Foreign leaders attend Hugo Chavez funeral

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was remembered Friday as a leader who cared for the poor and opposed the dominance of one nation over others during a funeral ceremony that attracted dignitaries from around the world.

The Venezuelan national anthem was played by the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, directed by conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

In his funeral oration, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Chavez, who died Tuesday at 58 after a long bout with cancer, was the champion of the oppressed and "redeemer of our poor and those of all the world." Perhaps referring to Chavez's frequent tirades against the United States, Maduro said Chavez wanted "a world without empires, without hegemonies."

"There was never a leader more vilified than Hugo Chavez," Maduro, who was sworn in late Friday as interim president, told those assembled at the Venezuelan Military Academy. "But our commander had inside him the biggest shield against infamy a human being can have: his purity and the love of Christ, which saved him and left him undefeated."

With Chavez family members sitting among dignitaries who included Cuban President Raul Castro, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera and Spain's Prince Felipe, Maduro began the observance by placing a replica of liberator Bolivar's sword atop Chavez's coffin.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, addressing the congregation, issued a plea for better binational relations and asked God to "heal the breach between the U.S. and Venezuela" and to "let there be peace between nations."

"Let us forgive, redeem and move on to higher ground," Jackson said. "We are neighbors who share the same hemisphere. We play ball together. We share natural resources and we combat drugs together, share dreams and are bound by culture and environment."

Others in attendance included Uruguayan President Jose Mujica and actor Sean Penn, who has expressed his friendship with Chavez as well as gratitude for financial support of relief efforts Penn directed in Haiti. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner unexpectedly left before the service, citing medical reasons, officials said.

Dudamel, the Venezuelan-born music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, traveled to Caracas on an overnight flight after a performance Thursday night.

Maduro took the oath as interim president from National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, swearing to uphold the constitution and laws of Venezuela in the "name of our Commandante Hugo Chavez." The Friday night ceremony was held in the assembly hall in central Caracas.

Riding a wave of sympathy for Chavez, Maduro is heavily favored to win a special election next month for the presidency.

Venezuela interim leader vows to tackle crime

CARACAS, Venezuela — Interim President Nicolas Maduro on Monday raised the curtain on Venezuela's abbreviated campaign to elect a successor to Hugo Chavez, lavishly praising the late leader during a televised address but promising to tackle escalating crime, perhaps Chavez's darkest legacy.

The 50-year-old Maduro, a former bus driver and socialist union leader, is heavily favored to beat his challenger, Gov. Henrique Capriles of Miranda state, in the April 14 election to fill out Chavez's six-year term.

The snap election was called after Chavez died of cancer March 5. Maduro, who had been vice president and foreign minister under Chavez, was sworn in as interim president March 8. Campaigning has been limited to Tuesday through April 11.

Recent polls give Maduro leads ranging from 8 to 20 percentage points, reflecting popular sympathy for Chavez, who had designated Maduro as his political heir. Maduro also reaps the goodwill generated by Chavez's social welfare programs, which are highly popular with Venezuela's poor.

In recent days, Maduro has referred to Chavez as "Christ the redeemer of the poor" and to himself as his apostle.
But Maduro is also inheriting rampant violent crime that has quadrupled since 1999, when Chavez took power. Crime is voters' top concern, according to analysts, and could be Maduro's electoral Achilles' heel. On Monday, he announced an initiative called "Movement for Peace and Life" to combat violence.
"You all have the right to life," Maduro said in his speech, broadcast from an adult school in Caracas' Catia slum. "Join us to end violence and kidnapping.... Any of these victims could be your sisters, your parents."
He invoked the so-called cadena law that requires all TV and radio stations to carry his speech.
Maduro may have been responding to news reports Monday of a 7% increase in violent deaths handled by the city morgue over the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2012. About two-thirds of the bodies brought there typically are murder victims, said El Universal newspaper.
The government has not released official crime statistics since 2004.
Meanwhile, Capriles, 40, who lost to Chavez in October by 10 percentage points, announced at a news conference Monday that supporters would hold candlelight marches Tuesday night in 19 states to demand that the government address rising crime.
Marchers "will make us feel the dream our nation has of being able to walk through the streets after dark," Capriles said. "Public spaces should belong to the citizens."
Chavez had drawn heavy criticism for failing to direct sufficient government resources to tackling crime during his presidency. On various occasions, he had either refused to acknowledge it or, as Maduro did Monday, blamed it on capitalism.
Capriles also criticized Maduro's use of the cadena as an unfair campaign advantage that the National Electoral Commission should prohibit.
"We're not asking for anything that isn't stipulated" by Venezuelan law, Capriles said. "We believe that all should have the same rights."
(Chasity M.)

