ALEXANDRA OLSON, Associated Press Writer Friday, June 13, 2003
(06-13) 16:56 PDT CARACAS, Venezuela (<a href=www.sfgate.com>AP) --

Venezuela troops fought pitched street battles Friday with supporters of President Hugo Chavez who tried to disrupt an opposition rally in an impoverished area of Caracas considered a government stronghold. At least 14 people were injured.

Troops in armored vehicles arrived at the scene while "Chavistas," as the president's supporters are known, fought back, throwing bottles, rocks and firecrackers at security forces. They also looted a nearby police station after tearing down the walls with sledge hammers and metal rods.

Hundreds of national guard troops and police in riot gear launched tear gas grenades to disperse more than 100 rowdy government backers. Columns of black smoke rose from tires burning in the street and mingled with thick clouds of white tear gas.

Gunfire from unknown sources wounded one police officer and three civilians, said Caracas fire chief Rodolfo Briceno. At least 10 people were slightly hurt by flying objects, he added. The tear gas forced the evacuation of 25 children from a nearby hospital.

Ignoring government warnings that violence could erupt, opposition parties called the rally as part of a series of events in Caracas slums to prove Chavez's traditional support among the poor has evaporated.

Interior Minister Lucas Rincon pleaded with march organizers to take the protest to an area where there would be less potential for violence.

"We alert the population to the security risks that this act carries," Rincon said in an address to the nation late Thursday. "This isn't about impeding a political act. It's about taking it to a less risky one."

Hours before the planned protest, dozens of Chavez sympathizers burned tires in a plaza on the only route to the opposition's chosen site -- an eastern Caracas street beneath hills covered by red-brick shanties.

The protest comes three weeks after unidentified gunmen killed one person and wounded 10 at an opposition march in a poor neighborhood on the city's west side. No one was arrested.

"A truly dark story has repeated itself. We had said this was the least appropriate place to stage this demonstration," said Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel.

The opposition center-right COPEI party refused to cancel the protest, insisting it wouldn't be intimidated by what it called government-sponsored violence to silence dissent.

Chavez denies those allegations. He counters opponents constantly provoke chaos to justify the ouster of a democratically elected president. The president was briefly ousted in an April 2002 coup and defied demands he step down during a ruinous two-month general strike that collapsed in February.

Early Friday, federal police sharpshooters stationed themselves on rooftops overlooking the protest site. The city government dispatched another 3,000 officers to patrol the streets. At the protest three weeks ago, police snipers fired at public housing buildings where the shooting apparently originated.

Political violence has killed more than 50 people in Venezuela over the past year, mostly during clashes between pro- and anti-Chavez forces. The country is deeply divided between those who adore Chavez as a champion of the poor and those who revile him as a power-monger trying to remodel Venezuela after Cuba's communist regime.

Chavez foes are demanding an internationally backed referendum on his rule later this year, insisting it's the only way to restore stability to Venezuela, a key oil exporter to the United States.

First elected in 1998, Chavez pushed through a new constitution in 1999 that paved the way for his 2000 re-election to a new six-year term.

