is what upsets the West."

Mr Assad called for a "full national mobilisation" to fight against the rebels, whom he branded al Qaeda "terrorists" and "murderous criminals".

While outlining proposals for what he described as a peace plan including a new constitution and amnesty, there was no suggestion of him relinquishing his power.

He asserted the government and army would continue military operations against opposition groups.

Mr Assad said change must come through constitutional means and appealed for dialogue once the fighting had ended.

"Regional and international countries must stop funding the armed men to allow those displaced to return to their homes ... right after that our military operations will cease," he said.

"We will not have dialogue with a puppet made by the West."

A protest against the Assad regime in Kafranbel, near Idlib, on Friday

They were his first public comments since he dismissed suggestions that he might go into exile to end the civil war, telling Russian television in November that he would "live and die" in Syria.

According to Sky sources, the internet in Damascus was shut down during his address - at the end of which Mr Assad needed to be ushered away by security officials when he appeared to be mobbed by jubilant supporters.

The hour-long live broadcast came as fighting between Syrian rebels and government forces continued to rage across the country.

Mr Assad's appeals for a reconciliation are likely to be rejected by opposition forces and rebels, who insist he must step down.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague dismissed the calls "empty promises".

Responding to the address, he tweeted: "#AssadSpeech beyond hypocritical. Deaths, violence and oppression engulfing #Syria are his own making, empty promises of reform fool no one."

The European Union called on Mr Assad to step down, while the opposition coalition in Syria rejected the address.

Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay said: "Whatever the support he had inside Damascus there, it's not reflected nationally.

"There are a huge number of people now who obviously want him to leave. As he said, they are in a midst of a very nasty war, and there is nothing to indicate, especially after this speech, that's going to change at all."

The 21-month uprising against Assad has become a civil war that the United Nations says has killed 60,000 people.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gerard Depardieu Receives Russian Passport

The French actor Gerard Depardieu has received his passport after being granted Russian citizenship, saying he was leaving France to avoid proposed tax increases.

"There was a short meeting and Depardieu was handed his passport," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russian television showed the two men embracing and then chatting over dinner.

But the Russian leader did not personally hand over the document when the two met at Putin's residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Depardieu shows off his new passport

Depardieu showed off the passport after arriving in Saransk, about 300 miles east of the capital Moscow, on Sunday.

The local governor invited him to settle in the provincial town and offered him an apartment of his choice, according to reports on state television.

Depardieu has not said where he will take up residence in Russia, only that he did not want to live in Moscow because it was too big and he would prefer a village.

The actor is opposed to proposed tax increases for French citizens earning more than €1m (£818,000).

President Putin surprised many at his end-of-year news conference in December by saying he was ready to offer the 64-year-old a Russian passport to resolve the row.

The Cyrano de Bergerac and Green Card star has become a frequent face on the Moscow celebrity circuit and is well known after appearing in a number of advertising campaigns.

He worked in the country in 2011 on a film about the eccentric Russian monk Grigory Rasputin.

But French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has called Depardieu unpatriotic at a time when the French are being asked to pay higher taxes to reduce a large national debt.

23.59 | 0 komentar | Read More