Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has returned to the country after receiving treatment for cancer in Cuba.
In three messages posted Mr Chavez, 58, thanked Cuban President and ex-leader Raul and Fidel Castro.
He also thanked Venezuelans for their support and said he would continue treatment in his home country.
He has been president for 14 years and was re-elected for another six-year term in October 2012, but his swearing-in was delayed because of his illness.
Mr Chavez went to Havana for surgery on 11 December, his fourth operation in an 18-month period for cancer first diagnosed in mid-2011.
Last week the first images of him since the operation were broadcast by Venezuela's government.
He was pictured smiling as he lay in bed reading a newspaper, with his two daughters by his side.
Thanks and praise
Mr Chavez to Venezuela to his 3.9 million Twitter followers in a series of tweets that were bombastic in tone but short on detail.
"We have arrived back in the land of Venezuela. Thank you Lord!! Thanks to my beloved people!! We will continue our treatment here."
There was no information about when or why he returned, and no details about whether he would actively take up the duties of office.
Instead he thanked Cuba's leaders and people and said he had confidence in his doctors.
"Onwards to victory!! We will live and we will overcome!!!" he wrote his final tweet.
Local media quoted Vice-President Nicolas Maduro as saying that Mr Chavez landed at 02:30 local time (06:30 GMT) before being transferred to the Military Hospital in Caracas.
The extent of Mr Chavez's illness is shrouded in mystery, but it is understood to be serious.
During his treatment the Venezuelan leader is reported to have had tumours removed from his pelvic region.
He has also undergone prior rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
Though there have been few details about the president's exact treatment, Vice-President Nicolas Maduro described it as "extremely complex and tough".
Mr Maduro has effectively been running Venezuela since Mr Chavez went to Cuba, and the opposition has demanded clarity about who is in charge.
Delaying the inauguration scheduled for 10 January, the Venezuelan Supreme Court ruled that Mr Chavez could be sworn in at a later date.
But the opposition argued that National Assembly Speaker Diosdado Cabello should take over and new elections should be held.
Baghdad bombings reflect sectarian tensions
A string of bombings in Shiite Muslim neighborhoods in eastern Baghdad left as many as two dozen people dead and reflected Iraq’s heightened sectarian tensions in the wake of nearly two months of Sunni protests.
The bombs went off around 11 a.m., with three explosions in the Shiite slum of Sadr City and three in other nearby neighborhoods. Preliminary news reports put the death toll at 21 to 28, with more than 100 wounded. The attacks were the deadliest this month in the nation’s capital and came amid anti-government demonstrations in Sunni regions of the country that began in late December.
The stalemate between the government and Sunni protesters has aggravated the already brittle relationship between Iraq’s newly ascendant Shiite majority and its Sunnis, who dominated the country’s leadership until the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003.
In eastern Baghdad’s Sadr City, people gathered at one of the bomb sites hours after the blasts, voicing disgust with their government and blaming unidentified Sunni political figures for the attacks. The response reflected the anxiety and suspicion among ordinary Shiites toward the Sunni demonstrations.
“The Sunni agenda is being implemented to kill innocent Shiites,” shouted one man, who didn’t give his name. “I lost my close friend Naim today; he was fixing car batteries. He leaves his wife and seven daughters. Who will support them now?”
A second man demanded to know why cars were allowed into an area that he said was usually sealed off. “How do these vehicles get through the checkpoint. Tell me how!” he said.
The attacks came as Al Qaeda in Iraq has tried to play off the alienation of Sunnis, who have protested in Fallujah, Ramadi, Samarra, Kirkuk and Baghdad, demanding an end to arrests by secret informants and the release of detainees. Protesters have threatened to march on Baghdad, prompting a warning from senior members of the government.
Pope blesses thousands at Vatican as details of ailments emerge
A week after Pope Benedict announced his resignation, more than 50,000 supporters jammed into St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for his next-to-last weekly blessing, as it emerged the aging pontiff may have gone blind in one eye.
Addressing the cheering crowd, which was larger than usual for the Sunday Angelus, Benedict appeared to criticize the infighting that has plagued the Vatican during his reign.
“The church, which is mother and teacher, calls on all its members to renew their spirit, turn back firmly toward God and ignore pride and egoism to live in love,” he said, before asking in Spanish for prayers to be said for the next pope.
PHOTOS: The cardinals who might be pope
Benedict, 85, shocked the Vatican and the world Feb. 11 by announcing that he would step down at the end of the month due to failing health, although Vatican insiders have also cited a toll taken on the pope by power struggles behind the Vatican walls.
New evidence is emerging of Benedict’s declining physical condition. Peter Seewald, a German journalist who has interviewed Benedict on numerous occasions, said that when he last saw the pope 10 weeks ago, his hearing had deteriorated and he appeared to have gone blind in his left eye.
“His body had become so thin that the tailors had difficulty in keeping up with newly fitted clothes. ... I'd never seen him so exhausted-looking, so worn down,” he told Focus, a German magazine, on Saturday.
Seewald quoted the pope as saying: “I'm an old man and the strength is ebbing. I think what I've done is enough.” Asked if he was considering retiring, Benedict replied, "That depends on how much my physical strength will force me to that."
PHOTOS: Throngs turn out for Benedict's blessing
Supporters turning out to hear Benedict speak Sunday said the pope had come to recognize he was no longer able to carry out his duties. “It’s a human decision and I am here to pay my respects and say goodbye,” said Michaela Priori, 35, a Rome office worker.
Benedict will hold his last blessing in St. Peter’s next Sunday. That will be followed by a final general audience in the piazza Feb. 27, a day before he is flown by helicopter from the Vatican to the papal summer residence outside Rome to start his retirement. Two months later he is due to move into a former monastery in the Vatican’s large gardens when it has been refurbished.
The conclave at which cardinals elect the next pope is due 15 to 20 days after a pope dies, and an article in the apostolic constitution governing conclaves says that interval is also required if the pope resigns.
However, officials are now studying whether the date can be brought forward since no time is required for a papal funeral and the 117 cardinals due at the conclave are already making plans to travel to Rome. A speedier conclave would allow the next pope to be named before Easter.