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Chavez shakes up cabinet, picks newcomer as vice president

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 5, 2007

With the selection of a political newcomer as his new vice president, President Hugo Chavez moved forward with changes to his inner circle and laid the groundwork for reforms aimed at confronting problems from corruption to crime.

Chavez dismissed his longtime confidant Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel and said he would be replaced by Jorge Rodriguez, former chief of Venezuela's electoral council.

The move late Wednesday was part of a wider Cabinet shake-up and signals that Chavez, re-elected by a wide margin last month, is seeking fresh blood among his closest allies while planning to reform the constitution and found a single socialist party to replace some two dozen smaller Chavista parties.

"It's always good to refresh the team sometimes," Chavez said on state television.

BANGKOK, THAILAND

Leaders try to dispel fears of new coup

Thailand's leaders worked to dispel talk of a new coup in the Southeast Asia country on Thursday, seeking to calm a jittery public amid political tension left over from September's military takeover and heightened by weekend bombings in the capital.

The coup rumors had spread widely throughout the capital, with some speculating that supporters of the former regime could try to retake power and others talking about a possible move by the military against the civilian government it installed less than four months ago.

Fueling people's fears further, interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont briefed the legislature about the Sunday night bombings - which killed three people and wounded more than 40 others - and warned that the country should be prepared to face more such violence.

LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Yearlong kite ban lifted in time for fest

Pakistani provincial authorities lifted a ban on kite-flying imposed a year ago after several bystanders were fatally slashed by glass-coated strings used in the competitions.

The move came a month ahead of Basant, an annual festival that heralds spring and is marked by parties and the flying of colorful kites in the eastern province of Punjab and its capital, Lahore. Fliers strengthen their kite strings with wire or glass, sometimes with bloody consequences, to give them an advantage in duels where competitors try to cut each others' strings.

Even before last year's festival got into full swing, seven people were fatally slashed, prompting authorities - with limited success - to ban kite-flying. They arrested hundreds who defied the regulation.

UNITED NATIONS

Four peacekeepers sent home from Sudan

Four U.N. peacekeepers from Bangladesh have been sent home and 13 other peacekeepers serving in southern Sudan are under investigation for alleged serious misconduct including sexual exploitation and abuse, the United Nations said Thursday.

The Bangladeshis were repatriated several months ago "and a case will be pursued in front of a national jurisdiction," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said. "We have different allegations against them - not all of them are sexual allegations."

"As of today, there are 13 ongoing investigations regarding allegations of serious misconduct including sexual exploitation and abuse," Montas said. The nationalities of the 13 peacekeepers under investigation were not disclosed.

The U.N. announcement comes on the heels of a report in a British newspaper alleging that U.N. personnel in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, were involved in sexual exploitation and abuse.

GENEVA

New U.N health chief sets her priorities

Dr. Margaret Chan, 59, took office Thursday as the World Health Organization's director general, the most prominent U.N. post ever filled by a Chinese national, and said her two chief goals are to improve the health of Africans and of women throughout the world.

Chan also promptly renewed the agency's warning that the world must keep up its guard against bird flu. She said that there had been a lull in bird flu infections in recent months, but that cases had begun picking up again in the last few weeks.

Elsewhere

SANTIAGO, CHILE: A Chilean navy search plane has located an American solo sailor on his disabled yacht off the southern tip of South America, and rescuers will probably reach him early today, the military said. A fishing trawler was heading to rescue Ken Barnes, 47, whose attempt to sail around the world was interrupted when his 44-foot ketch hit a storm that broke both its masts and soaked the sailor's supplies and food.

[Last modified January 5, 2007, 00:19:07]