www.bayarea.com Posted on Mon, Mar. 03, 2003 By JIM SALISBURY Philadelphia Inquirer

SARASOTA, Fla. - Ken Griffey Jr. has taken notice of the additions the Phillies made in the off-season, particularly the one Bobby Abreu made to his body.

While discussing the Phils' roster renovations - Jim Thome, Kevin Millwood, etc. - before Monday's exhibition game, the Cincinnati Reds star brought up the subject of the beefed-up Phillies rightfielder.

"Bobby came in bigger," said Griffey, wide-eyed and chuckling. "When I saw him , I was like, `Darn, I've got some furniture at home. Can you help me move it? I could just throw it on your back.'

"He looks good. He looks a lot bigger, especially across the chest. I go lift, but I don't swell up like that. They need to get him some Spandex."

Griffey isn't the only one who has noticed that Abreu is filling out his uniform a little more this spring. Several scouts have commented about it in recent days and wondered whether the extra bulk will hurt his game.

Here's the skinny on Abreu's bulkier body:

Abreu said he ended last season weighing 210 pounds and that he now weighs 215. He believes that he will be down to 210 by the end of spring training.

The bulked-up frame, he said, was a result of hard work, nothing more, in the weight room. He said he probably put on a few more pounds than usual because the winter baseball season in his native Venezuela was shortened due to political unrest in the country. Abreu usually plays winter ball.

"I'm all right," Abreu said, laughing about the subject of his weight. "I spent a lot of time in the weight room."

Manager Larry Bowa said he has no concerns about Abreu's weight or physical condition.

"It doesn't bother me," Bowa said. "He's five or six pounds over what he was at the end of last season. Part of it, I'm sure, is that he didn't play this winter.

"I'm not worried about his weight at all. If it was an issue, I'd tell you. It's a non-issue. He looks really strong and he's swinging the bat well."

Could the increased brawn be a sign that Abreu wants to hit for more power this year? His home-run totals rose steadily from 17 in 1998 to 31 in 2001 before dropping to 20 last season.

"No, I'm not trying to hit more home runs," Abreu said. "I can't do that. I have to play my game."

Abreu homered Saturday against the Atlanta Braves, but he maintains that home runs just happen. When he is going good, he hits many line drives, especially to the gaps. He is also a patient hitter with tremendous plate discipline. Those strengths - the gap power and the patience - were reflected in his statistics last year: He led the National League with 50 doubles and ranked sixth with 104 walks.

Speed is also a big part of Abreu's game. He has stolen 36 and 31 bases, respectively, the last two seasons.

Abreu, who will turn 29 next week, said his speed will not be affected by his beefier body.

"My running is fine," he said with a smile.

Abreu has gotten off to a good start at the plate this spring. He hit a hard single up the middle in the Phils' 7-2 loss to Griffey and the Reds Monday at Ed Smith Stadium. He is 3 for 6 so far.

As for the rest of the Phillies' winter additions - Millwood, Thome, etc. - Griffey is as impressed with them as he is with Abreu's bulkier physique.

"Millwood is tough," Griffey said. "He comes right at you."

An "Oh, wow!" look swept across Griffey's face when Thome's name came up.

"He's just so strong, country strong," Griffey said. "I was looking at his bat. It looks like something I'd warm up with. Mine looks like a toothpick compared to his.

"He'll make a big difference in their lineup. One swing of the bat and he can give you three quick runs."

Contact staff writer Jim Salisbury at 215-854-4983 or jsalisbury@phillynews.com.

www.kesq.com

$1.48 is the average price this week for a gallon of regular gas here in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Last March, you would have paid a lot less -- $1.38.

Valley gas stations are sporting prices at well over the two-dollar mark. It's the result of Middle East supply concerns, and Venezuela's interrupted oil production, the result of a general strike. Here in the valley, drivers are feeling the pain, especially those who depend on gas for their jobs, and those who drive large vehicles.

