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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 2000)
1 REPLANT Rooted in Tradition March 4, 2000 Registration Form Organization: Contact Person: Telephone: E-mail Address: # of People Attending: ** If you are signing up as an individual, try to find 4 or more Ags to come out with you! Please indicate your time and site preferance 8:00 11:00 1:00 Bryan/ College Station . Lake Somerville Due February 18th to the Fish Aides Desk in Koldus 127. There will be 2 informationals held. You must send a representative to one of the informational meetings. The informational meet ings are February 23 and 24 at 7:00 pm in Rudder 501. LEARN TO FLY NOW At United Flight Systems THE EXPERIENCED FLIGHT SCHOOL AVIATION CAREER TRACKS ■ While working on your college degree, accomplish your pilot’s certificates at the same time Upon finishing your college career, you can secure a job as an airline pilot. Get Your Pilot License for as little as s 50 a month!! vi Cessna College Station Easterwood Airport 409 260-6322 www.unitedflight.com i Easily awarded student loans (24 hr. award notice] i Private thru advanced training Aircraft rental Pilot Shop i F.A.A. approved 141 school ■ VA eligible Benefits TACKLING theTOUGH c UESTIONS What is Faith? How do you get it? How do you keep it? COMING to the Episcopal Student Center Sunday Evenings 6-8 p.m. beginning February 13th SmallCyrdups will pe led bv ASM Faculty loin us cnytime Hus semesrer Call 409/693-4245 for information Part-Time Opportunities $7.00 an hour!!!! We consider all types of majors and provide complete training, so don't miss this opportunity to visit UCS in Rudder Tower to see if you're the person we're looking for. Monday Tuesday 507 Rudder 507 Rudder This is a great opportunity to talk with some of our employ ees, fill out some paperwork, or just make an appointment to speak with us at a later date. We will have snacks, beverages and free koozies. The rooms in Rudder Tower can be reached by going to the elevators next to the MSC Box Office. We will be there between 9am and 4pm. We look forward to talking to you. 409-595-2609 www.universalcomputersys.com DCS hires non-tobacco users only E.O.E. NEWS Page 6 THE BATTALION Hijackers release 150 hostages, surrendei [lay February STANSTED, England (AP) — The hijackers of an Afghan plane released about 150 hostages safely and surrendered early today, ending a four-day standoff at an airport outside London. Police said they arrested 21 people who came off the aircraft. Sixty people from the flight applied for asylum for themselves plus 14 dependents. There has been specu lation, especially in British newspapers, that the Ariana Airlines jet was seized during its domestic flight in Afghanistan and brought on a meandering route to Lon don as part of an elaborate bid for political asylum. The hijackers did not make any demand for asylum, but “it became clear in the last hour of the negotiations that they were expressing concern about the political situation in Afghanistan,” said David Stevens, chief constable of Essex County police. Home Secretary Jack Straw suggested that anyone who had been on the flight with the intention of getting asylum would be considered part of the hijacking plot. “I am determined that no one should consider that there is any benefit to be obtained by hijacking,” Straw told the House of Commons, adding that he would per sonally handle the asylum requests. Those arrested were not immediately identified. Police recovered four handguns, five knives, one set of brass knuckles, two detonators and two grenades, though they did not appear to have fuses, Stevens said. He anticipated a long process of interviewing all the people aboard the aircraft, mainly through translators, to build a case. “We are now into a very complex and involved criminal investigation,” John Broughton, an Essex County assistant chief constable, said shortly after the drama ended. Before dawn, the passengers left the aircraft with lit tle warning — first a group of around 85 at 3:50 a.m., then 65 more two hours later. Women and children came “This is good news, happy news for our staff and for all the people of Afghanistan." — Mohammed Daoud Sharafi head of the ticket office at the Ariana Airlines office first down the runway, illuminated by bright lights from police vehicles on the tarmac. The men exiting the plane held their hands in the air. The released hostages were