CUBA

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez promised to use a referendum victory that allows his re-election to fight crime and corruption and consolidate socialism in a nation whose oil income has fallen abruptly.

According to a report, two government officials the, President is expected to give orders soon regarding the closure of Guantanamo. They also say the President will begin overhauling U.S. national security policy on Thursday.

The closure of Guantanamo Bay prison will not be an easy one with many diverse prisoners from die-hard jihadists to innocent men swept up in war.

Fidel Castro's withdrawal from power in Cuba could have sparked a crisis for its communist leaders, but detailed planning and water-tight secrecy ensured a stable succession. When Raul Castro was installed as Cuba's first new leader in half a century on Sunday, taking over from his ailing brother, hardly a ripple was felt in the country of 11 million people, and nobody was cheering in the streets of the anti-Castro exile stronghold of Miami.

U.S. President George W. Bush insisted on Monday he had plenty of unfinished business for his last year in office but he will leave some serious challenges for his successor in January, 2009. In his State of the Union address, Bush focused on passing an economic stimulus plan and cutting wasteful spending.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Wednesday he is not strong enough to speak in public more than 17 months after stomach surgery forced him to hand over power to his brother.

The Supreme Court on wednesday debated on whether the fate for the prisoners of The War on Terror, held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, deserved hearings before an independent judge to prove their fate.

President Hugo Chavez crashed to an unprecedented vote defeat on Monday as Venezuelans rejected his bid to run for reelection indefinitely and accelerate his socialist revolution in the OPEC nation.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appeared headed for a narrow win on Sunday in a referendum on scrapping term limits on his rule, government officials said, but opposition leaders said the vote was too close to call.

Venezuelan construction worker Gustavo Arteaga has no trouble finding jobs in this OPEC nation's booming economy, but on a recent Monday morning he skipped work as part of a more complicated search -- for milk.

Tropical Storm Noel strengthened on Sunday as it crept over the Caribbean and threatened to lash impoverished Haiti with potentially deadly rains, U.S. forecasters said.

Police cars, helicopters, radio stations, health clinics and fertilizer -- the deep pockets of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez benefit leftist allies and the poor from Bolivia to Nicaragua, but rankle opposition leaders.

The U.S. Justice Department and other authorities have stepped up investigations into several large European banks for violating sanctions against Iran, Libya, Cuba and Sudan, the Financial Times reported in its online edition.

People using CIA and FBI computers have edited entries in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia on topics including the Iraq war and the Guantanamo prison, according to a new tracing program.

Scrutiny of banking transactions after 9/11 has led European and Canadian banks to cut back on dealings with Cuba.

Documentarian Michael Moore expects drug and insurance companies to oppose his latest film.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, his ideological mentor and ally, for six hours on Tuesday, Cuba's state television said.

There is no sign and not even a visible street address outside the Miami office of money manager Thomas Herzfeld.

The head of the India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) said on Tuesday that the company was in talks with parties in Egypt, Qatar and Australia to import at least five million tons of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) annually.

Cuba's Communist government has signaled a crackdown on the use of black-market satellite dishes, just over a week after ailing leader Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished power to his brother.