Venezuela VP heading to Cuba see Chavez, family

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's vice president flew to Cuba on Friday to visit the ailing Hugo Chavez and his family, while the leaders of Argentina and Peru also traveled to Havana saying they hoped to ask about the Venezuelan president's condition.
The 58-year-old president is fighting a severe respiratory infection a month after he underwent cancer surgery in Havana, his government says.
"I'm leaving for Havana to continue that work of visiting the family, meeting with his medical team, visiting our commander president," Vice President Nicolas Maduro said on television in Caracas.
Cuba's nightly TV news show reported that Maduro had arrived, but did not say whether he made any comments. The Venezuelan was met at the airport by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the show said.
Chavez hasn't spoken publicly or been seen since before his Dec. 11 operation, his fourth cancer-related surgery since June 2011 for an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer.
The government revealed this week that Chavez is receiving treatment for "respiratory deficiency." Medical experts say that might mean he is breathing with the help of a ventilator.
Maduro was making his second trip to Cuba since Chavez's surgery. He said he would meet with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, who also was visiting Havana, and hoped to meet with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, who arrived Friday in the Cuban capital.
Fernandez arrived at the Hotel Nacional along Havana's waterfront on Friday morning. Authorities have characterized the Argentine leader's trip as a private visit and her foreign minister said Thursday that she intended to meet with Chavez.
She told The Associated Press in Friday afternoon that she would lunch with Cuban President Raul Castro and his retired brother Fidel. "And then surely I will meet with the family of my companion and dear friend Hugo Chavez," Fernandez said.
Arriving at the Havana airport, Humala did not say if had confirmed plans to meet with Chavez.
"Obviously I will ask, I will see, how is President Chavez's situation," Humala told reporters, saying he wishes Chavez a "quick recovery."
Presidents Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Evo Morales of Bolivia have also visited Havana during Chavez's current stay there.
Peruvian analyst Nelson Manrique said Humala's trip was a reflection of the president's personal friendship with Chavez, as well as political.
"There is a sector that would like Peru to be unconditionally aligned with the United States, but this is more prudent politically to develop a multilateral policy," Manrique said. "It doesn't seem probable that Hugo Chavez will continue governing, but in any of the scenarios 'Chavismo' will be a very strong force in Venezuela.
"It's convenient for the Peruvian government to maintain a relationship, leave the door open, and balance the geopolitical relationship with Venezuela as well," the analyst added.
Maduro was designated by Chavez last month as his chosen successor. Maduro said that while he is in Cuba, Electricity Minister Hector Navarro will remain in charge of affairs as acting vice president. The vice president didn't say when he would return.
Maduro's announcement came a day after the government gathered foreign allies and tens of thousands of exuberant supporters to celebrate the start of a new term for Chavez on Thursday, even as he was too ill to return home for a real inauguration.
Despite opposition claims that the constitution demands a Jan. 10 inauguration, the pro-Chavez congress approved delaying the inauguration and the Supreme Court on Wednesday endorsed the postponement, saying the president could be sworn in before the court at a later date.
Jailed former defense minister Raul Baduel urged his countrymen, especially the military, to resist what he called a "new constitutional coup" by Chavez's allies. The former military chief, who is in prison after being convicted of embezzlement and abuse of power, made the remarks in a vaguely worded letter that was released Friday.
Baduel has insisted he is innocent and dismissed the case against him as a politically motivated reprisal for his opposition to Chavez.
Though he didn't give details about what action he hoped the military would take, Baduel appeared to echo the argument by opposition politicians that Maduro and other Chavez allies are violating the constitution by remaining in office beyond the formal swearing-in date.
The Supreme Court has dismissed that argument, saying the date in the constitution isn't binding if an inauguration is performed before the court rather than the congress, where presidents usually take the oath of office.
Baduel also urged the governments of other countries "not to validate the constitutional coup d'etat that has been set in motion."
A high-ranking military chief, Maj. Gen. Wilmer Barrientos, said the military will respect and obey the Supreme Court's decision. He told the station Union Radio that those who question the court's decision should make their case through legal channels.
National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, a former military officer who is thought to have close ties to the armed forces, warned in a message on Twitter that Chavez's supporters should be "on alert for actions of violence" similar to bloodshed that preceded a failed 2002 coup against Chavez.
Chavez was briefly ousted in that coup, then was restored to power within two days with the help of military loyalists amid large protests in the streets by his supporters.

