IN BRIEF Week of events celebrates National Coming Out Day University organizations are host ing events throughout the week to celebrate the 18th annual National Coming Out Day. National Coming Out Day is cele brated every Oct. 11 to mark the an niversary of the 1987 march in Wash ington, D.C. for lesbian and gay rights, according to the Human Rights Cam paign. Each year since, thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and supporters have celebrated the day in schools, churches and busi nesses nationwide through work shops, speeches and rallies. The following events will take place on campus this week: Monday • Queer Bingo in the EMU Fir Room at 7 p.m. Free snacks are pro vided and prizes will be awarded. Tuesday • National Coming Out Day rally at the EMU Amphitheater at 1 p.m. The rally will feature guest speak ers, resource tables and the “coming out closet.” • Standing Committee LGBT Social from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., providing students with an opportunity to meet with faculty, staff and students who are LGBT and supporters in the Ger linger Lounge. • National Coming Out Day dance from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the EMU fishbowl. Wednesday • Screening of “TransGeneration” from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the EMU Board Room. “TransGeneration” is a documentary series that follows students changing genders at four different colleges over the course of a school year, capturing their setbacks and triumphs as they bal ance the challenges of academia, campus life and family with their gender changes. • Screening of “Brother to Broth er” in the EMU Fir Room at 6 p.m. “Brother to Bother” is a drama that looks back on the Harlem Renais sance from the perspective of an elderly, black writer who meets a gay teenager in a New York home less shelter. Thursday • “Coming Out,” a brown-bag lunch from noon to 1 p.m. in the Women’s Center, EMU Suite 3. • “Guess the STR8 RA” in the Bean West Lounge in University Housing Bean Complex, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. — Brittni McClenahan Pakistani villagers search for survivors after quake BALAKOT, Pakistan — Villagers desperate to find survivors dug with bare hands Sunday through the de bris of a collapsed school where chil dren had been heard crying beneath the rubble after a massive earthquake killed more than 20,000 people. Pakistani officials said the toll could go higher, and a provincial offi cial in Kashmir said more than 30,000 died in that province alone. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf called Saturday’s magnitude-7.7 earthquake the country’s worst on record and appealed for urgent help, particularly cargo helicopters to reach remote areas cut off by landslides. Ri val India, which reported more than 600 dead, offered assistance. A Pentagon spokeswoman said American officials were determining what assistance could be provided. The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said Washington had not instructed it to provide help, while a NATO spokesman said the mission was not allowed to operate outside Afghanistan. Late effort to win Sunni support for Iraq's charter BAGHDAD, Iraq — With U.S. me diation, Shiite Muslim and Kurdish officials negotiated with Sunni Arab leaders Sunday over possible last minute additions to Iraq’s proposed constitution, trying to win Sunni support ahead of next weekend’s crucial referendum. But the sides remained far apart over basic issues — including the fed eralism that Shiites and Kurds insist on, but that Sunnis fear will lead to the country’s eventual break-up. And copies of the constitution were al ready being passed out to the public. Though major attacks in the insur gent campaign to disrupt the referen dum have waned in recent days, vio lence killed 13 Iraqis Sunday. In one attack, masked gunmen in police commando uniforms burst into a school in the northern town of Samarra, pulled a Shiite teacher out of his classroom and shot him dead in the hallway as students watched from their desks, police said. A suicide car bomb killed a woman and a child in the southern city of Basra. A U.S. Marine was killed by a road side bomb in the town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on Saturday, the military announced. NYC terror plot threat remains unconfirmed NEW YORK — A reported plot to bomb city subways with remote controlled explosives has not been corroborated after days of investiga tion, law-enforcement officials said Sunday amid an easing sense of concern. Interrogations of suspects cap tured in Iraq last week after an in formant’s tip about bomb-laden suitcases and baby carriages have yet to yield evidence that the plot was real, officials said. “The intelligence community has been able to determine that there are very serious doubts about the credi bility of this specific threat,” Home land Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said. “This is after on going review and analysis. ” Homeland Security officials have been skeptical about the threat since it was publicly announced Thursday, but officials who were more assertive about the potential danger last week also appeared to be softening their assessment. Miers faces questions about abortion, privacy WASHINGTON — As doubts grow about her abortion views, Harriet Miers will face vigorous questioning 7S0Z10 tears mm Restaurant and Lounge Authentic Chinese Cuisine Fresh, Quality Ingredients 947 Franklin Blvd. (near UO) • 343-4480 Individual, Family Style, Banquets to 100, Take Out Tues.-Thurs. 