President Hugo Chavez, an outspoken opponent of the United States who has used Venezuela’s oil wealth to give handouts to the poor, won re-election to another six-year term by a wide margin on Sunday, official results showed. With 78 percent of voting stations reporting, Chavez had 61 percent to 38 percent for challenger Manuel Rosales, said Tibisay Lucena, head of the country’s elections council.
England: Iraq violence decried
The level of violence in Iraq is “much worse” than in recent civil wars, outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in an interview to be aired today. Speaking to the British Broadcasting Corp., Annan agreed that the average Iraqi’s life is worse now than it was under Saddam Hussein’s regime. He called the situation in the country “extremely dangerous.” “Given the level of violence, the level of killing and bitterness and the way that forces are arranged against each other, a few years ago when we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war. This is much worse,” Annan said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the BBC Sunday night.
Brazil: Cardinal counters Vatican
An influential Brazilian cardinal says the Roman Catholic Church should reconsider its ban on allowing priests to marry. Cardinal Claudio Hummes, who was recently named to head the Vatican’s office in charge of priests around the world, made the comment about two weeks after the Holy See reaffirmed the requirement of celibacy for priests.
Philippines: Typhoon toll rising
The Red Cross estimated Sunday that up to 1,000 people may have died in the typhoon that unleashed walls of black mud on entire villages in the Philippines. The country’s president declared a state of national calamity. Typhoon Durian struck the Philippines with winds reaching 165 mph and torrential rains on Thursday, causing ash and boulders from Mayon volcano on Luzon island to swamp villages around its base – a scene Philippine Sen. Richard Gordon described Sunday as a “war zone.” Gordon, who heads the Philippine National Red Cross, estimated the death toll could reach 1,000 people. “There are many unidentified bodies. There could be a lot more hidden below. Whole families may have been wiped out,” he said by telephone.
Saudi Arabia: 136 linked to terror
Saudi authorities have arrested 136 suspected militants over the past three months, accusing some of plotting to carry out suicide attacks inside the kingdom, the official news agency said Saturday. An interior ministry official said the suspects had been captured by security forces as part of an operation aimed at arresting militants of different nationalities in several Saudi cities, including the capital, Riyadh, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said 115 of those arrested were Saudis. He would not confirm whether those arrested had links to al-Qaida, but said they allegedly “believed in al-Qaida ideology and had the same style of carrying out attacks.”
From Herald news services
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