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Two NYPD sergeants were shot in the Bronx in broad daylight Friday — and a heavily-armed gunman was killed, sources said. A robbery suspect carrying multiple guns opened fire on the officers at Noble Ave. near Bronx River Ave. about 3 p.m.

(12:07 p.m.) Rosales announces front against authoritarian pretensions of the government Caracas. - The Governor of the State of Zulia and ex-presidential candidate, Manuel Rosales, warned the national government today that the Venezuelan people will fight to safeguard their democratic principles when facing the coming presidential announcements which they are awaiting. The leader assured everyone that the citizens are not so defeated as they would make themselves out to be and he guaranteed that he will work jointly and in an organized way against any authoritarian pretension. He said that the activity of an organized society with clear objectives will...

Rosales: Chavez wants to terrorize people so they do not vote Caracas. - In a press conference with foreign correspondents, the opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales, qualified as a great "irresponsibility" of President Chavez that he is threatening and intimidating the people of Venezuela through phrases attacking the communications media and the collective body of the Venezuelan people, furthermore that he is inventing coup d'états and supposed plots or acts designed to raise tensions in the street. "What we are reading between the lines are two things: the first is that he wants to terrorize people so they do not...

The following photo essay is put up as an antidote to this week's reporting from Venezuela of Associated Press correspondent Elizabeth Nuñez for her errors of fact which, if taken as accurate and viewed from an international perspective, appear to suggest that the opposition to sitting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is only of modest intensity. Nuñez has erroneously reported on the strength of support for Chavez's opponent Manuel Rosales, who will face the Venezuelan President in a December 3 election, specifically for her drastic understating of the attendance of Rosales supporters at Sunday's "Caracas Avalanche" rally. Ms. Nuñez has...

Latin America: An eruption of anti-U.S. bluster hasn't done Hugo Chavez much good back home. Thousands of Venezuelans rallied Saturday for his challenger, Manuel Rosales. This time they may give Chavez the boot. Rosales drew big crowds, including the poor, but Chavez's own rally the next day drew only a few thousand supporters, nearly all of them angry young men in red T-shirts. Despite an oil windfall, populist social spending and a big mouth abroad, all is not well for Chavez at home. The Sunday rally may signal a swing toward Rosales, who has quietly campaigned through the countryside and...

Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in support of the main opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales. Mr Rosales will face President Hugo Chavez in December's presidential poll. The march, which filled the main avenues of the city centre, was the biggest opposition rally Venezuela has seen since early 2004. Then, protesters made an unsuccessful bid to oust Mr Chavez from power in a recall referendum. Chance to unite Young and old took to the streets to throw their weight behind the campaign of Mr Rosales, a middle-class Social Democrat who governs the state of Zulia,...

Lara: It was an error of the opposition to compete with Fitcar Caracas. -- The planners of the electoral campaign of opposing candidate Manuel Rosales "committed a serious error to put themselves in competition with the International Caracas Tourism Fair (Fitcar) 2006, in the judgement of the Minister of Communication and Information, William Lara. After traveling throught the different pavilions which are located on the Francisco de Miranda Air Base, [Lara, who] also serves as the National Coordinator of National Tactical Command(CTN) of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) asserted that the public attendance at the Rosales meeting today came mainly...

Rosales will lead "Caracas Avalanche" Saturday Pedro Pablo Peñaloza El Universal (Caracas) The director of the First Justice Party, Liliana Hernandez, member of the campaign command of Manuel Rosales, summoned the followers of the opposition candidate to concentrate themselves next Saturday in Libertador Avenue [in Caracas]. Hernandez specified that the act of support for the Governor of the State of Zulia1 will be named the "Caracas Avalanche" and it is scheduled to begin at 10:00 in the morning. "The idea is that, besides demonstrating in favor of the victory of the National Unity candidate [i.e. Rosales], we are calling...

Rosales accuses "Fat Fish" of the Government Opposition candidate Manuel Rosales attributed the events which occurred in La Paragua1 to "the fat fish of the government, who have a big business in [the sale of] gasoline, contraband gold, and diamonds." In a visit to Trujillo, where he carried out a campaign visit, Rosales condemned the acts. "It is one of the most clear manifestations of how an authoritarian government stimulates criminal acts and insecurity in Venezuela. The deed in La Paragua is the action of a few spineless military men, who are not the majority, who felt themselves handsome...

Rosales Promises to Exchange Arms for Vouchers of 5 Million Bolivares1 Caracas -- The unitary opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales, formulated today the security plans which form an integral part of his governing strategy and promised to create and preside over a National Council of Justice and Security. He explained that this body "would render an accounting of the security of the country and will incorporate within itself the President of the TSJ [Supreme Tribunal of Justice], the General Prosecutor of the Republic, the Public Defender,2 and the Ministers of Defense, Interior, and Justice." Furthermore he announced a "true disarmament...

In nine states Rosales surpasses the President Elvia Gomez El Universal (Caracas) Jose Vicente Carrasquero, manager of the campaign command of the opposition candidate, announced that next Wednesday Manuel Rosales will present his government plan in the matter of citizen security, while later he will expound upon ideas in matters of housing construction and about the treatment the military sector will have which, he put forth, will be strictly attached to that which the Constitution forsees. In a press conference, accompanied by the ex candidate for the presidency of the republic, Roberto Smith (Venezuela First Party), Carrasquero explained that,...

Valle de la Pascua 22.09.06 – Two of the most important cities of Venezuela´s Llanos saw impressive levels of support in rallies for opposition candidate Manuel Rosales. The first in San Juan de Los Morros and the second in Valle de la Pascua was, according to local resident Orlando Vale, the biggest rally the city had seen in many years. ¨What we saw today we hadn´t seen since the days of the first campaign of Carlos Andres Perez¨ said Vale, who added with emotion ¨and there are even more people today!¨ The rally started in a chavista neighborhood known...

Caracas, Sep 7 (EFE).- Manuel Rosales, the main challenger to President Hugo Chavez in December's election, said Thursday that he if he is killed, the responsibility will lie with the incumbent head of state. "I blame Chavez for whatever may happen to me, because he has given the order for them to ambush me; and if they assassinate me, if something happens to me, the people know it's at Chavez's command," Rosales told reporters during a rally in Caracas. "The people will take to the streets and bring down this government if they try to prevent me from becoming president...

Opposition presidential candidate Manuel Rosales led several thousand supporters at his first campaign rally Saturday, where he accused President Hugo Chavez of not doing enough for the poor. Rosales, a popular governor from the western state of Zulia, said it pained him to see some Venezuelans still living in shantytowns with leaky roofs or dirt floors. "The poor have to come out from below," he told the cheering crowd outside the National Electoral Council, where he formally registered as a candidate. "I'm going to do away with poverty in Venezuela. Its oil wealth is for the entire nation." Rosales, 54,...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Eight candidates opposing Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez called off a primary election set for Sunday, saying they had unanimously agreed to support the front-runner and best-financed among them, Gov. Manuel Rosales. The announcement is seen as yielding to the financial and political costs of holding a primary and to the reality that Rosales stands the best chance against Chávez in the Dec. 3 presidential race. Previously, Rosales, the governor of Zulia state, and seven other politicians had decided to participate in a winner-take-all primary to choose a candidate whom they all would support. The presidential campaign kicks...