Caracas, Feb 16 (IANS/EFE) The Venezuelan government has released the first photographs of President Hugo Chavez since Dec 10, the day before he underwent a fourth operation in Cuba for the cancer he has been battling for 20 months.

Caracas, Feb 14 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is undergoing "very complex and tough" medical treatment in Cuba, where he has been hospitalized since Dec 11 after undergoing cancer surgery for the fourth time, Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday.

Caracas, Feb 13 (IANS/EFE) Two months after being operated for cancer in Cuba, President Hugo Chavez was analyzing images from Venezuela's recently launched Miranda satellite and giving orders based on what he observed, Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza said.

Caracas, Feb 9 (IANS/EFE) Venezuela is devaluing its currency by 31.7 percent, though the old exchange rate will be honoured for businesses and individuals with pending applications for dollars, Planning Minister Jorge Giordani said Friday.

Caracas, Feb 8 (IANS/EFE) The Venezuelan government has announced that authorities confiscated 106 firearms, including rifles and submachine guns, ammunition and grenades, along with assorted illegal drugs, at the Uribana prison, where Jan 25 a riot by inmates resulted in the deaths of 58 people.

Caracas, Jan 31 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA has signed a series of offshore gas development and drill-rig import agreements here with Russian state-controlled Rosneft, bolstering an alliance with a country that Caracas expects will be its top oil partner by 2021.

Caracas, Jan 30 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft's investment in current projects in Venezuela has reached a total of $10 billion, the company's president said Wednesday.

Caracas, Jan 26 (IANS) At least 54 people were killed and 88 injured Friday in a prison riot in northwest Venezuela, media reports said.

Caracas, Jan 23 (IANS/EFE) No date has yet been announced for the return to Venezuela of President Hugo Chavez, who underwent surgery more than a month ago in Cuba, but he "has been in very good spirits", Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas said Tuesday.

Caracas, Jan 21 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro has said that President Hugo Chavez, who is recovering from cancer surgery in Cuba, is coming out of the postoperative period and "is going to enter a new phase of treatment that is in the process of evaluation" after going through a "difficult" period.

Caracas, Dec 27 (IANS/EFE) Venezuela's vice president said Wednesday that head of state Hugo Chavez, now recovering in Cuba from his fourth cancer surgery in 18 months, remains undaunted by his illness.

Caracas, Dec 26 (IANS/EFE) Two weeks after undergoing his fourth cancer surgery in 18 months, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is walking, exercising and dealing with official matters, his vice president said.

Caracas, Dec 21 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is doing "well" as his doctors treat him for a respiratory infection that developed after he underwent his fourth cancer surgery in 18 months, the Andean nation's vice president said Thursday.

Caracas, Dec 19 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been recovering for more than a week in Cuba after an operation to deal with the return of his cancer, is in stable condition after his medical team treated him for a respiratory infection.

Caracas, Dec 18 (IANS/EFE) President Hugo Chavez's leftist PSUV party took 20 of 23 state governorships in Venezuelan regional elections, but opposition standard-bearer Henrique Capriles retained power in the central state of Miranda.

Caracas, Dec 13 (IANS/EFE) President Hugo Chavez emerged in good condition from a long and "difficult" operation to treat a recurrence of cancer in his pelvic area, the Venezuelan government said.

Caracas, Dec 12 (IANS/EFE) The Venezuelan government announced Tuesday that the Cuban medical team attending President Hugo Chavez performed an "operational procedure" on him for a recurrence of cancer.

Caracas, Dec 8 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to his country after nine days of treatment in Cuba as part of his process of recovery from cancer, which has had him in the operating room three times since June 2011.

Caracas, Nov 28 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will travel to Cuba to undergo "special" medical treatment six months after his most recent session of anti−cancer radiation therapy.

Caracas, Nov 25 (IANS/EFE) The case of Venezuelan Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni, in custody for almost three years amid international condemnation of her imprisonment, took an unexpected turn with the publication of a book in which she says she was raped in prison.

Caracas, Nov 9 (IANS/EFE) Model Gabriela Alexandra Fernandez Ocando, a Miss Venezuela hopeful in 2008, is under arrest along with four other people on charges of colluding with Colombian drug lord Daniel "El Loco" Barrera, authorities here said.

Caracas, Nov 6 (IANS/EFE) At least three people died and another went missing after suffering a mishap while practicing an extreme sport over the weekend in Canaima National Park in southern Venezuela, officials said.

Caracas, Nov 1 (IANS/EFE) A large power outage Wednesday affected two Venezuelan states, Electrical Energy Minister Hector Navarro said.

