Dropped call: Mobile biggies conspicuous by absence at CES

Escalator up to the South Hall entrance of the Las Vegas Convention Center at CES 2012.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

LAS VEGAS -- Mobile is supposed to be a hot category in tech, right? You'd never know it looking at the announcements that are slated to start pouring in this week.

Many of the major companies in the mobile industry have opted to skip or limit their presence at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, which kicks off tomorrow for the media before officially opening on Tuesday. The announcements that do come out will emerge from lower-tier companies hoping to make more of a name for themselves and their products.

The dearth of wireless-related news at a time when the tech world is going increasingly mobile underscores the dilemmas that a show like
CES faces: too many competing conferences, more companies opting to hold their own events, and unfortunate timing after a large wave of product announcements ahead of the holidays. As a result, don't expect to have your mind blown with the mobile announcements coming out this week.

"There aren't really high expectations for lots of big news coming out from CES," said Daniel Hays, a consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers. "CES is an increasingly crowded forum to get your message out. That probably causes some vendors to hold back in making major announcements."

Apple and Google, authors of the two largest mobile operating systems in the world, have long had minimal to zero presence at CES. Microsoft, which made its big push for Windows Phone 8 in October, held its last keynote address here a year ago. Research In Motion, the other significant mobile operating system, will formally unveil its next-generation BlackBerry 10 operating system at its own event later this month.

Samsung has long had one of the largest presences at CES, but it won't have much in terms of smartphone or
tablet announcements, having already heavily invested in a campaign for its Galaxy Note 2 and the continued run of its Galaxy S III late last year. The company also pulled out of the
CTIA Wireless show last year, opting instead to launch its flagship phone at its own event, much like Apple.

Other traditional mobile heavy hitters, including Google's Motorola Mobility, Nokia, and HTC, won't have much to say as well.

The carriers, which in recent years have stepped up their presence at CES, are expected to remain quiet this year. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has a keynote address scheduled for tomorrow, but the company isn't expected to make any major wireless announcements, a far cry from the splashy launch of its 4G LTE network two years ago. AT&T, which holds its own developer summit separately from CES but usually offers some mobile news, is likewise expected to remain mum.

T-Mobile USA will hold a press conference and likely talk about its network plans and pending deal with MetroPCS, although actual phone announcements could be slim. Sprint Nextel, still working through its own pending merger with SoftBank, doesn't have any formal event scheduled.

Mobile World Congress around the corner


Mobile World Congress, based in Barcelona, has always been a major force. And with everything going more mobile, the show has grown even more in prominence and influence over the years. The U.S. carriers, which traditionally opted to skip MWC, are increasingly taking part in that show.

Likewise, a lot of major smartphone and tablet announcements are getting made there, rather than at CES. Asus, for instance, cancelled its press conference at CES, opting to debut its mobile products at MWC in February instead.

While Google isn't so high on CES, it has had a large presence at MWC over the past few years, including large booths complete with a slide, an array of demonstration booths, and toy claw machine giving away stuffed Android dolls.

MWC's legacy in mobile gives it an advantage over CES, which has traditionally been about televisions, PCs, and other random gadgets. The transition has been bumpy.

"It's all about your audience. CES has historically drawn an audience primarily focused on retailers. Increasingly, that audience are not just at CES; they're at other influential shows like MWC," Hays said.

CES is making the shift. Mobile chipset companies, for instance, make up some of the early announcements for the show. Tonight, Nvidia will kick things off with its own press event, unveiling its newest Tegra processor.

Meanwhile, Paul Jacobs, CEO of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, takes over tomorrow's end-of-day keynote slot long occupied by Microsoft and its CEO, Steve Ballmer, another illustration of the shift from PC to mobile.

Opportunities for the second-tier companies


With a Samsung or Motorola out of the picture, that gives companies eager for some attention a chance to shine.

Sony is one of the few companies expected to announce a smartphone or two, and details have already begun leaking out.

Huawei and ZTE, two Chinese vendors eager to stake a larger claim of the U.S. market, are also expected to unveil smartphones at CES. Both are known primarily for low- and mid-tier smartphones and tablets, but the companies want to change that.

ZTE is expected to unveil a high-end flagship smartphone, the Grand S, at CES. It's still unclear whether it will actually sell in the U.S. though.

ZTE could be making a big splash at CES this year.

