icwales.icnetwork.co.uk Feb 14 2003

The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales

A MAN was being questioned by anti-terrorist police last night after a live grenade was found in a passenger's luggage at Gatwick Airport.

The 37-year-old Venezuelan arrived on British Airways flight 2048 from Bogota in Columbia.

He was held by Sussex Police and taken to a central London police station to be questioned by detectives from Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch.

The aircraft, a Boeing 777 with 125 passengers on board, landed at Gatwick at 1.23pm.

It stopped at Caracas in Venezuela and also in Barbados. It was not clear where the man boarded the plane.

The grenade was found as he went through Customs so explosives officers were called in and it was found to be live.

Part of the airport's North Terminal was evacuated during the alert and outbound flights suspended.

The grenade was believed to have been in the man's hold luggage, not his hand luggage.

Seventeen BA flights due to leave from North Terminal were cancelled. They were mostly short-haul departures. Incoming flights were unaffected.

BA screens 100% of baggage before it is allowed on planes, and was last night investigating if the checks were performed by its own staff at Bogota or by local airport staff.

Flights from Colombia were not suspended.

Roger Cato, managing director of British Airports Authority at Gatwick, said the man was arrested about 2.30pm after the live hand grenade was found in his baggage as he went through Customs.

Mr Cato said suggestions that there had been a controlled explosion were not correct.

He estimated around 100 flights would be affected

Home Secretary David Blunkett said the arrest at Gatwick, and the unrelated arrest of two men near Heathrow, showed the terrorist threat did exist and wasn't being made up.

"Second, it means that our security services are on the ball," he said.

"Third, over the next few days we need to follow leads through."

Hundreds of passengers were stranded in Gatwick's South Terminal as they awaited flights which would have gone by way of the North Terminal.

ITV sports presenter Gabby Logan was among the passengers stuck on planes in Gatwick during the security alert.

She said, "We landed at about

3.15 and since that time we've been on the plane and told that all the planes that have come in since 3pm have basically been grounded.

"Nobody's allowed to leave the plane. Nobody's allowed to get off and go into the terminal. They have closed the terminal and we were told then because of a security alert."

The North Terminal was reopened to the public around

7.45pm.

www.chicagotribune.com By Melita Marie Garza Tribune staff reporter Published February 13, 2003

As the nation prepares to go to war with Iraq, the U.S. military and the domestic airline industry are vying for the same increasingly expensive commodity--jet fuel.

The competing demands for jet fuel have bid up the prices, adding to the woes of hard-hit U.S. air carriers that can ill afford to absorb higher fuel prices, their second-biggest expense behind labor.

To be sure, major military mobilizations have always required large amounts of fuel.

But jet fuel now is the core of the military's fuel strategy. In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war in 1991, the U.S. military adopted NATO's one-fuel policy in an effort to simplify logistics and save money. These days, jet fuel powers every fighting vehicle in the air and on the land, including Army tanks and jeeps.

"The U.S. military is the largest single buyer of jet fuel in the world," said Cristina Haus, editor of Jet Fuel Intelligence. "Prices will rise even if the military has enough fuel. This is a war that can impact jet fuel more than any other crude oil product."

Before the Persian Gulf war, Kuwait was the main supplier of fuel for U.S. military aircraft. When Iraq invaded its oil-rich neighbor, Saudi Arabia stepped in to supply the U.S.-led coalition forces. This time around, however, the U.S. military has signed supply contracts with virtually every Middle East oil refiner, Haus said.

Still, supply demand tied to the U.S. military's preparation for an incursion into Iraq is but one factor contributing to the tighter market and higher prices for jet fuel.

Even though airlines have curbed flights as demand has fallen, the oil strike in Venezuela, which began Dec. 2, has intensified the problem by taking a major U.S. supplier offline for more than two months.

"Clearly, the Venezuelan situation has put upward pressure on distillate prices," Guy Caruso, administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, said in an interview. "It's a combination of the Venezuelan reduction in output, coming at a time when winter demand for home heating oil, exacerbated by cold weather, is at its peak."

Shifts in production

Jet fuel, heating oil and diesel fuel all are so-called middle distillates. When demand for heating oil rises, it can shift production of jet and diesel fuel as refiners rush to capture higher prices.

Most of the demand for heating oil is generated in the Northeast, from New England through the Middle Atlantic states.

Historically, in times of tight supply, Europe provides additional shipments of heating oil to the East Coast. But colder weather in Europe has made supplies tighter there, with little left over to be shipped to the U.S., Caruso said.

