2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 4, 2004 NATION/WORLD I enate ofces Close after toxin oun NEWS IN BRIEF WASHINGTON (AP) - A jittery attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - was closed --- -- Senate struggled under its second to tourists. attack with a deadly toxin in 28 months yesterday, this time in the form of ricin powder sent to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. No illness- es were reported, but dozens of work- ers were being monitored and work slowed to a crawl. Health experts expressed optimism that casualties would be averted because none of the dozens of congres- sional employees who were near the Tennessee Republican's office on Monday when the white powder was discovered were believed to be sick. "As each minute ticks by, we are less and less concerned about the health effects," said Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All three Senate office buildings were shut and could be closed the rest of the week. That included the Dirksen Senate Office Building, where the sub- stance was found Monday afternoon by a young worker in Frist's fourth- floor mailroom. Frist and others said tests overnight showed the substance was ricin, a natural and potent poison made by refining castor beans. The Capitol building - where heavy security and a persistent case of nerves have reigned since the terrorist in Conn. Senate leaders made a show of calm and control. They said they had refined their ability to respond to emergencies since the anthrax attacks of late 2001 with better communication and coordi- nation."Things are going very well, not perfectly, but very, well," said Frist. But still, it was a day of confusion. Frist said 16 potentially exposed staff workers had been quarantined Monday night and decontaminated with showers. But Senate aides, includ- ing at least one who was quarantined, said the figure was 40 to 50, including about 10 Capitol police officers and aides to Frist, Seri. James Jeffords (I- Vt.) and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Frist told reporters there was not yet information on how dangerous this sample of ricin powder was. Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said tests of air filters showed the chemical had not been cir- culated through the buildings' ventila- tion systems. But Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) emerging from a lunch where Frist, Capitol police chief Terrance Gainer and Capitol physician John Eisold briefed Republican senators, said the three had expressed concern. osta centet SEOUL, South Korea N. Korea to resume talks on nuclear program I North Korea agreed yesterday to resume six-nation talks Feb. 25 - a break- through in American-led efforts to persuade the communist state to abandon its nuclear weapons programs for economic and other concessions from Washington. The new round of talks, to begin in Beijing, is expected to take up North Korea's offer to freeze its nuclear programs as a first step toward what the Bush administration hopes will be a complete dismantling of them. "We hope that these talks will be successful," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Washington after meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. While the United States is willing to see where the North's proposal leads, its ultimate objective is the elimination of Pyongyang's program, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "A freeze is not our goal," he said. A State Department official said Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly is expected to head the U.S. delegation. Kelly headed the American team for the first round in Beijing. Washington and Pyongyang had disagreed on ground rules for resuming six-nation talks. Kim Ryong Song, a North Korean Cabinet councilor who is in Seoul this week for high-level talks with his South Korean counterparts, called Pyongyang's pro- posals "fair" and said progress at the Beijing talks hinged on Washington's stance. WASHINGTON Chair of House energy committee resigns Rep. Billy Tauzin resigned as chairman Tuesday of the House Energy and Com- merce Committee, one of the most powerful positions in Congress, and announced he will not seek re-election in the fall. Tauzin's desire to leave Congress has been widely speculated for months as his name has surfaced as a potential head of lobbying groups of both the pharmaceu- tical and motion picture industries. He was instrumental in engineering passage of the new Medicare prescription drug law passed by Congress in December. He also has been deeply involved in energy and telecommunications legislation. The 12-term Republican congressman from Louisiana hand-delivered his resigna- tion letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-ll.) yesterday, effective Feb. 16, said Ken Johnson, Tauzin's spokesman. Tauzin, 60, also will not seek re-election in the ' fall, Johnson said. Tauzin has made no decision on what he would do next, he added. Tauzin's name repeatedly has surfaced as the top contender to head the lobbying operation of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents big drug manufacturers such as Eli Lilly and Co. and Merck & Co. AP PHOTO Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist discusses the latest developments in the discovery of the poison ricin in his office at a news conference yesterday. Suspicious powderfouno leaked out of envelope addressed to Republicans WALLINGFORD, Conn. (AP) - Angry and frightened postal workers awaited test results yes- terday on a mysterious powder found at the same mail distribution center where anthrax was discov- ered in 2001. The coarse, gray powder was found Monday night, leaking out of an envelope addressed to the Republi- can National Committee. It was discovered about the time a white powder later identified as the lethal poison ricin was found in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office in Washington. The