President Hugo Chavez has recently accused President Bush of plotting to assassinate him, made suggestive comments about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visited Fidel Castro in Cuba and bashed the United States on the al-Jazeera television network.

Such bluster and anti-American showmanship are nothing new from the fiery former paratrooper. But concern in Washington has been rising as Chavez has worked feverishly in recent months to match his words with deeds.

Since threatening to cut off oil shipments to the United States, which buys 1.5 million barrels a day from Venezuela, Chavez has been traveling the globe looking for new markets and allies to unite against "the imperialist power."

He recently signed energy deals with France, India and China, which is searching for new sources of oil to power its industrial expansion. Chavez also has made arms purchases, including one for military helicopters from Russia.

On March 11, Chavez hosted President Mohammad Khatami of Iran, a nation that has a secretive nuclear program and has been labeled by Bush as part of an "axis of evil."

"Iran has every right... to develop atomic energy and to continue its research in that area," Chavez said at a joint appearance with Khatami. "All over the world, there is a clamor for equality... and profound rejection of the imperialist desires of the US government. Faced with the threat of the US government against our brother people in Iran, count on us for all our support."

The vast earthquake that triggered the Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day last year could yet set off repeats of both events because it has destabilised two neighbouring fault lines.

Research by British scientists has revealed that the magnitude 9.3 quake off the coast of Indonesia has dramatically increased stress on the Sumatra and Sunda Trench faults, both of which are now primed to deliver another major earthquake.

Should a fresh quake take place on either of the faults, the regional consequences would be devastating, though not quite on the scale of the December catastrophe, which has claimed an estimated 300,000 lives.

China's economy is still on the fast track, and its growth is expected to reach between eight and nine percent in 2005, said a report published recently by the China Centre for National Accounting and Economic Growth.

The report, the China Economic Growth Report for 2005, cited a number of factors to support the forecast including stronger market forces, the improvement of economic system and the benefits brought by China's entry into the World Trade Organization

Eighty per cent of China's electricity comes from coal, and there are plans for 544 new coal-fired power stations to meet an insatiable demand for energy.

Yet coal is a prime source of carbon dioxide - the global warming gas. If the power plants go ahead, it will be all but impossible to avoid dangerous climate change. The scale of China's own entangled history with coal is overwhelming. Right across northern China, coal seams burn in un-stoppable fires. Some have been burning naturally for thousands of years, but others are being set alight by small-scale mining operations seeking to cash in on soaring coal prices.

Together, these perpetual fires are letting off a total amount of carbon dioxide each year equal to all the cars in the USA. They want Western governments to offer technology partnerships that are not just about making a fast buck in the new China. This country needs technical solutions that allow it to burn coal without destroying the planet.

The BBC reported that state-run television in Iran and the local governor's office in Kerman put the death toll in the earthquake, which lasted 11 seconds, at more than 500.

Officially, at least 230 bodies have been found, while 600 people were injured in the powerful earthquake.

A UN team investigating compliance with sanctions against Al Qaeda and the Taleban predicted that brutal attacks by Osama bin Laden's followers will escalate as they still have easy access to bombmaking materials and money.

Terror attacks sponsored by Al Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction are among the chief threats confronting the world, according to the team's report to a UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against Al Qaeda and the Taleban.

Al Qaeda remains capable of mounting devastating attacks and sanctions are only having a limited effect on the group, which is still keen to acquire chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons, a UN report said Tuesday.

The latest town to come under Hamas control is Beit Hanoun, in the north.

Hamas has been the most powerful force in the current Palestinian uprising - reviled by Israelis for its suicide bomb attacks on them. The ongoing programme of local elections has marked Hamas's entry to mainstream, democratic politics. And last month it won landslide victories in seven out of the nine councils it fought for in Gaza.

Hamas swept aside the traditional Palestinian party of power, the Fatah faction that Yasser Arafat used to lead. Israelis regard Hamas as being among the most deadly of its enemies. Hamas clearly recognises that by going the route of democracy and the ballot box, it might well become an even more powerful player on the Palestinian political stage.

Pope John Paul II's condition has stabilised following overnight medical treatment that included respiratory assistance, the Vatican has said. The 84-year-old pontiff was rushed to Rome's Gemelli hospital with breathing difficulties on Tuesday night after a bout of flu suddenly worsened. The Vatican said in a statement later that the condition of the Pope's heart and lungs were "within normal limits". A spokesman added that he would remain in hospital "for another few days".

John Paul II is now in the 27th year of his pontificate which makes him almost the longest-reigning pope in history. The Pope - the leader of the world's estimated one billion Catholics - has visited more than 100 countries, and is estimated to have effectively circled the globe 27 times.

A 35-year-old woman is reported to be in a critical condition, after being taken hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. The four earlier cases have been fatal. Bird flu swept through Asia last year, killing more than 30 people and leading to culls of poultry in 10 countries.

A World Health Organization (WHO) expert has warned that many more could die if the virus is not contained. "If strong measures are not in place, the epidemic can spread to an unmeasurable extent," Hans Troedsso was quoted as saying at a conference in Hanoi on Thursday.

Pandemic fear: The outbreak in Vietnam was first reported last month, when the authorities said some 4,000 chickens had either died or been culled in the south of the country. More than 100 million birds have died or been killed around Asia last year because of the bird flu virus. The virus has killed 25 people in Vietnam and 12 in Thailand over the last 12 months.

Experts have warned of the risk of a world pandemic if bird flu combines with a human flu virus. The WHO on its website said the recent tsunami that devastated parts of South East Asia may have raised the risk of a pandemic. It said preventative measures need to be taken across the region to ensure the avian influenza is not imported to those areas made vulnerable by the tsunami.

The emergence of China and India as dominant consumers will drive up Asia's weightings in global financial markets and empower their governments, a top official at Baring Asset Management said yesterday.

Percival Stanion, head of multi-asset investment, said Baring's investments in Asia would rise by up to a quarter this year from around $3 billion and jump by five to six times over the next decade as Asia becomes the world's leading consumer.

"Availability of foreign capital and technology, competitive wage rates, favourable demographics and political structures are all coming together at the same time on a huge scale," he told Reuters in an interview.

Settlers in the occupied territories are expected to mount strong resistance. In the latest clash, while trying to evacuate illegal caravans from a settlement near Nablus, hundreds of soldiers and policemen were deployed after settlers fought security men, poured oil on roads and punctured tires on police and army vehicles.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, told BBC Radio 4's Today that the constitution was important for making the EU more efficient. He said he was sure Prime Minister Tony Blair would mount a solid defence of the constitution ahead of the vote. The referendum, which Tories say is flawed, is expected in spring 2006.

North Korea said Saturday that the risk of a nuclear war was mounting on the Korean peninsula as the United States attempts to stifle it by force.

It urged Washington to drop its hostile policy toward the communist state and demanded solidarity among all Koreans in order to drive out US troops stationed in South Korea, calling them the very source of a nuclear war.

The vanguard of a global relief effort converged on the tsunami-ravaged coasts of Indonesia and other stricken nations Friday as millions of survivors grew increasingly desperate and the death toll reached 124,000 from a disaster that cast a shroud over the world's New Year celebrations.