Caracas, Oct 10 (IANS/EFE) A Venezuelan businessman who bet that opposition candidate Henrique Capriles would win the presidential election here killed the two people who won the bet and then used his vehicle to run down five people who were celebrating Hugo Chavez's win, police said Tuesday.

Caracas, Oct 20 (IANS/EFE) Venezuela is considering investments of up to $300 million for the purchase of long-range aircraft to begin intercontinental flights to "allied" countries like China and Russia, a minister said.

Caracas, Oct 9 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Monday tweeted that he had held a "pleasant telephone conversation" with defeated electoral rival Henrique Capriles.

Caracas, Oct 8 (IANS) Incumbent Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has won the presidential election with 54.42 percent of the vote, an official said.

Caracas (Venezuela), Oct 7 (IANS) Under a joint programme promoted by Cuba and Venezuela, more than 1.5 million people from Latin American countries have had free eye surgery since 2004, the Prensa Latina news agency reported.

Caracas, Sep 29 (IANS/EFE) Venezuela and Russia have signed a new round of energy-cooperation deals, including an agreement to create a new joint venture between Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA and Russia's Rosneft.

Caracas, Sep 27 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan authorities captured a drug-smuggling plane after the aircraft was spotted by one of the drones the Andean nation is developing in partnership with Iran, President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday.

Caracas, Sep 25 (IANS/EFE) Venezuela's Oct 7 general elections will be patrolled by 139,000 soldiers, the head of the military strategic command, Gen. Wilmer Barrientos, said Monday.

Caracas, Sep 22 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he had a "pleasant conversation" on the phone with former US president Jimmy Carter and that he thanked him for describing the Andean nation's electoral process as "the best in the world".

Caracas, Sep 18 (IANS/EFE) Television coverage of a speech by opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles was interrupted Monday when incumbent head of state Hugo Chavez commandeered Venezuela's airwaves for an event marking the start of the school year.

Caracas, Sep 12 (IANS/EFE) Authorities in the western port city of Maracaibo released a US-flagged cargo ship and its captain after investigating an undeclared weapon found on the vessel, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday.

Lecheria (Venezuela), Sep 7 (IANS/EFE) Spain's Repsol said it expects production at the Perla gas field, located off Venezuela's northwestern coast and one of the world's largest, to begin in about 15 months.

Lecheria (Venezuela), Sep 6 (IANS/EFE) State-owned oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, has started exploring for oil in deepwater areas off Cuba, Oil and Mining Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

Caracas, Sep 5 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez acknowledged Tuesday that he thought about abandoning public life after discovering he had cancer in June 2011, for which he had to be operated three times.

Caracas, Aug 30 (IANS/EFE) A small plane carrying drugs crashed into a mountain in the northwestern state of Lara, killing the pilot, the Venezuelan interior ministry said.

Caracas, Sep 3 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said that women are his "weakness" and added he was convinced that they will be the ones who win him the presidency next month when he faces off at the ballot box against President Hugo Chavez.

Caracas, Aug 26 (IANS) The toll in a powerful blast at a refinery in Venezuela has risen to 26, officials said. A 10-year-old child was among the dead.

Caracas, Aug 24 (IANS/EFE) The toll in last weekend's battle between heavily armed inmate gangs at the Yare I prison near Caracas has risen to 26, said authorities.

Caracas, Aug 21 (IANS/EFE) A battle between heavily armed inmate gangs at the Yare I prison near Caracas left 25 people dead and 43 injured, Venezuela's minister of penitentiaries said.

Caracas, Aug 21 (IANS) More than 20 people have been killed in a prison riot between two inmate gangs near the Venezuelan capital, media reported.

Caracas, Aug 15 (IANS/EFE) Fencer Ruben Limardo has been honoured by Venezuela's National Assembly for the gold medal he won at the London Olympic Games.

Caracas, Aug 14 (IANS/EFE) Venezuela has increased oil sales to China to 640,000 barrels a day, the Andean nation's energy minister said.

Caracas, Aug 11 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that they will develop, together with Cuba, a large hotel complex on the Caribbean coast near Caracas, a tourist area left abandoned following the massive flooding that devastated the region in 1999.

Caracas, Aug 9 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez bestowed the Order of the Liberators on the country's Olympic fencing champion, Ruben Limardo, and presented him with a replica of the sword of South American liberator Simon Bolivar.

Caracas, Aug 3 (IANS/EFE) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been battling cancer since June 2011, said he feels fine and denied rumours that he submitted to a medical checkup during his just-completed official visit to Brazil.

Caracas, July 9 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russia has avoided the United States but has been drawn in a group with European champions Spain for the men's Olympic basketball tournament.

Caracas, July 7 (IANS/EFE) The director of the women's annex of a prison in the western state of Tachira was murdered Friday along with her husband, Venezuelan authorities said.