www.timesdaily.com February 18. 2003 12:00AM

Gas prices got you down? They got to me a little last week as I drove to Montgomery and back for a meeting. I think the prices went up about a nickel between the time I left Wednesday and the time I returned Friday night.

The recent fuel price hikes seem to be a hot topic.

Q: Who makes the decision to either raise or lower retail gasoline prices? Also, why do all the major companies end up with price changes at the same time?

A: The decision to raise or lower gas or oil prices are entirely up to the individual companies that sell the products, but market factors seem to be the major thing prompting the changes.

Sometimes, those factors can be as simple as the time of the year. For instance, in the summer, when more people are taking car trips and vacationing, the demand is higher, and prices increase.

Lately, the threat of terrorist attacks, labor strikes in Nigeria and Venezuela, colder-than-average temperatures and the impending war with Iraq have caused gas prices to increase to the highest they have been since Sept. 11, 2001.

"It's just like milk or anything else you buy or sell," said Adam Kelley, a spokesman for AAA Alabama. "It's a market-driven product. It's supply and demand."

On Monday, Alabama's average gas price for regular unleaded fuel was $1.60 per gallon. That was up 18 cents from a month ago. Kelley said the South has been blessed with prices below the national average, so I guess we should feel good that we're about a nickel below the rest of the country.

Kelley said his office gets more complaints about companies that use the price increase to get a competitive advantage by artificially lowering prices in an effort to draw customers away from their higher-priced competitors.

In other places, prices are set based on what nearby stations charge. It's sort of like keeping up with the Joneses. When one goes up, the others follow suit. The cost from the supplier is roughly the same for all stations, but the individual businesses can choose how much to charge at the pump.

Q: What exactly is gas price gouging?

A: Price gouging is when oil and gas companies artificially increase prices at the pump even though the market factors haven't created supply or demand issues.

The AAA's Kelly said the national AAA office has recently expressed concern that "it's getting to the point where there are concerns about possible price gouging, but no one is saying it's happening yet."

Kelly said skyrocketing fuel prices certainly give consumers a reason to spend a little time shopping for the best prices.

"The thing that we would advise is to shop for your gasoline like you do your groceries," Kelly said. "A lot of people buy gas based on convenience. They need to look for the best deal possible."

Managing Editor Robyn Tomlin writes Just Ask, which runs Tuesdays in the TimesDaily. If you've got a question, e-mail it to justask@timesdaily.com, fax it to 740-4717 or send it to Just Ask c/o TimesDaily, P.O. Box 797, Florence, AL 35631. Include your name and contactinformation

icwales.icnetwork.co.uk Feb 18 2003

The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales   A MAN appeared in court yesterday charged under the Terrorism Act after a hand grenade was allegedly found in his luggage as he arrived on a flight at Gatwick airport.

Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan was stopped by Customs officers on Thursday after arriving from Caracas, Venezuela, on a British Airways flight.

Rahaham-Alan, a 37-year-old Venezuelan, appeared at Bow Street Magistrates Court in central London to face charges of possessing an article for the purpose of committing a terrorist act, possessing an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or damage property and carrying a dangerous article on an aircraft.

Rahaham-Alan, bearded and with long black hair, walked into court dressed in a baggy blue jumper.

He sat in the dock with a single police officer and a woman Spanish interpreter during the five-minute hearing.

His lawyer, Peter Corrigan, said he could understand the proceedings in English but the interpreter would provide clarification if necessary.

Rahaham-Alan stood and spoke in a barely audible voice as he gave his full name and date of birth to the courts.

He gave an address in Caracas, Venezuela.

The clerk read him three charges.

She said, "On the 13th of February this year within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court you had in your possession an article - that was a grenade - for use in the commission of an act of terrorism.

"On the same day you had in your possession an explosive substance, that being a grenade, with intent to endanger life or cause damage to property.

"The same day whilst on a British registered aircraft you had in your possession a dangerous article. That was a hand grenade."

Prosecutor Susan Hemming asked for all the charges to be transferred to the Old Bailey. There was no application for bail.

District Judge Nicholas Evans concluded 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.

He remanded Rahaham-Alan in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on February 24.

www.miami.com Posted on Tue, Feb. 18, 2003 BY DULUE MBACHU Associated Press

LAGOS, Nigeria - Nigeria started sending replacement workers to its oil-export terminals Monday, trying to stave off a shutdown of crude exports amid a strike by a powerful oil workers' union.

The strike over pay and working conditions comes as the threat of war against Iraq and a prolonged strike in Venezuela have pushed oil prices near two-year highs. Nigeria is the world's sixth-largest exporter of crude, and half of its exports go to the United States.