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

Huawei, meanwhile, is expected to go big with the Ascend Mate, a large phone with a 6.1-inch display that falls into a category many call "phablet," most notably led by the Galaxy Note franchise by Samsung.

Whether these products ever end up in the consumers' hands is still up in the air. But with some of better-known companies opting to save their ammunition for later, the companies presenting now will at least get heard.

"CES is still an extremely powerful platform for announcing new products and positioning yourself as a leader in the mobile space," Hays said.

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Reel life: The mesmerizing saga of "56 Up"

(CBS News) Imagine what it would be like to have your whole life from age seven onwards be part a long running series of documentaries. As it happens, fourteen middle-aged people in Britain don't have to imagine it at all. How their real lives as they actually lived them came to be captured on reels of film is our Sunday Morning Cover Story, reported by Lee Cowan:

It looks like any other group of kids in the early 1960s, but it wasn't just a dance party. It was a sociological experiment for a British documentary called "Seven Up!"

The idea was to gather 7-year-olds from widely different backgrounds, and look at Britain's class system through their eyes.

At one end of the extreme: Upper-class seven-year-olds, like the trio of John, Andrew and Charles attending a boarding school.

John: "I read the Financial Times."
Andrew: "I read the Observer and the Times."
Charles: "What do you like about it?"
John: "Well, I usually look at the headlines and then read, about them."

At the other end of the spectrum: seven-year-olds who were less privileged, like those growing up in a charity group home.

Interviewer: "What do you think about rich people?"
Symon: "Well, not much."

After it first aired in 1964, the boys and girls -- 14 of them in all -- became mini celebrities for their wit and charm.

Interviewer: "What do you think of girlfriends at your age?"
Andrew: "I've got one, but I don't think much of her!"

The man who talked to them all those years ago was Michael Apted, a 22-year-old researcher on the project.

"It was very funny, the original one, but it was also alarming," Apted told Cowan. "You could see that people's views of the world were totally determined by where they were coming from. And those who had somewhat impoverished backgrounds had a very narrow view of the world, and those who were in power had this grand view, not just of the world, but of their lives."

He was so struck by what they said that he vowed to track the same group down -- every seven years -- ever since. The result: A series that critic Roger Ebert calls one of the best films of all time.

The latest installment, "56 Up," comes to U.S. theaters this month.

Cowan asked, what is it that makes this so compelling?

"Well, 'cause I think people identify with it," Apted replied. "You see 13, 14 stories up there, and there's elements in some of them that hit home on every life. Everybody who watches it can identify with something."

Suzy is one of his favorites. When she was seven, the series pried into her thoughts on boys. Over the years Apted kept asking:

Interviewer: "Tell me, do you have any boyfriends Suzy?"
Suzy at 7: "Um, yes. ... He lives up in Scotland. I think he's 13."
Interviewer: "Have you got any boyfriends, Suzy?"
Suzy at 14: Glares.
Interviewer: "What is your attitude toward marriage?"
Suzy at 21: "I don't know, I haven't given it a lot of thought because I'm very, very cynical about it."
Interviewer: "Now you seem happy, what's happened to you over these last seven years?"
Suzy at 28: "I suppose Rupert."

Now at 56, Suzy is still married to Rupert, with two grown sons and a daughter.

"There are great moments in the film, aren't there, when you cut from one generation to another, and it's night and day," said Apted.

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Defiant Assad Vows to Hold Firm in Syria

President Bashar Assad called on Syrians to defend their country against religious extremists seeking to destroy the nation, dismissing any prospect of dialogue with the "murderous criminals" he says are behind the uprising even as he outlined his vision for a peaceful settlement to the civil war.

In a one-hour speech to the nation in which he appeared confident and relaxed, Assad struck a defiant tone, ignoring international demands for him to step down and saying he is ready to hold a dialogue but only with those "who have not betrayed Syria."

He offered a national reconciliation conference, elections and a new constitution but demanded regional and Western countries stop funding and arming rebels trying to overthrow him first.

Syria's opposition swiftly rejected the proposal. Those fighting to topple the regime, including rebels on the ground, have repeatedly said they will accept nothing less than the president's departure, dismissing any kind of settlement that leaves him in the picture.

"It is an excellent initiative that is only missing one crucial thing: His resignation," said Kamal Labwani, a veteran secular dissident and member of the opposition's Syrian National Coalition umbrella group.

"All what he is proposing will happen automatically, but only after he steps down," Lawani told The Associated Press by telephone from Sweden.

