Chávez threatens to nationalise milk plants

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP):

President Hugo Chávez threatened yesterday to take over farms or milk plants if owners refuse to sell their milk for domestic consumption and instead seek higher profits overseas or from cheese-makers.

With the country recently facing milk shortages, Chávez said ''it's treason'' if farmers deny milk to Venezuelans while selling it across the border in Colombia or for gourmet cheeses.

''In that case the farm must be expropriated,'' Chávez said, adding that milk plants could also be taken over.

Gaza blackout

GAZA CITY (AP):

The only electrical plant in Gaza shut down yesterday after Israel blocked the shipment of fuel that powers them, plunging Gaza City into darkness and sending already beleaguered residents to stock up on food and batteries in anticipation of long, dark, cold days ahead.

A United Nations agency and human rights groups condemned Israel, but Israel said they should direct their criticism at Palestinian militant groups that fire rockets at southern Israel every day.

Israel sealed all crossings into Gaza last week because of a spike in rocket barrages, cutting off fuel. Several weeks ago Israel reduced the supply as a pressure tactic.

Romney, Clinton come up trumps

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP):

Republican John McCain looked yesterday to the next major battleground in Florida as a key to securing front-runner status after a narrow win in South Carolina added little clarity to a wide-open presidential race. The Democrats braced for a showdown in their party's South Carolina primary after Hillary Rodham Clinton edged out Barack Obama in Nevada.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney cruised to victory in the little-contested Republican caucuses in Nevada on Saturday, after largely ceding to his rivals the race in South Carolina, a conservative southern state where every Republican primary winner, since 1980, has gone on to win the party's nomination.

The South Carolina victory provided vindication for McCain who saw his 2000 presidential bid derailed there by then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, who went on to win the nomination.

The Naked truth

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP):

One of Liberia's most notorious rebel commanders, known as Gen. Butt Naked, has returned to the nation his troops terrorised to confess, saying he is responsible for 20,000 deaths. Joshua Milton Blahyi, who now lives in Ghana, returned this week to face his homeland's truth and reconciliation commission, this time wearing a suit and tie. His nom de guerre is derived from his platoon's practice of charging naked into battle, a technique meant to terrify the enemy.

Other warlords, though, have refused to ask forgiveness, dismissing a commission many in Liberia see as toothless. Blahyi is urging other former killers to come forward as the country founded by freed American slaves in 1847 struggles to recover from past horrors.

12 killed in plane crash

LUANDA, Angola (AP):

Rescue workers have recovered 12 bodies from the wreckage of a twin-engine plane that crashed in mountains during bad weather in Angola's central highlands, state media reported yesterday.

The crash site was located in Bailundo, 150 kilometres (93 miles) north of Huambo, where the plane had been flying to from the capital, Luanda, on Saturday morning, state news agency Angop said. The Beechcraft-200 was owned by private airline Gira Globo.

Pakistan ups ante on terror camp

ISLAMABAD (AP):

Pakistani artillery and helicopter gunships pounded militant positions yesterday close to the Afghan border, an extremist stronghold where a rebel leader blamed for the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is believed to be hiding, officials and witnesses said.

Authorities said a recently detained 15-year-old boy who reportedly admitted taking part in the December 27 attack on Bhutto said he received terrorist training in neighbouring Afghanistan before taking part in the mission.