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In Venezuela, humor not stymied by Chavez's crisis

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The monthlong absence of ailing President Hugo Chavez has elicited prayers, an emotional street rally and heated political debate. Amid the tense wait for news from Chavez's hospital in Cuba, Venezuelans are also turning to one of their most prized national attributes: a biting, irreverent sense of humor.
A flurry of jokes and political cartoons have taken aim at the government's postponement of Chavez's inauguration. When the president's followers took to the streets to symbolically take the oath in Chavez's place, some critics said the outlandishness hit a new, surreal high.
"What's happening is so absurd that people don't know whether to laugh or cry," said Claudio Nazoa, a Venezuelan comedian.
One cartoon by Rayma Suprani in the newspaper El Universal turned its gallows humor to the Supreme Court, which approved putting off Chavez's swearing-in. It showed a woman who appeared to be a judge using a guillotine to slice up the constitution.
The popular satirical website "El Chiguire Bipolar," named after a giant rodent that is common on the plains of Venezuela, took aim at the government's slogan "We're all Chavez," with a particularly caustic spoof article.
The site alluded to Venezuela's high murder rate, saying in the headline: "21,000 Chavezes who died at the hands of criminals can't attend the inauguration."
"Jokes play a role of social catharsis, and that's why there is acid wit and irony," said Tulio Hernandez, a sociology professor at Central University of Venezuela. "It's a way of letting off steam."
Dark humor about Chavez's condition and Venezuela's unsettled situation has popped up in various parts of Latin America.
One cartoon by Brazilian political cartoonist Sinfronio de Sousa Lima Neto circulated widely online. It depicted the grim reaper entering a hospital room where Fidel Castro was with Chavez. The grim reaper asks "Who is Fidel?" and Fidel points to Chavez saying: "He's the one right here."
Another Brazilian humorist, Jose Simao, cracked jokes on Twitter and in his newspaper column.
"I think Chavez isn't on the island of Cuba. He's on the island of Lost," Simao said on Twitter, referring to the popular television series.
While political cartoons in some other countries toyed with the concept of Chavez possibly being at death's door, in Venezuela the cartoonists mainly seemed to steer clear of Chavez's condition.
Hernandez said Venezuelans may be avoiding jokes that directly focus on Chavez or his cancer due to fears of retribution from the government or Chavez's supporters. He noted that the government has slapped fines and other penalties on some critical broadcasters.
Last weekend, intelligence agents also raided a home in Carabobo state in a case that Venezuelan media reported was part of an investigation into messages on Twitter about Chavez's health.
In the past, many Venezuelan humorists have targeted the socialist president. The Venezuelan cartoonist Pedro Leon Zapata has depicted the president previously as a toad or at times a military boot, in reference to his years as an army paratroop commander.
Cartoonist Roberto Weil focused a recent cartoon on what critics call a blatant violation of the constitution in putting off the inauguration, depicting a hyena tearing up the charter in its teeth.
Nazoa said in a telephone interview that he found the alternative street inauguration for Chavez especially bizarre.
"It's a sort of Roman circus in which the spectators who applaud are going to soon be eaten by the lions and they don't know it," he said. He said the oddities don't stop there, and he compared the situation to Lewis Carroll's "Alice In Wonderland."
"Look at the absurdity: Those of us against Chavez, who were desperate to get rid of him, now we're desperate for him to appear," Nazoa added.

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Mexicans protest dog detentions, tests negative

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Dozens of protesters chanting "Free the dogs, arrest the criminals!" demonstrated outside Mexico City police headquarters Friday, demanding the release of 57 stray dogs seized over five suspected mauling deaths in recent weeks.
The protesters said the dogs are innocent, and many claimed the victims were probably killed by humans. They acknowledged the famished dogs that live in a hilltop park in an east-side slum where the bodies were found may have bitten the corpses after they were already dead.
"Dog friends, the people are with you!" the protesters chanted, as well as, "The dogs aren't criminals, the police are inept!"
"We are completely certain ... the dogs are innocent," said Nominis de Esparza, an animal activist who has adopted 30 cats.
Autopsies determined that the three women, a teenage boy and a baby found in the park since mid-December died of loss of blood due to bites from multiple dogs.
But those findings have been met with widespread skepticism in a country where drug gangs frequently dump bodies of their victims in public spaces, and prosecutors seldom thoroughly investigate such crimes. The idea has taken hold among many that killers dumped the bodies in the park, hoping that packs of stray dogs would destroy the evidence.
"This was a crime committed by humans, for a settling of accounts or who knows what," said De Esparza, using the Spanish word "ajuste" frequently employed to describe drug gang killings.
Tests on the dogs have so far been inconclusive.
The city prosecutor's office said initial tests on the first 25 strays gave no indication they ate human flesh. An employee of the city prosecutors' office, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said almost no food of any kind was found in the dogs' stomachs, much less human flesh. But he said officials were still awaiting results from tests on the dogs' fur and paws to see if any human DNA was present.
Jose Luis Carranza, of the Citizens Front for Animal Rights, criticized city authorities for ordering round-ups of strays in the aftermath of the killings. Carranza said protesters want the raids stopped because only animal control officers are allowed to seize dogs in Mexico City, and only on specific complaints involving individual animals.
"If the authorities really want to crack down on the overpopulation of dogs, then they should go after the clandestine puppy sellers," Carranza said. "Every day there are people selling dogs on the streets, and the police don't do anything."
The 57 mutts rounded up at the Cerro de la Estrella park, where the attacks occurred, include a few about the size of a Labrador, but many are small or mid-size dogs, including beagle and border-collie mixes. Twenty-three are puppies or very young dogs.
Many look like the discarded pets they are. Residents near the 353-acre (143-hectare) park in the poor Iztapalapa neighborhood say people regularly drop off unwanted pets there, but say the dogs have never caused problems before.
Moises Heiblum, professor of animal behavior at the school of veterinary medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said feral dogs as individuals "probably could not carry out a ferocious attack of this type" and normally avoid human contact.
But the dynamics change when a pack is formed, Heiblum said. "When a group comes together, they are capable of an extremely intense and even fatal attack. That is possible."
Animal control warden Armando Garcia, who was patrolling with an assault rifle this week, said there was no question that strays had formed a pack in at least one part of the park.
"You can tell when there's a pack: There's an alpha dogs and his followers, and they've marked out territory and they challenge you when you enter it, with growls and barking," Garcia said.
On Friday, authorities in Iztapalapa announced that the dogs taken into custody would be put up for adoption. They had earlier promised animal rights groups that the dogs would not be killed.
The dogs will get shots, special baths and medical treatment before being given away.