11-10:30, Fri. 11-11 Sat. 12-11, Sun. 11:30-10 on privacy rights and her qualifica tions for the Supreme Court, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said President Bush’s pick to replace retir ing Justice Sandra Day O’Connor must show she can handle compli cated legal issues and has not cut deals with the White House to over turn Roe v. Wade. Miers’ nomination has caused division among conservatives, and a leader of the right said he will not be satisfied until it is clear whether Miers, a longtime Bush confidante who has never been a judge, would overturn the 1973 landmark abortion ruling. “You can be an evangelical and you can be self-described pro-life. But it doesn’t tell us what she will do about a decision like Roe that has been set in stone now for over 30 years. And that’s the rub,” said Gary Bauer, president of the Ameri can Values Coalition. New Orleans police hit 64-year-old man on tape NEW ORLEANS — Two New Or leans police officers repeatedly punched a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication, and another city officer assaulted an Associated Press Television News producer as a cameraman taped the confrontations. There will be a criminal investiga tion, and the three officers were to be suspended, arrested and charged with simple battery Sunday, Capt. Marlon Defillo said. “We have great concern with what we saw this morning,” Defillo said af ter he and about a dozen other high ranking police department officials watched the APTN footage Sunday. “It’s a troubling tape, no doubt about it. ... This department will take im mediate action.” The assaults come as the depart ment, long plagued by allegations of brutality and corruption, struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the resignation last month of Police Superintendent Eddie Compass. Guatemala declares landslide areas cemeteries GUATEMALA CITY — Dozens of foreign tourists fled devastated lake side Mayan towns on foot and by hel icopter Sunday as Guatemalan offi cials said they would abandon communities buried by landslides and declare them mass graveyards. Villagers who had swarmed over the vast mudslides with shovels and axes digging for hundreds of missing gave up the effort Sunday, five days after Hurricane Stan made landfall on the Gulf of Mexico coast, bringing torrential rains before weakening to a tropical depression. More than 640 people died and hundreds more were missing across Central America and southern Mexi co after a week of rains. In hardest-hit Guatemala, 519 bodies had been re covered and reburied. Some 338 were listed as missing. “Panabaj will no longer exist,” said Mayor Diego Esquina, referring to the Mayan lakeside hamlet in Guatemala covered by a half-mile-wide mudflow as much as 15 to 20 feet deep. “We are asking that it be declared a ceme tery. We are tired. We no longer know where to dig.” FBI may relax hiring policy regarding drug use WASHINGTON — The FBI, famous for its straight-laced crime-fighting im age, is considering whether to relax its hiring rules over how often applicants could have used marijuana or other il legal drugs earlier in life. Some senior FBI managers have been deeply frustrated that they could not hire applicants who acknowledged occasional marijuana use in college, but in some cases al ready perform top-secret work at oth er government agencies, such as the CIA or State Department. FBI Director Robert Mueller will make the final decision. “We can’t say when or if this is going to happen, but we are exploring the possibility,” spokesman Stephen Kodak said. The change would ease limits about how often — and how many years ago — applicants for jobs such as intelligence analysts, linguists, computer specialists, accountants and others had used illegal drugs. Driverless VW wins $2 million robot race PRIMM, Nev. — A driverless Volk swagen won a $2 million race across the rugged Nevada desert Sunday, beating four other robot-guided vehi cles that completed a Pentagon-spon sored contest aimed at making war fare safer for humans. The race displayed major techno logical leaps since last year’s inaugu ral race, when none of the self-driv ing vehicles crossed the finish line. Stanley the VW Touareg, designed by Stanford University, zipped through the 132-mile Mojave Desert course in six hours and 53 minutes Saturday, us ing only its computer brain and sen sors to navigate rough and twisting desert and mountain trails. The Stan ford team celebrated by popping champagne and pouring it over the mud-covered Stanley. “This car, to me, is really a piece of history,” Stanford computer scientist Sebastian Thrun said after receiving an oversized check for the $2 million prize, funded by taxpayers. He said he did not know how he would spend the money, but joked that he needed to buy cat food. —The Associated Press MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT The Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) offered by the Information School of the University of Washington develops leaders who can strategically manage knowledge resources and information technologies to improve the efficiency, productivity, competitive advantage, and profitability of any organization in any setting. Tracks are available for traditional students who attend classes full-time during the week, as well as working professionals who attend classes part-time on Friday evenings and during the day on Saturdays. PARTICIPATE IN A LIVE WEBCHAT INFORMATION SESSION Tuesday, October 1 1,2005 12:00-1:00PM RSVP AT OUR WEBSITE www, msim.washingfon.edu msim@ischool.washington.edu 206.543.1794 SCHO° ANilki UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON