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Putin promises to talk with Chechens by Yuri Bagr'ov Associated Press MESKER-YURT, Russia - Acting President Vladimir Putin promised Thurs day to hold negotiations with Chechen representatives about offering the break away republic autonomy. In the mountains of southern Chech nya, Russian troops have captured dom inant heights around the town of Shatoi, the separatist fighters’ last major com mand post, the military command said. Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said 70 to 80 militants have been killed around Shatoi since Wednesday, while two Russ ian servicemen died. The army command said dozens more rebels died trying to break through the Russian lines, includ ing 80 members of a separatist group that attempted to cross into neighboring Geor gia. The claims could not be confirmed. Both sides often exaggerate enemy loss es. Military commanders say 2,700 mil itants are concentrated near Shatoi, a town 30 miles south of the Chechen capital, Grozny, that sits in a wide area of the Ar gun goige cutting south through the moun tains. Russian officials have estimated that as many as 7,000 to 8,000 rebels remain in Chechnya’s southern mountains, so taking Shatoi likely would not bring an end to the 5-month-old war. The loss of the strategically-positioned Shatoi could seriously damage the rebels’ ability to fight. Federal forces continued to rely heav ily on aviation, with warplanes and heli copter gunships flying more than 120 combat missions since Wednesday, the army said. Massive air and artillery bom bardment of Shatoi continued today. Military officers said their comman ders were not planning a quick storm ing of Shatoi and would go on with the heavy barrage for a while. Putin, speaking on St. Petersburg's Radio Baltica, said the military assault in Chechnya “will necessarily be brought to an end. We shall defeat or destroy the terrorists.” “There are forces in Chechnya with whom it’s possible to hold negotiations,” Putin said. He did not name the forces, but he refuses to negotiate with rebel lead ers. “We clearly made a big mistake when we abandoned this territory and left it without any control” following the 1994 96 war, he said. “First of all, we’ve made a mistake toward the Chechen people, because they became hostages to those bandits and terrorists.” Putin said the Chechens could hope for autonomy within Russia. “Nobody wants to enslave the Chechen people, push them into a cor ner and present them as a defeated peo ple,” he said. Putin was in St. Petersbuig to attend the funeral of former Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, his one-time mentor and boss. The service was held amid extremely heavy security because of Chechen threats to kill Putin. In Chechnya, roads remained sealed and civilian traffic was banned over fears of violence linked to Wednesday’s an niversary of the 1944 deportation of Chechens to Central Asia under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Refugees trying to flee Chechnya were forbidden to cross into neighboring Ingushetia. Only sporadic shooting attacks on fed eral outposts in Russian-held areas were reported, and the military command said normal traffic would resume and check points on the Chechen-Ingush border would reopen on Friday. Security also has been tightened at airports and train stations across Russia and police were placed on alert. -—-i Hodges endorses Gore for president by Leigh Strope Associated Press After a few weeks of playing hard to get, Gov. Jim Hodges has official ly given his support to Vice President A1 Gore’s bid for president. Hodges’ endorsement, as well as that of U.S. Rep. John Spratt, came Wednesday at a town hall meeting in Fort Mill, where Gore and Hodges talked to a small but enthusiastic crowd of Democrats-about their education priorities. “After looking at all the candi dates, he has the best plan for educa tion,” Hodges told the crowd of about 200. “I am proud to offer my en dorsement to A1 Gore.” South Carolina Democrats, who may have felt left out by all the hoopla surrounding this month’s GOP pri mary, will be getting the royal treat ment along with their caucus next month. President Clinton has tentatively agreed to visit Columbia for a March 29 event honoring U.S. Rep. Jim Clybum, D-S.C., at Allen Universi ty’ u win ue a nuge event anu raise us a lot of money,” said state party Chairman Dick Harpootlian. Gore had courted Hodges for months with phone calls, but the gov ernor made clear his endorsement would have to be earned. Democratic rival Bill Bradley had his wife visit Hodges, but the for mer senator never visited Hodges him self. The state Democratic Party also tried to put some distance between it and the Democratic National Com mittee, which thwarted the local par ty’s efforts to hold an early primary election. “The only way a national De mocrat could win South Carolina is if he’s a son of the South,” Hodges’ former chief of staff Kevin Geddmgs said “ A1 Gore can win here if he runs as a true Tennessean. ” This state has not backed a De mocrat since Jimmy Carter from neighboring Georgia in 1976. On his last visit here in March 1998, Gore briefly promoted Hocfges’ candidacy, then seen as a jong-shot at tempt to reclaim the governor’s chair for Democrats. That Gore didn’t do more, however, irked Hodges and his supporters. So when it came time for the state party’s annual fund-raiser last year, Bradley got the invitation to speak. And because getting labeled as a Clinton-Gore supporter doesn’t ex actly win accolades in South Caroli na, the governor still has tried to re main at arm’s length. (t * 1.1 i . i « niuiuugu uioy uu cuuta tion, they don’t agree on everything,” Geddings said. College of Charleston political scientist Bill Moore said Hodges was going to get tagged as a Clinton-Gore supporter anyhow and had more to risk by not backing Gore. “He is a Democrat, period. You support your party,” Moore said. Gore appears to enjoy the over whelming support of the state party establishment. The only holdout is U.S. Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, who has nev er been a great admirer of the vice president. He calls Gore “Prince Al bert.” ■EKlEM McCain touts self as 'Reagan conservative' by Laurie Kellman Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Calling himself “a proud Reagan Republican,” John McCain touted his endorsement by San Diego’s GOP mayor Thursday and underlined conservative credentials in a new ad airing in primary states from Cal ifornia to New York. After winning in New Hampshire and Michigan with an appeal to Democrats and independents as well as Republicans, McCain is seeking to gain on rival Geoige W. Bush among registered Republicans here. Republicans alone will determine which candidate is awarded all 162 of the state’s GOP presidential delegates in the March 7 primary. “He’s a big spender and not a fiscal conservative,” McCain said of Bush dur ing a visit to California State University at Sacramento. To support the charge in the heart of Reagan country, McCain said the Texas governor raised his state’s spending by 35 percent during his tenure, compared with President Clinton’s fed eral spending increase of 25 percent. Geoige bush is a lot ot things, but a conservative he’s not,” McCain said. Bush has linked the increase in part to his state’s booming population and contends that McCain’s own voting record — including his support of a to bacco tax bill in 1998 — reveals that the Arizona senator compromises too easi ly on conservative goals. The Texas governor also accuses Mc Cain of hypocrisy for dismissing the Re publican establishment even as he pub licizes new endorsements from GOP leaders. “Senator McCain often says one thing and does another,” said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. Bush was taking a rare day off from the campaign Thursday at home in Austin. He had a full schedule Friday in Viiginia, where Republicans will hold their pri mary next Tuesday. As in many states, Virginia’s gover nor and most top GOP officials are Bush supporters. Attorney General Mark L. Earley said he would endorse Bush on Friday in Newport News. McCain’s new ad, titled “Reagan Conservative,” takes aim at Bush and that army of elected supporters. “You can’t tum on your TV without seeing an ad from the establishment try ing to fool you about me,” McCain says. “I’m a'proud Reagan Republican.... Give me your vote and we’ll give you back your government.” Meanwhile, Bob Dole, the party’s unsuccessful 1996 candidate, made a plea for a “time-out” on intraparty accusa tions “before matters get out of control” and give the Democrats a big advantage. Dole hasn’t endorsed either candi date, but he has been close to McCain, who sometimes traveled with him on his campaign plane in 1996. After a town hall meeting, McCain appeared here with two establishment figures at his side, San Diego Mayor Susan Golding and California Secretary of State Bill Jones. Golding called McCain the Re publicans’ best bet to win back the White House,” and she said, “He will bring faith in our country and pride in the White House back to America.” “I respect him more than I can say. And he respects me. And I think that’s something that the women who are vot ing in the Republican Party need to un derstand,” she said. Unlike Jones, Golding had not pre viously endorsed McCain. Touting his conservatism is only part of McCain’s strategy for the March 7 “Super Tuesday” primaries. In Califor nia, he will augment that message with appeals for the votes of senior citizens by talking up his plan to use the federal budget surplus to pay down Social Se curity rather than for a massive tax cut, according to senior adviser Ken Khachi gian. The Arizona senator also was mak ing points aimed at independents and De mocrats, part of his national strategy to make the case that he appeals to a broad er range of voters and could win a gen eral election. “Don’t you think that Republicans in California would like to win a cam paign for a change?” McCain asked the crowd, which responded with the loud est applause of his speech here. “In or der to do that, my friends, we have to practice the politics of addition.” He took more shots at Bush for speak ing at Bob Jones University without denouncing the school’s ban on interra cial dating. News Briefs ■ Hodges’ flag plan sent to less-friendly Judiciary Committee Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges’ plan to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse has run into a procedural ma neuver with the blessing of Republican Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler. Peeler agreed Wednesday to send the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee \ instead of the Finance Committee as Hodges wanted. Hodges’ spokeswoman, Nina Brook, said Peeler was obstructing progress on the idea of putting a square, Army of Northern Virginia battle flag at a monu ment to Wade Hampton, a Confederate general and former governor. The bill went to