Chavez political heir takes over
Caracas: Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro took over as acting president in a ceremony rejected by the opposition after a tearful farewell to Hugo Chavez during a rousing state funeral for the firebrand leftist. More than 30 heads of state paid tribute to Chavez yesterday as his body lay in state in a flag-covered coffin at a military academy, bringing the curtain down on a 14-year reign that divided his oil-rich nation. “There you are, undefeated, pure, transparent, unique, true, alive forever,” Maduro said as his voice rose and cracked in a eulogy that both praised his mentor and railed against his opponents.
Radical Muslim Abu Qatada arrested in UK
london: British police were searching a residential property on Saturday following the arrest of radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada for allegedly violating his bail conditions. The Home Office said counter terrorism police officers arrested the cleric in london on Friday, just days ahead of the government’s latest court bid to extradite him to Jordan. Britain has since 2001 repeated tried to remove Abu Qatada, 52, who was convicted in his absence in Jordan over terror plots in 1999 and 2000. Prosecutors have described him as a key al-Qaida operative in Europe. The preacher has fought deportation for the past decade on human rights grounds.
Syria rebels free 21 UN peacekeepers
Beirut: An international peace envoy to Syria says Syrian rebels have freed 21 UN peacekeepers and have handed them to Jordanian authorities. Mokhtar lamani, the Damascus representative of the new UN-Arab league peace envoy to Syria, says the peacekeepers crossed into Jordan on Saturday afternoon. The peacekeepers, all Filipinos, were seized Wednesday by Syrian rebels who initially said they would only free the hostages if Syrian regime forces withdraw from the area. They were being held in the village of Jamlah, near the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
China Minister rejects hacking accusations
Beijing: China’s Foreign Minister on Saturday rejected accusations that the country’s military was behind massive hacking attacks on U.S. and other foreign targets and called for more international cooperation in policing the Internet. Yang Jiechi is the highest-level Chinese official to comment on the claims made in a widely endorsed report last month by U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant which traced hacking attacks to a Chinese military unit based in Shanghai.