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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Egypt's Mursi to meet IMF aide on $4.8 billion loan request: newspaper

CAIRO (Reuters) - A senior official in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet Egyptian President and other top officials on Monday to discuss Cairo's request for a $4.8 billion loan, a major state-run Egyptian newspaper reported on Saturday.

The IMF loan is seen as crucial to easing Egypt's budget deficit and an economic slump caused by the turmoil that followed the popular uprising that ousted autocratic president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

"Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi will receive on the day after tomorrow Masood Ahmed, the IMF director for the Middle East and Central Asia... and it is expected that the meeting will include talks about the IMF's loan to Egypt," the Akhbar Al-Youm daily reported.

It said Masood would also meet Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, some ministers and the central bank governor. Officials from the cabinet, presidency and IMF were not immediately available to comment on the report.

Egypt's currency has lost about 10 percent against the dollar since the start of 2011. But about a third of that plunge has come in the last week alone, since the central bank began auctioning $75 million a day out of its reserves on December 30.

The pound slid further on Thursday at the central bank's fourth auction of foreign currency, with $74.9 million sold to banks at a cut-off price of 6.386 pounds, weaker than Wednesday's 6.351 to the dollar.

The cabinet spokesman said on Thursday that an IMF mission would visit in January to discuss the loan deal, which was postponed last month at Cairo's behest because of violent anti-Mursi protests raging at the time.

The IMF said last week that it welcomed steps Egypt had taken to stop a drain on its international reserves, which had driven the Egyptian pound down to record lows.

Egypt's budget deficit in the year to end-June 2013 could widen by 50 percent from the original forecast made in July, according to a figure released by the planning minister last Monday.

(Reporting and writing by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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"Nobody helped us for an hour": Indian rape witness

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Passers-by left a gang-raped Indian student lying unclothed and bleeding in the street for almost an hour, a male friend who was assaulted with her said on Friday in his first public comments on the case that provoked a global outcry.

The 23-year-old student died in hospital two weeks after she was attacked on December 16 in a private bus in New Delhi, prompting street protests over the Indian authorities' failure to stem rampant violence against women.

The graphic account from the man in a television interview is likely to add fuel to public anger over the death in a country where official statistics show one rape is reported every 20 minutes.

The woman's friend told the Zee News television network he was beaten unconscious with a metal bar by her attackers before the pair were thrown off the bus.

They lay in the street for 45 minutes before a police van arrived, and officers then spent a long time arguing about where to take them, the man said.

"We kept shouting at the police, 'please give us some clothes' but they were busy deciding which police station our case should be registered at," the man said in Hindi.

Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told Reuters GPS records show the first police van reached the scene four minutes after the police were called, and took the man and the woman to hospital within 24 minutes.

Neither the woman nor her friend have been named. Five men were charged with her gang rape and murder on Thursday. They must appear before a New Delhi court on Monday to hear the charges against them, the court said on Saturday.

TWITTER ANGER

The man's comments caused an renewed outpouring of anger on Twitter. "After reading and watching the Zee News interview i'm absolutely shocked and ashamed of being an Indian," said @BarunKiBilli.

The man called for the protests to continue, but said he wished people had come to his friend's help at the time.

"You have to help people on the road when they need help."

The male friend said he and the woman were attacked after an evening out watching a film.

"From where we boarded the bus, they (the attackers) moved around for nearly two and a half hours. We were shouting, trying to make people hear us. But they switched off the lights of the bus," he said, according to a transcript of the interview.

When they were thrown out, they pleaded with passers-by for help, he added in the studio interview, a blue metal crutch leaning on his chair.

"There were a few people who had gathered round but nobody helped. Before the police came I screamed for help but the auto rickshaws, cars and others passing by did not stop," the man added.

(Reporting By Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Daniel Magnowski)

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UAE refuses to free detained Egyptians: reports

DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has rejected a request by Egypt to free 11 of its citizens held on suspicion of training Islamists in how to overthrow governments, local newspapers reported on Saturday.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood last week said some of the detainees were its members and demanded they be freed, saying they had been wrongfully arrested.

The UAE has long voiced distrust of the Muslim Brotherhood that helped propel Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to power last year after the overthrow of veteran ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt sent a presidential aide and its intelligence chief, General Mohamed Shehata, to the UAE for talks following the arrests.

"They (UAE officials) explained that a suspect cannot be released before the case goes to court," the English-language Gulf News reported, adding the Egyptian delegation was told the UAE had a 'strong court system and justice will take its course'.

The Arabic-language al-Khaleej said the 11 suspects were under investigation by state security prosecutors over "serious charges".

The oil-producing UAE arrested about 60 Islamists last year, accusing them of plotting to undermine governments in the Gulf region.

Al-Khaleej, citing an unnamed source, last week said there were close ties between Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and leaders of the UAE Islamists in detention. It said the detained Egyptians had given "a number of courses and lectures ... on elections and ways to change systems of government in Arab countries".

Mahmoud Ghozlan, a Brotherhood spokesman in Cairo, rejected the charge that the 11 were seeking to destabilize the UAE.

The son of one of those arrested said his father, Ali Sonbol, was a doctor and not involved in political activities.

