Protecting U.S. diplomats from terrorists on foreign soil is one thing. Protecting terrorism-sponsoring diplomats on U.S. soil quite another. The U.S. State Department is under heavy fire for failing at the job abroad.

A diplomat from a nation that the United States officially classifies as a state sponsor of terrorism, however, has no complaints against the State Department’s security services. This diplomat and her entourage, under a heavy State Department security detail, safely sashayed through New York and Philadelphia for almost two weeks this month without being subjected to so much as a frown from a bystander. When she stopped for Sunday brunch in Philadelphia’s Old City, one thing that caught the eye of the local paper was “heavy security” surrounding Raul Castro’s daughter Mariela and her Cuban cohorts.

For the second time in about a year, Ms. Castro, an official of her father and uncle’s terrorism-sponsoring regime, was granted a U.S. visa. The purpose of her visit to the nation that her uncle and father craved to attack with nuclear weapons and helped the Black Panthers and the Weathermen get terrorism training, and that millions of her hapless compatriots crave as refuge from the horrors her family inflicts, was to lecture Americans on human rights while receiving honors for her own contributions to human rights.

The forum and her award were courtesy of the Philadelphia-based homosexual-rights group Equality Forum, which also honored former Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat. The faithful communist apparatchik of a regime that incarcerated political prisoners at a higher rate than Josef Stalin during the Great Terror, slaughtered more Cubans than Adolf Hitler killed Germans during the Night of Long Knives and in the process converted a nation with a higher per-capita income than half of Europe into one that repulses Haitians, is on record as favoring homosexual marriage. Hence the human-rights honors and awards for Ms. Castro.

To Mr. Frank’s credit, he seemed to find the award to the communist official from his partners in homosexual activism slightly disturbing. While sharing a panel with Ms. Castro and mildly praising her work, Mr. Frank forthrightly called her father and uncle “among the great betrayers of liberalism and human rights.”

In addition to her forum and honors in Philadelphia, Ms. Castro also was honored with ovations at an International Action Center forum in New York. Under the protection of a State Department security detail and on U.S. taxpayers’ dime, Ms. Castro denounced the justice system of the nation that was feting and protecting her. In particular, the crowd thanked the Cuban official for harboring U.S. cop-killer fugitive Assata Shakur, who was put on the FBI’s most-wanted list as a domestic terrorist two weeks earlier. Raul Castro’s daughter also denounced the U.S. convictions of the terrorists known as “the Cuban Five,” four of whom are serving sentences for conspiracy to murder, manslaughter and spying against America……Read More

HAVANA – (AP) — A week of drag shows, colorful marches and social and cultural events in Havana culminates Friday with celebrations of the International Day Against Homophobia.

Hundreds of activists have taken part in the activities organized by a sex education center headed by first daughter Mariela Castro.

“Join (us) to educate families about their great social responsibility to ensure that there is no discrimination of any kind,” Castro said.

The schedule included a gala bash at the capital’s cavernous Karl Marx theater, with drag performers on stage with the popular musical group Los Van Van. Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel attended.

Gays were persecuted for decades after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, sometimes sent to grueling rural work camps along with others considered socially suspect by the Communist government.

But there has been a gradual shift away from macho attitudes, and Fidel Castro himself has publicly regretted the mistreatment of people seen as different.

Six years ago, Cuba’s health care system began providing gender reassignment surgery free of charge, and a proposal to legalize same-sex civil unions is being studied.

But Mariela Castro, Fidel’s niece and the daughter of current president Raul Castro, says more must be done to raise awareness about lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender people.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Cuban Cultural Fest was established to celebrate the rich heritage and traditions of the island nation that have been nurtured and kept alive by Cuban Americans living in the Tampa Bay area. This festival will showcase talented Cuban artists and performers in a cultural celebration that introduces the people of Tampa Bay to an exciting world of talent and culture.

If you thrive on mouth-watering cuisine; if music and dance keep your heart pumping; if great art touches your soul; if you want your kids to learn to groove; and if you want to roll your own cigars, then join the party at the Cuban Cultural Fest! We have something for everyone.

Cuba is perhaps the most enigmatic nation in the Americas. Come to the Cuban Cultural Fest and get to know what Cuban culture is all about—music, dancing, food and art. And let’s not forget the cigars!…….Learn More

The reward for the capture and return of Joanne Chesimard, now living in Cuba as Assata Shakur, was doubled to $2 million (£1.3 million) on Thursday, the 40th anniversary of the bloody gun battle.

Opponents of U.S. sanctions on the island’s communist government have been lobbying hard for months to remove Cuba from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism as a gesture toward improved bilateral relations.

The Boston Globe reported in February that U.S. diplomats had concluded Cuba should be taken off the list. Another news report a month later said Cuba’s removal might be announced when the Country Report on Terrorism, also managed by the State Department, is issued.

The list of state sponsors was created in 1979 and currently includes only Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan. The Country Report is a totally separate, annual and country-by-country review of terror activities around the globe, including the four nations on the terror list.

There are no current efforts or plans to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors, said knowledgeable U.S. government officials who asked for anonymity in order to speak frankly and in detail about the often confusing issue. Inclusion on the list blocks a nation’s access to World Bank and other financing, and puts an international magnifying glass on all its international banking transactions…..Read More

WATERTOWN — Four days after two deadly explosions turned the finish line of the Boston Marathon into a scene of bloody chaos, the 19-year-old college student believed to be responsible for placing the bombs was taken into custody tonight, bringing a sense of relief and justice to a shaken region.

Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev of Cambridge was pulled from his hiding place in a boat parked behind a house on Franklin Street shortly before 8:45 p.m. in this community just outside Boston.

“We are eternally grateful for the outcome here tonight. We have a suspect in custody,” said Colonel Timothy Alben, commander of the State Police. “We’re so grateful to bring justice and closure to this case.”

“It’s a night where I think we’re all going to rest easy,” Governor Deval Patrick said at a news conference in Watertown.

With the second suspect in the case, Tsarnaev’s brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, fatally shot in a gun battle with police early this morning, Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said, citizens “can be confident that the threat has been removed.”

President Obama, speaking at the White House tonight, said, “We’ve closed an important chapter in this tragedy.” But he also said there were “still many unanswered questions” and said the FBI would thoroughly investigate.

Dzohkhar Tsarnaev, who exchanged gunfire with police from the boat, was rushed to a local hospital, where he was in serious condition, Davis said.

Police had approached him cautiously, worried that he might be wearing a suicide bomb vest.

“We got him,” Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino tweeted immediately afterwards. He took to the police radio to thank officers personally, telling them, “Good job, guys!”…….Read More

In a unique natural experiment, researchers have observed how a nation that lost an average of 5kg per head over five years contributed to a halving of the death rate from diabetes and a one third reduction in deaths from heart disease.

The natural experiment occurred in Cuba which was plunged into crisis in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its experience demonstrates what could be achieved elsewhere if the same changes could be brought about, without an economic crisis.

Food and fuel were in short supply in Cuba from 1990 resulting in millions going hungry and having to abandon their vehicles and walk.

Cars and buses virtually disappeared from the roads as fuel supplies dried up, and farmers had to abandon motorised machines and work the fields manually. The Government issued one million bicycles to keep the population on the move.

