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Diplomats visit Navy crew in China ^____11 College Press Exchange A U.S. Navy file photo shows an EP-3E Aries II, similar to the plane involved in a midair collision with fighter aircraft from the Republic of China on April 1. by Martin Fackler Associated Press HAIKOU, China—American diplomats met Tuesday night with the crew of a U.S. spy plane, nearly three days after it made an emeigency landing at a Chinese military base after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet. An American diplomat said they were in good health but gave no indication of when they would be released. President Bush demanded that China allow the 24 crew members to leave and return the surveillance plane. “This accident has the potential of undermining our hopes for a fruitful and productive relationship between our two countries,” Bush said in Washington. “To keep that from happening, our servicemen and women need to come home.” Army Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock, the U.S. Embassy defense attache, was allowed to meet late Tuesday with the 24 crew members. It was their first contact with an American official since their EP-3 surveillance plane landed on the tropical Chinese island of Hainan after a collision with a Chinese fighter jet. “They are in good health,” Sealock said of the American servicemen and women. He said U.S. officials were working for their release, but gave no indication that would happen immediately. “Our goal is to get them home as soon as possible,” Sealock said. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called Tuesday for the “rapid” return of the crew and the sophisticated surveillance plane as he welcomed the meeting j^ith the crew. Bush had complained about Chinese delays in allowing the meeting. “I’m encouraged by the fact that the meeting is taking place. It shouldn’t have taken this long to happen.” Powell said in Key West, Fla. “But, now that it has happened, I hope this starts us on a road to a full and complete resolution of this matter.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said the crew’s fate would be decided in light of a Chinese investigation. Asked at a Beijing news conference when the crew would be released, Zhu replied, “I don’t know.” China demanded the United States apologize for the collision, which it blamed on the American plane. The pilot of the Chinese fighter parachuted out and remains missing. Postal Service considers ending Saturday delivery by David Ho Associated Press WASHINGTON — Through snow, rain and gloom of night — but maybe not on the weekend. Battered by slowing business and huge projected losses, the Postal Service announced Tuesday that it will study cutting back to a five-day schedule that would eliminate mail delivery on Saturdays. The agency also will examine how much money can be saved by consolidating and closing some postal plants and offices. With rising costs, postal officials say they face a $2 billion to $3 billion loss this fiscal year. After five years in the black, die post office had a $ 199 million loss this past fiscal year. The agency’s governing board will ask Postal Service management to report their study results within 90 days, said S. David Fineman, the board’s vice chairman. Fineman said the financial savings of going to five-day service could be “substantial.” “It could offset the amount of the loss that we have, and we would hope that whatever actions we take will be able to cause us to ask for less of a rate increase,” he said. The price of first class mail went up a penny to 34 cents in January. Postal managers are preparing to apply this summer for another rate increase, which would take effect next year. The study will examine ending Saturday delivery for all mail, except overnight delivery. The study won’t consider closing post office windows for other services. The study of consolidating postal facilities will focus on behind-the-scenes operations, such as mail sorting and delivery, and will seek ways to avoid affecting consumers, Fineman said. Last week, the Postal Service announced that it plans labor, administrative and transportation cuts over the next five years. Deputy Postmaster General John Nolan has said the agency is committed to cutting costs by $2.5 billion by 2003. Earlier this month, the Postal Service said it was freezing more than 800 new construction and leasing projects across the country. — T Deferring taxes with TIAA-CREF can be so tr , rewarding, you’ll wonder a,sV why you didn’t do it sooner. One of the fastest ways to build a retirement nest egg is through tax-deferred Supplemental Retirement Annuities (SRAs) from-TIAA-CREF. 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Total returns and principal value of investments will fluctuate, and yield may vary. The chart above is presented for illustrative purposes only and does not reflect actual performance, or predict future results, cf any TIAA-CREF account, or reflect expenses. S Ensuring the future 1.800.842.2776 for those who shape it.” --- www.tiaa-cref.org For more complete information on our securities products, call 1.800.842.2733, ext. 5509, for prospectuses. Read them carefully before you invest. 1. Check with your institution for availability. 