CARACAS, March 16 (Xinhua) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday attended an opening ceremony of the bi-national residential zone in Aragua state, about 100 km west of Caracas.
According to the state-run Bolivarian News Agency, the two presidents laid the cornerstone for a residential project for five-story buildings which will have a total of 5,000 apartments over an area of 32 hectares.
Before touring the construction site, Lukashenko was awarded the first-class \”Francisco de Miranda\” medal while visiting the National Assembly of Venezuela.
At the medal conferring ceremony, Lukashenko said the strategic cooperation between the two countries is very important. He also spoke highly of the achievements made by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.
Lukashenko arrived in Venezuela on Monday for his second visit to the country and is scheduled to leave on Wednesday.
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Chavez meets Lukashenko on strategic ties
CARACAS, March 15 (Xinhua) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Monday met with his visiting Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko for talks aimed at expanding the strategic ties between the two countries.
At the Miraflores Palace in Venezuela\’s capital, the two leaders discussed issues of energy, construction and agro-industry, local media reported.? Full story
Belarusian president stresses strategic partnership with Venezuela
CARACAS, March 16 (Xinhua) — Visiting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday stressed the strategic partnership with Venezuela and how the partnership can benefit the peoples of both countries.
During his speech to the Venezuelan National Assembly, Lukashenko expressed satisfaction with the strategic partnership with Venezuela which he called a trading partner in Latin America.? Full story
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SANTIAGO, March 16 (Xinhua) — The Chilean justice authorities will investigate why a tsunami warning was too early canceled in the wake of a massive quake while the tsunami later caused a significant loss of life and property, the Supreme Court said Tuesday.
The Navy Oceanography Service (SHOA) and the emergency management agency had issued a tsunami warning after an 8.8-magnitude quake hit Chile on Feb. 27. However, the warning was canceled one hour later, and the tsunami that followed badly hit the coastal villages and left hundreds of people killed or missing.
\”The fact that the warnings were not issued in an adequate manner justifies an inquiry,\” national prosecutor Sabas Chahuan said Tuesday. \”I\’m preparing the opening of an inquiry.\”
He added he expected the investigation to get underway immediately.
SHOA chief Mariano Rojas was fired from his post less than a week after the quake, while the head of Chile\’s emergency management agency, Carmen Fernandez, resigned on March 10.
Fernandez said ahead of her resignation that the agency had a breakdown in communications and became \”blind and speechless.\”
She said the intelligence the agency received after the quake was very vague and inaccurate, and nobody was able to make a decision to issue a tsunami warning.
Commander of Chief of the Chilean Navy Edmundo Gonzalez acknowledged that the information transmitted to the presidency via the SHOA was \”very unclear.\”
Two hours after the quake, then-president Michelle Bachelet phoned the navy and asked whether the tsunami warning was still necessary, but the navy didn\’t even know how to answer, he said.
Statistics showed the twin disasters, the earthquake and the tsunami, have killed almost 500 people and caused an estimated 30 billion U.S. dollars in damage to infrastructure in Chile.
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Chile makes preliminary estimate of damage after earthquake
SANTIAGO, March 16 (Xinhua) — A preliminary estimate shows Chile needs 30 billion U.S. dollars for repair following the 8.8-magnitude earthquake on Feb. 27, President Sebastian Pinera said Tuesday.
The cost accounts for 18 percent of the country\’s gross domestic product (GDP), Pinera said while meeting with leaders of the right-wing Coalition for Change.? Full story
Quake-caused damage to reach 30 bln USD: Chilean gov\’t
SANTIAGO, March 16 (Xinhua) — Chilean Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter estimated on Tuesday that the damage caused by the devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake and the ensuing Tsunami on Feb. 27 will reach 30 billion U.S. dollars.
He also said that 500 people have been confirmed dead in the quake, while 200 others remain missing. The majority of the casualties were at the coast areas.? Full story
by George Bao
LOS ANGELES, March 16 (Xinhua) — Immigration and civil rights groups in the United States are planning to assemble thousands of people in Washington D.C. on Sunday to call for immigration reform.
The demonstrators\’ demands for reform will include better wages and working conditions and more labor protections. Moreover, a fair balance in salary between Main Street and Wall Street will also be demanded.
