www.granma.cu Havana. January 21,  2003

• Large Cuban delegation also to denounce the blockade of the island, and expose the dangers of the FTAA and neoliberal globalization

• THE sizeable Cuban delegation participating at the 3rd World Social Forum in Porto Alegre has very quickly entered into the activities of an event bringing together 100,000 people in the Brazilian city.

The future of education in the five continents was the first tribunal opened, attended by ministers from some 30 nations and UNESCO representatives. The island’s educational achievements from the 1961 literacy campaign to the current new programs aimed at improving knowledge were outlined.

Cuban elementary school student Gabriela Castellanos gave an improvised talk to the 10,000 educators present; she offered greetings from the island’s delegation and affirmed: "the Cuban people’s struggle really shows that a new world is possible."

Her vibrant message demonstrates why Porto Alegre continues to be a venue for events as important as the World Social Forum.

A subject that has awakened special interest is the report on the rigged trial in the United States and the unjust sentences handed down to the five Cuban patriots imprisoned in that country’s jails. Relatives of Gerardo Hernández, René González, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González and Antonio Guerrero are to denounce the men’s situation in distinct tribunals. From their cells, the five have sent messages of solidarity to the thousands of representatives of NGO’s, institutions, ethnic groups and other sectors meeting in the Brazilian city.

A roundtable and other activities have been announced to discuss the situation of the five prisoners of the empire. Additionally, Cuba’s representatives will speak out against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a neocolonial instrument of the U.S. government, and the damage to Third World nations resulting from the neoliberal policies of the Washington administration and its allies. The serious difficulties that the U.S. superpower’s criminal blockade creates for Cuba will be aired once again at the forum.

The pro-peace fight and rejection of war plans against Iraq, the problems of Palestine, and the campaign to destabilize the constitutional government in Venezuela are other issues to be raised by the island’s representatives at the world event — now one of the planet’s most significant political gatherings.

www.newsmax.com Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2003

Despite his history of abetting Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Jimmy Carter is styling himself as a neutral mediator in Venezuela, where Castro protégé Huge Chavez fights reforms sought by hundreds of thousands of demonstrators.

"My opinion is that both sides now want to reach an agreement to end the impasse that is threatening to destroy Venezuela's economy and social structure," the clueless Carter told reporters today in Caracas before flying back to Atlanta.

The muddled meddler made two unenforceable proposals that pleased his fellow traveler Chavez: amending Venezuela's constitution to allow early elections (not likely!) or waiting until Aug. 19, when the constitution allows a binding referendum on the president's mandate.

"If the people were to decide it should be four years ... I have no problem with that," Chavez claimed.

Strike leader Carlos Ortega, president of the million-member Confederation of Venezuelan Workers, said earlier that Chavez would never accept a vote on his rule.

Still seeking a legacy to make up for his disastrous presidency, Carter likes to play peacemaker but has often done more harm than good. For the whole story about Carter, see the February issue of NewsMax Magazine, which reveals more about his ties to Castro and blows the lid off:

• His treasonous behavior with the Soviets, including recruiting them to undermine President Reagan.
• The continuing disaster in the Middle East caused by his disastrous betrayal of the Shah of Iran.
• His blunders in North Korea, Israel, Panama, Nicaragua and more.

www.morningstar.ca 21 Jan 03(3:39 PM) |  E-mail Article to a Friend

NEW YORK (Reuters) - World oil prices set new two-year highs Tuesday for fear of war in Iraq, holding strong even though cracks started to appear in a Venezuelan strike that has cut deep into exports to the United States.

U.S. light crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled up 70 cents at $34.61 a barrel after hitting a peak of $35.20, the highest level since Nov. 2000. London Brent blend rose 9 cents to $30.73 a barrel.

News from Venezuela that tanker pilots in Lake Maracaibo, a strategic export route, had ended their part in the nationwide strike briefly pulled prices lower; but the market bounced back, surging on fears that war in Iraq could disrupt Middle East oil flows.

With Venezuelan exports running at just 500,000 barrels a day, a fifth of normal levels, crude stockpiles in the United States have slid close to 26-year lows just as a fierce cold snap in the U.S. Northeast has boosted heating oil demand.

While an end to the tanker pilots' action in Venezuela could be expected to lift exports, shippers said deliveries were not likely to rise rapidly until foreign ship operators began using Venezuelan ports again.

Most of those in opposition to President Hugo Chavez extended their strike, aiming to force the leftist leader to resign and call immediate elections.

A spokeswoman for striking oil workers said they intended to send a senior representative to Maracaibo later on Tuesday to try to persuade the pilots not to abandon their action.

"We still have 90 percent of oil workers on strike," she said.

NO IMMEDIATE RELIEF

Even an end to the strike might not bring immediate relief from a price spike that has deepened fears that rising energy costs could derail economic recovery.

"It will be a long, hard road for Venezuela even back to 75 percent of previous production capacity," said Geoff Pyne, consultant to Sempra Energy.

"There is still the threat of war in Iraq and stocks are very low. Traders are going to see it as dangerous to sell at this point."

