Chavez shakes up government

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has requested and received the resignation of his ministers, including energy and oil minister Rafael Ramirez.

Chavez will carry out “adjustments, not changes” in his cabinet, he told Union Radio news network, declining to give further details.

The ministers will stay in their current posts until replacements are assigned and approved.

The president has shuffled his ministers in the past but never before has asked all to resign.