taken to a safe location for medical tests, police said. Before the releases, po lice had said 151 people were on the plane, including 21 children. After it was confirmed no one remained on board, the Boeing 727 was swept to make sure it was safe for investigators, Broughton said. St. John’s wort dulls effect of prescription medicines LONDON (AP) — St. John's wort, a popular herbal remedy used to relieve mild depression, can interfere with drugs used to treat HIV-infected people and heart transplant patients, new research shows. Scientists said the findings add to growing concerns that the herb may in teract dangerously with prescription medicines. Two studies published this week in The Lancet medical journal found that St. John’s wort dulls the effectiveness of both the HIV medi cine indi navir and the transplant drug cy closporin, used to sup press trans plant pa tients’ immune sys- “These [herbal remedies] really aren't necessarily benign compounds" — Dr. Fred Valentine professor of medicine at New York University Medical Center terns so their bodies don’t reject the new organs. Although both studies involved few participants, independent experts say the way they were conducted and the strength of the results render the findings significant. In one study, the level of medicine in the bloodstream when St. John’s wort was taken dropped dramatically enough for patients to begin to reject their trans planted hearts. The other showed that St. John’s wort depressed the effectiveness of a drug used to treat HIV patients. “This is a cautionary note,” said Dr. Fred Valentine, professor of medicine at New York University Medical Center, who was not connected with either study. “These [herbal remedies] really aren’t necessarily benign compounds.” St. John’s wort is widely used in Ger many as a treatment for depression and Last month, CVS Corp., the second- largest drugstore chain in the United States, said it had started asking cus tomers to list the herbal supplements they use — in addition to their prescription drugs — in an effort to avoid potentially dangerous drug interactions. In one of the new studies in The Lancet, Stephen Piscitelli and other re searchers at the Clinical Center at the Na tional Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., gave eight HIV-negative volunteers indinavir, a class of HIV drug called a protease inhibitor, three times a day. On the experiment’s third day, St. John’s wort tablets were added and the volunteers continued taking both pills for two Weeks. Blood tests were taken the day before the volunteers started taking the herb and at the experiment’s end, to see if the con centration of the HIV medicine in their blood changed by adding St. John’s wort. Social Justice in Islam & Christianity An Inter-faith Dialogue Presented by the Muslim Students’ Association Thursday, Feb. 17th MSC 224-225 < 7pm Dr. Ihsan Bagby (Shaw University, North Carolina) Dr. Bob Mayfield (Dir. of Baptist Student Ministry, TAMU) Free Admission! Refreshments served! Fore more info, email islaml01@tamu.edu or call 693-5463 The plane was seized early Sunday, 20 r a domestic flight from the Afghan capital, Kabul made stops in Uzbekistan, Kazakstan and 1 landing in London. The end of the standoff capped daysofi cal negotiations between British authoritiesa hostage-takers. Just before the releases this morning, lackers had left the aircraft for a meeting with! on the tarmac, deputy chief constable Joe Edwa The atmosphere became tense Tuesday four crew members — the captain, second cap officer and flight engineer — scrambled < pit w indow and down a rope. Hours later, theb ejected a flight attendant, who was seen tumblins| a set of stairs at the rear of the plane. I lowever, communications between police: LM junior jackers resumed later in the day. Throughouttbe jiiversity o: authorities insisted the armed men had made no: demands, political or otherwise. The men, believed to be Afghans, had rec. only that food, water and other comfort ite brought to the plane, police said. , ed, 25 miles north of London, the hijackersrda total of 22 passengers. On Monday and Tuesi hostages were let go at Stansted. In Kabul, officials at the tiny state-run Anr.M lines expressed relief today at the hostage drami I “This is good new s, happy news for our staffs I Mavbe the all the people of Afghanistan,’' said NlohaiiinieL» im i. Sharafi, head of the ticket office at the airline'scf Sinless in i 1 I victory ov