Venezuelan official granted asylum in Peru

Manuel Rosales, the mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela, has been granted political asylum in Peru, Peru's foreign minister said Monday.

Manuel Rosales denies that he illegally enriched himself as governor of Zulia state.

Rosales, a leading political opponent who lost the 2006 presidential race to Hugo Chavez, faces corruption charges in Venezuela.

He was supposed to have turned himself in to authorities last week but failed to appear. His attorney said then that Rosales had fled to Peru and would seek asylum there.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde said that the asylum was granted on humanitarian grounds and that recent statements by Rosales against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez were not taken into account, the state-run Andina news agency said.

Venezuelan officials say Rosales illegally enriched himself as governor of Zulia state from 2002 to 2004.

Rosales denies the allegation, saying Chavez is out to get him for political reasons and is persecuting him on trumped-up corruption charges.

"Since they haven't been able to take me off the political map by the electoral route, now they're using the power they have in all the movements of the public prosecutor," Rosales told CNN en Español last month.

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One of Rosales' lawyers noted that Chavez said publicly in October 2008, before Rosales was charged, that he wanted the mayor in prison.

In last month's interview, Rosales called the charges that he had illegally accepted money "totally false," and said he not only declared all of his income, but paid taxes on it.

Katiuska Plaza, district attorney for Zulia state, said in a 26-count complaint last month that Rosales illegally enriched himself in 2002 and 2004.

Rosales called the district attorney's actions "a manipulation," and said the prosecutor "is acting on Chavez's orders."

Another prominent Chavez opponent was arrested this month on corruption charges.

Former Venezuelan Defense Minister Raul Baduel played a key role in turning back a coup attempt against Chavez in 2002 but broke with him in November 2007 over constitutional changes Chavez was proposing. Baduel has been a strong Chavez critic since then.

Baduel, who also was the president's military general-in-chief, was arrested at gunpoint in front of his wife April 2, the general's attorney said at the time. It was Baduel's second arrest on charges that he stole $14 million from the armed forces.

He has denied the allegation and said last year the charges were politically motivated.

And Antonio Ledezma, an opposition figure who is mayor of Caracas, is finding his powers reduced. Last week, the pro-Chavez National Assembly shifted many of his powers to the federal government.

Ledezma has accused Chavez of orchestrating protests against him.

Ship's cook seized by pirates blames employers

A crew member on a U.S.-flagged cargo ship captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia is suing his employers, claiming they sent him into pirate-infested waters without adequate protection, his attorney said Monday.

Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse has been charged with piracy in federal court in New York.

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Richard Hicks of Royal Palm Beach, Florida, a crew member on the Maersk Alabama, was set to file suit Monday against Waterman Steamship Corp. and Maersk Line Limited, according to the attorney, Terry Bryant.

A spokeswoman for Mobile, Alabama-based Waterman Steamship Corp. said she did not know about the suit and did not immediately comment.

A spokeswoman for Maersk Line Limited did not immediately return a call from CNN seeking comment.

The Maersk Alabama was hijacked by pirates April 8.

Hicks, working as chief steward and preparing food for other crew members, heard over the loudspeaker that pirates were on board, and he and other crew members gathered in the ship's engine room for nearly 12 hours, Bryant said in a news release.

"The engine room was dark and hot, maybe 130 degrees," Hicks said in the news release. "We were all cramping up with heat stroke symptoms when we were able to take a pirate hostage and tried to negotiate the return of our captain."

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The pirates promised to exchange Capt. Richard Phillips for the pirate hostage, but reneged on that agreement, the news release said.

Phillips had offered himself as a hostage in exchange for the freedom of his crew. He was held on a lifeboat until U.S. Navy snipers on a nearby ship fatally shot three pirates. Phillips was rescued, and a fourth pirate was arrested.

The ship's owners -- the two companies -- knowingly exposed their employees to danger and took no steps to provide appropriate security and safety for the crew, Bryant alleges.

"Waterman Steamship Corp. and Maersk Line Limited chose to rely on the United States military and taxpayers to provide after-the-fact rescue operations," Bryant said in the news release.

"This choice caused substantially more cost and risk to human life than what would have been incurred by defendants had they provided appropriate levels of security in the first place."

Hicks is seeking at least $75,000 and "reserves the right to amend this pleading for a certain amount in the future, as it is too early to determine the maximum amount of plaintiff's damages," according to the suit.

Hicks is still suffering from injuries as a result of the incident and is afraid to return to work, the news release said.

Taliban suspends regional peace talks

Taliban militants have suspended talks with the provincial government in the midst of fighting in the country's volatile northwestern region.

Pakistani soldiers on patrol in Buner district.

"Due to the military operation in Lower Dir ... we have decided to suspend dialogue with the (North West Frontier Province) government," Amir Izad, a spokesman for Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM), a Taliban-aligned group, said Monday.

This comes after Pakistan's Frontier Corps launched an offensive against suspected militants and their hideouts in Lower Dir, which neighbors the violence-plagued Swat area.

The TNSM lost contact with Sufi Muhammed, an Islamist fundamentalist leader who has been negotiating on behalf of the Taliban, on Sunday, Izad said.

"We have not been able to get any information about his whereabouts, make contact with him, or his family," according to Izad. "We will not restart the dialogue until these operations stop."

The suspected militant hideouts targeted by the military are in Islampura and Lal Qila in Lower Dir. A "heavy exchange of fire" was reported at Kala Dag and Lal Qila, the Pakistani military said Sunday.

There were reports of many Taliban deaths, including that of an "important local commander." One security force member was killed and four others were wounded, the military said.

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Army Col. Attiq Ahmed told CNN about the military operation, and a Taliban spokesman in the area confirmed it.

Taliban spokesman Mullah Mansoor Dadullah said the militants were "resisting the army operation."

The Taliban "know who the people are who raise their voices for the operation," Dadullah said. "We know them; they are on our hit list and we will target them."

Lower Dir is one of the districts included in a recent peace deal between the government and the Taliban.

The agreement signed by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari allows the Taliban to implement Islamic law, or sharia, in the region in exchange for an end to fighting. Under the Taliban's strict interpretation of sharia law, women would be prevented from even being seen in public without their husbands or fathers.

The peace deal encompasses the Malakand Division, which includes the following areas: Swat, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Buner, Shangla, Chitral and Malakand. Kohistan, which is not in Malakand division, is also covered under the deal.

Last week, the Taliban overran large sections of the Buner district, bringing them within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad, in violation of the peace accord. The takeover of Buner brought the Taliban closer to the capital than it had been since it mounted its insurgency.

A Pakistani government official said Friday that the insurgents had completely withdrawn from the district by the end of the week, but a human rights group said people in Buner were reporting that local Taliban remained in the district.