www.sfgate.com CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer Thursday, January 30, 2003
(01-30) 00:35 PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --

Venezuelan opposition leaders accused President Hugo Chavez of threatening the nation's bankers to make them abandon a general strike aimed at toppling him.

The National Banking Council said Wednesday that its members will return to normal operating hours on Monday. For two months, thousands of people have waited in long lines while banks opened just three hours a day. Other sectors, including workers in the state oil company, will remain on strike.

"This is a government that, one way or another, acts with pressure and repression. This influenced the decision," said strike leader Carlos Fernandez.

Chavez had threatened to fine banks and withdraw the armed forces' deposits from private institutions if they didn't resume activities. Bankers said they provide a public service, which influenced the decision.

"We owe the public," Nelson Mezerhane, the council's vice president, said after a Wednesday council meeting. "They have their earnings and money in our institutions."

Fearing effects of the work stoppage -- shortages of food, medicine, fuel and cash -- could hurt their cause, many businesses plan to reopen next week.

The possibility of having to declare bankruptcy by remaining closed also prompted owners of shopping malls, restaurants, franchises and schools to soon open their doors to the public.

Dissident executives at state-run oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, said the strike will continue in the oil industry despite the government's success in raising production.

Output surpassed 1 million barrels a day this week, a third of pre-strike levels. Oil provides half of government income and 70 percent of export revenue.

Arguing that oil executives sabotaged oil installations to ensure the strike's success, Chavez has fired one-eighth of the company's work force to regain control of the industry.

"These traitors should be in prison," Chavez said on Wednesday. "I call on judges to listen to the clamor of the people and jail these traitors."

Oil company strikers have rejected the accusation and challenged the government to present proof of sabotage.

While businesses pinched by the strike began to stray, government adversaries decided the best strategy to oust Chavez is by amending the constitution to shorten the presidential term and open the way for early elections.

The idea, which was floated by former President Jimmy Carter, "is the priority, it's the proposal we prefer," said Pedro Nikken, an attorney and adviser to the Democratic Coordinator opposition movement.

Venezuela's diverse opposition had been considering a host of proposals, ranging from a binding recall referendum on the president's rule in August to a popularly-elected assembly charged with drafting a brand new constitution.

The amendment would shorten Chavez's term from six years to four. Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected two years later. His term ends in 2007.

The amendment proposal will be formally presented to "The Group of Friends of Venezuela," a forum of six nations helping broker an end to Venezuela's hostile political conflict.

Diplomats from the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Portugal were to arrive in Venezuela on Thursday to support negotiation efforts led by the Organization of American States.

reuters.com Thu January 30, 2003 04:19 AM ET By Nigel Stephenson

LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar firmed, European stocks rose and oil prices dipped on Thursday after Washington said it would make a last diplomatic effort to avert war with Iraq and the U.S. central bank left interest rates unchanged.

Safe-haven gold and government debt prices fell as U.S. administration officials said President Bush and his top aides were opening a final "diplomatic window" with allies to try to avoid the seemingly inevitable conflict over U.N. demands Iraq give up weapons of mass destruction.

Bush said on Tuesday that his Secretary of State Colin Powell would next week lay before the U.N. Security Council intelligence showing Iraq has been concealing weapons. Iraq denies having such weapons.

The dollar firmed after a rally on Wall Street following the U.S. Federal Reserve's widely expected decision to leave rates at a four-decade low. Fed policymakers said risks to the U.S. economy remained evenly balanced between higher prices and renewed downturn and expressed hope the U.S. economy would pick up once fears of war with Iraq have lifted.

"I think probably the steady outlook they provided was the most reassuring for the market," said Rob Hayward, senior currency strategist at ABN Amro.

"An easing bias could have been justified by data or by uncertainties, but people would have been more concerned seeing that even the Fed's worried, and wonder if they are going to cut rates again or if the economy was in a worse position than thought."

The euro was last trading around $1.0760, up more than half a percent from its New York close. The greenback hit a three-year low beyond $1.09 on Monday. The U.S. currency was up a third of a percent on the yen at 118.86 JPY= and the pound GBP= .

Some traders said short dollar positions were being unwound after Bundesbank President and European Central bank council member Ernst Welteke said the euro's rapid rise would become a problem for the euro zone economy if it continued.

"A bit of dollar fatigue is creeping in. Welteke comments prompted some re-evaluation among traders," said one trader at a London-based bank. "But it is positioning and not a change of sentiment."

TECHS LEAD EUROPEAN STOCKS HIGHER

European stocks rose, led by software group SAP SAPG.DE , which beat 2002 targets, and handset maker Nokia NOK1V.HE .

The FTSE Eurotop 300 index .FTEU3 of pan-European blue chips was up 1.4 percent at 0850 GMT while the narrower DJ Euro STOXX 50 index .STOXX50E was up 1.53 percent.

U.S. stocks closed higher after the Fed decision soothed investors' nerves jangled by Bush's tough talk on Iraq.

