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Girl killed in New Mexico school shooting by Michelle Koidin Associated Press Dbmg, MM. —A 13-year-old girl shot in the head at school died Saturday, the same day the father of the suspected shoot er said his son had intended to kill him self but, was jostled by others in the school lobby. Araceli Tena died at a hospital in El Paso, Texas, where she had been rushed by ambulance after she was shot Friday at Deming Middle School. Victor Cordova Jr„ of Palomas, Mex ico, was wearing a camouflage jacket when he fired a single shot from a .22 caliber handgun, police said Police records list the boy as 13 years old but his fam ily says he is 12. Cordova’s father, Victor Cordova Sr., said during an interview Saturday in Palo mas that he talked to his son after the shooting. “Yesterday, I spoke to him, and he said that he was going to kill himself,” the elder Cordova said. “But when they went into the school that he was pushed and the gun moved.” Police said they have no information to corroborate the account, and the boy was being held Saturday in the Luna Coun ty jail. He was charged Friday with attempted murder, assault, aggravated assault and aggravated battery, but investigators will be working with prosecutors to amend the charges, police said. Under New Mex ico law, he can’t be charged as an adult. The boy’s family described him as in telligent but depressed. He is the oldest of three children, but spent a lot of lime alone and had threatened suicide in the past, said his relatives. In February, the boy lost his mother to cancer. Cordova was bom in Deming and had gone to U.S. schools since kinder garten, said his father. He would walk across the border from Palomas each school day and board a bus for his class es 33 miles to the north in Deming. Investigators said they were still try ing to determine a motive for the shooting at the only middle school in this farming and ranching town of 15,000, said Carlos Viramontes, Deming schools superintendent. Police declined to say where Cordo va got the gun. The boy’s relatives said he has a tern-, per, sometimes yelling and throwing • things. “According to some of the other kids — I wasn’t aware of this — he would get violent because since his mother died re cently, they would say stuff about his mother,” said the father, a 36-year-old mechanic and construction worker. He said his son no longer wanted to go to school in the United States and had complained that other kids were bother ing him. “I told him to stay over there, that he’d have more opportunities over there than over here,” he said. At Deming Middle School, classes will resume Monday, with up to three officers at the school to make the chil dren feel safe, said Bill Kuehl of the po lice department. The school district had established an emergency plan following the fatal shoot ings at Columbine High School in Lit tleton, Colo., Viramontes said. He said it wasn’t clear how the gun got into the school. Counselors met with about 100 stu dents and parents earlier Saturday at the school. “I think what you saw today was the whole gamut of emotions from fear to anger to I don’t understand why this happened,” Viramontes said. “I know that some of the children and some of the par ents were a little more relieved when they left. “But this is not going to be worked out in a two-hour counseling session. Tins is going to take a longer amount of time,” he said. ^^^lAF^F'Tf) jmji *|^i i ■^TiV |4ti m i we ll GrvE You 10 Weeks. 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China holds unmanned space tests by Renee Schoof Associated Press Bejing — China is one step closer to catching up to the U.S. and Russian space programs after conducting its first un manned test of a spacecraft designed to carry astronauts. The spacecraft Shenzhou safely touched down on land in north China's Inner Mongolia early Sunday after 21 hours orbiting Earth. Western experts say after this ac complishment — a breakthrough for the nation's secretive space program — Chi na will probably send its first manned mission into space next year. While the most recent flight was un manned, the Shenzhou (pronounced r— shun-jo) is capable of carrying astro nauts, who are dubbed “taikonauts” in Beijing from the Chinese word for “space.” “This looks to have been an excel lent start to the Chinese manned space program and puts them on a course for a manned flight in about a year’s lime,” said Phillip Clark, a British expert on the Chinese program. He predicted a manned flight some time in October to December of next year, if no problems arise. The state-run Xinhua News Agency said more unmanned tests were planned before a manned flight, but gave no timetable. China didn’t announce Sun day’s flight until after the craft