Earlier this year Columbian President Alvaro Uribe asked Hugo Chavez to act as mediator between the Columbian government and leftist guerrillas. Uribe asked Chavez to mediate, because the rebels have expressed admiration for the dictator of Venezuela.

The hope was that Chavez could broker the release of hostages held by the guerrillas, or at the very least work out some kind of prisoner swap with the Columbian government.

When Chavez asked Uribe for permission to talk with Colombian generals about the hostages, the Uribe responded with the humor he often uses to diffuse tension with the Venezuelan leader: “No, you might turn them into Chavez-followers.”

But on Wednesday Chavez got on the telephone with the head of Colombia’s armed forces and asked about the kidnap victims whom Uribe wants to swap for guerrillas held in jail.

Upon hearing that Chavez had defied his orders not to speak with the Columbian armed forces, President Uribe abruptly canceled the talks and fired Chavez.

President Uribe is very popular with Columbians, because he refuses to be intimidated by rebel groups such as the FARC which routinely kidnap columbian citizens and foreigners.

Columbia has the highest rate of kidnappings in the world, and President Uribe is the first President in many years who appears to be making some headway against the criminal elements that have run wild in Columbia for decades.

-Samantha Giles

Five Western security contractors kidnapped a year ago in Iraq are still alive, according to their employer, Crescent Security.

The four Americans and an Austrian colleague employed by Kuwait-based Crescent Security Group were among 14 people kidnapped Nov. 16, 2006, by men in Iraqi police uniforms who ambushed a convoy they were escorting near the southern Iraqi border city of Safwan.

Crescent managing partner Franco Picco said the company has been working with the FBI to find the men. They are alive and “we do have an idea where they are.”

The last indication that the men were alive came in January, in a video recording showing all five speaking briefly and saying they were being treated well. Since then, State Department officials have indicated they believe the men are still alive, according to some family members.

The Turkish military confirmed today that eight of its soldiers were still missing after an ambush by Kurdish militants a day earlier that left at least 12 Turkish soldiers dead and touched off a major escalation in Turkey-Iraq tensions.“Despite all search efforts, no contact has been established with eight missing personnel since shortly after the armed attack on the military unit,” the military said in a statement.

The attack early Sunday brought fears that Turkey would retaliate immediately by sending troops across the border into Iraq, and today Turkey continued to bolster its forces on the border, including both land and air units.

However, Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Sunday that he had delayed a decision about retaliation, after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had personally intervened. The foreign minister, Ali Babacan, said today during an official visit in Kuwait that all political means would be tried before a military operation, NTV television reported.