The Dow Jones Industrial average .DJI ended up 0.27 percent. The tech-dominated Nasdaq .IXIC closed 1.18 percent higher after Merrill Lynch raised Novellus Systems Inc NVLS.O , a maker of equipment used to produce computer chips.

However, U.S. stock index futures were slightly down in early European trade, indicating Wall Street would open lower.

Tokyo shares closed lower as institutions, spooked by the threat of war, sold blue chips. The Nikkei .N225 ended down 0.17 percent, just above a two-decade low hit last November. The broader TOPIX index .TOPX dipped 0.07 percent.

Gold, seen as a safe place for investors to put their money in times of geopolitical turmoil, fell in Europe. Spot gold XAU= , which has risen some seven percent this year, was quoted at $364. an ounce, compared with $366 at Wednesday's New York close.

Oil prices dipped on renewed hopes war could be averted by the U.S. diplomatic push. Brent crude for March delivery LCOH3 was down 17 cents at $30.85 a barrel. U.S. light crude CLc1 , which rose three percent on Wednesday on a big drop in U.S. winter heating oil stocks, was down 13 cents at $33.50 a barrel.

The threat of war in the Gulf, which supplies 40 percent of world crude exports, and a strike in Venezuela, have pushed up prices 35 percent since late November.

Safe-haven government bond prices fell. The yield on the two-year German Schatz EU2YT=RR , which moves in the opposite direction to the price, was up 2.2 basis points at 2.62 percent. It touched a 3-1/2 year low of 2.54 percent last week. The 10-year Bund EU10YT=RR was yielding 4.08 percent, up 2.0 basis points.

"The stocks won't be helping but the real story has been war and there is a realization that the panic buying that was driving the market...that reflex is waning and some of the people who had it are long and suffering," one European debt trader said.

www.canoe.ca Thursday, January 30, 2003 By TODD NOGIER, BUSINESS EDITOR

 Now the dark cloud of Kyoto hanging over the oilsands has begun to disappear, Enbridge will position itself as the pipeline operator of choice to transport the crude to hungry U.S. markets, the company's chief said yesterday. Patrick Daniel, CEO of the Calgary-based pipeline and energy giant, said recent clarifications of costs under the Kyoto climate change deal have given producers the confidence to look to the oilsands as a more secure energy resource for the U.S. And as a dominant transporter of oilsands crude, Enbridge looks to cash in on the investment craze of the oil-soaked region of northeastern Alberta. "Momentum (in the oilsands), I think, really has been regained now that the Kyoto overhang appears to be dissipating," Daniel told analysts yesterday. GOOD QUARTER Enbridge released solid financial results yesterday, announcing it earned $34 million, or 18 Canadian cents a share, in the last quarter, down from a year-earlier $40 million, or 25 Canadian cents a share. Adjusting for a $5.9 million loss on the sale of the Enbridge Midcoast assets to 12.9% owned Enbridge Energy Partners, the company's earnings were $40 million, or 25 Canadian cents a share, just a penny under an average estimate among analysts. Daniel said Enbridge is now scouring the troubled U.S. energy pipeline industry looking to expand its holdings in that country to bring oilsands crude to market. Many of the questions on how the Kyoto Protocol affects operating costs in the oilsands were answered in December when federal Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal put caps on emissions and credit levies. Political unrest in Venezuela and the potential for war between the U.S. and Iraq have increased the oilsands' profile as a more secure resource, said Daniel. "The disruption of imports from Venezuela and the continuing risk of interuptions in the Middle East really highlights the reliability and long-term role of Canadian supply -- and that positioning has never been better," he said. Enbridge is one of Canada's biggest diversified energy companies. It owns and operates the major pipeline shipping Alberta oil to eastern markets and also owns Enbridge Consumers Gas, Canada's largest natural gas distributor. The company, with about 4,000 employees, has also been expanding in the U.S. and South America.

economictimes.indiatimes.com REUTERS[ THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2003 12:22:36 PM ]

SINGAPORE: Oil prices dipped on Thursday on renewed hopes of averting a war in Iraq as the United States launched one last diplomatic push to pressure Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to give up alleged weapons of mass destruction.

But prices held onto most of the gains made after a big drop in U.S. winter heating fuel stocks deepened oil supply worries.

U.S. light crude futures were down 23 cents at $33.40 a barrel, or $1.80 below a 26-month high struck last week. The small decline came after a jump of 96 cents, or three per cent, in New York trading on Wednesday.

The threat of war in the Gulf region that supplies 40 per cent of world crude oil exports, and a strike that has cut exports from Venezuela, have pushed up prices 35 per cent since late November.

The White House said on Wednesday the standoff with Iraq over U.N. disarmament demands was entering a "final phase" in which U.S. President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials would intensify diplomacy in one last bid to avoid war.

Bush said Secretary of State Colin Powell would reveal new intelligence on Baghdad's alleged weapons of mass destruction to the U.N. Security Council on February 5.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, one of the European leaders most strongly opposed to war on Iraq, said on Wednesday he was unsure whether diplomacy would succeed in averting war.

