2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 17, 2004 NATION/WORLD Dems pick minority leader NEWS IN BRIEF, { '-'. WASHINGTON (AP) - Newly elected Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid prodded President Bush and Republicans yesterday to join him in working across party lines over the next two years and said, "I would always rather dance than fight." "But I know how to fight," the 64- year-old Nevadan added in his first appearance as leader of a Democratic minority that was reduced to 44 seats in the Nov. 2 elections, the fewest in seven decades. Chosen without opposition to replace Sen. Tom Daschle as party leader, Reid also warned Republicans not to "mess with the rules" as they try to overcome opposition to Bush's most controversial nominees for the federal courts. While Democrats ushered in a new leadership era, House Republicans stood pat with their own team after elections that enlarged their majority. Rep. Dennis Hastert of Illinois won support from the GOP rank and file for a fourth consecutive term as speaker and pledged a "reform Con- gress" when lawmakers convene in January. "We will reform the legal system to stop lawsuit abuse.... We will reform Social Security without cutting ben- efits and raising taxes on senior citi- zens, and we will work to reform the tax code to make it more simple and more fair," said Hastert, who has a close relationship with Bush. Daschle was defeated in a bid for re-election in South Dakota two weeks ago, and Reid's ascension capped a remarkable rise for a native of tiny Searchlight, Nev., born into poor cir- cumstances. "If I can make it in America, any- one can," he told reporters, adding he hopes to use his tenure to make sure that others have "the same opportuni- ties that Harry Reid had." Later, in an interview in his office in the Capitol, Reid said he intends to defer to Daschle while Congress com- pletes its current postelection session. BAGHDAD, Iraq U.S., Iraqi forces aim to secure Mosul U.S. and Iraqi troops recaptured police stations and secured bridges in the northern city of Mosul yesterday in an offensive aimed at pushing out fighters supporting the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. Troops met "very little resistance" in securing several of the dozen or so police stations that had been captured by insurgents, the U.S. military command said. Nineveh province's deputy governor said militants blew up the Zuhour police station ahead of the U.S. advance, but the U.S military denied any stations were destroyed. Loud explosions and gunfire could be heard as U.S. warplanes and helicopters circled over Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city with more than 1 million residents. 4 Mortar shells hit two areas near the main government building in the city center, killing three civilians and wounding 25, hospital officials said. One U.S. soldier was wounded when a car bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy in western Mosul, the military said. WASHINGTON Wholesale prices rise by record amounts Wholesale prices - catapulted by more expensive energy and food - soared last month by the largest amount in more than 14 years. With inflation at the pro- ducer level accelerating sharply after months of good behavior, chances are rising the Federal Reserve will boost interest rates for a fifth time this year on Dec. 14. The Producer Price Index, which measures the costs of goods before they reach store shelves, jumped by 1.7 percent in October, compared with a tiny 0.1 percent in September, the Labor Department reported yesterday. The increase was the largest since January 1990. Wholesale gasoline and home heating oil prices were up by 17 percent for the month. "A period of pretty tranquil inflation has passed - with a vengeance," said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. Wanting to make sure inflation doesn't become a threat, Chairman Alan Greenspan and his Federal Reserve colleagues embarked on a campaign in June to raise short-term interest rates from what had been extraordinarily low levels to more normal ones. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Abbas calls for cease-fire during, campaigns The interim Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has asked Palestinian militants to halt violence during the campaign for the Jan. 9 presidential elections, a participant in truce talks said yesterday. Abbas is trying to work out a deal with rival Palestinian groups on a cease-fire and possible power-sharing. He held a joint meeting with repre- sentatives of 13 factions Monday and was holding separate talks with them yesterday, including with Hamas, the main opposition group and the main militant group carrying out anti-Israel attacks. Ziad Abu Amr, a lawmaker participating in the talks, said Hamas and Islamic Jihad have asked Abbas to establish a "unified leadership," an umbrella group that would give the militants a role in decisions, at least until elections. LONDON British gov't proposes public smoking ban Britain's government yesterday proposed banning smoking in most public places, setting off debate over what one smoker decried as the brainchild of a busybody "nanny state." The ban, which would be phased in over four years, would affect offices, restaurants and any pub or bar that serves food. The 20 percent of bars and pubs that serve no food would be free to restrict smoking if they choose, Health Secretary John Reid told the House of Commons. "This is a sensible solution, I believe, which balances the protection of the major- ity with the personal freedom of the minority in England," Reid said; outliningethe legislation he envisions. The proposal must be approved by Parliament. AP PHOTO Sen. Harry Rei (D-Nev.) speaks to reporters in the Capitol after winning election by his Democratic peers as the new Senate minority leader for the next session of Congress yesterday. At the same time, he already has begun to exercise his new power inside the party and the Senate. He said he hopes Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack will seek chairmanship of the Democratic Party, for example, and that Democrats will work harder to appeal to rural voters in states like his own. Reid said Bush's pick for second- term secretary of state, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, "should be confirmed fairly easily," barring the unexpected. On another of Bush's high-pro- file Cabinet appointments, Reid said Senate Democrats will seek certain memos that Attorney General-des- ignate Alberto Gonzales wrote as White House legal counsel. Gonza- les drew criticism from human rights groups after the terror attacks in 2001 when he wrote a memo in which Bush claimed the right to waive anti-torture law and international treaties that pro- vide protections to prisoners of war. Reid has spent the past six years as Daschle's second-in-command and told reporters he is not an "untested vessel." He takes over as Democrats strug- gle to adjust to the Nov. 2 elections in which Republicans held the White House and tightened their grip in both houses of Congress. Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who delivered one of the nominating speeches on Reid's behalf in the private caucus, told reporters he had said the Nevada lawmaker "will lead this cau- cus into a new era and oppose where necessary, compromise where possible and avoid the obstructionist label." Reid's speaking style 'often includes criticism wrapped in the language of compromise, and his remarks about Bush and Senate Republicans fit the mold. Marine unde BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The U.S. military said yesterday it is investigating the videotaped fatal shoot- ing of a wounded man by a U.S. Marine in a mosque in Fallujah. Iraqis condemned the act as "cowardice" and "something forbidden in Islam." Investigators will determine whether the Marine acted in self-defense against what a spokesman described as an "enemy combatant." The dramatic footage was taken Saturday by pool correspondent Kevin Sites of NBC television, whose report said the man who was killed didn't appear to be armed or threatening in any way, with no weapons visible in the mosque. The slain man was among a group of men wounded in fighting a day earlier at the mosque and left there. Three others in the group were also shot again Satur- day by Marines, Sites said. The Marine involved in the fatal shooting was with- drawn from the battlefield pending the results of the investigation, the U.S. military said. "We - follow the law of armed conflict and hold ourselves to a high standard of accountability," said Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "The facts of this case will be thoroughly pursued to make an informed deci- sion and to protect the rights of all persons involved." The Marine statement said the investigators would look at "an allegation of the unlawful use of force in r investigation for shooting Video shows soldier fatally shooting wounded 'man in mosque; Iraqis call act cowardice' the death of an enemy combatant." "The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether the Marine acted in self-defense, violated niilitary law or failed to comply with the Law of Armed Conflict," it said. Florian Westphal, a spokesman for the International Committee for the Red Cross, said he couldn't say for sure whether the men in the mosque were prisoners or not. "The fact that was reported was that he was wound- ed. But whether he was already a prisoner-or not was not clear to me," Westphal said. "We cannot, on the basis of TV images - no matter how disturbing and disconcerting they are - arrive at a judgment about an incident. We were not on the spot so we cannot be aware of all the circumstances of this incident," he said. "It's clearly recognized that people in combat situa- tions are under enormous strain," Westphal said He added, the Geneva Conventions are clear: Pro- tection of wounded combatants once they are out of action is a basic rule. Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Nagib said that while "killing a wounded person is rejected by us," the militants in Fallujah were responsible for their own brutal acts against Iraqis and foreigners, and were "killers and criminals." Footage of the shooting was aired on Al-Jazeera television. Iraqis interviewed yesterday in Baghdad harshly condemned the killing. "It is something forbidden in Islam, an American killed an unarmed Iraqi prisoner inside a mosque," said Abdul-Sattar Naji. Another Iraqi in Baghdad, Tareq Ali, called it "a criminal act" that "indicates the cowardice of the soldier who did that. The injured should be treated according to the law of wars." Omar Ragib of the Sunni clerical Association of Muslim Scholars, said American troops "pay no heed" to the injured, the unarmed and the sanctity of mosques. "We saw the troops entered the mosque after they shelled it," he said. "And we saw the effect of bom- bardment on the mosque walls." - Compiled from Daily wire reports MARKET UPDATE TUE. CLOSE CHANGE DOw JONEs 10,487.65 -62.59 NASDAQ 2,078.62 - 15.47 S&P 500 1,175.43 -8.38 www.michigandaily.com 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. 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