In London, benchmark Brent crude fell 52 cents Monday, hitting $31.98, after last week's two-year highs. U.S. markets were closed for Presidents' Day.

The strike was launched by union employees of the Department of Petroleum Resources, a key government unit overseeing operations of oil multinationals, including ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Royal Dutch/Shell and TotalFinaElf. The strike is backed by the country's leading Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.

''The strike is now total,'' association spokesman Femi Familoni said. ``But the effect on exports will be gradual and begin to tell after some days.''

The Department of Petroleum Resources said Monday that managers would fill in for striking workers and vowed that the oil would continue to flow.

''We have sent out management staff to the various terminals, depots and jetties to handle the jobs left by the strikers. There'll be no disruption of services as far as the management is concerned,'' said Belema Osibodu, an agency spokeswoman.

Strikers are demanding more than a year's worth of back pay, including unpaid overtime, and expenses and travel allowances. They are also demanding greater autonomy and better financing for the department, which they say is crippled by inefficient bureaucracy.

President Olusegun Obasanjo's energy advisor, Rilwanu Lukman, offered to meet with the strikers Feb. 25, according to union officials. But strikers rejected the proposal, saying it did not reflect the urgency of their demands.

The government said it offered some concessions to the striking workers, including payment of rent subsidies, ''but it doesn't look like that has been enough to make them call off the strike,'' Osibodu said.

www.charlotte.com Posted on Tue, Feb. 18, 2003

U.S. News & World Report:

George W. Bush is his father's son, all right, so maybe we shouldn't be so surprised that he's pushing ahead with plans to cut taxes, take out Saddam Hussein -- and raise cattle in Texas. Don't get the connection? Let family friend Doug Wead explain. "Presidential children," he says, tend toward completion or mimicry. Bush, adds the author of the forthcoming book "All the Presidents' Children," fits the completion theory. As in: redeeming Bush 41's broken no-new-taxes promise, punishing Saddam for plotting to kill Dad, and highlighting the cowboy side of the Kennebunkport clan.

Wead's book is a fascinating study of the 159 first kids. A common thread: Many can't live up to their father's example, end up on the bottle, and die young. Remarkably, Bush himself was headed in that direction before he cleaned up his act, shocking even his own family. Wead recalls asking brother Marvin in 1988 if W would take up their father's public service. "George?" Wead quotes Marvin laughing. "George is the family clown."

Bush could declare victory without war

Michael Dobbs, Washington Post: There is a widespread international appreciation of the fact that inspectors would not be in Iraq today if the United States had not used its overwhelming military and diplomatic power, [a senior Arab] official says. Bush could declare victory now and save himself a potential debacle. "He's shown seriousness, and Saddam caved," the official says. "If you ask whether the world is in a better position vis-a-vis Saddam Hussein than it was a year ago, the answer is `Absolutely!' Is that victory? Yes, if you want it to be."

World economy depends on Saudis

John Carey in BusinessWeek: Crude [oil] is up more than 33 percent over the past three months, climbing to $35 per barrel in the United States. Economic models predict that if the price stays high for three months, it will cut U.S. gross domestic product by $50 billion for the quarter. ... As long as the U.S. imports more than 11 million barrels a day -- 55 percent of our total consumption -- anything from a strike in Venezuela to unrest in the Persian Gulf hits us hard in the pocketbook.

One nation, Saudi Arabia, is sitting on the world's largest proved reserves -- 265 million barrels, or 25 percent of the known supplies -- and can send the price soaring or falling simply by opening or closing the spigot ... . "The entire world economy is built on a bet of how long the House of Saud can continue," says Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust.

www.charlotte.com Posted on Tue, Feb. 18, 2003

BOGOTA, Colombia - The state-owned oil company in Venezuela, though hobbled by a faltering 78-day strike by oil workers, could be producing 2.8 million barrels per day within a month, Venezuela's quota as set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the president of the company said Monday.

Reaching 2.8 million barrels per day would be a milestone for the state-owned company, Petroleos de Venezuela, once the world's second-largest oil company and a major supplier of petroleum to the United States.

The company used to produce 3.1 million barrels a day until an antigovernment strike paralyzed production, devastating Venezuela's economy and severely testing the leftist government of President Hugo Chavez.

The announcement by Ali Rodriguez, president of the company, was made in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. It was quickly rebutted by dissident oil executives who on Dec. 2 led a walkout of thousands of workers that is continuing.

The walkout was part of a nationwide general action, but the strike in the other sectors fizzled out earlier this month.