News in Brief |xas A&M m ,2-7 Big 12] Politicians fight for affirmative actiof*;,fcok anxiety’. Some U.S. physicians have start ed recommending it to patients and re port that the herb has shown effective ness in stemming depression. “There is definitely a potential prob lem with St. John's wort that is only re cently becoming apparent,” said Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council in Austin, Texas. This information “is coining out as the herb in creases in popularity and is being used by mil lions of peo ple in com bination with over- the-counter or prescrip tion med ications,” Blumenthal said. TALLAHASSEE. Fla. (AP) — For weeks, leaders in Florida’s black com munity have protested against Gov. Jeb Bush’s plan to replace racial and gender preferences in pertain state operations. Now, women are also entering the fray against Bush's “One Florida” pro posal, which would eliminate race and gender as factors in university admis sions and the awarding of state contracts. “From day one, the group hurt most by One Florida is women,” said Demo cratic state Rep. Debbie Wassennan Schultz, one of several female legislators who joined with groups like the Nation al Organization for Women on Wednes day to defend affirmative action. “Whatever crumbs he’s using will not help women in this state." Wassennan Schultz ascribed politi cal motives to the plan, saying it was an attempt to stop an anti-affirmative ac tion ballot measure by Californian Ward Connerlv and a way to boost the ;sider Icx«i ■xiffis set f< f The Aggk game stn tial prospects of Bushi : (iov. George W. Bush plan diificu in the school anteed si ties. Tin businc norities t< contracts and streamlines iheap I. A&M co Jer the plan, students who«™ , , , ,/msas, Iowa It enough course load andS r „ , r Ima State t\ top Ju pci cent ot tnei:. f graduating class would be p tlaI f” admission to some stater; ' lcl - a ' c,v Ided with ar plan would also encoi scs ow ned by women anil ate last Satu bid for state menaftion this wd Alter a 3: lion process. The issue came to a head in Jai when tw o black lawmakers staged;/ hour sit-in inside Lt. Gov. Frank Is: gan’s office, demanding that Bit scind his executive order to put Florida in place. Bush refused, but he agreedt -Watkins at lie hearings on the plan. Tlie t"'s(losingstrea so far. in Tampa and Miami, han‘3 dominated by critics. A third wa planned for today in TaWtescc 'We gave fT to get bai |eir legs a li TheAggr rvices of se ho has mist ith a brok NASA prepares for Endeavour liftoff CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) With only one day left until liftoff. NASA said today it’s tracking no prob lems with space shuttle Endeavour and the weather looks excellent. Forecasters said there is a 90 percent chance the weather will cooperate for Endeavour’s second launch attempt, at 12:30 p.m. Friday. The only concern, and a slight one at that, is crosswind. “Things are looking awfully good,” shuttle weather officer Ed Priselac said at a morning news briefing. Last week, rain and thick clouds,, along with a computer problem, pre vented NASA from sending Endeavour on a long-delayed mission to create the finest map ever of the Earth. The 11 -day mission had been planned for last Sep tember, but was put on hold because of damaged shuttle wiring. The computerized unit that mal functioned in the final minutes of the countdown Jan. 31 has sincebeit placed with a spare. NASA has replaced a fewote ponents aboard Endeavour, name!)' ble and a navigation-satellite recei During the past week, shuttle agers also made progress in tb vestigation into engine pump seat A seal that should frivc beentr away as a factory reject someho* ed up flying aboard Discovery cember. NASA was able to verif quality of all hut two of the seals in Endeavour's engine pumps, but decided to proceed will week’s launch attempt anywayfi the unlikelihood of another detfc seal turning up. Engineers have since found tk perwork exonerating one ofthost remaining seals, and no more deft parts have popped up althougl search continues, said shuttle pro? manager Ron Dittemore. CITuck’s Pizz PIZZA STROJVIBOLI • HOAGIt Medium One Topping Pizj s 3.50 "Order 3 for free delivery 4oa 693-BUCI MSC Film Society regrets to inform you that Sandra Bullock will not he attending Texas Film Festival this year due to scheduling difficulties, but hopes next year things will work out. ' My heart is breaking because I can’t be with you. Jimlm