Between 1990 and 1995, the average Cuban consumed fewer calories than they expended each day, leading to an average weight loss of 5kg…….Read More

The author, Roberto Zurbano, in an article published March 23, described a long history of racial discrimination against blacks on the island and said “racial exclusion continued after Cuba became independent in 1902, and a half century of revolution since 1959 has been unable to overcome it.”

On Friday, The Havana Times blog reported that Mr. Zurbano had told a gathering of Afro-Cuban advocates that he had been dismissed from his post at the publishing house of the Casa de las Americas cultural center, leaving the implication that the dismissal was connected to the article. Other associates said Mr. Zurbano told them he had been removed but would continue working there.

Reached by telephone in Havana, Mr. Zurbano would not comment on his employment. “What is The New York Times going to do about it?” he asked. He angrily condemned the editors of the opinion section for a change in the headline that he felt had distorted his theme.

The article’s headline, which was translated from Spanish, was “For Blacks in Cuba, the Revolution Hasn’t Begun,” but Mr. Zurbano said that in his version it had been “Not Yet Finished.”

“They changed the headline without consulting me,” he said. “It was a huge failure of ethics and of professionalism.”

Eileen Murphy, a spokeswoman for The Times, said the editor stood by the article’s preparation.

“We worked very hard to ensure that the wording in the piece was translated properly and accurately reflected the writer’s point of view,” she said in a statement. “There were numerous versions of the piece sent back and forth, and in the end, Mr. Zurbano and our contact for him (who speaks fluent English) signed off on the final version.”

“We knew,” she added, “that Mr. Zurbano was in a sensitive situation, and we are saddened if he has indeed been fired or otherwise faced persecution, but we stand by our translation and editing, which was entirely along normal channels.”

Cuba reported its population in a 2002 census as 65 percent white, 25 percent mixed race and 10 percent black, according to the C.I.A. World Factbook, but demographers outside the island — and Mr. Zurbano in his article — have said the black population has been undercounted…….Read More

American pop star Beyonce and rapper husband Jay Z celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary this week in Havana, where big crowds greeted them as they strolled hand in hand through the Cuban capital.

They ate at some of the city’s best restaurants, danced to Cuban music, walked through historic Old Havana and posed for pictures with admiring Cubans, who recognized them despite the past half-century of ideological conflict that separates the United States and Cuba.

They were the latest and perhaps greatest big-name American stars – actors Bill Murray, Sean Penn and James Caan among them – to visit the Caribbean island in the past few years, but the first to cause such a stir everywhere they went.

Fans in the street below cried out Beyonce’s name as she and Jay Z and their mothers dined at the upstairs restaurant La Guarida, famed as the location for the hit 1993 Cuban film “Strawberry and Chocolate.”

A crowd of several thousand people swarmed around them in the main square of Old Havana, which prompted their security team to put a halt to their visit to the site.

“I was in the eye of the whirlpool. We had to cut it short because it got so crazy,” said architect Miguel Coyula, who gave the couple a tour of the 16th century heart of the city.

They also visited a children’s theater group called La Colmenita, a source close to the group said.

On Thursday night, they dined at La Fontana, one of the city’s more established private restaurants, or paladares, and a favorite of visiting foreigners, but police blocked off surrounding roads to prevent onlookers.

Later, they went to El Gato Tuerto, a famous Havana nightclub, then to the Casa de la Musica in the Miramar district where the source said they “danced until dawn” to salsa and other music by the band Havana D’Primera.

On Friday, they toured Cuba’s famous art school, Instituto Superior de Arte, and, according to government blogger Yohandry Fontana, Beyonce was to have lunch with “important figures of Cuban culture.”…….Read More

Cuban diplomats at the United Nations complained “heavy-handedly” about a news conference by blogger Yoani Sánchez at a U.N. auditorium hosted by journalists accredited to the international body, knowledgeable reporters said.

Sánchez’s appearance before the U.N. Correspondents Association went ahead as scheduled at 3 p.m. Thursday, but its location had to be shifted because of the Cuban complaints, according to association members and news media reports.

The blogger’s supporters have expressed suspicions that Cuban diplomats arranged or encouraged most of the hostile groups that tried to disrupt several of Sánchez’s recent appearances in Brazil, Mexico and New York City.

The protesters have repeatedly chanted and displayed banners with pro-Castro slogans, repeated Havana allegations that Sánchez is a “mercenary” on the pay of the U.S. government and thrown enlarged copies of U.S. dollars at her.

But the Cuban diplomats’ complaints against the UNCA news conference marked the first time that officials of Cuba’s communist-run government are confirmed to have tried to disrupt a Sánchez public appearance.

The Cuban complaints noted that UNCA planned to host the news conference in the U.N. auditorium used regularly for news conferences, in violation of regulations that U.N. spaces can only be used by member nations, the journalists said. The event was shifted to a smaller room on the same floor as UNCA’s offices.

“They acted very heavy-handedly in this,” said one of the reporters, who asked for anonymity to avoid souring relations with Cuba’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations.

The Cubans’ complaints, in official letters known as démarches, were sent Monday to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, under secretary general for Public Information, according to the journalists…..Read More

It is too early to say how Hugo Chavez’s passing will effect developments elsewhere in the region. One wonders first and foremost about the consequences on and in Cuba. It is a reminder to the Castro brothers that power is ephemeral.

Cuba is ready for change. In spite of the efforts by the regime to paint a rosy picture, eye witnesses tell a sad story. Living conditions are bad, the economy survives only at the mercy of Venezuela. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission, in its 2012 a report on Cuba, speaks of “permanent and systematical violations of the fundamental rights of Cuban citizens.” Ironically, however while the Cuban people suffer, the regime is internationally stronger than ever.

Progressive rock musicians, like Gorki in the band Porno Para Ricardo, are prevented from writing and performing freely. The international pressure for the respect for human rights is weak and inefficient. It seems like the ethic conscience of the west is comfortable with the situation. It shouldn’t be. Solidarity with the people submitted to human rights violations by dictatorships is a moral imperative. However, the opposition movement is gaining voice, even in face of a forgetful international community. They are increasingly self-confident. Oswaldo Paya is now dead, but others, like Yoani Sanchez stepped into his place. Courageous people, who defy threats and speak more and more openly about the true state of the country. They deserve all the support they ask for. Cuba is ripe for change…..Read More

(Reuters) – A meteorite streaked across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, raining fireballs over a vast area and causing a shock wave that smashed windows, damaged buildings and injured 1,200 people.

People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt the shock wave, according to a Reuters correspondent in the industrial city 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow.

The fireball, travelling at a speed of 30 km (19 miles) per second according to Russian space agency Roscosmos, had blazed across the horizon, leaving a long white trail that could be seen as far as 200 km (125 miles) away.

Car alarms went off, thousands of windows shattered and mobile phone networks were disrupted. The Interior Ministry said the meteorite explosion, a very rare spectacle, also unleashed a sonic boom.

“I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it were day,” said Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains.

“I felt like I was blinded by headlights.”

The meteorite, which weighed about 10 metric tons and may have been made of iron, entered Earth’s atmosphere and broke apart 30-50 km (19-31 miles) above ground, according to Russia’s Academy of Sciences.

The energy released when it entered the Earth’s atmosphere was equivalent to a few kilotonnes, the academy said, the power of a small atomic weapon exploding.

