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Ambush teams strike U.S. forces in Baghdad BY CHARLES J. HANLEY Tlllj ASSOCIATED I'ltKSS BAGHDAD, IRAQ — Deadly am bush teams struck U.S. Army tar gets from west to north in the arc of resistance around Baghdad, and the interim Iraqi leader called Sunday for an immediate mobilization of the old Iraqi army to help the harried Americans. The United States would “speed the process of relieving the burden on its troops” by re calling the disbanded Iraqi mili tary, said Iyad Allawi, current president of the Iraqi Governing Council. The idea got a cool re ception, ’ however, from Baghdad’s U.S.-led occupation au thorities. Attackers killed two U.S. sol diers in a clash outside the north ern city of Kirkuk late Saturday, and others blasted a broken-down convoy in the western flashpoint city of Fallujah, setting off spec tacular explosions from an am munition truck. One Iraqi civilian was killed by the blast and at least four were wounded in Fallujah, either from the blasts or from gunfire from American troops as they sped away, hospital officials said. In the attack near Kirkuk, 160 miles north of Baghdad, an American-mounted patrol was ambushed by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire at 10:45 p.m. Saturday, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, 4th Infantry Division spokeswoman. The pa trol returned fire, but no addi tional enemy contact followed, she said. In addition to the two killed, a third American was wounded, Aberle reported. The deaths in Kirkuk brought to 103 the number of Americans killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. A to tal 338 Americans have died since the invasion of Iraq in March, 217 of them in combat. The command reported 15 at tacks on forces of the U.S.-led coalition in the 24 hours ended at midday Sunday, down from a re cent average of 22 a day. Most oc cur in the so-called “Sunni Triangle,” a Sunni Muslim-dom inated area stretching from the west of Baghdad to the north. The area was a strong base of support for Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party regime, toppled by the U.S. British invasion earlier this year. American officials blame the insurgency largely on die-hard Baathists, but many here believe other Iraqis resentful of the U.S. military presence have joined in the hit-run attacks. In an opinion-page piece in Sunday’s New York Times news paper, Allawi, head of the 25 member Governing Council for the month of October, said the de cision by U.S. occupation officials to dissolve the 400,000-man Iraqi army after the war’s end in April produced a “security vacuum that let criminals, die-hards of the former regime and interna tional terrorists flourish.” Allawi wrote that it is “vital” to recall Iraqi army units now, six months after they disinte grated before the U.S.-British mil itary advance. The U.S. govern ment has had little success en listing significant foreign mili tary help in Iraq, but a well placed official of the occupation authority reacted coolly Sunday to Allawi’s position. “I don’t think there’s a vast swath of people out there who want to serve in the Iraqi army,” said this official, speaking on con dition of anonymity. The Americans are slowly re building a new Iraqi army, hav ing trained only a 700-man bat talion thus far. Allawi’s council, meanwhile, issued a statement Sunday urg ing Iraqis “to remain calm and prevent incitement engulfing the country.” — Associated Press reporter Tarek al-Issawi in Fallujah, Iraq, contributed to this report. Merger CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 many of the 50 peer institutions mentioned in the committee report have models of arts and sciences programs like the one USC is con sidering. Sorensen said it would be included in his formal report. Harvey questioned the timing of the merger and expressed con cern over how much time and ef fort university personnel would need to make the merger smooth. “I can see how this will be good in the long run, but I’m concerned about where the funds are com ing from and how much time it will take to form the committees and do all these things to plan it,” she told the board via telephone. Sorensen reiterated that his top priority since arriving at USC has been to increase faculty salaries. He said a merged college could help raise the necessary funds be cause state appropriations haven’t provided for raises since the recurring budget reductions started less of college, are in need of rais es. Sorensen told the board that he would never recommend that a certain college get preference over any others for faculty raises. “I think “If the en rollment starts to increase, then