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CARACAS: President Hugo Chavez said that he plans to strengthen his socialist revolution in spite of falling oil prices. He assured participants in a program that provides stipends to poor mothers that social spending will not be restricted next year. "Oil could fall to zero dollars, and I guarantee you this revolution will not be detained," he said. "Totally the opposite." Chavez acknowledged that oil prices are very low, but said critics hoping this signals his downfall will be disappointed: "The end of Chavez?" he asked mockingly. "I am a man of difficult times." He said Venezuela has enough international reserves and other savings to withstand the world financial crisis.

SRINAGAR: Voters trickled in slowly in held Kashmir where polling for the seventh and last phase of the elections on Wednesday was underway amid protests and a boycott call by Hurriayat Conference. Most polling stations in the eight constituencies of Srinagar district recorded very low voter turnout during the first two hours. In Hazratbal and Sonawar constituencies, from where patron of the regional National Conference (NC) party and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah is contesting, only three percent of the electorate had cast its vote in the first two hours. The occupation authorities have sealed all the roads leading to the Srinagar city to thwart the Lal Chowk March. Hundreds of people took to streets in protest against polls drama at Batamaloo, Fateh Kadal, Habba Kadal, Qamarwari, Nawakadal, Barzalla, Tankipora, Chatabal and Nawab Bazar areas. The authorities continued to keep under house arrest the APHC Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and senior Hurriyet leaders, Syed Ali Gilan...

JERUSALEM: Palestinian militants from Gaza increased the range and intensity of their rocket fire against Israel on Wednesday as the Israeli security cabinet weighed options that include broader military action or efforts to renew a truce that recently expired. More than 60 rockets and mortars were fired at southern Israel by the afternoon, the Israeli military said. The rockets slammed into the Israeli border town of Sderot, the yard of a house and a water park in the coastal city of Ashkelon, an Israeli factory at Nir Oz near the Gaza border, and hit a house outside the Western Negev town of Netivot. The strikes caused extensive damage and widespread panic among the residents, but no serious injuries. Scores of adults and children were treated for shock, the emergency medical service said. The security cabinet meeting lasted about five hours, but no details were made public regarding any decisions about Gaza. An official spokesman for the Israeli government, Mark Regev, suggested tha...

WASHINGTON: The Department of State warns U.S. citizens that there is a high threat of terrorism throughout India, and advises U.S. citizens traveling to or already in India to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness, especially during the end-of-year holidays until India’s Republic Day, January 26. This Travel Alert expires on January 31, 2009 and replaces that issued on December 4 to provide updated information regarding the security situation. The November 26 terrorist attack in Mumbai was carried out at venues frequented by Americans. That attack killed 170 persons (including six Americans and 16 other non-Indians) and injured 300. Future attacks may also target public places frequented by Westerners, including in large cities and tourist areas. The State government in Goa has warned against beach parties and large gatherings on beaches and “open spaces” between December 23 and January 5. The U.S. Mission is concerned th...

WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush on Wednesday revoked a pardon he had granted only a day before — a step unheard of in recent memory — after learning in news reports of political contributions to Republicans by the man's father and other information. Bush pardoned 19 people on Tuesday, including Isaac Robert Toussie of Brooklyn, N.Y., who had been convicted of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and of mail fraud. On Wednesday, the White House issued an extraordinary statement saying the president was reversing his decision in Toussie's case. White House press secretary Dana Perino said the new decision was "based on information that has subsequently come to light," including on the extent and nature of Toussie's prior criminal offenses. She also said that neither the White House counsel's office nor the president had been aware of a political contribution by Toussie's father that "might create an appear...

ASHINGTON: At least 4,217 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to a news agency count. The figure includes eight military civilians killed in action. At least 3,398 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The count is three more than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Wednesday at 10 a.m. EST. The British military has reported 176 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand and Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan and South Korea, one death each.

SIMFEROPOL: An explosion almost certainly caused by gas struck an apartment building in southern Ukraine Wednesday, sending concrete cascading down on two entrances and killing at least two people, officials said. Rescue workers had pulled out 16 people alive from the shattered five-storey block in Yevpatoria in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, the Emergencies Ministry said. It said the rescuers, backed by two cranes, had recovered two bodies. Casualties caused by gas blasts in often crumbling apartment buildings are common occurrences in former Soviet republics, particularly in winter when residents use more heating. One blast in October 2007 killed 15 residents in Ukraine's central city of Dnipropetrovs’k.

LAHORE: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said we are capable to defend the country. Pakistan is a peaceful nation, which does not want war. Addressing the convocation of King Edward Medical College, Prime Minister said Pakistan is a civilized nation, which denounced terrorism. However, we are fully prepared to respond if war would be imposed on us. He said government is keen for the improvement of medical sector and basic health units are being established countrywide.