Chavez puts Venezuela's clock ahead 1/2 hour
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| Published on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 |
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP): President Hugo Chavez Sunday announced that Venezuela's official time will be put ahead by half an hour starting January 1, and its first-ever offshore oil rig will start pumping before the year is out.
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| Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. AFP PHOTO |
"Its about the metabolic effect, where the human brain is conditioned by sunlight," Chavez said in a rambling, seven hour discussion on his radio show "Alo, Presidente" with Science and Technology Minister Hector Navarro.
Specifically, Chavez said the Law of Metereology will be changed to reflect Venezuela's new time grid on the map showing it to be three-and-a-half hours behind GMT instead of the current four hours.
Minister Navarro said the longer day would benefit "all Venezuelans in their jobs and studies."
Chavez also announced Sunday that before 2007 runs out, Venezuela will begin pumping oil from its first offshore rig near the coast of Delta Amacuro state.
He said the the rig will mark Venezuela's first exploitation of crude from the ocean bottom in its 100 years of oil-pumping history.
Chavez also announced an ambitious plan to build several artificial islands off the coast of Venezuela to harbor cities, submarine bases, scientific research centers, as well as oil and mining facilities.
"There's 760,000 square kilometers (294,000 square miles) that no other country but Venezuela has a right to," he said referring to Venezuela's continental platform. | | | | Reads : 582 | | | |
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