Canadian Press

Ottawa — Businesses will be outraged to learn that Canada Post has quietly slapped a new fuel surtax on the delivery price of parcels and courier packages, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

The 2.25 per cent surcharge was introduced by Canada Post on a range of parcel and courier delivery services last week to cover high fuel costs.

But the fact the Crown corporation so quietly introduced the new charge is bound to anger operators of small- and mid-sized business, who are already facing too many rising costs, said Garth Whyte of the federation.

"This is a stealth tax, really," he said. "They're slipping it in."

He estimates the new charge will net Canada Post about $25-million, based on an annual business of $1-billion.

"They should have announced this publicly ...they've given us no advance notice," said Whyte, whose group represents almost 200,000 businesses.

"This is just an excuse to get more money."

The new charge, which took effect without fanfare April 7, adds about 22.5 cents on a $10 delivery cost for a regular or expedited parcel, Xpresspost, or Priority Courier package.

Canada Post said notice of the surtax is highlighted on the company's Web site and notices have been put up in some post offices.

It also said that while other courier companies have had a fuel surcharge for some time, it delayed adding the surtax as long as possible and only buckled under the pressure of rising expenses to run its fleet of delivery trucks.

"The continued escalation of fuel prices has significantly raised the costs of transportation and that's a big part of our business, obviously," said Canada Post spokesman John Caines.

"All of our product goes on highway service or on planes."

The war against Iraq, political troubles in Venezuela and other global problems have all driven up the price of oil in recent months, at times well over $30 (U.S.) a barrel.

It's hoped that with some of those worldwide tensions easing, fuel prices will begin to moderate.

If fuel costs drop dramatically in future, the company many unwind some of the costs, which will be reviewed every two months, said Mr. Caines.

But Mr. Whyte wasn't buying the fuel price argument.

"Sure, their costs have gone up, but so has everyone else's," he said.

Mr. Caines said the new charge won't affect the price of stamps for regular mail because changes to regular postage costs are linked to inflation.

But Mr. Whyte said he suspects the new surcharge on courier and parcel delivery services may be used to offset other postage costs.

<a href=www.falkland-malvinas.com>MercoPress News Agency Mercosur Falklands-Malvinas Friday, 18 April

The Venezuelan Government and opposition reached an agreement for the Calling of a revocatory referendum sometime after August 19 when President Hugo Chávez will have completed half of his six year term, announced Mr. Fernando Jaramillo head of the Organization of American States, OAS, delegation that is mediating in the extended civil and political conflict.

United States praised the agreement and said it was confident that Venezuela, --one of its main oil suppliers--, would soon overcome the political crisis going to the polls.

The agreement opens the way for a “voting” solution to the almost chaotic situation that Venezuela is confronting for over a year following the frustrated coup attempt (April11/02) that triggered street fighting with 19 dead and over 300 wounded when pro-government mobs opened fire on an opposition protest march.

However even when the OAS delegate was announcing the terms of agreement, President Chavez in a press conference with foreign correspondents in Government House was saying he wanted a “true dialogue with authentic political leaders”.

“Let’s hope these negotiations advance, because they actually didn’t start well. Those sitting at the table are representatives of coup sponsors and not political figures of relevance”, said Mr. Chavez.

The Venezuelan president was also critical of the “Friends of Venezuela” group that was created at the beginning of the year to support OAS mediation efforts. The group is formed by United States, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Chile and Portugal.

“I’d say the group has failed, but at least they’ve tried and now they know which is Venezuela’s president”, stressed Mr. Chavez who is accused by the opposition of promoting class division and attempting to impose a Cuban style regime.

The August referendum solution is the second agreement reached between government and opposition delegates. At the beginning of the year both sides signed a document condemning violence and favoring peace.

Mr. Jaramillo said both sides are committed to the participation in the revocatory referendum next August.

However according to the Venezuelan constitution a mid term referendum on the Executive can only take place if 20% of the Electoral roll agrees and supports the initiative. That is 2,5 million of the 11 million Venezuelan voters.

Both sides also agreed to the naming of an “impartial” National Electoral Council as soon as possible to guarantee the transparency of the whole signatures collection effort and the August voting. Ruling legislators that have majority in Congress anticipated they would not impede the process.

The opposition is confident about reaching the required number of signatures since last February it managed to collect “four million signatures”.

Overall the agreement is a victory for Mr. Chavez and his followers who all the time argued that no referendum could be convened until after the president’s mid term. The opposition had unsuccessfully insisted that elections had to be held before August 2003.

Venezuela’s major business organizations and trade unions organized a strike that extended from last December to February in an attempt to force president Chavez resignation and new elections. They failed but the economy suffered greatly with the stoppage of oil production, (the country’s main source of income), and Venezuela was left in the verge of defaulting.

MERCOPRESS is a news agency concentrating in Mercosur countries which operates from Montevideo, Uruguay, and includes in its area of influence the South Atlantic and insular territories.

E-mail: merco@mercopress.com - Web technical help: webmaster@mercopress.com

<a href=www.falkland-malvinas.com>Mercosur Friday, 18 April

The Falklands former Governor, Donald Lamont, has been appointed Britain's Ambassador to Venezuela. He will take up his new position in July having undertaken 'pre-post training' at the Foreign & Commonwealth office in London. He takes over from Dr. John Hughes who is looking for a new position.

