6 2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 12, 2002 NATION/WORLD Interim senator stays independent NEWS IN BRIEF WASHINGTON (AP) - Interim Minnesota Sen. the resulting 50-50 tie. the lame-duck session, since Congress will have MCLAN, Va 0 I Dean Barkley announced yesterday he will be an independent during his brief stay in Congress, enabling Democrats to remain in control when the Senate begins a postelection session this week. As a result of Barkley's decision, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) will. continue in that post when the Senate is gaveled into session today. That means Daschle can decide what bills the Senate debates during the so-called lame-duck meetings of the current Congress, which are expected to run for at least a week. Democrats currently have a 50-49 edge, including the support they get from the Senate's other inde- pendent, Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont. Had Barkley decided to sit with Republicans, they would have become the majority because Vice President Dick Cheney would have been able to vote to break Barkley's press secretary, David Ruth, disclosed the interim senator's decision in an interview with The Associated Press. "I am an independent, the governor who appointed me is an independent, and I believe the best way to served the people of Minnesota is to remain independent," Barkley said later in a written statement. Barkley was appointed by Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, an independent, to fill the unexpired term of Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) who was killed in a plane crash on Oct. 25. Ten days later, Republican Norm Coleman was elected to the seat for the new Congress that convenes Jan. 7. Both Daschle and Senate GOP leader Trent Lott of Mississippi have said it makes little dif- ference which of them is majority leader during a limited agenda during what will be an abbrevi- ated meeting. Even so, Barkley, 52, Minnesota's planning director and founder of Ver-tura's Independence Party, had been wooed by GOP and Democratic leaders and telephoned by President Bush in efforts to win his support. White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the administration "will continue to work with him and other members of Congress to enact our priori- ties in the lame-duck session." Topping Congress' lame-duck agenda is Bush's plan to create a new Department of Homeland Secu- rity. Yesterday, White House and congressional aides studied a staff-level proposal for ending an impasse over the proposal, which Bush has called the top pri- ority for Congress' postelection session. Deadly twisters tear across southern states Sniper suspect confession in question Lawyers for the sniper suspects criticized the police interrogation of 17-year- old John Lee Malvo and said they would seek to bar his alleged confession from court. Malvo reportedly confessed to being the triggerman in several of the Washing- ton-area sniper shootings, including the Virginia slaying in which his alleged accomplice, 41-year-old John Allen Muhammad, is charged with murder. Malvo's lawyer, Michael Arif, criticized police for questioning Malvo without his court-appointed guardian or attorney and for leaking the alleged confession to The Washington Post. "The police-are flooding the media and poisoning the jury pool with their own paraphrasing and subjective interpretations of statements made during an uncon- stitutional interrogation," Arif said. He said the leak "suggests an insecurity on the part of the commonwealth with the admissibility of these statements." Malvo talked to investigators for seven hours after he and Muhammad were handed over to Virginia authorities Thursday for prosecution on death-penalty murder charges. Sources told the Post that Malvo was talkative and even bragged in some of his responses, but kept quiet about Muhammad. JERUSALEM Infant killed in Israeli retaliatory strike Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian toddler and wounded two others in Gaza yes- terday, hospital officials and witnesses said. The shooting came as Israeli leaders weighed a military response to a Palestinian shooting rampage that killed five people, including a mother and her two young sons. In the second straight day of violence to take children's lives, the 2-year- old boy was killed shortly after 7 p.m. while he played ball in Rafah. Israel's army said forces had returned fire and knew of no casualties, while the boy's uncle said there had been no fighting in the area. Meanwhile, expectation mounted of an Israeli operation in the West Bank city of Nablus, where Israeli officials said Sunday's shooting rampage in Kibbutz Metzer - a community that symbolized Jewish-Arab coexistence - had been planned. Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which are allied with Yasser Arafat's Fatah group, claimed responsibility for the kibbutz attack. Israel said it showed the insincerity of the Palestinian leader's recent condemnations of attacks on civilians, but Palestinians maintained the shooting was carried out by rogues and Arafat promised an investigation. MOSSY GROVE, Tenn. (AP) - Searchers and dazed survivors went from one shattered home to another yesterday, picking through splintered lumber and torn sheet metal for any sign of the missing, after twisters and thunder- storms killed at least 35 people in five states. More than 70 reported tornadoes cut a path of destruction from Louisiana to Pennsylvania over the weekend and into yesterday. Sixteen deaths were reported in Tennessee, 12 in Alabama, five in Ohio and one each in Mississippi and Penn- sylvania. More than 200 people were injured. "Yesterday, we had a nice brick house and four vehicles. Today, we don't own a tooth- brush," said Susan Henry of Mossy Grove, where seven people were killed and at least 40 were still unaccounted for as of midafternoon. The tiny community 40 miles west of Knoxville was nearly wiped off the