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Brazil to offer millions in deal on oil drilling

By Times Wires
Published January 15, 2008

Cuba

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is expected to grant Cuba millions of dollars in food and infrastructure credits, while signing a deal to begin exploratory oil drilling in Cuban waters within two years. Silva arrived in Cuba on Monday for a two-day visit. Brazil's Foreign Ministry said the accords would include $100-million in food financing for Cuba, while Brazilian media said $70-million would go to modernize a nickel plant and unspecified amounts to improve roads, infrastructure and hotel projects on the island.

Pakistan

Militants ditch reins, officials say

Pakistan's premier military intelligence agency has lost control of some of the networks of Pakistani militants it has nurtured since the 1980s and is now suffering the violent blowback of that policy, two former senior intelligence officials and other officials close to the agency told the New York Times. As the military has moved against the militants, they have turned on their former handlers, the officials said. Joining with other extremist groups, they have battled Pakistani security forces and helped militants carry out a record number of suicide attacks this year, possibly even the one that killed Benazir Bhutto.

Elsewhere

Spain: The government on Monday dissolved Parliament and called general elections for March 9, officially opening what promises to be a close race between the governing Socialists and the opposition Popular Party.

China: Chinese and Indian leaders agreed in Beijing on Monday to a second round of joint military exercises and raised their target for two-way trade by billions. The agreement came after a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Premier Wen Jiabao of China.

Sri Lanka: A wave of pitched battles, bombings and an airstrike killed at least 34 people across northern Sri Lanka, the military said Monday, as a Japanese envoy met with officials to try to stop the civil war.

Guatemala: Alvaro Colom was sworn in on Monday as Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, promising to fight poverty in a nation where half the people live on less than $1 a day.

France: The newspaper L'Est Republicain reported that President Nicolas Sarkozy and girlfriend Carla Bruni were married Thursday in a "small, very private" ceremony at the Elysee Palace. A Sarkozy spokesman declined to comment.

Times wires

[Last modified January 14, 2008, 23:33:48]