URL By Jim Cour Associated Press

PEORIA, Ariz. - Seattle Mariners shortstop Carlos Guillen may never put up the gaudy offensive numbers of the top players at the position, Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada, Nomar Garciaparra or Derek Jeter.

But Guillen, 27, is doing exactly what the Mariners want from him - playing solid defense.

"He's got better range than I thought he had and he has very, very good hands," rookie Mariners manager Bob Melvin said Monday.

Third-base coach Dave Myers, who works with the Mariners' infielders, points out that Guillen fits perfectly into the team's philosophy of pitching and defense first. Guillen and second baseman Bret Boone form a top double-play combination.

"Until he hits 50 homers, he probably won't be mentioned in the same breath with the other guys," Myers said. "But we're not asking him to do something that he's not capable of."

Acquired in a trade for Randy Johnson with the Houston Astros along with pitchers Freddy Garcia and John Halama in July 1998, Guillen has had to follow in the gigantic shoes of Rodriguez in Seattle.

After Rodriguez left the Mariners as a free agent and signed baseball's record $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers following the 2000 season, Guillen became the Mariners' starting shortstop.

In January, the Mariners gave Guillen a $2.5 million, one-year contract. On April 1 in Oakland, he is scheduled to be Seattle's opening night shortstop for the third season in a row.

"I feel like this year is going to be my year," Guillen said. "I've got more experience, I'm healthy and I'm more comfortable with myself. I know more about the pitchers in the league and the way they pitch."

Staying healthy has been a problem for Guillen, who has suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and pulled his left hamstring since joining the Mariners.

At the end of the 2001 season, when the Mariners tied the major league record with 116 victories and reached the AL championship series, he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. He got into one game of the AL division series and had eight at bats in the ALCS.

Last season, Guillen posted career highs in nearly all offensive categories: batting average (.261), hits (124), home runs (nine), RBI (56) and runs scored (73). But he played in only 134 of Seattle's 162 games, missing games with a strained left ring finger, bruised hand and a strained left thigh muscle.

"I would like to be healthy and play every day," Guillen said. "I think that would be a good season."

Rodriguez, the ex-Mariners All-Star shortstop, led baseball with 57 homers and 142 RBI last season, while Tejada had 34 homers.

A switch-hitter, Guillen acknowledges he will never have those kinds of power numbers because he's more of a line-drive, hit-it-to-all-fields-type hitter. But he would like to be considered in the same class with Rodriguez, Tejada, Jeter and Garciaparra some day.

"I would like to be part of this group," Guillen said. "I feel I can do it. I don't talk too much. I just do my job on the field. But I feel like someday I can be with those guys."

Defensively, Guillen already is, the Mariners believe.

"I think he's on an equal par," Myers said. "I think you throw Carlos in with those four guys and he's very comparable with them. He's having an excellent spring defensively. He's moved laterally very well. He's thrown extremely accurately and he's taken charge in the infield."

Melvin, former bench coach of the Arizona Diamondbacks, didn't know much about Guillen until this spring. He underestimated the quiet infielder from Aragua, Venezuela.

"I wasn't really sure if he was a true shortstop, but he definitely is," Melvin said. "He impresses me defensively."

Guillen agreed to an interview in the Mariners' locker room Monday on the condition that the questions did not include anything about his being arrested by police in Clyde Hill, a suburb of Seattle, last year.

He was stopped by police for driving 89 mph in a zone with a 60 mph limit and then had a .093 percent reading on a portable breath test. The legal intoxication threshold in Washington state is .08.

Guillen pleaded guilty to negligent driving after prosecutors agreed to drop a drunken driving charge against him. He was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela Electronic News Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

According to Executive Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, the government is now ready to sign an agreement to hold a revocatory referendum which could be held as soon as August, mid  way through President Hugo Chavez Frias' presidential term, as set out in the current Constitution.

However, Rangel insists that should the President lose the referendum then he would have the right to defend himself by standing in the general elections that would follow.

Although Rangel says the government has not actually agreed to sign such an agreement "there are no obstacles preventing it." As for the date of the possible vote, the Vice President says that this wouldn't be included in the agreement.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela Electronic News Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

The Venezuelan government has agreed to grant safe conduct for Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV) president Carlos Ortega who is now free to head for Costa Rica, who have granted his application for exile.

Although it is not yet clear when Ortega will leave the country, it will be a boost for President Hugo Chavez Frias and his government as the CTV chief was one of the key leaders of the two month long opposition work stoppage which brought the Venezuelan economy to its knees.

Ortega went into hiding shortly after Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Fedecamaras) president Carlos Fernandez was arrested on charges of treason, as a similar warrant was issued for his arrest.

Fernandez has since been ordered released from house arrest, but the government is in the process of issuing fresh charges against Ortega's fellow strike leader.