the Judiciary Com mittee at the request of Sen. Glenn Mc Connell, chairman of the Rules Com mittee and a supporter of keeping the flag atop the Statehouse. ■ Former Mafia hitman i arrested in drug sweep PHOENIX (AP) — Former Mafia hit man Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gra vano, a mob turncoat whose testimony helped put crime boss John Gotti behind bars, was arrested Thursday for involve ment with a drug ring, police said. Gravano was not selling narcotics but helped finance the drug ring and was a “mentor” to the ring’s leader, Michael Papa, the founding member of a white supremacist gang, said Phoenix police spokesman Jeff Halstead. Thirty-five members of the ring, ^ which allegedly trafficked in the drug ec stasy, were arrested including Papa, Gra vano’s wife, Debra; son Gerard; daugh ter Karen; and son-in-law David Seabrook. A judge set Gravano’s bail at $5 mil lion. Gravano, a confessed hitman, rav aged the Mafia by defecting to the gov ernment, making headlines when he helped convict Gotti and dozens of oth er gangland cronies. Authorities called him the most important mob turncoat in U.S. history. Expanded U.S. role in Kosovo would add risks by Robert Burns Associated Press WASHINGTON — NATO’s struggle for ethnic calm in northern Kosovo has raised the stakes for U.S. involvement in a peacekeeping operation that has no end in sight. The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, aboard ships in the Mediterranean, is stand ing by as potential U.S. reinforcements, although Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Thursday that NATO com manders have not asked for the Marines. Expanding the U.S. troop presence in Kosovo would raise the risk for a force that has largely escaped casualties. In Washington and other allied capi tals, there is no appetite for a major ad ditional buildup of troops in Kosovo. But NATO feels it cannot let the flare-up of ethnic violence in the city of Mitrovica go unanswered. Defense Secretary William Cohen has said he expects the Mitrovica problem to be resolved shortly, possibly without U.S. reinforcements. France, whose peace keepers arc in charge of the ethnically di vided Mitrovica area, is preparing to send 600 to 700 more troops to the area. NATO’s chief commander, U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, requested the extra French troops and asked NATO’s politi cal authorities for the go-ahead to put about 1,200 other troops on a higher state of alert for possible deployment. Among these other troops are the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. NATO officials are to meet on the matter Friday at alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Whether to send Marines is an “open question,” White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said Thursday. “We support the request General Clark has made,” Lockhart told reporters. “We take this mission very seriously and we will take the appropriate steps to deter any further violence.” The approximately 5,300 American troops now on peacekeeping duty in Koso vo are in a U.S.-controlled sector in the southeastern p;trt of the Serb province, where the ethnic tension is less intense. While eight Americans have died there since peacekeeping began in June, none of the deaths resulted from hostile action. At a news conference Thursday, Sec retary of State Madeleine Albright left open the possibility of more American troops, but noted the United States al ready has the biggest contingent. For now, it would be up to the Europeans to add troops, she said. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers expressed concern at the prospect of deepening U.S. involvement. “I’m gravely concerned about the in creasing risks to the men and women of our armed forces,” said the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican John Warner of Virginia. His committee held a two-hour closed door briefing with top Pentagon officials Wednesday. The Senate’s top Democrat, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, said that while President Clinton does not need formal congressional approval to send more troops to Kovoso, “I think Congress needs to be involved in terms of oversight.” U.S. officials say the best solution would be to rapidly increase the number of trained international police for Kosovo because military peacekeepers are not well suited for a criminal justice role. “We must recognize that old models of peacekeeping don’t also meet current challenges,” Albright said. She said Clin ton had ordered the State Department to create an office responsible for issues as sociated with U.S. participation in the criminal justice aspects of peace opera tions. Meantime, a contingent of U.S. Marines aboard ships in the Mediterranean is on standby as potential reinforcements. If called upon, the Marines most like ly would be used in a role similar to that of an airborne Army group that spent sev eral days in Mitrovica this week. In a surprise raid Wednesday, about 350 members of the Army’s 504th Para chute Infantry Regiment swept through an ethnically mixed neighborhood in Mitrovica, searching house-to-house. They arrested eight people and seized ri fles and other weapons. It was the first time the Americans had been on the Serb-dominated side of Mitovica since they and German forces were driven away Sunday by stone-throw ing Serbs during a weapons search. Propecia s (finasteride) I Ask your doctor about this pill } from Merck. 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