Fears of war in Iraq, the world's eighth largest oil exporter, rose as President George W. Bush said it was now clear to him that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was failing to comply with U.N. disarmament demands.

"He's delaying. He's deceiving. He's playing hide and seek with inspectors," Bush told reporters at the White House. "It's clear to me now that he is not disarming ... Time is running out."

Oil traders said the remarks appeared to leave little doubt that Washington was close to authorizing the use of military force against Baghdad.

Dealers are counting down toward a major report due Jan. 27 from U.N. weapons inspectors on whether Iraq has met its disarmament commitments. The 15-member Security Council is to evaluate the report on Jan. 29.

OPEC's biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, already is tapping into the world's only significant spare capacity. Industry sources told Reuters over the weekend that Riyadh could be pumping 9 million barrels daily by February, up a million barrels a day from December flows.

"OPEC alone does not have sufficient, readily available spare capacity to replace both Venezuela's and Iraq's oil exports, much less to cope with any supply disruptions from other Gulf producers that might result from any prolonged conflict in Iraq," said London's Centre for Global Energy Studies

"A lack of adequate commercial oil stocks in the U.S. and no nearby replacement for lost short-haul crude from Venezuela has left the oil supply chain stretched almost to breaking point," it said in a report to clients.

If OPEC were unable to cover a dual outage from Iraq and Venezuela, the Paris-based International Energy Agency would be expected to release some of its emergency strategic reserves for the first time since Jan. 1991 during the Gulf War.

"Were an attack to be launched on Iraq, consuming country governments would have to utilize quickly their abundant strategic oil stocks to ensure adequate supplies," said the Centre.

reuters.com Tue January 21, 2003 04:12 PM ET By Mary Kelleher

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc. on Tuesday posted lower fourth-quarter results, dragged down by charges from Wall Street's stock-research scandal and lawsuits related to Enron Corp., while earnings at Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bancorp rose on mortgage and deposit gains.

Consumer operations flourished at all three banks as low interest rates fueled credit card use and home loan growth and as rocky stock markets prompted people to put their money into bank accounts rather than equities.

But Citigroup, the world's No. 1 financial services company, and other top banks were burned by their dealings with once high-flying companies that later collapsed, such as energy trader Enron ENRNQ.PK . Smaller, more regionally focused banks like Wells Fargo avoided such losses.

Bigger banks with large Wall Street operations also fared worse in the quarter because of the weak stock market.

New York-based Citigroup C.N said fourth-quarter profit fell 37 percent to $2.43 billion, or 47 cents a share, after $1.55 billion in charges. Citigroup also forecast double-digit income growth this year.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo WFC.N , the No. 4 U.S. banking company, earned $1.47 billion, or 86 cents a share, up 10 percent from a year earlier.

And Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp USB.N , No. 8, said its profit rose 22 percent to $849.8 million, or 22 cents a share, after merger and restructuring-related charges.

Growth in consumer loans like credit cards and home equity lines of credit bolstered the banks' results, but Citigroup battled some specific problems, including the settlement of charges that it and other Wall Street firms issued biased research in order to win investment banking business.

Citigroup took a charge to cover lawsuits over financing it set up for bankrupt energy trader Enron.

"We're thrilled we can talk about the year 2002 in the past," Citigroup Chief Executive Sanford "Sandy" Weill told analysts and reporters on a conference call. Turmoil in Latin American countries like Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina cost Citigroup about $1.1 billion last year, while exposure to a raft of corporate frauds like bankrupt telecommunications company made Citigroup boost its loan loss reserves by $1.4 billion last year, Weill said.

Still Citigroup earned $15.28 billion last year, probably more than any other company in the world, Weill said.

Citigroup also said Tuesday it raised its quarterly dividend 11 percent, to 20 cents a share.

CITIGROUP MEETS ANALYSTS' ESTIMATES

Analysts said Citigroup met Wall Street expectations and produced respectable results in a difficult environment, helped by tight cost controls and diverse sources of earnings.

"The company continues to demonstrate extremely strong expense control in a number of areas, helping to offset limited revenue growth or revenue shrinkage, particularly in markets- related businesses," said Diane Glossman, an analyst at USB Warburg.

Citigroup also said it would deliver double-digit income growth this year following an 8 percent rise for all of 2002.

Citigroup's fourth-quarter earnings of 47 cents a share were a penny above the average Wall Street estimate as compiled by market data firm Thomson First Call. Analysts' estimates ranged from 44 cents to 49 cents, according to First Call.

Citigroup earned $3.88 billion, or 74 cents a share, in the year-earlier fourth quarter.

Profits at Citigroup's consumer group, which includes credit cards and retail banking, rose 26 percent to $2.37 billion.

But its corporate and investment bank posted a $344 million loss in the quarter, after a $1.3 billion charge for the research settlement and Enron litigation. The corporate and investment bank reported a profit of $905 million in the 2001 fourth quarter.

Lehman Brothers analyst Brock Vandervliet said Citigroup's results were "right in line with our estimate."

