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i3,ooo feared dead in India quake . by Nirmala George Associated Press AHMEDABAD, India — Desperate rescue workers climbed mountains of debris and screamed into crevices Saturday, hoping for some sign of life from thousands trapped by western India’s devastating earthquake. About 2,500 bodies had been recovered, and one official said the death toll would end up reaching 13,000. While thousands of rescuers clawed at the rubble, stunned survivors of Friday’s 7.9-magnitude quake slept in the open, panicking as more than 80 aftershocks rippled through the hardest-hit state, Gujarat. Most had no water, food or medicine. Others refused to eat, keeping a tearful vigil as emergency workers’ drills bit into concrete in search of their buried loved ones. At 6:45 a.m. Sunday, a fresh tremor shook the region, waking up panicked residents in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s main commercial capital, and sending them rushing from their homes. The epicenter of the quake and its magnitude were not immediately known. In Bhuj district, at the epicenter of Friday’s quake, thousands of terrified people fled Saturday in cars, jeeps and on foot, carrying their belongings. Many had been walking since soon after the tremors struck. Buses and trucks were forced to stop before a cracked bridge on a dry river that connects the district with the rest of the state. “We have been walking since morning. Wfe are fleeing for our lives,” said Harjivan Vyas, 37, a factory worker in Bhuj town. “There is no drinking water, no food. All houses are destroyed.” Friday’s quake — India’s strongest in more than 50 years — struck on Republic Day, a national holiday. It shook the earth for more than 1,200 miles, but it hit hardest in Gujarat state, pulverizing cities'and towns and bringing multistory buildings down like houses of cards. Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya said 2,500 bodies had been recovered already and more than 14,000 people were injured. The state’s transport minister said the death toll would soar. “It will be more than 10,000 in the Kutch district alone,” Bimal Shah told The Associated Press, referring to the region near the Pakistan border where the quake was centered. “For the rest of the state, it would be 2,000 or 3,000.” Shah’s comment was based on aerial surveys. His death toll estimate — a much higher number than officials suggested earlier in the day — was an indication that emeigency crews had given up hope of finding many survivors under the debris. Among those buried were 350 children who had been taking part in a parade for Republic Day, which commemorates the adoption of India’s constitution 51 years ago. They were marching through a Kutch street when several houses toppled onto them. In the trading hub of Ahmedabad, a city of 4.5 million people, 15 high school students were trapped in their school, which collapsed soon after they arrived for a special class on their day off. Of the 37 teenagers who had come for the class, six were rescued within hours. But the bodies of 16 were also pulled out, and a day later, the 15 other teenagers were still missing. Their parents kept a grim vigil as workers searched frantically and - hope faded. Said police inspector Ramesh Barot: “Until Friday afternoon, we could hear the cries of the children. Now, we hear nothing.” Ivy League professors killed ■ Police silent about suspicious deaths BY J.M. Hirsch Associated Press The safe, close-knit feel of Dartmouth College was shattered Sunday by the suspicious deaths of two popular, long-time professors, a couple described as the pillars of the Ivy League school’s faculty. Susanne and Half Zantop had welcomed so many guests into their home “they practically seemed to run a hotel,” colleague Bruce Duncan said. The couple’s latest guests arrived at their home Saturday evening, where they found their hosts' bodies. Police were close-mouthed at a brief news conference early Sunday, saying r** little more than that the deaths were suspicious. Investigators stationed outside the couple's home four miles east of the campus stopped passing cars to question drivers during the night. However, officers told at least one neighbor there was no cause for alarm. “They are wonderful people,” the instructor of French and Italian said of the Zantops, then corrected herself: “They were wonderful people. They were special — intellectually, humanly, everything.” Susanne Zantop, 55, was a professor of German and chairman of Dartmouth’s German Studies Department. Her 62-year-old husband taught earth sciences. “Everybody feels they were their best friends, because they were friends to everyone,” said Susannah Heschel, chairwoman of the school’s Jewish. Studies Department. Heschel said that when she and her husband first came to Dartmouth three years ago, the Zantops were among the first to welcome them. “As soon as we arrived here, they invited us over constantly, they included us in everything,” she said, her voice cracking. “Everyone is so shocked because their home was so open to all of us. It just radiated their warmth and for this to happen in their home....” Many of the college’s nearly 5,600 students learned of the deaths in a campus-wide e-mail from the staff of the student newspaper, The Dartmouth. “I couldn't breathe,” Kinohi Nishikawa, a senior at the college and a research assistant in the German Studies Department, said of his reaction to the e-mail. Bush to promote prescription plan by Scott Lindlaw Associated Press After starting his presidency with a focus on the safe topic of education, President Bush this week ventures in to more treacherous waters: He is promoting his proposal to turn certain government services over to religious institutions and pushing the GOP plan to provide prescription drugs to senior citizens. Both initiatives are sure to spark intense debate as Bush opens his second week in the White House. The president on Monday was to establish a White House office that would distribute billions of dollars to religious groups and charities during the next 10 years. Bush wants to let such groups compete for taxpayer money to provide after-school programs, prison ministries and drug treatment. To build support, he will meet throughout the week with leaders of spiritual and charitable groups, and he planned to attend the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. Critics say shifting government money to churches, synagogues and mosques so they can expand charitable work raises church-state separation questions. Even some churches are wary of government money that might come Bush see page 4 World Briefs ■ California checks bids for long-term power plan SACRAMENTO, Calif. —Gov. Gray Davis expressed confidence the state could keep its lights on without going broke now that dozens of energy suppliers have made long-term offers to sell the state power. Though the average bids of $69 a megawatt were higher than the $55 officials had hoped for, they were still far lower than the $600 the state has sometimes had to pay on the open market. “It’s good news, and I’m enthusiastic,” Davis said Wednesday night as he reported results from the state’s desperate power auction, which netted 39 bidders. What’s more, electricity rates shouldn’t have to rise, Davis said as lawmakers prepared to turn their attention Thursday to crafting a long range solution to the energy crisis. ■ Ex-ambassador Hormel opposes Ashcroft nomination WASHINGTON - James Hormel, who became the nation’s first openly gay ambassador over the objections of then-Sen. John Ashcroft and others, is returning fire in urging the Senate to reject Ashcroft’s nomination'as attorney general. “It concerns me greatly that he might be serving as attorney general, given his stated positions on a variety of issues,” Hormel told The Associated Press. Hormel, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and representatives of civil liberties and women’s groups were to participate in a Capitol Hill news conference on Thursday opposing Ashcroft’s nomination. LIVE @ The Comedy House Theater 14 Berryhill Road (1-26 to St. Andrews Road Exit) i'V I Every Monday Night 8-9 PM fl gathering time where God is given eenter stage. 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