Chavez's illness delays summit

30 June 2011 Last updated at 06:58 GMT Venezuelans are eager for any news about President Chavez Venezuela has suspended a regional summit scheduled for 5 July amid continuing speculation over the health of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Mr Chavez left the country on 8 June for Cuba, where he had surgery, apparently for a pelvic abscess.

On Tuesday Cuban state TV showed images of the president talking animatedly to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

But on Wednesday Venezuelan officials said the summit, which he was due to host, had been delayed.

Analysts say the suspension of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) meeting will be a blow to President Chavez.

He was due to chair the first gathering of the new regional bloc on Margarita island, off the Venezuelan coast.

Venezuelan officials had earlier said the videos from Cuba proved that the president's recovery was continuing.

Extended footage of Mr Chavez and Mr Castro talking was broadcast by Cuban and Venezuelan TV on Wednesday.

Photographs and footage showed Mr Chavez apparently looking well

Vice-President Elias Jaua said Mr Chavez had been in close contact with officials in an effort to "continue driving the national plans forward".

Mr Chavez's unexpectedly long absence from the country has prompted debate on whether he should delegate executive power to the vice-president.

Venezuelan officials have said he underwent emergency surgery on 10 June for a pelvic abscess, but there has been speculation in the Venezuelan and foreign press that the president's condition could be more serious.

He had been widely expected to be back in time to host the CELAC summit which also coincides with Venezuela's bicentennial celebrations.

President Chavez is one of the driving forces behind CELAC, seen as an alternative to the Organization of American States (OAS). Unlike the OAS, CELAC excludes the US and Canada.

The BBC's Sarah Grainger in Caracas said President Chavez wants to see greater co-operation between Latin American nations and less US influence in the region.

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Greek drama to dominate EU summit

23 June 2011 Last updated at 11:45 GMT Greek PM George Papandreou (left) faces tough questions from EU colleagues The threat of a Greek debt default undermining the euro overshadows an EU summit getting under way in Brussels.

The 27 EU leaders are expected to reaffirm their determination to defend the single currency.

But the BBC's Europe editor says there is little they can do until the Greek parliament votes on a new package of tough austerity measures next week.

Many economists think a Greek default is inevitable sooner or later - and that would hit confidence in the euro.

Prime Minister David Cameron is likely to insist again that the UK - which did not contribute to the first Greek bail-out last year - should not be involved in any second Greek rescue, our Europe editor Gavin Hewitt says.

Migration pressures are also on the agenda at the two-day summit.

The key question is whether, following an influx of migrants from North Africa this year, the EU's open borders policy should in exceptional circumstances be suspended.

Leaders are also expected to endorse and set a date for Croatia's accession to the EU - likely to be July 2013.

Anger on Athens streets

Greece's EU partners are anxious to see the Greek parliament approve a five-year austerity package of tax increases and spending cuts worth 28bn euros (?25bn; $40bn).

Continue reading the main story June 28: Greek parliament to vote on a new austerity packageJuly 3: Eurozone deadline: will sign off latest bail-out payment to Greece - 12bn euros - if austerity package has passedJuly 15: Default deadline: Without the 12bn euros it needs to make debt repayments, Greece will defaultGreece will not get the next instalment of its 110bn-euro bail-out unless it adopts the measures. Yet many Greeks are angry, believing that their country is being sacrificed for the sake of the euro, and they have held mass protests and strikes against the EU's stringent bail-out conditions.

Trade unions in Greece have called a two-day general strike to coincide with next week's debate in parliament on the package.

Both private and public sector unions are protesting against the cuts.

Eurozone ministers recognise that Greece will need another big EU lifeline. On Sunday they agreed to put together a second bail-out package worth 120bn euros to fund Greece into late 2014.

In an interview on the BBC's Hardtalk programme French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe spoke of "a very strong determination in the [EU] member states to save what has been done in the past 50 years".

"We've no choice. If the eurozone disappeared the EU itself would be in danger - we can't afford such a situation," he said, insisting that "there will not be any default of Greece".

Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt told the BBC that the Greek crisis was an opportunity for the 17-nation eurozone to build a closer economic union. He now leads the liberal bloc (ALDE) in the European Parliament.

"They need to create an economic union next to the monetary union, because monetary union cannot work alone," he told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.

"To have 17 different governments, with 17 different economic strategies, with 17 different markets, that doesn't work in monetary union.

"They have no choice. They are maybe not courageous enough to make the choice today, but I am very sure that this Greek crisis is not finished."

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Obama to tee off in 'golf summit'

18 June 2011 Last updated at 01:35 GMT Mr Obama is expected to speak to Mr Boehner about reducing the federal budget during the game US President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner are set to go head-to-head on the golf course amid tensions over the federal budget and the US role in Libya.

The high-stakes round will take place as the US Open nears a climax nearby.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said that though Saturday's game would be an opportunity for the men to socialise, talk on the budget was expected.

Republicans want spending cuts with the deficit poised to hit $1.4tr (?865bn).

The pair tee off amid a dispute between the White House and Congress over the legality of the US role in the Nato-led mission in Libya.

This week, Mr Boehner told the White House the ongoing US support for Nato's mission in Libya violates a US war powers law limiting military action without congressional approval to 60 days.

The White House on Thursday responded with a letter to Congress insisting Mr Obama did not need congressional approval, because the military campaign is limited in scope.

And late on Friday, the New York Times reported Mr Obama had overruled the advice of two senior administration lawyers in taking that position. But the report noted Mr Obama is free to disregard the advice of the White House office of legal counsel.

President handicapped

In Washington at least the anticipation for Mr Obama and Mr Boehner's outing is expected to overshadow the third round of the US Open, which is being held at the Congressional Country Club in the suburbs of the city.

Continue reading the main story Joe Biden: Handicap 6.3; Washington ranking 29John Boehner: Handicap 7.9; Ranking 43Barack Obama: Handicap 17; Ranking 108

Source: Golf Digest

Vice-President Joe Biden and Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich will also join the president on the course - with the exact location not yet reveal to the public.

If the form guide is to be believed Mr Biden should be favourite to win the round - he is ranked 29 in the Golf Digest list of Washington's top 150 golfers.

Mr Boehner is ranked 43, while the president - better known for his love of the basketball court than the golf course - is rated number 108.

The magazine also estimates Mr Obama's handicap at 17, Mr Biden's at 6.3 and Mr Boehner's at 7.9.

Deal hopes downplayed

Mr Carney said on Thursday that though raising the $14.29tn (?8.7 trillion) debt ceiling was likely to be a subtext to the game, it was unlikely the men would come to any resolutions during the game.

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I think I can say with great confidence that they will not wrap up the 18th hole and come out and say that we have a deal”

End Quote Jay Carney White House spokesman "I think I can say with great confidence that they will not wrap up the 18th hole and come out and say that we have a deal," he said.

Earlier in the day, Vice-President Biden - who has been leading attempts to craft a deal with Republicans - told reporters that Democrats and Republicans had tentatively agreed on several federal spending cuts.

They were preparing for difficult trade-offs that could lead to trillions of dollars in savings, Mr Biden said.

Biden and top Democrats and Republicans both hope to reduce the federal budget by $4tn over the next 10 years to allow lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling to prevent a default.

The US treasury department has warned that the US risks default if Congress does not authorise more borrowing by August.

But Republicans have refused to allow tax increases, while Democrats have vowed to protect costly social programmes.

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