Ambassador D. Lamont Mr. Lamont completed his three years tour as Governor of the Falklands in November 2002, and until recently has been without a follow-up post. He was succeeded in the Falklands by the present Governor Mr. Howard Pearce, who during the 1970's, served in the British Embassy in Buenos Aires.

Mr. Lamont is a fairly fluent Spanish speaker, having prior to his Falklands

Reuters POSTED: 1:01 p.m. EDT April 17, 2003 UPDATED: 9:13 a.m. EDT April 18, 2003

GENEVA -- The United Nations top human rights body kept up the pressure on Cuba over its record on Thursday by urging the Communist state to accept a visit by a U.N. envoy to probe alleged abuses.

The resolution, presented by four Latin American countries, was approved by the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights by a vote of 24 in favor to 20 opposed, with nine abstentions.

But the decision came only after an amendment brought by Costa Rica to condemn the recent sentencing of dozens of dissidents to heavy jail terms and another draft presented by Cuba attacking the United States economic embargo were defeated.

The Caribbean Marxist state, which sees the vote as interference in its domestic affairs, lashed out at the four Latin American states -- Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Uruguay -- calling them "disgusting lackeys" who had bowed to "shameful" pressure from the United States.

Seven of the 11 Latin American countries on the commission voted in the favor of the resolution, including Mexico and Paraguay. Argentina and Brazil abstained, while Venezuela and Cuba voted against.

Cuba remains a politically-sensitive issue throughout much of Latin America and none of its representatives on the commission backed the toughly-worded Costa Rican motion.

The resolution approved by the 53-state body urged Cuba to respect a 2002 commission decision to send a special envoy to monitor its progress in respecting human rights.

Cuba has so far refused to allow the envoy, French magistrate Christine Chanet, to make a visit, saying that the United Nations should focus instead on the Guantanamo naval base, where the United States is holding an unknown number of suspected terrorists.

<a href=www.herald.co.zw>The Herald Online Last Updated: Friday, 18 April 2003 Herald Reporters

THE United Nations Human Rights Commission has rejected a European Union and United States-sponsored resolution to condemn Zimbabwe for alleged human rights abuses while the UN secretary-general Mr Kofi Annan said the world body was heartened by the continued leadership, commitment and support of the country.

Out of the 53-members of the commission, 28 countries — mostly from Africa and Asia — rallied around a South African proposal for a "no action" motion while 24, mostly EU members, voted against Zimbabwe.

In a congratulatory message to President Mugabe yesterday on the occasion of Zimbabwe’s 23rd independence anniversary today, Mr Annan said: "It is heartening to know that the United Nations can count on the continued leadership, commitment and support of Zimbabwe."

Mr Annan said there should be efforts in the world to fight against threats and forces seeking to divide humankind.

"There is no time to lose if we are to translate into reality the agenda of peace and development.

"From poverty to pollution, from Aids to armed conflict and terrorism, the international community must redouble its efforts if we are to bequeath to our children a world of choices, not constraints," he said.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cde Stan Mudenge, yesterday told journalists that attempts by the EU and the US for action to be taken against Zimbabwe failed because the majority members of the UN Human Rights Commission supported Zimbabwe.

"We are grateful to the 14 countries from Southern Africa and the rest of countries from Asia, including also such countries as Cuba, Venezuela and Russia," said Cde Mudenge.

He said the majority in the UN Human Rights Commission expressed solidarity with Zimbabwe despite pressure from the US and Britain to do otherwise.

Zimbabwe was last year elected into the influential 53-member UN human rights body, amid protests from some Western countries led by Britain.

The US last month stepped up its demonisation of President Mugabe and the Government and led a campaign to condemn Harare for what it called flagrant and ruinous human rights abuses.

The US State Department produced a glossy 16-page report entitled "Zimbabwe’s Man-made Crisis" documenting what it described as a litany of abuses committed by the country’s leadership since 1980.

The booklet was widely distributed at the annual meeting of the UN human Rights Commission.

The aim of the Americans was that the booklet would have a strong impact and "stir vigorous debate" against Zimbabwe.

It painted a gloomy picture of life in Zimbabwe, from alleged torture of members of the opposition to the land redistribution programme and food availability.

But all this failed to work as Algeria, Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Cuba, the DRC, Gabon, India, Kenya, Libya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Venezuela and Vietnam, all voted against the resolution.

The countries that voted for the resolution are Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, the US and Uruguay.

Last year, a British-sponsored resolution by the EU to call for an investigation into alleged human rights violations in Zimbabwe was thrown out before debate by a top UN human rights forum in Geneva.

Nigeria managed to rally support from 14 African, Asian and Middle East countries to thwart the British move.

On the Sadc Ministerial Task Force which is scheduled to come to Zimbabwe, Cde Mudenge insisted that the task force was coming at the request of the Government.

"It is at my request and not an inquisition by my brother (Angolan Foreign Affairs Minister) but an act of solidarity," said Cde Mudenge.

Cde Mudenge said he needed to meet with the Angolan Foreign Affairs Minister first before the Sadc Taskforce visits Zimbabwe.

He dismissed reports that the Government intended to thwart the Sadc ministers from undertaking independent assessments of the situation prevailing in the country, saying the ministers were free to come up with their own itinerary.

He said the Sadc ministers, through their ambassadors in the country, were well informed about the situation currently prevailing in Zimbabwe.