<a href=www.timesdaily.com>By TIM KORTE AP Sports Writer March 29. 2003 6:38PM

Venezuela's Luis Vera (8) kicks the ball away from DaMarcus Beasley of the U.S. team in the first half of a friendly match at Seahawks Stadium on Saturday, March 29, 2003, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Jim Bryant)

Jovan Kirovski and Landon Donovan scored, and Kasey Keller delivered a shutout during a homecoming to Washington as the United States beat Venezuela 2-0 Saturday in an exhibition game. Keller, from nearby Olympia, made only two saves but didn't need to be spectacular as he improved to 14-0-4 in his last 18 home games for the national team. He was among six Americans seeing their first international action since the 1-0 quarterfinal loss to Germany at last year's World Cup. It was even an longer break for Kirovski, who hadn't played since a 4-2 loss at Germany last March. And the layoff showed during a listless first half for both sides, with many U.S. centering passes too high or off the mark. The United States (3-1 this year) went ahead in the 52nd minute when Kirovski knocked the ball into the left side of the goal after a flurry when the defense disappeared. Brian McBride sent a shot off a post and the rebound went to Carlos Bocanegra, whose shot went off the crossbar and went to Kirovski. It was the first goal against the improving Venezuelans in four games since a 2-0 loss to Morocco on March 3, 2002. Donovan, who replaced Kirovski in the 60th minute, put the Americans ahead 2-0 in the 76th minute with a spectacular goal. He took a pass from John O'Brien and sprinted up the left side, beating two defenders and drawing out goalkeeper Gilberto Angelucci. With McBride open in front of the net, Donovan slotted the ball with his right foot and it went in just inside the far post for his eighth goal in 33 international appearances. With European leagues off and Major League Soccer not starting until April 5, the U.S. team had many of its top players, fielding a lineup that Keller, McBride, O'Brien Frankie Hejduk, Eddie Pope and Earnie Stewart. The Venezuelan, who put up a strong defense throughout the first half, were a late replacement for Japan, which canceled their U.S. trip after the outbreak of war in Iraq. Notes:@ Keller, the backup to Brad Friedel at last year's World Cup, got his 29th shutout in 61 appearances, three shutouts short of Tony Meola's record. It was Keller's first game since last May 19, when he played the second half against the Netherlands in the last pre-World Cup exhibition game for the U.S. team. ... The Americans' next game is against Mexico on May 8 at Houston.

Read it March 29, 2003

SEATTLE -- Jovan Kirovski and Landon Donovan scored and Kasey Keller delivered a shutout during a homecoming to Washington as the United States beat Venezuela 2-0 on Saturday in an exhibition game.

Keller, from nearby Olympia, made only two saves but didn't need to be spectacular as he improved to 14-0-4 in his last 18 home games for the national team. He was among six Americans seeing their first international action since the 1-0 quarterfinal loss to Germany at last year's World Cup.

It was even an longer break for Kirovski, who hadn't played since a 4-2 loss at Germany last March. And the layoff showed during a listless first half for both sides, with many U.S. centering passes too high or off the mark.

The United States (3-1 this year) went ahead in the 52nd minute when Kirovski knocked the ball into the left side of the goal after a flurry when the defense disappeared.

Brian McBride sent a shot off a post and the rebound went to Carlos Bocanegra, whose shot went off the crossbar and went to Kirovski. It was the first goal against the improving Venezuelans in four games since a 2-0 loss to Morocco on March 3, 2002.

Donovan, who replaced Kirovski in the 60th minute, put the Americans ahead 2-0 in the 76th minute with a spectacular goal. He took a pass from John O'Brien and sprinted up the left side, beating two defenders and drawing out goalkeeper Gilberto Angelucci.

With McBride open in front of the net, Donovan slotted the ball with his right foot and it went in just inside the far post for his eighth goal in 33 international appearances.

With European leagues off and Major League Soccer not starting until April 5, the U.S. team had many of its top players, fielding a lineup that Keller, McBride, O'Brien Frankie Hejduk, Eddie Pope and Earnie Stewart.

The Venezuelan, who put up a strong defense throughout the first half, were a late replacement for Japan, which canceled their U.S. trip after the outbreak of war in Iraq.

Notes: Keller, the backup to Brad Friedel at last year's World Cup, got his 29th shutout in 61 appearances, three shutouts short of Tony Meola's record. It was Keller's first game since last May 19, when he played the second half against the Netherlands in the last pre-World Cup exhibition game for the U.S. team. ... The Americans' next game is against Mexico on May 8 at Houston.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

<a href=www.ctv.ca>Canadian Press

CALGARY — The United States slurps up more oil and natural gas from Canada than any other country on Earth.

And with war raging in the Middle East, civil uprisings in other oil-producing countries and a recent decision not to drill in a sensitive U.S. Arctic wildlife refuge in Alaska, even greater demand for Canadian energy is expected.

The daily flow of Canadian oil to the U.S. has increased dramatically in recent years to almost double the quantity a decade ago.

Canada is second only to Saudi Arabia as a source of imported oil in America, which in January bought 1.8 million barrels per day from the Saudis and 1.6 million barrels per day from Canada.

When imports of natural gas are included, the importance of Canada as an energy source for the United States becomes even greater. Canada supplied about 94 per cent of American gas imports last year.

Yet with all the volatility in global energy markets, talk of future U.S. energy supplies rarely focus on Canada.

"I don't think Canadian oil production comes first of mind to Americans when they think of where their gas, diesel and jet product comes from," said Rick George, president of oilsands giant Suncor Energy.

But recent U.S. media attention to the massive energy reserves in the northern Alberta oilsands -- and the synthetic crude created from its bitumen -- suggests awareness is quickly growing, he said.

"My belief is it will be positive," said George.

For the first time, a recent report by the Oil and Gas Journal on global oil reserves included 177 billion barrels of reserves from the oilsands -- a number that dwarfs estimated reserves of Canadian conventional oil.

Greg Stringham, a vice-president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, says political stability is also a key ingredient for energy trade between the U.S. and Canada.

Despite a recent disagreement between the Bush administration and the Chretien government over the handling of the Iraqi crisis, the energy-trading business has been very open and free, Stringham said.

"They're a good market, we're a good supplier. (The United States) is close and it's connected by pipeline. So all of those things add to our attractiveness as a potential producer," Stringham said.

Meanwhile, recent political problems have made several of the world's other large energy producers less-than attractive as an energy source for the United States.

Vince Lauerman, a global energy strategist with the Canadian Energy Research Institute, says a "relatively long and brutal war" in Iraq would greatly enhance demand for Canadian energy.

"The worse the war goes, and the more the Middle East boils, the higher energy security becomes as an important issue to Washington," Lauerman said.

"And with that comes benefits to Canada."

But the Middle East is not the only trouble spot for global oil production.

About 40 per cent, or 800,000 barrels per day, of Nigeria's oil production was cut off this week as major energy companies evacuated staff amid tribal fighting that has killed at least 100 people in the African country in the past two weeks.

And Venezuela is still struggling to recover from a two-month strike that failed to oust President Hugo Chavez and paralysed the South American country's lifeblood oil industry, costing about $9 billion.

Venezuela is still only producing about two-thirds of its three million barrels per day total it had before the strike and the situation remains volatile as Chavez continues to seek revenge on strike leaders.

Still, geopolitical turmoil does not necessarily mean greater demand for Canadian oil, said one U.S. energy company spokesman who asked not to be identified "There's lots of sources out there and a well-developed oil infrastructure all over the world."

But a recent political decision in Washington -- overshadowed by Iraqi war coverage -- has the potential to increase U.S. demand for Canadian energy in future.

Last week, the U.S. Senate narrowly rejected a budget provision that would have allowed oil drilling in the 77,000-square kilometre Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

Development of the refuge had been a key part of President George Bush's energy plan -- despite opposition from environmentalists who fear that drilling would jeopardize the delicate ecosystem and its wildlife.

Stringham said he doesn't believe attempts to drill in the wildlife refuge will go away. "The administration down there has been quite adamant in trying to put it forward and I'm not sure if they're ready to just drop it at this point in time."

Canada has long lobbied for a U.S. ban on drilling in the wildlife refuge and has taken a more prominent role recently in promoting Canadian energy to its larger neighbour to the south.

Some Canadian oil executives, however, say further lobbying efforts are not needed to increase U.S. demand for energy.

"I think what we've got to show is steady supply, good quality product and reliable outcomes," said Suncor's George. "And then the market will come."

By Associated Press, 3/29/2003 20:00

Demonstrations around the world Saturday related to the war in Iraq:

More than 100,000 people protested in cities across Germany, including 30,000 people who held hands in a 31-mile chain between two northwestern cities.

Hundreds of women covered in black robes protested in San'a, Yemen. Some carried placards declaring ''the United States and Britain are the axis of evil.''

In the United States, 8,000 to 12,000 war supporters gathered on the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol. Thousands also marched to support the military in Miami and on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and a few hundred people rallied for U.S. troops in San Francisco.

