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World in brief

Bolivia takes over gas fields

By TIMES WIRES
Published May 2, 2006

SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA, Bolivia - President Evo Morales issued a decree nationalizing Bolivia's vast natural gas industry Monday, sending soldiers to occupy gas fields and threatening to evict foreign companies unless they give the Andean nation control over the entire chain of production.

The move fulfills an election promise by the leftist president, who has forged close ties with Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela' Hugo Chavez, to increase state control over Bolivia's natural resources, which he says have been "looted" by foreign companies.

Morales sent soldiers and engineers with Bolivia's state-owned oil company to installations and fields tapped by foreign companies - including Britain's BG Group PLC and BP PLC, Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Spanish-Argentine Repsol YPF SA, France's Total SA and Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp. The companies have six months to agree to new contracts or leave Bolivia, he said.

Any price jolts would mostly be felt in Argentina and Brazil.

Violence breaks out in disputed Kashmir region

DODA, India - A wave of violence by Islamic militants aimed at Indian-controlled Kashmir's Hindu minority has left 35 dead, police said Monday, days ahead of a planned meeting between the region's political separatists and India's prime minister.

In one village, militants disguised as soldiers coaxed residents from their homes and then gunned down 22 of them - the single bloodiest attack by Islamic guerrillas in Kashmir since a 2003 cease-fire between India and Pakistan.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suggested the killings would not hamper efforts to find peace in the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan.

U.S. official enters talks to help secure peace in Sudan

NAIROBI, Kenya - U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick rushed to Nigeria on Monday, hoping to break a crucial impasse in peace talks over Sudan's Darfur region.

Zoellick's unexpected trip came a day after thousands rallied in Washington urging the Bush administration to do more to end the war in Darfur, and amid fading hopes that rebels would sign a peace plan backed by the Sudanese government before a deadline tonight.

The rebels held fast Monday to their demands for greater political representation and security guarantees as State Department spokesman Sean McCormack renewed calls for a diplomatic solution to the three-year conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people and forced millions from their homes..

[Last modified May 2, 2006, 06:31:03]