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The Associated Press

Gas prices rose nearly one and a half cents per gallon over the past two weeks, an industry analyst said Sunday.

The average weighted price for gas nationwide, including all grades and taxes, was about $1.52 per gallon Friday, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide. Gas cost just over $1.50 a gallon on Jan. 3, the date of the last Lundberg Survey.

Contributing to the price rise was the continuing oil production strike in Venezuela, a fear of war against Iraq, the intense cold weather on America's East Coast, which is prompting some refiners to produce more heating oil, and the addition of a costlier gasoline additive in California, Trilby Lundberg said. (Published 12:30AM, January 27th, 2003)

www.theledger.com The Associated Press

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Monday, January 27, 2003:

Worm Attack Exposes Inadequate Security NEW YORK (AP) - This weekend's Internet attack has security experts worried that too many system managers are only fixing problems as they occur, rather than keeping their defenses up to date. The worm that crippled tens of thousands of computers worldwide, congested the network for countless others and even disabled Bank of America cash machines took advantage of a vulnerability in some Microsoft Corp. software that had been discovered in July.

Venezuela Leader Warns of Price Controls CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez said he would implement price controls to go along with limits on the trade in foreign currencies as Venezuela's economy heads for a tailspin stemming from an opposition strike, which entered its ninth week Monday. "So that these (currency) controls do not hurt the poor, we will institute price controls," Chavez said Sunday in Porto Alegre, Brazil, at the World Social Forum. He did not give details of the controls.

Retailers Form Digital Music Venture LOS ANGELES (AP) - Six retail record store chains - hurting from competition from CD burning, online music and large discount stores - are teaming to offer consumers digital music downloads in their stores and over the Internet. The stores have formed a joint venture called Echo that will provide technology and allow them to offer individual tracks for downloading to portable devices and computers.

Progress Reported on Cheaper AIDS Drugs DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - Global business leaders reported progress on making cheaper AIDS drugs available to poor nations as Microsoft founder Bill Gates made another contribution to health in the developing world - announcing a $200 million grant to fund medical research. Meeting at an exclusive Alpine resort, delegates to the World Economic Forum held talks on how to ensure access for poor countries to affordable copies of vital drugs while respecting the patent rights of pharmaceutical companies.

Super Bowl Advertisers Stick With Humor NEW YORK (AP) - Advertising's auteurs kept it quirky on Super Bowl Sunday, with humor a prime ingredient in most commercials as Americans weary of war talk and a gloomy economy were given a chance to chuckle. Brokerage Charles Schwab noted the fear of Wall Street's three years of declines, offering a man sprinting through his neighborhood, pursued by an unseen foe. The man is finally cornered in a backyard by the mail carrier - delivering a brokerage statement.

Suit Accuses Philip Morris of Deception EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Sharon Price switched from smoking regular cigarettes to brands labeled "light" when she was pregnant in the 1970s. "I knew the better choice was to quit, but I thought I was reducing my risk," the pack-a-day smoker said.

Questions Surround the Future of Fiat ROME (AP) - Watching Giovanni Agnelli's health became a macabre stock market hobby in recent months: When his life prognosis dimmed, Fiat stock rose. Traders heaped pressure on the Fiat empire overseen by Agnelli to get out of its losing car business. But the ailing Agnelli didn't pull out.

Gold Prices LONDON (AP) - Gold bullion opened Monday at a bid price of $372.50 an ounce, up from $366.30 late Friday.

Japan Markets TOKYO (AP) - The Nikkei Stock Average fell 122.18 points to close at 8,609.47 on Monday.

Dollar-Yen TOKYO (AP) - The dollar traded at 117.82 yen on Monday, down 0.03 yen from Friday.

Last modified: January 27. 2003 3:54AM

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By Letta Tayler LATIN AMERICA CORRESPONDENT January 26, 2003

Caracas - Belen Coronado, a retired court employee, doesn't permit political discussion in the Caracas apartment she shares with her daughter and son-in-law. "If we talk politics, we argue," she explained.

Coronado, 69, is a fan of populist President Hugo Chávez. Her daughter, Natalia Coronado, and son-in-law, Tony Ponce, a food distributor, back an 8-week-old national strike that aims to topple the leftist leader.

Briefly lifting the ban on political discussion for a visitor one recent afternoon, the usually soft-spoken relatives remained polite for about a minute before the barbs began to fly across their comfortable living room.

"We've had it with Chávez, We want him out now," said Natalia, 29, a homemaker, her voice prickling with anger.

"Then you're willing to break with the Constitution," her mother shot back, noting that the law will permit Venezuelans to call a binding referendum on truncating Chávez's six-year term only after its midpoint in August.

"Chávez doesn't respect the Constitution either, and he's ruining the economy," counter-attacked Ponce, 32.

The polarization within Venezuela over Chávez's presidency is widely assumed to pit rich against poor. While in many cases that is the case, the fault line also cuts through social classes, institutions and professions, further complicating efforts to unify a nation teetering on chaos.

"The tensions generated within families who are divided over the president are profound and unprecedented," said Luís Vicente León, who heads the Caracas-based Datanalisis polling company.

