www.forbes.com Reuters, 03.17.03, 10:21 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee said on Monday that the Energy Department has told him that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is ready to release oil to counter a disruption in supplies. But the U.S. Energy Department said the Bush administration has not made a decision to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The administration is prepared to use the reserve in a supply emergency, an Energy Department spokesman told Reuters. "But at this point we have not made a decision to move on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve," she said. "We are monitoring the situation very carefully," the spokeswoman said. "Our review with the Department of Energy has convinced me that the SPR is fully operational and capable of releasing crude oil within the parameters required to prevent interruptions in crude oil deliveries to the market," Republican Rep. Billy Tauzin said in a letter to fellow lawmakers. "The SPR has, for some time now, transitioned from the 'fill' mode to the 'flow' mode and is prepared to flow upon orders from the President," Tauzin said. With a possible war with Iraq looming, supply disruptions in Venezuela and skyrocketing oil prices, Tauzin made his comments in a letter to lawmakers urging their support to expand the reserve to 1 billion barrels from its current capacity of 700 million barrels.

www.bday.co.za

LAGOS - Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has evacuated staff from some production facilities in the swamps of southern Nigeria's Niger Delta amid violent protests, the firm said.

Tony Okonedo, a spokesman for Shell's Nigerian oil exploration and production arm, said: "On account of the security situation we are evacuating non-essential staff from flow stations."

Shell's move came after militant youths from the Ijaw ethnic group clashed with Nigerian naval patrols in the swamps south of the oil city of Warri, a major base for both Shell and the US oil firm ChevronTexaco.

The Shell spokesman could not say whether the evacuation would affect oil production, or how many staff had been moved. A ChevronTexaco spokesman said he was not aware of his firm taking similar measures.

The threat of war between the United States and Iraq and the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela has already sent world oil prices spiralling, and traders are nervously eyeing the unstable situation in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer.

Nigeria exports more than two million barrels per day, but violent unrest in the Niger Delta region often disrupts the activities of the multinationals working in the region.

The approach of next month's national elections, the first since Nigeria's return to civilian rule, has heightened tensions in an area where resentment against both the government and oil majors runs high.

Last week five people were killed in a gun battle between militant youths from the Ijaw ethnic group and the Nigerian navy, which has been deployed to protect oil facilities from attack.

And last month fighting between two more groups, the Itsekiri and the Urhobo, in the nearby oil city of Warri, left dozens dead.

The Ijaw have a longstanding complaint that their fishing communities have been polluted by the oil industry and claim they should be compensated by the oil giants.

A judicial committee set up by Nigeria's parliament last month called on Shell to pay $1.5 billion in compensation to the Ijaw.

But recent protests have been directed towards Nigeria's government and electoral authorities.

Ijaw leaders claim they have been marginalised politically by fraudulent voter registration and an unfair distribution of electoral constituencies, and marginalised economically by a bill which gives federal rather than state government control of revenue from off-shore oil.

www.syracuse.com March 17, 2003 By Jim O'Hara Staff writer

A Syracuse-area man of Palestinian descent has been charged with torching the Temple Beth El on the city's East Side nearly 2½ years ago.

District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick on Sunday afternoon announced from Temple Beth El the arrest of Ramses "Ramzi" Uthman on a battery of charges in connection with the October 2000 fire at the site.

Uthman was arrested late Friday in Los Angeles on a warrant issued after an Onondaga County grand jury recently returned a sealed indictment in the case.

"This was a crime not only against the people of this congregation, but against all Jewish people of Central New York and, frankly, against all people of faith," Fitzpatrick said.

According to the district attorney, a second man who is cooperating with authorities also was involved in the fire and will face charges at a later date. Fitzpatrick declined to release his name.

A Syracuse police report identified the second man as Ahed Shehadeh, 29, formerly of 339 Elm St., who is serving a 2- to 4-year prison term in Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County on an unrelated burglary conviction.

Shehadeh's mother, Nihad Shehadeh, said Sunday evening that FBI agents interviewed her son about a month ago about the temple arson, and her son admitted his involvement in the incident.

"He was the driver. Ramzi asked him for a ride. He didn't do anything," said Nihad Shehadeh. She said she did not know why the fire was set.

Nihad Shehadeh said maybe the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was the motivation behind the crime. But she said her son, a Palestinian who was born in Jerusalem and is a Muslim, did not hate Jewish people.

