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Letter to the editor

Chavez greets freed hostages with hugs, kisses

By Times Wires
Published January 11, 2008

CARACAS, Venezuela

Helicopters sent by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez picked up two hostages freed by Colombian rebels in the jungle Thursday and a plane carried the women on to Caracas. In Caracas, the women were embraced by tearful relatives on the tarmac. "We are being reborn!" Clara Rojas proclaimed. Chavez greeted them with hugs and kisses at the presidential palace. The women and their families stood with him and sang Colombia's national anthem. Rojas was an aide to Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt when they were kidnapped on the campaign trail in February 2002. She gave birth in captivity to a boy fathered by one of the guerrillas. Betancourt is still being held. The other freed hostage, former Congress member Consuelo Gonzalez, was abducted in September 2001.

CALGARY, Alberta

10 injured as plane hits turbulence

An Air Canada jetliner made an emergency landing in Calgary on Thursday after 10 people were injured when the Airbus A319 hit turbulence during a cross-country flight, tossing passengers around the cabin. None of the injuries was life-threatening, said Bryce Paton of the Calgary Airport Authority. The jet, carrying 88 passengers and five crew from Victoria, British Columbia, to Toronto, was diverted to Calgary for the emergency landing, officials said. The plane landed safely at 8:30 a.m. with a request for medical units to meet the aircraft because of injuries on board, Paton said.

LONDON

Britain to build nuclear plants

The British government approved construction of the first new nuclear power plants in a generation on Thursday, saying atomic energy could help fight climate change and secure the country's energy supplies in an increasingly unstable world. Energy Secretary John Hutton told the House of Commons that nuclear energy was a "tried and tested, safe and secure" source of power and that atomic energy was good for the environment and for national security.

Elsewhere

Nairobi, Kenya: Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed Thursday to take over talks to end the deadly turmoil linked to Kenya's Dec. 27 presidential election after days of international pressure resulted in nothing more than a fresh round of accusations from President Mwai Kibaki and opponent Raila Odinga.

Khartoum, Sudan: The government acknowledged Thursday that its troops shot at a United Nations convoy in Darfur, reversing an initial denial, but it in part blamed the peacekeepers, saying they should have notified it of their movements.

Sana, Yemen: Fighting between government soldiers and Shiite rebels broke a 6-month cease-fire and has killed more than 30 people, officials and rebels said Thursday.

[Last modified January 11, 2008, 00:20:47]