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Venezuela opposition: Chavez secrecy feeds rumors

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's opposition demanded that the government reveal specifics of President Hugo Chavez's condition Wednesday, criticizing secrecy surrounding the ailing leader's health more than three weeks after his cancer surgery in Cuba.
Opposition coalition leader Ramon Guillermo Aveledo said at a news conference that the information provided by government officials "continues to be insufficient."
Chavez has not been seen or heard from since the Dec. 11 operation, and Vice President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday said the president's condition remained "delicate" due to complications from a respiratory infection.
Chavez's elder brother, Adan, arrived in Havana on Wednesday, said Jorge Arreaza, the president's son-in-law and science minister. "We're meeting with him, Vice President Maduro and Attorney General Cilia Flores," Arreaza said in a message on Twitter.
"The medical team explains to us that President Chavez's condition continues to be stable within his delicate state," Arreaza said in another message, adding that Chavez "continues battling hard and he sends all his love to our people."
Maduro and other government officials have urged Venezuelans not to heed rumors about Chavez's condition.
Aveledo said the opposition has been respectful during Chavez's illness, and said that "the secrecy is the source of the rumors, which increase the uncertainty and cause distress."
"They should tell the truth," Aveledo said, noting that Maduro had pledged to provide full reports about Chavez's condition. He reiterated the opposition's call for the government to release a medical report and said all indications are that Chavez won't be able to be sworn in to begin a new term Jan. 10.
If Chavez can't take office on that date, Aveledo said the constitution is clear that the National Assembly president should then take over temporarily until a new election is held. He said what happens next in Venezuela should be guided by "the truth and the constitution."
If Chavez dies or is unable to continue in office, the Venezuelan Constitution says a new election should be held within 30 days.
With rumors swirling that Chavez had taken a turn for the worse, Maduro said on Tuesday that he had met with the president twice and had spoken with him.
"He's totally conscious of the complexity of his post-operative state and he expressly asked us ... to keep the nation informed always, always with the truth, as hard as it may be in certain circumstances," Maduro said in the prerecorded interview in Havana, which was broadcast Tuesday night by the Caracas-based television network Telesur.
Both supporters and opponents of Chavez have been on edge in the past week amid shifting signals from the government about the president's health. Officials have reported a series of ups and downs in his recovery — the most recent, on Sunday, announcing that he faced the new complications from a respiratory infection.
Maduro said on Tuesday that Chavez faces "a complex and delicate situation." But he also said that when he talked with the president and looked at his face, he seemed to have "the same strength as always."
The vice president said he planned to return to Caracas on Wednesday, though there was no confirmation of a return trip as of Wednesday night.
His remarks about the president came at the end of an interview in which he praised Cuba's government effusively and touched on what he called the long-term strength of Chavez's socialist Bolivarian Revolution movement. He mentioned that former Cuban President Fidel Castro had visited the hospital where Chavez was treated.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said procedures under the Venezuelan Constitution should be followed if Chavez is no longer able to carry out his duties as president.
"We want to see any transition take place in a manner that is consistent with the Venezuelan Constitution, that any election be fully transparent, democratic, free and fair," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters on Wednesday.
Asked if Chavez being out of the picture would make it easier to improve long-strained ties between Venezuela and the U.S., Nuland said, "Obviously we will judge our ability to improve our relationship with Venezuela based on steps they are able to take."
The U.S. Embassy in Caracas has been without an ambassador since July 2010. Chavez rejected the U.S. nominee for ambassador, accusing him of making disrespectful remarks about Venezuela's government. That led Washington to revoke the visa of the Venezuelan ambassador.
But recently U.S. and Venezuelan diplomats began high-level conversations aimed at improving relations, a U.S. government official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The official confirmed recent reports that Roberta Jacobson, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, spoke by telephone with Maduro in November and discussed ways of improving relations. He also confirmed that U.S. diplomat Kevin Whitaker had a subsequent conversation with Roy Chaderton, Venezuela's ambassador to the Organization of American States.
Venezuelan diplomats could not be reached to comment about those recent contacts with U.S. officials.
In Bolivia, meanwhile, President Evo Morales said he is concerned about his friend and ally.
"I hope we can see him soon," Morales said at a news conference Wednesday. "But it's a very worrying situation."
"I've tried to make contact with the vice president, and it's been difficult. I hope all of their aims are achieved to save President Chavez's life."
Before his operation, Chavez acknowledged he faced risks and designated Maduro as his successor, telling supporters they should vote for the vice president if a new presidential election were necessary.
Maduro didn't discuss the upcoming inauguration plans, saying only that he is hopeful Chavez will improve.
"Someone asked me yesterday by text message: How is the president? And I said, 'With giant strength,'" Maduro said. He recalled taking Chavez by the hand: "He squeezed me with gigantic strength as we talked.

