The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Technical problem delays Ariane rocket launch
- Chavez allies insist he's still running Venezuela
- Strauss-Kahn released from house arrest
| Technical problem delays Ariane rocket launch Posted: 01 Jul 2011 07:50 PM PDT Technical problem delays Ariane rocket launch CAYENNE, French Guiana (Reuters) - A technical problem has delayed the scheduled launch of an Ariane rocket carrying two satellites on Friday, the Arianespace rocket launch company said. "During final countdown there was an open valve status report for the liquid hydrogen engine," Jean-Yves Le Gall, Arianespace president, said from the European Space Agency's launch centre in Kourou, French Guiana on the northeast coast of South America. Le Gall said a new launch date would be announced as soon a possible. Aboard the rocket was the Astra 1N satellite for Luxembourg-based telecoms operator SES ASTRA and BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R for Japan's B-SAT Corp and partner SKYPerfect JSAT Corp. Both satellites were manufactured for direct broadcast television. (Reporting by Franck Leconte in French Guiana and Alexander Miles (33 6 72-09-28-70) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. | ||
| Chavez allies insist he's still running Venezuela Posted: 01 Jul 2011 07:50 PM PDT CARACAS (Reuters) - Allies of Venezuela's convalescent President Hugo Chavez insisted on Friday he was still running the OPEC nation despite his prolonged stay in Cuba for the removal of a cancerous tumor.
Army chief General Henry Rangel Silva and ministers moved quickly to head off speculation about any power vacuum or political infighting after Chavez, 56, revealed late on Thursday he was still receiving treatment after the operation. In a separate phone call to state television late on Friday, the charismatic, authoritarian Chavez gave few further details about his condition but said he was "in frank recovery." "I'm eating well, I'm well looked after and in good spirits," he said, repeating the account he gave on Thursday of the discovery and removal of a cancerous tumor in Cuba after an initial operation to excise a pelvic abscess. Chavez thanked his friend and mentor, former Cuban President Fidel Castro, for persuading him to undergo the checks that found the more serious tumor. "If it hadn't been for Fidel, who knows what labyrinth I would have found myself in today," Chavez said, adding there were "no complications" from the second operation. Clearly anxious to demonstrate he was still running Venezuela during his recovery in Cuba, Chavez reeled off energy and infrastructure projects he was monitoring and said he had summoned several ministers, including Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, to join him for consultations in Havana on Saturday. He did not say when he would be back from Cuba, nor specify the treatment he is receiving, which has led to rumors the malignant cells may have spread, requiring chemotherapy. Local media has said Chavez could have prostate cancer. One source close to the Venezuelan medical team following Chavez's recovery said the diagnosis had revealed a cancer that required aggressive treatment that could take several months. A wing of the Caracas Military Hospital was being prepared to receive him when he returns, the source said. No official updates on Chavez's medical condition have been released excepts his own accounts on Thursday and Friday. "CHAVEZ IN CHARGE" The absence of the socialist leader -- who has dominated Venezuelan politics since 1999 and projected his leftist views across Latin America and the world -- have raised doubts about his ability to campaign for a presidential election in 2012. It was also a humbling admission of mortality from a normally supremely confident politician with a string of polls wins who has often taunted foes he will stay in power to 2021. With doubts swirling over how long his recovery could take and opponents questioning how Venezuela should be ruled in his absence, Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua insisted Chavez was in "full exercise of authority" from Cuba. "Let no one have any doubts -- it's Chavez who's in charge here," echoed Ramirez, the energy minister. While wishing the president a fast recovery, the opposition accused the government of lying about his condition. They also argued that under the constitution, he should delegate powers in the case of prolonged illness or absence. "We don't know when the president is returning ... There could be a flood of demands (arguing this) in the courts," said Ramon Aveledo, leader of the Democratic Unity opposition bloc. General Rangel Silva said the military, a pillar of support for Chavez's government, would guarantee constitutional order during his absence. The president, he said, would be home soon. "He is getting better, he's fine," Rangel told state TV. Chavez, one of the world's fiercest critics of Washington, confirmed postponement of a regional summit scheduled for July 5 in Venezuela on the 200th anniversary of its independence. Markets have generally reacted positively to news of Chavez's health problems, on the presumption they improve the chances of a more business-friendly government taking over. Venezuela's benchmark 2027 bond jumped 4.7 percent initially on Friday to bid at 78.000 before retreating to close the day at 76.250 with a yield of 12.746 percent. "Political vacuums are rarely to be encouraged but this one could lead to a slowdown in public spending and could raise the likelihood of an opposition victory in the next elections and thus a less confrontational governing style," said Richard Segal, an emerging markets analyst at Jefferies in London. (Additional reporting by Mario Naranjo, Pascal Fletcher, Daniel Wallis, Deisy Buitrago, Diego Ore, Eyanir Chinea and Girish Gupta in Caracas, Jeff Franks in Havana, Andrew Quinn in Washington and Carolyn Cohn in London) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. | ||
