■ Venezuela
Chavez calls Aznar a fascist
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar a "fascist," saying Aznar once told him to forget about the poor nations of the world. Chavez recalled late Thursday that Aznar had urged him to get on "the train of the future" and distance himself from Cuba's Fidel Castro. Chavez, who met Thursday with Spanish Labor and Social Affairs Minister Jesus Caldera, said he once asked Aznar what he thought of the situation of poor African countries and Haiti. "He told me, `Forget about them, those nations missed the train of history. They are condemned to disappear.'" recalled Chavez, saying such ideas remind one of Adolf Hitler. "He is a true fascist."
■ United States
Anti-Indian law repealed
The Massachusetts Legislature has repealed a 330-year-old law that barred American Indians from entering Boston and has long irked area tribes -- even though it hasn't been enforced. Both the House and the Senate on Thursday voted to strike down the 1675 law passed during King Philip's War between colonists and area Indians, and that has remained on the books ever since. Activists and Indian groups have been trying for years to scuttle the law. Boston Mayor Tom Menino filed a petition last fall to dump it, and the city council passed it. The law was passed when tensions between colonists and Wampanoag leader Metacom -- derisively dubbed Philip by the settlers -- escalated into violence in 1675. The war ended when Metacom was killed in 1676, but the law remained.
■ Brazil
Deforestation increases
Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest last year was the second worst ever, figures released by the Brazilian government have shown. Satellite photos and other data showed that ranchers, loggers and especially soy bean farmers felled more than 26,000km2. The figures shocked Brazil's environment minister, Marina Silva, who said she believed that increases in deforestation had been stemmed and that illegal deforestation was under control. In fact, the destruction was nearly 6 percent higher than in the same period in 2003, when 24,700km2 were destroyed.
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