Daily headlines: March 21, 2007

* Major U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips agreed to shift its Venezuelan operations to state-run PDSVA after coming to a deal with the Venezuelan government.

* Bolivian president Evo Morales said that Fidel Castro may visit the Andean country next month.

* On Tuesday, the Colombian peso reached its strongest point since December 2000.

* Brazilian courts have given Italian authorities forty days to seek the extradition of former guerilla member Cesare Battisti.

* Seven pilot whales died after being stranded on a Galapagos Island beach.

* Peruvian soldiers killed three members of a guerilla group linked to the country’s cocaine trade.

Image- hydrocarbons-technology.com (Oil refinery in Venezuela’s Orinoco region)

Links-UPI, International Herald Tribune, Reuters AlertNet, MSNBC