Remy de la Mauviniere/AP Photo

On top of that, Assad's new initiative is reminiscent of symbolic changes and concessions that his government made earlier in the uprising, which were rejected at the time as too little too late.

Speaking at the Opera House in central Damascus, Assad told the hall packed with supporters — who frequently broke out in cheers and applause — that "we are in a state of war."

"We are fighting an external aggression that is more dangerous than any others, because they use us to kill each other," he said. "It is a war between the nation and its enemies, between the people and the murderous criminals."

Assad has rarely spoken since the uprising against his rule began in March 2011, and Sunday's speech was his first since June. His last public comments came in an interview in November to Russian TV in which he vowed to die in Syria.

On Sunday, he seemed equally confident in his troops' ability to crush the rebels fighting his rule, even as they edge in closer than ever to his seat of power, Damascus.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad's speech was "beyond hypocritical." In a message posted on his official Twitter feed, Hague said "empty promises of reform fool no one."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's office said in a statement that the bloc will "look carefully if there is anything new in the speech but we maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition."

Wearing a suit and tie, Assad spoke before a collage of pictures of what appeared to be Syrians who have been killed since March 2011. At the end of his speech and as he was leaving the hall, he was mobbed by a group of loyalists shouting: "With our blood and souls we redeem you, Bashar!"

The president waved and blew kisses to the crowd on his way out.

Assad acknowledged the enormous impact of the conflict, which the United Nations recently estimated had killed more than 60,000 people.

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Assad "peace plan" greeted with scorn by enemies

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A defiant President Bashar al-Assad presented what he described as a new initiative on Sunday to end the war in Syria but his opponents dismissed it as a ploy to cling to power.

Appearing before cheering supporters who packed the Damascus Opera House, it was his first such speech since June and first public appearance of any kind since a television interview in November.

He called for national mobilization in a "war to defend the nation", describing rebels fighting him as terrorists and foreign agents with whom it was impossible to negotiate.

His new initiative, including a reconciliation conference that would exclude "those who have betrayed Syria", contained no concessions and appeared to recycle proposals that opponents have rejected since the uprising began nearly two years ago.

The opposition National Coalition said the speech was an attempt to thwart an international agreement, backed by Western and Arab powers, that he must stand down.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said "empty promises of reform fool no one". In a Twitter message, he added: "Death, violence and oppression engulfing Syria are of his own making."

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Brussels would "look carefully if there is anything new in the speech, but we maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition".

Assad spoke confidently for about an hour before a crowd of cheering loyalists, who occasionally interrupted him to shout and applaud, at one point raising their fists and chanting: "With blood and soul we sacrifice for you, Oh Bashar!"

At the end of the speech, supporters rushed to the stage, mobbing him and shouting: "God, Syria and Bashar is enough!" as a smiling Assad waved and was escorted from the hall.

"We are now in a state of war in every sense of the word," Assad said in the speech, broadcast on Syrian state television. "This war targets Syria using a handful of Syrians and many foreigners. Thus, this is a war to defend the nation."

Saying that "suffering is overwhelming" the land, he added: "The nation is for all and we all must protect it."

Independent media are largely barred from Damascus.

DEATHS

The United Nations says 60,000 people have been killed in the civil war in Syria. Fighting has arrived at the edge of the capital in what has become the longest and bloodiest of the conflicts to emerge from two years of revolts in Arab states.

The past six months have seen rebels advance dramatically. They now control much of the north and east of the country, a crescent of suburbs on the outskirts of the capital and the main border crossings with Turkey.

But Assad's forces are still firmly in control of most of the densely populated southwest, the main north-south highway and the Mediterranean coast. The army also holds military bases throughout the country from which its helicopters and jets can strike rebel-held areas with impunity, making it impossible for the insurgents to consolidate their grip on territory they hold.

The rebels are drawn mainly from the Sunni Muslim majority, while Assad, a member of the Alawite sect related to Shi'ite Islam, is supported by some members of religious minorities who fear retribution if he falls. He has backing from Shi'ite Iran while most Arab and Western powers sympathies with the rebels.

Assad, a 47-year-old eye doctor, succeeded his late father, Hafez, in 2000. The family has ruled Syria since the elder Assad led a military coup 42 years ago.

Assad's speech seemed ostensibly aimed at showing Syrians, and perhaps diplomats, that he is open to change.

But the plan could hardly have been better designed to ensure its rejection by the opposition. Among its proposals: rebels would first be expected to halt their operations before the army would cease fire, a certain non-starter.