NEW YORK, June 13, (<a href=www.arabtimesonline.com>Agencies): The ranks of the world's millionaires increased in 2002, but at a slower pace than in the past because of weak global economies and stock market declines. An annual study released Wednesday estimates that there were 7.3 million people in the world with financial assets of $1 million or more at the end of 2002, up 2.1 per cent from the previous year. The increase, down from 3 per cent in 2001, was the lowest rise in the survey's seven-year history. The numbers of millionaires actually dropped last year in North America, which includes Canada and the United States, and in Latin America, but rose in other regions. The wealth these people have amassed, meanwhile, grew 3.6 per cent in 2002 to $27.2 trillion, compared with growth of 3 per cent in 2001 to $26.2 trillion, the study showed. In market boom years such as 1999, millionaires saw their wealth grow as much as 18 per cent. The "World Wealth Report" was prepared by the Merrill Lynch brokerage firm and the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young consulting firm. Brokers, bankers and other financial experts watch the figures closely because people with high net worth tend to be their best customers, although they represent just a small fraction of the world's 6.3 billion people. James P. Gorman, executive vice president of Merrill Lynch and head of its private client group, said that the fact that there were more millionaires in the world despite global economic difficulties "reflects the resilience of this very attractive market segment." The study predicts, too, that their wealth will increase an average of 7 per cent a year over the next five years to $38 trillion at the end of 2007. Gorman said that wealthy individuals were not hurt as badly by stock market declines because they tend to be conservative investors. He said that the typical high net worth individual last year had 30 per cent invested in fixed-income instruments such as bonds and 25 per cent in cash, with just 20 per cent in equities. Their other holdings included 15 per cent invested in real estate and 10 per cent in alternative investments, such as hedge funds. That shows, he said, that "a properly diversified portfolio is resilient even in the most difficult market environments." James S. Greene, a vice president at Cap Gemini, said that the wealthy were helped in both preserving and increasing their assets by an average of seven to nine financial advisers, from planners to accountants, brokers and lawyers. On a regional basis, the number of millionaires declined in North America, where stock markets fell sharply, and in Latin America, where economic and political turmoil took a toll, the report said. Their ranks increased, meanwhile, in Africa, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe, it said. The study's regional breakdown: ** Europe. The region with the largest number of millionaires, Europe saw the ranks of its high net worth individuals rise 3.9 per cent to about 2.6 million, while their wealth rose 4.8 per cent to $8.8 trillion. The report cited strong economic growth in emerging European economies and appreciation of the euro and British sterling against the dollar. ** North America. The number of millionaires fell 1.9 per cent to about 2.2 million, while their wealth fell 2.1 per cent to $7.4 trillion. Problems from weak economic growth were compounded by "a significant drop in stock market capitalization and decrease in savings rates," the report said. ** Asia-Pacific. This region had the strongest growth in both the number of high net worth individuals, up 4.9 per cent, to 1.8 million people, and wealth, up 10.7 per cent to $5.7 trillion. The report said solid economic growth and continued high savings rates outweighed mixed market and currency performances. ** Latin America. The number of high net worth individuals declined 3.6 per cent to 300,000, but their wealth rose 2.7 per cent to $3.6 trillion. The report noted that economic growth was weak in Brazil and Mexico, while the oil crisis in Venezuela and crash of the Argentine peso sparked recession. ** Middle East. The number of wealthy individuals rose 4.7 per cent to 300,000, while their wealth increased 4.6 per cent to $1.1 trillion. ** Africa. The region saw its wealthy population increase 4.9 per cent to 100,000, while their wealth rose 4.3 per cent to $600 billion. Also: DUBAI: One out of every 67 people in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a dollar millionaire, a newspaper said Thursday, citing the "World Wealth Report." The number of "high net worth individuals" in the UAE with financial assets of more than one million dollars grew last year to 45,000 from 40,000 a year earlier, the survey by Cap Gemini Ernst and Young with brokerage Merrill Lynch showed, said Khaleej Times. The report, which was released in Dubai as well as in New York on Wednesday, showed that the number of millionaires around the world had grown to 7.3 million last year, despite a fall in the United States. With the total UAE population estimated at more than three million, the millionaire segment, including nationals and expatriates, accounts for some 1.5 per cent, Khaleej Times said. Expatriates, most of them low-paid Asian labourers, make up 80 per cent of the UAE's population.

<a href=www.un.org>UN

13 June – The United Nations World Health Organization's (WHO) regional office for the Americas today praised 10 Latin American countries for successfully negotiating with pharmaceutical companies a price reduction of drugs for HIV/AIDS treatment, saving up to $120 million a year.

"These savings are a demonstration of what can be achieved when governments and the pharmaceutical companies are truly committed to the well-being of the population," said the Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Mirta Roses Periago.

Antiretroviral drugs drastically reduce the incidence of opportunistic infections and substantially improve the quality of life for those living with HIV/AIDS, but costing $1,000 to $5,000 the regimen is out of reach for the vast majority of developing countries. After the negotiation, prices will fall to between $350 and $690, bringing 150,000 more annual treatments for the 10 countries, PAHO said.

The Ministries of Health of Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay negotiated the agreement in Lima, Peru last week. The negotiations were supported by PAHO, the Andean Health Organism (ORAS) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

According to PAHO, seven manufacturers of generic antiretrovirals offered the biggest reductions. There also were reductions in the prices of one brand name drug manufacturer, Abbott Laboratories. All the companies meet the quality requirements established by the negotiating countries, which are based on standards outlined by the WHO prequalification process.

