Venezuela

President Hugo Chavez vowed on Sunday to run a more efficient government if he wins Venezuela's election next weekend while rival Henrique Capriles demanded justice for the shooting of two opposition activists.

A fire caused by lightning at Venezuela's 146,000-barrels-per-day El Palito refinery should be out later on Thursday and operations remain unaffected, a senior official at state oil company PDVSA said.

Facing his toughest-ever re-election challenge, socialist President Hugo Chavez teared up during a campaign speech on Saturday, lamenting his lost freedom to roam anonymously through Venezuela's towns and countryside.

Rival supporters in Venezuela's presidential election fought and threw stones on Wednesday before a campaign stop by opposition leader Henrique Capriles less than a month before an October 7 vote.

Venezuelan firefighters put out a blaze at the country's biggest oil refinery on Tuesday, paving the way for a restart of the facility and an investigation into the world's deadliest refinery accident in fifteen years.

A huge fire burned for a third day in two fuel storage tanks at Venezuela's biggest refinery on Monday, putting in doubt plans to quickly restart the facility after one of the worst accidents to hit the global oil industry in decades.

Venezuelan firefighters struggled on Sunday to put out a blaze at the country's biggest refinery sparked by an explosion that killed 41 people in one of the global oil industry's deadliest accidents.

Sitting in front of a mural of Jesus and the Virgin Mary armed with AK-47s, three red-shirted children are clutching assault rifles and copies of Venezuela's constitution.

Two U.S. diplomats on Wednesday visited an American man jailed in Venezuela whom President Hugo Chavez says he suspects of being a mercenary, the U.S. Embassy said.