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Anthrax-laced letter probably still in State Department system BY GEORGE GEDDA ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Anthrax con ta-' mination turned up in eight of 55 tests taken from a State Department remote mail facility in Virginia, of ficials reported Tuesday, a strong indication that a spore-laden letter remains to be found. Dr. Steven Ostroff, an anthrax expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, “based on the bulk of the evidence” available, the agency thinks there’s a tainted letter yet to be discovered in the State Department system. One State Department mail han dler became ill with inhalation an thrax last month. Officials speculat ed the case resulted from cross-con tamination with a letter tq Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Officials have found three taint ed letters nationwide, one each sent to Daschle, NBCf newsman Tom Brokaw and the New York Post. They also theorize that an as-yet undiscovered letter was mailed to a Florida tabloid pub lishing company where two em ployees were stricken with the disease, one fatally. By CDC count, 17 people have contracted anthrax in an outbreak of bioterrorism, 10 with the in halation form of the disease and the rest with a less serious skin type. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said eight sam pies out of 55 collected from the agency’s mail facility in Sterling, Va., tested positive for anthrax. He said two of the samples came from two separate mail sorters and the six others from a third sorter. Boucher said the results are important because they support the theory that a letter like the one sent to Tom Daschle has moved through the mail system. “We are now proceeding to look at all the mail that we had held up, frozen, sealed off in mail rooms in this building, in annex es and around the world,” he said. Boucher noted the State Depart ment closed its mail system Oct. 24 and told posts around the world to seal and shut down pouch mail. Next government in Afghanistan should reflect people, envoy says BY EDITH M. LEDERER ASSOCIATED PRESS UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations envoy called Tuesday for a two-year transitional govern ment backed by a multinational security force in Afghanistan. Lakhdar Brahimi outlined a plan before the U.N. Security Council to bring Afghanistan’s many ethnic and tribal groups together “as early as humanly possible.” He envisioned a meeting be tween the U.S.-backed northern al liance and representatives of other ethnic groups to discuss the frame work for a political transition. Brahimi said the goal would be to convene a provisional council that reflects the country’s ethnic diversity. He suggested it should be chaired “by an individual rec ognized as a symbol of national unity,” an apparent reference to Afghanistan’s exiled king, Zaher Shah. The 87-year-old monarch, who has lived in Rome since he was ousted in 1973, is seen by some as a unifying figure in a possible tran sitional government. Under Brahimi’s proposal, the council would put together the two-year transitional government. During that period, a loya jirga, or grand council of prominent Afghans, would draw up a consti tution and a second gathering would approve it and create a per manent Afghan government. Brahimi, an Algerian diplomat, said turning around “a collapsed and destitute state” that has be come a breeding ground for ter rorists would require the political and financial support of all nations. Budget Departments not cut uniformly CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 USC colleges. Those programs re ceived only a half-percent reduc tion. White called the engineering school’s reduction “unfortunate ' but necessary.” About the budget reductions, business school Dean Joel Smith said he was “pleased under the circumstances” and glad the uni versity used discretion when de ciding how much funding would be cut from each program. Most colleges received a 1.5 percent reduction, but the reac ■ tion from department adminis trators wasn’t completely nega tive. “I think probably just like every other dean, I’m delighted that we didn’t have to take that full 4 percent cut,” said Henry Price, interim dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. “I am very grateful to the administration for cushioning us somewhat from the full cut.” Price also said the board of trustees referred to these as “strategic cuts” without giving any reasons why they reduced each college as much as they did. “There are other programs on this campus that are nationally ranked as well, ours among them,” Price said. —■ Nearly all administrators agree that having a midyear reduction is harder on financial planning be cause it’s a more unexpected oc currence that could alter a pro gram’s future. “A midyear cut is always a difficult kind of thing be cause essentially half of your bud get has been spent, so you have to make it up out of the rest of it,” Price said. According to some of these deans, students might face class cancellations in some depart ments as well as a reduction in the number of new programs or op portunities produced by individ ual colleges. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com. STATE BRIEFS E-mails show focus on play, not work COLUMBIA - Several months of e-mails involving top state Commerce Department leaders reveal a lot about priorities at the agency, and golf outings are near the top of the list. The e-mails also support local economic developers’ fears of a two-tiered playing field and give a glimpse of the agency’s willingness to make state business-hunting expeditions compatible with travel preferences of leaders’ wives. The missives also are notable for what’s not there: The top leaders of an economic development agency with a commitment to recruiting high-tech industries didn’t use e-mail to communicate directly with each other. In a Freedom of Information request, The Associated Press asked to review all correspondence and e-mail between Wayne Sterling, the agency’s former chief of staff, and Commerce Secretary Charlie Way. Commerce Department lawyer Karen Manning said, however, there was no direct e-mail between the two men. Sterling and Beth Braswell, the department’s communications director, resigned suddenly on Sept. 17. They have since taken economic development jobs for Henry County, Va. IT HAPPENED NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED S.C. NATIVE DOES SPACEWALK: An American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut ventured out on a spacewalk Monday to hook up cables and test a crane on the international space station. It was the first spacewalk for station commander Frank Culbertson — and almost certainly his last. The four month mission of the Holly Hill, S.C., native is nearing an end, and if he ever returns to space, it will be in his old shuttle-piloting job. NATION BRIEFS U.S., Russia reach arms agreement WASHINGTON —President Bush pledged Tuesday to reduce the United States’ long-range nuclear arsenal by two-thirds or more over the next decade, to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would “try to respond in kind.” Emerging from their first White House summit, Bush said his decision would leave the United States with a supply of warheads “fully consistent with American security.” At a joint news conference, the two leaders said they had found common ground on numerous issues—thewaron terrorism and the shape of a future government in Afghanistan among them. But they said disagreements remain about American plans to develop a missile defense shield, adding they would continue discussions on the subject over the next two days in Texas. “The position of Russia remains unchanged,” Putin said about his government’s objection to scrapping a 1972 treaty that bars national missile defenses. Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters “there will not be an agreement soon” on missile defense. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said, “Don’t expect any particular agreement at any particular time.” IT HAPPENED NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED TROOPERS TAKETO THE BILLBOARDS: Angered by an ACLU billboard aimed at recruiting plaintiffs for racial profiling lawsuits, New Jersey state troopers have responded with their own highway, signs — listing a toll-free number for motorists to compliment helpful troopers. SCHOOL SHOOTING: A17 year-old armed with two guns took a teacher and a classmate hostage in his school, then freed his captives and killed himself, authorities said. WORLD BRIEFS U.S. consul dies in Ukraine accident KIEV, UKRAINE-U.S. consul general Gregory Paul Hulka, his 10-year-old daughter Abigail and another relative were killed in a road accident in central Ukraine, the U.S. Embassy said Tuesday. Hulka, 44, was traveling Friday to a wedding in western Ukraine and was killed on a road between the towns of Uman and Nemyriv, the embassy said. The state-run UT-1 TV channel said the consul’s car tried to overtake a truck in poor visibility conditions and crashed into a minibus. , Hulka, of Ukrainian descent, was bom in Inglewood, Calif., and spent 15 years in the U.S. Foreign Service as a diplomat in Russia, Honduras and China. Milosevic charged with genocide THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS — Prosecutors with the U.N. war crimes tribunal have charged former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with genocide in Bosnia— perhaps the most serious accusation against him so far. The latest indictment was filed last week, prosecution spokeswoman Florence Hartmann said Monday. It must be confirmed by a judge before Milosevic is summoned to the court to plead. It was the third case filed against the ousted Yugoslav leader. Details of the Bosnia indictment weren’t available, but it was expected to accuse Milosevic of responsibility for the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. A plea of innocent has been entered on Milosevic’s behalf to all charges. IT HAPPENED NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED MORE RAIN IN ALGERIA: Rescuers sifted through caked mud Tuesday seeking survivors of flooding and mudslides that killed nearly 600 people in the Algerian capital, Algiers. More rain was forecast. 2700 BROAD RIVER RD. Unit K (next to Rush's) 798-BODY(2639) OPEN DAILY 10AM SUNDAY 12-6 ! ■ i j i PIERCING! i with puhetupejjffewelry « 1 By appointment only [ WELCOME BACK STUDENTS* Come to the Dungeon for Recreations decoration! • Body Piercing • Jewelry e1 All Kinds • Thousands of pieces of Piercing Jewelry including Gold • Candles • Incense • Stickers • Patches • Lava Lamps • T-shirts • Tapestries • Novelty Items and Games • Posters • Toys • Gag Gifts • Magnets • 4:20 Items • Sat's • Color Changing Glass •Cleaning Supplies • Collectibles from the '60's Lectures □ Term Paper ^ Job y Leave ’em f all behind ■ and get outta | TRAVEL | BOO.777.Q1ia UNIVERSAL Ptedentl a FREE ADVANCE SCREENING a*td Chat with METHOD MAN and REDMAN LIVE after the show! via satellite » ' Opens in theaters December 26 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA @ Russell House Theater 9:00 PM Monday November 26, 2001 FREE ADMISSION while passes last INFO?: call 777-7130 www.sa.sc.edu/cp * Passes available at the Russell House Information Desk. Passes required. Seating is limited and not guaranteed. Please arrive early. ID required. Rated R (Restricted - Under 17 Requires accompanying Parent Or Adult Guardian) for pervasive drug use and language, and tor sexual dialogue. Presented in association with Carolina Production Cinematic Arts. , ■ NCTWDM cvcmt TNum*