europe.cnn.com Monday, February 17, 2003 Posted: 1226 GMT

LONDON, England -- A Venezuelan man charged in connection with the discovery of a live grenade at a London airport has been remanded in custody.

Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan is accused of three offences under the UK's Terrorism 2000 Act after a the device was allegedly found in his luggage at Gatwick Airport.

The 37-year-old appeared at London's Bow Street Magistrates' Court on Monday where he was formally accused of possession of an article for the purpose of committing a terrorist act, possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or damage property, and carrying a dangerous article on a British registered aircraft.

District Judge Nicholas Evans ended the five-minute hearing by telling the defendant that he was transferring the case to the Old Bailey under Section 51 of the Crime and Disorder Act.

There was no application for bail and Rahaham-Alan was remanded in custody to February 24.

Following the incident, last Thursday, passengers at Gatwick were evacuated from the airport's North Terminal and outbound flights were suspended.

The terminal remained closed for several hours, at a time when the country was on high alert with light tanks and more than 400 soldiers being deployed at Heathrow airport amid fears of attack.

BA launched an investigation into how the grenade got on to the plane undetected.

The airline said its policy is to screen all baggage before allowing it onto planes.

www.thestate.com Posted on Mon, Feb. 17, 2003 By GINA SMITH Staff Writer

Olivia Garcia Echezuria's heart was broken as she boarded a plane in May. With her work visa expired, she had to give up her job as a Spanish teacher and leave the United States.

Echezuria had to return to her native Venezuela, a country where most workers are on strike, poverty is rampant and education is a privilege of the rich.

Before her plane lifted off, Echezuria already missed her students at C.R. Neal Alternative School in Columbia, where she'd taught for the past four years.

She resolved to return to South Carolina and her students.

Shortly after setting foot on Venezuelan soil, Echezuria set to work -- visiting the U.S. Embassy, talking to every official.

In October, she was allowed to return to the United States.

Now, she's a living lesson in determination at C.R. Neal, a school for students who struggle in traditional classrooms.

"You can do whatever you want," Echezuria told her students recently, as she moved around her classroom like a ballroom dancer, dipping to touch students' shoulders, clapping her hands for emphasis. "But you have to want."

Students nod their heads. They know she is living proof.

"She got out in the nick of time," said Nathan White, the school's principal. "There are people trying so desperately to get out of that country but can't."

White kept his fingers crossed that Echezuria would be able to return.

"Kids love her, and I don't say that tongue-in-cheek," White said. "Kids can ask her anything. They trust her. They believe her."

Yes, Echezuria misses Venezuela where her grown daughter, mother and 11 siblings live. But she's needed here.

"My patriotism is global," she says with a rich Venezuelan accent, R's rolling like waves. "Wherever I can serve and be happy, that's where I want to be. That's how it is here."

At 4 feet 11 inches, Echezuria stands tall in the minds of her students.

Dreams come true, and resilience pays off. The proof is in Room 9.

Students finger her passport and family photos that she keeps in her room. They are reminders of what she's gone through and what she's given up for them.

And then there's the ticking of her golden watch. Now is the time to learn. Now. Now. Now.

"She tries to push you harder and harder every day," said Carl Cherry, a student of Senora E, as Echezuria is affectionately called. (Some students prefer Senora Olivia.)

Echezuria is the only Spanish teacher at the alternative school and teaches about 60 percent of its 240 students.

Her classroom is decorated with native Venezuelan garb, and flags from Spanish-speaking countries hang on the walls. Colorful rugs are spread on the floor, and plants grow in the windows.

Two parakeets chirp in a cage. (Most homes in Venezuela have birds.) Sometimes, annoyed students tell the birds to shut up.

Senora Olivia has a ready comeback: "After you," she tells students.

Teaching is always hands-on for Echezuria, who relies little on textbooks. When the class learns food vocabulary, Echezuria blindfolds them, feeds them grapes or bits of banana, then asks them to name the food in Spanish.

For a special treat, she makes them empanadas, Venezuelan turnovers of chicken, beef, cheese and corn flour.

She clicks around the room in her characteristic high heels, dramatic hand gestures cutting through the air. "Perfecto, exacto," she boisterously calls to students who answer a question correctly. Then she signs for other students to applaud.

And in the midst of lessons, Echezuria reminds students why they're learning Spanish.

"Transfer your knowledge. Don't leave it in the classroom," she tells them. "Spanish is for real. It's a real skill. No one can take it away from you."

Next month, Echezuria will hold the school's first ever Latin American Festival for students. There'll be food, costumes and traditional dancing from Hispanic-speaking countries.

But time is running out again for Senora Olivia. Her visa will expire in 2005.