Analysts said the market expected further price gains as European government support for war grew on Wednesday even as surveys showed public opposition has hardened in Europe, including in Britain, Washington's closest ally.

"The timetable for war in Iraq is getting shorter..." said Sydney-based independent energy analyst Simon Games-Thomas.

Veto-wielding United Nations Security Council members France and Russia, publicly dead set against a strike on Iraq, showed signs on Wednesday that they could side with the United States if the situation in the Gulf comes to war.

Wednesday's price gains came as the U.S. government reported that a two-week freeze across the eastern part of the country lopped over three million barrels, or eight per cent, from heating oil stocks last week.

"Though it would be easy to focus on the near-$1 rally in crude prices, the real story for the day was the disproportionate strength in heating oil and gasoline prices," said Michael Rothman, energy analyst at Merrill Lynch, in his daily note.

Supplies are now 16-per cent below normal levels. Home heating oil prices are at 23-month highs, up 25 per cent from last year, boosting concern over the economic impact of higher energy costs.

While the freeze is forecast to abate in coming days, supplies may not recover as the high cost of crude oil is forcing refiners to cut their production.

The United States has taken about two-thirds of all Iraq's U.N.-controlled oil exports in January amid a dearth of shipments from key supplier Venezuela since early December due to a strike aimed at removing President Hugo Chavez from office.

Venezuela, which normally supplies more than 13 per cent of U.S. oil imports, said on Wednesday it had managed to raise strike-hit oil production to 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd), while striking oil workers put the output level at just over one million bpd.

www.tuscaloosanews.com South American travel diary By Sylvere and Martha Coussement January 30, 2003

ON THE AMAZON RIVER, Brazil | There is nothing like traveling first class. When first conceived, I had described to my wife a genteel drive around South America, staying in, if not good hotels, at least reasonable accommodations. Our optimism was dashed by the first week into our travels.

Manaus, Brazil, is the third-largest city in this country with one and half million people living on the mighty Amazon River. In spite of being 1,000 miles from the Atlantic coast, it is an international port with an industrial complex that prides itself on having a low-tax structure for business customers.

The links to the world for Manaus are principally through the river. Minor routes are northbound to Venezuela, and a road to the west, which is sometimes unpassable. It is steamy, bustling, and seedy, but it/sretains vestiges of its glory days 100 years ago when rubber trees were important and affluence was abundant.

We felt certain there would be a choice of boats to take us and our car, a 1992 Buick Century, to Belem, on the mouth of this great river highway.

Yes, we were told, a barge capable of handling our car leaves three days a week for Belem. Barge!? Yes, all other boat traffic handles people only, the “buses" of the river. We were assured that there were “restaurant" and bath facilities.

“Oh, fine, what types of cabins are available?" we inquired.

The answer led us to believe that we were really having a problem with our Portuguese. Our cabin was to be our car, since the barge is just for handling commercial traffic.

We loaded up at 9 p.m. for a midnight departure along with 32 trailers, two full eighteen-wheeler rigs, an assortment of smaller trucks, and two cars, all on a 200-foot floating piece of steel. The lighting for all this? Moonlight and flashlights.

We were not very happy campers on board, nor did the animals show particular enthusiasm, since this was to be a four-day trip. Sleeping accommodations were a la hammock ó if you had one ó while the rest of the facilities included the tug “one holer" with a pipe on the ceiling for shower, the whole thing a la unisex.

The “restaurant" facility was the galley of the tug which served three meals per day, kitchen buffet style, and sit-anywhere-you-want-on-deck dining room (be careful of the grease). Ah, yes, just the cruise we had envisioned.

After the fact, we felt the experience was much more delightful than advertised. The Amazon is immense and wild and teems with wildlife on its banks and tributaries. The indigenous people are small and dark-skinned, and were curious about these tall, white folks with a foreign car (Buicks are not imported into Brazil).

They intercepted the barge in their small dugout canoes, lashed it to the tug, and jumped aboard to visit or sell fruits or vegetables. They rode down river for a while and then hitched a ride up river on westbound boats. The ease, agility, and fearlessness with which these people scampered on and off moving vessels from small dugout canoes were fascinating. The dangers were real. If the piranha did not get them, the crocodiles on the banks could.

After sleeping on the hood or with feet hanging out of the car window the first night, we found two spare hammocks, which we strung under the nearest trailer, an effort aided by friendly Brazilian truck drivers. Much conversation was made using dictionaries, hand signals, and Portugese-English. We all commiserated over the daily diet of rice, beans, and meat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Communication and living conditions were not the only challenges as moving around required constant vigilance. There were no lifelines on the barge, and scampering between the barge and the tug was necessary several times per day. Fall overboard? There would be little opportunity for survival.

If not sucked in below the vessel, if the fish or crocs missed you, and if you could swim a mile or more to shore, then all that was necessary was to deal with the jungle. The distances on this river are great, and river travel could be characterized as dull, possibly punctuated by moments of panic and discomfort. In spite of the wonderful experience with the people and scenery, I think we will try to avoid further barge travel if possible.

Next week: Onward to the sights and sounds of Rio.