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.

www.sun-sentinel.com By Owain Johnson Special Correspondent Posted February 18 2003

Caracas, Venezuela · Several times in recent months, pediatrician César Rojas and his wife have had to move fast to prevent their son Raúl, 8, from seeing the televised violence that sometimes erupts during political protests. "There have been quite a few occasions when I've had to distract him and then get him out of the room," Rojas said. The Venezuelan media are not shy about showing acts of violence in detail, scenes that have become more common as the country's political crisis worsens. Now, though, parents and psychiatrists are beginning to ask what effect this visual diet of horror is having on the nation's children, and the government has proposed a bill to regulate what the channels can show and when. Rojas recalls the night in early December when gunmen attacked an opposition rally in the Plaza Francia de Altamira, leaving three people dead. The attack took place at 7 p.m., and its bloody aftermath immediately was televised live, just as people sat down to dinner. "I let Raúl watch part of that night with us," Rojas said. "I told him it was some crazy men shooting, and I don't think it affected him too much. But there's so much violence in the atmosphere, you can't always hide what's happening." The images of bloodied bodies on the ground in Altamira was repeated often for several days, and not only during newscasts. The strike and subsequent economic crisis have forced advertisers to scale back, and commercial breaks on private TV channels are increasingly filled with opposition-financed political ads that feature many of the same disturbing scenes. The opposition's publicity efforts seek to whip up popular indignation and encourage people to attend protest rallies against the government. The paid ads can be seen day or night, during films, soap operas and baseball games. The government thinks the TV channels should be more aware of their potential audience and would like to ban scenes of shootings or violent riots when children could be watching. The Content Law, as it is known, was approved during its first reading before the National Assembly last week, despite fierce criticism from the media. The private media fear President Hugo Chávez will use the law to muzzle unfavorable coverage of his government. They say the authorities want to prevent viewers from seeing politically such damaging images as national guard troops beating women demonstrators or government supporters causing disturbances. The proposals also have drawn criticism from child psychiatrists and psychologists. Sergio Garrón, a psychiatrist, says the bill goes too far by trying to prevent any disturbing or violent images from appearing until late at night. Garrón said the government should instead encourage families and schools to take greater responsibility for what children watch. "We should all be regulators: mothers, fathers, teachers and little old grandmas," Garrón says. "In the right context, these scenes can be tools for parents to teach their children. Do we really want to breed little robots who never see the bad side of life?" The president of Venezuela's Association of Psychoanalysts, María Cristina Ortega, says that unless children see some challenging images, it will be difficult for them to understand the realities of life in contemporary Venezuela. The media cannot gloss over the serious problems facing the divided society, Ortega says. She adds that it is the crisis itself, rather than its depiction by the media, that has led an increasing number of parents to bring their children to her clinic. "The television just shows reality. There is so much tension on the streets every day that it creates an entirely unhealthy atmosphere for children's mental health," Ortega said. "Growing up and developing in a situation like this is very far from ideal."