4 Monday, December 2,1996 World urges safe sex, activism on AIDS day THE ASSOCIATED PRESS In Rome, taxi drivers distributed AIDS leaflets. Across Thailand, gas stations offered free condoms. In South Africa, Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu went on TV to urge people to practice safe sex. World AIDS Day was marked with renewed vigor around the world Sunday after a U.N. agency reported an acceler ating death toll. Nearly a quarter of the 6.4 million AIDS deaths to date have occured in the past year. In 1996, 3.1 million people were in fected with HTV, the virus that causes AIDS, bringing the total number of people with HIV or AIDS to 22.6 million, UNAIDS said. In Asia, the site of an AIDS explosion, the war on the disease got graphic. Activ ists posted photos of an emaciated AIDS victim in Beijing’s central Zhongshan Park near the ancient imperial palace, along with posters that read, “The risks of careless sex and lifestyle hygiene.” Health officials have warned that more than 1 million Chinese lO times the estimated present number could be infected with HTV by 2000 if preventive measures are not taken. In Thailand, which has an active sex industry, 420 gas stations distributed 3 million condoms to customers with the warning, “Be careful of AIDS when feel ing naughty.” The health ministry and state-owned Petroleum Authority of Thailand spon sored the program. An estimated 800,000 Super Haircut NOW ONLY $7.95 w/coupon Exp. 11/27/96 x j . Jffi| Get the most money for your books NOW ■m. FREE Sprint Phone Card Giveaway with Book Buyßacks! At least 500 cards 1 given away! Convenient Locations! Our Store: 301 W. Franklin Street ©ec. 2 - Dec. 14) Prat Court: Columbia Avenue ©ec. 7 - Dec. 14) of Thailand’s 60 million people have the HTV virus, and 50,000 more have died of AIDS. In the Philippine capital of Manila, about 250 government officials, activists and at least four HIV patients joined in the 11-mile “First National AIDS Walk.” In Taipei, an AIDS awareness group displayed memorial quilt patches to honor victims of the disease. Photo exhibitions carried the message in India, which volunteer organizations say has Asia’s worst AIDS epidemic, with an estimated 1 million or more HTV cases. Charity organizations sponsored marches in Bombay. More than 400 people gathered in Tokyo for the lighting of a 20-foot tree bearing 12,000 red ribbons, symbols of the fight against AIDS. Europe warned against complacency. In central Paris, several hundred AIDS activists marched with signs reading, “AIDS: The Epidemic Isn’t Over” and “Zero Equals the Number of AIDS Sur vivors.” In Rome, two taxi companies distrib uted AIDS information leaflets to pas sengers and included similar messages on their telephone answering services. Some players in Italy’s top soccer league wore red bows on their uniforms. Dozens of candles were lit at Madrid’s Puerta de Alcala monument in memory of the estimated 5,000 AIDS victims to have died in the Spanish capital since 1981. sopacm HOURS: M-F 10am - Bpm Sat. 9am - 6pm Sun. 12pm - spm 141 Rams Plaza 967-0226 (located off of 15-501-On the Bus Route) STATE & NATIONAL IN THE NEWS Top stories from the state, nation and world Tornado claims 3 lives, 100 oak trees in Louisiana SIMSBORO, La.— More than 100 old oak trees were strewn amid the wreck age of homes Sunday along the path of a tornado that ripped through town. Three people were killed. The storm Saturday night destroyed six homes and damaged 49 while over turning trucks on a nearby highway and blowing a wall off a factory. Tornadoes also skipped across parts of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle, causing scattered damage and injuries. Emergency teams and volunteers helped this northern Louisiana commu nity about 45 miles east of Shreveport clean up Sunday. Power was restored to most homes by morning. PROFESSOR FROM PAGE 3 more from a diverse faculty. “One of the goals of the college is to have faculty representative from what ever set of categories you wish to choose from,” Birdsall said. Before hiring any professor, a department must document attempts to recruit women and minori ties with the Equal Opportunity Office. Opponents of affirmative action, such as history Professor Roger W. Lotchin, Wfl Have You Had MI MONO SrrM/ in the last 30 days? Then make S SO 'f iifp RIGHT NOW! If you have had mononucleosis in the last 30 days, you could receive SSO each time you donate plasma! Call 942-0251 or stop by SERA-TEC BIOLOGICALS 109 'h E. FRANKLIN ST. Carolina University Bookstore •Best CASH Prices -Cash NOW! •Avoid Long Lines *Free Parking •Free Refreshments u 9m J Wicked mms | Burrito BW-3 W. Franklin Street 1 I Granville £ Towers -Dekalb Bookstores lnc.