2 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 10, 2003 NATION WORLD Gas prices expected to increase NEWS IN BRIEF DIES O AR T I - ..-P WASHINGTON (AP) - Even if war is averted in Iraq, motorists should be ready to pay at least a dime a gallon more for gasoline this spring, the Ener- gy Department says. Oil and gasoline imports from Venezuela probably won't return to normal before summer - if then. Despite tight supplies of crude, the Bush administration gave no sign Thursday it was ready to use emer- gency oil reserves to soften the supply or price impacts, although U.S. offi- cials were lobbying foreign producers to increase oil output. "There's no change in the decisions that have been made," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said when asked whether the government's Strate- gic Petroleum Reserve might be tapped. He said the purpose of the reserve was to respond to emergencies and implied no such situation exists at this time. The Energy Department in a report forecast that gasoline prices nation- wide would increase to an average of $1.54 a gallon by mid-spring - about 10 cents a gallon higher than this week's average, because of rising crude prices and the disruption to oil exports in Venezuela. The forecast also said steeper price spikes are likely in some areas because of the supply cuts from Venezuela, where oil production has been virtually shut down for a month. The Energy Information Adminis- tration report said Venezuelan pro- duction almost certainly will continue to be below normal levels into late spring and into the summer driving season, even if the country's political crisis is resolved in the next few months. It would likely take four months to return to full produc- tion after the turmoil subsides, the analysis said. WASHINGTON "There's no change in the decisions that Former U.N. ambassador enters N. Korea A A AN A A A . M N A I A At t. . ..,S ... ller _-__ naVe een maae (auU[ using emergency oil revenues)." - A riFleischer White House press secretary Last year, Venezuela shipped about 1.5 million barrels a day of crude and refined gasoline into the United States, about 13 percent of U.S. imports. Its refineries, now largely shut down, also are a major source of U.S. gasoline imports. The EIA projections do not take into account the turmoil over Iraq and assume that oil from that country will continue to be available at about 2.4 million barrels a day. If war erupts in Iraq all bets are off on predicting prices, agreed EIA petroleum analyst David Costello. Last year, Iraq produced about 2 million barrels a day on average. Economists and energy experts have said serious worldwide crude short- ages could develop if war erupts in Iraq and the country's imports disap- pear while Venezuela's oil fields remain crippled. EIA director Guy Caruso said that "a positive sign" is that gasoline inven- tories at this time are on the high end of the comfort range and "in reason- ably good shape." New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador, became a sur- prise intermediary between the United States and North Korea, meeting last night in his state with two envoys from the communist country. "I want to be able to help my country," said Richardson, who was sworn in Jan. 1 as governor. He had visited North Korea on two diplomatic missions while he was still a member of Congress during the 1990s. The initiative for the meeting was taken by North Korea's deputy U.N. ambas- sador, Han Song Ryol. It came as the United States was awaiting a response from Pyongyang to meetings held Monday and Tuesday among U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials on the North Korean nuclear situation. The United States offered in a joint statement to hold talks with North Korea on the dispute over its resumption of a nuclear weapons program. Richardson greeted the North Koreans outside the governor's mansion in Santa Fe. They shook hands and went inside for what the governor's spokesman described as a three-hour working dinner. North Korean diplomats require U.S. permission to leave New York City, and Secretary of State Colin Powell granted it on Wednesday to facilitate the talks in Santa Fe, N.M. A second diplomat, Mun Jong Chol, was joining Han. CARACAS, Venezuela Bank workers support Venezuelan strike Thousands of Venezuelan bank workers stayed home yesterday to support a nation- wide strike seeking new presidential elections, further weakening the currency as analysts speculate the government of Hugo Chavez is running out of money. Chavez supporters, meanwhile, attacked several opposition demonstrations at oil facilities around the country. "Chavistas" attacked a rally outside a refinery in Cardon, 270 miles east of Cara- cas, wounding a 40-year-old worker and a 28-year-old demonstrator, said Luis Arends, a civil defense worker. In Caracas, gunmen fired several shots and threw tear gas at an opposition rally. No one was hurt, and the rally resumed. There were no arrests. Chavez supporters armed with machetes and sticks also prevented a demonstration at an oil facility in central Carabobo state, Globovision television reported. A minor clash occurred at a plant in Barinas state. The nationwide strike begun Dec. 2 has shut thousands of businesses and brought Venezuela's vital oil industry - a top U.S. supplier and once the world's fifth- largest exporter - to a virtual halt. Gas has been imported. Israel calls for Palestinian state, removal of Arafat JERUSALEM (AP) - Prime Minis- ter Ariel Sharon offered his strongest endorsement of a U.S.