what we need to do is hire additional faculty mem bers,” Sorensen said. “If the tuition “I can see how this will be good in the long run, but I’m concerned about where the funds are coming from...” HELEN HARVEY use TRUSTEE you’ll find right now that this is the No. 1 con cern among the faculty right now since we haven’t seen raises in sever al years,” Augustine said. revenue starts to go up, then we can afford to do that.” He said the university also needs to pursue grant money and private donations to help in crease salaries. Faculty Senate President James Augustine said he wants the administration to remember that all faculty members, regard Faculty Senate had no part in the merger report. But Augustine is the faculty representative to the Board of Trustees, and all mem bers of the merger committee are either liberal arts or science and math faculty members. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com STATE Non-native plant could hurt turtles HILTON HEAD ISLAND (AP) - Turtle experts say they are wor ried about potential dangers from a plant from Hawaii that is covering South Carolina dunes. Betsy Brabson, a South Carolina United Turtle Enthusiasts volunteer from Georgetown County, said some local landscapers had recom mended the plant, commonly called a round-leaf chastetree or a round-leaf Vitex, as a ground cover and dune protec tor. The plant can choke out na tive plants that local animals need to live and doesn’t provide any protection for dunes. Jury gets case in death-penalty trial BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) - The jury began deliberations Sunday in the death penalty trial of a man accused of killing two po lice officers who were respond ing to a domestic dispute call. Abdiyyah ben Alkebulanyahh, 41, had told the jury Saturday in testimony that he didn’t kill the officers. Acting as his own attorney, Alkebulanyahh took the stand Saturday for an hour of loud, an imated testimony. Prosecutor Randolph Mur daugh challenged the defen dant’s assertion, holding up the assault rifle identified by foren sic experts from the State Law Enforcement Division as the weapon used to shoot Cpl. Dyke. “A.J.” Coursen, 35, and Lance Cpl. Dana Lyle Tate, 44 in January 2002. NATION Minister accused of forcing men into sex GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - The minister who resigned last month as head of a nonprofit that built homes for the poor has been accused in three lawsuits of forcing male employees to participate in sex acts. A lawsuit filed Friday by Project Homestead Inc.’s former family services coordinator al leges the Rev. Michael King co erced or tried to coerce Homestead employees into hav ing sex. Mischell Sinclair of Greensboro also accuses some Homestead directors, board members of companies affiliat ed with Homestead, and some deacons and trustees of Garden of Prayer Baptist Church of par ticipating in sex acts with King or knowing that they were tak ing place and doing nothing to stop them. Former conjoined twin off ventilator DALLAS (AP) — One of the for mer conjoined Egyptian twins was taken off a ventilator and was breathing on his own Sunday, a week after doctors successfully separated him from his brother. The twins, Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim, continue to make small gains, including mo tion in their arms and legs and improved response to verbal cues from the family and medi cal team, according to Children’s Medical Center Dallas. They are in critical but stable condition in the pediatric inten sive care unit. WORLD Magician ends box stunt over London LONDON (AP) - Severely weakened by 44 days of self-im posed starvation, American ma gician David Blaine on Sunday left the clear plastic box that has been his home — and a major London tourist attraction. Thousands of spectators watched the 30-year-old Blaine exit the box after it was lowered to the banks of the Thames River. After living on only wa ter since Sept. 5, Blaine was tak en to a hospital for examination. Londoners spent the first fejn weeks of Blaine’s incarceratii® taunting the New York illusion ist, but in recent weeks ridicule has turned to respect, prompt ing large crowds of well-wishers to watch Blaine. Beloved ex-Bosnian president dies at 78 SARAJEVO, BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA (AP) - Former President Alija Izetbegovic, a re luctant warrior who steered Bosnia through independence and the worst bloodshed in Europe after World War II, died Sunday. He was 78. The beloved leader of Bosnia’s Muslims, died of heart disease complicated by fra^fe tured ribs he suffered in a fall said home, cardiology chief Dr. Amila Arslanagic. The low-key