President Hugo Chavez accused the US of wanting Libya’s oil
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says a delegation of Libyan officials is in Venezuela to seek ways to end the conflict in the North African country.
The Venezuelan president has proposed talks between the rebels and the government.
He said he would try to garner support for a peaceful solution.
President Chavez is a close ally of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and has condemned what he called the “indiscriminate bombing” of Libya.
‘Madness’
Speaking during a a meeting of Latin America and Caribbean foreign ministers President Chavez said he was determined to find “a political solution to the drama the Libyan people were living”.
He said the bombing of Libyan cities by Nato was “madness” and accused the United States of wanting to “lay its hands on Libya’s oil and water”.
A Nato airstrike damaged Col Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli on Monday.
“We’ve had enough abuse, wars and invasions directed against third world countries,” President Chavez said.
On Monday, President Chavez expressed his support for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, blaming “terrorists” for the protests in the town of Deraa.
The protests have been met with deadly force by the Syrian security forces.
Syrian human rights organisation Sawasiah says more than 400 civilians have been shot dead in the government’s campaign to crush the month-long pro-democracy protests.
Bur Mr Chavez accused the international media of jumping to conclusions.
“Terrorists are being infiltrated into Syria and producing violence and death — and once again, the guilty one is the president, without anyone investigating anything,” the Venezuelan president said.
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Mark Williams ends the night with two tons to lead Mark Allen 11-5 while Judd Trump is pegged back to 11-5 by a battling Graeme Dott in the second session of their World Championship quarter-finals.
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Part of Belfast city centre was closed off after the discovery
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Police investigating parcel bombs sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two other people have said another suspect package has been discovered.
The package was intercepted by postal staff in Northern Ireland.
Strathclyde Police said the parcel was similar to four already being investigated and was routed to a Belfast office by postal staff.
It is understood the package was sent to Cairde Na H’Eireann, a Republican supporters group based in Scotland.
The packages already discovered were designed to cause serious harm to the recipient.
The latest package – believed to be a parcel bomb – was found at the National Return Letter Centre in Belfast, where mail which has not been delivered and has no return to sender address is retained by Royal Mail.
It was then taken to a Police Service of Northern Ireland station.
Officers from Strathclyde Police believe it originally entered the postal system at about the same time as the devices already under investigation.
“This is an utterly despicable crime”
Ch Supt Ruaraidh Nicolson Strathclyde Police
Two bombs were sent to Neil Lennon, one was sent to former MSP Trish Godman and one, addressed to Lennon’s lawyer Paul McBride QC, was discovered at a postbox in Kilwinning in Ayrshire.
Ch Supt Ruaraidh Nicolson, of Strathclyde Police, said: “We’d like to stress that there is still no intelligence to suggest that these packages pose a threat to the wider public and we would urge people to remain calm.
“The person or people sending these packages are clearly determined to cause fear and alarm to the individuals or organisations concerned.
“This is an utterly despicable crime, committed by an individual or individuals who are prepared to put people in harm’s way simply to attract attention to their callous and cowardly actions. “
A security alert had been sparked around the Police Service of Northern Ireland office on Musgrave Street in Belfast.
Army bomb experts were called to examine the package, which had been taken from the Royal Mail sorting office.
The package is being made safe and will be handed to Strathclyde Police for further investigation.
Cairde Na H’Eireann has premises in Glasgow, but it is understood the parcel was not addressed to any specific individual.
First Minister Alex Salmond said: “Let’s be quite clear – the individual or individuals responsible for these disgraceful actions will be apprehended and dealt with with the full force of the law.”
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The Dean of Westminster says Prince William and Kate Middleton are “mature and steady” and he hopes they will be able to enjoy their wedding, despite the intense public interest in their lives.
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The hand was never added to the sculpture
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The demolition of a huge Turkish statue devoted to reconciliation with Armenia has begun, months after the prime minister described it as a “freak”.