Phil Flynn, vice president and senior market analyst with Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, said Venezuela is producing only 1.5 million barrels of oil a day.

That's still a far cry from the 3 million barrels a day it was producing, Flynn said. "The cumulative total of what we've been losing is just beginning to be felt."

Some nations stockpiling

Flynn also believes that some countries are stowing oil away in the event of war, hoping to bolster supplies.

"Anybody who can afford to put away a barrel of crude oil is doing so," Flynn said.

The higher jet fuel prices have come at a particularly critical time for the airline industry.

"The problem is that in this weak revenue environment, airlines can't pass along their increased fuel costs as they could when the economy and business traffic were booming," said Ray Neidl, an airline industry analyst. "And, even on a reduced schedule, they still have to fly airplanes."

Perhaps no airline is more vulnerable than Elk Grove Township-based United Airlines, whose precarious financial position landed it in bankruptcy court late last year and left it without recourse to financial safeguards such as fuel hedging.

Oil companies that participate in the fuel hedging process are reluctant to work with companies that may be in financial distress, the airline told employees recently. Because of United's financial situation, it was unable in 2002 to secure hedges for 2003.

In contrast, Houston-based Continental Airlines has hedged about 95 percent of its fuel at a crude oil price of $33 a barrel for the first quarter. Airlines' fuel hedging is based on the price of crude oil.

In relation to historical prices it's still very high; in relation to current market prices of about $35 a barrel, it's a little bit less, said David Messing, a Continental spokesman.

Messing warned that hedging wasn't a magic bullet. "It's a gamble," Messing said.

In general, a $1 increase in the cost of a barrel of crude oil equates to a $40 million increase in operating costs for the airline, Messing said.

It's easy to see how a relatively small swing in the price of crude oil rolls into a rather large change in the bottom line, Messing said, noting that fuel costs last year accounted for 12 percent of the airline's operating expenses.

Fuel consumption in 2002 was down 9 percent from 2001, principally because Continental is flying a reduced schedule and has moved to more fuel efficient airplanes, he said.

Still, jet fuel is a significant expense, Messing said. "If oil prices were at historically normal levels, our profitability outlook would be substantially different."

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.13.03, 6:30 AM ET By Jonathan Leff

LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Iraq, under heavy pressure to comply with U.N. directives or face a military assault, is set to continue illicit pipeline crude oil exports to Syria next month, regional oil traders said on Thursday. Baghdad has allowed the return of U.N. weapons inspectors to stave off a potential attack from the United States, but has maintained its lucrative oil trade with Syria -- in violation of the U.N.'s sanctions programme -- for over two years. Despite the threat of an U.S.-led attack, Iraq shows no signs of slackening supply in March, traders say. Syria has scheduled a heavy export programme of some 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March, almost equal to the country's domestic production capacity, term customers say. This implies Iraqi imports of some 200,000 bpd, which Damascus is thought to be buying at a significant discount with the cash going directly to Baghdad, outside the U.N.'s oil-for-food programme account used for humanitarian purposes. Syria uses that crude -- pumped through a decades-old pipeline that was recommissioned in 2000 -- in its refineries, freeing up additional volumes of local production for export at international prices, now over $30 a barrel. Domestic production is estimated at 550,000 bpd and Syria's refineries use around 300,000 bpd, although demand sometimes dips in the spring due to seasonal maintenance. Iraqi officials have denied the pipeline is operating but Syria's oil minister said last year they were continually testing the pipe and importing oil for internal use. Baghdad has recently cut off another stream of illegal revenue, truck exports to neighbour Turkey that were running as much as 50,000 barrels per day (bpd), officials there said. Under the U.N. programme, Iraq is allowed to export small amounts of oil to neighbouring Jordan. Syria has said it would bring the pipeline -- which it plans to upgrade -- under the oil-for-food umbrella when it was fully operational.

