Beijing - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez held talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday before the two sides signed an oil cooperation deal and several economic agreements.

The Chinese government gave no immediate details of the oil agreement but it said other documents covered economic cooperation, education and justice.

The Venezuelan government said more than 20 agreements would be signed during Chavez's three-day visit to China, which began on Tuesday.

Beijing - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks with Chinese leaders and the expected signing of several economic deals.

Chavez was scheduled to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday afternoon, following which the two leaders would attend the signing of several joint documents, foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

Asked earlier if the documents to be signed in Beijing would include deals on energy and military fighter jets, Jiang said she had "no information" on military trade.

Last week she said discussions were "under way" on possible energy deals, but she declined to give details.

Caracas  - The government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday ordered Human Rights Watch (HRW) director Jose Miguel Vivanco to leave the country "immediately," saying his criticism was part of a plot by the United States against the country.

Just hours earlier, Vivanco had made public a report that criticized Chavez's human rights record. Venezuelan authorities complained that this report constituted an "attack" on the country's institutions.

Caracas - Venezuela and Russia plan to deepen bilateral ties, expanding economic, technological and military cooperation, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said Tuesday.

The South American country was one of Russia's most trusted partners, Sechin said after a meeting with Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizales.

Both countries plan to sign several agreements in a high-level meeting scheduled for October 15-18 in Caracas.

In Tuesday's meeting, a range of bilateral cooperation agreements, including in the fields of energy, trade, education, technology and military affairs were discussed, Carrizales said. Relations to Russia were important to establish a multi-polar world as envisaged by Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez, he added.

Washington - The United States on Friday froze the assets of two high-ranking Venezuelan intelligence officials accused of arming rebels in neighbouring Colombia, amid a growing diplomatic standoff between Caracas and Washington.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday expelled the US ambassador to Venezuela and recalled his own from the United States. The move was out of solidarity with Bolivia, which has accused the US of fomenting unrest in the country and pulled its own ambassador from the US this week.

Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expelled the US ambassador, acting out of solidarity with his embattled Bolivian counterpart, Evo Morales.

US Ambassador Patrick Duddy had to leave the country within the next 72 hours, Chavez said Thursday night in a televised speech. At the same time, the leftist populist president recalled Venezuela's ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez.

Duddy arrived in Caracas last year.