2A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 8, 2004 NATION/WORLD 0 Iran, E.U. reach nuclear agreement NEWS IN BRIEF HEADLINE FRMAONIH OL TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Hoping to avoid a U.N. showdown, Iran and the European Union's three big powers reached a preliminary agreement over Tehran's nuclear program, Iran's chief negotiator said yesterday. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Iran's conservative-dominated parliament pushed for a bill banning the produc- tion of nuclear weapons in a gesture of building more international trust. The preliminary agreement worked out in Paris with Britain, France and Germany could be finalized in the next few days, chief Iranian negotiator Hossein Mousavian told state-run Ira- nian television from the French capi- tal, where talks wrapped up Saturday. If approved, the deal would be a major breakthrough after months of threats and negotiations and could spare Iran from being taken before the U.N. Secu- rity Council, where the United States has warned it would seek to impose economic sanctions unless Tehran gives up all uranium enrichment activities, a technology that can produce nuclear fuel or atomic weapons. Diplomats in Austria familiar with the talks' outcome declined to discuss details. "One or two points remain outstanding, and they hope to resolve those outstand- ing points by Wednesday," one diplomat in Austria told The Associated Press. In proposals to Iran last month, Brit- ain, Germany and France offered a trade deal and peaceful nuclear technology - including a light-water research reactor - if Iran pledged to indefinitely suspend uranium enrichment and related activi- ties such as reprocessing uranium and building centrifuges used to enrich it. Europe and Washington fear Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons, but Tehran denies such claims, saying its atomic program has peaceful aims, "5. - .,rss *v gwex- , ,m': . : r E '? ,'.~YxY k., r x a z:. sb .,+.. ~. , . . r.. .. ....< Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, foreground left, leads a Friday prayer at the Tehran University campus. Iran reached a tentative agreement with the European Union's three big powers over its nuclear pro- gram yesterday which will ban the production of nuclear weapons. including energy production. "We had 22 hours of negotiations ... They were very difficult and compli- cated negotiations, but we reached a pre- liminary agreement at the expert level," Mousavian said. He said the four coun- tries must now ask their governments to approve the accord. The preliminary agreement appeared to mark a dramatic breakthrough, since Iranian officials have resisted indefinite or long-term suspension of nuclear enrich- ment, a process that Iran is permitted to pursue under the Nuclear Nonprolifera- tion Treaty, which Tehran has signed. While. not being in breach of the treaty, Iran is under heavy international pressure to drop such plans as a good- faith gesture. "If this is approved by all four parties, we will witness an important change in Iran's relations with Europe and much of the international community in (the) not-too-distant future," Mousavian said without elaborating on the agreement. The Europeans had warned Iran that they will back Washington's threat to refer the Islamic republic to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions unless it gives up all uranium enrichment activities before a Nov. 25 meeting of the Interna- tional Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Tehran suspended uranium enrich- ment last year but has refused to stop other related activities such as repro- cessing uranium or building centrifuges, insisting its program is intended purely for the production of fuel for nuclear power generation. JE RUSA LEM Aides come to Arafat's side in France With Yasser Arafat fighting for his life in a French hospital, his top lieutenants will fly to Paris for consultations with his doctors, a senior official said yesterday, as Palestinian leaders worked to set up contingency plans in the event of the 75- year-old leader's death. Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia or PLO deputy Mahmoud Abbas - or possibly both - will go to France today, said Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, who was also going on the trip. Arafat's wife lashed out at his top lieutenants Monday, accusing them of traveling to Paris with plans to "bury" her husband "alive." In a screaming telephone call from Arafat's hospital bedside, Suha Arafat told pan-Arab AI-Jazeera television that she was issuing "an appeal to the Palestinian people." She accused his top aides of con- spiring to usurp her husband's four-decade long role as Palestinian leader. Qureia and Abbas have been working together to run Palestinian affairs in Arafat's absence and to prevent chaos and violence if the Palestinian leader dies. Qureia has taken on some of Arafat's executive and security powers, while Abbas has been chairing meetings of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive body. Arafat's condition remained a mystery yesterday, his fifth day in intensive care at a French military hospital, amid contradictory reports whether he is in a coma. WASHINGTON Number of women in prison growing fast The number of women in state and federal prisons is at an all-time high and growing fast, with the incarceration rate for females increasing at nearly twice that of men, the government reported yesterday. There were 101,179 women in prisons last year, 3.6 percent more than in 2002, the Justice Department said. That marks the first time the women's prison popula- tion has topped 100,000, and continues a trend of rapid growth. Overall, men are still far more likely than women to be in jail or prison, and black men are more likely than any other group to be locked up. At the close of 2003, U.S. prisons held 1,368,866 men, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported. The total was 2 percent more than in 2002. Expressed in terms of the population at large, that means that in 2003, one in every 109 U.S. men was in prison. For women the figure was one in every 1,613. Longer sentences, especially for drug crimes, and fewer prisoners granted parole or probation are main reasons for the expanding U.S. prison population, said Marc Mauer, assistant director of the Sentencing Project, which advocates alternatives to long prison terms for many kinds of crimes. ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast French retaliate against Ivory Coast strikes France rolled out overwhelming military force yesterday to put down an explo- sion of anti-French violence in its former West African colony, deploying troops, armored vehicles and helicopter gunships against machete-waving mobs that hunt- ed house-to-house for foreigners. In the second of two stunning days that stood to alter French-Ivory Coast rela- tions - and perhaps Ivory Coast itself - French forces seized strategic control of the largest city, commandeering airports and posting gunboats under bridges in the commercial capital, Abidjan. French military helicopters swept in to rescue a dozen trapped expatriates from the rooftop of a once-luxury hotel, flying them and their luggage to safety. The airstrike on the peacekeepers came after government forces last week broke a cease-fire that had been in place for more than a year and launched aerial bomb attacks on rebel positions. MOSCOW Russians protest proposed end to holiday Carrying the Soviet hammer-and-sickle flag and singing as they marched, Rus- sians marked the anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution yesterday in both a celebration of Soviet times and a protest against a parliamentary proposal to scrap a once-revered Soviet holiday. At least 8,000 Communist Party backers and members of the ultra-nation- alist National Bolshevik party gathered at a square once named for Vladi- mir Lenin and'marched aerossMoscow toward a statue of Karl Marx. They bore a giant portrait of Lenin and banners proclaiming "U.S.S.R. - our Homeland." In Red Square, aging veterans wearing long, belted World War II military coats marched in formation, retracing the steps they took in 1941 when Soviets defiantly celebrated Revolution Day in spite of the Nazi forces massed 33 miles outside Moscow. - Compiled from Daily wire reports www.michigandaily.com The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Mondays during