No image available
/ 1 May 2008

Chávez raises Venezuelan minimum wage by 30%

President Hugo Chávez is raising Venezuela’s minimum wage by 30% as inflation continues to soar in the oil-producing nation. The socialist leader has signed a decree that will fix the monthly minimum wage at , starting on May 1, International Workers’ Day. Chávez says the move will give Venezuela the highest minimum wage in Latin America.

No image available
/ 6 March 2008

Chávez accuses Colombia of war crimes

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused his Colombian counterpart of war crimes as Venezuela and Ecuador turned up the heat on Bogotá over its military strike on an insurgent camp inside Ecuador. ”A war crime occurred there,” Chávez charged late on Wednesday at a joint press conference with Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa.

No image available
/ 27 February 2008

Venezuelan helicopters fly to free hostages

Two Venezuelan helicopters flew into Colombia on Wednesday to pick up four lawmakers held hostage for years in jungle camps by Marxist rebels, in a diplomatic victory for Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia last month released two politicians in a deal brokered by Chávez.

No image available
/ 22 February 2008

Plane carrying 46 believed crashed in Venezuela

A Venezuelan passenger plane with 46 people aboard went missing and likely crashed in a remote mountain region soon after taking off from an Andean city just before dusk on Thursday. Villagers reported hearing a huge noise they thought could be a crash after the twin-engine plane flew out of the high-altitude city of Merida headed for the capital Caracas.

No image available
/ 13 February 2008

Venezuela halts oil supplies to Exxon Mobil

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez stopped oil exports to Exxon Mobil on Tuesday, escalating a multibillion-dollar fight with the United States company two days after threatening to cut off all supplies to America. The anti-US president’s retaliation for Exxon’s legal offensive pushed oil prices higher in late trading.

No image available
/ 30 December 2007

Chávez vows to put ‘revolution’ back on track

Venezuela President Hugo Chávez promised on Saturday to tackle poor garbage collection and high crime in a bid to win back support for his socialist ”revolution”, which was hurt in a poll defeat a few weeks ago. Chávez spent much of 2007 working on political ”reforms” that would have allowed him to run for re-election indefinitely.

No image available
/ 2 December 2007

Chávez for life? Venezuelans to vote on re-election

Venezuelans vote in a tightly contested referendum on Sunday on whether to allow left-wing President Hugo Chávez to stay in power for as long as he keeps winning elections or hand him his first defeat at the polls. The anti-American firebrand, who has easily won one election after another against a fragmented opposition, is in the hardest campaign of his life.

No image available
/ 9 August 2007

Hamilton has Alonso rattled, says Hakkinen

Former world champion Mika Hakkinen says the competition provided by Lewis Hamilton has current world champion Fernando Alonso rattled. The pair are teammates at McLaren-Mercedes but Spaniard Alonso is said to be not speaking to Hamilton after a series of incidents between the pair in the Briton’s rookie season.

No image available
/ 10 July 2007

Emboldened Brazil, Uruguay head for semis

Whatever glimmer came off the reputations of Brazil and Uruguay during the first round of the Copa America was certainly polished during the quarterfinals. The heavyweights redeemed themselves with one-sided victories over the weekend and face off against one another on Tuesday for a berth in the final, each emboldened by their high-scoring blowouts.

No image available
/ 28 May 2007

Protests against Venezuelan TV-station closure

Police using water cannons on Sunday dispersed thousands of stone-throwing protesters outside Venezuela’s telecom authority, which ordered the country’s most popular television off the air at midnight. The closure of Venezuela’s oldest network is the latest bone of contention in President Hugo Chávez’s socialist revolution.