"The global corporate and investment bank wasn't quite as strong as we had hoped in terms of revenue and net income performance, but the consumer business was a bit stronger than what we'd been looking for," he said.

WELLS FARGO MORTGAGE UNIT PRODUCES GAINS

Wells Fargo's enormous mortgage banking operation benefited from low interest rates, which spurred growth in home equity lending and refinancing. Rates have stayed low because the U.S. economy remains sluggish.

"Wells really stands out this quarter from the pack," said Jennifer Thompson, an analyst at Putnam Lovell. "Revenue growth was very strong and it wasn't just mortgages. They had strong growth across the board."

Wells Fargo's fourth-quarter profit of 86 cents a share matched analysts' average forecast, according to First Call, and was up from $1.33 billion, or 77 cents a share, a year earlier.

The bank's net interest income, or money it makes from lending, rose 13 percent to $3.89 billion.

"Consumer loans once again increased significantly in the fourth quarter," Wells Fargo Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins said on a prerecorded conference call. "The primary contributor to consumer loan growth was once again the tremendous success we experienced in growing home equity loans and lines."

Bank shares were weak in afternoon trading. Citigroup was down 74 cents to $36.06, Wells Fargo fell 7 cents to $47.20 and U.S. Bancorp fell 24 cents to $22.19.

www.news24.com 21/01/2003 23:09  - (SA)   Patrick Markey

Caracas, Venezuela - One person was killed and dozens more wounded by gunfire on Monday during street clashes in Venezuela as Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter tried to salvage peace talks between leftist President Hugo Chavez and his foes, officials said.

Clashes involving police and rival protesters broke out when Chavez supporters attacked an opposition march in Charallave, about 50km south of Caracas.

Demonstrators exchanged volleys of bottles and rocks in confused running street battles. Local television images showed one man opening fire with a handgun as he rode on the roof of a jeep. Both sides blamed the other for the violence.

A Civil Protection official said one man was shot to death and 33 people were wounded by gunfire or police shotgun pellets in the fighting. It was unclear who opened fire. Two others were injured by rocks in the clashes.

Venezuela's tense, often violent political conflict has intensified during a seven-week-old opposition strike aimed at pressing Chavez to resign and call elections in the world's fifth largest oil exporter.

Carter, a former US president on his second visit to Caracas in less than a year, held meetings with Chavez and the opposition, who have been locked in a political stand-off since April when the Venezuelan leader survived a short-lived coup.

"There is always hope for a resolution and I hope that will be soon," Carter told reporters as he arrived in Caracas to meet with Organisation of American States head Cesar Gaviria, who brokered the peace talks.

Carter, who carries out international peace work through his Atlanta-based Carter Centre, has been in Venezuela for about a week on a fishing trip. Carter Centre officials have supported the peace talks since they began two months ago.

Chavez threat to quit talks

Negotiations between Chavez and his foes were thrown into doubt over the weekend after the populist leader threatened to quit the talks even as the international community stepped up support for OAS mediation.

The talks have been stalled over the timing of elections and how to end the opposition strike that has cut oil output and severely disrupted fuel and food supplies.

Chavez, elected in 1998 six years after leading a botched coup, has dismissed his foes as "fascist terrorists" plotting to overthrow him. But his critics, who say Chavez has wielded power like a corrupt, inept dictator, have vowed to keep up the strike until he steps down. Chavez rejects their calls for early elections.

The strike deadlock has raised international concern over global oil supplies at a time when energy markets are already jittery over a possible US-led war against Iraq. Venezuela usually supplies about one-sixth of US oil imports.

Oil prices crept higher Monday after Washington said time was running out for Baghdad to prove compliance with United Nations disarmament resolutions. US crude prices last week hit two-year highs of $34 a barrel.

Crude supply fears have intensified diplomatic efforts to end the Venezuelan crisis. The United States, Brazil and other governments have agreed to form a group of six nations to lend weight to mediation efforts by OAS chief Gaviria.

UN envoy to Venezuela

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to send an envoy to Venezuela to take part in the initiative, which also includes Spain, Portugal, Chile and Mexico. The group will hold its first meeting in Washington on Friday, the Brazilian foreign minister said.

But Chavez cast doubt on the plan by insisting that other countries, such as Russia, Cuba and France, also be included.

Opposition leaders are also planning to hold a non-binding referendum on his rule on February 2. But Chavez insists a binding referendum can only be held after August 19, halfway through his current term.

The Venezuelan leader said on Sunday he was restarting the strike-bound oil industry, which accounts for about half of the government's revenues, using troops and replacement crews. But strikers insist production is still mostly paralysed.

Government officials on Monday warned two private television stations, which have been critical of Chavez, that they faced fines for running commercials backing the strike. The stations slammed the move as an attack on media freedom.

Chavez has also ordered troops to raid factories, banks and schools joining the stoppage, as well as food and drink manufacturers he accuses of hoarding supplies. National Guard troops sparked opposition outrage on Friday after they broke into a local bottling affiliate of Cola-Cola Co to take away crates of drinks.