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Venezuelan gov't: Chavez fighting lung infection

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's government says President Hugo Chavez is being treated for a respiratory deficiency after complications from a severe lung infection.
Information Minister Ernesto Villegas provided the update on the ailing president's condition Thursday night. He read from a statement saying that Chavez's lung infection had led to "respiratory deficiency" and required strict compliance with his medical treatment.
The government expressed confidence in the medical team treating Chavez in Cuba.

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Disputes brewing over Hugo Chavez's inauguration

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez is due to be sworn in for a new term in less than a week and his closest allies still aren't saying what they plan to do if the ailing leader is unable to return from a Cuban hospital to take the oath of office.
The Venezuelan government on Thursday night described Chavez's lung infection as "severe" and said he is now being treated for "respiratory deficiency."
Chavez hasn't been seen or heard from since his Dec. 11 cancer surgery, and speculation has grown that his illness could be reaching its final stages. The president's elder brother Adan and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello joined a parade of visitors who saw Chavez in Havana this week, and then returned to Caracas on Thursday along with Vice President Nicolas Maduro.
"In the past hours, we've been accompanying President Hugo Chavez and taking him the courage and strength of the Venezuelan people," Maduro said on television. Appearing next to Cabello visiting a government-run coffee plant in Caracas, he said they had been with Chavez together with the president's brother, his son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez and Attorney General Cilia Flores.
Chavez's health crisis has raised contentious questions ahead of the swearing-in set for Jan. 10, including whether the inauguration could legally be postponed, whether Supreme Court justices might travel to Havana to administer the oath of office, and, most of all, what will happen if Chavez can't begin his new term.
The main fault lines run between Chavez's backers and opponents.
But while the president's allies so far appear united, analysts have speculated that differences might emerge between factions led by Maduro, Chavez's chosen successor, and Cabello, who is thought to wield power within the military and who would be in line to temporarily assume the presidency until a new election can be held.
Standing together on Thursday, Maduro and Cabello said they are more united than ever.
"We've sworn before commander Hugo Chavez, and we've ratified the oath today before commander Chavez, that we're going to be united, together with our people, with the greatest loyalty," Maduro said.
He and Cabello dismissed rumors of divisions waiting to erupt, calling such talk lies cooked up by their adversaries.
"They're going to spend 2,000 years waiting for that to happen," Cabello said, urging Venezuelans: "Don't fall for the opposition's rumors."
"We aren't going to betray the nation," Cabello added.
The former military officer has been making similar assurances on Twitter and suggesting that the socialist party has its plans for the coming days all thought out.
"We Chavistas are very clear on what we will do," Cabello said in one message.
But the plans of Chavez's allies remain a mystery.
The Venezuelan Constitution says the presidential oath should be taken Jan. 10 before the National Assembly, and officials have raised the possibility that Chavez might not be well enough to do that, without saying what will happen if he can't.
Information Minister Ernesto Villegas provided the latest update on Chavez's condition Thursday night.
"Chavez has faced complications as a result of a severe respiratory infection. This infection has led to respiratory deficiency that requires Commander Chavez to remain in strict compliance with his medical treatment," Villegas said, reading from a statement.
The government expressed confidence in Chavez's medical team and condemned what it called "a campaign of psychological warfare" in the international media regarding the president's condition.
Chavez said before his fourth cancer-related operation that if his illness prevented him from remaining president, Maduro should finish his current term and be his party's candidate to replace him in a new election.
The constitution says that if a president or president-elect dies or is declared unable to continue in office, presidential powers should be held temporarily by the president of the National Assembly, who is now Cabello. It says a new presidential vote should be held within 30 days.
Opposition leaders have argued that Chavez, who was re-elected to a six-year term in October, seems no longer fit to continue as president and have demanded that a new election be held within 30 days if he isn't in Caracas on inauguration day.
But some of Chavez's close confidants dismiss the view that the inauguration date is a hard deadline, saying Chavez could be given more time to recover from his surgery if necessary.
Cabello noted last month that the constitution says if a president is unable to be sworn in by the legislature, he may be sworn in by Supreme Court justices, who were appointed by the mostly pro-Chavez legislature.
"When? It doesn't say. Where? It doesn't say where," Cabello recently told a crowd of government supporters. His indication that the constitution does not specify where a president-elect should be sworn in by the Supreme Court has led to speculation that justices could travel to Cuba for the ceremony.
Opposition leaders chafe at the suggestion that Chavez could take office from a foreign country, saying the president made it clear before he left for the operation that his health was deteriorating by designating Maduro as his successor.
Aristobulo Isturiz, a state governor and leader of Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela, said Thursday that if Chavez's swearing-in isn't held Jan. 10, it will be up to the Supreme Court to determine the place and date of the ceremony.
"The president has a right to recover," Isturiz said in remarks published by the state-run Venezuelan News Agency.
More than three weeks after Chavez's cancer surgery, government officials have been providing vague and shifting updates on his condition. Maduro announced over the weekend that Chavez had suffered complications due to a respiratory infection and was in "delicate" condition.
The vice president initially had said he would return from Cuba to Venezuela on Wednesday, but stayed another day while visiting Chavez along with Cabello and others.
Maduro said Chavez's respiratory problems "have seriously affected him."
Still, Maduro expressed hope: "In our hearts, we feel it, sooner rather than later we're going to see commander Hugo Chavez here in his homeland, here with us."
Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, an opposition politician, proposed earlier Thursday that a commission travel to Cuba to determine the state of Chavez's health. He said the delegation should be made up of doctors, lawmakers and other officials such as state governors, including opposition leader Henrique Capriles.
"I'm not asking for permission to go to Cuba. I think it's our right to go there and see what's going on," Ledezma said in comments reported by the television channel Globovision. "Enough mysteries. Venezuela isn't a colony of Cuba."
Some of the brewing disagreements could begin to be aired Saturday, when the National Assembly, which is controlled by a pro-Chavez majority, convenes to select legislative leaders. That session will be held just five days before the scheduled inauguration day.
Law professor Vicente Gonzalez de la Vega agrees with Cabello's view that the constitution is ambiguous regarding the time and place of a swearing-in ceremony before the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court President Luisa Estella Morales said following Cabello's proposal last month that justices could rule on whether it's constitutional to postpone the date of the swearing-in ceremony. The issue has not yet been brought before the court, but Morales said Dec. 20 that the court could take up such issues if asked and would have the final word.
Before Chavez's inauguration date could be postponed, Gonzalez said, lawmakers would have to approve a 90-day extension of Chavez's "temporary absence" granted for his trip to Cuba for surgery. The president of the National Assembly would then be sworn in as an interim president for 90 days, said Gonzalez, a professor at the Central University of Venezuela.
In order for that to occur, though, Gonzalez said the Supreme Court would need to appoint a panel of doctors to examine Chavez to determine whether his health could improve and whether he might be capable of continuing his duties as president.
Opposition leader Ramon Guillermo Aveledo on Wednesday reiterated demands for the government to provide a full medical report.
He said sending a medical team to Cuba to assess Chavez's condition would be an option, if necessary. In the meantime, he said, "There are two keys here to facing this and any situation, which are the truth and the constitution.

