Chavez party proposes same legislative chief

Chavez party proposes same legislative chief
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Allies of President Hugo Chavez are proposing to keep the same National Assembly president — a man who could be in line to step in as a caretaker leader in some circumstances.
Saturday's session could give clues to the future of the country amid uncertainty about the health of ailing President Hugo Chavez.
Just five days remain until Chavez's scheduled inauguration on Thursday and government officials are suggesting the swearing-in could be delayed.
Pro-Chavez lawmaker Fernando Soto Rojas said the socialist party wants Diosdado Cabello to remain as legislative leader. He's a firm loyalist of the president. Chavez's allies hold a majority of the 165 congressional seats.

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Chavez allies re-elect legislative chief

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Allies of cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez on Saturday chose to keep the same National Assembly president — a man who could be in line to step in as a caretaker leader in some circumstances.
The vote to retain Diosdado Cabello as legislative leader signaled the ruling party's desire to stress unity and continuity amid growing signs the government plans to postpone Chavez's inauguration for a new term while he fights a severe respiratory infection nearly a month after cancer surgery in Cuba.
The opposition has argued that if Chavez is unable to be sworn in as scheduled on Thursday, the president of the National Assembly should take over on an interim basis.
Cabello's selection quashed speculation about possible political reshuffling in the midst of Chavez's health crisis, and it came a day after Vice President Nicolas Maduro joined other allies in suggesting that Chavez could remain president and take the oath of office before the Supreme Court later on if he isn't fit to be sworn in on the scheduled date.
"It strikes me that the government has decided to put things on hold, to wait and see what happens with Chavez's health and other political factors, and figure out the best way to insure continuity," said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington. "Maduro and Cabello are clearly the key players within Chavismo today, each heading separate factions, but for the time being the idea is to reaffirm both and project a sense of unity."
Cabello, a former military officer who is widely considered to wield influence in the military, was re-elected by a show of hands by Chavez's allies, who hold a majority of the 165 congressional seats.
Pro-Chavez party leaders ignored calls to include opposition lawmakers among the legislative leadership, and opposition lawmaker Ismael Garcia said the choices represented "intolerance."
Hundreds of Chavez's supporters gathered outside the National Assembly to show their support, some holding flags and pictures of the president.
The Venezuelan Constitution says the presidential oath should be taken Jan. 10 before the National Assembly. It also says that if the president is unable to be sworn in before the Assembly, he may take the oath before the Supreme Court, and some legal experts in addition to Chavez allies have noted that the sentence referring to the court does not mention a date.
"When, it doesn't say. Where, it doesn't say either," Cabello told supporters after the session. Apparently alluding to possible protests by opponents over the issue of delaying the inauguration, Cabello told Chavez's supporters: "The people have to be alert on the street so that there is no show."
Without giving details, Cabello urged them to "defend the revolution."
The latest remarks by Cabello and Maduro sent the strongest signals yet that the government intends to try to postpone the 58-year-old president's inauguration.
If Chavez dies or is declared incapacitated, the constitution says that a new election should be called and held within 30 days, and Chavez has said Maduro should be the candidate. There have been no public signs of friction between the vice president and Cabello, who appeared side-by-side waving to supporters after the session and vowed to remain united.
If the government delays the swearing-in and Chavez's condition improves, the president and his allies could have more time to plan an orderly transition and prepare for a new presidential election.
Opposition leaders have argued the constitution is clear that the inauguration should occur Thursday, and one presidential term ends and another begins. They have demanded more information about Chavez's condition and have said that if Chavez can't make it back to Caracas by Thursday, the president of the National Assembly should take over provisionally.
If such a change were to occur, it might not lead to any perceptible policy shifts because Cabello is a longtime Chavez ally who vows to uphold his socialist-oriented Bolivarian Revolution movement. But the latest comments by pro-Chavez leaders indicate they intend to avoid any such changes in the presidency, at least for now.
"We're experiencing political stability," Soto Rojas said as he announced the choices of Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Referring to Chavez, the former legislative leader said: "Onward, Comandante. ... We're continuing with the Bolivarian process."
Speaking on television Friday, Maduro read from a small blue copy of the constitution, arguing that opponents were using erroneous interpretations to try to drive Chavez from power.
Maduro called the swearing-in a "formality" that could be taken care of before the Supreme Court at a later date. He echoed other Chavez allies in suggesting that the president should be given more time to recover from his cancer surgery if needed.
Shifter said the government's stance has left opposition on the defensive, with its only tactic being to insist that Jan. 10 is the established date.
"The opposition's strong objections to the government's plan are unlikely to get much political traction," Shifter said. "What the government is doing may be of dubious constitutionality but it fits a familiar pattern under Chavez's rule and will probably have minimal political costs."
Chavez was re-elected in October to another six-year term, and two months later announced that his pelvic cancer had returned. Chavez said before the operation that if his illness prevented him from remaining president, Maduro should be his party's candidate to replace him in a new election.
Chavez hasn't spoken publicly or been seen since his Dec. 11 operation. The government revealed this week that Chavez is fighting a severe lung infection and receiving treatment for "respiratory deficiency."
That account raised the possibility that he might be breathing with the assistance of a machine. But the government did not address that question or details of the president's treatment, and independent medical experts consulted by The Associated Press said the statements indicated a potentially dangerous turn in Chavez's condition, but said it's unclear whether he is attached to a ventilator.
Chavez has undergone four cancer-related surgeries since June 2011 for an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer. He also has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
Other legislative leaders chosen Saturday included Dario Vivas as first vice president and Blanca Eekhout as second vice president, keeping her in the same role.

