My Blog

Hugo Chavez's US 'cancer plot' put to the numbers test By Ruth Alexander BBC News   Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez had a cancerous tumour removed in 2011 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated last month that the US might have used a secret weapon to give Latin American leaders cancer, as the number of them with the disease was "difficult to explain using the laws of probabilities" - but is it? "Would it be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it?" Mr Chavez asked in a televised speech to soldiers at an army base. Treated for cancer himself last year, he was speaking the day after the Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was diagnosed with the condition - or misdiagnosed, as it turned out. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, 64, had treatment for lymphoma in 2009. Her predecessor, Lula da Silva, 66, has been treated fo...

Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia: Search for missing The BBC's Alan Johnston says it "must have been an extraordinarily harrowing experience" Emergency teams in Italy are racing to rescue those missing after a cruise ship ran aground off the country's west coast with about 4,000 people on board. Coast guard vessels are combing the waters around the Costa Concordia, which is lying on its side. Divers are searching its submerged decks. There were scenes of panic as it began listing on Friday. Most people reached land by lifeboats but some swam ashore. Three people are confirmed dead. About 70 are said to be unaccounted for. However, local official Giuseppe Linardi told reporters that some of those listed as missing may still be housed in private homes on the small island of Giglio - where those rescued reached land. BBC's Adam Parsons: "You can see a huge gash, perhaps fifty metres long" A large gash can be seen in the hull o...