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BBC news 2013-03-09

BBC News with Fiona MacDonald

The state funeral of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has taken place in the capital Caracas. In his eulogy, the vice president, Nicolas Maduro, said that people of Venezuela were a living testimony to Mr Chavez, who died of cancer on Tuesday. He said no other leader had been as vilified as Mr Chavez, but that no one had been able to stop him or his socialist revolution. Ian Pannell in Caracas has been following the day’s events.

Hugo Chavez was an outspoken, controversial leader, championing the underdog at home and abroad. The guest list at today’s funeral reflected that-- in part, a who’s who of America’s least favourite leaders.

Iran’s President Ahmadinejad, no stranger to the populism embraced by Chavez; nor Raul Castro, Cuba’s leader. For days people have been lining up to file past the coffin, so many that Hugo Chavez won’t actually be buried at all today. Instead, he’ll be embalmed and sealed in a crystal casket.

People have poured into the capital from across Venezuela to pay their last respects to President Hugo Chavez. You can see the passion here in the crowd. Rare is a politician that commands this kind of respect and adoration.

One of Osama bin Laden’s closest aides, who’s facing trial in the United States, has pleaded not guilty to charges of plotting to kill Americans. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law and spokesman of the late al-Qaeda leader, entered the plea in a New York court. The Kuwaiti-born militant who appeared next to bin Laden in videos after the 9/11 attacks, was handed over to American custody in Jordan.

The Dutch government has advised retailers to clearly label products made in Jewish settlements outside the internationally recognised borders of Israel. It denied that the measure amounted to economic sanctions. Anna Holligan reports.

The Netherlands and Israel have traditionally enjoyed close economic and diplomatic ties. Now the Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans says a product that comes from a settlement and is packaged and labelled from Israel is just according to international law not justified and not right. He says he thinks consumers have the right to know. The Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands has expressed concern about how retailers and consumers will interpret these words and whether they could ultimately result in a boycott of products imported from East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. 

Within the past half hour, the frontrunner in Kenya’s presidential election, Uhuru Kenyatta, has extended his lead to more than 50 per cent of the votes counted. Latest tally shows Mr Kenyatta holding 50.5 per cent, putting him in a convincing position to win the first round of the vote. There are still 21 constituencies left to declare.

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A court in Argentina has found the former President Carlos Menem guilty of illegally selling arms to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s. The appeals court’s verdict overturned a ruling in 2011 by a lower court. Carlos Menem was accused of selling 6,500 tonnes of arms which were officially destined for Panama and Venezuela. Ecuador and Croatia were involved in regional conflicts at the time and were under an arms embargo.

Roman Catholic cardinals gathered at the Vatican and voted to begin their conclave to elect a new pope next Tuesday. One hundred and fifteen cardinals are eligible to take part in the secret election to be held in the Sistine Chapel.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says two German pensioners held hostage in Colombia since early November have been freed. The pair, brothers Gunther and Uwe Breuer, had been travelling through South America in a jeep. They were seized by the smaller of Colombia’s two left-wing rebel groups, the ELN, which said it suspected the men of being spies.

One of the world’s best restaurants based in Copenhagen has apologised after dozens of people who dined there last month suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea. The Danish food safety agency said the restaurant Noma had failed to act quickly enough after customer complained. From Copenhagen, here’s Malcolm Brabant.

Tables at Noma on Copenhagen’s picturesque harbour front are highly prized after it won the award for the world’s best restaurant three years running. The outbreak of viral gastroenteritis could not be more embarrassing. The restaurant says it’s working with agency staff to try to isolate the source of the infection. It’s been told to clean up and to improve its handling of food in the kitchen. Noma earned international distinction by its use of locally sourced Nordic ingredients. Reservations have to be made months in advance for menus that cost in excess of $260.

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