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2 I Friday, November 17, 2006 | The Red & Black NEWS UGA TODAY >■ Campus Coffee Hour. 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Memorial Hall Ballroom. Sponsor: Korean Traditional Play Association. Contact: careyk@uga.edu, 706-542- 5867. >- Mountain Bike Clinic. 5 p.m. Ramsey Center. Sponsor: Georgia Outdoor Recreation. Instruction in basic mountain biking safety and technical skills, followed by trail riding. Contact: chop- pie2@uga.edu. >• Love and Happiness Lecture. 3:30 p.m. 265 Park Hall. Title: “Love and Happiness: Eros According to Octavio Paz, John Donne and the Reverend Al Green. Speaker: Craig Werner, University of Wisconsin at Madison. Sponsor: Lanier Series in the English Department. Contact: 706- 542-2184, rasulaj@uga.edu. >■ Secular State for an Islamic Society Lecture. 12:30 p.m. 4th Floor of the Dean Rusk Center. Speaker: Abduh An-Na'im, Emory School of Law. Sponsor: Georgia Society for International and Comparative Law. Contact: bnice586@uga.edu Saturday TOP STORIES FROM AROUND THE STATE, NATION AND WORLD Storm system kills 12 across the South RIEGELWOOD, N.C. — A tornado that shredded trees and “exploded” mobile homes in this tiny riverside commu nity early Thursday killed at least seven people, raising the death toll from a devastating band of thunderstorms that swept across the South to 12. As rescue workers using heavy construction equip ment continued to search for bodies amid the wreckage, they cautioned the death toll could rise. Gov. Mike Easley said authorities had yet to account for four people, while hospital officials said at least five people were in critical condition. The storms that began Wednesday unleashed torna does and straight-line winds, overturning mobile homes, uprooting trees and knocking down power lines across the South. In Louisiana, a man died Wednesday when a tornado struck his home. In South Carolina, a utility worker checking powerlines during the storm was electrocuted in South Carolina on Thursday. In North Carolina, two people died in car crashes as heavy rain pelted the state, drop ping as much as five inches in some areas. The tornado that struck Riegelwood — located on the Cape Fear River about 20 miles west of the coastal city of Wilmington — hit shortly after 6:30 a.m., Easley said. As many as 40 mobile homes were damaged before the tor nado hopped N.C. 87 and lev eled three brick homes. “As soon as it touched down, the first responders got there and found some fatali ties and tried to tend to those situations,” Easley said. Searchers had found seven bodies in the wreckage by midday, and “that number very well may go up,” said County Commissioner Chairman Kip Godwin, the designated spokesman for the county’s emergency manage ment office. — Associated Press TRAVIS SPRADLING | Associated Press A Two of J.W. “Hooch” Carlisle’s friends, Christian Janies and Debbie Raidford, right, embrace on the front steps of the house that Carlisle was in when a tornado struck Wednesday in Hillsdale, La. Carlisle was killed and the house lifted from it foundation. > Phoenix A.S.C.E.N.T. Step Show. 7:30 p.m. Clarke Central High School Auditorium. Sponsor: Delta Sigma Theta. See Chpater Members for Tickets. Contact: orduchin@uga.edu Sunday >• Horseback Trail Ride. 8 a.m. North Georgia Mountains. Participants will take off to visit Sunburst Stables in the Georgia Mountains for two hours of western-style riding in the scenic Chattahoochee National Forest. Sponsor: Georgia Outdoor Recreation Program. Contact: chop- pie2@uga.edu. Monday >- UGA Opera Ensemble. 8 p.m. Hodgson Concert Hall. Sponsor: Hugh Hodgson School of Music. Contact: 706-542-3737, www.music.uga.edu. Tuesday >• Swing Dancing Master Class. 7 - 9 p.m. Memorial Hall Ballroom. Sponsor: the UGA Swing Club. A Lindy-hop swing class for those who have mastered the basics. Contact: www.uga.edu/ugaswingclub. — Please send submissions for UGAToday to ugatoday @ randb. com. Listings are published on a first-come-first-serve basis as space permits. CORRECTIONS The Red & Black is committed to journalis tic excellence and pro viding the most accu rate news possible. Contact us if you see an error, and we will do our best to correct it. Editor-in-Chief: David Pittman (706) 433-3027 dpittman@randb.com Managing Editor: Lyndsay Hoban (706) 433-3026 lhoban@randb.com DENNIS COOK | Associated Press ▲ Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, and incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer embrace during a news conference on Capitol Hill Thursday. Hoyer beats Murtha for House No. 2 spot WASHINGTON Democrats picked Rep. Steny Hoyer to be House majority leader on Thursday, spurning Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s hand picked choice moments after unanimously backing her election as speaker when Congress convenes in January. A Marylander and 25-year veteran of Congress, Hoyer defeated Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania in a vote of 149- 86. His election to the No. 2 job came just a short time after the Democratic caucus put Pelosi in line to become the first woman to be speaker, a position which is second in line of succession to the pres idency. It marked a personal triumph for Hoyer. In remarks after being cho sen for speaker, the Californian vowed that after 12 years in the minority, “we will not be dazzled by money and special interests.” Pelosi also called for unity in the party, but within moments she put her prestige on the line by nominating Murtha. Murtha, a Pennsylvanian, is a powerful lawmaker on defense matters, and he gained national prominence last year when he called an NATION & STATE end to U.S. military involve ment in Iraq. Republican Burns concedes close race SAVANNAH, Ga. — Republican Max Burns con ceded defeat Thursday to U.S. Rep. John Barrow, accepting his 864-vote loss without requesting a recount. Burns, a former congress