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Gunman kills 3 people, injures 2 in Swiss village

A shooting in southern Switzerland has left three women dead, two men wounded and highlighted the ease of access to firearms in gun-loving nations.
The shooting — which came on the eve of students' return to classes in Newtown, Connecticut, after a horrific school shooting — also raised questions about why a troubled suspect was able to go on a rampage with an old military rifle.
The suspect, a 33-year-old unemployed man living on disability payments, fired about 20 shots Wednesday night in the village of Daillon, authorities in the Swiss canton (state) of Valais said Thursday.
He opened fire from his apartment and pursued people in the street, police said. Armed with a Swiss military rifle and a handgun, the man then threatened to shoot the elite troops that were sent in to stop him, police said.
"The shooter pointed his weapon at our colleagues, so they had to open fire to neutralize him, to avoid being injured themselves," police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet told Swiss radio.
The suspect, who police did not identify, was arrested and taken to the hospital with serious wounds. Bornet said the shooter lived in Daillon but the motive for the shooting was not clear.
The suspect was using a military rifle that was once standard issue in the Swiss army, interim cantonal police chief Robert Steiner said.
Guns are popular among the Swiss — the Alpine country has at least 2.3 million weapons among a population of less than 8 million. Gun clubs are popular in rural areas, with children as young as 10 taking part in shooting competitions.
Authorities say firearms are involved in nearly a quarter of the 1,100 suicides a year in Switzerland — which don't include another 300 cases a year of assisted suicide — but shooting rampages are rare in peaceful, prosperous Switzerland.
A gunman who killed 14 people at a city meeting in Zug in 2001 was the nation's worst such rampage, leading to calls to tighten national gun-buying laws. Friedrich Leibacher used a commercial version of the Swiss army's SG 550 assault rifle for the rampage, then killed himself.
Buying a firearm in a Swiss shop requires a permit, a clean criminal record and no psychiatric disability, but buying a firearm from another person is less restrictive. Most types of ammunition can be bought, while automatic firearms generally require a special police permit.
The police said they are still unclear about the shooter's motive — or where he got the guns — but old-style Army rifles are often sold at military surplus markets. Prosecutor Catherine Seppey said the shooter knew several of the victims but "he was not known for making threats."
The suspect was unemployed and had been receiving psychiatric care since at least 2005, when he was first admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and was under the care of the cantonal agency for the disabled, Seppey said.
The victims were three women aged 32, 54 and 79 who died at the scene, and two injured men, aged 33 and 63, who were taken to the hospital, Seppey said. The two youngest victims were a couple with small children.
"We have no words to express ourselves after an event like this," Christophe Germanier, head of the Conthey district where the shooting occurred, told a news conference.
All able-bodied Swiss men who are required to perform military duty often take their army-issued rifle home with them after completing military service. In 2007, the government began requiring that nearly all army ammunition is kept at secure army depots.
In 2011, voters rejected a proposal to tighten the gun laws.
Many in Switzerland believe that distributing guns to households helped dissuade a Nazi invasion during World War II.
"This is part of Switzerland's self-defense, where the entire army can be mobilized in 24 hours, said Daniel Warner of the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. "I don't think (the latest shooting) is going to cause a change in attitude here.