Fitzpatrick declined to provide many details, but said the evidence would show that the fire was a hate crime that targeted the temple at 3528 E. Genesee St. because it was a place of worship for Jewish people.

Uthman is accused of breaking into the temple late on the night of Oct. 13, 2000, and setting fire to a substantial amount of gasoline in an area of the building he apparently believed was used for worship. The fire heavily damaged a first-floor business office in the back of the building and an office above that was used by the Montessori Learning Center. The blaze caused about $700,000 in damage.

"This act of terrorism did not just affect our congregation and Jewish people. We look at this as an act of terrorism against the American freedom of speech and religion," said Steven Davis, president of the temple congregation who was present Sunday as Fitzpatrick announced the new developments in the case.

Davis and other temple officials all expressed relief Sunday that an arrest had been made, providing some closure to the case.

Glenn Suddaby, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, said federal officials will await the outcome of the state case against Uthman and will then pursue a federal prosecution of the accused arsonist as well.

Fitzpatrick said Uthman could face up to 25 years in state prison if convicted on the top charges in the local indictment. Suddaby said Uthman could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted of a federal hate crime in the temple fire.

Uthman, 29, for whom authorities listed local addresses on Merriman Avenue in Syracuse and Paddle Wheel Road in Camillus, is expected to be in court in Los Angeles later today to face the beginning of an extradition proceeding to get him back in Syracuse to face the charges, Fitzpatrick said.

According to the prosecutor, Uthman was born in Venezuela of Palestinian parents but is a naturalized citizen of the United States who has lived in the Syracuse area for some time.

The investigation had law enforcement officials looking for Uthman in Michigan, Florida and California before Uthman was taken into custody by federal marshals at a gas station in North Hollywood Friday night. Uthman was taken into custody without incident although he apparently was aware police were looking for him, Fitzpatrick said.

"This was one of the most intensive and relentless investigations in the history of law enforcement in Central New York," Fitzpatrick said, noting officials had pursued hundreds of leads before a "real break" in the case came in November.

That was when a witness provided the FBI with "significant intelligence" allowing authorities to begin making progress in the case after two years, Fitzpatrick said, without elaborating. That information was shared with Suddaby who brought in Fitzpatrick for a meeting at the U.S. Attorney's Office to plan a strategy, the DA said.

That led officials to Dearborn, Mich., in January, Fitzpatrick said. It was then that officials learned Uthman had been treated at a hospital in Dearborn for burns he reportedly suffered in the temple fire, the prosecutor said.

Fitzpatrick said Uthman reportedly suffered "substantial burns" when the gasoline fumes surrounding him ignited when he allegedly set fire to the temple. Although neighbors reported hearing what sounded like an explosion the night of the fire, authorities later said that may have resulted from the ignition of vapors from the accelerant that had built up in the office and not from any bomb or explosive device.

Further progress in the case was made last month when the unindicted co-defendant began cooperating with authorities, providing information about how and why the temple was set ablaze, Fitzpatrick said.

With that information, Senior Assistant District Attorney Edward McQuat presented the case to a county grand jury and a sealed indictment was delivered to County Judge Joseph Fahey, who signed the warrant for Uthman's arrest, Fitzpatrick said.

Uthman is charged with second- and third-degree burglary, third-degree arson and second-degree criminal mischief, all as hate crimes, which increases the level of severity of the charges. He also is charged with second- and third-degree burglary, third-degree arson, second-degree criminal mischief, first-degree reckless endangerment, aggravated harassment and criminal interference with a religious service.

Fitzpatrick Sunday said the evidence will show Uthman targeted the temple because it was a place of worship, but he declined to say if Temple Beth El was a specific target or just a target of convenience for the accused arsonist.

Fitzpatrick said Uthman has a lengthy criminal record locally, but officials are not aware of any prior hate crime incidents. He also said there was no evidence to link the temple arson to any wider plot, but that the investigation by state and federal officials was continuing.

Shortly after the fire, then U.S. Attorney Daniel French said authorities did not have a specific motive for the attack but were looking at whether the temple had been targeted because of the recent outbreak of violence between Israel and Palestinians in the Middle East.

Asked why it took so long to find Uthman, Fitzpatrick Sunday characterized the defendant as a "very clever adversary" who had a number of aliases, a number of different passports and numerous addresses. Officials were looking for him here and in Florida, California and Michigan because of family connections, he said.