"We don't go as much as we'd like to on the weekends because it's $50 to go somewhere plus what you're going to do when you get there," says Palm Desert resident Earlene Thompson.

In northern California, Yreka residents hit the steps of the county courthouse over the weekend. Gasoline is costing them an arm and a leg, so people rallied to vent their frustrations.

Back here in the valley, we did find one driver who says prices are just right. Richard here is visiting from Oxfordshire, England.

"These gas prices are brilliant. Why can't we have these back home where we come from. It'd be superb."

As high as these prices are now, industry analysts don't expect them to remain sky high forever. They expect them to begin falling in April, and be back to normal, about $1.40 on the national average by July, just in time for the peak summer driving season.

Relief can't come soon enough for many drivers, but IFR Pegasus analyst Tim Evans says barring an extended war with Iraq, gas prices will fall along with crude oil prices, as Opec boosts production.

reuters.com Mon March 3, 2003 08:01 PM ET (Updates with more quotes) By Ibon Villelabeitia

BOGOTA, Colombia, March 3 (Reuters) - Colombia is on track to meet its IMF targets and achieve growth of 2 percent in 2003, but a possible U.S. war in Iraq and fallout from Venezuela's crisis could threaten well-laid financial plans, the government's economic team said on Monday.

In an interview with Reuters -- the first with foreign media -- Finance Minister Roberto Junguito and two of his top aides said external shocks could derail efforts by Latin America's fifth-largest economy to hold back spending, narrow a budget deficit and boost investments.

"We have to guarantee conditions for a stable exchange rate, stable interest rates, a sustainable fiscal situation, but positive results depend on several factors, including the international climate. How fast the economy grows depends a lot on investors," Deputy Finance Minister Juan Ricardo Ortega said.

"If the U.S. economy slips and the Venezuelan economy slips, you are not going to grow and 2 percent growth is an optimistic figure," Ortega said.

The government is forecasting growth in gross domestic product of 2.0 percent in 2003, compared with 1.6 percent growth in 2002.

President Alvaro Uribe, who took office in August, has pushed key austerity reforms to taxation, pension and labor laws through Congress aimed at reducing the country's budget deficit and boosting investment to fight a four-decade guerrilla war and the poverty that feeds it.

DEBT ANXIETY EASING

Colombia is saddled with public debt accounting for 60 percent of the country's gross domestic product -- up from just 30 percent in 1996. But Uribe's austerity agenda, coupled with pledges to crack down on violence, have eased investor anxiety.

The government says Colombia's consolidated budget deficit should fall to 2.4 percent of GDP in 2003, compared with 4.0 percent in 2002. These figures have been set as targets under a $2.1 billion loan agreement Colombia signed with the International Monetary Fund in January.

After receiving good marks from Wall Street, the government has won almost $10 billion in loans from multilateral lenders including the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the Andean Development Corp.

"This is proof we are doing our homework and that we are transmitting a sense of calm to the markets to the effect that the public debt is sustainable," Junguito said.

But Junguito said Colombia's economic performance is largely tied to that of the United States.

"For us the most important thing is that the United States has good growth. We don't do well if the United States does not have adequate growth. The reason we are not exaggerating our 2003 economic forecast is because it is coherent with a sluggish world economy and we are choosing to be extraordinarily conservative."

Andres Felipe Arias, director of macroeconomic policies, forecast that Colombia will lose $800 million in exports in 2002 and 2003 due to a political crisis in neighboring Venezuela, which is Colombia's No. 2 trading partner.

MORE SECURITY

Apart from easing the country's debt burden, Colombia is trying to improve security to lure foreign investment. The war claims the lives of thousands of people every year and spooks investors. Uribe, elected on pledges to crack down on leftist rebels, wants to boost military spending by $1 billion.

"There's a link between security, a fall in country risk and investment," Junguito said. "The issue of credibility has two fronts. Security and economic measures to stabilize debt create the confidence to attract foreign and domestic investment."