2. You may be able to invest up to the IRS maximum of $10,500 per year. To receive a personalized calculation of your maximum contribution, call flAA-CREF at 1.800.842.2776. • TIAA-CREF Individual and Institutional Services, Inc. and teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc. distribute securities products. • Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA), New York, NY and TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Co.. New York, NY issue insurance and annuities. • TIAA-CREF Trust Company, FSB provides trust serv ices • Investment products are not FOIC insured, may lose value and are not bank guaranteed. © 2001 Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equities Fund, New York, NY 01/04 j. -T-V-? Department of Education lost $450 million ■ Investigation says funds were stolen, misused by Greg Toppo Associated Press WASHINGTON — In the final three years of the Clinton administration, the Education Department lost track of $450 million through waste, fraud and errors, the department’s chief inspector said. A Republican lawmaker likened the agency’s financial practices to those of “a Third World republic.” In one case, $250 million in grants were paid twice before the recipients sent back the extra payments. , The department, which has a $44.5 billion budget and manages billions more in student loans, has reported that poor oversight resulted in several instances where money was stolen or improperly spent. In others, payments for grants were duplicated, or money was never distributed. On Tuesday, Lorraine Lewis, the agency’s inspector general, told the House Education and Workforce investigations subcommittee that, according to her estimates, $450 million was lost or misspent in the past three fiscal years because of fraud, disallowed costs and other errors. “It is a very serious problem,” she said. Lewis said a department audit found 21 cases in which grant payments totaling $250 million were issued twice to the same state boards and school districts. The duplicate payments were recovered, Lewis said. She estimated an additional $200 million was lost in unauthorized purchases and fraud cases. Some of the money was recovered through court orders of restitution to people outside the department. Lewis and others who reviewed a department audit said the audit showed that 21 employees could write checks of up to $10,000 without supervision. An audit of department finances from May 1998 to September 2000 found that 19,000 of these checks were written, totaling $23 million. “This leaves the system open to fraud and abuse,” said Jeff Steinhoff of the General Accounting Office. The audit also found that as of October, about 230 employees had government credit cards in their names, with most allowed to charge up to $10,000 per month. ALL WOMEN KEEP SCORE ONLY THE GREAT ONES PUT IT IN WRITING. RENEE ZELLWEGER COLIN FIRTH and HUGH GRANT BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY Uncensored. Uninhibited. Unmarried. unwHPnyin«M»«.MsiN nn.^MwrairjyiWki suu ».«■ in wi smiim smw .Mia 'snrcn Siam mm ~« iS mu mi" in ■ .iiiiiiBi BDi 01 "sura [«»«mm ",mm sf,« ® BMEEZB! A HkffiM© Ww*tain» -.rsr MtAMAX I ‘or -Knf rwcri pc tc wm MwitnfO coa STARTS FRIDAY APRIL 13TH IN THEATERS EVERYWHERE! World Briefs ■ Campaign finance reform legislation heads to House WASHINGTON (AP) - Campaign finance legislation emerged from the Senate after two grueling weeks and t headed to the House, where it faced yet another set of obstacles. Just getting a vote could be a problem in the House because Republican leaders there are hostile to the measure and also see it as taking away front time needed to pass President Bush’s agenda. If the House passes legislation different from the Senate version, it could require a House-Senate conference — a graveyard for other major bills in recent years — and more House and Senate votes if a compromise is reached. Then it’s on to an uncertain fate at the White House. Bush has opposed the main aspect of the legislation that passed the Senate 5941 Monday, a ban on loosely regulated “soft money” donations made by corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to the political parties. But he has said he was willing to sign a bill that “improves the system.” ■ Jailed Milosevic admits to financing ethnic Serb rebels BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) — A defiant Slobodan Milosevic denounced his arrest as “politically staged” in an appeal that contained a startling admission — that the former president financed Serb rebellions that bloodied Bosnia and Croatia in the 1990s. Milosevic, jailed in Belgrade’s Central Prison as authorities build a case of alleged corruption and abuse of power against him, demanded his release in a statement written from his cell Monday. Answering accusations that he illegally channeled millions of dollars to secret funds, Milosevic acknowledged for the first time that he funneled cash to ethnic Serb forces in neighboring Bosnia and Croatia, who unsuccessfully foughf to prevent those republics from breaking away from the former •Yugoslavia. ■ Bangladesh strike leads to four deaths, 300 injuries DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Violent clashes in Bangladesh have killed four people and injured 300 as a general strike intended to force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation shut down cities throughout Bangladesh for a third day Tuesday. Opposition activists and government supporteis have used guns and homemade bombs since the strike began Sunday, a working day in Bangladesh, closing businesses and schools and halting most traffic in the capital, Dhaka, and 60 other cities and towns. Police have detained close to 300 protesters. Strikers on Tuesday smashed scores of tricycle rickshaws for defying the protest by seeking customers. Commuters, mostly government employees, used the rickshaws to travel to work as buses and private cars stayed off the streets. Three strike-related deaths were reported on Monday in the southern districts of Chittagong, Brahmmanbaria and Choumohoni. A trucker was killed in a bomb attack on Sunday. ■ Stowaways found in cargo ship docked in Long Beach LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Twenty-three Chinese stowaways were discovered huddled inside two cramped cargo containers after apparently enduring more than three weeks at sea. The immigrants were taken to a hospital Monday night for medical evaluation before being transferred to a federal detention center, said Capt. Mike Garcia of the Long Beach Fire Department. The canvas-topped steel containers had been unloaded from a cargo ship. The Maple River, wlrich left China on March 14 and stopped in Vancouver, British Columbia. It arrived Monday in Long Beach. The immigrants were discovered in a dockside storage area after a stowaway fell and broke his imklc while climbing out of one container, Garcia said.