man who was narrowly oust ed by Barrow two years ago, called the Democrat to offer his congratulations a day after the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office released its offi cial results from the Nov. 7 election. The tally showed Barrow won by less than 1 percent of the 142,438 votes cast. Because the margin was so close, Burns could have requested an automatic recount under Georgia law. His campaign manager, Tim Baker, said Burns decided it wouldn’t have made enough difference to overturn the race. — Associated Press Kidnap victims still being held, Iraqi minister says BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq’s higher education minister said Thursday that as many as 80 victims from a mass kidnapping earlier this week remain in captivity, and that some of the 70 who have been freed were tortured. On Tuesday, gunmen dis guised in the blue camou flage uniforms of police com mandos raided the Higher Education Ministry in Karradah, a primarily Shiite area of downtown Baghdad, handcuffed scores of people and took them away in about 20 pickup trucks. Government officials have given varying numbers on how many people were abducted, ranging from a high of about 150 to a low of 40 to 50. They also have con flicted on how many captives have been freed. Higher Education Minister Abed Theyab said 70 of 150 hostages were released, reaffirming a figure given Wednesday and saying those freed “were tortured and suffered a lot.” But National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie issued a statement that con tradicted Theyab and claimed only 50 people total were kidnapped, all were released and nobody was killed. The assault was widely believed to have been the work of the Mahdi Army, the heavily armed militia of anti- American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and it raised questions about Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s commitment to wipe out the Shiite militias of his prime political back ers: the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and al-Sadr’s Sadrist Movement. The mass abduction was seen as retaliation for the recent kidnapping of 50 Shiites south of Baghdad. Most, if not all of the latest victims who were not imme diately released were Sunnis, the Higher Education Ministry spokesman said. WORLD Bush seeks allies on N. Korea issues SINGAPORE — Hurt by election losses back home, President Bush tried to exert his authority on the world stage Thursday by warning a nuclear-armed North Korea against ped dling its weapons and vow ing the United States would not retreat into isolationism. Bush’s declaration came on the eve of his arrival in Vietnam for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders and meetings with a handful of them — all curious about whether election setbacks had unsettled him. Striking moments for Bush in Hanoi will include a visit Friday to Communist Party headquar ters for talks with the party’s general secretary. Bush directly challenged Democrats in the U.S. who are demanding a fresh course in Iraq and are fearful that free-trade agreements could cost American jobs. “We hear voices calling for us to retreat from the world and close our doors to these opportunities,” the presi dent said in a speech at the National University of Singapore. “These are the old temptations of isolation ism and protectionism, and America must reject them.” — Associated Press TomKat likely to wed on Saturday ROME — Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes will likely wed Saturday in a Scientology ceremony held at a 15th- century Italian castle in a lakeside town near Rome, the town’s mayor said Thursday. The wedding party, along with guests, are then expected to attend a banquet the same day in Rome, Bracciano Mayor Patrizia Riccioni said. For weeks rumors have focused on Odescalchi Castle in the sleepy town of Bracciano as the likely venue for the celebrity wed ding. Riccioni told a news NAMES & FACES Solve Today's Sudoku Puzzle and win 2-Large Pizzas! Today’s Sudoku is a bonus puzzle! You have two chances to win! It’s easy — complete the Sudoku puzzle correctly in today’s Red & Black. Bring it to The Red & Black office on Baxter hill by 4:00 today. From today’s submissions we will draw one entry and publish the winner in the Tuesday edition of The Red & Black. Write your name clearly on the Sudoku puzzle you submit. The winner will receive two large, two topping pizzas from Domino’s Pizza! Winner must pick up the certificate at the office of The Red & Black. One entry per person, no photocopies. jmQ Red&Black 540 Baxter Street, Athens — across from Brumby Hall SPRING BREAK INFORMATION 800-488-8828 www.sandpiperbeacon.com Free Spring Break Model Search Calendar •Valid for first 1000 reservations. conference Thursday she had met the couple the day before somewhere outside of her town, but she would not say where. She was coy about other details, too, saying only that she expected the couple to arrive Saturday morning at the castle, which overlooks Lake Bracciano, for what she believed would be a Scientology wedding cere mony, followed by a ban quet. She said she expected the couple to return to the Italian capital the same day. Cruise, 44, and Holmes, 27, have been staying at a luxury hotel near the Spanish Steps in Rome. They were photographed Thursday with their infant daughter, Suri, as they walked to a restaurant in the city. The area immediately surrounding Nino restau rant was cordoned off, and private security officials crowded the area. While Riccioni stopped short of confirming the actual date of the wedding, the town’s Web site late Thursday had a picture of Cruise and Holmes under the headline, “The wedding of the year in Bracciano, Saturday, 18 November 2006.” — Associated Press Open Late A larger diamond for less money. Clarity Enhanced Diamonds Authentic * G.I.A. 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