No deaths were reported but the Emergencies Ministry said 20,000 rescue and clean-up workers were sent to the region after President Vladimir Putin told Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov to ease the disruption and help the victims.

The Interior Ministry said about 1,200 people had been injured, at least 200 of them children, and most from shards of glass.

WINDOWS BLOWN OUT

The early-morning blast and ensuing shock wave blew out windows on Chelyabinsk’s central Lenin Street, buckled some shop fronts, rattled apartment buildings in the city center and blew out windows.

“I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend,” said Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name. “Then there was a flash and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shock wave that smashed windows.”

A wall and roof were badly damaged at the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant but a spokeswoman said no environmental threat resulted.

One piece of meteorite broke through the ice the Cherbakul Lake near Chelyabinsk, leaving a hole several meters (yards) wide.

The region has long been a hub for the Russian military and defense industry, and it is often the site where artillery shells are decommissioned.

A local Emergencies Ministry official said meteorite storms were extremely rare and Friday’s incident may have been connected with an asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool that was due to pass Earth…..Read More

Not long ago, scrolling for a movie, I saw that “Notorious” was on.

How can you resist Cary Grant as an American spy in Rio recruiting Ingrid Bergman to seduce and betray a Nazi played by Claude Rains?

But it turned out to be a very different “Notorious,” one about the rise of gangsta rapper Biggie Smalls, a k a The Notorious B.I.G., his artistic relationship with Sean “Puffy” Combs at Bad Boy Records in New York and the bloody East vs. West feud between Biggie and Tupac Shakur, a star in L.A. who spent his final year at Death Row records.

Like the 1946 “Notorious,” the 2009 gangsta rap saga offered sex, strife, danger, gats, Champagne, a strong immigrant mother and trust issues. Crack replaced uranium as the perilous substance. The movie climaxed with Tupac getting shot in a car on the Las Vegas Strip in 1996 and then, in retaliation six months later, Biggie getting shot in a car in L.A.

Little did I know, as I brushed up on gangsta rap history, that the topic would soon spice up the overture to the 2016 presidential race.

Gangsta rap used to be a reliable issue for politicians, but they were denouncing it. Now Senator Marco Rubio of Florida is praising it — and right at the moment when Republicans are pushing the argument that guns don’t kill people; it’s a culture glorifying guns and violence that kills people.

The ubiquitous 41-year-old — who’s on the cover of Time as “The Republican Savior” — looked as if he needed some saving himself Tuesday night as he delivered the party’s response to the State of the Union address in English (and Spanish). He seemed parched, shaky and sweaty, rubbing his face and at one point lunging off-camera to grab a bottle of water. He needed some of the swagger reflected on the Spotify playlist he recently released, featuring Tupac’s “Changes,” as well as Flo Rida, Pitbull, The Sugar Hill Gang, Kanye, Big Sean, devoted Obama supporters Jay-Z and Will.I.Am, and a Foster the People song about “a cowboy kid” who finds a gun in his dad’s closet and goes after “all the other kids with the pumped up kicks.”…….Read More

Venezuela has cut the value of its currency against the US dollar by 32%, in an effort to boost its economy.

The widely expected measure ramps up the official exchange rate of the bolivar from 4.3 to 6.3 per US dollar.

It was announced after Vice-President Nicolas Maduro’s return from Cuba, where he said President Hugo Chavez gave him instructions on the economy.

The leader has not been seen or heard in public since December, when he went to Havana for cancer treatment.

This is the fifth devaluation of the bolivar since Hugo Chavez’ administration started controlling the exchange rate, in 2003.

The previous devaluation was in 2010.

Experts have long considered the bolivar overvalued and the move came as no surprise in the oil-based economy.

As oil exports are calculated in US dollars, a weaker bolivar should mean more cash for the government.

Strict controls to prevent currency going out of the country mean that dollars are normally hard to get in Venezuela, but in recent times this situation had become acute, says the BBC’s Sarah Grainger, in Caracas.

Dollars have been trading at four times the official rate on the black market……..Read More

On January 10, while Hugo Chávez lay in a hospital bed in Havana, he was symbolically sworn in as Venezuela’s new president in a ceremony here.

The crowd that attended his virtual inauguration was moved to tears by a recording of  Chávez’s singing the national anthem. The country is experiencing the very odd circumstance of being both with and without its leader; he is not here, but his voice endures.

From the intensive care unit, the president “continues to perform his duties”; he gives orders and sends kisses to children. This is what his vice president says. According to the Supreme Court, the Congress cannot consider him absent, for no matter how ill he is, only Chávez himself has the authority to declare himself absent. The opposition is demanding a “fe de vida” — proof that he is still alive, as if he were a kidnapping victim. Day after day, on the street, on Twitter, our president dies and comes back to life. But this is not a magical realist novel.

After 14 years as president, Chávez controls all public powers: the legislative body, the Supreme Court, the public prosecutor’s office, to say nothing of the oil industry. Of all those who have held office since the end of the military dictatorship in 1958, none has concentrated power quite as  Chávez has. From the moment he won his first election, he knew that he had not made it to the presidency in order to run a sound government. He had come to change the course of history. In the name of the dispossessed, he revived the ghost of the South American military caudillo, creating a new version of that traditional strongman. He sings ranchera songs on Sunday and negotiates with Iran on Monday. As president he deftly combines power with melodrama…..Read More

* Powerful government trio meet Castro, check on Chavez

* Venezuelan leader still unseen since Dec. 11 operation

* Opposition demand “truth” on president’s condition

By Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s lung infection has been controlled and his medical state is improving more than a month after his latest surgery in Cuba, the government said on Sunday.

“Despite his delicate state … in recent days the general medical evolution has been favorable,” said the latest official health update, which was relatively positive compared to others but still illustrated the gravity of Chavez’s situation.

“The respiratory infection is controlled, though the commander-president still requires specific measures to solve breathing insufficiency … he is conscious.”

The communique, which gave no more details on his condition, came as the three most powerful government figures after Chavez gathered in Havana to check on him and meet with Cuban allies.

Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, Congress head Diosdado Cabello, and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez have been shuttling to and from Cuba since the 58-year-old socialist president’s fourth and most serious cancer operation a month ago.

Chavez, who missed his own inauguration for a new, six-year term last week, has not been seen or heard from in public since the surgery. Many Venezuelans are assuming his momentous 14-year rule of the South American OPEC nation could be nearing an end.

“We are all Chavez!” and “Chavez will return!” were among slogans sang and chanted at numerous solidarity rallies, meetings and concerts across Venezuela over the weekend, which drew thousands of passionate and anxious supporters.

‘BATTLING FOR LIFE’

Venezuelan state TV on Sunday even split its screen into four to show events going on around the nation.

“The situation is complex and delicate,” Elias Jaua, a former vice-president and ally of Chavez, told one rally.

“He continues battling for his life.”

Villegas said Maduro, whom Chavez has designated his successor, informed his boss of the outpouring at home.

State media said Maduro, Cabello, Ramirez – who also heads the powerful state oil company PDVSA – and Attorney General Cilia Flores all met Cuban President Raul Castro over the weekend. But there were no details of the talks.

The joint presence of top Venezuelan officials in Havana inevitably deepens rumors that Chavez is at death’s door – and draws opposition criticism that Raul and Fidel Castro are giving instructions behind the scenes.

“We know which commander is giving the orders to Chavista leaders,” opposition legislator Maria Corina Machado tweeted sarcastically, in a reference to the Cuban president.