Brazilian doctor killed 7 patients to free up hospital beds, police say

Killing patients for hospital beds?

(CNN) -- A Brazilian doctor appeared in court for allegedly killing seven patients to free up hospital beds in the southeast city of Curitiba.

Virginia Helena Soares de Souza recruited a group of doctors to help administer lethal doses of anesthetics, sedatives and painkillers, according to authorities.

In addition, the group allegedly altered oxygen levels for patients, leading to deaths by asphyxiation, police said.

Seven other health care professionals have been charged in the case.

Prosecutors allege de Souza pulled the plug on victims against the wishes of patients and their families, and in so doing broke the law. She did that to free up beds in the ICU and clear up the "clutter" the patients were causing, according to police.

De Souza was arrested in February, but was later released until trial. Her court appearance Wednesday is part of mandated monthly appearances to avoid going back to jail.

Investigators say between 2006 and 2013, de Souza ordered medical professionals working under her at an intensive care unit to alter medication and oxygen levels.

In an interview with CNN affiliate TV Globo, Mario Lobato, the doctor tasked by the health ministry to investigate the case, said the number of deaths could be much higher.

He said his team is analyzing medical charts of more than 1,700 patients and interviewing more doctors.

During the seven years the incidents occurred, in cases where de Souza did not prescribe the drugs herself, she ordered other doctors to change mechanical ventilation devices, according to authorities. She allowed them access to medical records to issue prescriptions in her name, police said.

De Souza has pleaded not guilty.

Her lawyer, Elias Mattar Assad, said she will prove that her orders in the ICU were backed and justified by medical literature. Lobato, however, said some of the patients were awake and conscious moments before the drugs were administered.

CNN affiliate TV Record reported that the investigation began a year ago. In telephone recordings made with the consent of the justice department, de Souza ordered other medical doctors and employees to shut down some ventilation devices.

Euthanasia is considered a crime in Brazil

Venezuela to probe Chavez cancer 'poisoning', Al Jazeera

Acting president Maduro tells local TV "truth" will be sought, insisting president who died of cancer was "poisoned".

Maduro said foreign scientists would be invited to join a government commission to probe the accusation [Reuters]

The Venezuelan government has said that it will set up a formal inquiry into suspicions that the late President Hugo Chavez's cancer was the result of poisoning by his enemies abroad. The decision to probe the circumstances surrounding the former president's death comes days after Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, one of the foreign dignitaries at Chavez's funeral, alleged he died of a "suspect illness". Acting President Nicolas Maduro, handpicked by Chavez to run the country as the president underwent surgery in Cuba, also said the socialist leader had been "poisoned". "We will seek the truth," Maduro told regional TV network Telesur late on Monday. "We have the intuition that our commander Chavez was poisoned by dark forces that wanted him out of the way." Foreign scientists will be invited to join a government commission to probe the accusation, the OPEC nation's acting leader said. But the the accusation has been derided by critics of the government, who view it as a typical Chavez-style conspiracy theory intended to feed fears of "imperialist" threats to Venezuela's socialist system and distract people from daily problems. Maduro, a candidate in the April 14 snap election to choose Venezuela’s new president, is trying to keep voters' attention firmly focused on Chavez to benefit from the outpouring of grief among his millions of supporters, analysts said.

