Hugo Chavez Dead: Venezuela's President Dies At 58
CARACAS,
Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez, the fiery populist who declared a
socialist revolution in Venezuela, crusaded against U.S. influence and
championed a leftist revival across Latin America, died Tuesday at age 58 after
a nearly two-year bout with cancer.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro, surrounded by other government officials,
announced the death in a national television broadcast. He said Chavez died at
4:25 p.m. local time.
During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the
status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his
confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator
and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support,
particularly among the poor.
Chavez repeatedly proved himself a political survivor. As an army
paratroop commander, he led a failed coup in 1992, then was pardoned and
elected president in 1998. He survived a coup against his own presidency in
2002 and won re-election two more times.
The
burly president electrified crowds with his booming voice, often wearing the
bright red of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela or the fatigues and red
beret of his army days. Before his struggle with cancer, he appeared on
television almost daily, talking for hours at a time and often breaking into
song of philosophical discourse.
Chavez used his country's vast oil wealth to launch social programs that
include state-run food markets, new public housing, free health clinics and
education programs. Poverty declined during Chavez's presidency amid a historic
boom in oil earnings, but critics said he failed to use the windfall of
hundreds of billions of dollars to develop the country's economy.
Inflation soared and the homicide rate rose to among the highest in the
world.
Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba in June 2011 to remove what he said was
a baseball-size tumor from his pelvic region, and the cancer returned
repeatedly over the next 18 months despite more surgery, chemotherapy and
radiation treatments. He kept secret key details of his illness, including the
type of cancer and the precise location of the tumors.
"El Comandante," as he was known, stayed in touch with the
Venezuelan people during his treatment via Twitter and phone calls broadcast on
television, but even those messages dropped off as his health deteriorated.
Two months after his last re-election in October, Chavez returned to
Cuba again for cancer surgery, blowing a kiss to his country as he boarded the
plane. He was never seen again in public.
After a 10-week absence marked by opposition protests over the lack of
information about the president's health and growing unease among the
president's "Chavista" supporters, the government released
photographs of Chavez on Feb. 15 and three days later announced that the
president had returned to Venezuela to be treated at a military hospital in
Caracas.
Throughout his presidency, Chavez said he hoped to fulfill Bolivar's
unrealized dream of uniting South America.
He was also inspired by Cuban leader Fidel Castro and took on the aging
revolutionary's role as Washington's chief antagonist in the Western Hemisphere
after Castro relinquished the presidency to his brother Raul in 2006.
Supporters saw Chavez as the latest in a colorful line of revolutionary
legends, from Castro to Argentine-born Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Chavez
nurtured that cult of personality, and even as he stayed out of sight for long
stretches fighting cancer, his out-sized image appeared on buildings and
billboard throughout Venezuela. The airwaves boomed with his baritone mantra:
"I am a nation." Supporters carried posters and wore masks of his
eyes, chanting, "I am Chavez."
Chavez saw himself as a revolutionary and savior of the poor.
"A revolution has arrived here," he declared in a 2009 speech.
"No one can stop this revolution."
Chavez's social programs won him enduring support: Poverty rates
declined from 50 percent at the beginning of his term in 1999 to 32 percent in
the second half of 2011. But he also charmed his audience with sheer charisma and
a flair for drama that played well for the cameras.
He ordered the sword of South American independence leader Simon Bolivar
removed from Argentina's Central Bank to unsheathe at key moments. On
television, he would lambast his opponents as "oligarchs," announce
expropriations of companies and lecture Venezuelans about the glories of
socialism. His performances included renditions of folk songs and impromptu
odes to Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong and 19th century philosopher Friedrich
Nietzsche.
Chavez carried his in-your-face style to the world stage as well. In a
2006 speech to the U.N. General Assembly, he called President George W. Bush
the devil, saying the podium reeked of sulfur after Bush's address.
Critics saw Chavez as a typical Latin American caudillo, a strongman who
ruled through force of personality and showed disdain for democratic rules.
Chavez concentrated power in his hands with allies who dominated the congress
and justices who controlled the Supreme Court.
He insisted all the while that Venezuela remained a vibrant democracy
and denied trying to restrict free speech. But some opponents faced criminal
charges and were driven into exile.
While Chavez trumpeted plans for communes and an egalitarian society,
his soaring rhetoric regularly conflicted with reality. Despite government
seizures of companies and farmland, the balance between Venezuela's public and
private sectors changed little during his presidency.
And even as the poor saw their incomes rise, those gains were blunted
while the country's currency weakened amid economic controls.
Nonetheless, Chavez maintained a core of supporters who stayed loyal to
their "comandante" until the end.