Officials have been lashing “necrophilic” opponents for such criticism, and Chavez’s brother said on Saturday that he was improving daily and not in a coma as rumored.

Another opposition leader, Julio Borges, said the secrecy around Chavez’s precise condition was unacceptable.

“No one is asking for details of the operation or the president’s treatment, but that simply they tell the truth about his health prognosis,” said Borges, a right-wing legislator who wants Chavez formally declared absent from office.

OPPOSITION DECRIES NATIONAL ‘PARALYSIS’

That would trigger the naming of a caretaker president, and an election within a month. But Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ratified that Chavez remains president with Maduro in charge as No. 2 until Chavez’s health situation is clarified.

“It’s been a year-and-a-half of contradictions and announcements of his complete curing followed by relapses,” Borges added, saying problems like inflation, housing shortages and power-cuts were being neglected during a political impasse……Read More

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 and some legal experts have 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 as 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.” None of the opposition lawmakers supported the new legislative leaders.

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 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.”

Maduro argued that Chavez, as a re-elected president, remains in his post after Jan. 10 regardless of whether he has taken the oath of office on that date. “When he can, he will be sworn in,” Maduro said.

The latest remarks by the two most powerful men in Chavez’s party sent the strongest signals yet that the government wants to delay the 58-year-old president’s inauguration.

Former Supreme Court magistrate Roman Duque Corredor disagreed with Maduro, saying that “the constitution doesn’t allow an extension” of a presidential term.

“An extension of a term can’t be discussed,” Duque said told The Associated Press a phone interview. “What would be right is to definitively determine what the president’s state of health is.” He said the Supreme Court should designate a board of doctors to determine whether Chavez’s condition prevents him from continuing to exercise his duties temporarily or permanently……Read More

Officials have acknowledged the usually garrulous former soldier’s health is delicate after his fourth cancer surgery in 18 months, but have offered scant details on his condition.

He has not spoken in public in more than three weeks.

Ramon Aveledo, head of the opposition Democratic Unity coalition, slammed the government for not keeping its word about keeping Venezuelans informed.

“The official version (of Chavez’s health) hides more information than it gives,” Aveledo said at a press conference.

“The vice president himself has promised to tell the truth, whatever it is. Fine, he should tell it. He should tell the whole truth,” said Aveledo.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro, who Chavez last month designated as his heir apparent, on Tuesday said in an interview from Havana that Chavez had recognized the complexity of his post-operative condition.

Maduro said he was returning to Venezuela after several days visiting with Chavez and his relatives, which may quell rumours his trip to Cuba signalled the president was in his final days.

Chavez’s abrupt exit from the political scene would be a shock for Venezuela, where his oil-financed socialism has made him a hero to the poor majority but a nemesis to critics who call him a dictator.

He is still set to be sworn in on January 10, as laid out in the constitution. If he dies or steps aside, new elections would be held within 30 days, with Maduro running as the Socialist Party candidate.

DELICATE HEALTH

Chavez suffered unexpected bleeding and a respiratory infection after a six-hour operation on December 11. Terse official statements have said nothing about when he might be expected back or whether his life is in danger.

The government has provided none of the signature videos or pictures released after Chavez was diagnosed with cancer in June 2011 and his relapse in 2012. And allies have refused to discuss the possibility that he could hand over power or resign.

Chavez last year staged what appeared to be remarkable comeback from the disease to win re-election to a third six-year term in October despite being weakened by radiation therapy. He returned to Cuba for new treatment within weeks of his win.

Officials from the ruling Socialist Party are now suggesting his inauguration could be postponed indefinitely to accommodate his health.

Aveledo insisted the government should stick to the January 10 timeline called for in the constitution.

“Trying to make the country believe that the President is governing is absurd to the point of being irresponsible,” he said. “January 10 marks the end of one presidential term and the start of another. As such, there is no continuation of the current government.”

Aveledo said if Chavez cannot make it back in time, he should hand power over to the president of Congress – who would temporarily run the country while elections are called.

Congress, controlled by Chavez allies, on Saturday elects a new president. Current Congress chief Diosdado Cabello, a close Chavez ally who could be re-elected to head the legislature, has at times been considered a rival of Maduro. The two have taken great pains in recent weeks to publicly deny this.

While the constitution cites January 10 as the start of the new term, it does not establish what happens if the president does not take office on that date.

Chavez’s condition is being watched closely by Latin American countries that have benefited from his generous assistance, as well as Wall Street investors who are drawn to Venezuela’s lucrative and heavily traded bonds.

Copyright © 2013 Reuters

Vice President Nicolas Maduro spoke with a solemn expression in a televised address from Havana, saying he had spoken with Chavez and that the president sent greetings to his homeland. Maduro did not give details about the complications, which he said came amid a respiratory infection.

“Several minutes ago we were with President Chavez. We greeted each other and he himself referred to these complications,” Maduro said, reading from a prepared statement. Maduro was seated alongside Chavez’s eldest daughter, Rosa, and son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, as well as Attorney General Cilia Flores.

The vice president’s comments suggest an increasingly difficult fight for the ailing president. The Venezuelan leader has not been seen or heard from since undergoing his fourth cancer-related surgery Dec. 11, and government officials have said he might not return in time for his scheduled Jan. 10 inauguration for a new six-year term.

“The president gave us precise instructions so that, after finishing the visit, we would tell the (Venezuelan) people about his current health condition,” Maduro said. “President Chavez’s state of health continues to be delicate, with complications that are being attended to, in a process not without risks.”

Maduro held up a copy of a newspaper confirming that his message was recorded on Sunday.

“Thanks to his physical and spiritual strength, Comandante Chavez is facing this difficult situation,” Maduro said.

Maduro said he had met various times with Chavez’s medical team and relatives. He said he would remain in Havana “for the coming hours” but didn’t specify how long.

Maduro, who arrived in Havana on Saturday for a sudden and unexpected trip, is the highest ranking Venezuelan official to visit Chavez since the surgery.

Before Chavez left for Cuba, he acknowledged risks in the operation and designated Maduro as his successor, telling supporters they should vote for the vice president if a new presidential election was necessary.

Chavez said his cancer had come back despite previous surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatment. He has been fighting an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer since June 2011.

Medical experts say that it’s common for patients who have undergone major surgeries to suffer respiratory infections and that how a patient fares can vary widely from a quick recovery in a couple of days to a fight for life on a respirator.

Maduro’s latest update differed markedly from last Monday, when he had said he received a phone call from the president and that Chavez was up and walking.

The vice president spoke on Sunday below a picture of 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar, the inspiration of Chavez’s leftist Bolivarian Revolution movement.

Maduro expressed faith that Chavez’s “immense will to live and the care of the best medical specialists will help our president successfully fight this new battle.” He concluded his message saying: “Long live Chavez.”

Opposition politicians have criticized a lack of detailed information about Chavez’s condition, and last week repeated their demands for a full medical report.

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas defended the government’s handling of the situation, saying during a televised panel discussion on Sunday night that Chavez “has told the truth in his worst moments” throughout his presidency. Villegas urged Venezuelans to keep Chavez in their prayers.

Chavez’s daughter Maria, who has been with the president since his surgery, said in a message on her Twitter account: “Thank you people of Venezuela. Thank you people of the world. You and your love have always been our greatest strength! God is with us! We love you!”

