World briefs 013/0/03

Banks in Venezuela abandon two-month strike

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Under intense pressure from President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's banks agreed to abandon a 59-day-old opposition strike -- the latest sign the drive to force Chavez's quick ouster was unraveling.

Wednesday's decision came as the government nibbled away at the strike's core: a walkout that hobbled the oil industry, the world's No. 5 exporter.

Output surpassed 1 million barrels a day this week, a third of normal. Oil provides half of government income and 70 percent of export revenue.

Venezuela's National Banking Council said its members will return to normal operating hours on Monday. For two months, thousands of people have waited in long lines while banks opened just three hours a day.

Most small businesses never joined the strike, which began Dec. 2.

Rebels say they'll hand over kidnapped journalists

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombian rebels said Wednesday they were prepared to hand over two kidnapped foreign journalists to a humanitarian commission but warned the army not to mount a rescue attempt.

Photographer Scott Dalton, 34, of Conroe, Texas, and reporter Ruth Morris, a Briton, were seized by the National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, on Jan. 21. The two were on assignment for the Los Angeles Times.

The rebels said Tuesday they would not free the pair until the Colombian military halted its attacks in Arauca state in Colombia where the two were abducted.

On Wednesday, the rebels did not mention that demand, saying only that they would turn the two over to a humanitarian commission.

Canadian wholesaler cuts supply to Net pharmacies

TORONTO -- A Canadian drug wholesaler said Wednesday it has stopped supplying GlaxoSmithKline Inc. products to pharmacists who sell medicine to U.S. patients over the Internet.

GlaxoSmithKline said last week it would cut off wholesalers if they supply the company's products to 29 blacklisted pharmacies that sell medicine from Canada to U.S. customers.

Wayne Rivers, chief executive officer of United Pharmacists Ltd., said in a telephone interview his company had no choice but to comply with the GlaxoSmithKline directive.

Otherwise, he said, a cutoff in GlaxoSmithKline products would have left Canadian customers unable to get needed medicine.

Many popular medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other chronic conditions are significantly cheaper in Canada, where the government regulates prices.

Jordan receives first batch of F-16 jets from U.S.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Jordan received six F-16 fighter jets on Wednesday, the first batch out of 16 attack aircraft donated by the United States to its longtime Arab ally.

The previously unannounced donation is the second since 1997, when former President Clinton granted Jordan $300 million worth of military equipment under a program to award the Arab kingdom for its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

That donation included 16 F-16 jet fighters, troop carriers, attack helicopters and other military gear, such as night vision goggles.

Jordanian officials were not immediately available for comment.

Oil from ship threatens Belgian wildlife, beaches

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Oil leaking from the sunken cargo ship Tricolor is washing up on the Belgian coastline, damaging wildlife and beaches, officials said Wednesday.

Firefighters and volunteers were called to remove oil and damaged birds from the shore after small oil clots washed up near the ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge.

"There is more oil washing up than what we had anticipated," Bruges Mayor Patrick Moenaert, who was overseeing the cleanup, told VTM television.

Crews placed floating barriers around some nature reserves along the 40-mile Belgian coast to limit environmental damage.

The Tricolor, carrying cars, sank Dec. 14 after colliding in thick fog with a container ship in the English Channel. -- From wire reports