"I will be older. It may be tougher to find a job in (Venezuela)," Echezuria says.

But if her students keep working hard to learn, she'll work hard too.

"I will try to stay."

www.miami.com Posted on Mon, Feb. 17, 2003

Jose Valdivia and Miguel Zaldivar are traveling south of the border. The two Miami lawyers have picked up a piece of legal work for Hogan & Hartson worth more than $1 million. Hogan & Hartson won over four other law firms to serve as counsel to Pemex in its construction of a petrochemical complex in Mexico. The site hasn't yet been selected. Pemex is the Mexican state-owned oil company. The lawyers will work with Mexican counsel Haynes & Boone and with consultants Charles River Associates from Houston.

''We had all the right people,'' Zaldivar said. ``Also key is we had the ability to do the documents in Spanish and English.''

The right people included Flavio Principe, former general counsel of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, now in Hogan's Miami office, and Tovan McDaniel from Hogan's Washington office. Hogan also has Berlin, London and Paris offices, crucial for tapping overseas investors.

Hogan gets paid a flat fee, at least for phase one, through the end of February. Seven lawyers in the Miami office are working on the matter. The initial phase calls for drawing up bid documents for the selection of investors. The firm will analyze Pemex's potential role in the project. If the law firm continues as counsel during the next phase, its Miami office could become home for road shows and data analyses for Latin American investors. Miguel Espino, a Pemex attorney, is working from Hogan's Miami office.

A number of international companies are reported to be interested in participating with Pemex in the project. The initial investment is anticipated to be in the range of $1 billion to $2 billion.

In another coup for Hogan & Hartson, Paul F. Hancock, former Florida deputy attorney general in charge of South Florida offices, has joined the firm's Miami office as of counsel practicing in its litigation group.

www.globeandmail.com By ALLAN ROBINSON Monday, February 17, 2003 - Page B9

Indicator anticipated

Don't look for a busy day on the Canadian stock exchanges today with the closing of the U.S. markets for the Presidents' Day holiday.

The major economic news in Canada won't come until tomorrow when Finance Minister John Manley unveils his first federal budget, which is expected to provide for a major increase in spending on health care and other areas.

Today, however, Canadian investors will get a look at some economic data with the release by Statistics Canada of the "leading indicator" -- a broad measure of economic performance.

Economists forecast the indicator will show a slowdown in January with an increase of 0.2 per cent, compared with December's 0.4-per-cent rise.

The leading indicator is an index of 10 major cyclical categories of the Canadian economy, including money supply, the stock market, housing starts, durable goods orders, and employment levels. It also encompasses the U.S. leading indicator because of the importance of exports to the Canadian economy. The index was increasing at a rate of 1.2 per cent in early 2002, before declining late in the year. Recently, it has been erratic, although showing signs of renewed strength.

Earnings season slows

Profit reports slow to a trickle today in the United States and Canada.

Houston-based Southwestern Energy Co. is expected to release its fourth-quarter results today and analysts are forecasting a profit of 16 cents (U.S.) a share, which would bring the profit for the year to 54 cents, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

Although oil is trading at about $36 a barrel, "most energy stocks are currently priced for $20 a barrel," Merrill Lynch Royal Securities Inc. said in a report. "The oil balance will remain exceedingly tight no matter what happens in Iraq -- it will take a long time for Venezuela to come back on stream," it said.

Over all, about 85 per cent of the companies on the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index have reported their fourth-quarter results, and profits have fallen about 34 per cent in the quarter to about $3.60 a share from a year ago, the report said. The $45-billion writeoff by AOL Time Warner Inc. alone depressed the S&P earnings by nearly $5, otherwise reported profits would be up 14 per cent from 2001, Merrill Lynch said. Operating earnings are up 17 per cent over 2001, it said. Regulators convening

Canadian securities lawyers are expected to keep a close eye on the two-day 13th annual Securities Superconference in Toronto today. Regulators from securities commissions, stock exchanges and accounting bodies will look at changes in corporate governance affecting North American business in response to major stock market frauds. An optional workshop on the third day will spotlight insider trading and the need for corporate compliance.

www.sgvtribune.com122241184998,00.html Article Last Updated: Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 10:43:18 PM MST By Gabe Lacques , Staff Writer

Many Angels were able to parlay their World Series championship into an off-season of fun and opportunity. Francisco Rodriguez mostly stayed home.

The alternative was too dangerous.

For Rodriguez, winning a World Series and the higher profile that comes with it brought not fame but fear. And scrutiny. And the feeling that, if he wandered into the dangerous streets of Caracas, Venezuela, he would be robbed because of who he is.

Rodriguez, who won five postseason games after pitching just five innings in the major leagues last season, arrived Sunday at the Angels' spring training complex, reuniting with teammates for the first time since last autumn.