Allies of the president also responded on Twitter, repeating the phrase: “Chavez lives and will triumph.”

Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez has a respiratory infection after undergoing cancer surgery in Cuba and must have “complete rest” for the next few days, the government said.

The socialist leader is in a stable condition after being diagnosed with the infection on Monday, information minister Ernesto Villegas said on television, reading a government statement.

“It has been controlled,” Mr Villegas said. “In the opinion of the doctors, this type of ailment is one of the consequences that appear with the greatest frequency in patients who have undergone complicated surgeries.”

The infection appeared a week after a six-hour operation that the government has said involved complications.

“The medical team has said that President Chavez should have complete rest in the coming days and receive … the prescribed medical treatment, with the purpose of maintaining the stability of his vital signs that he currently enjoys,” Mr Villegas said.

Concluding the statement, he said: “Long live Chavez!”

The announcement came amid uncertainty and concern over the 58-year-old president’s health. Mr Chavez has not spoken publicly since his December 11 surgery for an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer, his fourth cancer-related operation since June 2011……Read More

President Hugo Chavez is in full control of his mental faculties and has been talking with his children and getting daily visits from Fidel Castro while recovering slowly from cancer surgery in Cuba, his son-in-law said.

Chavez has been recovering favourably despite some “moments of tension” after Tuesday’s surgery and is now in a “process of stabilization,” Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza said on Venezuelan television in a phone call from Havana.

It’s unclear when Chavez might be well enough to return home, but Information Minister Ernesto Villegas expressed hope it could be soon. Chavez, who was re-elected in October, is due to be sworn in for another six-year term on Jan. 10.

“We’re extremely hopeful that the president may be with us very soon. But it would also be irresponsible on my part to speak of dates,” Villegas told The Associated Press.

“We’re confident that President Chavez will be here to take office on Jan. 10. Now, in the event that weren’t possible, our people would have to be prepared to understand it,” Villegas said.

He spoke during a ceremony in downtown Caracas attended by Vice-President Nicolas Maduro and other government officials as well as visiting leaders from other countries.

Castro’s daily visits

Arreaza’s phone call became the centerpiece of the televised ceremony, and he said Castro has come to see Chavez every day since the surgery.

“He always stops by to personally find out about El Comandante’s health condition and also to share his knowledge with all of us, and to give the family courage and encouragement,” said Arreaza, who is the husband of Chavez’s eldest daughter, Rosa.

Chavez has long shared a close friendship with the former Cuban president, describing him as being like a father and mentor.

The 58-year-old Venezuelan leader underwent his fourth cancer-related operation in Cuba after tests found the illness had come back despite previous operations, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. He previously had said in July that tests showed he was cancer-free.

Throughout his treatments in Cuba, Chavez has kept secret some details about his pelvic cancer, including the exact location and type of tumors removed.

‘Moments of tension’

Venezuela’s government has said Chavez suffered complications during a complicated six-hour surgery but has since been recovering progressively……Read More

Currently, around 700 Cuban health professionals are in Haiti. Cuba has similar government-to-government agreements with over 70 countries. These partnerships allow the Castro dictatorship to reap huge financial gains, avoid needed reform, and increase international influence to advance its agendas. Meanwhile, the export of scarce medical resources is causing a severe public health crisis in Cuba. Doctors and basic medical supplies are hard to find and facilities are falling apart.

When the earthquake struck, 344 Cuban health professionals were working throughout Haiti; more were immediately sent and deployed to the most remote areas. Cuba had long been receiving millions from international organizations and countries such as France and Japan for these services. Great need and corresponding international largesse became a golden opportunity. Just weeks after the disaster, Cuba was promoting a gigantic endeavor to build a new healthcare infrastructure for Haiti at an annual cost of $170 million, to be paid for by international donors. Cubans and Cuban-trained medical staff would run it at “half the international prices.”

Countless millions are now pouring into Cuba from the Pan American and World Health Organizations, dozens of NGOs, foundations, companies, and individuals from the United States, Canada, Spain, Belgium and others. Many governments have also donated — Venezuela $20 million to start, Brazil $80 million, Norway $2.5 million. The list of donations is undisclosed, but France, Australia, Japan, and other countries have apparently chipped in. The cost to Haiti is just a $300 monthly stipend to each Cuban health worker plus transportation and housing.

Haiti is just one very profitable subsidiary in Cuba’s global multi-billion dollar ¨humanitarian¨ enterprise. Most of its profits come off the backs of Cubans indentured as “collaborators.” Angola, for example, reportedly pays Cuba $60,000 annually per doctor; the doctor receives $2,940 (4.9 percent), at most. These service exports bring more than three times the earnings from tourism and far more than any other industry — $7.5 billion in 2010, the last year reported. Business is so good that in 2010 the Cuban government reduced an already decimated local health staff by 14 percent to send more abroad…….Learn More

Chavez, 58, said in a letter to parliament on Tuesday he was returning to Havana for “hyperbaric oxygenation,” which is used to treat bone decay caused by radiation therapy. The president has undergone three cancer operations in Cuba since mid-2011.

No images were published of his departure from Caracas, nor his arrival on the Communist-led island, fuelling speculation among many Venezuelans on whether the latest twist was normal post-radiation treatment, or a more serious downturn.

“They are carrying out therapies to strengthen his health even more. The president is good, he is very good, and he is going to get much better,” Maduro told a meeting with workers that was broadcast live by Venezuelan state TV.

The usually garrulous socialist leader has made few public appearances since winning a new six-year term in an election in October. His campaign was more subdued than usual, and he said afterward that radiation therapy had left him exhausted.

Chavez has open-ended authorization from legislators to travel, but aims to be back at least for the January 10 start of his new term, if not for a couple of regional summits before.

His latest absence has put renewed attention on Maduro, his vice president, and on Congress head Diosdado Cabello, as two close and powerful allies of the president who might look to replace him if Chavez were to leave power.

Under the South American country’s constitution, an election would have to be held if Chavez were to leave office within the first four years of his next six-year term.

In his televised comments, Maduro called on all Venezuelans to “respect” Chavez as he received treatment, and said voters on the campaign trail had urged the president to focus on his health.

“In every town, they told him: ‘Take care of yourself president, be disciplined with your treatment.’ And that is exactly what he’s doing now: fulfilling the people’s mandate.”

Chavez’s return to Cuba could be a blow to ruling Socialist Party candidates who wanted to campaign alongside him ahead of state elections on December 16. A prolonged absence could also postpone major policy decisions, such as a widely expected devaluation of the bolivar currency.

Given investor hopes for a more market-friendly government in the continent’s top oil exporter, Venezuela’s widely traded bonds rose for a third straight day on Thursday.

The benchmark Global 27 bond and state oil company PDVSA’s closely watched 2022 bond were both at year-high prices of 93.98 and 112.25 respectively.

Cuban human rights activist Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz says the secret police harassed him for the first time in 20 years, and dissident Guillermo Fariñas says they hit him, in what the two men called yet another sign of the government’s growing nervousness over the opposition.

Sánchez has been one of the few critical voices that seemed to be tolerated by the communist government. He has run the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation from his home in Havana without trouble since 1992 even though it has never been recognized by officials.

But he alleged that two State Security agents in plainclothes who approached him on a street Tuesday called out his name, accused him of being a “liar” and a “mercenary for Washington” and threatened that “soon I will receive a forceful reply from the revolution.”