The latest negotiations are the third to take place in the Latin American and Caribbean region. An estimated 60 per cent of the people in the developing world under antiretroviral treatment live in that region.

Fri June 13, 2003 01:46 PM ET NEW YORK (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - Oil prices fell nearly 4 percent on Friday after the International Energy Agency said big consuming countries were more comfortably supplied than it previously thought.

U.S. light crude CLc1 tumbled $1.18 to $30.33 a barrel, extending Thursday's sharp losses and pulling prices back from recent 12-week highs above $32. London August Brent crude LCOQ3 fell 87 cents to $26.35 a barrel.

Prices fell as the Paris-based IEA, energy adviser to 26 industrialized nations, said its previous estimate of oil stock levels was 79 million barrels too low.

The agency's revised estimate put oil stocks in the industrialized world for the end of April at 2.439 billion barrels,

"Stocks are still below normal and can absorb some surplus in the third quarter, but I think we have entered a stage when more supply is coming on the market and will impact prices." said Geoff Pyne, oil market consultant to Sempra Energy Trading.

The IEA said the revision did not change its view that global markets were tight. Stocks are still 157 million barrels, or 6.5 percent, below 2002.

"The market is obviously better supplied than we thought as little as two weeks ago, but stocks are still low and fundamentals are still tight, so we need to build more stocks," said Klaus Rehaag, editor of the IEA monthly oil market report.

"The increase in crude stocks may, however, signal some relief for an otherwise tighter heating oil situation later this year," he added

Oil stocks have been drawn down this year by a harsh northern winter and supply disruptions from a strike in Venezuela, ethnic strife in Nigeria and the war in Iraq.

Iraq on Thursday sold its first oil since the U.S.-led invasion nearly three months ago, but looting and sabotage at oil facilities are expected to keep Iraq's exports well below prewar levels for several months.

The delays in Iraq's postwar export resumption enabled the OPEC producer cartel to postpone fresh supply cuts at Wednesday's meeting in Qatar.

OPEC, which controls about half the world's oil exports, decided to meet again in just seven weeks, on July 31, in case the return of Iraqi shipments undermines high prices.

OPEC sets a $22-$28 target range for its basket of seven grades of crude oil. The basket was last valued at $27.48.

Fri June 13, 2003 01:45 PM ET NEW YORK, June 13 (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - Emerging sovereign bonds skipped higher on Friday on the back of a new leap in U.S. Treasury prices, piling more gains onto this year's already sizzling returns of some 23 percent.

The benchmark J.P. Morgan Emerging Market Bond Index Plus 11EMJ climbed 0.74 percent on the day as market heavyweight Brazil jumped 0.92 percent. Brazil's heavily traded C bond BRAZILC=RR notched a 0.125 point gain to 92.125 bid.

U.S. Treasury prices extended their march skywards after data showed a surprise slump in U.S. sentiment, fanning speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve could cut interest rates by a half point this month instead of the quarter point widely expected.

The rate talk helped sink U.S. Treasury yields to fresh record lows, in turn buoying the emerging debt market, where bonds are gauged by the premium investors demand over comparable U.S. Treasures to compensate for risk.

"The U.S. Treasury bond is up almost half a point, so that's driving the rest of the market higher in price terms," said Christian Stracke, head of emerging markets strategy at research firm CreditSights.

Emerging debt has been in fierce demand this year as investors hunt for yields above the rock-bottom ones offered by U.S. Treasuries. Wall Street's optimism for the fiscal policies and reform agenda of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has also fired up the debt, translating into strong gains market wide and a dizzying 46.6 percent return for Brazilian bonds since Jan. 1.

This sentiment has also bolstered Brazil's new $1.25 billion global bond BRAGLB13=RR , sold earlier this week. It notched a heady gain of 2.125 points to 101.875 percent of face value on Friday alone.

"There's strong account buying across the board with little supply," paving the way to a strong performance in new issues, said an emerging debt trader.

Venezuela's bellwether bond, however, bucked the day's sanguine trend, hurt by sliding world crude prices and worries about the repercussions of any effort to swap the nation's debt, said CreditSight's Stracke.

The country's finance minister has said the government is looking to ease a heavy concentration of debt payments this year through possible swaps, direct credits from banks and financing for specific projects.