Channel News Asia Australian authorities have seized the passport of a former Qantas baggage handler suspected to have links with the al-Qaeda network.

Television programme Four Corners said on Monday a Sydney resident had been linked in a CIA report to Osama bin Laden's group - blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.Advertisement The programme, aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corp, said the CIA alleged the man trained in Afghanistan in 1998 and planned attacks on US interests in Venezuela and the Philippines.

He worked for Qantas Airways Ltd, Australia's main airline, until a security review shortly before the Sydney 2000 Olympics when he resigned for reasons of ill health, the CIA report added.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the man's passport had been revoked in January last year as he was deemed a security threat.

He added that no charges had been laid against him and the man was appealing to have his passport returned.

The man, who was widely named by Australian media, could not be reached for comment.

Sunday Times 10jun03

SECURITY at Australia's airports needed an urgent upgrade following claims a former baggage handler at Sydney airport had links to al-Qaeda, the Transport Workers' Union (TWU) said today. The call came as terrorism expert Clive Williams said people working at airports should undergo vigorous security checks before being cleared to go near aircraft.

The former baggage handler, Bilal Khazal, was named in a report by the United States intelligence agency CIA as someone associated with al-Qaeda, the group believed responsible for the September 11 attacks on the US.

An ABC Four Corners program screened last night said a CIA report alleged Mr Khazal trained in Afghanistan in 1998 and worked for Qantas until a security review shortly before the 2000 Olympics.

TWU state secretary Tony Sheldon today said the revelations should be "a wake up call for everyone who has anything to do with security at all of Australia's airports".

Since December there had been more than six separate security breaches at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport, including unauthorised access to secure areas and the discovery of suspicious devices, he said in a statement.

"In spite of these breaches, however, there is still no single co-ordinating or responsible body for security checks, standards and arrangements," he said.

"Individual companies are largely being left to their own devices and the Macquarie Bank run Airport Authority refuses to accept it has a direct responsibility.

"The terrifying thing is that nobody really knows what is happening at the airport or across the industry."

Mr Khazal now runs an Internet site for the Islamic Youth Movement in Sydney and was allegedly planning attacks on US interests in Venezuela and the Philippines.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today Khazal had been deemed a threat to Australia's security and his passport had been revoked.

Mr Downer said Mr Khazal was appealing the decision before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

Meanwhile Mr Williams, the director of terrorism studies at the Australian National University, called for vigorous security checks

"I think it is a problem that many of the people who work on the air site at airports haven't been sufficiently cleared and it has traditionally been an area where there's a high turnover of staff," Mr Williams told ABC Radio.

"That certainly does concern me because obviously if you wanted to do something to an aircraft, then if you got somebody you can collude with on the air site, that's really a major security problem.

"We need to clear the people that work on the air site, they should be put through a security clearance process and we shouldn't be employing people whose backgrounds we're not able to check.

"I think that there needs to be a more rigorous approach to that."

Mr Sheldon said the allegations surrounding Mr Khazal alarmed him and he questioned whether there were other people with terrorist links working at Australian airports.

He said there was a good case that people working at airports should undergo security screening.

"There is certainly screening of people going into the police service, there's security screening in a whole series of ways that occur now," Mr Sheldon told ABC Radio.

"The only people I have heard of having security passes taken off them have been, unfortunately, union officials from the Transport Workers' Union for highlighting their security concerns over the last two years.

"But everybody else seems to still get access and there doesn't seem to be a practical way that the Government has stepped in to try and oversee this."

NZOOM Non-Opec Norway, the world's third biggest oil exporter, said on Monday that it had no current plans to cut output and would not automatically match any future measures by Opec to shore up prices.

But Norway's oil minister did not rule out a cut if markets were to become destabilised and prices were at risk of collapse.

"We have no plan for a production cut now - we don't see any reason for a production cut now," Oil and Energy Minister Einar Steensnaes told a joint news conference with visiting Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez.

Steensnaes said that current oil prices were "acceptable."

Ramirez came to Oslo as part of an Opec bid to press nonaligned oil exporters to cooperate with Opec, should it decide to cut output at a meeting in Qatar this week, or later. Opec fears the resumption of Iraqi oil exports will undermine prices.

Steensnaes noted Norway cut its 3.0 million barrel per day output in the first half of 2002, by 150,000 bpd when prices were weak but said that Oslo would not slavishly follow Opec.

"There will be no automatic decision from Norway depending on what Opec does," he said. "The decision is made unilaterally." Norway is the biggest exporter behind Saudi Arabia and Russia.

"I think we managed to stabilise the market in a very problematic situation (in 2002), and we would do that again if necessary," Steensnaes said.

