Venezuela

An armed group vandalized Caracas' oldest synagogue, shattering religious objects and spray-painting walls in what Jewish leaders called the worst attack ever on their community in Venezuela. Two security guards were overpowered late Friday by about 15 people who left graffiti such as, "We don't want murderers," and "Jews, get out." The synagogue canceled Saturday's worship service.

Despite the prospect of economic hard times as oil revenue plunges, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is preparing to go before voters with a plea that they've rejected once before: End term limits that block him from staying in power indefinitely. The National Electoral Commission is expected this week to set a Feb. 15 date for a referendum seeking approval of a measure that would allow Chavez and all other elected officials to run for reelection an unlimited number of times.

A succession of violent incidents in Venezuela, including the armed takeover of the Caracas city hall, point to an ugly campaign ahead of a Feb. 15 vote that could lift term limits on President Hugo Chavez. A group of 40 armed men who said they were Chavez supporters were still in control of city hall Monday evening, two days after they forced their way in, handcuffed two security officers and declared the building "recovered for the revolution," a mayoral spokesman said.

Amid deepening shortages of food and household supplies, President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday ordered the seizure of a Venezuelan unit of U.S. agriculture giant Cargill, the latest in a series of takeovers of foreign-owned companies. In a speech during a ministers' council meeting broadcast over state-run television, Chavez also threatened to seize control of privately owned Polar, the country's largest food conglomerate and brewer.

When South Korea's World Baseball Classic team held its first workout last month, there was little need for introductions. Many of the players had competed with or against each other since grade school -- something that will happen when you grow up in a country that has fewer high school baseball programs than the city of Los Angeles. But while the Koreans were familiar with each other, everything they knew about Saturday's WBC opponent they learned from TV.

A Peruvian lawyer says Venezuelan opposition leader Manuel Rosales has requested political asylum in Peru. Rosales is a leading opponent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and has been charged with corruption in Venezuela. Rosales says his trial there would not be fair. Lawyer Javier Valle-Riestra said the asylum request for Rosales was made Tuesday. He said a group of Rosales' allies contacted him 10 days ago about the case.

Thousands of Venezuelans participated in protests and rallies Saturday to support or condemn an opposition-aligned TV station that President Hugo Chavez's government has threatened to close. Opposition protesters marched to Venezuela's journalists association, chanting "Journalism is freedom!" Thousands of Chavez supporters, meanwhile, marched to the National Assembly in a show of support for the Chavez government's actions.

In his new documentary "South of the Border," Oliver Stone is shown warmly embracing Hugo Chávez, nibbling coca leaves with Evo Morales and gently teasing Cristina Elizabeth Fernández de Kirchner about how many pairs of shoes she owns. These amiable, off-the-cuff snapshots of the presidents of Venezuela, Bolivia and Argentina, respectively, contrast with the way these left-leaning leaders often are depicted in U.S. political and mass media circles. That's especially true of Chávez, the former military officer turned democratically elected socialist leader, who has become the ideological heir apparent to Fidel Castro and the bête noire of Bush administration foreign policy officials.

President Hugo Chavez's government accused Colombia on Monday of using its state security agency to spy on Venezuela while purportedly helping investigate the killings of eight Colombians. Venezuela sent a diplomatic protest note saying officials of Colombia's DAS agency were "detected carrying out espionage work and attempting to bribe." Venezuela did not give details but said authorities had seized documents referring to a conspiracy to destabilize its government. Colombia has offered help in investigating the slayings of 10 men -- eight Colombians, a Venezuelan and a Peruvian -- whose bodies were found in the western Venezuelan border state of Tachira on Saturday.

Like nearly everyone else in this sleepy fishing town, unemployed former soldier Miguel Fernandez is eagerly anticipating the massive "oil city" that President Hugo Chavez has promised to build here on the banks of the Orinoco River. "There was a rumor last week that the first well was being drilled. Half the town rushed out there looking for work," Fernandez, 23, said. But the project was only a small field test, and there were no jobs. "We were all disappointed." Chavez's vision for the huge new oil complex 400 miles southeast of Caracas will cost $36 billion and ostensibly add half a million barrels of oil a day to Venezuela's output by 2012, reversing a decade-long decline in output.