<a href=www.pottstownmercury.com>Read URL Margaret Fitzcharles, mfitzcharles@pottsmerc.com March 27, 2003

With a long, cold winter, a strike in Venezuela and now, the war in Iraq, area motorists watched as gasoline prices climbed to all-time highs in the tri-county area. They grumbled when they stopped to fill their tanks and paid $1.65 or more for a gallon of regular gas. Now, prices are on the decline, with several area stations charging around $1.55 for a gallon of regular. But will it last? In Chester County, Ken Miller of the Coventry Hess Mart said gasoline prices at his station went from $1.39 or so in late fall to $1.65 a gallon. Miller said prices have fluctuated so often recently that he wasn’t sure of this year’s low price. He said he believes it was $1.39 a gallon. "Right now, we’re kind of staying the same," Miller said. He was reluctant to speculate, however, on whether gasoline prices in the area might drop even more. "We watch the futures on a day-to-day basis, but if I knew what was going to happen, I’d be rich," Miller joked. The story is the same at most service stations. Tom Munir of Pottstown Sunoco on Charlotte Street said Wednesday that his prices are also down since they spiked at $1.66 a gallon, compared with the $1.35 charged for a gallon of regular late last fall. "First it went way up there, but the price didn’t go up on the market," Munir said. Munir believes the harsh winter and talk of war had oil companies expecting a shortage ahead, which caused the price increases. "Now our prices are actually going down," he said. "Things are more stable." Munir, whose station was charging $1.54 for a gallon of regular Wednesday, said he believes the price of gasoline will continue to fall. Matt Brown of the Turkey Hill on East Philadelphia Avenue in Boyertown said gasoline prices, at $1.56 for a gallon of regular Wednesday, are on the way down in Berks County, too. The Boyertown Turkey Hill’s price peaked at $1.65, said Brown, who was reluctant to speculate on future prices. "Personally, I think it’s going to depend on whatever happens with the war," Brown said.

<a href=www.mirror.co.uk>URL By Patrick Mulchrone Mar 27 2003

Tony and Linda were lured into buying a dream villa in Spain.. they were kidnapped, robbed, killed and buried under the floor of the house

THE missing British house-hunters found dead in Spain were murdered by property fraudsters, it was revealed yesterday.

Tony O'Malley, 42, and wife Linda, 55, were shown around a chalet as potential buyers by conmen who didn't own it.

Linda was held hostage as Tony was driven to a bank to empty their account of £18,000 savings.

The couple were kept prisoner for up to 15 days and then killed, probably shot.

They were buried beneath concrete in the cellar of the villa at Alcoy, north of Alicante on the Costa Blanca - the home they hoped would soon be theirs.

The O'Malleys, from Llangollen, Denbighshire, vanished last September on a trip to try to buy a retirement home.

They had dreamed of moving to Spain and relatives said the Costa Blanca was "their favourite place in the world".

Last night Tony's builder brother Bernard, talking after six months of agonising uncertainty over their fate, said: "We are all deeply upset. We had been hoping against hope that they might be alive."

Two men, originally from Venezuela, were being quizzed by police in Benidorm.

It is thought that car dealer Tony and store manager Linda, a mother-of-two, were lured to their deaths by an ad in an English language newspaper.

The suspects, who have lived in Spain since 1974, claimed to own the chalet, when in fact they had rented it for the summer.

It is in a residential part of Alcoy, described as "peaceful and very discreet".

Detectives think the O'Malleys were held hostage for between five and 15 days.

Alejandro Abellan - police chief in Valencia, 80 miles north of Alcoy - said: "The original motive for luring Mr and Mrs O'Malley into the trap was robbery.

"After that, for reasons we are still investigating, they moved on to kidnap and then murder.

"We don't know at the moment whether they are responsible for other equally horrific crimes. But it is entirely possible this is not the first fraud they have committed."

Local police, working with officers in Wales, struck lucky after discovering the couple's rented Fiat Stylo at El Saler, six miles south of Valencia.

The number plate had been changed, but they tailed the driver back to a nearby apartment before arresting him and his accomplice earlier this week.

They found a string of documents linking them to the O'Malleys, including passports, bank cards and two replica pistols.

At a news conference yesterday, police showed a video of one of the handcuffed suspects leading them to the cellar where the bodies were found.

The man and his brother-in-law had rented the chalet with their wives and three children.

Officers used pneumatic drills and spades to dig through concrete to a two by four metre hole where the bodies of the O'Malleys lay. Police chief Abellan said: "If we hadn't been led to the spot, we would never have found them."

Town hall spokesman Juan Cotino Ferrer described it as an horrific crime. "Not only do they kill them, but before they kill them they keep them hostage with extortion in mind," he said.

Police believe the suspects - named only as Jorge R.S, 53, and Jose Antonio U.G, 38 - also used the O'Malleys' cash cards to buy a digital camera, a tape recorder, an infra-red alarm and clothes.

The cards were cancelled on September 19.

The pair are behind bars pending a court appearance and their wives have been released on bail. The women are looking after their three children at a secret location.

Yesterday Det Sgt Steve Lloyd, of North Wales Police, said: "We are pleased the families have got some sort of closure, although it's obviously not the outcome we would have hoped for.

"We have no evidence to suggest the suspects have robbed or indeed murdered other Britons. But that is something the Spanish police will be looking into."

Forensic tests were being conducted on the bodies but it is believed the couple were shot.

Mr O'Malley's brother Bernard, 54, of Widnes, said: "It's been sheer hell waiting to hear what had happened to them. It is horrible to think about how they were killed." He added: "For a long time they had been talking about and planning a move to Spain.

"They were always looking in estate agents' windows when they went out there.

"They had their hearts set on a nice villa, away from the hustle and bustle of tourist resorts. They wanted to get in touch with the real Spain in a rural village where they could settle down and enjoy a long retirement."

Liz Stewardson, Linda's store spokeswoman in Ellesmere Port, said: "Our staff are shocked and amazed. Linda was an excellent and hard-working character."