reuters.com Tue January 28, 2003 07:57 AM ET

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen Monday threw her weight behind President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's plan to eradicate hunger in Latin America's largest country.

"I hope that everyone starts to help by giving what they can," Gisele said after handing over a check for $150,000 to Food Security Minister Jose Graziano, who is overseeing the president's new "Zero Hunger" program.

The 22-year-old model made the donation at the opening ceremonies of Sao Paulo Fashion Week, where she was set to parade down the catwalk sporting men's suits designed by Lula's personal tailor, fellow Brazilian Ricardo Almeida.

Gisele isn't the only celebrity backing Lula's goal. Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo has also agreed to participate in the government's war on hunger, though he has yet to open his wallet for the program.

Lula, viewed nervously by some investors who fear he may hurt the economy with populist policies, has made hunger a top priority of his center-left administration.

news.ft.com By Adrienne Roberts Published: January 28 2003 19:45 | Last Updated: January 28 2003 21:47

Crude oil futures edged higher Tuesday after Iraq threatened possible retaliation against oil producer Kuwait in the event of a war.

The market was also waiting for President George W Bush's annual State of the Union address to Congress, in which he was expected to step up the pressure for war.

In London IPE March Brent was 41 cents up at $30.27 a barrel. By the close in New York Nymex WTI was 38 cents up at $32.67 a barrel.

Oil futures traded strongly higher earlier on comments by Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, who said: "Kuwait is a battlefield and American troops are in Kuwait and preparing themselves to attack Iraq. If there will be an attack from Kuwait, I cannot say that we will not retaliate."

There was uncertainty about the status of Venezuela's strike, now in its eighth week. On Tuesday an opposition oil industry report said the country's output had topped 1m barrels a day - a third of normal production - for the first time since the strike began. But there was no sign that rebel oil workers were about to end the strike.

Global coffee supply could fall short of demand in 2003 by 5m 60-kg bags or more, the International Coffee Organisation said in a report.

The 2003/04 Brazilian harvest, expected to be much smaller than the current crop due to drought stress and the biennial off-cycle of trees, was key to this shortfall, it said.

Analysts expected this shortfall to dent the world's large coffee stocks, which the ICO estimated at 32.8m bags at the beginning of the 2002/03 season.

The ICO said the deficit would be the first since the 1997/98 season.

www.bayarea.com Posted on Tue, Jan. 28, 2003 Associated Press NEW YORK (Dow Jones News) - Via The Associated Press

Crude oil futures fell sharply Monday, weighed down by growing calls for continued inspections of Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction and signs of a breakdown in the strike in Venezuela.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, nearby March crude oil dropped 99 cents to close at $32.29 a barrel, surrendering most of Friday's gains.

February heating oil shed 1.59 cent to close at 93.43 cents a gallon, while February gasoline was off 2.10 cents at 90.15 cents a gallon.

On London's International Petroleum Exchange, March crude fell 63 cents to close at $29.86 a barrel.

"I think the market is not looking for a Groundhog Day launch date," Tim Evans, an energy analyst at IFR Pegasus, said of a possible attack on Iraq. "I think the background concern is there, but the market is indicating a release of tensions regarding an attack on Iraq."

That release of tensions deepened as Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix delivered a mixed report to the Security Council that failed to provide an automatic trigger for action against Iraq, as many had speculated.

Blix said that while Iraq wasn't fully complying with disarmament demands, it was providing access to his team of inspectors now working in the country. On the question of how long inspectors need, Blix said he shared "the sense of urgency" to verify disarmament within "a reasonable period of time."

He didn't request more time, but Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency, said the weapons search needed an extra few months.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said the inspectors' conclusion wasn't surprising and added that time is running out for Iraq.

"We cannot allow the process of inspections to string us out forever," Powell said.

The State Department has reportedly begun drafting a second resolution calling for authorizing force against Iraq, Cable News Network reported.