-sponsored framework for peace that ends with the creation of a Palestinian state, promis- ing to push for its approval if re-elect- ed. However, the hardline Israeli leader rejected a key element of the plan: a detailed timetable. In a speech to a national security conference Wednesday night, Sharon also reiterated his insistence that Yasser Arafat has to be removed as the Pales- tinian leader and that violence against Israeli targets has to end before progress can be made. "Israel can no longer be expected to make political concessions until there is proven calm and Palestinian govern- mental reforms," Sharon said. Fears of new violence rose yesterday after Sharon said several members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network have infiltrated the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and are' working with the Hezbollah guerrilla group. "We know they are in the region," he told journalists in Tel Aviv. "There's no doubt that Israel is a target for an attack." Police went on high alert for several hours in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv area - setting up makeshift roadblocks to check cars - because of "terrorist warnings," Israel police spokesman Gil Klieman said. A young Palestinian was arrested on "suspicion of attempting to carry out terrorist activity," Klieman said. He declined to comment further, citing a Jerusalem district court gag order, but said the high alert was relaxed by mid- day. At his news conference, Sharon also welcomed recent statements by senior Palestinian officials that taking up arms against Israel had been a mistake and must stop immediately. "We see today cracks in Palestinian society," he said. "There are people who understand that Arafat brought upon them a terrible catastrophe. Will it devel-. op in a certain direction? I hope so." Airlines face fiscal problems due to war WASHINGTON (AP) - Airline executives told Congress yesterday that their companies still face major finan- cial problems that probably will wors- en if America goes to war with Iraq. Air travel has yet to return to pre-Sept. 11 levels. The number of people flying in November was down almost 18 per- cent from November 2000, according to the Transportation Department. Since the attacks, the major airlines have laid off more than 80,000 employees, cut wages for others and reduced the number of flights, but they still expect to lose $9 billion last year. Two have filed for bankruptcy in the last six months - United Air Lines and US Airways. "We've got most of the airlines broke and the rest of them begging," said Sen. Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee that held a hearing on the financial condition of the airlines. War inIraq could make a bad situa- tion even worse, American Airlines chief executive Don Carty told the committee. When the Gulf War occurred more than a decade ago, Carty said air travel plummeted. What Congress can do to help the airlines "depends largely on whether or not we have a war with Iraq," he said. Congress has twice helped the air- lines since Sept. 11. In November 2001, President Bush signed into law a $15 billion aid package that included $5 billion in cash assistance and a $10 billion loan guarantee program. Last year, Congress enacted a law to extend government-issued war-risk insurance and to limit liability against companies for the terrorist attacks, sav- ing airlines an estimated $1 billion. Carty said airlines need more, but he said they have yet to reach consensus on what Congress can do tochelp. Northwest Airlines' chief executive Ric~hard Anderon calotstifiedA that FRANKFURT, Germany Germany bulldozes old Nazi bunkers The government began tearing down six more bunkers from Hitler's infamous West Wall yesterday against the wishes of some German historians and war vet- erans who want the remaining concrete and steel fortifications saved as historic memorials. The leader of the Third Reich built 20,000 bunkers, trenches and tank dugouts along a 940-mile line, also known as the Siegfried Line, stretching along the German border from near Basel, Switzerland to Kleve in northern Germany. Pneumatic drills pounded away yester- day on the first of six structures to be demolished this winter after the local government in the village of Rheinau, on the French border and 105 miles south- west of Frankfurt, complained the bunkers were a safety hazard. The federal government worried they were potential gathering place for neo-Nazis. BAKERSIELD Calif. Prosecutor aids teen, killed by father Kern County's No. 2 prosecutor Stephen Tauzer put his reputation on the line to keep a methamphetamine- addicted Lance Hillis out of jail. And Tauzer's support didn't end there. He offered the young man his home, money, even a car. Those favors put Tauzer on a colli- sion course with Hillis' father, Chris Hillis, a former cop who felt his son was beyond the reach of rehabilitation and needed jail time to sober up. Chris Hillis allegedly warned he would kill Tauzer if anything happened to his 22-year-old son. Tauzer was found dead Sept. 15 on the floor of his garage, a knife sticking out of his head. Hillis, 48, is now behind bars on murder charges. WASHINGTON EPA unveils new water clean-up plan The Environmental Protection Agency is clearing the-way for states to create trading programs that will allow industrial facilities and waste- water treatment plants to buy and sell each other's pollution. The trading programs will rely on economic incentives to meet federal water quality standards, EPA officials say, possibly saving the public hun- dreds of millions of dollars in water cleanup costs. "It applies to anyone who's looking for a least-cost way to meet water quality standards," G. Tracy Mehan III, who heads EPA's Office of Water, said yesterday. "Because of the effi- ciency and the cost savings, it reduces the barriers and hopefully speeds up cleanup of our impaired waters." - Compiled from Daily wire reports. Make the Most of Your CollegeExperience! The Delta Chi Fraternity is offering you an opportunity to help build an exciting, supportive, and successful organization. If you enjoy having fun and rising to challenges, then Delta Chi is for you! For more information on becoming a Founding Father of U of M's newest fraternity, please attend one of the following informational sessions: Tuesday, Jan. 14th (@b 6:30 p.m. - Crofoot Room, Union Wednesday, Jan.l5th @ 6:30 p.m. - Sophia B. Jones Room, Union Or, contact Leadership Consultant, Dave Pohlman, at * The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by stu- dents at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be pre- paid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press. 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