2A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 11, 2004 Gonzales NEWS IN BRIEF named attorney counsel WASHINGTON (AP) - With a hug and words of high praise, Presi- dent Bush named Alberto Gonzales as attorney general yesterday, elevating the administration's most prominent His- panic to a highly visible post in the war on terror. "His sharp intellect and sound judg- ment have helped shape our policies in the war on terror," Bush said of the man who has served as the White House's top lawyer over the past four years. In an announcement in the Roos- evelt Room of the White House, Bush touched on Gonzales's personal story - a boy who grew up poor in a fam- ily of eight children in a two-bedroom house in Texas - and now is in line for a Cabinet post. "'Just give me a chance to prove myself,' that is a common prayer for those in my community," said Gonza- les, who would be the first Hispanic to hold the nation's top law enforcement job. "Mr. President, thank you for that chance." If confirmed by the Senate, the 49- year-old Texan would replace John Ashcroft, who announced plans on Tuesday to step down after four stormy years in the post. Even before the formal announce- ment, one Senate liberal welcomed the appointment of "someone less polariz- ing" to the position. "We will have to review his record very carefully, but I can tell you already he's a better can- didate than John Ashcroft," said Sen. Charles Schumer, (D-N.Y.), a member of the Judiciary Committee. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans also announced his resignation on Tuesday, and Republican officials have said they expect other departures from Bush's Cabinet and senior staff as he prepares for a second term in office. Gonzales's career has been linked with Bush for at least a decade, serv- ing as general counsel when Bush was governor of Texas, and then as secretary of state and as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. "My confidence in Al was high to begin with. It has only grown with time," the president said, hugging his longtime Texas confidant as he concluded his remarks. Gonzales has been at the center of developing Bush's positions on balancing civil liberties with waging the war on ter- rorism - opening the White House coun- sel to the same line of criticism that has dogged Ashcroft. Holland faces anti- Islamic attacks UDEN, Netherlands (AP) - The bra- zen daylight murder of a filmmaker who criticized Islamic fundamentalism has shattered Holland's fabled tranquility. A wave of attacks on mosques and churches - and a firebombing at a Muslim elementary school - is raising troubling questions about Dutch soci- ety's relations with a large and increas- ingly restive Muslim minority. Marion Cappendijk can't understand the outburst of violence. "We are so tolerant here," she said yesterday as she looked at the smoldering rubble of the school, the 14th Muslim building attacked by arsonists, bombers or graf- fiti sprayers in five days. The Nov. 2 killing of Dutch film- maker Theo van Gogh, allegedly by an Islamic extremist, unleashed pow- erful resentments that have shaken many Dutch. "Extremism is reaching the roots of our democracy," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende warned Parliament yesterday. A tradition of ethnic and religious harmony, a well-known tolerance for marijuana use and avant-garde poli- cies on euthanasia and alternative medicine have made the Netherlands synonymous for many people with broadmindedness. But van Gogh's murder and the ensu- ing attacks are only the latest and most dramatic signs of ethnic turmoil here - an uneasiness that mirrors tensions throughout Europe between host and immigrant populations. In neighboring Belgium, a recent opinion poll ranked an anti-immigrant party as the most popular in Dutch- FALLUJAH, Iraq U.S. claims extensive control of city U.S. forces cornered insurgents yesterday in a small pockets of Fallujah after a stunningly swift advance that seized control of 70 percent of the militant strong- hold. An Iraqi general said troops found "hostage slaughterhouses" where foreign captives had been killed. The abandoned houses in northern Fallujah had hostages' documents, CDs showing captives being killed and black clothing worn by militants in videos, Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan said. But it appeared troops did not find any of the at least nine foreigners still in kidnappers' hands - including two Americans. "We have found hostage slaugh- terhouses in Fallujah that were used by these people," Mohan said. But he said he did not know which hostages' documents were uncovered. The speed of the U.S. drive in Fallujah may indicate that most Sunni fighters and their leaders abandoned the city before the offensive and moved elsewhere to carry on the fight, U.S. officers said. The most notorious kidnapper, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is believed to have fled the city. ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast France, U.S. evacuate trapped foreigners France, the United States and other nations launched one of the largest evacuations of Africa's post-independence era yesterday, requisitioning commercial jets to fly out thousands of foreigners following attacks on civilians and peacekeeping troops. French soldiers in boats plucked some of their trapped citizens from the banks of Abidjan's lagoons. Long convoys sent out by the U.S. Embassy and other nations rounded up foreigners from their homes for evacuation as Ivory Coast's state TV alternately appealed for calm and for a mass uprising against the French, the country's former colonial rulers. By late afternoon, much of Ivory Coast's largest city was quiet - the first break from violence since Saturday. French President Jacques Chirac sternly demanded that President Laurent Gbagbo rein in thousands of hard-line supporters, whose looting and arson attacks often have failed to discriminate among foreigners. Ivory Coast's "government is pushing to kill white people - not just the French, all white people," said Marie Noel Mion, rescued in a wooden boat at daybreak and wait- ing with hundreds of others at Abidjan's airport, some camped in tents on the floor. WASHINGTON Fed bumps interest rates up quarter point The Federal Reserve nudged interest rates up another quarter point yesterday, the fourth moderate rate increase in the past five months, as Fed officials pointed to encour- aging signs that the economy is finally rebounding from its summer slowdown. The generally more upbeat tone to the Fed's official announcement was seen by many private economists as a signal that rates will keep moving higher in coming months. "The Fed is saying that we have tightened, and we are going to keep on tighten- ing," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues took note of a strengthening economy by speaking more positively than they had at their last meet- ing in September about overall economic growth and the health of the labor market. WASHINGTON Bush pushing private Social Security accounts Fresh off re-election, President Bush is dusting off an ambitious plan to overhaul Social Security, a controversial proposal that had been shelved because of politics and the administration's focus on tax cuts and terrorism. Bush envisions a framework that would partially privatize Social Security with personal investment accounts similar to 401(k) plans. A starting point is a plan proposed by a presidential commission in 2001 that would divert 2 percent of workers' payroll taxes into private accounts. The remain- ing 4.2 percent - and the Social Security taxes employers pay - would go into the system, helping fund benefits for current retirees. That leaves a shortfall of at least $2 trillion to continue funding benefits for those current retirees. - Compiled from Daily wire reports q MARKET UPDATE WED. CLOSE CHANGE Dow JONES 10,385.48 - 0.89 NASDAQ 2034.56 -8.77 S&ยง 00 1162.91 -1.17 fa 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@michigandaiiy.com. 763-2459, news@mIchlgandally.com EDITORS: Alison 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, Naila Moreira, Jameel Naqvi, Kristin Ostby, Koustubh Patwardhan, Mona Rafeep, Leslie Rott, Ekjyot SainiKarl Stampfl, Karen Tee OPINION Jason Z. Pesick, Editor 763-0379, opinion@mIchIgandaIly.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 michgandally.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, Matt Venegoni, Ben Voss, Stephanie Wright ARTS Jason Roberts, Managing Editor 763-0379, artspage@michigandaIly.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Adam Rottenberg WEEKEND MAGAZINE EDITORS: Alexandra Jones, Niamh Sievin SUB-EDITORS: Andrew M. Gaerig, Zac Peskowitz, Sarah Peterson, Melissa Runstrom, Doug Werner 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 r r a I PHOTO Tony Ding, Managing Editor 764-0563, photo@michigandallycom 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 Janna Hutz, Managing Editor 763-2459, onlineemichIgandally.com Scr FF Estrono,nel a es.are ,Bet.nyysr,i Lit DISPLAY SALES Christine Hua, Manager 764-0554, display@mlchlgandally.com ASSOCIATE SALES MANAGER: Erin Ott a