<B>CARACAS. </B>Anti-US Chavez leads Venezuelan election race. President Hugo Chavez commanded a wide lead before Venezuela?s election on Sunday, setting the stage for the self-styled revolutionary to intensify his anti-U.S., leftist crusade in Latin America. Chavez?s rival Manuel Rosales, the governor of an oil- producing state in the west of the OPEC nation, trails far behind in most polls because he has made little headway eroding the incumbent?s overwhelming support among the majority poor. If the polls showing Chavez has close to 60 percent support prove right, he vows to use reelection with a strong mandate to eliminate term limits and rule for decades atop a single-party that he wants to create from the cacophony of groups he heads now.

<B>JORDAN. </B>Bush vows to ?complete Iraq job? . US President George W Bush has pledged to keep American troops in Iraq until ?the job is complete?. Speaking after a summit in Jordan with Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki, he said troops would remain as long as Mr Maliki?s government wanted them there. But he said it was important to speed up training for the Iraqi security forces. Mr Bush praised Mr Maliki as the ?right guy for Iraq?. The summit had been delayed by a day amid denials of a snub to Mr Bush. It was held as reports suggested a report by America?s cross-party Iraq Study Group would recommend changes to US policy.

<B>LOS ANGELES. Battle rages on over. fireman who ate dog food . A black firefighter who stood to collect nearly $3 million over a prank involving dog food in his spaghetti is at the center of a political and racial furor in Los Angeles, where city leaders failed on Wednesday to put the case to rest. After two days of grappling with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa?s veto of a $2.7 million settlement in a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by 19-year fire department veteran Tennie Pierce, the City Council voted to send the case back to the drawing board. ?Before we render a decision to settle in the amount of $2.7 million, lets look at all the evidence,? Villaraigosa said at a news conference. ?Lets ensure that all the facts are on the table.? At issue is whether Pierce was the victim of a harmless firehouse joke or vicious racism when his comrades slipped dog food into his spaghetti two years ago.

<B>SUVA. </B>Fiji army returns to barracks, coup fears remain. Fijian troops returned to barracks on Thursday after taking control of parts of the capital Suva in overnight exercises, but residents still fear the military may launch a coup and have begun stockpiling goods. Residents said the 2,000 soldiers who had secured strategic locations around the South Pacific capital overnight, and fired flares and mortar rounds, were no longer on the streets. Military roadside checkpoints erected soon after midnight for the three hour exercises had also disappeared. Fears of a fourth coup in Fiji in 20 years rose overnight as troops stretched along the waterfront past the governor?s residence and the national parliament and secured utilities such as telephone and electricity headquarters.

<B>LONDON</B>. Britons critical of official tsunami response. Many Britons caught up in the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami felt let down by the ?inadequate? response from government agencies, according to a report by the government?s independent auditors yesterday. Around 230,000 people died when a magnitude-9 earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra in 2004 triggered the biggest tsunami on record, which swept through coastal villages and resorts in countries from Thailand to India and Sri Lanka. The victims included 151 Britons, with another missing believed dead, while there were around 10,000 Britons, mostly tourists, in the region when the huge waves struck shortly after midnight British time on Boxing Day.

<B>PARIS. </B>French PM postpones visit to Congo. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin will postpone a planned visit to Congo Republic tomorrow because the country?s president is receiving medical treatment in Paris, Villepin?s office said on Wednesday. Congo President Denis Sassou-N?Guesso, who is also chairman of the African Union, is having treatment in Paris for a slipped disc and has been obliged to extend his treatment for a few days, Congo?s embassy in France said in a statement. Due to the extension of President Denis Sassou-N?Guesso?s treatment in France, the prime minister?s visit to Congo has been delayed,? Villepin?s office said. The French prime minister was due to begin a three day visit to Africa yesterday. He will visit Chad and South Africa.

<B>JENIN. </B>Hamas minister freed by Israel-witnesses. Israel released one of the Hamas government ministers it detained after gunmen from the Gaza Strip abducted an Israeli soldier in June. It was not immediately clear whether the release of Palestinian Public Works and Housing Minister Abdel-Rahman Zidan of Hamas was linked to a possible prisoner exchange deal following a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip over the weekend. A spokeswoman at the Israeli Prime Minister?s office said the release was ordered by a military court. She offered no other details. The release of Zidan coincided with a visit to Israel by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman for talks on a possible deal that would include Israel?s release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of the captured Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit. Zidan said he had been interrogated about his role in the Palestinian government and had been detained in uncomfortable conditions.

<B>SEOUL</B>, South Korea in huge poultry cull to halt bird flu . South Korea will cull over half a million fowl in a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, having already killed 150,000 chickens near farms where the virus was found, officials said yesterday. Last week South Korea confirmed it had its first outbreak of the H5N1 strain in about three years, saying the strain had been found at two nearby poultry farms close in Iksan, about 170 km (105 miles) south of Seoul. The ministry decided not to include other animals in the cull, although it has already killed dogs and cats on the farms hit by the outbreak despite criticism from animal rights groups.