“This was very rare,” he told El Nuevo Herald. “The truth is that I have not been molested” since a 1992 police raid on his commission’s offices. “Monitored yes, but molested, no.”

Sánchez blamed the incident on “the increasing nervousness in the government” over continuing opposition activities despite a harsh crackdown over the past year by the Raúl Castro government.

Sánchez’s commission reported earlier this month that police carried out 5,625 short-term arrests — usually lasting only hours — for political motives in the first 10 months of the year, a monthly average of 562 that compared to 172 in 2010 and 343 in 2011…..Read More

By Tania C. Mastrapa l November 19, 2012

For liberal media, academia and others of a leftist persuasion, Cuban-Americans are not so much “Hispanic voters” as they are a persistent irritant and a symbol of a minority hijacked, in the broadminded opinion, by the Republicans. Any sign of their defection from the GOP is welcomed with uproarious hosannas. It is taken as proof that identity politics work with the Cubans. Except that they don’t.

Political analysts, pollsters and biased journalists proved yet again during the 2012 presidential election that the obsession with Cuban-American voters has not let up. They never fail to make sweeping claims that at long last this reliable Republican bloc is moving left. In fact, the New York Times has been making this claim since the 1960s. The usual suspects made triumphant declarations that the majority of Cuban-Americans had voted for Barack Obama before the final vote count came in. It seems they omitted absentee ballots that many Cuban-Americans use to avoid the long lines in Miami’s sweltering heat. All counts also skipped Coral Gables and Pinecrest, both of which were plastered in Romney-Ryan lawn signs at Cuban-American homes. How convenient. Sure enough when the final votes came into the equation, still without Coral Gables and Pinecrest, 58% of the demographic in question voted for Romney and 42% for Obama with some counts at over 60% for Romney.

The spin machine now seeks to claim that regardless of this count more votes went to Obama than in 2008. And this is true, but the majority are still conservatives. A Miami Herald article called it the “Cuban Conundrum” which points to younger Cubans as “more Republican than their parents.” An Obama official inaccurately described Cuban-American voting patterns as currently more similar to that of other Hispanics. Not only are their voting patterns not like that of other Hispanics, they are far more conservative than non-Hispanic Americans. The real question though is why is it so important to break the bloc? Would the same analysts, pollsters and media, be as thrilled if younger American Jews no longer cared about the Holocaust or Israel?

Naturally for left leaning Americans anti-Communism is always unfashionable. Thus, exiles and their offspring have endured over five decades of attacks intended to discredit and divide them: media that insist younger Cubans no longer care about Communism; university professors who glorify Fidel and Che; mockery of older exiles who lived through random arrests, beatings, torture, block committees, confiscations and daily executions of friends and family; stardom for recent so-called defectors and their progeny, who disagree with historical exiles; and, one of the most common Soviet modus operandi, which is to pit children against their parents. It is actually a marvel and a true testament to conservative Cuban-American values that more have not turned left. Their Republican vote would likely be even stronger were it not for the effect of Republicans’ inexplicable support for the outdated Cuban Adjustment Act. The open door policy for Cuban immigrants (not exiles) who commute between Florida and the island has resulted in new voters who are perfectly comfortable with socialist policies……Read More

Cuba has decided to suspend, beginning Nov. 27, charter-flight operating permits to fly to the island for Airline Brokers and C&T Charters, two of the most important and recognized agencies of this type in South Florida.

Havanatur Celimar, the Cuban state agency that administers and regulates the operations, announced the decision Wednesday.

Reasons for the sudden decision remained unclear. However, sources linked to the industry said that the order could be related to delays in payments and other obligations.

In a statement published on the Airline Brokers website, its owner, Vivian Mannerud, said that the suspension was the result of a “re-evaluation of flights in the market as well as other topics.”

“At this time, Airline Brokers is trying to ascertain whether other providers of charter flights to Cuba can accommodate all the passengers affected by this cancellation,” the statement said. “Airline Brokers will contact you or the travel agency where you bought your ticket. If you cannot be accommodated on another flight, your ticket will be refunded at the same agency where you paid for it. Airline Brokers is making all possible arrangements in the quickest possible way to help accommodate all the passengers. Contact your travel agency as soon as possible.”…..Read More

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has accused the Colombian government of harassing relatives of a senior rebel, highlighting tensions without disrupting a third day of peace talks in Havana, Cuba.

Viviana Hernandez, a FARC spokeswoman, read out a statement on Wednesday alleging that Colombian police had threatened the relatives of unit commander Francisco Gonzalez as they sought information about his whereabouts.

“Members of the police, disguised as civilians, are pressuring the family to prosecute and take custody of their young children unless they reveal information” about his location, Hernandez said.

She read her remarks during the third day of peace talks with a government delegation at a convention centre in Havana.

Despite the development, Ivan Marquez, a leading FARC delegate, expressed optimism about the outcome of the dialogue, which is expected to run into next week, before entering the closed-door talks….Read More

An American contractor serving a 15-year jail term in Cuba is suing his former employer and the US government.

Alan Gross and his wife Judy say he was not adequately trained or told about the risks he was incurring when he went to Cuba to do development work.

Mr Gross was jailed by Cuba in 2011 for “crimes against the state”, after he took internet equipment to the island.

He had been working for a company under contract with the US Agency for International Development.

‘Government pawn’

Mr Gross and his wife are suing his former employer, Development Alternatives Inc (DAI), and the US government for $60m (£38m).

In the suit, filed in a court in Washington DC, they allege that DAI and the government “failed to take adequate measures” to train and protect Mr Gross during his travels to Cuba.

They also accuse the company and the government of ignoring “Mr Gross’s repeated security concerns so that DAI could continue to generate significant revenue and the Government could continue to use Mr Gross as a pawn in its overall Cuba policy initiatives”.

A spokesman for the US Department of Justice said it was reviewing the case.

Mr Gross, 62, was detained in December 2009 while he was delivering computers and communications equipment to the Jewish community in Cuba. He was sentenced in March 2011…..Read More

President Obama won a second term in the White House Tuesday night, overcoming concerns about the fragile economic recovery to soundly defeat Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

“We’ve got more work to do,” Obama declared, addressing a cheering crowd at his victory rally in Chicago early Wednesday morning. The president spoke to supporters at his campaign headquarters shortly after Romney called Obama to concede. Obama congratulated his opponent on a “hard-fought campaign.”

After one of the nastiest political battles and most gridlocked terms in modern American history, the president vowed to reach out to the other side in a second term on everything from immigration to the deficit. He asked supporters to keep the “hope,” and said that while the “passions” and “controversy” won’t wane after Election Day, “progress will come in fits and starts.”

“While our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come,” the clearly fired-up president told the crowd.

Romney conceded shortly after midnight, delivering a brief speech to a subdued crowd of supporters at his Boston headquarters where he said he would “pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation.”

The former Massachusetts governor urged Washington’s politicians to set aside the “bickering” and “political posturing” going forward, and “put the people before the politics.”

“This election is over, but our principles endure,” Romney said.