SUPPLIES UNCERTAIN Syria's term oil customers have been warned this year that their contracts may have to be cut short due to unspecified events in the region, but supplies in March are higher even than in February by some 75,000 bpd, traders said. "It looks like a full programme to me," said one lifter. Syria has scheduled 15 full 80,000-tonne cargoes of Syrian Light, six of heavier Souedie and three that combine the two, according to a survey of regional traders. Iraq's pipeline exports have cut into the volume of crude it appears capable of supplying through the U.N.-authorised ports of Ceyhan, Turkey, and Mina al-Bakr, on the Gulf, where past capacity had been estimated at around 2.2 million bpd. Despite heavy demand for the sour crude due to a strike in Venezuela, Baghdad appears to be hard pressed to maintain exports at anywhere above two million bpd, traders say. U.N. weapons inspectors are due to give a key briefing on Iraqi compliance on Friday as the U.S. struggles against European opposition to an early war to unseat President Saddam Hussein, whom it accuses of hiding weapons of mass destruction. Some traders fear an attack as soon as March, which may prompt Saddam to cut off U.N. exports, although they said it was unclear how it could impact the Syrian business. The UK has repeatedly called on Syria -- currently on the U.N. Security Council -- to stop violating sanctions with the imports but the United States has been quieter on the issue.

www.atimes.com    Middle East By Inter Press Service correspondents

If projections are accurate, never before will one cause have drawn so many together around the world. The demonstrations against war in Iraq called for this coming Saturday are expected to draw millions on every continent. Stop the War Coalition, which started it all, counted 354 cities last week in almost every country in the world that will hold demonstrations. Four weeks earlier a spokesman had said the number of cities holding demonstrations had risen from 11 to 27. "Even we were not expecting this," Chris Nineham from Stop the War Coalition told IPS. They have stopped counting any more. Inevitably, the anti-war movement has not spread evenly around the world. It has found little success in Africa, and drawn a varied response across Asia. In Latin America support seems uncertain beyond the committed Left. Large anti-war rallies are being planned in Arab capitals such as Damascus in Syria and Cairo in Egypt. Democratic protest is not a way of life in these countries, but the demonstrations have been planned on the back of an unusual coming together of state policy and popular protest. Moving in the Middle East and Asia Palestinians and Israelis are being asked to come together to demonstrate against the war. Israeli organizations backing the call include the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Taayush-Arab Jewish Partnership, The Alternative Information Center and the Coalition of Women for Peace. Several busloads of demonstrators are expected to arrive in Tel Aviv. Anti-war protests have been planned in many Asian countries on Saturday. Groups opposing war have been making calls like "Stop the War, Demonstrate Saturday" to draw people to rallies. "Wake up, USA, Wake up Japan, and Wake Up Our Soul," says one group in Tokyo calling on people to come out to protest. More than 50 civil society groups have backed a rally at a local park in Bangkok. The demonstrators plan to march to the US embassy in Bangkok. "War is an ineffective way to deal with weapons of mass destruction," says Greenpeace Southeast Asia, which is joining the demonstration. Stop the War Coalition has called on people to join the protests in Kuala Lumpur outside the US embassy. Many activists have launched a signature campaign in Malaysia against a war on Iraq. London leads the way In Europe, London is leading the way, where close to a million are expected to join the demonstration. Only a week ago Stop the War Coalition was expecting half a million. More than 450 organizations are joining the demonstration, along with 11 parties, which include the Liberal Democrats, the rising third force in British politics (after Labor and the Conservatives). At their little office in Brick Lane in London's East End, Stop the War Coalition is barely able to handle what it started only a few months back. The US stand on Iraq has divided European governments as never before, and it has united millions of people in Europe as never before. Anti-war groups are not calling these the February 15 rallies any more; they speak of this now as "mobilization". In France, Belgium and Germany, street muscle is for once in line with government policy. In Paris, up to 200,000 had been expected to join the demonstration. "But it now seems that the number could be higher," a spokesman for the anti-war alliance told IPS. At least 100,000 are expected to demonstrate in Berlin. A massive demonstration has been planned in Brussels. Many of the demonstrations in Europe have been organized by the Platform Against War on Iraq comprising 170 non-governmental organizations. Across the rest of Europe, opinion polls show public in open conflict with governments backing the US, particularly in Britain, Italy and Spain. Polls indicate the highest opposition to war in Sweden, Greece and Germany. The degree of opposition to war has wavered over past weeks. But opinion polls indicated it was rising after what most people found to be an unconvincing plea by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in the United Nations. A British government dossier on Iraq supposedly compiled from intelligence reports was found to have been plagiarized substantially from an essay posted on the web by a 29-year-old Californian. This added to the simmering anger. The anti-war group acknowledges its debt. "Our best recruiting agents have been Bush and Blair," says Andrew Murray who heads the anti-war coalition in Britain. Revolt in US cities Representatives from dozens of US cities that have passed resolutions opposing a war on Iraq are trying to meet President Bush and deliver their message first-hand. Over just a few weeks, the number of these cities has risen from less than 50 to 83, according to the website citiesforpeace.org. That growth mirrors the blossoming of an anti-war movement in North America. "This is the biggest peace movement we've had since Vietnam," says Josh Matlow, national campaign organiser of the Canadian Peace Alliance. "I'm getting calls from animal rights groups, energy groups and others not usually associated with the peace movement. I'm getting hundreds of calls a day." Hundreds of thousands are expected to join the anti-war rally Saturday in New York city. City authorities have refused to allow demonstrators to march past the United Nations headquarters. The rally is being organized by United for Peace and Justice, an umbrella body of 70 groups formed late last year to oppose the war. The group is being supported by Not in Our Name, whose 'Pledge of Resistance' has been printed in dozens of newspapers around the world. An estimated 200,000 people are believed to have joined demonstrations held in San Francisco and Washington January 18. The rally on Saturday is expected to draw many more people, and more determined people. "The last thing I want to do is get in the way of a working person trying to get to work," says Leone Reinbold, a veteran of civil disobedience protests. "But when 200,000 people marching in the streets doesn't get people's attention in Washington, this is our last resort." Left fights for peace Non-governmental organizations, intellectuals and leftist parties throughout Latin America are rallying forces to boost attendance at the global day of anti-war protests Saturday, while their governments take a more cautious stance. In Argentina, associations of mothers and grandmothers of those who disappeared during the 1976-1983 dictatorship have attacked Washington for "trying to impose its hegemony over the rest of the world at any cost". The women are planning to join the march along with local artists, journalists and members of human rights groups. The anti-war march in Buenos Aires will end outside the US embassy. In Mexico, Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchú told IPS that "the most important thing about the peace movement is that for the first time in the history of war, the political, academic, human rights and civil society worlds are united around the planet to reject war". A large rally has been planned for Saturday through downtown Mexico City. Brazil is also seeing preparations for anti-war demonstrations Saturday. The Rio Peace Committee, which includes the Brazilian Press Association, leftist parties, trade unions and the MST (landless farmers movement), is organizing a march through the main avenue in the Copacabana neighborhood. Activists in Brazil are also calling for a one-day boycott of products and services of companies based in the United States or any other country whose government supports war against Iraq. The anti-war movement in Venezuela is organising a march through Caracas under the slogan "Not a drop of Venezuelan oil for the war", says Sergio Sánchez, of Utopía, a political group. Peace organizations in Chile are pressing the government of Ricardo Lagos to stand up to the United States and insist on pursuing all diplomatic means possible to prevent a military attack on Iraq. Africa indifferent Former South African President Nelson Mandela told an international women's group in Johannesburg on January 30, "One power, with a president who has no foresight and cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust." But in this struggle Mandela has found few followers. Anti-war demonstrations have been planned in Kenya. The demonstrators are up against growing ties between Kenya and the US. Kenyan and US troops recently conducted joint military exercises. To keep up the pressure, feeble as it is, about 300 anti-war campaigners protested Tuesday outside the offices of the US oil company ExxonMobil in Johannesburg. There is little sign of any significant preparation for any major demonstration Saturday. (Inter Press Service)