Wallingford center remained open yesterday while the powder was tested by the state Department of Public Health, and no workers were reported sick- ened. Some of the powder was sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "At this point in time, we do not know what sub- stances the powder may contain, and there is no information at this time to connect this substance to the reports of ricin found in Washington, D.C.," State Health Commissioner J. Robert Galvin said. Investigators believe the envelope, a business reply envelope that did not require postage, was mailed from somewhere in Connecticut. The amount of powder was not disclosed. "Absolutely, we're concerned," said Keith Larsen, 38, a mail handler at the center. "I mean, they lied to us in the past, so we don't know what's going on in there." Anthrax spores were found at the Wallingford cen- ter in the fall of 2001. A 94-year-old Oxford woman was one of the five people nationwide who died of anthrax during that fall's unsolved attacks, and inves- tigators believe she got the bacteria from mail that passed through the center. Three initial tests of the center in 2001 came up negative before a fourth, more sophisticated test found lethal levels of anthrax. The center never closed, a decision workers criticized at the time. John Dirzius, president of the American Postal Workers union local for Wallingford, said he agreed with the decision not to close the center yesterday. "Of course we have those concerns, but we don't know what we are dealing with here," Dirzius said. He said about 150 workers were on the job when the powder was found. The worker who discovered it was wearing gloves, a voluntary precaution, officials said. "Nobody needed medical treatment," said Carl Walton, a spokesman for the Postal Service. EVER WANTED TO WRITE FOR THE MICHIGAN DAILY? THE NEWs SEIo M CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR REPORTERS. No PRIOR EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY. CALL 76-DAILY OR STOP BY 420 MAYARD ST. CIRtO.SS S TREET IMPORTANT REMINDER! BUY MORE & GET MORE Wolverine Access will be unavailable from 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 5th until 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 10th while the Buy 90 Minutes & get 20 Min. FREE system is being upgraded. Buy 180 Minutes & get 40Min. FREE Contact your school or college, or the appropriate central office, if Buy 5 Visits & get 2 FREE you need assistance while Wolverine Access is unavailable. Plus More Deals!!! Sale Ends March 15, 2004 Thank you for your cooperation, 480-1054 Michigan Administrative Information Services 215 W. Cross Street Ypsilanti, Mi ri £ocaredci nteh ea* of ttiracte Strip Where the poot neve ta lses ......................vYv >. h i** (Across er; fP.za H use) andthe unnevr nds nt tk ..° ht;;Rws: s, ..Ss Y .... p, . M 1 asts:Ch tis Pee! .................................. 12830 lwnaf Beach Roa F j4, t{} ix Paaa i each, It 3240?}:}} N. (850) 233-0028 t *s see 1hiemait: ptagamofet@kne(~y.ne$ 40110. f . ptOlot 611 Church Street Spring Bjreak C Special . (Across from Pizza House) 734.222.0220 Unlimited TnigUntil Srn Break * X CO a .u N .LV.. . U U -~2au im" VLADIKAVKAZ, RUSSIA Car bomb explodes near Russian market A car bomb exploded last night in parking lot near the central market in Vladikavkaz, a southern Russian city near the war-ravaged Chechen Republic, killing two people and wounding several. Heavy smoke filled the area as fire- fighters battled flames. The blast shat- tered glass in buildings near the lot. Vladikavkaz is the capital of the province of North Ossetia, to the west of Chechnya. A regional security official, Uruzmag Ogoyev, said two people died and 10 were hurt. Regional interior ministry's spokesman Ismel Shaov said one civilian and one soldier were killed and six peo- ple were hospitalized with injuries. Earlier, a Federal Security Service, spokesman in Moscow said a woman pedestrian was killed and several sol- diers who were passing by in a truck; were hurt. GENEVA U.N. seeks to calm fears over bird flu The United Nations health agency sought yesterday to dampen fears of bird flu striking large numbers of peo- ple, even as the death toll in Asia climbed to 13. A 7-year-old boy became the fourth person to die from the disease in Thailand. Vietnam has reported nine fatalities. "I think it's very important at this stage that we remain calm about worst- case scenarios," said Mike Ryan, head of the global epidemic response net- work at the World Health Organization. "What we're dealing with at the moment is small clusters of cases asso- ciated with exposure to poultry." Plan to cut smoking includes tax on pac Four former surgeons general yester- day unveiled a plan to reduce smoking that included a $2-per-pack tax they predicted would prompt at least 5 mil- lion smokers to quit. They also called for a nationwide counseling and support..line for smok- ers trying to quit, an idea that immedi- ately was put into practice by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. He said more than $25 mil- lion would be dedicated for the toll-free, national "quitline" that will be established by year's end. States also would receive additional funding to either supplement or create their own quitline services. - Compiled from Daily wire reports. WWW.MICHIGANDAILY.COM The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by stu- dents at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be pre- paid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327. E-mail letters to the editor to letters@michigandaily.com. 4 NEWS Tomislav Ladika, Managing Editor 763.2459, news@michigandalycom EDITORS: Jeremy Berkowitz, Carmen Johnson, Andrew Kaplan, Emily Kraack STAFF: Farayha Arrine, David Branson, Adrian Chen, Ashley Dinges, Adhiraj Dutt, Victoria Edwards, Cianna Freeman, Alison Go, Michael Gurovitsch, Aymar Jean, C. 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