Briefly

SINGAPORE

Rumsfeld urges Asians to join war on terrorism

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld urged Asian nations today to join the United States in taking the offensive against terrorists, and he offered assurances that planned reductions in U.S. troop levels in Asia are not a sign of waning U.S. interest.

In a speech to an Asian security conference, dubbed the Shangri-La Dialogue, Rumsfeld described the global war on terrorism as a battle against ideological extremism, and he said it had just begun.

“Because it cannot be appeased, it must be confronted on many fronts by all civil societies,” he said.

New Jersey

9-11 families praise relatives lost on hijacked airliners

Family members of passengers aboard the four airplanes hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, said a meeting Friday with federal officials reinforced their belief that everyone aboard the doomed flights was a hero.

“I was overwhelmed by the unbelievable courage of the passengers and crews of all four of the flights,” said Debra Burlingame, whose brother, Capt. Charles Burlingame, was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

“I sat there wistfully wishing that this country could be as united and as determined and as brave in fighting the terrorists that they were in the first few minutes of Sept. 11,” said Burlingame, of Pelham Manor, N.Y.

Family members who lost relatives gathered at a hotel here for the 3 1/2-hour, closed-door briefing. Participants estimated 130 people attended.

MOSCOW

Bomb blast in market kills at least eight, wounds 37

A powerful bomb blast ripped through a crowded outdoor market in central Russia Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding 37, Russian emergency officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast at the Kirov market in Samara, Russia’s sixth-biggest city, or indications it was connected to terrorism or was a violent offshoot of a commercial dispute.

Regional prosecutor Alexander Yefremov said the blast was from a bomb made of plastic explosives.

“The explosion was very powerful, and the place was packed with people,” said Timofei Zakharchenko, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry in Samara.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

NAACP protests university’s refusal to recognize chapter

The president of the NAACP is criticizing a decision by Catholic University of America not to recognize a chapter of the civil rights group on campus.

“It is outright discrimination and intolerance all rolled into one,” NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said Friday, just outside the campus and surrounded by about 20 activists and chapter leaders from other schools.

He said it was the first time in decades that a university had not allowed a student chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He threatened to sue if the group was unable to come to an agreement.

The university rejected an attempt by a student to start a chapter in April, saying there were already two main groups that represent black students.