www.lightreading.com FEBRUARY 13, 2003 PREVIOUS NEWS WIRE FEED

CEDAR KNOLLS, N.J. -- Growth of consumer/SOHO (small office and home office) Internet connectivity in Latin America remains problematic, reports analyst firm Probe Research. With the exception of Chile and Brazil, the depressed economies in most of the Latin American countries are holding back the rates of growth seen in Europe, Asia and North America.

"Affordability is a real issue," explains Probe analyst, Alan Mosher. "Consumers are unable to afford computers, and carriers hang on to high per-minute local call tariffs for dial-up connections. Consequently, connecting to the Internet can be an expensive proposition for the vast majority of households in Latin America."

According to Mosher, the cost of computers and a lack of cheap access have led to a growing number of Internet cafes. Users who need to get online but lack home connectivity make heavy use of these Internet cafes or access the Internet for personal needs from work or school.

Nonwired types of Internet access such as fixed wireless and satellite would seem to be natural services in the vast rural regions of many Latin American countries, and these are beginning to appear. But fixed wireless is an expensive technology and needs a solid base of enterprise users to make it economically viable. Satellite is also expensive for the end user.

Probe's report "Latin America Global Access Model," the latest in the Global Internet Service Provider Markets series, fully examines consumer/SOHO Internet connectivity in this market. It provides a forecast by type of consumer/SOHO connections for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela and the rest of Latin America.