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S&P 500 index closes at a five-year high

NEW YORK (AP) — The Standard & Poor's 500 index is closing at its highest level in five years as the stock market extends a New Year's rally.
The S&P 500 closed at 1,466 Friday, the highest since Dec. 31, 2007, before the financial crisis.
That's a gain of seven points on the day. The index is up 4.6 percent over the past week after lawmakers passed a last-minute budget agreement that avoided a set of drastic tax increases and government spending cuts.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 43 points at 13,435. The Nasdaq rose just one point to end at 3,101, held back by a decline in Apple.
Three stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was higher than average at 3.4 billion shares.

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S&P 500 finishes at 5-year high on economic data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index ended at a five-year high on Friday, lifted by reports showing employers kept up a steady pace of hiring workers and the vast services sector expanded at a brisk rate.
The gains on the S&P 500 pushed the index to its highest close since December 2007 and its biggest weekly gain since December 2011.
Most of the gains came early in the holiday-shortened week, including the largest one-day rise for the index in more than a year on Wednesday after politicians struck a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff."
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 43.85 points, or 0.33 percent, to 13,435.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 7.10 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,466.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> edged up 1.09 points, or 0.04 percent, to 3,101.66.
For the week, the S&P gained 4.6 percent, the Dow rose 3.8 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 4.8 percent to post their largest weekly percentage gains in more than a year.
The CBOE Volatility index <.vix>, a measure of investor anxiety, dropped for a fourth straight session, giving the index a weekly decline of nearly 40 percent, its biggest weekly fall ever. The close of 13.83 on the VIX marks its lowest level since August.
In Friday's economic reports, the Labor Department said non-farm payrolls grew by 155,000 jobs last month, slightly below November's level. Gains were distributed broadly throughout the economy, from manufacturing and construction to healthcare.
Also serving to boost equities was data from the Institute for Supply Management showing U.S. service sector activity expanding the most in 10 months.
With the S&P 500 index at a five-year closing high, analysts said any gains above the index's intraday high near 1,475 in September may be harder to come by.
"We are getting to a point where we need a strong catalyst, which could be earnings, it could be three months of good economic data, it could be a variety of things," said Adam Thurgood, managing director at HighTower Advisors in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"What is going on right now is this conflicting view of fundamentals look pretty good and improving, and then you've got these negative tail risks that could blow everything up," Thurgood said.
He referred to "a fiscal superstorm brewing" of issues still left unresolved in Washington, including tough federal budget cuts and the need to raise the government's debt ceiling all within a couple of months.
The rise in payrolls shown by the jobs data did not make a dent in the U.S. unemployment rate still at 7.8 percent.
A Reuters poll on Friday of economists at Wall Street's top financial institutions showed that most expect the Fed in 2013 to end the program with which it bought Treasury debt in an effort to stimulate the economy.
A drop in Apple Inc shares of 2.6 percent to $528.36 kept pressure on the Nasdaq.
Adding to concerns about Apple's ability to produce more innovative products, rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is expected to widen its lead over Apple in global smartphone sales this year with growth of 35 percent. Market researcher Strategy Analytics said Samsung had a broad product lineup.
Eli Lilly and Co was among the biggest boost's to the S&P, up 3.7 percent to $51.56 after the pharmaceuticals maker said it expects its 2013 earnings to increase to $3.75 to $3.90 per share, excluding items, from $3.30 to $3.40 per share in 2012.
Fellow drugmaker Johnson & Johnson rose 1.2 percent to $71.55 after Deutsche Bank upgraded the Dow component to a "Buy" from a "Hold" rating. The NYSEArca pharmaceutical index <.drg> climbed 0.6 percent.
Shares of Mosaic Co gained 3.3 percent to $58.62. Excluding items, the fertilizer producer's quarterly earnings beat analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Volume was modest with about 6.07 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq, slightly below the 2012 daily average of 6.42 billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,287 to 701, while on the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners 1,599 to 866.