"Chavez masterfully exploits the disenchantment of people who feel
excluded ... and he feeds on controversy whenever he can," Cristina
Marcano and Alberto Barrera Tyszka wrote in their book "Hugo Chavez: The
Definitive Biography of Venezuela's Controversial President."
Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias was born on July 28, 1954, in the rural town of
Sabaneta in Venezuela's western plains. He was the son of schoolteacher parents
and the second of six brothers.
Chavez was a fine baseball player and hoped he might one day pitch in
the U.S. major leagues. When he joined the military at age 17, he aimed to keep
honing his baseball skills in the capital.
But the young soldier immersed himself in the history of Bolivar and
other Venezuelan heroes who had overthrown Spanish rule, and his political
ideas began to take shape.
Chavez burst into public view in 1992 as a paratroop commander leading a
military rebellion that brought tanks to the presidential palace. When the coup
collapsed, Chavez was allowed to make a televised statement in which he
declared that his movement had failed "for now." The speech, and
those two defiant words, launched his career, searing his image into the memory
of Venezuelans.
He and other coup prisoners were released in 1994, and President Rafael
Caldera dropped the charges against them.
Chavez then organized a new political party and ran for president four
years later, vowing to shatter Venezuela's traditional two-party system. At age
44, he became the country's youngest president in four decades of democracy
with 56 percent of the vote.
Chavez was re-elected in 2000 in an election called under a new
constitution drafted by his allies. His increasingly confrontational style and
close ties to Cuba, however, disenchanted many of the middle-class supporters
who had voted for him. The next several years saw bold but failed attempts by
opponents to dislodge him from power.
In 2002, he survived a short-lived coup, which began after a large
anti-Chavez street protest ended in deadly shootings. Dissident military
officers detained the president and announced he had resigned. But within two
days, he returned to power with the help of military loyalists while his
supporters rallied in the streets.
Chavez emerged a stronger president. He defeated a subsequent
opposition-led strike that paralyzed the country's oil industry, and he fired
thousands of state oil company employees.
The coup also turned Chavez more decidedly against the U.S. government,
which had swiftly recognized the provisional leader who had briefly replaced
him. He created political and trade alliances that excluded the U.S., and he
cozied up to Iran and Syria in large part, it seemed, due to their shared
antagonism toward the U.S. government.
Despite the souring relationship, Chavez sold the bulk of Venezuela's
oil to the United States.
He easily won re-election in 2006, and then said it was his destiny to
lead Venezuela until 2021 or even 2031.
"I'm still a subversive," Chavez said in a 2007 interview with
The Associated Press. "I think the entire world has to be subverted."
Playing such a larger-than-life public figure ultimately left little
time for a personal life.
His second marriage, to journalist Marisabel Rodriguez, deteriorated in
the early years of his presidency, and they divorced in 2004. In addition to
their one daughter, Rosines, Chavez had three children from his first marriage,
which ended before Chavez ran for office.
Chavez acknowledged after he was diagnosed with cancer that he had been
recklessly neglecting his health. He had taken to staying up late and drinking
as many as 40 cups of coffee a day. He regularly summoned his Cabinet ministers
to the presidential palace late at night.
He often said he believed Venezuela was on its way down a long road
toward socialism, and that there was no turning back. After winning re-election
in 2012, he vowed to deepen his push to transform Venezuela.
His political movement, however, was mostly a one-man show. Only three
days before his final surgery, Chavez named Maduro as his chosen successor.
Now, it will be up to Venezuelans to determine whether the Chavismo
movement can survive, and how it will evolve, without the leader who inspired
it.
---
Biographical information for this report was contributed by former
Caracas bureau chief Ian James.
Wedding Bells: First Pictures Of 2Face Idibia And Super Stunning Bride Annie Macaulay Idibia's Traditional Wedding Emerge
We were absolutely thrilled when we saw these breathtaking pictures of beautiful bride Annie Macaulay tying the knot today to her sweetheart International star 2face Idibia. The fine couple are presently at their Traditional Wedding which is taking place in Eket, Akwa Ibom State the bride hometown.
Kelly Osbourne has been rushed to a hospital in Los Angeles, multiple publications are reporting.
The 28-year-old television personality suffered a seizure Thursday on set of her E! show, "Fashion Police." TMZ reports that the scare came when Osbourne told her co-hosts for the day, Joan and Melissa Rivers, "I don't feel good," then collapsed onto the floor, convulsing. Osbourne was taken to the hospital, though it appears she became conscious shortly after falling. "She is fine. We just saw her," Joan told TMZ about the incident.
Osbourne previously sprained her ankle in February after getting her shoe stuck in a bathroom drain, according to her Twitter page, where she also shared a photo of her injured right foot.
