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STATE Gephardt ads make statewide debut COLUMBIA (AP) - Democrat Dick Gephardt’s presidential campaign began airing televi sion ads in South Carolina on Thursday. The Missouri U.S. House member’s 30-second statewide ads come as he tries to gain ground in the state’s first-in-the South presidential primary on Feb. 3. Gephardt has already been using radio ads for more than a month here. His television message de buted three days after retired Gen. Wesley Clark hit the air waves here. Seneca native and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards began his ad cam paign in August and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean also ran television spots here briefly. Army halts night training after death FORT JACKSON (AP) - The Army has suspended training exercises at night that use live ammunition after a soldier was shot and killed earlier this week. Pvt. Joseph E. Jurewic, 18, of Altamonte Springs, Fla., is the first soldier to die during train ing at Night Infiltration Course since it was opened at Fort Jackson 20 years ago, the Army said. He was killed Monday during an exercise that has recruits crawling 100 meters on their bel lies while bullets are fired above their heads and explosions oc cur nearby. Inmate died of head injury, coroner says CHARLESTON (AP) - An in mate who died at the Charleston L County jail last summer likely i- died from head trauma from an accidental fall, the coroner’s of fice said. The Charleston County Coroner’s office spent more than three months investigating the July death of Ronald Risher, who died three days after arriv ing at the jail. Deputy Coroner Judy Koelpin said there was no evidence Risher was beaten or injured by another person. She said the most likely cause of the injury was a fall from a cot in the jail infirmary. Risher, of North Charleston, was arrested July 20 on charges of causing a disturbance. Police , say he had marijuana and a f pipe. NATION Limbaugh accused of illegal drug use WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. (AP) — Investigators who raided the offices of Rush Limbaugh’s doc tors said in search warrants filed Thursday that the conservative radio commentator engaged in illegal drug use and “doctor shopping” for prescription painkillers. The warrants — which name four doctors and several pre scription drugs — show investi gators were looking for records including prescription dis bursements, appointment sched ules, receipts and a medical questionnaire when they raided the offices Nov. 25. Limbaugh denied any wrong doing to listeners on his radio show earlier Thursday and ac cused prosecutors in Palm Beach County of going on a “fishing expedition.” More women apply to medical school BOSTON (AP) - For the first time ever, women outnumbered men among applicants this fall to the nation’s medical schools — a milestone in the slow but steady increase in the number of aspiring female doctors. Nearly 35,000 men and wom en applied for the 2003-2004 school year, a 3.4 percent in crease over last year and the first increase since 1996. More than 17,600 of the applicants — 50.8 percent — were women, ac cording to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Nationwide this fall, women were closer than ever to making up the majority of new students, constituting 49.7 percent of the entering class of more than 16,500. Drinking could lead to brain-tissue loss DALLAS (AP) — Low to mod erate drinking might cause a loss of brain tissue in middle-age people, a study found. The researchers also found that such alcohol consumption does not lower the risk of a stroke — contradicting findings from previous studies. Heavy drinking is known to raise the risk of both brain atro phy and stroke, but findings on the effects of low to moderate drinking have varied. It moves doctors a step closer to understanding what amounts of alcohol are harmful, said Dr. Edgar J. Kenton III, a professor of clinical neurology at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. WORLD Guerrillas wound 6 Iraqis in Baghdad BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AP) - Guerrillas fired on a police sta tion Thursday in a town west of Baghdad, wounding six Iraqis, and a roadside bomb destroyed a U.S. armored vehicle in the capital. Two rockets struck the Ramadi Police Directorate, 100 miles west of Baghdad, as offi cers gathered inside to receive their monthly salaries, said Maj. Samir Habib. Two policemen and four civilians were wound ed, he said. Ramadi, a town on the main highway between Iraq and Jordan, is part of the so-called Sunni Triangle - a region north and west of Baghdad that has seen fierce resistance to the U.S. led occupation. OPEC to hold oil production steady VIENNA, AUSTRIA (AP) - OPEC members announced Thursday they would hold steady current oil production targets but meet again in February to consider cutting output to match an expected springtime decline in demand. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies about a third of the world’s oil, will keep its dai ly production ceiling at 25.4 mil lion barrels of crude, spokesman Omar Ibrahim told a news con ference. Despite the oil market’s fears that OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, might seek permanently higher prices for crude, the group made no change in its de sired price range of $22 to $28 per barrel. Bishops vow better child protection DUBLIN, IRELAND (AP) - Roman Catholic bishops, re leasing a damning report on their handling of child sex abuse scandals, apologized Thursday and promised to im prove systems for protecting children. The 332-page report, stem ming from two years of work by psychologists at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, detailed the damage the scandals have done to victims, the church and wider society in this over whelmingly Catholic nation. The report, which was com missioned by the church, made 19 recommendations for pro tecting children, handling com plaints from alleged victims, and training and supporting priests to prevent future abuse. Bush drops steel import tariffs, accused of ‘betrayal’ by industry BY MARTIN CRUTSINGER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — President Bush on Thursday scrapped import tar iffs he had imposed last year to help the battered U.S. steel indus try, defusing a threatened trade war with Europe and Japan but iv creating political problems for Bush in battleground states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. The president declared that the 21 months the steep tariffs had been in place had given the U.S. industry a chance to consolidate and modernize and were no longer needed as a result of “changed eco nomic circumstances.” However, the decision prompt ed an angry response from the steel industry and its political sup porters, who accused Bush of breaking a campaign promise and turning his back on an industry that is in need of protection from foreign competition. Leo W.Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers of America, called Bush’s action “clear evi dence of capitulating to European blackmail and a sorry betrayal of y American steelworkers and their communities.” Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said the administration had “shattered any credibility it ever had with the steel industry in West Virginia and across the country.” The steel tariffs carried high po litical stakes in Rust Belt and Midwestern states where the mar gin between Bush and Democrat A1 Gore was slim in 2000, and where the president is determined to prevail in 2004. Bush scored points with the sanctions in steel-producing states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia — which hold 46 of the 270 electoral votes at stake in 2004. But the tariffs angered small manufacturers and their workers in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, which account for 37 electoral votes. Adding to the political pressure, the 15-nation European Union had drawn up a $2.2 billion retaliation list targeting a wide range of prod ucts from other key election states Bush is hoping to win next year such as Florida, California, Louisiana and the Carolinas. Within minutes of the presi dent’s announcement that the tar iffs were to expire at midnight Thursday, the EU said it was with drawing its $2.2 billion list of tar geted products. Japan, South Korea and other countries that had joined in a suc cessful challenge of the tariffs be fore the World Trade Organization had said they would also drop their retaliation threats if the tar iffs were eliminated. “These sanctions... were there as a tool for compliance,” said EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy. “They’ve complied and the sanctions will disappear.” Bush’s action was criticized by Democrats campaigning for his job. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said that despite Bush’s claims “the steel industry needs ad ditional breathing room to get back on its feet.” Rep. Dick Gephardt, D Mo., said Bush’s action demon strated a “callous disregard for the workers and the communities whose jobs and livelihoods have been decimated by unfair compe tition.” Former Gen. Wesley Clark said Bush needed to “listen to the .% 2.6 million manufacturing work ers who’ve lost their jobs” while he has been in office. However, Republican free-trade supporters and industries hurt by the steel tariffs praised Bush’s de cision, saying it had averted a de bilitating fight with some of America’s biggest trading partners. William E. Gaskin, head of the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition Steel Task Force, said ending tariffs was the “right decision for the 13 million workers in steel consuming industries... and the overall U.S. economy.” Bush said restructuring has oc curred to allow the steel industry to become more competitive, more flexible union contracts have been worked out, and the outlook has improved for the U.S. and global economies, boosting worldwide demand and helping to lift prices and steel company profits. “I strongly believe that America’s workers can compete with'anyone in the world as long as we have a fair and level playing field,” Bush said in a statement. To soften the blow of his deci sion, Bush announced that an ear ly warning monitoring system that had been put in place as part of the original tariffs would con tinue in operation. Under this program, steel im porters must apply for special im port licenses, supplying the gov ernment and the domestic steel industry with early information on the amount of foreign steel that will be coming into the country. Bush said this information would mean “my administration can quickly respond to future im port surges that could unfairly damage the industry.” - Egypt urges Palestinian factions to offer truce . BY SAM F. GHATTAS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CAIRO, EGYPT - Egypt urged Palestinians factions meeting here Thursday to come up with a truce offer — and to give their leaders the authority to negotiate the terms of a cease-fire with Israel. Palestinian factions are hold ing talks aimed at producing a cease-fire with the Israelis, with Egypt applying pressure and Israel hinting it could reduce its own military actions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip if a truce were declared. Egyptian intelligence chief Gen. Omar Suleiman began the session by strongly urging the Palestinians to agree to a total cease-fire conditioned on Israel’s reciprocation, according to Palestinian delegates at the closed-door meeting. He also called on the tactions to give Palestinian leaders the au thority to work directly with the Israelis to hash out the terms of the cease-fire. “What is required is that you give the Palestinian authority the opportunity to negotiate,” he was quoted by one of the delegates as saying. To press his case, the Egyptian general pulled out a piece of pa per and told the Palestinian rep resentatives: “Our plan is ready, but we don’t want to impose one on you. You are free to talk to one another.” He indicated that he expected a reply by Saturday. Earlier, Suleiman told dele gates the United States was eager for a breakthrough next year — an election year. The Egyptian in telligence boss also said an ac cord now could further feed op position among Israelis to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s policies, one delegate said, insisting on anonymity. “It is possible to take advan tage of these conditions to come up with a cease-fire that the Israeli side will feel compelled to commit to,” Suleiman was quoted as saying. “This requires that the groups think about the political moves to stop the aggression against the Palestinian people.” After Suleiman spoke, repre sentatives of a dozen Palestinian factions began meetings among themselves, with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia set to join the talks at a later stage. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the militant groups behind most sui cide bombing attacks on Israelis, have joined the talks despite their inclination against a cease-fire. They are under pressure to ac cept a truce—from Egypt, Yasser Arafat’s mainstream Fatah fac tion and smaller groups backing Fatah in hopes of gaining some say in future talks with Israel. In the clearest statement yet that Israel will respond favorably to a cease-fire offer, a defense offi cial suggested Israel would scale back its military operations if the Palestinians pledge to halt attacks. “If the Palestinians agree to a cease-fire in Cairo, it’s certainly not out of the question that Israel will agree to restrain its military activity,” Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio on Thursday. Arafat, whose position on a cease-fire remains crucial, de spite U.S. and Israeli efforts to iso late him, gave public backing to the Cairo talks on Thursday. “The most important thing is to try to reach an agreement... in order to implement the ‘road map’ (and) stop the daily Israeli escalation against our people,” he told the pan-Arab satellite sta tion Al-Jazeera. Egypt wants the cease-fire to eventually lead to a resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, a goal of the United States. U.S. en voy William Bums was in the re gion this week to press both sides to fulfill their obligations under the “road map,” the latest peace plan backed by Washington and the international community. An inter-Palestinian agree “ • ment on a cease-fire offer would strengthen Qureia’s hand in ne gotiating with Sharon when the two meet. A meeting has been in the works since last month but no date has been set. . The Palestinians — ranging from the mainstream to Islamic militants and Marxists — have met informally with Egyptian of ficials and among themselves since Tuesday. Delegates to the talks say they are weighing both a partial cease fire — to halt strikes on civilians inside Israel’s territory — and a broader truce, being pushed by Egypt, that would curtail attacks . on Israeli soldiers and Jewish set tlers in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has reason to agree to the cease-fire; the last accord arranged by Egypt in June significantly re duced violence for six weeks. But Zalman Shoval, an advis er to Sharon, stressed that a cease-fire must be total and be fol lowed by the dismantling of mili tant groups as required by the “road map” peace plan. “Israel welcomes a cease-fire, but it must be the first step,” he said.. unuci me iuau map, Palestinians would stop violence and make efforts to disarm vio lent cells, while Israel would halt attacks against Palestinians, withdraw forces from Palestinian towns,-freeze settlements and take steps to normalize Palestinian life. The “road map” calls for establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005. Qureia has not accepted U.S. and Israeli demands to disman tle radical groups, especially Hamas, because they have a strong political constituency among Palestinians. Apparently giving Qureia some latitude, Secretary of State Colin Powell last week suggested the Palestinian prime minister could take steps short of taking up arms against militants and still find support from the inter national community. Fully Furnished 2 & 4 bedrooms Individual leases Private bedrooms Fully equipped kitchen Full size washer & dryer Electronic alarm system Fire protection monitor place USC udents _I have chosen to live for 10 years running... Swimming pool 24 hr. access: Computer, copier, Pool tables, fitness room Basketball, volleyball, tennis Free reserved parking Free cable plus HBO \ imini / Mill I oxUnivers ity *6* COMMONS apaRTmenTS 800 Alexander Rd ***** Cayce, SC 29033 (located adjacent to Parkland Plaza) ^ ^ ^ m m m www.universitycommons.com 939*0444 Hours: M-F 9 am - 6 pm Sat: 10 am - 4 pm ■■ ■ '■ •'< ...