Reuters: Chavez extends oil largesse 22 December

Castro, who has not appeared in public since July 2006, met Chavez for more than four hours according to the government. Castro has suffered from a long illness which fueled rumors that death was imminent, and uncertainty over the political future of the Western Hemisphere's only Communist-run state.

US President George W. Bush that Fidel Castro's decision to step down as Cuban leader should begin a "democratic transition" there, eventually culminating with free and fair elections. "I view this as a period of transition and it should be a beginning of the democratic transition for the people in Cuba," Bush said. Ailing revolutionary icon Fidel Castro permanently gave up the Cuban presidency on Tuesday, ending five decades of ironclad rule of the island marked by his one-man defiance of the United States. Eighteen months after he was stricken with illness, the 81-year-old Castro said in a message published by the official media that he would not accept the presidency again. An AFPTV report.

The new president who will take Cuba's helm on Sunday after a half-century of Fidel Castro's hardline rule will inherit a creaky, struggling economy and pressure from both inside and outside the country to embrace democracy. The National Assembly is widely expected on Sunday to confirm Castro's brother Raul, 76, as the new president, a post he has held on a provisional basis since Fidel, 81, underwent intestinal surgery 19 months ago. A look forward at the historic handover of power. An AFPTV report.

Ailing revolutionary icon Fidel Castro permanently gave up the Cuban presidency on Tuesday, ending five decades of ironclad rule of the island marked by his one-man defiance of the United States. Eighteen months after he was stricken with illness, the 81-year-old Castro said in a message published by the official media that he would not accept the presidency again. An AFPTV report.

Venezuelans cast ballots in a contentious referendum Chavez hopes will bolster his powers and impose a socialist economy on his oil-rich country. Among the more controversial constitutional reforms proposed by Chavez is a measure to scrap his two-term limit, opening the way for him to realize his ambition of becoming Venezuela's president-for-life. Images of Hugo Chavez voting at a polling station and soundbites atfer the vote.

Ecuador and Venezuela broke diplomatic ties with Colombia after its forces killed a rebel leader inside Ecuador in a raid that sparked troop deployments and warnings of war.

The State Department said it backed Exxon Mobil in its efforts to get quote "fair and just" compensation from Venezuela for its assets, but was not involved in the case. Speakers: Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez Daniel Restrepo of the Center for American Progress

The dispute with the largest U.S. firm is over compensation for a heavy crude project nationalized by socialist President Hugo Chavez. Jon Decker reports.

Cuba's parliament elected Raul Castro as president on Sunday after nearly 50 years of rule by his brother Fidel, in a historic milestone which seems set to keep the Caribbean island on the communist path.