But Powell said America will decide on the next step once he consults other members of the Security Council and President Bush has conferred with foreign leaders.

Nevertheless, there was a chorus of calls that inspectors should be given more time to complete their work. The calls came from Russia and China as well as traditional U.S. allies France, Germany and Canada.

"There wasn't enough to make the U.S. change its position, and there wasn't enough new information to make France or Russia or China or Germany or the rest of the world change their view of the situation," Evans said.

The oil market had anticipated that a U.S. attack could come as soon as early- to mid-February, said Tom Bentz, an analyst at BNP Paribas Futures in New York. But with growing calls for more inspections, that may be several weeks away, Bentz added.

"It doesn't look like anything is going to happen immediately," Bentz said. "It's going to take time."

Meanwhile in Venezuela, there were signs that the general strike is crumbling, allowing oil production to recover from a sharp slump in December and January.

Output has risen to about 1 million barrels a day, according to dissident workers at state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA. A PdVSA spokesman said about 90 percent of workers at PdVSA have returned to work.

Before the strike, Venezuela produced about 3 million barrels a day of oil, sending about 2.5 million barrels a day to world markets, including 1.5 million barrels a day to the United States.

"It's going to take a while to get exports back to full capacity, but there are signs that the worst is behind us," said Ed Silliere, an analyst at Energy Merchant in New York.

www.iht.com The Associated Press Wednesday, January 29, 2003   CARACAS Venezuela on Tuesday extended a freeze on foreign-exchange trade for another week amid a two-month-old strike against President Hugo Chavez that has spurred a dramatic slide in the value of the bolivar.

The suspension, which bans Venezuelans from buying foreign currencies, was first imposed last Wednesday. It will be extended until Feb. 5 to give the government more time to implement a new policy of foreign-exchange controls. Those controls will limit the amount of U.S. dollars or other currencies citizens can buy, according to a Finance Ministry official.

At the end of the freeze, the government also is expected to impose a fixed rate for the bolivar, which has lost 25 percent of its value so far this year. It lost 46 percent of its value in 2002.

The strike, called Dec. 2 by a coalition of business groups, labor unions and opposition parties demanding Chavez's resignation, has cost Venezuela at least $4 billion, according to government estimates.

The economy could shrink by as much as 40 percent in the first quarter of 2003, the Santander Central Hispano investment bank has warned. The economy contracted by an estimated 8 percent in 2002. Unemployment is 17 percent; inflation is 30 percent.

Exchange controls are intended to protect Venezuela's shrinking foreign reserves. Before the freeze on currency trade, reserves were falling an average of $59 million a day as the central bank tried to defend the bolivar against soaring demand for dollars. But exchange controls could hurt businesses that depend on dollars to buy imported goods. Venezuela relies heavily on imports - 50 percent of its food is imported, for example.

Business representatives have expressed concern that discontent with food and fuel shortages caused by the strike could undermine its objective of removing Chavez from office.

Julio Brazon, president of Consecomercio, the business chamber that represents about 450,000 stores and retailers, said businesses needed "to recover earnings and avoid labor problems."

Shopping malls and franchises may be permitted to open part-time next week, he said.

But strike organizers, who accuse Chavez of dragging the country into political and economic chaos, warned that easing the work stoppage would be counterproductive.

Reuters, 01.28.03, 5:45 PM ET

NEWARK, Del., Jan 28 (Reuters) - Octel Corp. (nyse: OTL - news - people), a maker of fuel additives, said on Tuesday it expects full-year 2002 earnings below Wall Street expectations and its initial outlook as a result of restructuring charges and disruptions in Venezuela.

Octel said it expects full-year 2002 earnings per share at$4.10 to $4.20 after identifying around $20 million in additional restructuring costs, of which $13 million is noncash.

The company said Venezuela's troubles, which include labor turmoil, had hurt deliveries in the fourth-quarter while softness in the overall specialty chemicals markets has also contributed to operating results below expectations.