First created : 29 March 2003 1828 hrs (SST) 1028 hrs (GMT) Last modified : 29 March 2003 1828 hrs (SST) 1028 hrs (GMT) By Malcolm Scott

Acting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday spoke of the war in Iraq, saying the US-led forces will undoubtedly prevail, but he also highlighted the downside risks to Singapore's economy if the war is protracted.

Speaking at a business event, Mr Lee said, "Now the optimistic view of the future is that there will be a swift and decisive war in Iraq, oil prices will fall, things will return to normal, growth will pick up in the second half. But there are downside risks because this is not a certain scenario."Advertisement He added, "The war may drag on longer than expected; it may take months instead of weeks. Oil prices may not fall quickly even after the war."

He said, "Previously people were worried about Venezuela; now there are riots in Nigeria, so that's another factor that will keep oil prices up, and there are long-term issues facing the US and European economies...In America because of over capacity and balance of payments issues, in Europe because of structural problems.

"Therefore we think 2003 is likely to be a difficult year for the global economy and also for Singapore. We've forecast 2 to 5 percent as a broad range but we don't think we'll hit 5 percent, it's going to be somewhere in the lower range, and we expect full recovery only next year."

COREY BROCK; The News Tribune

A familiar face will be on the sidelines at Seahawks Stadium today when the United States faces Venezuela in a friendly soccer match.

Kasey Keller, a North Thurston High graduate, would much rather be tending goal for the U.S. team instead of taking in all the action.

Keller, a starting goalkeeper for Tottenham of the English Premier League, isn't sure how much or if he'll play at all in the match with Venezuela, a late replacement for Japan after the Japanese Football Association recently opted to skip the trip due to security concerns.

Keller, like many of his teammates, flew to the Northwest this week from points beyond to prepare for today's match. Keller flew Tuesday after Tottenham lost a 1-0 match to Bolton Monday.

Most of the team has been at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., since Monday, practicing for the match under the watchful eyes of coach Bruce Arena. Arena has the option of using Keller, Tony Meola or Brad Friedel, who helped the U.S. team to the quarterfinals of the World Cup last summer, in goal. But that's not the only position worth watching.

Forward Landon Donovan, who is regarded as one of soccer's top up-and-coming players, arrived in Seattle late Thursday after San Jose defeated CSD Municipal, 2-1, in the CONCACAF Champions Cup in San Jose on March 26. With a lineup brimming with talent, the U.S. team shouldn't have trouble with Venezuela. Or will they?

While Venezuela is not as strong as Japan, Arena is a little wary of the success Venezuela has had recently. Venezuela has gone 436 minutes without surrendering a goal, dating back to a 2-0 loss to Morocco on March 3. The team is unbeaten and unscored upon in its last four matches, including wins over Ecuador and Uruguay.

"Over the past two or three years, the Venezuelan national team has made great strides, and I think they're the most improved team in South America," Arena said in a statement. "We're certainly looking forward to the challenge."

Match organizers said earlier this week that 17,000 tickets had been sold for the match, though some of those might have been returned after Japan announced that it wasn't coming.

Still, organizers are expecting a crowd of 15,000 to 20,000. A match at Safeco Field in 2002 between the U.S. team and Honduras attracted a crowd of 38,534.

Corey Brock: 253-597-8483 corey.brock@mail.tribnet.com

USA vs. Venezuela

When - Today, 1 p.m. Seahawks Stadium

TV - ESPN2

Tickets - Range from $20 to $70 and are available at TicketMaster outlets and at Seahawks Stadium.

Previous meeting - Team USA and Venezuela played to a 3-3 tie in the Copa America in 1993.

Crowd - Organizers are hoping for a crowd of 15,000 to 20,000.

The skinny - The U.S. team originally was supposed to play Japan, but the Japanese Football Association decided last week not to make the trip, which included a match in San Diego on March 26, because of security concerns. Venezuela collected five victories in 2002 World Cup qualifying and is unbeaten and unscored upon in its past four matches. The U.S. team has been practicing at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., since Monday. Goalie Kasey Keller, who played at North Thurston High, is a goalkeeper for the U.S. team.

Corey Brock (Published 12:30AM, March 29th, 2003)

Posted on Sat, Mar. 29, 2003 DIANE SUCHETKA Staff Writer

CARY - Eight war protestors, including a UNC Chapel Hill professor, are awaiting trial in Raleigh for refusing to leave U.S. Sen. John Edwards presidential campaign headquarters last month.

A Siler City peace activist is serving six months in prison for splattering blood on doors to the Pentagon.

Hundreds of students have walked out of classes at UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University and thousands of protestors have gathered at the state Capitol in Raleigh.

Charlotte may have more residents than any other city in North Carolina, but the stronghold of North Carolina's peace movement is in the Triangle.

N.C. activists say their numbers have shot up since the United States began bombing Iraq. And they expect their movement to continue to grow whether the war ends quickly or not.

They'll talk about that growth, among other things, at a statewide strategy session in Charlotte today.

About 75 peace activists are expected in Charlotte for the 10 a.m. meeting, at Wedgewood Baptist Church. They'll break at noon to attend an anti-war rally at Independence Park, at East Seventh Street and Hawthorne Lane.

One reason Triangle peace activists feel certain their political action will continue even if the war doesn't is that people are joining the movement there for secondary reasons.

Men and women, many of them minorities, are speaking out against the war because they're worried about the erosion of civil rights they see in the Patriot Act, says Rañia Masri, a human-rights advocate who oversees peace research and education at the Institute for Southern Studies in Durham.

Among other things, the act allows the government to detain any foreigner the attorney general says is endangering national security.

Other activists are coming out because they're concerned about the billions of dollars in tax money the war could take away from social programs, education and health care.

"People are connecting this war with many other issues," says Masri, who serves on the national board of the grassroots group Peace Action. "And when we have a peace movement that's connecting all these issues, it's a peace movement that's not going to go away. We're going to continue to organize and continue to grow until these issues are resolved."

Those secondary issues are making the movement more diverse too, says Patrick O'Neill, one of the eight protestors arrested in Raleigh and co-founder of North Carolinians for Alternatives to War.

That diversity is evident in Charlotte's war protests, too. After-work gatherings at Marshall Park include Latinos, Asians and African Americans; children as young as 10 and adults in their 80s. Taken together, those working for peace, O'Neill says, represent a large cross-section of the American public. He points to religious leaders from many mainstream denominations who have made statements against a U.S. attack of Iraq. To the dozens of U.S. cities and counties that have passed resolutions opposing the war. And to the labor unions that have taken a stance against a U.S. attack of Iraq.

At the same time, public support for the war remains strong. At least seven in 10 back the effort now that U.S. troops are fighting in Iraq, according to a CBS News poll.

Back in the Triangle, 70-year-old Cary peace activist Bill Towe says interest has risen since the bombs began falling. Now, the coordinator of N.C. Peace Action, the state affiliate of the Washington-based group once known as SANE, is getting 100 to 150 e-mails a day, at least twice as many as before the war began.

He hears from people who are concerned about U.S. foreign policy in general; about America's involvement in Columbia, Israel, Korea, the Philippines, Venezuela. "When the Vietnam war ended, there was a decline in the peace movement," says Towe, a political activist for more than 40 years. "Now with all these issues it won't dissipate like it did in the past."

There are reasons the peace movement is stronger in the Raleigh area than in Charlotte.

Charlotte is a more-conservative banking town, with a smaller concentration of college students. It has less of a history of activism, fewer labor unions and political action groups, experts say

Charlotte also has what Tom Hanchett, staff historian at the Levine Museum of the New South, calls a culture of civility.

"Protesting anything is just not seen as civil in this part of the South," Hanchett says. "Here the civility tends to put a lid on any kind of protest."

Diane Suchetka: (704) 358-5073; suchetka@charlotteobserver.com.