Izetbegovic was a father figure to many Muslims and was brought to power in the multiethnic republic of Bosnia in the 1990 elections, then a part of Yugoslavia, and helped set the scene for ethnic war less than two years later. Homecoming CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 on Homecoming,” Sowell said. Dreiling said whether Clean Carolina becomes an annual homecoming event depends on its success this year. “Hopefully, it will be a success and we can continue doing it on Homecoming with Carolina Productions,” she said. Another change in store for Homecoming is a revised Homecoming king and queen se lection process. In the past, any student organization could nomi nate as many candidates as its members want ed, and any member of an organization could nominate himself or her splf This year, however, student or ganizations can only nominate two candidates each, one for king and one for queen, and members cannot nominate themselves. Sowell said the rest of the se lection process will remain the same, and the event will be judged by community members and USC faculty members and staff. The king and queen will be crowned at the Homecoming Showcase on Wednesday at 7 p.m^ at the Colonial Center. WIS’s J<^R Pinner will host the event. Other events to be held this week include a float-building par ty in the Greek Village on Thursday, the parade and Cockfest on Friday, and a tailgate party and a Tea Dance before the game Saturday. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com SURFYOURSELF Check out the full Homecoming event schedule at www.dallygamecock.com FREE DINNER AND CONCERT laurel stender I 6:30-8:00PM i | 1 702 Greene St, *“*0"'9**' For more information, call 799-0212 / \ Of emaif icookcOshandonpfes.org M L-• jf! Presbyterian Student Association Garage CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 twice on Saturday nights this semester alone and are in des perate need of improvements, said USC spokesman Russ McKinney. Another initial improvement is a $1.2 million renovation of the Koger Center that will include fix ing its roof, adding new carpets and painting. Kelly said the Koger Center is the campus building that gener ates the third most external rev enue after Williams-Brice Stadium and the Colonial Center, which both generate funds for ath letics and not academics. He said the need for the facility’s im provement is one of the priorities in addressing deferred mainte nance. Trustee Tony Lister urged ad ministrators to ensure that the center’s upkeep be funded com pletely by ticket sales, and Kelly said such an effort would be made. The financing plan relies on the university’s state-approved bonding authority. Sorensen said using just internal funds would take the university more than 80 years to finance the entire pro ject. Instead, he said he hopes the bond revenue can be repaid in 20 years with increased tuition rev enue from a record number of students and the public-private partnerships he hopes to estab lish through the research cam pus. “We have talked with our fi nancial advisers, we’ve talked to everyone to understand if it would be a problem to have us use this money lent to us, and we have de termined that no one finds it prob Capital financing plan provisions The capital financing plan provides for, among other things, the following maintenance and renovation projects: ^ ♦ $5 million for the relocation of the band hall on Main Street ^ ♦ $20 million for renovations and expansions of LeConte and Petigru ♦ $1.2 million for the continuation of Russell House improvements ♦ $3.5 million for the streetscaping of Wheat Street ♦ $4.6 million for Columbia Hall renovations ♦ $1.4 million for Wade Hampton renovations ♦ $1.02 million for Roost renovations ♦ More than $5 million for top priority building maintenance needs. lematic,” Kelly told the board’s ex ecutive committee. Kelly said students pay a $128 institutional bonding fee every semester to help in repaying such bonds. He said these projects have the support of the state en gineer’s office and the state ener gy office. The university still needs mon ey for several renovation projects, including $40 million for the Jones Physical Science Center and $10 million for the Byrnes building. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com — \ uRtyexdettd I " ' - /4feant(4te*it& • Study Area • Lounge Area •Multi Station Computer Lab •Fax & Modem Stationlinked to USC Campus •Tennis Courts •Swimming Pools • State-of-the-art Fitness Center • 1-4 Bedroom Apartments i .J Look for Sign Up Forms in Grand Market Place, Gamecock Park, Gibbes Court, Patio Cafe and Bates. Sign up by November 14th for a chance to win a DVD player! -f-1-\—