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CAROLINA ® BRIEF Campus prayer group to hold 24-hour vigil The Shack Christian Campus Ministry began a 24 hour “House of Prayer” vigil at 8 p.m. Thursday at its building on Greene Street. Instrumental music and coffee is being provided for members and non-members to come and offer hour-long prayers for victims of Hurricane . Katrina. The vigil will last until 8 p.m. Friday. Sorensen reaches out to displaced students In a gesture of Southern hospitality, USC President Andrew Sorensen said Carolina is “deeply saddened” in a statement Thursday and offered assistance to students and faculty displaced by Hurricane Katrina. “As a community of scholars we stand ready to assist our friends and colleagues who have had their education and research programs interrupted by providing them with the opportunity to continue their scholarly pursuits at USC," Sorensen said. “We have already been contacted by a number of students - displaced by the storm, and we are doing our very best to accommodate their •t Undergraduate students interested in studying at USC should contact Scott King as soon as possible in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at 803-777-4067 for further details. Law students displaced by the storm should contact Paul Rollins at 803-777-6605. Faculty and graduate students displaced by Hurricane Katrina should contact the Office of the Provost via e-mail at provost@gwm.sc.edu to inquire about opportunities to use USC’s library, computing or laboratory resources to “continue their scholarly pursuits," the statement said. USC is also preparing a temporary Web site for colleges and universities in the affected areas so communication can be restored. For more information, contact hogue@sc.edu. THIS WEEK © USC j SUNDAY Cornelia Freeman September Concert Series, Program No. 1 — European: 3 p.m. School oi Music 206. Gulf crisis Air Force base to aid Katrina relief efforts CHARLESTON — Charleston Air Force Base, home to more than 50 of the military’s massive C-17 transport planes, has been put on alert to help with relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast. The base sent its first relief plane Thursday morning to Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina to pick up 18 pallets of medical supplies, which filled the huge aircraft, then onto Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. “We’ve been waiting all week to get the word," said base spokesman Tech Sgt. Ben Gonzales. . He said Charleston has two crews on standby and the base Was sending 16 airmen to the New Orleans airport to help _with military operationsL LET’S ROLL Katy Blalock/THY. GAMECOCK Second-year sports and entertainment management student Joshua DeBerry rides a Segway scooter in front of the Russell Houfee as part of Carolina Productions’ Wacky Wednesday event. State Sanford encourages motorists to save gas Gov. Sanford urged citizens Thursday to limit gas purchases to immediate needs, and asked for citizens’ help in monitoring gas prices in the state to prevent price gouging. Hurricane Katrina damaged pumping capacity for the two major pipelines —- the Colonial and Plantation pipelines — that supply gas across the Southeast, resulting in shortages across the region. “It’s a chance to ride to the Friday night football game with a neighbor, .ride to lunch with a co-worker or ride to the grocery store with a friend from down the street. It (also) means literally remembering your neighbor at the gas pump ana not attempting to fill up every five-gallon tank you’ve got in the back of the garage," Sanford said. Citizens are encouraged to visit www.scgovernor.com and follow alink to report possible incidents of price gouging. So far, widespread gouging has not been reported in the state, but the Governor’s Office will be monitoring the information to determine whether further action is necessary to prevent the practice. South Carolina has asked for and received waivers on federal restrictions that are aimed at increasing gasoline supply in the state. % ; Nation Anti-war organizers plan massive protest WASHINGTON — Organizers are planning what they say will be the largest anti war demonstration in the nations capital since the Iraq war began in March 2003. The ANSWER Coalition and United for Peace and Justice detailed their plans Thursday for the Sept. 24 protest. They plan to bus in people from across the country for a march past the White House. Other major protests are planned that day in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Cindy Sheehan, whose 24 year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed last year in Iraq, is on a 25-state bus tour that will end at the protest in Washington. The anti-war groups will coordinate with planned protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which are holding their annual meetings the same weekend. Organizers believe the presence of Sheehan — whose one-woman protest outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, has energized the anti-war movement — and growing public sentiment against the war will produce a turnout of 100,000 or more. The groups Freerepublic.com and Protest Warrior are organizing a smaller counter-demonstration. Karl Singer of Protest Warrior said the anti-war movement gets too much media coverage. Public dissatisfaction with the war has been growing. The latest AP-Ipsos poll found just over half of Americans say . the country made a mistake invading Iraq and disapprove of the way BushAs