Falkland Islanders vote to remain British

One-sided outcome of referendum on South Atlantic territory rejected by Argentina as "manoeuvre with no legal value". Last Modified: 12 Mar 2013 09:30

Only three votes were cast against the islands remaining British [Reuters]

Falkland islanders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining a British overseas territory in a referendum designed to send a strong message to Argentina, which earlier derided the poll as illegal. About 92 percent of the islands' 1,672 eligible voters turned out to deliver a 98.8 percent "yes" vote in favour of staying a self-governing British territory, election officials in capital Port Stanley announced on Tuesday. Only three votes were cast against the islands remaining British. The resounding "yes" result, delivered at around 22:30pm local time (01:30 GMT) on the remote South Atlantic territory, was setting the stage for an after-vote party. Argentina, which invaded the islands in 1982 before its troops were removed by a British task force after a short but bloody war, maintained its dismissive line on the vote. "It's a manoeuvre with no legal value, which has neither been convened nor supervised by the United Nations," Alicia Castro, Argentina's ambassador to London, said. "We respect their way of life, their identity. We respect that they want to continue being British, but the territory they inhabit is not British." jacob k

Falkland Islands closes sovereignty vote

Results for the referendum, which will decide if residents choose to remain part of Britain,due later on Monday. Last Modified: 12 Mar 2013 02:20

Majority of residents are expected to favour the referendum, which Argentina dismisses as a 'meaningless' [Reuters]

Residents of the Falkland Islands have finished voting in a sovereignty referendum that seeks to counter Argentina's increasingly assertive claim over the British-ruled territory. Diplomatic tension between Britain and Argentina has flared up after more than three decades since they went to war over the South Atlantic archipelago, and that has unsettled some of the roughly 2,500 islanders. On Monday, voting by Falklands-born and long-term residents drew to a close on the second day of a referendum on whether they want to remain a British Overseas Territory. Officials are expected to announce the result at about 8 pm (23:00 GMT) after polls close on Monday. An overwhelming "yes" vote is likely, prompting Argentina to dismiss the referendum as a meaningless publicity stunt. A high turnout is expected, however, as islanders embrace it as a chance to make their voices heard. "We hope the undecideds, or the uninformeds, or those countries that might otherwise be prepared to give the nod to Argentina's sovereignty claim might have pause for thought after the referendum," said John Fowler, deputy editor of the islands' weekly newspaper, the Penguin News. "This is an attempt to say 'hang on a minute, there's another side to the story'." People queued to vote at the town hall in the quiet island capital of Stanley, where referendum posters bearing the slogan "Our Islands, Our Choice" adorned front windows. "For me, this referendum is extremely important because I have no wish to be part of Argentina," said Rob McGill, 67, who runs a guesthouse in isolated Carcass Island and voted by post. "I consider myself a Falkland Islander, but my ancestors came from Britain," he said.

Bin Laden's son-in-law pleads not guilty

Suleiman Abu Ghaith, accused of conspiring to kill US nationals, appears in New York court after arrested overseas. Last Modified: 09 Mar 2013 15:31 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/03/201337224243339718.html

Osama bin Laden's son-in-law has pleaded not guilty at a court in New York to charges of conspiring to kill US nationals. Suleiman Abu Ghaith, reportedly a 47-year-old Kuwaiti and allegedly one of the chief propagandists of the al-Qaeda network, entered the plea through a lawyer on Friday. Abu Ghaith, who was brought to the US after being arrested in Jordan, stands accused of plotting "to kill nationals of the United States", the US Justice Department said on Thursday. Eric Holder, US attorney-general, said the arrest showed that the US would never relent in its pursuit of the fighters who launched the attacks of September 11, 2001, on New York and Washington. "No amount of distance or time will weaken our resolve to bring America's enemies to justice," he said. "To violent extremists who threaten the American people and seek to undermine our way of life, this arrest sends an unmistakable message. "There is no corner of the world where you can escape from justice because we will do everything in our power to hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law." US authorities accuse Ghaith of assisting bin Laden, who was killed in a 2011 raid by American commandos, and of taking to the airwaves to promote al-Qaeda's war against America after the 9/11 attacks.