An administrator at Venezuela's biggest mosque says thieves have ransacked its offices, stealing jewels, computers and other objects and throwing books across the floor. Muhammad Ali Bokhair says it is the second time since September that the Ibrahim Al-lbrahim mosque has been robbed. The theft took place early Monday morning. No suspects have been identified. The mosque is located in downtown Caracas, where a scant police presence makes robberies and murders relatively common. The Ibrahim...

WASHINGTON - Iran is increasing its presence in Latin America, and Hezbollah, a terrorist organization it sponsors, is making inroads in drug trafficking in Colombia, the commander of U.S. Southern Command told Congress today. Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis told the House Armed Services Committee he shares concerns expressed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates about Iranian activity in Central and South America. Iran has opened six embassies in the region during the past five years and is...

The commander of U.S. forces in Latin America says the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is involved in drug trafficking in Colombia. The admiral is worried about increased Iranian and Hezbollah activities throughout the region. At Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday Admiral James Stavridis accused Hezbollah of involvement in the drug trade. "We have seen in Colombia a direct connection between Hezbollah activity and the narco-trafficking activity," he...

WASHINGTON - Iran is increasing its activity in Latin America and the Caribbean, including actions aimed at supporting the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a top U.S. military commander said on Tuesday. Navy Admiral James Stavridis, who oversees U.S. military interests in the region as head of U.S. Southern Command, also said Hezbollah was linked to drug-trafficking in Colombia. "We have seen... an increase in a wide level of activity by the Iranian government in this...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has offered the country's island La Orchida as a temporary base for Russian strategic bombers. “There is such a proposal on the part of the Venezuelan president,” said the chief of the long-range aviation staff Anatoly Zhikharev. “Chavez offered us a whole island with an airfield that we can use for the temporary basing of strategic bombers.” Zhikharev added that, providing there is the relevant political will, the island could be...

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the Cabinet holdover from the Bush years, is in the news regarding two major issues, and in each case is challenged to demonstrate that he remains in charge of the enormous Pentagon. In one case, he has disagreed sharply with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding Iran's nuclear weapons capacity. In the other, he appears to disagree with himself, at least in institutional terms, regarding Mexico's enormous expanding drug traffic. The problems...

Ali Reza Salari, Iran's deputy foreign minister for the Americas said on Friday that the Iranian delegation visiting Mexico is to study greater possibilities for realizing new potentials in trade and tourism with the Latin American nation. "With Mexico, there is absolutely no political problem between us. No cultural problems. It shows we have many shortcomings in our trade relations," Salari said. He said the annual trade with Brazil is USD 2b, while the annual trade with...

MEXICO CITY - Iran is exploring ways to expand anemic trade with Mexico as part of stepped up efforts to deepen ties with Latin America, a top Iranian diplomat said Thursday. Annual trade between Mexico and Iran is a mere $50 million, compared to $2 billion with Brazil, said Ali Reza Salari, Iran's deputy foreign minister for the Americas. "We are here to investigate, why so low?" Reza Salari told reporters in Mexico City, where he was to meet with diplomats and business leaders....

MADRID - A Spanish court official says 14 people have gone on trial charged with involvement with Islamic terrorist groups and recruiting extremists to fight in Iraq. Some of the 14 are also accused of helping suspects in the March 11, 2004 train bombings in Madrid to flee Spain. The 14 suspects, mainly from Morocco, were arrested in a series of raids over recent years, mostly in the northeastern region of Catalonia. They are charged with belonging to or collaborating with Islamic terrorism...

San Cristóbal de Las Casas.- For allegedly being living under semi-slavery, a group of eight Chamula families professing the Muslim religion in the highlands of Chiapas abandoned the group formed in 1994, said the indigene Carlos Arturo Gomez, whose Islamic name is Moustafa. He explained that they decided to leave the group because they were exploited, since they had to work for over 12 hours a day and received less than 1,000 pesos per month. In addition, they were not allowed...