UPDATE: A rep for Kelly Osbourne told the Huffington Post: "Kelly Osbourne fainted on the set of E!’s Fashion Police today. She was taken to a local hospital for further testing and is awake, alert and in stable condition. She will be staying overnight for observation as a precautionary measure."
UPDATE #2: Kelly Osbourne confirmed her seizure on her Twitter page Friday.
Thirty-two-year-old mother of five, Mrs Chinwe Ozoemena and her six-year-old son are now writhing in pains at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Anambra State as their neighbour at Nkwo Nnewi market allegedly bathed them with acid.
The incident happened last Saturday.
According to a family source, the woman and her little boy had closed business for the day on that fateful evening and were about leaving the market. But unknown to them, their attacker was lurking around the shops, waiting for them with undiluted acid.
Daily Sun was told that as soon as the suspect who was allegedly not in good terms with the Ozoemenas sighted the victims, he advanced towards them “which made the victims’ (mother) who was using her cell phone torchlight, (as it was getting dark) to shout, calling Sunday, Sunday (suspect) what is it again.”
The source said it was at that moment that the suspect poured the deadly liquid on the victims and disappeared. Daily Sun gathered that as the mother and son cried out in pains, sympathizers rushed to the scene and applied first aid, using water and oil to douse the devastating effect before they were rushed to NAUTH.
When Daily Sun visited the victims at the Accident and Emergency Unit, NAUTH it was observed that the woman had a higher degree of burn than the son as her face and chest were targeted, while her son was affected in the back and part of his head.
Speaking to Daily Sun, the woman’s husband, Mr Bright Ozoemena, a building contractor and a native of Mmiata Anam in Anambra West Local Government Area, said when he got the news of what happened to his family, he rushed to the hospital and was briefed by his wife and later ran to Nnewi Central Police Station which led to the arrest of the suspect, a native of Abakiliki in Ebonyi State, according to Mr Ozoemena.
The matter has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Awka for further investigation. Contacted, the Anambra State Police Command image maker, Mr Emeka Chukwuemeka said he was yet to get details of the incident.
Source: Daily Sun Newspaper
Nigeria’s football star, Nwankwo Kanu has lost N1.4 billion in his hotel business and the Managing Director of the hotel, Mr. Ayoola Gam Ikon, 49, has been arrested and charged to court for the alleged fraud.
Operatives of the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit arrested Ikon, the managing director of Hardley Suites Limited situated at Waziri Ibrahim Crescent, off Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Victoria Island, Lagos southwest Nigeria, for allegedly stealing the N1.4 billion belonging to the hotel and suites owned by Kanu.
Also arrested along with him over the alleged fraud is a hotel staff, Oke Samuel. They were arraigned before an Igbosere Magistrate’s court on a 19-count charge of felony to wit, obtaining money under false pretence.
The police alleged in charge suit No. K/8/2013 that Ikon was arrested following a complaint by the management of Hardley Suites Limited, Nwankwo Kanu and Ogbonna Kanu, that Ikon between 2005 and 2012 allegedly defrauded them of the sum of about N1.4 billion on the pretence of using the money to expand the existing facilities of the hotel by constructing and furnishing of additional blocks of 30 suites and conference facilities, but he allegedly failed to use the money for the purpose and allegedly converted the money to his personal use.
He was also alleged to have forged a special resolution purportedly made by the board of directors of Hardley Suites Limited to obtain loans of N187 million, N50 million and N493 million from Skye Bank Plc without authorization. The offences, the accused allegedly committed, according to the prosecutor A.M. Animashaun, contravenes sections 8 (a) 1 (a) of the advanced fee fraud and other fraud related offences Act 2006 as applicable in Lagos State.
The accused pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The prosecutor presented before the court an application for the remand of the accused persons in prison custody pending advice from the office of the directorate of public prosecution, DPP, because the lower court lacks the jurisdiction to try the matter.
But the Chief Magistrate, Mrs. O.O. Oshin overruled him with legal facts after quoting copiously from several sections of the criminal justice administration laws of Lagos State to buttress her claim that the court has the jurisdiction to hear and admit the accused to bail. She admitted the first defendant to bail in the sum of N1 million with two sureties in like sum.
One of the sureties must be the defendant himself, the other should be a civil servant on level 16. She also admitted the second defendant to bail in the sum of N500,000, with two sureties in like sum. One of the sureties must be a level 16 civil servant while the other must be working with a reputable company. She adjourned the matter till 4 April, 2013 for mention. The defendants were, however, moved to Ikoyi Prison, Lagos pending when they would fulfil the bail conditions.
Source: PM News
Saturday (March 9) marks the 16th anniversary of Biggie Smalls' untimely death at age 24.