handling the war. World Al-Qaida claims role in London bombings CAIRO, EGYPT — AI Qaidas No. 2, Ayman al Zawahri, claimed responsibility for the July 7 London bombings in a video aired Thursday on Al-Jazeera that included a farewell statement by a man identified as one of the four suicide attackers. It was the first explicit claim of responsibility for the blasts by the terrorist group headed by Osama bin Laden. Al-Zawahri, who is thought to be hiding along the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border, threatened the West with “more catastrophes” in retaliation for the policies of President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. opeaicing witn a neavy Yorkshire accent, the bomber, Mohammad Sidique Khan, said he was inspired by al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, al-Zawahri and the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi. “Until you will stop the bombing, gassing, imprisonment and torture of my people we will not stop this fight," said Khan, wearing a red-and-white checked keffiyeh and a dark jacket. “We are at war, and I am a soldier and now you too will taste the reality of this situation." In his tape, Al-Zawahri did not say outright that his terror group carried out the bombings on the London transport system that killed 56 people including the four bombers, but said they were a direct response to Britain’s foreign policies and its rejection of a truce that al Qaida offered Europe in April 2004. Weather Forecast TODAY SAT. SUA. 0100. TOCS. ^ fe High 94 High 93 High 88 High 84 High 84 Loui 10 Low 66 Low 66 Low 63 Low 65 POLICE REPORT -... ■ TUESDAY, AUG. 30 Suspicious activity, 1 p.m. Corner of Greene and Pickens Streets A USC tour guide reported that an anonymous woman approached a tour group and made harassing and derogatory statements to members of the group. Reporting officer: J. E. Silcox Larceny of laptop, 1:45 p.m. BA Building. 1705 College St. Someone entered a locked office and removed a Toshiba LI5 laptop and its power supply. Estimated value: $600. Reporting officer: J. Widdifield Larceny of currencies, 4:35 p.m. The Inn at USC, 1614 Pendleton St. The victim said someone broke out his car’s passenger side window and removed 11 money bags containing approximately $3,000 in mixed paper and coins. Reporting officer: J. Widdifield WEDNESDAY, AUG. 31 Disorderly conduct, 2:17 a.m. Strom Thurmond Wellness & Fitness Center, 1000 Blossom St. Reporting officer J. M. Harrelson saw a man damage a parking sign. Upon contact, Harrelson smelled alcohol on the man’s person and noticed his eyes were red, his speech was slurred and he was unstable on his feet. The man admitted he had been drinking and was arrested for disorderly conduct. He was transported to Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. Accidental damage, 11:30 a.m. S'6 Parking Lot, 1423 Wheat St. A man in his 40s reported that his hydrostatic drive mower stalled, causing him to strike a Honda Accord belonging to Jessica Ponzio.^H The car received minimal damage. Reporting officer: L Welch Suspicious activity, 6 p.m. 1501 Senate St. An anonymous person called USCPD and said a male suspect had cut the chain to a bike. Officers responded to the scene but couldn’t find the suspect. Reporting officer: J. E. Silcox These reports are taken directly from the USC Police Department. BEDLflm • connnuEB momi Michael Chertoff said the government is sending in 1,400 National Guardsmen a day to help stop looting and other lawlessness in New Orleans. Already, 2,800 National Guardsmen are in the city, he said. But across the flooded-out city, the rescuers themselves came under attack from storm victims. “Hospitals are trying to evacuate,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan, spokesman at the city emergency operations center. “At every one of them, there are reports that as the helicopters come in people are shooting at them. There are people just taking potshots at f • i i i • ponce aiiu ai ncncopicia, telling them, 'You better come get my family.’” A National Guard military policeman was shot in the leg as the two scuffled for the MP’s rifle, police Capt. Ernie Demmo said. The man was arrested. “These are good people. These are just scared people,” Demmo said. At least seven bodies were scattered outside, and hungry people broke through the steel doors to a food service entrance and began pushing'out pallets of water and juice and whatever else they could find. The Superdome, where some 25,000 people were being evacuated by bus to the Houston Astrodome, descended into chaos as well. Huge crowds, hoping to finally escape the stifling confines of the stadium, jammed the main concourse^i outside the dome, spilling out over the ramp to the Hyatt hotel next door — a seething sea of tense, unhappy, people packed shoulder-to-shoulder up to the barricades where heavily armed National Guardsmen stood. Fights broke out. A fire erupted in a trash chute inside the dome, but a National Guard commander said it did not affect the evacuation. After a traffic jam kept buses from arriving at the Superdome for nearly four® I hours, a near-riot broke out in the scramble to get on the buses that finally did show up. The first of hundreds of busloads of people evacuated from the Superdome arrived early Thursday at their new temporary home — another sports arena, the Houston Astrodome, 350 miles away. But the ambulance service in charge of taking the sick and injured from the Superdome suspended flights after # shot was reported Sred