Chavez blasts U.S. over jet plane parts
Caracas, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that Venezuela would consider buying Russian or Chinese warplanes if the United States fails to honor a contract to supply his country with parts for its F-16 jets.
The Venezuelan leader also accused Washington of blocking Venezuela’s acquisition of Super Tucano military planes from Brazil because the jets are built with U.S. technology.
“The contract for Brazil to make us some planes, which are for training, could not be signed because of the United States,” said Chavez, speaking to hundreds of soldiers at military fort in Caracas.
“We will have to wait to see if Brazil can resolve the problem. If not, well, they produce fighter jets and bombers in China too,” he added.
Chavez said the United States has failed to supply the parts needed to keep Venezuela’s F-16s flying and suggested he could turn to Russian-built MiGs. But U.S. officials said replacement parts for U.S.-made warplanes have recently been sent to the South American nation.
Britain says rendition requests date to ‘98
London Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tuesday that the government completed a records search into rendition requests made by the United States, finding three instances where the Clinton administration asked for permission to fly through its airspace while transporting prisoners.
Tuesday’s report followed a government statement in December in which it said it had no records of requests made by the Bush administration for rendition flights through Britain to third countries.
At that time, Straw ruled out a judicial inquiry into claims that the United States has used British airports to fly terror suspects abroad for interrogation.
Human rights organizations and legal groups in the U.S. and Europe have accused the current U.S. government of “extraordinary rendition” or the covert transfer of terror suspects to third countries where harsh interrogation methods, including torture, are permitted.
The three flight requests revealed Tuesday were made in 1998, for trips to the United States.
Ukraine power struggle focuses on Cabinet
Kiev, Ukraine Ukraine’s parliament fired the country’s prime minister and Cabinet on Tuesday to protest the government’s handling of the recent gas price war with Russia, a move experts said was an attempt to weaken the beleaguered Orange Revolution bloc ahead of crucial legislative elections this spring.
Parliament ordered Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov and his Cabinet to stay on until a new Cabinet can be formed. President Viktor Yushchenko denounced the move as unconstitutional and said he would challenge it in court.
But the parliament’s 250-50 vote sent a strong signal that the political clout Yushchenko amassed after his ascent to power during 2004’s Orange Revolution was eroding rapidly at the worst possible time – with pivotal parliamentary elections slated for March 26.
Those elections will determine whether Yushchenko will have the legislative backing he needs to forge ahead with his pro-West agenda of drawing Ukraine closer to the European Union and NATO, and further away from the Kremlin’s influence.