VENEZUELA

Venezuelans turned their clocks back 30 minutes Sunday in the latest measure introduced by President Hugo Chavez.

The time change is intended to optimize use of daylight hours and keep schoolchildren from having to wake up before dawn, Chavez has said.

But critics called it an arbitrary move by the socialist leader, who has redesigned the national flag, renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and plans to launch a new currency, the "strong bolivar," in 2008.

The change puts Caracas half an hour ahead of New York and Washington during standard time, instead of the previous full hour.

CHINA

11 trapped miners saved after 6 days

Eleven Chinese miners trapped underground for nearly six days by a tunnel collapse ate paper and chewed on a boiled leather belt to ease their hunger, local media said today.

The miners were pulled from the illegal iron and gold mine in northern China early Sunday, the Beijing News said, after a tunnel collapsed Dec. 3.

"At first, we ate newspaper pages when we got hungry, then orange peel," the paper quoted Wu Pengyong, a 33-year-old miner, as saying.

China has the world's deadliest mining industry with thousands of miners perishing in gas explosions, collapses and floods every year. Scores die in rescue attempts launched by mine bosses seeking to cover up accidents at illegally run mines.

Authorities have detained 33 coal mine managers and officials after they delayed reporting the accident for five hours and tried to launch their own rescue.

BOLIVIA

Assembly OKs new constitution

Defying an opposition boycott, Bolivia's constitutional assembly approved a charter that would empower the nation's indigenous majority and let President Evo Morales run for reelection indefinitely.

The new constitution must be approved by Bolivians in a national referendum. No date has been set, and it is not expected to be held until September 2008.

Opposition leaders vowed to launch protests and legal challenges to the new document, which they say does not represent all Bolivians.

But supporters say the charter is needed to give Bolivia's indigenous population greater autonomy and control of its land.

From Times Wire Reports