Relations between Egypt and the UAE soured after Mubarak - a longtime Gulf ally - was toppled in 2011.

Last month, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan summoned Egypt's ambassador over claims carried by Egyptian media that the UAE was behind a plot against Egypt's leadership, saying they were "fabricated".

The Brotherhood has sought to reassure Gulf states that it has no plan to push for political change beyond Egypt's borders.

Thanks to their state-sponsored cradle-to-grave welfare systems, the UAE and other Gulf Arab monarchies have largely avoided the unrest that has unseated long-serving Arab rulers elsewhere in the past two years.

(Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Iran says talks with big powers to be held in January

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Iran has agreed to hold talks with six major powers about its atomic program in January but the date and venue has yet to be decided, the country's top nuclear negotiator said on Friday.

The six powers want to rein in Iran's uranium enrichment program to ensure it is geared only for civilian energy, through a mix of diplomacy and sanctions. Iran denies Western assertions it is seeking nuclear weapons capability.

"We have accepted that these talks should be held in January, but until now, the details have not been finalized," Jalili said through a translator during a trip to India.

The six powers - the United States, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and China - have failed to achieve a breakthrough in three rounds of talks since April. But neither side has been willing to break off totally, partly because of concern this could lead to war if Israel attacked its arch-foe.

The powers last met Iran for talks in Moscow. That meeting was followed by low-level technical talks in Istanbul.

Jalili is the second member of Iran's nuclear team to visit India in the past month. He said he welcomed the two countries' strong ties but said India had no particular role in getting nuclear talks restarted.

(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Pakistani girl shot by Taliban leaves British hospital

LONDON (Reuters) - A Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education has been discharged from a British hospital after doctors said she was well enough to spend time recovering with her family.

Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot by the Taliban in October and brought to Britain for treatment, was discharged on Thursday but is due to be re-admitted in late January or early February for reconstructive surgery to her skull, doctors said.

The shooting of Yousufzai, in the head at point blank range as she left school in the Swat valley, drew widespread international condemnation.

She has become a an internationally recognized symbol of resistance to the Taliban's efforts to deny women education and other rights, and more than 250,000 people have signed online petitions calling for her to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.

Doctors at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where Yousufzai was treated said that although the bullet hit her left brow, it did not penetrate her skull but instead travelled underneath the skin along the side of her head and into her neck.

She was treated by doctors specializing in neurosurgery, trauma and other disciplines in a department of the hospital which has treated hundreds of soldiers wounded in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery," said Dave Rosser, the hospital's medical director.

"Following discussions with Malala and her medical team, we decided that she would benefit from being at home."

Yousufzai has already been leaving the hospital on a regular basis on "home leave" in recent weeks to spend time with her parents and younger brothers, who have a temporary home in central England, Rosser said.

"During those visits assessments have been carried out by her medical team to ensure she can continue to make good progress outside the hospital," Rosser said.

Yousufzai's father said in October he was sure she would "rise again" to pursue her dreams after medical treatment.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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Abbas's Fatah holds first mass Gaza rally in years

GAZA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians joined a rare rally staged by President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group in Gaza on Friday, as tensions ease with rival Hamas Islamists ruling the enclave since 2007.

A long hiatus in peace talks between Abbas's administration and Israel has narrowed ideological differences between the two main Palestinian factions. Solidarity has deepened since Israel's Gaza assault in November, in which Hamas, though battered, declared victory against the Jewish state.

Abbas remains based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but several of his senior advisers attended Friday's march in the Gaza Strip, festooned with yellow Fatah flags rather than the green Hamas colors that have dominated such events since Hamas fighters drove Fatah from the territory in 2007.

"The message today is that Fatah cannot be wiped out," said Amal Hamad, a member of the group's ruling body. "Fatah lives, no one can exclude it and it seeks to end the division."

The demonstration marked 48 years since the secular Fatah's founding as the spearhead of the Palestinians' fight against Israel. Its longtime leader Yasser Arafat signed an interim 1993 peace accord that won Palestinians a measure of self-rule.

The hardline Hamas movement, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, rejected the deal, but fought and won a Palestinian parliamentary election in 2006. It formed an uneasy coalition with Fatah until their violent split a year later.

Though shunned by the West, Hamas feels bolstered by the electoral gains of Islamist political movements in neighboring Egypt and elsewhere in the region - a confidence reflected in the fact Friday's Fatah demonstration was allowed to take place.

"The success of the rally is a success for Fatah, and for Hamas too," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. "The positive atmosphere is a step on the way to regain national unity."

Egypt has long tried to broker Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, but past efforts have foundered over questions of power-sharing, control of weaponry, and to what extent Israel and other powers would accept a Palestinian administration including Hamas.

An Egyptian official told Reuters that Cairo was preparing to invite the factions for new negotiations within two weeks.

Israel fears grassroots support for Hamas could eventually topple Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank. The Palestinians say Israel's settlement building in the occupied territory has undermined Abbas's credibility as a statesman.

"Hamas could seize control of the PA any day," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

(Editing by Dan Williams and Alistair Lyon)

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