World in brief: Chavez suspends rolling blackouts

Caracas, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez indefinitely suspended rolling blackouts in Venezuela’s capital just a day after they began, and sacked his electricity minister saying he was responsible for mistakes in the way the rationing plan was applied.

Chavez’s announcements late Wednesday were a significant strategic shift in his attempts to prevent a widespread power collapse in the coming months through rolling blackouts of up to four hours a day across the country.

“I’ve ordered the electrical outages to be suspended, only in Caracas,” Chavez said on state television. “Because this government has to be capable of recognizing mistakes made and fixing them in time.”

Chavez said he asked Electricity Minister Angel Rodriguez to resign and that “he has taken it like a soldier.”

He made the announcement shortly before some parts of Caracas were set to begin four-hour outages at midnight.

Missile strike hits compound

Islamabad, Pakistan – A suspected U.S. missile strike killed at least 10 alleged militants today at a compound formerly used as a religious school in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region, officials said, the eighth such attack in two weeks.

The strike illustrated the Obama administration’s unwillingness to abandon its missile campaign against insurgent targets along Pakistan’s northwest border with Afghanistan. Despite Pakistani protest, the missile attacks have surged in number in recent days.

The latest missiles hit the Pasalkot area of North Waziristan around 7 a.m., landing in a sprawling compound that has been used as a religious school in the past.

The strike came as Richard Holbrooke, a U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, was visiting parts of Pakistan.