London buses to run on Venezuelan oil.

Discount-price diesel from Venezuela may be used to fuel some of London's 8,000 buses under an agreement between the South American country's charismatic president Hugo Chavez and London mayor, Ken Livingston. In exchange for the low-cost fuel, the London city council would promote tourism to Venezuela as well as lending council technicians and specialists in the fields of policing, housing, transport, waste management and tourism to the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Chavez had initially hoped that the cheap fuel would be destined for heating the homes of the elderly and needy in London, following the success of a similar initiative in Boston and New York last year. However, it seems that the oil will be used to fuel buses in the capital's poorer areas instead. Ken Livingston confirmed last week that the deal is going ahead, although some of the finer details still need to be worked out. Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporter in the world.