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Stocks gain, pushing the S&P 500 to 5-year high

The Standard & Poor's 500 closed at its highest level in five years Friday after a report showed that hiring held up in December, giving stocks an early lift.
The S&P 500 finished up 7.10 points at 1,466.47, its highest close since December 2007.
The index began its descent from a record close of 1,565.15 in October 2007, as the early signs of the financial crisis began to emerge. The index bottomed out in March 2009 at 676.53 before staging a recovery that has seen it more than double in value and move to within 99 points of its all-time peak.
The remarkable recovery has come despite a halting recovery in the U.S. economy as the Federal Reserve provided huge support to the financial system, buying hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of bonds and holding benchmark interest rates near zero. Last month the Fed said it would keep rates low until the unemployment rate improved significantly.
"Without the Federal Reserve doing what they did for the last few years, there would be no way you'd be near any of these levels in the index," said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading. "I would call this the Fed-levitating market."
The Dow Jones industrial average finished 43.85 points higher at 13,435.21. It gained 3.8 percent for the week, its biggest weekly advance since June. The Nasdaq closed up 1.09 point at 3,101.66.
Stocks have surged this week after lawmakers passed a bill to avoid a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases that have come to be known as the "fiscal cliff." The law passed late Tuesday night averted that outcome, which could have pushed the economy back into recession.
The Labor Department said U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs in December, showing that hiring held up during the tense fiscal negotiations in Washington. It also said hiring was stronger in November than first thought. The unemployment rate held steady at 7.8 percent.
The jobs report failed to give stocks more of a boost because the number of jobs was exactly in line with analysts' forecasts, said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives trader for TD Ameritrade.
"The jobs report couldn't have been more in line," Kinahan said. "The market had more to lose than to gain from it."
Among stocks making big moves, Eli Lilly and Co. jumped $1.84, or 3.7 percent, to $51.56 after saying that its earnings will grow more than Wall Street expects, even though the drugmaker will lose U.S. patent protection for two more product types this year.
Walgreen Co., the nation's largest drugstore chain, fell 61 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $37.18 after the company said that a measure of revenue fell more than analysts had expected in December, even as prescription counts continued to recover.
Stocks may also be benefiting as investors adjust their portfolios to favor stocks over bonds, said TD Ameritrade's Kinahan. A multi-year rally in bonds has pushed up prices for the securities and reduced the yield that they offer, in many cases to levels below company dividends.
Goldman Sachs reaffirmed its view that stocks "can be an attractive source of income," and warned that there is a risk that bonds may fall. In a note to clients, the investment bank said that an index of AAA rated corporate bonds offers a yield of just 1.6 percent, less than the S&P 500's dividend yield of 2.2 percent.
The 10-year Treasury note fell, pushing its yield higher. The yield on the 10-year note fell 2 basis points to 1.91 percent. The note's yield has now climbed 52 basis points since falling to its lowest in at least 20 years in July.
Other notable stock moves;
— Accuray Inc. plunged $1.37, or 20 percent, to $5.41 after the radiation oncology equipment company reported weak sales and said it would cut 13 percent of its staff.
— Lululemon, a yoga apparel maker, dropped $3.14, or 4.2 percent, to $71.95 after Credit Suisse predicted slowing momentum and downgraded its stock.
— Finish Line Inc., an athletic footwear and clothing company, fell $1.58, or 8.3 percent, to $17.18 after it reported a small loss after sneaker trends changed and customers didn't take to its new web site launched in November. Analysts had forecast a profit.