<a href=www.zwire.com>Hillsboro Free Pres March 28, 2003

Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - The U.S. will hold its final training session of the week exactly 24 hours prior to hosting Venezuela in the first international soccer match at Seattle Seahawks Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Saturday, March 29, 2003 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific Soccer By Bob Condotta Seattle Times staff reporter MARK HARRISON / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Kasey Keller, the U.S. goalkeeper from Lacey, practices with the American team at Seahawks Stadium. Keller is the likely starter today against Venezuela.

In the 90 years that the United States has fielded a men's national soccer team, it has employed 34 head coaches, a track record that even George Steinbrenner might consider a bit extreme.

But as the U.S. team gets ready to begin another four-year cycle leading up to the 2006 World Cup in Germany with a match at 1 p.m. today against Venezuela at Seahawks Stadium, there is an uncommon sense of stability.

Today's game will be the first time that the bulk of the players who made up the U.S. team that advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup will hit the field together, a group that now knows just what can be accomplished when everything breaks right.

Most important, however, Coach Bruce Arena is back for another four-year cycle, which gives him the longest coaching tenure in American men's soccer history.

"Typically with the national team, coaches go year to year," Arena said after the team worked out yesterday at Seahawks Stadium. "But now they are in the fifth year with me so when we come to camp, we basically know each other, know what is expected, and for any new players, it is easy for them to get adjusted."

Arena won't say, however, that all that stability should lead to heightened expectations for the U.S. team, maintaining the stance he has taken from his first day as coach in 1998 that the team's goal is simply "to get into position to qualify for the next World Cup."

Today's game in soccer parlance is called an "international friendly." Japan was to have been the opponent but backed out last week due to concerns about travel and security. Venezuela, which the U.S. has played just once — a 3-3 tie in 1993 — was lined up as a late replacement. U.S. players admitted yesterday they knew little about Venezuela, which has never qualified for a World Cup.

"But it's just like any team," said forward Landon Donovan. "If you don't approach it the right way, they can beat you."

U.S. men's national soccer team vs. Venezuela When: Today,

1 p.m.

Where: Seahawks Stadium.

Tickets: $20-$70, are available at Ticketmaster outlets or at the stadium box office.

TV: ESPN 2 Today's 18-man U.S. roster features a number of young players — such as defenders Steve Cherundolo, Nick Garcia and Carlos Bocanegra — Arena will try to get on the field as much as possible.

"At this point in the four-year cycle, you want to look at a number of players," Arena said. "But you tend to lean in favor of younger players now because it's a good time to get them some ... experience."

The U.S. plays "friendlies" against Mexico and Wales in May before heading to France to play in the Confederations Cup in June. The U.S. returns to the United States for the Gold Cup in July.

Always foremost on everyone's mind, however, is the World Cup.

"If you think about it, we're not really going to have that many chances to be together, so every time we are together we have to take what we can from it because (World Cup) qualifying is sooner rather than later," said Donovan.

World Cup qualifying rounds have been expanded, starting sooner and lasting longer than ever. Qualifying will now call for the U.S. to play up to 20 games over three rounds instead of 16 games over two rounds. It will begin in either February or March 2004 rather than July.

Arena has said the new qualifying format won't be easier but should be fairer.

Donovan, one of the stars of the 2002 run, said he's noticed a different atmosphere in the team's workouts this week.

"There's a sense that since we succeeded somewhat in the World Cup there is not so much competition (among each other) and people being nasty," he said. "It's more that we are together, whatever 11 is on the field is together."

Notes

• Yesterday's workout was the first for the American team in Seahawks Stadium, which was fitted with freshly laid sod this week covering the artificial surface that the Seahawks play on. Cost of the sod was $100,000 and the turf will be donated to local schools next month.

"If it rains, it could be a little bit of a problem," Arena said. "But the field looks in excellent shape. They did a terrific job here."

• Arena wouldn't name his starters but indicated that the goalie likely will be Kasey Keller, a native of Lacey who is 13-0-4 in home games for the United States since 1998.Keller is one of six players from the 2002 World Cup who will be playing for the U.S. for the first time since the quarterfinal loss to Germany.

• Roughly 20,000 tickets have been sold for today's match but officials are hesitant to guess at attendance because of the pullout of the Japanese team. A game last year against Honduras at Safeco Field drew 38,534.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com