Bolivia's president gets sworn in for new term

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced a day of mourning and compared deceased Venezuelian President Chavez to a saint, saying he will “return on resurrection day.” Chavez died this past week at the age of 58 after succumbing to cancer. Ahmadinejad said he has “no doubt Chavez will return to Earth together with Jesus and the perfect” Imam Mahdi, the most revered figure of Shiite Muslims, and help “establish peace, justice and kindness” in the world. The Iranian leader said he believes something “suspicious” caused the cancer that killed Chavez.

Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales won a landslide reelection victory in voting that also handed him unfettered control of Congress, according to exit polls.The results mean that Morales, a fiercely anti-US leader in the mold of his close ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, will have a free hand to deepen leftist reforms for the duration of his new five-year term.Two survey firms, Ipsos and Mori, said Morales garnered 62-63 percent of the vote, well ahead of his closest rival, former governor Manfred Reyes Villa, who picked up only 23-25 percent.

Leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales on Saturday swore in a new cabinet of 20 ministers, half of whom are women -- a first in the macho Andean nation."My great dream has been fulfilled, half of my cabinet are women, the other half men," said Morales, speaking at a ceremony at the Quemado presidential palace.Morales, 50, was sworn in for a second five-year term on Friday after he was easily re-elected on December 6.

Today's press conference by Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Manduro gave the impression that Hugo Chavez is on the brink of death.

Venezuelan officials boasted that up to 55 world leaders will attend the state funeral of President Hugo Chavez on Friday, including US bugbears Cuba, Iran and Belarus.

Officials in Bolivia issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for a leading political rival of leftist President Evo Morales, charging the conservative politician with tax evasion and election fraud.Manfred Reyes Villa, a former governor of the state of Cochabamba who challenged Morales for Bolivia's presidency, has been in hiding since the December 6 election.An arrest order has also been issued for his wife.Morales won the election in a landslide, which gave him unfettered control of Bolivia's legislature and a solid grip on the reins of governmental power.

Bolivian President Evo Morales said Saturday he would like Finland to provide his country with "clean technology," and in exchange Bolivia would send organic products to the Nordic country."We could protect our Mother Earth together," Morales told reporters in Helsinki during the first official visit by a Bolivian president to Finland."Finland could provide Bolivia with clean technology, while Bolivia could supply organic products to Finland," he said through a translator, without specifying the technology he had in mind.