Colombian debt, classified as "junk", has gained in value under Uribe. Sovereign bonds rose 6 percent in December, according to the J.P. Morgan Emerging Market Bond Index Plus.

Uribe plans to hold a referendum by May in which he hopes voters will approve a freeze on public spending for two years and cut higher-than-average state pensions.

Junguito, who says a yes vote would save the government 0.7 percent of GDP in 2003, said he hoped Colombia returns to investment grade rating by international agencies by the end of Uribe's four-year term in 2006.

"I don't like to make projections but that is what we are hoping for," Junguito said.

www.vanguardngr.com By Hector Igbikiowubo with agency report Monday, March 03, 2003

OIL  prices soared, sky-rocketing up to almost $40 per barrel in New York for the first time since the 1990-91 Gulf war as anxieties grew about a looming war in Iraq and depleted US oil stock levels. Nigeria has also indicated its willingness to supply more crude oil should the need arise, with  industry operators saying that it can conveniently feed the market with three million barrels per day.

At weekend the price of benchmark Brent, North Sea crude oil for April delivery stood at 33.10 dollars a barrel from 32.28 dollars a week earlier.

In New York, April-dated light sweet crude futures traded at 37.20 dollars from 35.45 dollars the previous week..

Traders chased prices higher on fears that a war in Iraq could be just around the corner, threatening disruption to Middle East supplies while US oil stocks are close to a 27-year low.

“A potentially supply-disruptive war may begin at any moment,” said Mike Fitzpatrick, oil trader at Fimat USA in New York.

Traders were fretting about the possible loss of Iraq oil while stocks of US crude oil and heating fuels are already reaching alarmingly low levels, analysts said.

“Crude-oil inventories remain about as low as they possibly can be in the States and then you throw in on top of that the geopolitical concerns and you’ve got the recipe for crude moving up towards 40 dollars,” said JP Morgan analyst Paul Horsnell.

“In terms of the key oil products, we’re just running out,” he added.

Analysts said that the decision taken last month by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to pump more oil to compensate for a strike in Venezuela had come too late to quell a price spike.

And the market took little comfort from Saddam Hussein’s pledge not to torch his country’s oilfields if attacked, or Saudi Arabia’s insistence that it could pump an extra 2.5 million barrels of crude oil a day if a Gulf war interrupted Iraq’s exports.

Nigerian oil industry operators have also given indication of their willingness to supply more crude oil to the international market to augment whatever short fall that may arise from supply glitches resulting from a possible US-led attack on Iraq.

Energy This Week gathered that although the Federal Government had late last year put the nation’s crude oil producibility at between 2.7 and 2.8 million barrels per day, presently, the nation has achieved a producibility level of 3 million barrels per day.

The operators pointed out that Shell’s EA field has since come on stream, adding about 150,000 barrels per day to the nation’s output, while Mobil’s Yoho also came on stream recently, adding 90,000 barrels per day to the nation’s output.   

www.channelnewsasia.com First created: 04 March 2003 0714 hrs (SST) 2314 hrs (GMT) Last modified: 04 March 2003 1743 hrs (SST) 0943 hrs (GMT)

But dealers said they expected the currency to remain in well-established ranges absent of any major developments in Iraq.

The Institute for Supply Management said its February index slipped to 50.5 in February from 53.9 a month earlier, below expectations of a dip to 52.4.

Analysts say manufacturing is still growing, but it is a real wait-and-see situation.

There is a lot of geopolitical risk, not just in Iraq, but with oil prices up from the strike in Venezuela and North Korea not helping matters.

The single European currency rose to US$1.0890 at 2200 GMT from US$1.0804 late on Friday in New York.

The dollar also eased against the Japanese currency, but dealers were reluctant to sell the dollar aggressively on fears that Japan may intervene to weaken the yen.

The dollar stood at 117.855 yen from 118.11 on Friday.