He noted that Norway's revised state budget assumes a price of $US25 per barrel, which he called "normal for the time being."

Oil prices hit fresh 12-month highs on Monday as members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) gathered in Qatar. Brent crude in London rose 9 cents to $US27.87 a barrel, and US crude rose 17 cents to $US31.45.

Opec meets in Doha on June 11 and is set to press non-cartel exporters to back its next supply cut.

Earlier on Monday, Ramirez said that non-Opec Mexico was ready to collaborate with whatever Opec decided.

But Ramirez said it was not clear whether Opec would decide to cut output or put off any decision to a later meeting. Prices are at the top end of Opec's $US22-28 preferred price range.

"We don't know at the moment whether we are going to have any production cuts at this Qatar meeting," Ramirez said. "We think that we are going to need another meeting before the conference in September."

"We are going to do whatever is necessary to maintain the price within the (Opec preferred) band," he added.

He said that the market had been strong despite turmoil in Venezuela and Nigeria and the war in Iraq, but it would be the job of the Qatar meeting to make fresh assessments.

"The situation in Iraq is an uncertainty that we have to review, but in any case I believe that the commitment between producers - Opec or non-Opec - is to have stability in the oil market," he said.

Opec invited rival exporters, including Norway, Mexico and Russia, to Qatar, hoping to maintain a fragile partnership that has kept OPEC's basket price near $25 per barrel for four years.

Norway, in line with its customary policy of keeping its distance from the cartel, declined to attend the meeting.

OSLO, Norway (<a href=thestar.com.my>The Star Online-AP) - Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez found his Norwegian counterpart willing to trim production if needed, but not as part of the general curb being sought by OPEC.

Norwegian Oil Minister Einar Steensnaes Monday said any decision by his country - the world's third biggest producer with about 3 million barrels a day - would be unilateral and based on its own assessment of the market.

Ramirez met Steensnaes ahead of Wednesday's meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Doha, Qatar.

Steensnaes said price alone would not precipitate a cut in production by Norway, which is not part of OPEC, but stressed a downward "price dynamic'' from an already low price could trigger a tightening of Norwegian output.

"We should also learn to accept low prices,'' he said, adding they could lead to more stability in oil markets.

Steensnaes pointed to Norwegian support for tightened OPEC production in August 2001, when Norway decided to cut production by 150,000 barrels per day after prices reached US$15 per barrel of crude.

"We can do that again if necessary,'' he said, adding that US$20 a barrel was "normal.''

Global prices have been within OPEC's target range of US$22 to US$28 a barrel.

Oil production accounts for nearly a third of Venezuela's gross domestic product, the value of all goods produced in a country, and Ramirez lauded the bilateral support.

"There have been strong shocks, sabotage in Venezuela and then Iraq,'' Ramirez said.

"The state of the market has many issues, but price reflects the interests of producing countries, consumers and investors.''

Venezuela is the world's fifth biggest oil exporter.

Concern about the resumption of oil exports from Iraq - the country could produce some 2 million barrels daily - could hamper Venezuela's economic recovery.

A major oil exporter to the United States, Venezuela was convulsed by a brief coup in 2002 and a ruinous general strike earlier this year.

"The question is, when production in Iraq is restarted, we then have a complicated situation,'' Ramirez said.

"OPEC has a high level of responsibility.''

He said evaluating Iraq's new levels of oil output would depend on several factors, including how quickly it is introduced.

He said OPEC members would likely meet again in September to discuss the ramifications of Iraqi oil being made available on the market now that U.N. sanctions are being lifted. - AP

Monday, June 9, 2003 Posted: 6:29 PM EDT (2229 GMT) CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN-AP) -- A mayor aligned with President Hugo Chavez said Monday he would not allow an opposition march planned for Friday in his district.

Jose Vicente Rangel Avalos, mayor of a poor eastern Caracas district, denied an opposition political party's request for permission to stage the protest, arguing it could provoke violence.

His decision came two weeks after gunfire broke out during opposition march in a poor western area of Caracas, killing one and injuring 10. No one was arrested.

"We have seen what has happened in the past, and we don't want something like that to be repeated," said Rangel Avalos, the son of Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel.

Rangel Avalos said the proximity of the planned rally to a local hospital was also an inconvenience.

Leaders of the center-right Copei party vowed to go ahead with their march despite the mayor's decision.

At least 50 people have died in political violence over the last year, including an April, 2002 coup that ousted Chavez for two days.

Chavez accuses the opposition of promoting chaos to justify his ouster. Opponents say the president incites his supporters to attack dissidents.

Last month's protest and the planned Friday march are part of an opposition campaign to show Chavez's popularity among the poor traditionally his core support -- is waning.