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US troops arrive in Turkey for Patriot missiles

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — U.S. troops have started to arrive in Turkey to man Patriot missiles meant to protect the NATO ally from potential Syrian warheads, the U.S. military said Friday.
The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are each deploying two batteries of the U.S.-built defense system to boost ally Turkey's air defenses against any spillover from Syria's nearly 2-year civil war. The Patriot systems are expected to become operational later this month.
The Stuttgart, Germany-based U.S. European Command said in a statement that U.S. personnel and equipment had started arriving at Turkey's southern Incirlik Air Base. Some 400 personnel and equipment from the U.S. military's Fort Sill, Oklahoma-based 3rd Battalion were to be airlifted to Turkey over the coming days, while additional equipment was expected to reach Turkey by sea later in January, the Command said.
NATO endorsed Turkey's request for the Patriots on Nov. 30 after several Syrian shells landed on Turkish territory.
Last month, NATO said the Syrian military has continued to fire Scud-type missiles, although none had hit Turkish territory, and said the alliance was justified in deploying the anti-missile systems in Turkey. Ankara is supporting the Syrian opposition and rebels and is providing shelter to Syrian refugees.
More than 1,000 American, German and Dutch troops are to be based in Turkey to operate the batteries. NATO said the Americans will be based at Gaziantep, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Syria. The Germans will be based at Kahramanmaras, located about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Syrian border; the Dutch at Adana, about 100 kilometers (66 miles) west of the border.
Navy Vice Adm. Charles Martoglio, the Command's deputy chief, reiterated that the Patriots' deployment is for defensive purposes only and would not support a no-fly zone "or any offensive operation," in Syria, according to the Command's statement.
"Turkey is an important NATO ally and we welcome the opportunity to support the Turkish government's request in accordance with the NATO standing defense plan," it quoted Martoglio as saying.
Syria is reported to have an array of artillery rockets, as well as medium-range missiles — some capable of carrying chemical warheads. These include Soviet-built SS-21 Scarabs and Scud-B missiles, originally designed to deliver nuclear warheads.
Last month, a top military commander from Iran — a key Syrian ally — warned Turkey against stationing the NATO systems on its territory, saying such a move risks conflict with Syria.

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Church of England ends ban on gay bishops

The Church of England has lifted a ban on gay male clergy who live with their partners from becoming bishops on condition they pledge to stay celibate, threatening to reignite an issue that splits the 80-million-strong global Anglican community.
The issue of homosexuality has driven a rift between Western and African Anglicans since a Canadian diocese approved blessings for same-sex couples in 2002 and U.S. Anglicans in the Episcopal Church appointed an openly gay man as a bishop in 2003.
The Church of England, struggling to remain relevant in modern Britain despite falling numbers of believers, is already under pressure after voting narrowly last November to maintain a ban on women becoming bishops.
The church said the House of Bishops, one of its most senior bodies, had ended an 18-month moratorium on the appointment of gays in civil partnerships as bishops.
The decision was made in late December but received little attention until the church confirmed it on Friday.
Gay clergy in civil partnerships would be eligible for the episcopate - the position of bishop - if they make the pledge to remain celibate, as is already the case for gay deacons and priests.
"The House has confirmed that clergy in civil partnerships, and living in accordance with the teaching of the Church on human sexuality, can be considered as candidates for the episcopate," the Bishop of Norwich Graham James said.
"The House believed it would be unjust to exclude from consideration for the episcopate anyone seeking to live fully in conformity with the Church's teaching on sexual ethics or other areas of personal life and discipline," he added in a statement on behalf of the House of Bishops.
The church teaches that couples can only have sex within marriage, and that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.
CONSERVATIVE OUTCRY
Britain legalised civil partnerships in 2005, forcing the church to consider how to treat clergy living in same-sex unions.
The church ruled that a civil partnership was not a bar to a clerical position, provided the clergy remained celibate, but failed to specifically address the issue of when the appointment was of a bishop.
In July 2011 the church launched a review to deal with this omission, at the same time imposing the moratorium on nominating gays in such partnerships as bishops while the study was conducted.
The review came a year after a gay cleric living in a civil partnership was reportedly blocked from becoming a bishop in south London.
It was the second setback for the cleric, Jeffrey John, who would already have become a bishop in 2003 but was forced to withdraw from the nomination after an outcry from church conservatives.
Rod Thomas, chairman of the conservative evangelical group Reform, said the church's move on gay bishops would provoke further dispute.
"It will be much more divisive than what we have seen over women bishops. If you thought that was a furore, wait to see what will happen the first time a bishop in a civil partnership is appointed," he told BBC television.