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Briton on trial for hurling abuse and bottle at Usain Bolt

LONDON (Reuters) - A British man went on trial on Thursday accused of screaming abuse at Usain Bolt and hurling a beer bottle onto the track as the Olympic men's 100 metres final was starting, a climactic moment of the London Games in August.
The court heard that the packed 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium had fallen silent in anticipation of the race when Ashley Gill-Webb, 34, began shouting insults like "Usain I want you to lose, Usain you are bad, you are an arsehole".
The Jamaican sprinter did not hear the abuse or see a green Heineken bottle land behind the starting line, and went on to win the race in 9.63 seconds, the second-fastest time recorded.
Gill-Webb did not have a ticket to attend the 100 metres final but had somehow pushed his way to the front of an exclusive seating area, among members of the Dutch Olympic team.
After his outburst, Gill-Webb was confronted by Dutch judoka Edith Bosch, an Olympic bronze medallist, then restrained by volunteer workers and arrested.
He has pleaded not guilty to a public order offence, the Press Association (PA) reported from Stratford Magistrates' Court in east London, without saying what penalties he might face.
"In the stadium, along with the many thousands who should have been there legitimately and were watching the race in hushed anticipation, was also Mr Gill-Webb who it is now accepted was unwell at the time," said prosecutor Neil King.
"This bottle landed extremely close to the athletes and it's probably luck rather than Mr Gill-Webb's judgment that it did not do anything far more serious," said King, quoted by the PA.
In a written witness statement read out in court, Bosch said Gill-Webb's taunts against Bolt had gone on for about two minutes. As he started to move away after tossing the beer bottle, she confronted him, saying: "Dude, are you crazy?"
"He was trying to walk away so I pushed him hard to stop him," Bosch said in her statement. "I was angry with what he had done which was so disrespectful."
"I was sad to miss the 100 metres," she added.
The court heard that Gill-Webb's behaviour after he was escorted to a police station had been "somewhat unusual".
He gave some "no comment" answers to police questions but also handed over a prepared statement signed "Alan Cumming", the name of a Scottish actor.
He maintained he had nothing to do with throwing the bottle but said he had been "quite hyper" in the stadium.
Prosecutor King said although it was accepted Gill-Webb was unwell at the time, he knew what he was doing and intentionally caused distress to those around him.

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Swiss gunman kills 3 people, had troubled history

 A shooting in southern Switzerland has left three women dead, two men wounded and raised questions about how a troubled suspect was able to go on a rampage with an old military rifle.
The shooting — which came on the eve of students' return to classes in Newtown, Connecticut, after a horrific school shooting — also highlighted the easy access to firearms in gun-loving nations.
The suspect, a 33-year-old unemployed man living on disability payments, fired about 20 shots Wednesday night in the village of Daillon, authorities in the Swiss canton (state) of Valais said Thursday.
He opened fire from his apartment and pursued people in the street, police said. Armed with a Swiss military rifle and a handgun, he then threatened to shoot the officers sent in to stop him, police said.
"The shooter pointed his weapon at our colleagues, so they had to open fire to neutralize him, to avoid being injured themselves," police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet told Swiss radio.
The suspect, who police did not identify, was arrested and taken to the hospital with serious wounds. Bornet said he lived in Daillon but the motive for the shooting was unclear.
Guns are popular among the Swiss — the Alpine country has at least 2.3 million weapons among a population of less than 8 million. Many rural areas have gun clubs, with children as young as 10 taking part in shooting competitions.
The suspect was using a military rifle that was once standard issue in the Swiss army, interim cantonal police chief Robert Steiner said.
Prosecutor Catherine Seppey said the suspect was unemployed and had been receiving psychiatric care since at least 2005, when he was first admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He was currently under the care of the cantonal agency for the disabled, she said.
His weapons were confiscated and destroyed in 2005, she said, "and currently no arms register showed he had a weapon. The inquiry will have to determine where the weapons came from."
Buying a firearm in a Swiss shop requires a permit, a clean criminal record and no psychiatric disability, but buying a firearm from another person is less restrictive and old-style Army rifles are often sold at military surplus markets.
Most types of ammunition can be bought, while automatic firearms generally require a special police permit.
Seppey said the shooter knew several of the victims but "he was not known for making threats."
The victims were three women aged 32, 54 and 79 who died at the scene, and two injured men, aged 33 and 63, who were taken to the hospital, Seppey said. The two youngest victims were a couple with small children.
"We have no words to express ourselves after an event like this," Christophe Germanier, head of the Conthey district where the shooting occurred, told a news conference.
Daillon is near some of Switzerland's most popular ski resorts, such as Verbier and Crans-Montana, and is in the country's main wine-producing region. The area also boasts a sizeable share of the country's federally protected hunting reserves.
Authorities say firearms are involved in nearly a quarter of the 1,100 suicides a year in Switzerland — which don't include another 300 cases a year of assisted suicide — but shooting rampages are rare in peaceful, prosperous Switzerland.
A gunman who killed 14 people at a city meeting in Zug in 2001 was the nation's worst rampage, leading to calls to tighten national gun-buying laws. Friedrich Leibacher used a commercial version of the Swiss army's SG 550 assault rifle for the rampage, then killed himself.
All able-bodied Swiss men who are required to perform military duty often take their army-issued rifle home with them after completing military service. In 2007, the government began requiring that nearly all army ammunition is kept at secure army depots.
Many in Switzerland believe that distributing guns to households helped dissuade a Nazi invasion during World War II. In 2011, Swiss voters rejected a proposal to tighten gun laws.
"This is part of Switzerland's self-defense, where the entire army can be mobilized in 24 hours," said Daniel Warner of the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. "I don't think (the latest shooting) is going to cause a change in attitude here.

