World IN BRIEF / VENEZUELA : Assembly Considers Taking Total Control

Venezuela was plunged into further political turmoil as a constituent assembly dominated by supporters of President Hugo Chavez debated whether to strip the opposition-led Congress of its few residual powers and assume total control of legislative affairs. The 131-member assembly took up the matter in an emergency session five days after the recently installed body issued a decree that banned Congress from passing new laws and severely limited its other legislative functions. But lawmakers have defied the order and in doing so threatened to withhold approval of foreign trips Chavez was to make this week and to block budget appropriations totaling nearly $4 billion unless a compromise can be worked out. Last week, street clashes erupted outside the parliament building between supporters and opponents of the president and the new assembly. Lawmakers scaled fences to try to retake their chambers. An agreement brokered by the Roman Catholic Church to seek a peaceful solution to the impasse has since unraveled.