In brief: Chavez announces his cancer is back

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Saturday night that his cancer has returned and that he will undergo another surgery in Cuba.

Chavez, who won re-election on Oct. 7, also said for the first time that if his health were to worsen, his successor would be Vice President Nicolas Maduro.

“We should guarantee the advance of the Bolivarian Revolution,” Chavez said on television, seated at the presidential palace with Maduro and other aides.

The president, 58, said that tests had shown a return of some cancerous cells and that he would return to Cuba today for the surgery, his third operation to remove cancerous tissue in about a year and a half.

North Korea may delay rocket launch

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea may postpone the controversial launch of a long-range rocket that had been slated for liftoff as early as Monday, North Korean state media said today.

Scientists have pushed forward with preparations for the launch from a west coast site but are considering “readjusting” the timing, a spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology told North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

It was unclear whether diplomatic intervention or technical glitches were behind the possible delay.

Past launches have earned North Korea international condemnation and a host of sanctions.

Mandela checks into hospital for tests

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela was admitted to a military hospital Saturday for medical tests, though the nation’s president told the public there was “no cause for alarm” over the 94-year-old icon’s health.

The statement issued by President Jacob Zuma’s spokesman said Mandela was doing well and was receiving medical care “which is consistent for his age.” The statement offered no other details.

Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for fighting racist white rule, became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 and served one five-year term. He later retired from public life to live in his village of Qunu, and last made a public appearance when his country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.