1. Venezuela to probe poisoning claims

    Venezuela will set up a formal inquiry* into claims that recently deceased* President Hugo Chavez’s cancer was the result of poisoning by his foreign enemies, the government said on March 12.

    Foes of the government view the accusation as a typical Chavez-style conspiracy theory*.

    Meanwhile, the Obama administration has expelled* two Venezuelan diplomats in response to Venezuela’s expulsion* of two U.S. military officials.

    2. Five U.S. troops die in Afghanistan

    Five U.S. troops fighting Islamist rebels* in southern Afghanistan were killed in a helicopter crash in bad weather on March 12.

    Police said the Black Hawk helicopter came down late in the evening of March 11 during a heavy rainstorm in Daman district.

    The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) does not release the nationality of casualties*, but a Western military official, who declined to be named, confirmed that the victims were all U.S. troops.

    3. Mars could have supported life

    In the past, Mars had some ingredients that are needed to support primitive* life, scientists said on March 12.

    The latest evidence comes from a chemical analysis by the rover* Curiosity.

    “We have found a habitable* environment that is supportive of life that probably if this water was around and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it,” said chief scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology.

    4. 20 detained over tourist’s rape

    Police detained 20 men on Sunday in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state after a Swiss woman on a cycling trip was gang-raped.

    No arrests have been made so far but police were questioning the men in connection with the rape and assault* on the woman and her husband in the Datia district of the state.

    5. Argentine elected pope

    Argentine archbishop* Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, was elected the new pope on March 13 on the second day of secret ballots* in Vatican City*.

    As thousands of believers and international journalists waited for news in St. Peter’s Square, white smoke poured from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel and church bells pealed* to announce a pope had been elected.

    6. Yaalon chosen as Israeli defense chief

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday chose Moshe Yaalon, an ex-general and vice premier from his right-wing Likud party, to be Israel’s next defense minister.

    Yaalon, 62, spent the past four years in Netanyahu’s inner circle of ministers. Yaalon was appointed to the post by Netanyahu, who was assigning Cabinet positions two days after agreements were signed to form a new coalition government.

    Yaalon will replace Ehud Barak, who headed a center-left party in the outgoing coalition and ran the Defense Ministry for the past seven years.

    7. Russia unmoved by missile defense plan change

    A top Russian diplomat says the United States’ cancellation of a critical part of its European missile defense system* plan doesn’t please Moscow’s opposition.

    Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, “We are not happy with what was announced by the U.S. defense secretary and we see no need to correct our position.”

    U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week announced that plans to place missile interceptors* in Poland and possibly Romania were abandoned. They would be placed in Alaska instead.(SD-Agencies)