He pored through a huge stack of fan mail, participated in fielding drills and a 10-minute throwing session, then sat down to a large plate of barbecued beef.

What appeared to be a mind- numbingly routine day felt different to Rodriguez than his American- born teammates. After a winter amid the turmoil of Venezuela, even the simplest things aren't taken for granted.

A national strike protesting the regime of President Hugo Chavez has paralyzed the country, resulting in fuel shortages, unemployment and higher crime.

For Rodriguez, the stakes were different.

He unwittingly became a political pawn. In one week, his grandmother and brother were robbed three times at gunpoint, most likely because of their relationship to Rodriguez, who considers his grandmother his mother. And Venezuela's winter league season was canceled, limiting Rodriguez to two brief appearances.

Of course, no baseball was the least of his worries. Rodriguez escaped severe poverty in Caracas to earn a $900,000 signing bonus from the Angels in 1998, and his newfound fame only made him a bigger target.

"It's hard, especially because the people down there don't have money or have jobs because of the strike,' said Rodriguez, who turned 21 on Jan. 7. "There's a lot of poor people. They want to steal money.'

Or cars. Houston Astros outfielder Richard Hidalgo was shot in the left arm by carjackers on Nov. 21. Did Rodriguez fear a similar fate?

"Sure, man,' he said. "It's tough. Everybody down there recognizes me. They want me to give money, they want my money. They knew it was my mom and my brother. That's what's scary. They pulled guns on them.

"I mostly just stayed in my house. First, there's no gas. Second, it's dangerous in the street. I prefer to stay in the house.'

Chavez was temporarily overthrown in April, but regained power after less than two days. Chavez invited Rodriguez to visit him, but the new national hero is declining for now because he would just as soon stay out of a politically charged situation.

"Not right now,' Rodriguez said. "I want to wait. If I have a chance to meet with him and talk to him when it calms down ... but not right now. The (situation) stinks. I don't want to get involved with anything.'

Rodriguez arrived to training camp a day late because of transportation problems, and he's probably fortunate he got out that soon. The U.S. embassy was open for just one day last week, so it was unclear whether Rodriguez's visa paperwork would get processed in time.

But it did, and finally, after a 12- hour flight Saturday, he could concentrate on baseball.

Manager Mike Scioscia said Rodriguez will assume the same role he had in the postseason setting up closer Troy Percival while occasionally pitching as many as two innings. With the sudden fame he achieved last October, it's easy to forget Rodriguez has just 5 2/3 regular-season innings to his credit.

But Rodriguez struck out 13 in that limited span. And his postseason already is part of baseball lore. He won five games, tying Randy Johnson's record. He struck out 28 in 18 2/3 innings. And in Game 2 of the World Series, he put on an unforgettable performance, pitching three perfect innings and throwing 22 strikes in 26 pitches in a pivotal 11-10 victory.

"Frankie showed last year, with a litmus test that was as tough as you could get, that he had the ability to have success and not only pitch in the major leagues, but pitch in the toughest situations,' Scioscia said. "His perspective in talking to him is where it needs to be. He wants to be here for a long time. He understands the need for consistency, to do it not for six or eight weeks, but for one out at a time for years to come.

"I think you will see some improvement in consistency, and it's admirable he has that perspective. This kid's focused and he's driven. He's said he's not just basing his whole career on four weeks.'

Pitching coach Bud Black said the team will "do a good job keeping Francisco grounded,' not that it's necessary, because "Frankie's a realist. He knows what he has to do.'

Rodriguez reiterated during the Series that he was in a dreamlike state, and he might always feel that way about the most significant month of his career. But he's also ready to move on.

"I don't realize what I did yet,' he said. "Sometimes, when I watch TV, I'll realize what I did in the postseason. Now, the World Series is in the past. I'm a little bit worried because I want to show the Angels, show the fans, who is Francisco Rodriguez and what I can do for a full season.'

Assuming his arm holds up during the rigors of a six-month season, the results could be huge for the Angels. Rodriguez and Percival's presence at the back end of games will be significant for a starting staff that completed eight or more innings just 18 times last season.

Rodriguez also has different goals for this season. He wants to move his grandmother and many of his siblings he counts 13 in all, but some are actually his uncles out of Venezuela.

That might take time, given the limited capabilities of the embassy there. If and when it does happen, his mind might finally be at peace.

"It would be much better,' he said. "Feeling good, knowing what she's doing, not worried about all the problems down there.'

With that, he tugged on his cap and headed out to the field, ready to start a new season and put behind him a most unsettling off-season.

-- Gabe Lacques can be reached at (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2239 or by e-mail at gabe.lacques@sgvn.com .