*I 2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 8, 2003 NATION/WORLD Fed retools emergency rescue plan NEWS INjBRIEF WASHINGTON (AP) - Con- and other Fed officials, the central ries about a sudden jump in interest Greenspan in a speech in December SEOUL, South Korea j4 fronting new fears of recession, the bank is expected to move beyond its rates down the road. in New York noted that the Fed from Py y ang c ance llks with SouthKorea Federal Reserve is refining an emer- traditional buying and selling of The fact that Fed officials have 1942 to 1951, as part of an agreement AyJngyang C k t 1 J gency economic rescue plan that includes further interest rate cuts and billions of dollars in extra cash for the banking system. The Fed's effort would be aimed at pulling the country out of a nosedive that has seen 465,000 jobs evaporate in just the past two months, raising fears among economists that the weak recovery from the 2001 recessionis in danger of stalling out altogether. "Clearly, the Fed is in uncharted territory," said economist David Jones. "I think they will try some experimental moves." One key element hasn't been used successfully in a half-century. Based on comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan short-term Treasury securities held by banks to the direct purchase of longer-term securities in an effort to influence long-term interest rates. Also, Fed officials have indicated they are prepared in the event of an unexpected shock to the system to lend massive amounts of money directly to commercial banks to make sure that financial markets do not freeze up. And as a third policy option, Fed officials have indicated they would explicitly state that if the federal funds rate is moved below its current 41-year low of 1.25 percent, it is like- ly to stay at the lower level as long as needed to get the economy on its feet - which would help investors' wor- been so open in discussing these options underscores the need the cen- tral bank sees to restore investor con- fidence that has been shaken by the fact that the Fed's aggressive two-year campaign to cut short-term rates has yet to produce a sustainable economic recovery. The Fed's target for the fed- eral funds rate, the interest that banks charge for overnight loans, is now at a 41-year low of 1.25 percent. "The Fed is trying to buck up fragile confidence," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com. "They know that everyone is asking the question: what can be done if the U.S. econo- my slides back into a recession and it ignites a deflationary cycle?" with the White House, successfully capped long-term Treasury yields at 2.5 percent as a way to hold down bor- rowing costs to finance World War II. However, private economists note that a later Fed effort dubbed "Opera- tion Twist" - in which the central bank sold short-term Treasury securi- ties and bought long-term securities in the early 1960s in an effort to influence rates at both ends of the yield curve - was judged to be a failure because the central bank did not make the transac- tions in large enough amounts. "If you want to produce results, you have to convince markets that you are serious and will do whatever it takes to alter the rate structure," said former Fed board member Lyle Gramley. Cabinet-level talks aimed at reconciliation between North Korea and South Korea were canceled yesterday after Pyongyang failed to confirm that the meet- ings would take place, South Korea's Unification Ministry said. Seoul had hoped to use the meetings to persuade its communist neigh- bor to scrap its suspected nuclear weapons program. The cancellation is a setback for South Korean efforts to ease tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. The cancellation came ahead of a meeting tomorrow of the U.N. Security Council to discuss North Korea's nuclear program. The council could eventually discuss imposing sanctions against North Korea, if a political solution is not found. China and Russia have said they oppose sanctions. North Korea has warned that it would regard international sanctions against its isolated regime as a declaration of war. The Cabinet-level talks were supposed to take place in Pyongyang from yesterday until Thursday. The two Koreas had agreed to meet during their last round of Cabinet- level talks in Seoul in January. 