"It's turning brother against sister and cousin against cousin," said Elizabeth de Barnola, 54, a Caracas leather merchant whose family is split over Chávez.

In a half-century of democracy, members of Venezuela's tightly knit families often have held divergent political views. In the past, however, "these distinctions were 'light,' generating the kind of discussion one hears among fans of different baseball teams," León said.

In contrast, political experts say, the flamboyant Chávez - a former paratrooper who led a failed coup in 1992 and was elected by huge margins six years later - incites extreme hatred or adulation with his combative rhetoric and autocratic style, particularly as the country slides further into inflation, unemployment and violence. With Chávez having largely failed in his campaign pledges to distribute the nation's vast oil wealth among the poor, numerous polls show him popular among only 30 percent of Venezuelans, far fewer than the 80 percent who live below the poverty line.

At the same time, one in five middle-class or wealthy Venezuelans supports the president, León said.

They include Belen Coronado, a diminutive, unassuming woman who lost 15 years' worth of her modest pension benefits - almost half the total - under austerity measures instituted by one of Chávez's predecessors.

Although she now lives in a comfortable apartment appointed with oil paintings and a crystal chandelier, Coronado remembers waiting in lines for food handouts during acute economic crises under previous regimes.

"Finally, for the first time in more than 40 years, we have a president who wants to help the poor instead of only helping the elite," she said.

"There are more poor children walking the streets now than there ever were before Chávez," rebutted her daughter, momentarily losing her own quiet poise.

"You can't expect a president to turn the country around in a few years," Coronado countered, adding that the opposition is "committing a crime against young children" by closing schools as part of strike actions.

For the indefinite future, Coronado has banned her daughter and son-in-law from watching news on the television in the living room, because all but one of Venezuela's highly politicized networks broadcast almost nothing but criticism of the government and praise for the strike.

If Natalia Coronado wants to join the cacerolazos, the nightly protests in which Chávez opponents march through the streets banging on pots and pans, her mother has decreed that she may do so only from the apartment's fifth-floor window. Should Natalia participate in a march, her mother flatly refuses to baby-sit.

Natalia circumvents that ban by leaving her 2-year-old daughter with her husband, who's been home every day since Dec. 2 because he has joined the anti-Chávez strike.

"I resent it that I can't express myself politically in my own home," Natalia said.

"What you're expressing is a hatred that will eat you up inside," her mother rejoined.

Since the severe rupture over Chávez began a few years ago, "everyone has begun to express their differences," said Caracas sociologist Mercedes Pulido. "The problem is, no one accepts them. What we need is a leader who can heal the wounds."

If the next president is elected peacefully, families will mend their internal rifts more easily, Pulido predicted. "But if it ends by insurrections or violence, it will be more difficult."

Asked if they would forgive and forget their political differences if Chávez is unseated through widespread violence, Belen and Natalia Coronado shifted in their seats and looked at each other expectantly across their marble coffee table. "I hope so," the daughter said.

"I don't think so," the mother answered, gently but firmly.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Monday, January 27, 2003 - 3:43:58 AM By: Robert Rudnicki

Alianza Bravo Pueblo president and Coordinadora Democratica spokesman Antonio Ledezma is proposing a repeat of this weekend's 24-hour protest in the east of Caracas, to be held in the interior of Venezuela. Ledezma says he'll hold discussions with his fellow opposition leaders to examine the possibility of organizing similar protests in Barquisimeto, Maracay, Maracaibo, Merida, San Cristobal and Valencia. 

If the decision to hold the protests is taken,  it is possible that they will simultaneous ... "it's necessary to hold a simultaneous marathon civil protest, above all when Foreign Ministers representing the Friends of Venezuela group arrive in Caracas on January 30."

Movimiento al Socialismo secretary general Leopoldo Puchi also backed the proposal, stating that such a 24 or 48-hour demonstration would put pressure on President Hugo Chavez Frias to reach a negotiated settlement to the crisis.

A high level delegation of the six friends of Venezuela members, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States are set to arrive in Caracas on Thursday as part of their mission to push through a negotiated settlement.

www.dailynews.com209541138579,00.html By Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelans awaited details of new currency controls, while protesters continued to press for the ouster of President Hugo Chavez in a nearly two-month-long strike that has severely hampered the economy, although oil production was slowly increasing.

Chavez last week suspended foreign currency dealings through Tuesday and said he would announce new currency controls to halt the rush of nervous Venezuelans trading in their currency, the bolivar, for dollars.

Details about the new controls and even when they will be announced have not been revealed, but there are fears that the government will largely limit the availability of dollars to Chavez supporters while cutting off those taking part in the strike, which began Dec. 2.

Production and Commerce Minister Ramon Rosales was quoted in the El Nacional newspaper saying that importers and exporters who do not back the crippling strike will get priority for access to dollars.

That would drive many businessmen to a new but flourishing black market for the American currency, sending already-rising prices even higher.

Rosales also said dollars will be guaranteed for food and raw materials for agriculture, health and education.

Meanwhile, a demonstration on a central Caracas highway continued Sunday morning after thousands spent the night on the asphalt to protest a Supreme Court decision indefinitely suspending a Feb. 2 referendum to ask Venezuelans whether Chavez should resign.