the spring and summer terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. Yearlong on-campus subscriptions are $40. Subscriptions 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. E-mail letters to the editor to tothedaily@michigandaily.com. 01 The University of Michigan's Institute for Research on Women and Gender and Women's Studies Program present Poi ca C a11e s g frr Eidetce-based Medicire "ut Wo et's HsealtA: New A1ia fcf ora New Era 2004 Vivian S aw Lecture FOOD FOR THOUGHT Winter Soldier Investigation Steve Pitkin was asked to testify about atrocities andracism that he witnessed in Vietnam. He pro- tested that he didn't have anything to say. Kerry said, "Surely you had to have seen some of the atroci- ties," and the group's mood turned menacing. One of the other lead- ers leaned in and whispered, "It's a long walk back to Baltimore." Visit www.wintersoldier.com Gary Lillie & Assoc., Realtors www.garylillie.com 0 Tomislav Ladika, Managing Editor 763-2459, news@michigandaily.com EDITORS: Alson Go, Carmen Johnson, Andrew Kaplan, Emily Kraack STAFF: Farayha Arrine. Liz Belts, Melissa Benton, Adrian Chen, Amber Colvin. Adhiraj Dutt, Victoria Edwards, Donn M. Fresard, Alex Garivaltis, Rosie Goldensohn, Michael Gurovitsch, Leah Guttman, Margaret Havemann, Tina Hildreth, Aymar Jean, Alexa Jenner, Anne Joling, Genevieve Lampinen, Michael Kan, Kingson Man, Carissa Miller, Justin Miller, Nala Moreira. Jameel Naqvi, Kristin Ostby, Koustubh Patwardhan, Mona Rafeeq, Leslie Rott, Ekjyot Saini. Karl Stampfi, Karen Tee OPINION Jason Z. Pesick, Editor 763-0379, opinion@michigandally.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Daniel Adams, Jennifer Misthal, Suhael Momin, Sam Singer STAFF: Katherine Cantor, Jasmine Clair, Whitney Dibo, Sara Eber, Daniel Faichney, Mara Gay, Jared Goldberg, Emily Hanan, Theresa Kennelly, Andy Kula, Rajiv Prabhakar, Saamir Rahman, Matt Rose, David Russell, Dan Skowronski, Christopher Zbrozek CARTOONISTS: Sam Butler, Colin Daly COLUMNISTS: Sravya Chirumamilla, Jasmine Clair, Steve Cotner. Zackery-Denfeld, Joel Hoard, Sowmya Krishnamurthy, D.C. Lee, Elliott Mallen, Zac Peskowitz, Jordan Schrader SPORTS - Gennaro Filice, Managing Editor 764-8585, sports@michigandally.com SENIOR EDITORS: Daniel Bremmer, Chris Burke, Bob Hunt, Sharad Mattu,.Brian Schick NIGHT EDITORS: Eric Ambinder, Gabe Edelson, Ian Herbert, Josh Holman, Megan Kolodgy, Ellen McGarrity STAFF: Scott Bell, H. Jose Bosch, James V. Dowd. Seth Gordon, Tyler Hagle. Jack Herman, Jamie Josephson, Max Kardon, Dan Ketchel, Sara Livingston, Katie Neimeyer, Jake Rosenwasser, Chastity Rolling, Matt Singer, Ryan Sosin. Anne Uible, Mat t Venegoni, Ben Voss, Stephanie Wright ARTS Jason Roberts, Managing Editor 763-0379, artspageemichigandally.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Adam Rottenberg, Alex Wolsky WEEKEND MAGAZINE EDITORS: Alexandra Jones, Niamh Slevin SUB-EDITORS: Andrew M. Gaerig, Zac Peskowitz, Sarah Peterson, Melissa Runstrom. Doug Wernert STAFF: Jennie Adler, Rachel Berry, Zach Borden, Forest Casey, Ian Dickinson, Will Dunlap, Laurence Freedman, Brandon Hang, Lynn Hasselbarth, Mary Hillemeier, Joel Hoard, Kevin Hollifield, Andrew Horowitz, Lia lzenberg, Megan Jacobs, Michelle Kijek, Matt Kivel, Marshall Lee, Emily Liu. Dawn Low, Evan McGarvey, Vanessa Miller. Jared Newman, Bernie Nguyen, Christopher Pitoun, Archana Ravi, Ruby Robinson, Jaya Soni, Abby Stotz low r r PHOTO - Tony Ding, Managing Editor 764-2459, photo@michigandaly.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Jason Cooper, Ryan Weiner ASSISTANT EDITORS: Elise Bergman, Trevor Campbell. Forest Casey STAFF: Alexander Dziadosz, Cristina Fotieo, Joel Friedman, Dory Gannes, Tommaso Gomez, Ashley Harper, Mike Hulsebus, Jeff Lehnert, Shubra Ohri, Ali Olsen, Victor Pudeyev, Eugene Robertson, Peter Schottenfels, Christine Stafford, Willa Tracosas, David Tuman GRAPHIC DESIGN STAFF: Patricia Chang, Ashley Dinges, Megan Greydanus, Ashleigh Henton, Lindsey Ungar ONLINE 763-2459, online@michigandaily.com STAFF: Eston Bond, Angela Cesare, Bethany Dykstra, Mira Levitan Janna Hutz, Managing Editor DISPLAY SALES Christine Hua, Manager 764-0554, display@michigandally.com ASSOCIATE SALES MANAGER: Erin Ott L.