01 China reveals widespread SARS deaths Court ruies to uphold cross burning ban 1 GUANGZHOU, China (AP) - China reported another death from severe acute respiratory syndrome and revealed yesterday that fatalities in recent weeks have been more widespread than previously reported. In the country's south, international experts were researching whether the mystery disease might have come from animals on farms or in the wild. The country's death toll was 53, state television reported, citing the Health Ministry. That included 43 deaths in the southern province of Guangdong, where experts suspect severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, originated, it said. More than 2,300 people have been sickened worldwide. State television reported one SARS death each in the provinces of Shanxi in the north, Sichuan in the west and Hunan in central China - the first reported fatali- ties in those areas and an indication the disease was more widespread than previously acknowledged. China previously reported fatalities in Guangdong, Beijing and the Guangxi region to Guangdong's west. China's government has faced mounting criticism at home and abroad that it has released information about SARS too slowly. "It would have been much better if the Chinese gov- ernment had been more open in the early stages," World Health Organization Director-General Gro Harlem Brundt said Sunday in New Delhi, India. WHO experts searching Guangdong for clues to how SARS spreads and why it kills were studying whether it might have come from animals. The team has not yet found clear evidence support- ing the theory, but its members met with animal-health officials and discussed both farm animals and wildlife, including pigs, ducks, bats, rodents, chickens and other birds, said team leader Robert Breiman. Experts have linked SARS to a new form of coronavirus, other forms of which usually are found in animals. Coronavirus is the virus family that causes the common cold. That link "may suggest that it originates from ani- mals," Breiman said. He said, "the discussions today were inconclusive, so we really don't have clues." The team, in Guangdong since Thursday, is meeting with doctors and scientists, visiting hospitals and reviewing medical records. "Atypical pneumonia is a disaster. There is no prece- dent for something like this," said Huang Huahua, the governor of Guangdong, who met yesterday afternoon The Supreme Court upheld a state ban on cross burning, ruling yesterday the history of racial intimidation attached to it outweighs the free speech protection of Ku Klux Klansmen or others who might use it. A burning cross is a particularly powerful instrument of terror, and government should have the power to stamp out or punish its use as a weapon of intimidation, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote. The protections afforded by the First Amendment "are not absolute," she wrote. The court voted 6-3 to uphold the ban, but split 5-4 on the narrower ques- tion of whether-the law violates the constitutional guarantee of free speech. Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with the broad premise that states may bar cross burning, but did not agree with the court's holding that the law was constitutional on free speech grounds. Thomas, the court's only black member, said the court didn't even have to consider the First Amendment implications because a state has a right to bar conduct it considers "particularly vicious." Citizens in downtown Hong Kong wear surgical masks yesterday to guard against SARS. Hong Kong has had 883 SARS cases. with the WHO experts. On Sunday, China's Health Ministry reported six SARS deaths. That included Pekka Aro, an International Labor Organization official who died Sunday in a Beijing hospital. Cuban dissidents receive sentencing Job Opportunity For Fall 2003 Are you a beauty junkie? Are your friends even bigger beauty junkies? Are you looking for ways to make extra cash and learn new marketing skills? Then it's time for you to meet mark, the hot new beauty line from Avon created especially for today's young women. W~e are looking for two yotung, outgoing, female students to represent mark. on your campus. If selected you'll be one of only 100 Campus Ambassadors nationwide. Here's what's required if you're interested in working with mark. . Host a series of parties, paid by mark., to introduce the brand. - Distribute product samples and promotional materials on campus. "Sell mark. products to your fellow sttudents on campus. Takempart in an all expense paid, two-day off-site training session for you and your fellow Campus Ambassadors, where we'll teach you about the mark. brand and business. HAVANA (AP) - The first dissi- dents tried in a massive crackdown on Cuba's opposition will spend between 15 and 25 years in prison, after being convicted of collaborating with American diplomats to under- mine the socialist state, family mem- bers said yesterday. Prosecutors originally sought life sentences for