2- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 6, 2000

NATION/WORLD


ELECTION
-'ontinued from Page 1
administration will be ready to seize
the moment."
An NBC News poll suggested that
6 percent of Americans think Gorc
should concede, but the vice president
showed no sign of surrender.
He dispatched running mate Joe
Lieberman to Capitol Hill, where
Democrats pledged their support - at
least until the Florida high court rules
on Gore's appeal.

"Al Gore and Joe Lieberman enjoy
strong support with our caucus for
what they're doing to try to get every
vote counted in Florida," House
Minority Leader Richard Gephardt
said.
Lieberman said Sauls was "wrong
on the law" and noted that the Democ-
ratic ticket narrowly won the national
popular vote. Neither candidate can
top the required 270 electoral votes
without winning Florida's 25, which
Bush's certified 537-vote victory
would give him.

Morning after pill
may be available
over the counter

AcROSS THE NATION
U.S. students still trail in science, math
WASHINGTON - American students performed a little better on the latest
round of global science and math tests, but still lag behind students in nearly half
the countries that gave the uniform quiz - including Australia, Canada andsev-
eral European and Asian nations.
Although U.S. eighth graders in 1999 tested better than eighth graders four years
earlier, American children appeared to decline in comparison to foreign students
they moved through the school system. Fourth-graders from 1995 scored above t
average of other nations tested; eighth graders last year scored below that averag.
The report showed prosperous Asian nations such as Japan and Singapore
topping most categories over wealthy nations on other continents. Developed
countries stagnated on boosting the share of students that reached top levels, the
scores indicated
A report of the testing describes three sets of math and science results: Aver-
age scores of eighth-grade-level students tested in 38 nations in 1999; scores
from 23 nations that tested middle-schoolers in 1995 and 1999; and scores from
the 17 countries that tested fourth-graders in 1995 and eighth-graders in 1999.
Education officials around the globe reacted yesterday.
"The study shows a certain tiredness of school systems in developed cot
tries, whereas schools in emerging countries are more lively" said Benedew
Vertecchi, head of the institute that conducted the research in Italy.

I U

Want A
Challenge?

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Stepping
into a morally charged debate yesterday,
the American Medical Association
called on the Food and Drug Adminis-
tration to consider making the "morn-
ing-after" pill available over the counter.
The AMA's policy-making House of
Delegates approved the resolution
without discussion during a conven-
tion in Orlando. The AMA has
293,000 doctors as members.
"This is a wonderful decision by the
AMA. This is a terrific resolution," said
Joan Coombs, senior vice president of
Planned Parenthood. She said wide-
spread use of the morning-after pill
could prevent 1.7 million unplanned
pregnancies and 800,000 abortions
annually.
Taken within three days of sexual
intercourse, the prescription morning-
after pill prevents ovulation or, if that
has already occurred, blocks implanta-

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tion of a fertilized egg in the uterus.
AMA members suggested that some
women might not be able to get the pill
in time to prevent a pregnancy unless
they are made available over the counter.
The morning-after pill is essentially
a high-dose birth control pill. It is dif-
ferent from the RU-486 abortion pill,
which acts by causing contractions to
expel an embryo from the uterus. RU-
486 can be given up to seven weeks
after the start of the last menstrual
period.
There are two morning-after pills on
the market: Preven and Plan B. They
were approved for U.S. use within the
past two years,
For the FDA to make them available
over the counter, a pharmaceutical
company would have submit an appli-
cation. The FDA would take into
account such things as the drug's writ-
ten instructions and its safety history.
E-MAILD
Continued from Page 1
That's the idea, Place said, adding that
she hopes the site will eventually be as
good as or better than" other similar
programs.
Web-based e-mail is an integral part
of the program, but the portal offers a
wealth of other services. The current
roster of services includes classified
ads, personal calendars and to-do lists,
University announcements and head-
lines from The Michigan Daily.
There are links to Wolverine
Access, the University's Web gate-
way, course tools and the online
campus directory.
The site currently consists of two
pages - a home page and a page of
services. The site's planners hope to
add more pages to the site to allow
users to catalog other favorite sites.
Place said users should eventually
be able to customize the site to corre-
spond with their own personal prefer-
ences and the site should include
options to organize the order in which
services appear on-screen.
Users also may be able to turn ser-
vices off altogether.
Place said she eventually hopes to
incorporate weather updates into the
site.
Skins, similar to those available for
Winamp, may be an option in the
future, Place said.
Place said she doesn't expect the
site to grow very fast at first. She said
she hopes the rest of the University
"will see it as a critical resource" but
not an immediate replacement for
nwwuichecdu. The improvement is
"long past due," Place said.
Michigan Student Assembly Vice
President Jim Secreto said the Universi-
ty's e-mail system has been identified
for several years as an area that needs
mprovement.
"E-mail is an integral part of a mod-
ern college student's life," Secreto
said.
The program will join a handful of
others on college campuses nation-
wide.
The University of California at Los
Angeles implemented a similar pro-
gram, mnw : mv.uc/a.edu, two years ago.
That site has expanded and now fea-
tures such perks as online textbook
orders and weather and traffic updates.
Emory University made the change
to a software-based system called
LearnLink in 1998, Emory junior Jeffl
VanDam said. The system includes e-
mail, campus announcements, calen-
dars and classified ads as well as
conferences, chats and a program that
resembles America Online's Instant
Messenger.
Professors have the option of post-

