Washington  - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed suggestions Wednesday that Russian naval exercises in the Caribbean Sea posed a threat to the US military hegemony in the Western Hemisphere.

"I just don't think there's any question about who has the preponderance of power in the Western Hemisphere," Rice said.

Two Russian warships, a destroyer and a cruiser along with support vessels, arrived in Venezuela on Tuesday to carry out joint naval exercises next week. They are the first Russian naval activities in the Western Hemisphere since the end of the Cold War.

Rio de Janeiro  - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is to free up 538 million dollars for reconstruction and support for the victims of heavy rains in the southern state of Santa Catarina, which left at least 86 people dead and more 54,000 evacuees.

Following a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Rio de Janeiro, Lula cancelled all appointments on his schedule for Wednesday and travelled to Santa Catarina.

He flew over the towns that were devastated by the rain, which was affecting more than 1.5 million people in the state.

According to state Civil Defence officials, the number of dead could rise to more than 100, since at least 30 people remained missing.

Bogota  - Ten people were killed in an avalanche Wednesday in the south-western Colombian town of Miranda, following heavy rains that have fallen on the South American country for weeks.

Colombian radio station Caracol said the avalanche caused by an overflowing river buried people living in a humble area of Miranda, 300 kilometres southwest of Bogota, in the province of Cauca.

According to rescue teams, the rain has affected 255 municipalities in 26 of Colombia's 32 provinces since mid-September. Forty-four people have died, while some

New York  - The UN General Assembly on Wednesday announced it would give its 2008 human rights awards posthumously to Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Dorothy Stang, a French Catholic nun.

Other winners are Louise Arbour of Canada, the former UN high commissioner for human rights; US lawyer Ramsey Clark; Carolyn Gomes of the Jamaicans For Justice group; and Denis Mukwege of Congo and the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The UN Prize in the Field of Human Rights for 2008 was announced by assembly president, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann. It is awarded every five years.

Washington  - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed on Wednesday that Washington was looking to establish a diplomatic post in Iran but concluded that the decision should be left to the next president.

"At this late moment, I think it is probably better that this decision be left to the next administration," Rice said, less than two months ahead of president-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.

Tehran  - Iran is now operating more than 5,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium as it continues to move forward on developing a nuclear capability in defiance of the United Nations, the country's nuclear chief said Wednesday.

"Currently we have more than 5,000 centrifuges operating," Gholam- Reza Aqazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

The United States and its allies suspect Iran is seeking the ability to build nuclear weapons, and the UN Security Council has adopted three resolutions containing limited sanctions and demanding Tehran suspend uranium enrichment.