PETARE, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan soldiers are manning dozens of checkpoints across the country's capital in an effort to control a pandemic of violence.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities — toilet paper.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is warning of increased pressure on human rights activists from nations such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) - Miguel Cabrera homered among his three hits and had four RBIs, but Venezuela, playing hours after the death of President Hugo Chavez, lost to the Miami Marlins 6-5 on Tuesday night in a tuneup for the World Baseball Classic.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez, the fiery populist who declared a socialist revolution in Venezuela, crusaded against U.S. influence and championed a leftist revival across Latin America, died Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- A severe new respiratory infection has hit cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez and his condition is "very delicate," Venezuela's government says.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez returned to Venezuela early Monday after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery, his government said, and his supporters staged upbeat street celebrations to welcome him home while he was being treated at Caracas' military hospital.

MIAMI (AP) - A banker and attorney on the run for 26 years after his conviction in a major South Florida marijuana smuggling case has been captured in Mexico.

NEW YORK (AP) - Major League Baseball's spring training schedule opens when the Boston Red Sox host Northeastern University on Feb. 21 at Fort Myers, Fla., in what the commissioner's office says is the earliest start to exhibition games.

MIAMI (AP) - Venezuelans in Miami are calling on legislators in their country to respect the laws and provide accurate information on President Hugo Chavez's health.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida will welcome Major League Baseball's spring training for the 125th year next month when 15 teams return to the Sunshine State to polish their skills for the 2013 season.

Colombian police are waiting for the extradition of a drug trafficker they say was one of the main suppliers of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

(ARA) - It is time to make history by changing history. For more than 40 years - and through eight presidents - the United States has been dependent on foreign oil to power the nation. Today, energy independence is a realistic goal, one founded on American innovation, technology and hard work.

(NAPSI)—American businesses in Venezuela have become one of President Hugo Chávez’s favorite targets. U.S. staple brands operate under very difficult conditions in Venezuela, including high government taxes, price controls and the always-present threat of expropriation.

According to reports from the Venezuelan central bank, the country's economy contracted by 5.8% in the final quarter of the last fiscal year, the third consecutive quarter of shrinkage. The Venezuelan economy contracted by 3.3% for the whole of 2009.

Thank you so much. Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I will be honored to accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States.