at least a dozen of the 80 defendants, but no such sentences were among those announced yesterday. Opposition political party leader Hector Palacios, among those original- ly recommended for a life sentence, received a 25-year sentence, said his wife, Gisela Delgado. "This is an injustice," Delgado said after leaving the courthouse. "We are as Cuban as members of the Communist Party." Independent journalist Raul Rivero received the 20-year sentence sought by prosecutors, family members said. The communist government accuses the dissidents of being in the pay of Washington and collaborating with U.S. diplomats here to harm Cuba and its economy. The last of the summary trials; which began Thursday, were expected to end yesterday, with all sentences announced before the end of this week. The crackdown has been con- demned by international human rights groups and press organizations, with the U.S. State Department terming the proceedings a "kangaroo court." Those arrested in last month's crack- down include more than two dozen independent journalists, leaders of independent labor unions and opposi- tion political parties, and pro-democra- cy activists involved in a reform effort known as the Varela Project. The crackdown ended several years of relative government tolerance for the opposition. It began when Cuban officials criticized the head of the American mission in Havana, James Cason, for actively supporting the island's opposition. VLADIVOSTOK, Russia Siberian fire kills 21 students, 1 teacher A fire engulfed an old wooden school in the northern Siberian republic of Yakutia yesterday, killing 21 students and a teacher, emer- gency officials said. Ten more students were hospital- ized with burns and fractured bones after they tried to escape the flames by jumping out the windows of the two-story building,'said Yelena Mineyeva, spokeswoman for Yaku- tia's Emergency Situations Ministry. The students were between the ages of 11 and 18. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the fire a "major calamity" and ordered the federal government to fully cooperate with authorities in Yakutia, about 3,000 miles east of Moscow. In televised comments, Putin instructed his Cabinet to "provide help to the republic and immediately to the families of the victims." WASHINGTON Expets try to build fitness into society Try to take 10,000 steps a day, Dr. Julie Gerberding advised the congress- men, a mostly graying bunch with a bit of paunch who curiously fingered the beep- er-sized step-counters she'd brought them. It doesn't sound like much, until you consider the average person takes far less than 4,000 steps a day. Our environment - long commutes, elevators, computer- dominated jobs, remote controls that keep us on the couch - makes it too easy to be sedentary. Now instead of lecturing Americans to exercise, health officials are trying differ- ent experiments to build fitness back into society - playing music to entice eleva- tor users onto the stairs, starting walk-to- school programs, constructing sidewalks and handing out pedometers. "We have to build opportunities for physical activi- ty into everyday life," explains William Dietz, fitness and nutrition chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion, which Gerberding heads. LONDON, ENGLAND Couple, professor cheat at 'Millionaire' An arpy major, his wife and a col- lege teacher were convicted yesterday of using "coded coughs" to win the top prize on Britain's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Charles Ingram maintained that luck, military training and strategy had helped him answer the $1.55 million question - "A number 1 followed by 100 zeros is known by what name?" But prosecutors said college pro- fessor Tecwen Whittock used a sys- tem involving coded coughs from his seat in the audience to guide Ingram to the correct multiple-choice response: a googol. The jury found 39-year-old Ingram, his wife Diana, 39, and Whittock, 53, guilty of deception in trying to win the contest. Judge Geoffrey Rivlin upbraided the defendants for a "shabby school- boy trick." - Compiled from Daily wire reports. 