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Michael B. Mukasey , attorney general, leaves the hospital.He had passed out Thursday,
Michael B. Mukasey , attorney general, leaves the hospital.He had passed out Thursday,Read moreKEVIN WOLF / Associated Press

Mukasey says he's doing fine

WASHINGTON - With briefcase in hand and a smile on his face, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey returned to work yesterday after collapsing during a speech the night before and spurring a 14-hour scare about his health.

A Justice Department spokeswoman blamed Mukasey's dramatic and public fall on a fainting spell.

Mukasey, 67, checked out of George Washington University Hospital shortly after noon, telling reporters he felt "excellent." Arriving at the Justice Department a few minutes later with his wife, Susan, he got out of his security van unassisted, showing no signs of pain or discomfort.

- AP

Pentagon curbs flash-drive use

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has banned, at least temporarily, the use of external computer flash drives because of a virus threat officials detected on Defense Department networks.

Messages were sent to department employees informing them of the new restrictions. As part of the ban, the Pentagon was also collecting all flash drives that it provided to workers, according to a message distributed to employees.

Workers are being told there is no guarantee they will ever get the devices back and it is not clear how long the ban will last.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman would provide no details on the virus yesterday, but he described it as a "global virus" that "is not solely a government problem."


- AP

Bob Jones U. issues apology

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Bob Jones University has apologized for past racist policies, including a one-time ban on interracial dating that wasn't lifted until nine years ago, and its unwillingness to admit black students until 1971.

The private fundamentalist Christian school founded in 1927 in northwestern South Carolina said its rules on race were shaped by culture, not the Bible, according to a statement posted Thursday on the university Web site.

"We failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry," the statement said.

When Bob Jones University president Stephen Jones, the great-grandson of the founder, took over in 2005, he asked state NAACP president Lonnie Randolph to not hold the decisions made under his father and grandfather against him.

- AP

Elsewhere:

George and Martha Washington,

Dorothy from

The Wizard of Oz

and other costumed characters greeted thousands of visitors yesterday as the National Museum of American History reopened after a two-year, $85 million renovation.

An unstable cliff

prompted officials yesterday to close some cabins in a popular Yosemite National Park lodge complex that has a long history of rockslides. National Park Service officials said 233 cabins in family-friendly Curry Village will close permanently.

FBI agents arrested

Boston City Councilman Chuck Turner yesterday after he was videotaped allegedly taking a $1,000 bribe from an undercover agent in an expanding investigation into corruption at City Hall and the Massachusetts Statehouse.