shameen

Caracas, August 24: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez charged that the controversial new US deal to use Colombian military bases means US troops can move anywhere within the South American country.

“They are turning all of Colombia into a (US) base,” an outraged Chavez yesterday said in his television and radio program Alo Presidente.

“They cannot keep this a secret; the details are coming out. Gringo military staff have been authorised to operate anywhere in Colombia,” Chavez charged.

Havana, August 24: Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who is recovering from major intestinal surgery, appeared in the first new video of him in 14 months, joking and chatting with Venezuelan students.

Castro was yesterday shown in the video wearing a track suit and in an animated conversation with a group of law students from Venezuela’s University of Carabobo who came to visit him at his home on Saturday.

He met with them for three hours, Cuban television, which aired the video yesterday, said.

Granada, August 24: A 20-year-old woman has died of swine flu in southern Spain on Sunday, raising the number of deaths from the viral disease to 15 in the country, health officials said.

The victim, a resident of Granada City in southern Spain, has died in a hospital due to complications from the influenza A (H1N1) virus, officials said.

The patient was admitted to the San Cecilio Hospital Aug 19 with high fever, cough and difficulty in breathing.

–IANS

Sao Paulo, August 24: Brazil will build five submarines in collaboration with France to protect its vast off shore oil reserves in the Amazon region, a media report said on Sunday.

The Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has already approved the submarine project prepared by the Defence Ministry.

Brazil will also build a nuclear submarine as part of the project, it said.

Beijing, August 24: More than 200 people are expected to go on trial this week for their involvement in sectarian riots last month that killed nearly 200 people in China’s eastern region of Xinjiang, a state-run newspaper reported on Monday.

The trials will take place in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang and the site of China’s worst ethnic violence in decades, in which an additional 1,700 people were injured, the China Daily reported. The rioting pitted Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs against members of China’s dominant Han ethnic group.

Sungai Siput, August 24: Religious authorities in Malaysia on Monday freed a Muslim woman who had been sentenced to be caned for dinking beer, although she refused to leave a van taking her to jail when returned to her home.

And her father said the change of mind would ridicule Islam, which bans Muslims from consuming alcohol.

“The warrant cannot be executed,” Sharafuddin Zainal Ariffin, head of enforcement for the state of Pahang’s Islamic Affairs Department, told reporters after Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, was returned to her house.

Seoul, August 24: In death as in life, Kim Dae-jung managed to bring the two rival Koreas together.

Hours before his funeral Sunday, North Korean officials dispatched to Seoul to pay their respects to the Nobel Peace Prize winner held talks with South Korea’s president — the first high-level inter-Korean contact after many months of tension.

They relayed a message about bilateral relations from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during a half hour of “serious and amicable” talks with President Lee Myung-bak, Lee’s spokesman said.

Noumea, August 24: The death toll from swine flu in New Caledonia has risen to five following the death of a 46-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man, health officials in the French Pacific territory said Monday.

Both succumbed to pneumonia brought on by A(H1N1) influenza, but neither had pre-existing health conditions that put them at greater risk from the virus, the territory’s health department said.

Italy, August 24: The European Union will issue new immigration policy proposals by the end of October, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Sunday, responding to Italy’s plea for more coordinated EU action.

“We will have a first proposal from the EU with regard to distribution criteria for immigration flows among the 27 (EU member states),” Bildt said on the sidelines of a conference at the Italian seaside town of Rimini.

Athens, August 24: Greece -A raging wildfire raced down a mountain slope in Greece toward the town of Marathon on Sunday, nearing two ancient temples while despairing residents pleaded for firefighters and equipment that were nowhere to be seen.

Tens of thousands of residents of Athens’ northern suburbs evacuated their homes, fleeing in cars or on foot. Several houses were destroyed as the fire advanced across an area more than 31 miles (50 kilometers) wide.