ing, class notes and assignments on
the system.
VanDam, who arrived at Emory
the first year LearnLink was used,
said students did not initially like
LearnLink because it was different,
but the program has since become
an indispensable part of Emory
life.
"It's accepted that everyone is
addicted to it, and if you're not then it's
like 'what are you doing with your-
self,"' VanDam said.
The Telnet system that LearnLink
replaced still functions at Emory,
but "no one really uses it," VanDam
said.
Although mnyuemich.edu is set to be
released to the general University pop-
ulation in January. there are some
issues regarding the programthat need
to be addressed.
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FDA warns of risks
linked to Accutane
WASHINGTON - Patients who
take the powerful acne drug Accutane.
will soon get special warning brochures
outlining side effects - including a
possible, but not proven, link to suicide.
Patients must then sign a paper certify-
ing they understand those risks, health
officials told Congress yesterday.
The MedGuide warning brochures,
attached to every bottle sold - along
with tougher patient informed-consent
forms - may be distributed as early
as next month, said Jonca Bull, the
Food and Drug Administration's
deputy drug chief.
Also, the FDA is developing
tougher restrictions on who can take
Accutane and which doctors can pre-
scribe it, Bull told the House Govern-
ment Reform Committee. This
so-called registry is an attempt to
counter another Accutane problem:
2,000 women have gotten pregnant
while taking Accutane since the drug
began selling in 1982. Accutane caus-
es severe birth defects.

A registry could be in place "as
early as next summer,' Bull said.
Her announcement came as law-
makers questioned whether Accutane
causes suicidal depression in teen-
agers - a charge made yesterday by
one teen who attempted suicide the
parents of two teens who died.
Texas sets record
with 38th execution
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A Ian
convicted in the rape and murder of a
7-year-old girl was executed by lethal
injection Tuesday in Texas' 38th execu-
tion of the year -- the most by ny
state in U.S. history.
Two more killers have executiO
dates this week, so the record could
reach 40. They are the last executions
scheduled in Texas this year. Texas car-
ried out 37 executions in 1997, the.re-
vious U.S. record.
Garry Dean Miller was condemned
to die for the 1988 rape and betg
death of April Marie Wilson, whose
body was dragged through clump' of
cactus and left in brush outside AbilelO

AROUND THE WORLD

v .
7.'
1~

Didn't get The Michigan Daily today?
Fig. 1
Human Circulatory System

7 killed near polling
stations in S. Africa
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
- A violent shootout that began near
a polling station killed six people yes-
terday duringa South Africa's second
all-race municipal elections.
A seventh person was killed at
another polling station, though offi-
cials doubted the death was election-
related.
Despite the shootings, election offi-
cials and analysts said the poll was
orderly and relatively free of the wide-
spread violence and intimidation that
marred previous elections.
"In previous elections, we've had
voting stations overrun by panicky
mobs, and there's been a bit more
obvious intimidation," said Paul
Graham, executive director of the
Institute for Democracy in South
Africa.
The ruling African National Con-
gress is expected to win control of a
majority of the nation's towns and
cities. hit it is ri-reivin a strong chal-
(II

lenge from the main opposition
Democratic Alliance in some areas.
The alliance, a coalition of the lib-
eral Democratic Party and the New
.National Party, successor to
apartheid ruling party, is expecte
win the most votes in Cape Town.
The election had shorter lines. and
waits than previous post-apartheid
elections.
Elian shown with
Castro on Cuban TV
HAVANA - Fidel Castro pla
benevolent grandfather to a timid, 6-
year-old Elian Gonzalez as state televi-
sion yesterday broadcast for the first
time images of the leader with the little
castaway whose fate divided Cubans on
both sides of the Florida Straits.
The surprise airing of the images
recorded in July,just weeks after Ehan
was repatriated following a seven-
month custody battle, came on the eve
of the child's 7th birthday.
- Compiled fiom Daip wire reports.

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