The 30m-high statue – depicting two human figures facing each other – was erected on a mountain in the Turkish city of Kars, near the Armenian border.
Local authorities commissioned it several years ago to symbolise an end to decades of enmity and suspicion.
Artists had tried to save the statue, which could take 10 days to dismantle.
The company carrying out the demolition has already cut down one of the figures using a crane, witnesses said.
The work, called the Statue of Humanity, was the creation of well-known Turkish artist Mehmet Aksoy.
When finished, it would have had one figure extending a hand to the other.
“I am really sorry, sorry on behalf of Turkey,” Anatolia news agency quoted the sculptor as saying. “They can demolish it, we will re-make it.”
It was commissioned as a gesture of reconciliation, as Turkey and Armenia began attempts to repair relations after a century of hostility.
But that process stalled last year and there were a number of objections to the monument.
On a visit to Kars in January Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly described the monument as a “freak”, and an affront to a nearby 11th Century shrine.
Critics say Mr Erdogan may have aimed his remarks at nationalists, who are strong in this part of Turkey, ahead of June’s parliamentary elections.
Kars once had a large Armenian community, which was annihilated in 1915 as part of mass killings which Armenians and many historians call a genocide.
Turkey rejects the term and says atrocities were committed on both sides in World War I.
In 2009 the two countries agreed to normalise relations and, in that spirit, the former mayor of Kars commissioned the sculpture.
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The BBC’s Owen Bennett-Jones: “The flow of information from protesters… has slowed right down”
European countries have called for “strong measures” to halt repression in Syria, as its government steps up a campaign against peaceful protests.
In a joint statement, France and Italy urged the EU and UN to put pressure on Syria to end its crackdown.
The UK said it was working to send a “strong signal” to Damascus. The US has said it is considering sanctions.
More gunfire was heard in the city of Deraa on Tuesday, a day after troops and tanks were deployed.
Deraa has been at the centre of protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
But there have been numerous reports of a crackdown and arrests around Syria in recent days, despite the lifting of an emergency law last week.
Syria’s security forces have shot dead more than 400 civilians in their campaign to crush the month-long pro-democracy protests, according to Sawasiah, a Syrian human rights organisation.
It has called on the UN Security Council to convene and start proceedings against Syrian officials in the International Criminal Court.
According to a UN Security Council diplomat, the UK and other European states are circulating a draft statement condemning the violence in Syria.
Speaking at a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said France and Italy were calling for an end to violence.
“We issue a strong call on the authorities in Damascus to end the violent repression,” he said.
But Mr Sarkozy said France would not intervene in Syria without a Security Council resolution.
The UK reiterated the call to halt violence.
“The United Kingdom is working intensively with our international partners to persuade the Syrian authorities to stop the violence and respect basic and universal human rights to freedoms of expression and assembly,” said Foreign Secretary William Hague.
“We must see acts of genuine reform not repression.”
Meanwhile the US state department warned American citizens to stay away from Syria, and for those who were there to leave while there were still commercial flights.
It added that some non-essential embassy staff and all embassy dependants would be leaving.
The BBC’s Owen Bennett-Jones, in neighbouring Lebanon, says the Syrian government disputes the Western view that the demonstrations have been non-violent.
In a statement carried by the official news agency, it said it had sent troops to several cities on the request of citizens who were worried about “armed extremists”.
Arrests were made and those people would be processed through the civil courts, the government statement added, following the lifting of emergency laws last week.
The agency said some soldiers were killed in the fighting as the army moved into the southern city of Deraa.
Our correspondent says communication with Syria is virtually impossible, though there are reports of continuing clashes as the government tries to re-establish control of the city.
Gunfire can be heard on video footage which has been put on the internet and is said to have been filmed on Tuesday.
On Monday witnesses said the army had advanced into Deraa, using several tanks to support thousands of troops. Security forces also reportedly opened fire in a suburb of Damascus.
“The bullets continue against the people, but we are resisting,” local activist Abazid Abdullah told AFP news agency.
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