The president’s projected victory came shortly after he was declared the winner in the crucial battleground of Ohio. The president was leading by a narrow margin in that state as returns continued to stream in overnight, but a streak of victories in other battlegrounds put him well over the 270 electoral votes required to win. The count, with the results from Florida still not in, stood at 303 electoral votes for Obama, to Romney’s 206……..Read More

2:28PM EDT November 2. 2012 – NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday rejected criticism of his decision to go ahead with Sunday’s New York City Marathon, saying it would give the storm-ravaged city “something to cheer about.”

Critics have slammed the mayor’s decision as “idiotic,” insensitive and a diversion of city resources at a time when New Yorkers have lost power, their homes and their loved ones.

Bloomberg said the expanded restoration of mass transit and projected return of electrical power to most of Manhattan by Friday night would free up many police officers and other city personnel.

The city resources required by the marathon, he said, are not resources that would make a difference in storm recovery efforts.

“If I thought it would take resources away” from emergency work, “we would not do that,” he said.

Road Runners President Mary Wittenberg also tried to fend off criticism by saying this year’s event will involve more private contractors than past years to ease the strain on city services, ESPN reported.

The mayor also noted that Rudy Giuliani, his predecessor who had staged the annual race only weeks after the 9/11 attacks, supported his decision as a way to demonstrate solidarity among New Yorkers.

The marathon, Bloomberg told reporters, will “give people something to cheer about in a week that’s been pretty dismal.”

“You can grieve, you can laugh, you can cry, all at the same time,” the mayor said.

He also said the race would pump much-needed money into the economy, which was brought to its knees by the storm……..Read More

New York’s Hurricane Sandy death toll climbed to 39 Thursday as the city struggled to find some sort of post-superstorm normalcy. As Mayor Bloomberg spoke at a City Hall news conference, searchers on Staten Island recovered the bodies of the two Staten Island boys lost Monday as their mom tried to rescue the doomed pair as the floodwaters rose around their SUV.

Hurricane Sandy sent floodwater gushing into New York’s five boroughs, submerging cars, tunnels and the subway system and plunging skyscrapers and neighborhoods into darkness.

The storm shaped up to be among the worst in city history, rivaling the blizzards of 1888 and 1947. Two deaths were reported in Queens and more than 670,000 were without power in the region as of 11:30 p.m. local time yesterday, according to Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED) The company cut electricity to some areas to save its equipment and a transformer exploded at a plant on 14th Street, blacking out others. New York University evacuated its Langone Medical Center when it went dark and backup systems failed.

“We knew that this was going to be a very dangerous storm and the storm has met our expectations,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a news briefing. “The worst of the weather has come and the city certainly is feeling the impacts.”

After the storm’s tide crested about 8 p.m., the East River topped its seawall in the Financial District and flowed up Wall Street in a torrent that turned avenues into canals and intersections into lakes. Flooding took over Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, submerging cars to the roof, while the Gowanus Canal overflowed and tree limbs plummeted. A downed power line sparked a fire in the beachfront Queens neighborhood of the Rockaways and the sea topped Coney Island’s boardwalk.

Record Waters

“This will be the largest storm-related outage in our history,” said John Miksad, Consolidated Edison’s senior vice president for electric operations. The previous record was during Hurricane Irene last year, with about 200,000 New York City outages, he said.

A flood gauge at Battery Park, at the southernmost end of Manhattan, registered at 13.88 feet as of 9:24 p.m., beating the modern record of 10.02 feet in September 1960 during Hurricane Donna, the National Weather Service said……Read More

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Lance Armstrong stepped down as chairman of his Livestrong cancer-fighting charity and Nike severed ties with him as fallout from the doping scandal swirling around the famed cyclist escalated Wednesday.

Armstrong announced his move at the charity in an early-morning statement. Within minutes, Nike said that it would end its relationship with him “due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade.”

Nike said it will continue to support Livestrong.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a massive report last week detailing allegations of widespread doping by Armstrong and his teams when he won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005.

The document’s purpose was to show why USADA has banned him from cycling for life and ordered 14 years of his career results erased – including those Tour titles. It contains sworn statements from 26 witnesses, including 11 former teammates.

Armstrong, who was not paid a salary as chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, will remain on its 15-member board. His duties leading the board will be turned over to vice chairman Jeff Garvey, who was founding chairman in 1997.

“This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart,” Armstrong said in a statement. “Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship.”

Foundation spokeswoman Katherine McLane said the decision turns over the foundation’s big-picture strategic planning to Garvey. He will also assume some of the public appearances and meetings that Armstrong used to handle.

Armstrong strongly denies doping, but did not fight USADA accusations through arbitration, saying he thinks the process is unfair. Once Armstrong gave up the fight in August and the report came out, crisis management experts predicted the future of the foundation, known mainly by its Livestrong brand name, would be threatened. They said Armstrong should consider stepping down to keep the charity from getting dragged into a debate over doping.

Armstrong’s inspiring story of not only recovering from testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain but then winning the world’s best-known bike race helped his foundation grow from a small operation in Texas into one of the most popular charities in the country.

Armstrong drew legions of fans – and donations – and insisted he was drug free at a time when doping was rampant in professional cycling. In 2004, the foundation introduced the yellow “Livestrong” bracelets, selling more than 80 million and creating a global symbol for cancer awareness and survivorship……Read More

Austrian pilot and sky diver Felix Baumgartner set a world record Sunday for the highest parachute jump, safely landing after leaping from a capsule carried by a helium balloon to an altitude of 128,100 feet, some 24 miles up.

He also broke the sound barrier during his free fall, as he had hoped, reaching a velocity of 833.9 miles an hour—about Mach 1.24—mission officials said. He apparently failed to break the record for the longest free fall.

Riding a red and white parasail, Mr. Baumgartner, 43 years old, touched down on a patch of scrubland near Roswell, N.M. He landed on his feet, then dropped to his knees and pumped his fists in triumph, after breaking the jump record that had stood for 52 years.

The previous high-jump and free-fall records had been set by Joe Kittinger, who jumped safely from a balloon from an altitude of 19.5 miles in 1960.

Mr. Baumgartner’s ascent Sunday on the 55-story-tall helium balloon took more than two hours and set a record for the highest manned balloon ascent, the mission organizers said Sunday. The previous highest altitude for a manned balloon flight was 113,740 feet, set by two U.S. Navy aerialists in 1961.

The jump, sponsored by the Austrian beverage company Red Bull, had been postponed twice in the past week due to high winds. On Sunday, a minor heating problem with the protective face mask on Mr. Baumgartner’s pressure suit had mission controllers briefly worried they might have to abort a third time……Learn More

The Soviet Union secretly planned to leave 100 nuclear weapons on Cuba after the end of the crisis but were so scared by Fidel Castro’s instability that they made up a law to retrieve them.

Documents released by the US National Security Archive disclose how close Cuba came in 1962 to becoming Latin America’s first nuclear power.

Minutes of a meeting with Anastas Mikoyan, the Soviet deputy prime minister, show Castro was furious at the USSR ending the crisis by agreeing to remove its strategic missiles.

Unknown to Washington, the Soviets had left 100 tactical nuclear weapons on Cuba, and documents suggest they planned to train Cubans how to use them.

But Mikoyan was so concerned at Castro’s erratic behaviour during a diplomatic visit that he wrote back to Moscow that they must urgently take back the remaining bombs…….Learn More

President Hugo Chávez has retained power in Venezuela, after defeating opponent Henrique Capriles, by a comfortable victory of 900,000 votes.