had land ed. The spacecraft was adapted by Chi nese scientists from the design of the Russian Soyuz craft, but it is heavier, has four solar panels compared with two, and has a forward module that is cylin drical instead of spherical, Clark said. China also turned to Russia for the craft’s life-support system and for as tronaut training, he said. As early as 2001 or 2002, the nation is likely to put into orbit a small lab that future crews can visit, Clark said. Chi nese experts also have discussed a new family of modular launch vehicles, in cluding a large one that would likely be for a moon landing, possibly in 10 or 20 years, he said. According to Clark, the test flight over the weekend was originally sched uled for last fall, and the first manned flight for this October, around the time of the 50th anniversary of com munist rule on Oct. 1. But development problems with the new Long March 2F rocket caused a yearlong delay. Although China's space program has been highly secretive, Western observers knew a test launch was imminent when China deployed four space-tracking ships at sea, Clark said. James Obeig, a 22-year veteran of the U 5. space shuttle program who now works as an independent consultant, said US. space command officials also tracked the latest launch, flight and landing. “This basically is proof they have at tained a very exclusive level of space capability,” he said. President Jiang Zemin approved the manned space program, named Pro ject 921, in 1992. Special to The Gamecock China’s unmanned space capsule Shenzhou lies on the desert ground Sunday after a successful re-entry Into the atmosphere and landing In Inner Mongolia after 21 hours of orbiting the earth. , Propecia S (finasteride) | Ask your doctor about this pill . from Merck. - For more information, call | 1-888-MERCK-74. 1 © www.propecia.com • *- - * ' - - .' - - Finals are fast-approaching and Thinkwell.com is the perfect tool to help you through it Confused about something? Video lectures from our great teachers will help you understand that stubborn concept you’ve been struggling with all semester. Can’t make office hours? Our site is available 24/7. Fire off a question to one of our tutors and we’ll reply in a matter of hours. Want to take a mock final? We’ll build you a customized exam covering only the topics you need to know. See how you’ll score BEFORE it counts. Full membership Lots of Sign up now and is $7-95/week. FREE stuff. get 25% off. In the registration process you will be asked fora “coupon code”. Enter the word ‘PAPER’ to get 25% off. Offer expires 12/31/99. iJRffnniPwmnif.fr rSsifl ^ttUrUTt >>g »»llilgj >.)»St>ty4>M □ AN HISTORIC RESIDENCE Efficiency $435 One Bedroom $495 Two Bedroom $530 Rents include all utilities and cable TV. All rates quoted are month to month (Leases available, prices subject to change) Located across from the University of South Carolina Horseshoe and the State Capitol, Cornell Arms offers the premier location for downtown living (803) 799-1442 1230 PENDLETON STREET COLUMBIA, SC 29201 World Briefs ■ Archaeologists unearth 4,000-year old palace Damascus, Syria (AP)—Archaeolo gists have discovered the ruins of a roy al palace believed to be 4,000 years old near Damascus, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported Saturday. It said “highly valued ruins” were dis covered by a joint German, Italian and Syrian expedition in Qatanah, about 12 miles southwest of the Syrian capital. The palace dates back to 2000 B.C., the news agency said. It didn’t give a more precise year or say which ruler built it. Government officials in charge of ar chaeology weren’t immediately available for comment. Historians believe that the Amorites, who came from the Arabian peninsula around 2100 B.C., were the first im portant Semitic settlers in the area, and that they established many small stales. The palace contains a throne hall that is 70 feet by 132 feet with 6-foot-high adobe walls, the agency said. In the center of the hall, an unbroken jar with “amazing decoration” was found stuck to the ground, the agency said. ■ ‘Peanuts’ creator battling colon cancer Santo Rosa, Caur (AP)—“Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz is battling colon cancer, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported Sunday. The cancer was discovered Tuesday, when Schulz was rushed to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital to clear a blocked ab dominal artery, the artist’s wife, Jean Schulz, told the newspaper. His treatment will begin once doc tors decide on the best course for attacking the disease, she said. The future is uncertain for “Peanuts,” which is distributed to 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries and is the basis of a fran chise that collects $1 billion per year.