The inimitable rapper, born Christopher Wallace, made headlines this year after a newly leaked autopsy report revealed startlingly graphic details about his 1997 murder in Los Angeles (Wallace was shot four times, and struck in the chest, shoulder, leg, forearm and scrotum, while in the passenger's seat of a Chevy Suburban on Wilshire Boulevard).
But the hip-hop legend is also frequently remembered by both his contemporaries and new generations of artists influenced by his music (though we won't mention this).
Even Jamie Foxx cited Biggie as a source of inspiration when preparing for his role in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained."
"I listened to a lot of Biggie Smalls. Whenever there was a time when I was getting ready for my scene, I would play 'Dead Wrong' or 'Somebody’s Gotta Die,' so there would be things like that that I would just use as fuel," Foxx recently told Vanity Fair.
Wallace would have been 41.
Lil' Kim stepped out in New York City this week and she was looking a little different.
Lil' Kim hit New York on Wednesday to film MTV's "RapFix Live" and debut her new protégée, Tiffany Foxx, according to MTV News. Dressed in a leather and fur coat and wearing red lipstick, Lil Kim looked quite different from the Brooklyn rapper who first hit the scene in the 1990s.
When she sat down with New York's Power 105.1 "The Breakfast Club" last year, Lil' Kim was asked about her alleged cosmetic surgery by the show's host co-host, Charlamagne Tha God. But the 38-year-old didn't seem to appreciate the prying.
"Why would you ask me that?" she responded. "There's [sic] so many people who have surgery. You know? So, I don't know where that question is coming from."
French Montana has finally unveiled the highly-anticipated video for "Freaks," his sexually-charged collaboration with Nicki Minaj.
The Eif Rivera clip finds the pair in the midst of a good ol' fashioned bashment. It's par for the course for dancehall-inspired cut, which is itself a reworking of Lil Vicious and Doug E. Fresh's early-90s party fave "Freaks."
While we're indifferent to Frenchie here, we're gonna go out on a limb and say this is the hottest Nicki Minaj video appearance in some time. It's certainly competing with her own "Beez In The Trap" and Big Sean's "Dance (A$$) Remix."
Theo Wargo, Getty
Justin Bieber reportedly fainted during a concert earlier tonight (March 7).
The singer needed medical attention after experiencing breathing problems during the London performance.
Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, went onstage to reassure the crowd that the 19-year-old was okay.
"The whole show he has been complaining," Braun told the audience, according to a WENN report. "He's backstage with the EMTs [emergency medical technicians] and the doctor. They're telling him that they want him to go and see someone and see what's going on with his lungs.
Despite the health scare, Braun assured fans that Bieber was determined to come back onstage.
"He is telling me that in five minutes he's gonna come out and finish the show," the manager continued. "He might not be jumping around as much ... We're not trying to be disrespectful ... we're truly trying to put on a show ... Just bear with us ... We're gonna do the best job to finish the show."
Soon after, the "Beauty and a Beat" singer walked back on to the stage, where he was met with cheers from the audience.
"He got oxygen from emergency personnel. He insisted on finishing the show. He is on the way to the hospital right now," Bieber's rep tells E! News.
Barbara Walters revealed on Tuesday that the famous actor was gave her chicken pox was Frank Langella.
Walters returned to "The View" on Monday after a six-week hiatus. She fainted, fell and sustained a concussion at the British ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C. in January, and was later found to have been infected with chicken pox. Walters said that she had exchanged a New Year's kiss with a "well-known" actor who did not know he had shingles, but did not name him.
"It was Frank Langella," Walters revealed on Tuesday. She said that she "didn't want to" name him, but co-host Joy Behar noted that it had already been reported in the press.
"Frank pointed out is he is over his shingles," Walters added.
CARACAS,
Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez, the fiery populist who declared a
socialist revolution in Venezuela, crusaded against U.S. influence and
championed a leftist revival across Latin America, died Tuesday at age 58 after
a nearly two-year bout with cancer.
LOS ANGELES — The FBI has released its files on a trio of investigations the agency conducted on behalf of Whitney Houston.
The records released Monday show the agency conducted one investigation into an alleged extortion attempt in 1992, but agents and prosecutors determined no crime occurred.
Agents also found no evidence of criminal threats to the singer in fan mail that was sent to the FBI for investigation in 1988 and 1999.
The 128-page file covers the height of the Grammy-winning singer's popularity but does not contain any new personal details.
Records on the FBI's extortion investigation in which Houston was interviewed at the New Jersey offices of her management company are heavily redacted.
Houston drowned in a hotel bathtub on the eve of the 2012 Grammy Awards. 
Worldwide, about 1,000 babies are born with HIV each day. There's new reason to be
hopeful about their future
Looks like Rihanna is not the only one with babies on the brain.