Chávez, the longest serving president in Latin America, has been re-elected for the third time. His new term will be from 2013 to 2019. He was first elected to power in 1998.

Shortly after his victory was announced by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council at 10:15pm local time, fireworks went off in several Caracas neighborhoods. Thousands of Chávez supporters in red shirts headed towards the Presidential Palace in Caracas to watch the socialist leader speak.

“The candidate of the right and his campaign team have just announced that they have recognized our victory,” Chávez told an ecstatic crowd. “And that is a very important step towards the construction of peace and coexistence in Venezuela,” added the president, whose politics have deeply polarized Venezuelan society.

In the months leading up to the election, Capriles had been widely portrayed by the international press as Chávez’s toughest opponent thus far, with some polls saying that Capriles could win the vote.

In Sunday’s election however, Chávez got 54 percent of the vote, while Capriles secured 45 percent. The victory margin for Chávez, was smaller than what he had attained in previous elections, in which he had defeated his opponents by 15 points or more. But it was still a significant difference over Capriles, a social democrat who had promised to run Venezuela as a market economy with strong social programs, in the mold of Brazil.

Chávez has promised to deepen his socialist revolution, which has been characterized by the nationalization of key industries, tight exchange controls and price controls on certain basic goods.

Investment in Venezuela has decreased drastically in the 13 years that Chávez has been in power, but large numbers of of the countyr’s poor have also beneffited from generous social programs, funded with Venezuela’s vast oil income.

“Venezuela will never return to neoliberalism,” Chávez said during his speech, in reference to free market economic polices that had been adopted by previous Venezuelan presidents. “Venezuela will continue to make its transition towards democratic, Bolivarian, 21st century socialism,” added Chávez, who says that his political ideology is inspired on the life and teachings of 19th century Venezuelan hero Simon Bolivar.

Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor, conceded defeat to Chávez earlier on Sunday night, shortly after Venezuela’s electoral council published results.

“I want to thank the many Venezuelans who placed their trust in me,” said the opposition candidate, who was a favorite amongst private investors within……..Read More

Cuba would undoubtedly suffer a devastating economic punch if Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, whose subsidies to Havana are estimated at more than $4 billion a year, loses his reelection bid Sunday.

But a Chávez defeat has a long-shot chance of carrying a thin silver lining, some analysts say. It could boost Cubans who favor deeper economic reforms so that their country can stand on its own two feet and might even fuel domestic desires for free elections in the island.

Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski has made it clear that if he wins the vote, his oil-rich nation will halt the massive assistance that the socialist Chávez has been providing to his foreign allies.

“Not one drop of free black gold will leave the country,” Capriles said to the French Liberation newspaper in a recent interview. Polls in the nation of 30 million people have split in their predictions for a winner in Sunday’s balloting .

Venezuela pays Havana an estimated $5.1 billion a year for the services of the 30,000 Cuban medical personnel, 15,000 teachers, and other advisors deployed in the South American nation, according to documents obtained recently by El Nuevo Herald.

The payments – estimated at $114 billion or $113,333 for every Cuban deployed in Venezuela and 4.4 percent of the island’s Gross National Product in 2010 – arrive in Cuba in the form more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day plus cash and shares in Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), the Venezuelan government’s oil monopoly.

In turn, the Cubans have helped Chávez stay in power, providing the backbone of the free medical and educational services that have made his “21st century socialism” popular among Venezuela’s poor.

Havana’s dependence on Chávez is so profound that Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public since March, reportedly has been writing letters to the Venezuelan president urging him to make sure he stays in power.

“If the counterrevolution manages to … get you out of there and grab the people’s power, the persecution and destruction will be widespread. They will not forgive anyone,” Castro wrote in one letter, according to a recently published book.

A Chávez defeat also might push Cuba toward adopting deeper economic reforms than those currently espoused by island ruler Raúl Castro, said Pedro Burelli, a Chávez critic who follows developments in Caracasand Havana.

“It would kill any ideological illusions left in Cuba for socialism in Venezuela,” Burelli said, while strengthening the voice of those Cubans who want more reforms and weakening “those who want to preserve the current antiquated system.”…..Read More

On May 22nd- 2008 Cuban State Security officials, local police, and several other government authorities surrounded Pastor Omar Gudes’ house, knocked on the door and then entered to arrest him. He was paraded out in handcuffs with much fanfare and surrounded by enough police, security and armed guards that one would have thought that an armed terrorist or serial killer was who was being arrested. Every piece of furniture and personal property in the house was methodically inventoried and the two family computers ( rare in Cuba! ) were confiscated. His wife and kids were pushed aside and kept separated. They were informed the house itself was going to be confiscated at any time.

The charges against Omar were criminal charges, accusing him of Human Trafficking, the name for those who help Cubans escape the island. Under the Communist regime HT is a very serious crime. He was taken to prison, where he awaited trial for over a year before his case came to court. In the meantime, in March of 2009 the charges of Human Trafficking were dropped by a regional court in Camaguey, his city of residence, BUT he was still not released. While still imprisoned, NEW charges were brought against him. “Falsification of Documents”, “Illicit Economic Activities” along with “Counter-Revolutionary Conduct and Attitudes” were now the newest trumped up criminal charges. Finally in court, false documents and paid false testimonies provided the Communist Court the “proof” they needed and Pastor Omar Gude was sentenced to 6 years in prison, allowing the inclusion of the almost 16 months already served.

What was this well known and well loved Christian Pastors real crime????? Pastor Omar is a leader of the Apostolic Reformation Movement, a relational network of churches independent of any registered religious institution or denomination. They determine that Christian local churches should and do have the right to be independent, non denominational, self governing, autonomous churches. THIS is illegal under Cuban religious law. While religion is legal in Cuba, churches must be formally affiliated members of a recognized denomination. That means no new denominations have been allowed in or allowed to form since 1959. It also means a minister, or pastor cannot be legal if he is not also a member of a recognized denomination. Even then, in spite of being legal, Christian denominations and other recognized religious institutions are VERY restricted, monitored, infiltrated and constantly oppressed by the Communist government. Religious activity and institutions are regulated by the Religious Affairs Office, a wing of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. The real crime committed by Pastor Omar Gude was his leadership role in the Apostolic Reformation Movement. This network has grown rapidly in recent years and has been disproportionately targeted by the government. A number of its national and local leaders have been imprisoned and churches have been threatened with closure. At least one church has been destroyed by government order. A Christian movement of local churches with the word “Independent” anywhere in its mission statement must be a very serious threat indeed! ( sarcasm mine!); Interestingly, none of the leaders, including Omar, have ever made any public anti-government, anti-Communist remarks. The movement is markedly spiritual in nature and is not at all concerned with political or even human rights issues in the country but simply hold to a Biblical perspective that local Christian churches should be independent and non denominational.

Cuba is on the “country of concern” list or the “watch list” of every democratic country in the world due to its 50 plus year record of horrible civil and human rights violations. Omar is now back at home, where threats of confiscation of property continue AND where he is forbidden to travel outside his city or to preach or minister at all, again revealing the real nature of the Communist Party’s concern regarding this man. He was finally granted “conditional liberty” after 2 1/2 in prison where he lost 60 pounds in the first 56 days. Later, he would contract shingles. His wife Kenia, who maintained their home and provided for their 2 young teens the entire 2 1/2 years, took food to Omar several times a week as the prison food often had worms in it……Read More