NO DIALOGUE

Assad repeatedly described parts of the opposition as agents of foreign powers who could not be included in any negotiations: "We will not have dialogue with a puppet made by the West," he said to an outburst of applause.

The opposition has consistently said it will not cease fire until the army does, and will not negotiate any transitional government unless Assad is excluded.

Assad also repeatedly emphasized rebel links to al Qaeda and Islamist radicals. Washington, which supports the opposition, has also labeled one of the main rebel groups terrorists and says it is linked to the network founded by Osama bin Laden.

Diplomacy has been largely irrelevant so far in the conflict, with the United States, European powers, Arab states and Turkey all demanding Assad leave power, while Russia and Iran refuse to exclude him from talks on a future government.

U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi has been trying to bridge the gap, meeting senior U.S. and Russian officials to discuss a peace proposal that does not explicitly mention Assad's fate.

National Coalition spokesman Walid Bunni told Reuters that Assad's speech was timed to try and prevent a breakthrough from those talks by taking a position intended to thwart compromise:

"The talk by Brahimi and others that there could be a type of political solution being worked out has prompted him to come out and tell the others 'I won't accept a solution'," Bunni said, adding that Assad feared any deal would mean his downfall.

"He is sensing the danger that any initiative would entail."

Giving the speech in the opera house, in a part of central Damascus that has been hit by rebel attacks, could itself be seen as a show of strength for a leader whose public appearances have grown rarer as the rebellion has gathered force.

He spoke before a giant flag, constructed of portraits of what state television described as victims of the conflict.

"We meet today, and suffering is overwhelming the land of Syria. There is no place for joy while security and stability are absent on the streets of our country," he said.

"But from the womb of pain, hope must be born."

(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Tim Castle in London; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

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A*STAR develops instant speech-to-speech translator

 

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans can now speak to its neighbours in Asia without having to worry about language barriers, thanks to a new instant translator, developed by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

The software detects users' speech on a handphone and translates it to the desired language.

The new speech-to-speech translator project is a collaboration of eight countries in Asia.

Singapore's A*STAR came on board some four years ago.

Currently in its final stages of development, it plans to translate 10 languages, including Japanese, Mandarin, Malay, Korean, Bahasa Indonesia, Hindi, Thai, Vietnamese and English.

Dr Li Haizhou, head of human language technology at A*STAR said: "Due to globalization, people travel a lot but language remains a barrier between people. And with technology, we think that we can help people to communicate in a better way."

- CNA/xq

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What does the International Space Station sound like?

Can you hear me, Major Tom? Hadfield rocks out in the ISS cupola.

(Credit:
Canadian Space Agency)

If you're heading to the International Space Station, try to bunk in the Japanese section. It's as quiet as a Zen temple.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield recently went aboard the ISS and has been recording what it sounds like. It's not quite the elegant "2001: A Space Odyssey" experience you might expect. It's more like a noisy tin can.

After recording last week the ambient sounds of the U.S. lab, with its noisy air pumps and fans, Hadfield managed to get samples of what the ISS toilet sounds like, as well as the relative serenity of the Japanese Experiment Module (aka Kibo).

Check them out below, or listen to a larger selection here.

Hadfield has been very busy taking some amazing photos of Earth, updating his Facebook status, and performing the odd astro-duty like running experiments.

A couple of days ago, he received a message on Twitter from William Shatner, who asked whether he was tweeting from space.

"Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain," Hadfield replied. "And we're detecting signs of life on the surface."

That gave Trekkies, including yours truly, tribble-like quivers of delight.

Inspired by the view from the ISS cupola, the mustachioed commander of Expedition 35 grabbed a guitar and recorded an original tune, a first for the station. He titled it "Jewel in the Night" and uploaded it to YouTube. Give it a listen below.

It doesn't have the makings of a space classic like "Rocket Man" (the Shat version, of course), but it's heartfelt and quite a bit better than Spock's "Maiden Wine."

And likely a welcome relief for crewmates from all that high-tech racket.

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Tsunami warning canceled for Alaska, Canada

JUNEAU, Alaska A powerful earthquake sparked a tsunami warning for hundreds of miles of Alaskan and Canadian coastline, but the alert was canceled when no damaging waves were generated.

The magnitude 7.5 quake did generate a tsunami, but the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said the waves didn't pose a threat.