About 15,000 anti-war protesters lay down in Boston streets to protest the war. Hundreds also rallied in Los Angeles, New York City, Paterson, N.J., and Boulder, Colo.

About 3,000 protested in Santiago, Chile, and 100 demonstrated in Caracas, Venezuela. One Caracas protester said of the U.S.-led coalition: ''Those wretched gringos decided to leapfrog the U.N.'s authority.''

Marchers in Rome hung black mourning banners from the city's bridges. At Vicenza in northeastern Italy, demonstrators threw red paint and flares at the walls of a U.S. military base where hundreds of paratroopers now in northern Iraq had been based.

15,000 turned out in Athens, Greece. Some protesters spattered paint on the road outside the U.S. Embassy and on the windows of a McDonald's restaurant.

Protests in Paris attracted about 10,000 people but turned violent when 20 youths mobbed a couple angry with demonstrators who carried pictures of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The two were bruised and treated at the scene.

Sat March 29, 2003 03:59 PM ET <a href=asia.reuters.com>By Greg Frost

BOSTON (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Boston to protest the war in Iraq, the latest in a wave of peace demonstrations that circled the globe on Saturday.

In what officials and historians said was the biggest protest in Boston in at least 30 years, thousands chanted "This is what democracy looks like" as they paraded through the elegant streets of America's education capital.

The diverse crowd included not just students and faculty from New England college campuses but families and retired people -- many of whom said the U.S.-led war had triggered a political awakening in their souls.

"This war spoke to me as being wrong, unjust, immoral and certainly not what American values are all about," said Susan Hughes, a former member of President Bush's Republican Party who lives in Groton, Massachusetts.

"Bush started this war to depose a dictator, but now we have an administration that is acting like the dictatorship we are trying to take out," the 46-year-old said as she prepared to march through Boston.

In New York, a few hundred protesters, primarily pro-Palestinian and also opposed to the Iraq war, marched down Broadway from Times Square to Union Square in downtown Manhattan. Demonstrators waved large Palestinian flags and chanted for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian areas and against the war.

Last week, an estimated 150,000 to 250,000 people protesting the war marched along same route.

Earlier, tens of thousands rallied in France, Italy, Germany, and in the cities of Moscow and Budapest, to call for an end to the U.S.-led invasion launched to rid Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Demonstrations in Europe followed similar anti-war protests in Asia and Africa, home to some of the world's biggest Muslim populations. Malaysian police used tear gas to break up an unauthorized protest, while authorities in Bangladesh rolled out barbed wire to keep marchers from the U.S. embassy.

More than 10,000 people marched on the U.S. consulate in Cape Town, South Africa.

In a rare move, Chinese police allowed 100 demonstrators to rally in a walled park in eastern Beijing on Sunday.

BRIDGES DRAPED IN BLACK

In Rome, small groups of protesters hung black sheets from the sides of 16 bridges spanning the River Tiber, some of them crossed by invaders and victors in past centuries.

In a symbolic gesture, around 30,000 people in Germany formed a human chain between the northern cities of Munster and Osnabrueck, a 35-mile route taken in 1648 by negotiators who ended Europe's Thirty Years War.

Police said more than 23,000 people took part in two separate marches in the German capital, culminating at the country's "Victory Column" in the Tiergarten park. A giant globe-shaped map of the world emblazoned with the slogan "No War" marked out the destination.

Police arrested 25 people who tried to block a highway leading to the U.S. Rhein Main air base in Frankfurt during a protest by more than 1,000 people. Some 4,000 others formed a chain around the U.S. European Command headquarters in Stuttgart.

Hundreds of protesters, some carrying Iraqi flags and posters of Saddam Hussein, gathered in Caracas, Venezuela, and chanted slogans against President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"This is an illegal war, it has no justification," said 18-year-old Muslem Fuad, a Venezuelan student of Syrian origin.

Bangladeshi protesters, mostly from the radical Islamic Constitution Movement, burned American flags and effigies of Bush.

Demonstrators called for Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be tried as war criminals.

In Melbourne, protesters ripped up an American flag and accused Australian Prime Minister John Howard of betraying the rule of law by backing the war, local media reported.

Hundreds of Russian protesters gathered in front of the U.S. embassy in Moscow, waving red banners and calling on the Kremlin to form an international coalition to oppose the U.S.-led strikes and to help Iraq.

Thousands marched through Paris in the city's fifth protest since the war began, but organizers this time stepped up efforts to avert anti-Semitic violence after two Jewish youths were beaten up at a similar march last week.