Slowdown in Venezuela

<a href=www.iht.com>Bloomberg, AP Saturday, May 24, 2003   Venezuela's economy shrank 29 percent in the first three months compared with the year-earlier period, the country's central bank said Friday. The bank said a two-month strike that paralyzed oil production played a major role in the contraction. The oil sector, which makes up roughly a third of economic activity in Venezuela, contracted by 46.7 percent while the non-oil sector shrank by 20.9 percent, the bank said. Economic activity in the construction sector shrank 64 percent, manufacturing industry by 35 percent and commerce by 33 percent, the central bank said. The economy contracted by nearly 9 percent in 2002 after growing 2.8 percent in 2001. (AP) Inquiry at Ericsson Nine former executives at the wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson AB could face charges for obstructing a tax audit in 2001, a Swedish investigator said. The police believe some employees obstructed the audit by not accounting for 2.5 billion kronor ($317.8 million) paid to marketing consultants. Police have not released the names of the nine, but an investigator said the inquiry centered on Ericsson's leadership in 1998 and 1999. (AP) Security at exchange The New York Stock Exchange has proposed taking fingerprints of its employees and those who regularly do business with the exchange so they can be submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the exchange said tighter monitoring was needed because of heightened security concerns. The proposal, which seeks "accelerated" approval by May 30, would cover employees, service providers, contractors and even journalists. (AP) Atari Inc.,the video game-maker that is majority owned by Infogrames Entertainment SA, said its "Enter The Matrix" game sold more than 1 million units in its first week. (Bloomberg) Internet salesrose as a proportion of U.S. retail sales in the first quarter compared with the period a year earlier. Online sales were $11.9 billion, or 1.5 percent of all sales.(Bloomberg) Carlo Tassara SpA, a steel company controlled by investor Romain Zaleski, increased its stake in Edison SpA to 15.3 percent from 7.1 percent. (Bloomberg) Lagardere SCA said it had fired the chairman of Hachette Livre, Jean-Louis Lisimachio, over a "strategic disagreement" regarding a possible bid for Vivendi Universal Publishing. (AFX) Steve Ballmer,the chief executive of Microsoft Corp., is selling an undisclosed number of shares for the first time in 12 years. He owned almost 471 million shares as of September. (Bloomberg) Edison Schools Inc.,the largest for-profit manager of public schools in the United States, has defaulted on $59.5 million in loans, according to a regulatory filing. (AP) Gap Inc.earned $202.5 million in its first quarter, more than five times its net income of $36.7 million in the period a year earlier. First-quarter sales were up 16 percent to $3.35 billion. (AP) European Commission antitrust regulators have restarted an inquiry into General Electric Co.'s E2 billion purchase ($2.3 billion) of Instrumentarium Oyj. (Bloomberg)