Fitzpatrick also said witnesses had been reluctant to cooperate early on because they were "quite fearful" of Uthman. With Uthman now in custody, Fitzpatrick bluntly warned Sunday that any attempt to intimidate or harm any witnesses in the case would be vigorously prosecuted as well.

He also noted that state law allows for a death penalty murder prosecution if someone were to kill a witness in the case.

The blaze led to a massive investigation by up to 150 agents from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Syracuse Police Department. It also led city police and sheriff's deputies to begin guarding synagogues in the area 24 hours a day until Gov. George Pataki ordered state police to take over those duties throughout the county.

Fitzpatrick said Sunday Pataki recently inquired about the progress of the investigation.

"I applaud the unyielding efforts of our federal, state and local law enforcement officials in securing the arrest of a suspect in the Temple Beth El fire. As prosecutors move forward with their work, it should be remembered that the sweeping Hate Crimes legislation I signed into law provides additional penalties for crimes that are motivated by religious intolerance," Pataki said in a statement Sunday.

With no leads in the weeks after the fire, federal officials offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible for torching the temple building. Fitzpatrick Sunday said he did not expect there would be any claims for the reward.

Staff writers Mike McAndrew and John Mariani contributed to this report.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Monday, March 17, 2003 By: David Coleman

CICPC detectives say 73 violent deaths have taken place over the weekend, up four on the preceding weekend, with 25 of them as the result of "settling of accounts" between rival crime gangs.   Caracas (Libertador) led the death toll with 17 victims, followed by western Zulia State with 9 dead.  Central Carabobo State reduced its death statistics to just three persons murdered.

Nationwide, 15 of the deaths were as the result of shoot-outs with law enforcement officers while 11 victims were killed resisting street muggings.

Josefina Guzman was fatally injured as the result of a violent argument between her husband, Larry Martinez and a neighbor in the La Lucha slum in Boleita Norte in Caracas.  "After the shooting I tried to carry her to the hospital but she died on the way there," Martinez told reporters.

24-year-old National Guard (GN) soldier Oscar Rafael Marin Morena was killed on Calle Marin de San Agustin del Sur, in southeast Caracas as the result of several bullet wounds.  Military investigators are probing the death.

Truck hijackings were also on the increase this weekend .  32-year-old Juan Jose Tivado Baez was relieved of his fully-laden Central Azucarera El Palmar truck on the El Valle-Coche highway below the Tazon tollbooths after he was intercepted by two gunmen.  Police are looking for a white-painted Mack truck, registration 91F AAH valued at 50 million bolivares with a 3-tonne load of sugar valued at 26 million bolivares.

A truck laden with 30 tonnes of spaghetti valued at 80 million bolivares was also hijacked near Carora in central Venezuela.  54-year-old Edgar Marrero had left his depot on Avenida Los Leones in Barquisimeto (Lara), when he was intercepted by several armed men.  Police are looking for a white-painted 1997 registered Iveco truck, registration O4H-IAA valued at 60 million bolivares and its 30 million bolivares load belonging to the MDS company.

John Peter Perez (22) lost his life early on Saturday morning in the El Manguito sector of Antimano in Caracas.  His mother, Nora Josefina Perez, says her son was shot in the chest in an incident involving officers from the PoliCaracas municipal police.  "He resisted arrest and the police shot him .. we had gone out of the house to help John but we weren't in time ... when we finally caught up with him, the police had taken him to the Perez Carreno hospital but he was already dead."

www.weeklystandard.com The French, Solzhenitsyn, light rail, Venezuela, and more. 03/17/2003 12:00:00 AM

I have often wondered what Congress's real position is regarding democracy and the rights of people in Venezuela (Thor Halvorssen, Comandante Chavez's Friends). Would they accept, from any U.S. president, just a small percentage of what Chavez has done in Venezuela? Is Chavez's style of democracy what they want for theirs constituents?

--Henrique Lander

Thank you to Thor Halvorssen for saying exactly what all of us have been trying to tell the world about Hugo Chavez for the past four years! Please America, don't abandon us, we are your most fervent admirers in South America.

Hugo Chavez was elected as a democrat by a country suffering from corruption, but what is happening now, is worse than anything anyone can imagine.

--Maruja Beracasa