0*0 If you'reexcited by the idea of putting your entrepreneurial and beauty skills to work, send us your resume: AMP Agency Carole Martell e-mail: mark. hiring@ampagency com fax: 617.723.2188 Deadj- orallpphict.i1n rd y. AprH 25.20WX, 0 Louisiana student shoots at classmates, kills one NATCHITOCHES, La. (AP) - A gunman opened fire in a classroom at a Louisiana trade school yesterday, killing one student and wounding another, police said. Calvin Joseph Coleman, 22, was arrested about an hour after the shoot- ings, said Assistant Police Chief Chris Stanfield. Police said he had registered at Louisiana Technical College, but had not attended classes for several weeks. The shootings happened about 11:30 a.m. in an electronics class at the vocational-technical school's Natchi- it i toches campus, Stanfield said. At the time, three students and an instructor were in the room, police said. "He came into the classroom and fired four or five times," Stanfield said. Investigators said they believe the dead man, identified as Terome Sil- vie, 32, was the intended target and the wounded man was a bystander. Silvie was shot four times, while the other man was hit by a bullet frag- ment, police said. Police Chief Ralph Peters said after the shootings the gunman jumped into a car and left with someone who had been waiting for him. Police would not say if the other person had been arrested. The wounded man was treated for a minor leg wound and released from the hospital, police said. Police were not sure of a motive in the shooting, Stanfield said. According to the state corrections department, Silvie was paroled in March 2002 after serving just under seven years of a 20-year prison sen- tence for attempted manslaughter. That charge stemmed from a 1995 robbery in which two men were wounded. Peters said the gunman was appar- ently not signed up for the class where the shooting took place. Classes were canceled for the day after the shooting. The school, which has 675 students ands30 staff members, is one of 42 two-year Nit ittlganM~iit The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by stu- dents at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be pre- paid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated collegiate Press. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327. PHONE NUMBERS (All area code 734): News/Sports/Opinion 76-DAILY; Arts 763-0379; Circulation 764-0558; Classified advertising 764-0557; Display advertising 764-0554; Billing 764-0550. E-mail letters to the editor to letters@mchgandaily.com. World Wide Web: www.michigandally.com. EDITORIALSTFLoiMezsEdtrnChf NEWS Shabina S.. Khatri, Managing Editor EDITORS: C. Price Jones, Kylene Klang, JennIfer Misthal, Jordan Schrader STAFF: Elizabeth Anderson, Jeremy Berkowitz, Kyle Brouwer, Soojung Chang, Ahdiraj Dutt, Sara Eber, victoria Edwards, Margaret Ergoren, Rahwa Ghebre Ab, Alison Go, Michael Gurovitsch, Lauren Hodge, Usa Hoffman, Carmen Johnson, Michael Kan, Andrew Kaplan, Emily Kraack, Elizabeth Kassab, Usa Koivu, Tomislav Ladika, Lydia K. 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Brady McCollough, Managing Editor SENIOR EDITORS: Chris Burke, Courtney Lewis, Kyle O'Neill, Naweed Sikora NIGHT EDITORS: Daniel Bremmer, Gennaro Filice, Bob Hunt, Dan Rosen, Brian Schick, Jim Weber STAFF: Gina Adduci, Nazeema Alli, Jeremy Antar, Eric Ambinder, Chris Amos, Waldemar Centeno, Eric Chan, Mustafizur Choudhury, Josh Holman, David Horn, Steve Jackson, Brad Johnson, Melanie Kebler, Albert Kim, Seth Klempner, Megan Kolodgy, Matt Kramer, Kevin Maratee, Sharad Mattu, Ellen McGarrity, Michael Nisson, Charles Paradis, Jeff Phillips, Jake Rosenwasser, Steven Shears, Joe Smith, Mike Wolking ARTS Todd Weiser, Managing Editor EDITORS: Jason Roberts, Scott Serilla WEEKEND MAGAZINE EDITORS: Charles Paradis, Rebecca Ramsey SUB-EDITORS: Katie Marie Gates, Johanna Hanink, Joel M. Hoard, Ryan Lewis, Sarah Peterson STAFF: Marie Bernard, Tara Billik, Ryan Bay, Sean Dailey, Jeff Dickerson, Andrew M. Gaerig, Meredith Graupner, Lynn Hasselbarth, Laura Haber, Stephanie Kapera, Graham Kelly, Jeremy Kressmann, Christine Lasek, John Laughlin, Joseph Litman, Laura LoGerfo, Zach Mabee, Maureen McKinney, Josh Neidus, Jared Newman, Caitlin Nish, James Pfent, Archana Ravi, Adam Rottenberg, Melissa Runstrom, Mike Saltsman, Niamh Slevin, Christian Smith, Luke Smith, Jaya Soni, Brian Stephens, Andy Taylor-Fabe, Douglas Wernert, Alex Wolsky, Daniel Yowell PHOTO Tony Ding, Brett Mountain, Managing Editors ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Brendan O'Donnell, Alyssa Wood STAFF: Nicholas Azzaro, Elise Bergman, Jason Cooper, Ashley Harper, Seth Lower, David Katz, Danny Moloshok, Lisa Oshinsky, Sarah Paup, Frank Payne, Rebecca Sahn, Nicole Terwilliger, Jonathon Triest, Ryan Weiner ONLINE Geoffrey Fink, Managing Editor EDITOR: Ashley Jardina BINE STF.efe aukBsns aae 0 0 0 N . Av~in5lo9 ~-~ . Being a Youth Counselor at an Eckerd wilderness canp is an-extraordinary career-building, life-changing experience. If you have patience, dedication, guts, and have experience working with children (or a DISPLAY SALES Anne Sanse, Mana ASSOCIATE MANAGER Jn Kaczmarek SPECIAL SECTIONS MANAGER. Jessica Cord ero ger