Anti-Chavez mayor may face charges

Manuel Rosales rejected the allegations as politics.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan prosecutors say they have summoned a leading opponent of President Hugo Chavez for arraignment on corruption allegations.

The Attorney General's Office said yesterday that Manuel Rosales must appear in court next week, when a judge is expected to decide whether to file criminal charges of misusing public funds.

The opposition leader denies any wrongdoing, saying the accusations against him are politically motivated.

Rosales was elected mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city, in last month's gubernatorial and municipal elections. He finished second to Chavez in the 2006 presidential election.

Meanwhile, Russian warships have ended their training exercises with Venezuela's navy in Moscow's first such Caribbean deployment since the Cold War.

Russian television yesterday showed images of a Venezuelan-operated fighter jet swooping low over Soviet warships in a simulated air attack.

The exercises that ended late Monday included an air defense exercise and joint actions to detain an intruding vessel, a Russian navy spokesman said.

The Russian ships arrived in Venezuela last week.

ASSOCIATED PRESS