The temblor struck at midnight Friday (1 a.m. PST Saturday) and was centered about 60 miles west of Craig, Alaska, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The tsunami followed minutes later and was eventually expanded to include coastal areas from Cape Fairweather, Alaska, to the northern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada — an area extending more than 700 miles.

A center had warned that "significant widespread inundation of land is expected," adding that dangerous coastal flooding was possible.

In its cancellation statement, the center said that some areas were seeing just small sea level changes.

"A tsunami was generated during this event but no longer poses a threat," the center said.

After one community reported seeing just a small wave, the police in the coastal town of Cordova said they had no reports of any problems.

The Alaska Earthquake Information Center said the quake was widely felt but it received no reports of any damage.

In addition to the warning, a tsunami advisory was briefly in effect for some Alaska coastal areas to the north of the warning zone, as well as to the south of the zone, from the Washington state border to the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

A tsunami warning means an area is likely to be hit by a wave, while an advisory means there may be strong currents, but that widespread inundation is not expected to occur.

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Debt Limit Negotiating Tactic? No Negotiating

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden walk away from the podium after Obama made a statement regarding the passage of the fiscal cliff bill in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Analysis

New for 2013: In the Washington, D.C. fiscal wars we’ve gone from everything must be on the table to politicians declaring they won’t debate.

The fiscal cliff deal either averted disaster or compounded the problem, depending on who you ask. It certainly created new mini-cliffs in a few months as Congress and the president square off on the debt ceiling, spending cuts and government funding. But it also made sure the vast majority of Americans won’t see as big a tax hike as they might have.

President Obama was pretty clear late on New Year’s night as he reacted to Congress’s passage of a bill to take a turn away from the fiscal cliff. He won’t negotiate with Republicans about the debt ceiling.

“Now, one last point I want to make,” said the president, before wrapping up and hopping on Air Force One for a redeye to Hawaii. “While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they passed.”

(Read more here about the Fiscal Cliff)

That’s pretty clear. No debt ceiling negotiation. Then he added for emphasis: ”Let me repeat: We can’t not pay bills that we’ve already incurred. If Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic — far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff.”

But in Washington, saying you won’t do something these days has almost become like an opening bid. At least, that’s how Republicans are treating the president’s line in the sand.

“The president may not want to have a fight about government spending over the next few months, but it’s the fight he is going to have because it’s a debate the country needs,” wrote Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican, in an op-Ed on Yahoo! News about 36 hours later. “For the sake of our future, the president must show up to this debate early and convince his party to do something that neither he nor they have been willing to do until now.”

“We simply cannot increase the nation’s borrowing limit without committing to long overdue reforms to spending programs that are the very cause of our debt,” McConnell said.

The national debt is soon set to reach $16.4 trillion. That’s not a problem that can be solved with one bill or budget. And the two sides will have to figure out some sort of way to talk about entitlement/social safety net reform – meaning things like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – in addition to cutting spending and, most importantly, hope for an improving economy, to deal with those deficits.

House Speaker John Boehner, who has several times now failed to reach a big, broad fiscal deal with President Obama, told colleagues, according to The Hill newspaper, that he’s done with secret White House negotiations. He wants to stick with the constitutional way of doing things, with hearings and bills that are debated on Capitol Hill rather than hatched by the vice president and Senate Republicans.

Okay. Obama won’t negotiate on the debt ceiling. McConnell won’t not negotiate on the debt ceiling. Boehner doesn’t to do things by the book.

But McConnell won’t negotiate on taxes any more.

“Predictably,” McConnell had written earlier in his post, “the president is already claiming that his tax hike on the ‘rich’ isn’t enough. I have news for him: the moment that he and virtually every elected Democrat in Washington signed off on the terms of the current arrangement, it was the last word on taxes. That debate is over.”

It’s a new chapter in the ongoing fiscal saga in Washington. Back when the two sides were talking about a grand bargain or a big deal – some sort of all-inclusive reform that would right the listing deficit with one flip of the rudder – the popular trope was that “everything must be on the table.” That’s basically how Obama put it back in the summer of 2011 when he and Boehner failed to reach a grand bargain. He wanted higher taxes – they were calling them revenues back then. More recently, after Obama won the election and when he and Boehner were trying to hammer out another grand bargain to avert the fiscal cliff, Boehner wanted entitlements on the table. That means he wanted to find ways to curb future spending.