map, with about a dozen of the 20 or so homes reduced to concrete foundations and piles of rubble a few feet high. Henry, her husband and two children survived after taking shelter in the basement of a neigh- bor's home that collapsed around them. "It was just deafening it was so loud," said 17- year-old Tabatha Henry. "You could hear the wood pop in the house, and that was it. Then all you could hear was the screaming and praying." Daylight brought a picture of destruction. In Mossy Grove, clothes fluttered from tree limbs. Power lines dangled from poles. Cars lay crumpled after being tossed like toys. About the only sound was the bleating of a battery-operated smoke alarm buried deep in the rubble. Searchers believed that most of the missing in and around Mossy Grove were OK and had sim- ply been unable to get in touch with family members, said Steven Hamby, Morgan County director of emergency medical services. The storm knocked out telephone service and blocked roads. No bodies had been found since early yester- day, but Hamby said digging out could take weeks. "We're hoping that we're past the bad stuff," he said. In Carbon Hill, Ala., 70 miles northwest of Birmingham, seven people were killed by night- time storms that sent giant hardwood trees crashing down on houses and mobile homes. t .} AP PHOTO Only rubble remained of this house after a series of violent tornadoes ripped through Mossy Grove, Tenn. yesterday. -r - i.. RAP CS-HOTTESTMIKES UNDE1RGUN D o EXV1UIVE o oFIIRT UAL1ITY 50-75% Off Reg. Prices' 'OVEE U0 TACKS FEATURING' NORE e BABY " 50 CENT. 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"We will eradicate this plague, this horror from our midst," said Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Ill., who helped draft the plan. At the bishops' meeting last June, Gregory set the tone with an address about the abuse crisis in which he repeatedly apologized for the church's mishandling of molestation claims. Victim advocates noted the new focus yesterday and accused bishops of aban- doning their commitment to reform. Gregory denied there was any change. But he also said the crisis that erupted in January with the case of a pedophile in the Boston Archdiocese has "fractured" relations among prelates, priests and rank-and-file Catholics. He acknowledged clergy feel "unfairly judged" by the misdeeds of a few. "We cannot and must never allow the particular positions that we have taken on such a serious issue, or even the mistakes that we have made in understanding and addressing it, to destroy our communion with one another in the Lord," Gregory said. Critics inside and outside of the church have tried to capitalize on the scandals to undermine Catholic teach- ing, Gregory said. He urged bishops to challenge them. Thousands of Catholics angry about how bishops have dealt with errant priests have joined reform movements. While many support Catholicteaching, some want the church to ordain women and allow priests to marry. "One cannot fail to hear in the dis- tance-andnEmetimnes verv nearhv BEUING Some foreign press blocked in China China invited international news organizations, set up a website and mod- ern press center, solicited interview requests, even welcomed journalists with a lavish cocktail party. At first blush, it looked like a political media event any- where else in the world. But the surface openness at China's Communist Party congress this week in Beijing has, in many ways, proven to be an illusion. At least one foreign reporter has been detained by police. Overseas television broadcasters have had outgoing stories cut by censors. And the world has been denied any real glimpse into the inner workings of the weeklong meeting, expected to produce the next leaders of the world's most populous country. While China has adopted some of the glossy trappings of modern public rela- tions, its political system remains as opaque and unwelcoming as ever. WASHINGTON Al Qaida operatives move to Pakistan U.S. intelligence believes most of al- Qaida's surviving leaders have relocated to Pakistan, although a few have slipped away to countries in Asia and North Africa, defense and counterterrorism officials say. Last week's CIA strike on al Qaida's chief operative in Yemen crossed one "top 20" target off U.S. lists. But several key members of the terror group's leader- ship remain alive and free, although U.S. officials believe many are laying low in Pakistan to avoid the worldwide dragnet. Pakistan was the obvious rallying site once US. and anti-Taliban forces overran Afghanistan last year: It is easy to reach but difficult to police. Because of con- cerns that a U.S. military presence would anger the Pakistani populace, U.S. forces cannot operate with the impunity they enjoy in Afghanistan. VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia Putin demands world support to fight rebels Russia's defense minister vowed yesterday to keep battling rebels until they are flushed of. out the mountains of southern Chechnya, where heavy fighting had broken out hours before he spoke. "We will continue these targeted oper- ations until there are no bandits left in the mountains," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said. Ivanov spoke at a Moscow news conference with his visiting coun- terpart from South Korea. Also yester- day, President Vladimir Putin met with European Union leaders and demanded world support to fight the rebels, whom he called international terrorists. Ivanov said Russian forces had killed five rebels after surrounding a group of about 30 overnight in wooded mountains near the village of Kharsenoi. - Compiled from Daily wire reports. 0 The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students 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 ternr, 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. Subscrip- tions must be prepaid. 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. 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