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UK police charge Nepalese man with torture

 British police said Friday they have charged a serving colonel in the Nepalese army with two counts of torture allegedly committed during the Himalayan nation's civil war. The case has touched off a diplomatic spat, with the Nepalese government summoning the U.K. ambassador in Kathmandu to protest.
Kumar Lama, 46, was arrested Thursday at a residential address in the English town of St. Leonards-on-Sea, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) southeast of London. Lama was charged Friday with intentionally "inflicting severe pain or suffering" on two separate individuals as a public official — or person acting in official capacity.
Britain's Metropolitan Police said the charges relate to one incident that allegedly occurred between April 15 and May 1, 2005 and another that allegedly occurred between April 15 and Oct. 31, 2005 at the Gorusinghe Army Barracks in Nepal. Lama is due to appear at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday, police added.
British authorities claim "universal jurisdiction" over serious offenses such as war crimes, torture, and hostage-taking, meaning such crimes can be prosecuted in Britain regardless of where they occurred.
Scotland Yard has said that the arrest did not take place at the request of Nepalese authorities. Britain's Press Association reported that Nepalese officials said Lama is serving as a military observer under the United Nations Mission in southern Sudan and was on vacation in London.
Britain's Foreign Office confirmed that Nepal's government summoned the U.K. ambassador in Kathmandu because it was upset over the arrest, but declined to comment further.
Thousands died and thousands more were injured or tortured during Nepal's civil war, a decade-long conflict that ended in 2006.

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UK police charge Nepali colonel accused of torture

LONDON/KATHMANDU (Reuters) - British police charged a Nepali army colonel on Friday with two counts of torture during the Himalayan nation's decade-long civil war, despite the Nepali government's demanding his immediate release.
Nepal summoned the British ambassador earlier on Friday to express its "strong objection" to Kumar Lama's detention.
Rights groups accuse both the security forces and former Maoist rebels of committing abuses including torture during the conflict that killed more than 16,000 people.
The Maoists ended the conflict in 2006 under a peace deal with the government, won elections four years ago and are now heading a coalition ruling the young Himalayan republic.
London's Metropolitan Police said it had arrested Lama, 46, in the southern town of St. Leonards-on-Sea and charged him with committing acts of torture in 2005.
Media reports said he was detained while on vacation from a U.N. mission in Sudan.
The police statement accused Lama of intentionally inflicting "severe pain or suffering" on Janak Bahadur Raut between April 15 and May 1, 2005, and on Karam Hussain between April 15 and October 31, 2005.
Lama is due to appear in court in London on Saturday.
"We express strong objection to this mistake and urge that it be corrected ... and Lama be released," Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha told reporters in Kathmandu after the colonel's arrest.
Human Rights Watch said the arrest sent a warning to those accused of serious crimes that they cannot hide from the law.
"The UK's move to arrest a Nepali army officer for torture during Nepal's brutal civil war is an important step in enforcing the U.N. Convention against Torture," Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

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Northern Irish fighting rages on as rioters branded "a disgrace"

BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Irish police came under attack by pro-British loyalists on Friday as the province's first minister branded rioters "a disgrace" and said they were playing into the hands of rival militant nationalists.
Rioting began a month ago after a vote by mostly nationalist pro-Irish councillors to end the century-old tradition of flying the British flag from Belfast City Hall every day unleashed the most sustained period of violence in the city for years.
On Friday, police said officers came under attack in the east of the city by masked mobs hurling petrol bombs, rocks and fireworks.
A number of officers were injured, several arrests were made and police deployed water cannon to control a crowd that at one point swelled to 400 protesters.
First Minister Peter Robinson, leader of the pre-eminent Protestant group, the Democratic Unionist Party, called the decision to take down the flag "ill-considered and provocative" but said the attacks must end.
"The violence visited on (police) is a disgrace, criminally wrong and cannot be justified," said Robinson, whose party shares power with deputy first minister and ex-Irish Republican Army commander Martin McGuinness' Sinn Fein Party
"Those responsible are doing a grave disservice to the cause they claim to espouse and are playing into the hands of those dissident groups who would seek to exploit every opportunity to further their terror aims."
More than 40 police officers were injured in the initial wave of fighting, which stopped over Christmas, only to resume on Thursday when a further 10 police officers were hurt as the community divisions were exposed once more.
At least 3,600 people were killed during Northern Ireland's darkest period as Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland fought British security forces and mainly Protestant loyalists determined to remain part of the United Kingdom.
Anti-British Catholic dissident groups, responsible for the killing of three police officers and two soldiers since 2009, have so far not reacted violently to the flag protests, limiting the threat to Northern Ireland's 15-year-old peace.
Another demonstration calling for reinstating the Union Flag will be held outside City Hall on Saturday while some loyalists have pledged to hold a protest in Dublin the following Saturday.

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