-Sering 18 Locations RegionwMe! “I’m just glad we didn’t die,” 8-year old Sara Solomon said. She and her 10- year-old sister, Kasey, sat on the hallway floor of their home when the storm hit. “A tree fell on our house. We started crying because we were so scared,” Sara said. Some of the fallen oak trees had been standing for generations. One that was 5 feet in diameter crushed the cab of a parked pickup truck, killing two men who were inside installing a radio. A man sitting between them survived with only minor injuries. Swiss narrowly defeat anti-immigration measure BERN, Switzerland By a single digit margin, the Swiss voted down a proposal Sunday to add tough anti-im migration measures to the country’s con stitution. The vote was 54 percent to 46 percent against the referendum, which would have disqualified all illegal immigrants from refugee status and given the go vem ment control over any wages earned by asylum-seekers. Already under international criticism about allegations that Switzerland is con cealing the assets of Nazi Holocaust vic tims, the government welcomed the re jection of the proposals on refugees. object to programs that give preferences to people simply because of their race or sex. Theybelievejobs should be based on merit, not group identification. “Affirmative action was set up to help the disadvantaged, and this does not help the disadvantaged,” he said of his department’s hiring decision. Lotchin said recent polls and California’s passage of Proposition 209, which eliminated preferences in state contracts and university admissions, showed the American public’s rejection For a country that prides itself on its humanitarian traditions, the addition of an anti-immigration clause to the consti tution would have been an embarrass ment to many. But the narrow result reflected a belief widespread among Swiss citizens that foreigners are squeezing them out of in creasingly scarce jobs and are to blame for drug dealing and other crimes. The Swiss People’s Party drew up the initiative in 1991, when Switzerland had a record 42,000 asylum-seekers. Teen drugs still problem in Wake County schools RALEIGH One year after police arrested 75 Wake County students fol lowing a three-month investigation, offi cials and teenagers say the problem of drugs in schools has hardly gone away. Undercover agents posed as students inthecounty’s 12 high schools and bought drugs as part of a probe called Operation Checkup. Footage of the arrests wound up on the television network news shows. Raleigh-area police leaders and other officials said Operation Checkup did not rid the schools of drugs, and another drug bust is expected soon. In this calendar year alone, 36 students in Raleigh were arrested for possession. “There are goingtobe drugs in school,” of affirmative action. “This is a policy that most of the American electorate is becoming disillu sioned with,” he said. “The University needs to discuss why it’s moving in one direction while the rest of the country is moving in another.” Richard A. Soloway, chairman of the history department, said the decision fit into the larger picture of how UNC hired faculty “It raises some good questions that should be debated and discussed.” “No Payment Until 1997!” • 20,000 sq. ft. of Circuit Training Equipment Student Memberships ___________ FREE Personal Training | m •Wolff Tanning Systems { if UHI • Saunas, Yoga & FREE AAT ri/UI I • More than 40 Aerobics J ItIILiIJ a | §|J, J per Week I- _ j, •ChapelHill&CanWs > IOF Ollly ?39 I - Largest Cardio * * 933-6377 GOLD’S GYM 503 C West Main Street • CarrboKQ * 929-TEXT • 929-4639 Extended Hours! Mon-Fri 9am-Bpm Saturday 9am-7pm Sljy Baily (Ear Hpplq Raleigh Police Chief Mitch Brown said._, “The problem is managing it.” £ Wake County students say drugs stiff* are easy to get at school. “Everybody who did drugs before is still doing drugs now,” said Brian Allison, 17, a senior at Broughton High School in jj- Raleigh. “The point was to get drugs out* of school. That’s not going to happen.” International monitors watch Rosnian elections SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina-r- Bosnian Serbs have agreed to let interna tional monitors supervise municipal elec : • tions in their half of Bosnia, an official" said Sunday . The vote is now planned for late June.,, Elections for local offices were ini-, tially to be held Sept. 14, alongside na- . tional and regional elections. But the Organization for Security an 4 Cooperation in Europe, a trans-Atlantic" group supervising the vote, postponed, them until late November and then again until June because of irregularities and security concerns. , (I . Some parties, particularly Serbs, were accused of packing voter registration lists in towns they wanted to control—eyep' if they were a minority there before war;, broke out in 1992. FROM WIRE REPORTS WIGGINS FROM PAGE 3 ~.i he didn’t think the council had discussed, enough significant issues since Wiggins' j, appointment to evaluate her participa tion. “Ms. Wiggins has shown that she’ has the intelligence to be a meaningful member of the Town Council,” he said, j Council member Joyce Brown said,, Wiggins’ diligence had impressed her. “She seems to have been learning a lot in A a short period of time.”