Four oil firms cede control to Venezuela's Chávez

Caracas, Venezuela

Four major oil companies Wednesday agreed to cede control of Venezuela's last remaining privately run oil projects to President Hugo Chávez's government, but ConocoPhillips resisted, prompting warnings its fields could be taken over outright.

The companies pump and process heavy oil in the Orinoco River basin. Chávez decreed last month that their fields be nationalized May 1.

Officials from Chevron, BP, France's Total and Norway's Statoil signed memorandums of understanding Wednesday agreeing to give state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela a majority stake in three of the projects. Exxon Mobil signed earlier in private, officials said.

ConocoPhillips spokesman Charlie Rowton said discussions were continuing.

Ankara, Turkey

Progress hinted at in Iran negotiations

Senior Iranian and Western envoys signaled Wednesday that they may have made progress in trying to break a deadlock over Iran's defiance of a U.N. demand to suspend uranium enrichment, saying they planned to meet again in two weeks.

In announcing the additional talks, neither European Union foreign-policy chief Javier Solana nor Ali Larijani, Iran's top negotiator, revealed details of their meetings Wednesday.

But an official in a European capital said the two touched on discussions of what would constitute a suspension. A more flexible definition of a freeze acceptable to both sides is "the key issue," said the official, who was briefed on the day's talks.

Jakarta, Indonesia

Tanker explodes after delivery; 4 die

An oil tanker that had just unloaded its cargo exploded on a Sumatran river Wednesday, killing four crew members, police said.

The MT Maulana had delivered a load of diesel fuel and was returning to port when the explosion occurred, said police investigator Darul Qotnu.

An electrical problem was blamed for igniting the fuel, touching off the blast.

Qotnu said the captain and 11 other survivors were being questioned by authorities.

Buenos Aires

Ex-junta leaders given life terms

Two aging leaders of Argentina's former military junta must serve life terms in prison for "grave violations of human rights," a federal court ruled Wednesday after throwing out pardons that had shielded the pair for years.

The three-judge panel restored life sentences for ex-President Jorge Rafael Videla and Eduardo Massera, former naval chief, pivotal members of the military junta that oversaw a reign of terror during the 1976-83 "dirty war." The former general and the former admiral, both 81, were the best-known faces of the dictatorship.

Also

Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday pushed back the date of parliamentary elections from May 27 to June 24.

Speaking terms: Myanmar and North Korea restored diplomatic ties on Thursday, 24 years after Myanmar broke them off because North Korean agents blew up a South Korean government delegation visiting Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Seattle Times news services