Both sides are declaring they won’t debate certain points, but this far – a full two months – before the mini-cliffs start, those are easier declarations to make than they will be when the government is in danger of defaulting or shutting down.

Even though they’re trying to take elements off the table, both men hope that coming negotiations can be a little more cordial and a little less down-to-the wire.

“Over the next two months they need to deliver the same kind of bipartisan resolution to the spending problem we have now achieved on revenue — before the 11th hour,” wrote McConnell.

“The one thing that I think, hopefully, in the New Year we’ll focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much,” said Obama.

That’ll be tough if neither side will talk about what the other side wants to talk about.

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Chavez swearing-in can be delayed: Venezuelan VP

CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez's formal swearing-in for a new six-year term scheduled for January 10 can be postponed if he is unable to attend due to his battle to recover from cancer surgery, Venezuela's vice president said on Friday.

Nicolas Maduro's comments were the clearest indication yet that the Venezuelan government is preparing to delay the swearing-in while avoiding naming a replacement for Chavez or calling a new election in the South American OPEC nation.

In power since 1999, the 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public for more than three weeks. Allies say he is in delicate condition after a fourth operation in two years for an undisclosed form of cancer in his pelvic area.

The political opposition argues that Chavez's presence on January 10 in Cuba - where there are rumors he may be dying - is tantamount to the president's stepping down.

But Maduro, waving a copy of the constitution during an interview with state TV, said there was no problem if Chavez was sworn in at a later date by the nation's top court.

"The interpretation being given is that the 2013-2019 constitutional period starts on January 10. In the case of President Chavez, he is a re-elected president and continues in his functions," he said.

"The formality of his swearing-in can be resolved in the Supreme Court at the time the court deems appropriate in coordination with the head of state."

In the increasing "Kremlinology"-style analysis of Venezuela's extraordinary political situation, that could be interpreted in different ways: that Maduro and other allies trust Chavez will recover eventually, or that they are buying time to cement succession plans before going into an election.

Despite his serious medical condition, there was no reason to declare Chavez's "complete absence" from office, Maduro said. Such a declaration would trigger a new vote within 30 days, according to Venezuela's charter.

RECOVERY POSSIBLE?

Chavez was conscious and fighting to recover, said Maduro, who traveled to Havana to see his boss this week.

"We will have the Commander well again," he said.

Maduro, 50, whom Chavez named as his preferred successor should he be forced to leave office, said Venezuela's opposition had no right to go against the will of the people as expressed in the October 7 vote to re-elect the president.

"The president right now is president ... Don't mess with the people. Respect democracy."

Despite insisting Chavez remains president and there is hope for recovery, the government has acknowledged the gravity of his condition, saying he is having trouble breathing due to a "severe" respiratory infection.

Social networks are abuzz with rumors he is on life support or facing uncontrollable metastasis of his cancer.

Chavez's abrupt exit from the political scene would be a huge shock for Venezuela. His oil-financed socialism has made him a hero to the poor, while critics call him a dictator seeking to impose Cuban-style communism on Venezuelans.

Should Chavez leave office, a new election is likely to pitch former bus driver and union activist Maduro against opposition leader Henrique Capriles, the 40-year-old governor of Miranda state.

Capriles lost to Chavez in the October presidential election, but won an impressive 44 percent of the vote. Though past polls have shown him to be more popular than all of Chavez's allies, the equation is now different given Maduro has received the president's personal blessing - a factor likely to fire up Chavez's fanatical supporters.

His condition is being watched closely by Latin American allies that have benefited from his help, as well as investors attracted by Venezuela's lucrative and widely traded debt.

"The odds are growing that the country will soon undergo a possibly tumultuous transition," the U.S.-based think tank Stratfor said this week.

(Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga; editing by Christopher Wilson)

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France seeks to grill Swiss shooter over Britons' murders in Alps

GENEVA: French police investigating the murder of a British-Iraqi family in the Alps have asked to question a Swiss gunman who killed three women in his home village, police in Switzerland said Friday.

The police in the neighbouring French region of Haute-Savoie made the request to their colleagues in the Swiss canton of Valais, where on Thursday the gunman went on a shooting spree, a spokesman told AFP.

Saad al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal and her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, were all found dead inside their estate car near Lake Annecy in Haute-Savoie on September 5, along with a French cyclist who police believe was an innocent bystander.

On Thursday, a gunman with psychiatric and drug problems killed three women and wounded two men in a shooting spree in the tiny Swiss village where he lived.

-AFP/fl

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