Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador and Guatemala, whose small economies are dominated by coffee, bananas, sugar and tourism, plan to issue dollar-denominated sovereign debt on international markets this year, with Costa Rica and Guatemala leading off this month.

More damage is being caused by natural erosion, a result of the torrential rains and other seasonal shifts. Especially in the southern zone, bridge structures have deteriorated to a point were safe crossing is almost impossible.

Some work was started last December but for some crossings it may be too late. With high levels of the rivers during the rainy months and the continued use of these structures by heavy vehicles, the damaging effects are outpacing the repair work.

The Bee Gees: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb

NO Solution near in Venezuelan Oil Crisis 

Street clashes intensified as a result of tensions due to a six week old strike against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, and a solution to the political deadlock over his rule seemed no closer on Monday.Police fired tear gas and a water cannon to disperse hundreds of Chavez supporters protesting against the strike in western state of Zulia. National Guard troops also repelled government sympathizers who attacked an opposition delegation with stones in Caracas
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The clashes were the latest outbreak of violence in an escalating opposition strike aimed at forcing populist Chavez to resign. The shutdown has slashed Venezuela's vital oil exports, causing widespread domestic fuel and food shortages and jolting world energy markets.

Oil prices rose 58 cents to $32.26 a barrel on Monday despite a pledge from the OPEC oil exporters cartel to increase output to compensate for the Venezuelan crisis. But 43 days into the stoppage the government and opposition appeared no nearer to making a deal on elections that might restore stability to South America's largest oil producer.

International pressure is increasing for a solution to the conflict in Venezuela, which usually provides about 13 percent of U.S. oil imports. The crunch in Venezuela's petroleum supply comes as Washington prepares for a possible attack on Iraq.

Opposition leaders on Monday gave a lukewarm response to a fledgling initiative, first broached by Brazil, for a "group of friends" from regional nations to help broker an accord. Talks chaired by the Organization of American States have so far failed to reach an agreement on elections.

Chavez administration officials have welcomed the idea.

"We might agree to a group of friends, not of Chavez, not of the government, but of Venezuela, which are two different things. This initiative must be in tune with OAS negotiations," anti-Chavez union boss Manuel Cova told Reuters.

But other opposition leaders in Caracas questioned the initiative and said it could confuse negotiations.

Joe Lieberman says he is going to run to win!

Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman declared on Monday he will run for the U.S. presidency, which could make him the first Jewish president in the nation's history.

Lieberman, 60, who already made history in 2000 as the first Jew drafted as a vice presidential candidate when he shared the losing Democratic ticket with Vice President Al Gore, told a small audience at his alma mater, Stamford High School, that he was running to "make the American Dream real again."

Freed by Gore's decision not to make another bid for the White House, Lieberman told the crowd of well-wishers, "I am ready to announce today I am running for president in 2004."

"In the coming months, I want to convince Americans that I have the strength, the vision and the values to lead our nation to higher and safer ground," he added. "The American Dream is in jeopardy," he said, "threatened by hateful terrorists and tyrants from abroad and a weak economy that makes it harder for Americans to live a better life."

A devout Orthodox Jew, Lieberman routinely did not campaign on the Sabbath during the 2000 race. A spokesman in his Washington campaign office said Lieberman intended to continue to observe the laws of his religion during this campaign.

Asked in Stamford how he thought the American people would respond to his religion, Lieberman said he would not hesitate to talk about faith, and he cited the Declaration of Independence and its protection of rights and liberties endowed by "the Creator."

Comparing the coming campaign with the race he ran with Gore, Lieberman said similar issues such as economic reform, the environment and educational reform would arise but added, "This gives me an opportunity to do it my way."

The two Democrats won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote in their race against Republicans George Bush and Dick Cheney. Lieberman said he had asked for Gore's support, but did not expect the former vice president to endorse anyone this early in the campaign. "I would be honored by his support, but I've got to earn it," he said.

Wasting no time taking aim at the Bush administration, he said: "This president, I'm afraid, made a promise to come to Washington to change the tone, and the reality is the place is more partisan and polarized than ever.

"The country doesn't benefit from the poor economic record, from the failure to fund education reform, the inability to improve our health care system and from the slowness with which the president has responded to the threat to Americans here at home from terrorism."

A centrist Democrat, Lieberman has previously clashed with Bush over probes into the bankrupt Enron Corp. and Bush's designs for the Department of Homeland Security.

He first came to national prominence in September 1998 when he was the first Democratic senator to denounce President Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky as morally wrong.

Vatican voices opposition to Iraqi War

Pope John Paul II led a growing chorus of voices raised against war or opposed to any hasty decision to pull the trigger, saying a conflict in the Gulf would be a "defeat for humanity." Saudi Arabia, Turkey and others talked of peace initiatives.

The big question was whether the U.N. experts and nervous governments in Europe and the Middle East had made Washington more cautious about carrying out a threat of war against Iraq if it failed to come clean over any weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. officials and defense experts said political and logistical pressure could delay any invasion of Iraq for months, despite the Pentagon's huge build-up of warplanes, ships and tens of thousands of troops in the oil-rich Gulf region.

"Those soldiers can't just hit the sand shooting on arrival. I wouldn't expect anything in February, or even early March. And who knows what the political landscape will be then?" one U.S. official told Reuters.
But the United States and close ally Britain face a dilemma in war planning as April heralds the start of Iraq's fierce summer heat and sandstorms.

The pope became the most prominent new voice against conflict in the Gulf, declaring in an address: "No to war!"
The U.S. military said Western warplanes bombed an anti-ship missile launcher in south Iraq Monday, deeming it a threat to its vessels in the Gulf, and dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets urging Iraqis to listen to U.S. radio broadcasts.
As U.N. inspectors took their hunt to Iraq's science and technology colleges, the ruling Baath Party newspaper al-Thawra said Baghdad was ready for war.

"Iraqis ... know how to fight the aggressors," the paper said.