| Strauss-Kahn released from house arrest Posted: 01 Jul 2011 07:20 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released from house arrest on Friday after prosecutors said the hotel maid who accuses him of attempted rape lied to a grand jury and made other false statements.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, still faces charges that he sexually assaulted the woman in New York but questions about her credibility appear to be shifting the case in his favor in a twist that could upend French politics. He smiled as he left the courtroom with his wife, Anne Sinclair, at his side. Until his May 14 arrest, Strauss-Kahn had been a steward of the global economy and a leading contender in the 2012 French presidential elections. Jubilant supporters in the French Socialist party hoped he might rejoin the presidential race but some analysts saw him as too tarnished. Amid the scandal, he was forced to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund on May 19. Christine Lagarde, who just stepped down as French finance minister, takes over the top IMF job on Tuesday. Enjoying his first taste of freedom since being pulled off a Paris-bound jetliner hours after the purported attack, Strauss-Kahn emerged from the townhouse where he had been under house arrest on Friday evening and was driven with his wife and another couple to Scalinatella, a pricey Italian restaurant on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers want the charges dropped. "We are absolutely convinced that while today is a first giant step in the right direction, the next step will lead to a complete dismissal of the charges," his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said. The judge said prosecutors will reexamine the evidence after they revealed the housekeeper lied to a grand jury about her actions after the alleged attack and on tax and immigration documents. The woman initially said that after Strauss-Kahn assaulted her, she had cowered in the hallway outside his room until he left and she felt safe to seek help. Now, prosecutors say, she admits she cleaned a nearby room and then returned to start cleaning Strauss-Kahn's suite before reporting the incident. As Justice Michael Obus released Strauss-Kahn, he told the court: "I understand that the circumstances of this case have changed substantially and I agree the risk that he would not be here has receded quite a bit. "There will be no rush to judgment. The people will continue to investigate and reexamine the matter as appropriate." Strauss-Kahn, whose house arrest had included electronic monitoring and an armed guard, agreed to return to court as needed, including for a July 18 hearing. His bail payment of $1 million and bond of $5 million were returned to him but his passport was not. QUESTIONS EMERGE The case has hinged on the accuser, a 32-year-old Guinean immigrant who cleaned the $3,000-a-night suite at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan where Strauss-Kahn was staying. Prosecutors found issues with her asylum application, tax return and statements to the grand jury investigating the assault case, court documents showed. Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon told the court "the facts of the sexual encounter was and is corroborated" but some details appear to have changed. The woman's brother told Reuters in Guinea that she was the victim of a smear campaign. Her lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, said after the hearing his client's story had never wavered and that Strauss-Kahn had bruised her badly and tore a ligament in her shoulder. "The claim that this was consensual is a lie," Thompson told reporters. "She made some mistakes but that doesn't mean she is not a rape victim." The New York Times said forensic evidence did show there had been a sexual encounter between Strauss-Kahn and the maid but it also quoted law enforcement officials as saying prosecutors had found possible links between the accuser and people involved in drug dealing and money laundering. They also discovered the woman made a phone call to a jailed man within a day of her encounter with Strauss-Kahn in which she discussed the possible benefits of pursuing the charges against him, the paper said. The conversation was recorded. The man was among a number of people who had made multiple cash deposits, totalling around $100,000, into the woman's bank account over the last two years, The New York Times said. Some commentators suggested that Strauss-Kahn, known as the "great seducer" of French politics, could have been set up. His arrest opened the field for several other Socialist candidates for next April's presidential election, including party leader Martine Aubry, who trails colleague Francois Hollande in opinion polls. Sarkozy, who nominated Strauss-Kahn for the IMF job, has not commented on the affair since his arrest. The case has prompted debate in France on gender equality and a media tradition of respecting the privacy of politicians' sex lives. Nina Mitz, a former senior adviser to Strauss-Kahn at the French Ministry of Finance, said: "Today's stunning news can only make us regret that so much talent may have been wasted at a time when we all very much needed it." (Additional reporting by Allison Joyce, Grant McCool, Christine Kearney, Paula Rogo and Bernd Debussmann Jr in New York, Mark Hosenball in Washington, Marie Maitre, Catherine Bremer and Geert De Clercq in Paris and Saliou Samb in Guinea; Writing by Mark Egan; Editing by John O'Callaghan and Sandra Maler) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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