\”Immigration reform must include a path to earned citizenship for the undocumented that helps new Americans learn English, become naturalized, and contribute fully to our economic renewal,\” the organizers said.
They claim that immigration policy that keeps families together is good for the country because families help their relatives get jobs and housing, and become acclimated to their new environment.
Anti-family policies have put more than 5 million Americans who have applied to bring relatives here into a never-ending bureaucratic line and thousands have been thrown into poverty because the breadwinners have been deported, the activists say
The organizers believe that decades without immigration reform created a second class of workers who are exploited by unscrupulous employers.
\”It\’s been 24 years since Congress last addressed this issue comprehensively,\” said California State Assemblyman Kevin De Leon.
The organizers also criticized anti-immigrant conservatives as whittling away the U.S. justice system, putting important court decisions in the hands of low-level clerks.
\”It\’s time to restore justice by ensuring immigrants have full due process protections and by re-prioritizing judicial discretion over capricious bureaucracy. It\’s time to take back the American story and American values by enacting true immigration reform,\” the organizers said.
Meanwhile, De Leon has introduced a resolution into the state Assembly that intends to signal the federal government that immigration reform is urgently needed.
\”The state with the largest immigrant population is sending a clear and strong message to the president and the Congress that inaction on immigration reform is not an acceptable or beneficial option for the nation,\” said Angelica Salas, Executive Director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
http://www.chinacourse.com
BRASILIA, March 17 (Xinhua) — The gap between the opposition presidential candidate, the governor of Sao Paulo Jose Serra, from the Social Democratic Party (PSDB), and the ruling candidate, chief of staff Dilma Rousseff, from the Workers\’ Party (PT), reduced to 5 percentage points, according to a poll released Wednesday.
According to Ibope poll, commissioned by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), 35 percent of voters support Serra, against 30 percent for Rousseff.
The figures show a sharp reduction in the gap between the main candidates, compared with Ibope poll conducted last December, when the gap was of 21 percentage points.
Currently, the third place is occupied by Deputy Ciro Gomes, from the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), who enjoys 11 percent in favor, followed by former Environment Minister, Senator Marina Silva, from the Green Party (PV), with 6 percent of support.
In case there is run-off, Serra holds the advantage over Rousseff, with 44 percent of support versus 39 percent for the minister.
The survey also showed that 53 percent of voters want to vote for the candidate supported by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, although so far only 42 percent of respondents know that the Da Silva supports Rousseff.
The next general elections in October will be the first one in more than two decades that Lula will not be a candidate, since he has already served two consecutive presidential terms, the maximum allowed by Brazilian law.
http://www.chinacourse.com
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Xinhua) — U.S. wholesale prices declined by 0.6 percent in February, larger than the economists\’ expectation, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
The rise in the department\’s Producer Price Index (PPI), a measure of inflation at the wholesale level, followed a 1.4 percent gain in January. Economists had forecasted a 0.2 percent drop.
Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, core wholesale prices rose by 0.1 percent in February, matching the economists\’ expectation.
Over the past 12 months, wholesale prices are up 4.4 percent, core inflation is up a much more subdued 1 percent over the past year.
Economists believe that inflation remains not a problem at the moment and is not likely to become a threat any time soon because of all the downward pressures on wages and prices as a result of the recession.
They also believe that the subdued inflation pressure gives the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates low to boost the recovery.
The Fed reaffirmed Tuesday to hold the federal funds rate at historic low level for \”an extended period.\”
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WASHINGTON, March 17 (Xinhua) — The U.S. and Pakistan will hold their first ministerial-level Strategic Dialogue in Washington next week, which will be co-chaired by State Secretary Hillary Clinton and its Pakistani counterpart Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, State Department said on Wednesday.
Topics of the meeting, which is due on March 24, ranges from economic development, water and energy, education, security and so on, according to the press release by State Department.
\”President Obama and Secretary Clinton have repeatedly stressed the breadth and depth of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, a partnership that goes beyond security,\” it said.
U.S. and Pakistan had hold a strategic dialogue in Washington in April 2006, co-chaired by Pakistan\’s then Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan and then U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns.