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British government extradites al-Qaida suspect

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police in Britain have extradited a terror suspect to the United States to face charges that he took part in an alleged al-Qaida plot to detonate explosives aboard the New York City subway system.
British authorities handed over Abid Naseer, 26, to U.S. authorities on Thursday.
Prosecutors want Naseer to stand trial in New York for his alleged role in a terror campaign that would have also struck targets in Britain and Norway.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have said they aim to prove that Naseer collected bomb ingredients, conducted reconnaissance and was in frequent contact with other al-Qaida operatives as part of a foiled New York plot and a second suspected plot to bomb a busy shopping area in the northern English city of Manchester.
Naseer "is one of a long line of terrorist suspects extradited to these shores," said U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch in Brooklyn. She said the extradition underscored the importance of international cooperation in bringing down terror suspects.
Naseer was due in federal court Monday. If convicted in the U.S., Naseer would face a maximum penalty of life in prison. At the Justice Department, spokesman Dean Boyd declined to comment.
Naseer was one of 12 people arrested in a counterterrorism operation in April 2009, but all were subsequently released without charge. They were ordered to leave Britain, but Naseer escaped deportation to Pakistan after a judge ruled it was likely he would be mistreated if he were sent home.
Naseer was re-arrested in July 2010 at the request of the prosecutors in Brooklyn, where a federal indictment named him as a co-defendant with Adis Medunjanin.
In January 2011, a British judge approved Naseer's extradition. The judge acknowledged there was a "very real risk" Naseer would be tortured if the U.S. ultimately returned him to Pakistan but said he believed the U.S. justice system would not ignore that concern.
Naseer's lawyer had argued that the U.S. would have fewer inhibitions about returning him to Pakistan.
U.S. authorities allege Medunjanin and former high school friends Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay — all three attended Flushing High School in Queens — traveled to Pakistan in 2008 to seek terror training from al-Qaida.
Zazi, an airport van driver from Colorado, admitted in a guilty plea that once back from Pakistan he tested peroxide-based explosive materials in a makeshift lab in Denver in the fall of 2009 before traveling by car to New York to carry out the scheme.
Authorities say Medunjanin and Ahmedzay agreed to join Zazi in three coordinated suicide bombings on Manhattan subway lines during rush hour near the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks — what Zazi called a "martyrdom operation."
The plot was disrupted when police stopped Zazi's car as it entered New York.
At Medunjanin's trial last year, Zazi and Ahmedzay, who testified as part of a plea deal, told jurors that the scheme was designed to avenge the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Medunjanin was sentenced to life in prison.

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Northern Irish police injured as flag row turns violent again

 Eight police officers were injured in Northern Ireland on Thursday when protests at the removal of the British flag from Belfast City Hall turned violent for the first time in more than two weeks.
Pro-British loyalists began rioting and fighting street battles with police after a decision a month ago by mostly nationalist pro-Irish councillors to end the century-old tradition of flying the British flag from City Hall every day in the British-controlled province.
More than 40 police officers were injured in the initial wave of violence, which stopped over Christmas. Protesters took to the streets in recent days but had remained peaceful until Thursday, when the community divisions were exposed once more.
At least 3,600 people were killed during Northern Ireland's darkest period as Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland fought British security forces and mainly Protestant loyalists determined to remain part of the United Kingdom.
Missiles, including petrol bombs, rained down on police in the Mountpottinger area of Belfast, a loyalist stronghold that borders the only Catholic enclave in the east of the city. A burning barricade was also used to block a major route into the city centre and a nearby car was set on fire.
Police said a crowd of around 100, some in masks and waving British flags, were involved in the unrest that lasted for several hours and led to two arrests.
Almost 50 rioters have been charged so far, the youngest a boy of 11, after deeming the vote to only fly the Union flag on 17 specified days a year - such as Queen Elizabeth's birthday - as a step too far in the ebbing away of Protestant dominance.
The protests marred a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who travelled to Belfast last month to lend her support to a 15-year-old peace process that helped mostly end three decades of sectarian bloodshed.
Another rally outside City Hall has been scheduled for Saturday and organisers say the demonstrations will continue until the flag is restored to the City Hall roof.
The now regular weekend rallies have mostly remained peaceful but disrupted pre-Christmas trade in Belfast city centre shops.

