Vzla: Anti-Chavez crowd took a six for a nine

Foes of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday they would step up street protests in their campaign for a recall referendum against him, as Friday's deadline for electoral authorities to decide on a vote looked set to slip.

Sources in the National Electoral Council told Reuters the electoral authority would not be able to announce this Friday, Feb. 13, as originally planned, whether a poll would be held this year in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

The sources, who asked not to be named, added the final decision could take several more days as electoral officials struggled to complete complex checks on pro-referendum signatures handed in by the opposition late last year.