Chavez heir sees lead narrow before election
CARACAS, Venezuela Red-shirted backers of Hugo Chavezs chosen heir transformed downtown Caracas into a raucous festival on the final day of campaigning for the weekend presidential election, flooding the streets Thursday in the hundreds of thousands to dance, drink beer and set off ear-splitting fireworks.
Interim President Nicolas Maduro, a burly former bus driver who served as Chavezs foreign minister and vice president, is favored to win Sundays vote. But a poll said his advantage had narrowed as challenger Henrique Capriles hammered away at government deficiencies in fighting crime, chronic food shortages, double-digit inflation and worsening power outages.
Capriles held his own huge rallies in the western states of Apure and Lara.
Syrian troops launch counterattack on south
BEIRUT Syrian government forces launched a counteroffensive in the south, capturing a town and killing at least 45 people including women and children, opposition activists said Thursday.
The attack on the town of Sanamein came after a rebel advance in the area in recent weeks. They opposition fighters captured army bases and a major town in the strategic province of Daraa along the border with Jordan.
Rebels advancing in the south in recent weeks have been aiming to secure a corridor from the Jordanian border to Damascus about 60 miles away in preparation for an eventual assault on the capital.
Regional officials and military experts note a sharp increase in weapons shipments to opposition fighters by Arab governments, in coordination with the U.S., in the hopes of readying a push into Damascus the ultimate prize in the civil war that has killed more than 70,000 in two years.
Associated Press