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50 million Android and iOS devices activated in last week of December alone

The latest numbers from analytics firm Flurry suggest that Android and iOS flourished in the last week of the 2012. The firm previously estimated that roughly 17.4 million Android and iOS devices were activated on Christmas Day, leading to an estimated 1.76 billion mobile application downloads and more than 50 million activations for the full week. The latest numbers represent the highest number of device activations and app downloads of any week in history, an increase from 20 million activations and 1.2 billion downloads during Christmas week in 2011. Flurry estimates that in 2013 the trend of one-billion app downloads per week will become more frequent and by next December, more than 2 billion apps will be downloaded in a single week.

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Apple reportedly considering Waze acquisition to help fix iOS Maps app

Less than a month after rumors of a potential TomTom acquisition swirled, Apple (AAPL) is now reportedly considering a buyout of social navigation startup Waze in an effort to improve its much-maligned Maps application. TechCrunch reported on Wednesday that “there are rumours flying around that Apple is sniffing around Waze with a view to a possible acquisition,” though the source of the rumors is unclear. A similar report was published by Israeli news site NewsGeek.
[More from BGR: ‘iPhone 5S’ to reportedly launch by June with multiple color options and two different display sizes]
Waze, which currently provides some data to Apple for use in its iOS Maps app, utilizes user-submitted data to enhance its free navigation service available for iOS, Android and other platforms. Waze CEO Noam Bardin has been vocal about the quality of Apple’s mapping solution in the past, having said previously that Apple chose some of its mapping partners poorly, resulting in “the lowest, weakest data set.”

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HTC rumored to debut flagship ‘M7′ smartphone at CES

HTC (2498) will reportedly unveil a new flagship smartphone code-named “M7″ at the Consumer Electronics Show next week. The rumor comes to us from XDA-Developers forum member “Football,” who reported accurate information about unreleased HTC devices in the past. The phone is believed to the be the successor to the One X and could be equipped with a 4.7-inch full HD 1920 x 1080-pixel display, a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, a 13-megapixel rear camera, LTE and HSPA+ connectivity, Beats Audio, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal memory and a 2,300 mAh battery. The M7 is also said to be HTC’s first smartphone to utilize on-screen navigation keys in place of traditional hardware buttons.
[More from BGR: ‘iPhone 5S’ to reportedly launch by June with multiple color options and two different display sizes]
The problem for HTC in the past has been the company’s ability to market its high-end devices to consumers. Despite class-leading features and hardware, HTC’s smartphone sales have stalled in the past year and the company has continued to lose market share. It will be interesting to see if it can turn things around in 2013.
[More from BGR: Microsoft lashes out at Google’s decision to spurn Windows Phone]
The Consumer Electronics Show is scheduled to take place from January 8th to January 11th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Microsoft acquires start-up id8: source

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp bought start-up id8 Group R2 Studios Inc as it looks to expand further in technology focused on the home and entertainment, a person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.
id8 Group R2 Studios was started in 2011 by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor Blake Krikorian. It recently launched a Google Android application to allow users to control home heating and lighting systems from smartphones.
Krikorian's Sling Media - which was sold to EchoStar Communications in 2007 - made the "Slingbox" for watching TV on computers.
Krikorian will join Microsoft with a small team, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported the acquisition earlier on Wednesday. Microsoft also purchased some patents owned by the start-up related to controlling electronic devices, the newspaper added.
Krikorian and a Microsoft spokesman declined to comment.
Krikorian resigned from Amazon.com Inc's board in late December after about a year and a half as a director at the company, the Internet's largest retailer.

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2013′s first hot Kickstarter project: An Android-based gaming ‘console-on-a-stick’

We didn’t have to wait very long to discover what 2013′s first big Kickstarter project would be. Via Ars Technica, we give you the GameStick, an Android-based two-inch long stick that plugs directly into a controller and acts as a highly portable gaming console. The GameStick team says that their goal with the new mini-console was to create “a big screen games console that was so small you could pop it in your pocket… so you can take all your games with you to any TV you like.” As far as titles go, GameStick developers so far have “identified 200 [Android] titles that will be great to play on GameStick” and are also “working with our network of over 250 developers including great studios such as Madfinger, Hutch, Disney and others to bring you the best line-up.” The project is seeking $100,000 by February 1st and has already raised over $31,500 on its first day; in other words, gamers who invest in the GameStick should see a lot of exciting stretch goals announced over the next month. If fully funded, GameStick is slated to launch to the public by this April.

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