Last year, Pakistan and the U.S. had agreed to raise strategic dialogue to the ministerial level, the first of its kind since President Obama has announced new strategy for the region.
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Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has claimed responsibility for the botched Christmas Day bombing of a US airliner and said strikes on US targets will continue, in an audio statement broadcast on Al-Jazeera satellite television.(Xinhua/AFP File Photo)
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Xinhua) — Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, said Wednesday the military still aims to catch al-Qaeda terror network leader Osama bin Laden alive.
McChrystal, briefing reporters in Washington via teleconference from Afghanistan, said if bin Laden enters Afghanistan, the military would certainly try to \”capture him alive.\”
The comment contradicts Attorney General Eric Holder\’s Tuesday comment that bin Laden will never appear in a U.S. courtroom because he won\’t be brought in alive.
\”The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom,\” Holder said during a House appropriations subcommittee hearing.
\”He will be killed by us or he will be killed by his own people, so he\’s not captured by us,\” said Holder.
McChrystal also said Wednesday that efforts to retake Taliban strong-hold Kandahar is already underway.
NATO and Afghan armies have recently launched a major operation in Afghanistan\’s Helmand province, adjacent to Kandahar. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, said Tuesday the offensive is the beginning of a larger campaign which will \”unfold over the next 18 months.\”
Related:
Osama bin Laden won\’t appear in U.S. court alive: attorney general
WASHINGTON, March 16 (Xinhua) — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday that al-Qaida world network leader Osama bin Laden will never appear in a U.S. courtroom because he won\’t be brought in alive.
\”The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom,\” Holder said during a House appropriations subcommittee hearing, when he was defending his decision to try 9/11 suspects in criminal courts instead of military tribunal.? Full story
Bin Laden claims responsibility for Christmas plane bombing attempt
CAIRO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) — Al-Qaida leader claimed responsibility for a foiled attempt of bombing a U.S.-bound airplane on Dec. 25, and vowed further attacks against the United States, in an audio recording aired Sunday by pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV.
\”From Osama to Obama … If our messages would possibly be carried to you by words, we would not have carried them to you by planes,\” Osama bin Laden said in the tape.? Full story
http://www.qb-china.com
Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has claimed responsibility for the botched Christmas Day bombing of a US airliner and said strikes on US targets will continue, in an audio statement broadcast on Al-Jazeera satellite television.(Xinhua/AFP File Photo)
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Xinhua) — Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, said Wednesday the military still aims to catch al-Qaeda terror network leader Osama bin Laden alive.
McChrystal, briefing reporters in Washington via teleconference from Afghanistan, said if bin Laden enters Afghanistan, the military would certainly try to \”capture him alive.\”
The comment contradicts Attorney General Eric Holder\’s Tuesday comment that bin Laden will never appear in a U.S. courtroom because he won\’t be brought in alive.
\”The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom,\” Holder said during a House appropriations subcommittee hearing.
\”He will be killed by us or he will be killed by his own people, so he\’s not captured by us,\” said Holder.
McChrystal also said Wednesday that efforts to retake Taliban strong-hold Kandahar is already underway.
NATO and Afghan armies have recently launched a major operation in Afghanistan\’s Helmand province, adjacent to Kandahar. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, said Tuesday the offensive is the beginning of a larger campaign which will \”unfold over the next 18 months.\”
Related:
Osama bin Laden won\’t appear in U.S. court alive: attorney general
WASHINGTON, March 16 (Xinhua) — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday that al-Qaida world network leader Osama bin Laden will never appear in a U.S. courtroom because he won\’t be brought in alive.
\”The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom,\” Holder said during a House appropriations subcommittee hearing, when he was defending his decision to try 9/11 suspects in criminal courts instead of military tribunal.? Full story
Bin Laden claims responsibility for Christmas plane bombing attempt
CAIRO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) — Al-Qaida leader claimed responsibility for a foiled attempt of bombing a U.S.-bound airplane on Dec. 25, and vowed further attacks against the United States, in an audio recording aired Sunday by pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV.
\”From Osama to Obama … If our messages would possibly be carried to you by words, we would not have carried them to you by planes,\” Osama bin Laden said in the tape.? Full story
http://www.qb-china.com
