2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 NATION/WORLD Syria's troops to begin pullout NEWS IN BRIEF DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - The presidents of Syria ; and Lebanon announced yesterday that Syrian forc- es will pull back to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley by March 31, but a com- plete troop withdrawal will be deferred until after later negotiations. Later, Syrian military vehicles and personnel were seen moving east in the first signs of a pullback. Syrian troops in the region had stayed put for days before Monday's movement. The announcement, made after a meet- ing between Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, said Syria's 14,000 troops will pull back from northern and central Leba- non to the east, near Syria's border. Then, military officials from both countries will decide within a month how many Syrian troops will remain in the Bekaa Valley and how long they will stay there. The soldiers have been in Lebanon for 29 years. After a negotiated timeframe, the two governments will "agree to com- plete the withdrawal of the remaining forces," the statement said. In Beirut, at least 70,000 people - some estimates said the number was at least twice as high - gathered at central Martyrs' Square to demand that Syria leave, much larger than the demonstra- tions last week that led to the toppling of Lebanon's pro-Syrian government. The agreement did not set a specific timetable for that complete withdrawal, which could fall short of demands by the United States, Israel, France, Russia and other nations that Syria completely pull its troops from its eastern neighbor. The announcement stated, "The Syr- "They want a future that is sovereign, independent and free from outside influence and intimidation." -Scott McClellan White House spokesman ian and Lebanese agree on continuing the withdrawal of Syrian Arab forces." It added that the redeployment to the Bekaa Valley was in line with the 1989 Arab-brokered Taif Accord, which called for Syria to move its troops to the Lebanese border and for both countries to then negotiate the withdrawal. A White House spokesman denounced the move as a "half measure." "We stand with the Lebanese people, and the Lebanese people, I think, are speaking very clearly," spokesman Scott McClellan said. "They want a future that is sovereign, independent and free from outside influence and intimidation." The United States has called for a complete withdrawal of Syrian sol- diers and intelligence agents before Lebanese parliamentary elections scheduled for May. Bush names new. U.N. ambassador Senate Democrats line up to oppose nominee, who has questioned the relevance of the U.N. WASHINGTON (AP) - John R. Bolton, a tough-talking arms control official who rarely muffles his views in diplomatic niceties, was chosen yes- terday by President Bush to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Senate Democrats immediately assailed the nomination, arguing that it didn't make sense for the president to pick a diplomat who has sometimes been critical of the world body at a time when mending fences with the international community was impera- tive. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, (D-Nev.), said Bolton's selection sent "all the wrong signals." Anticipating a possible fight over confirmation - in 2001, Bolton was approved for his current post over the opposition of 43 Democratic senators - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, "Through our history some of our best ambassadors have been those with strong voices." She mentioned former U.N. ambassadors Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. In his tenure, Bolton has angered officials in North Korea and China with his hard-edged approach. In fact, the Pyongyang government, furious with his comments, refused to negoti- ate with him. Bolton, whose career has included posts in the administrations of Presi- dent Reagan and the first President Bush, promised to work closely with members of Congress to advance Bush's policies and said his record demonstrated "clear support for effec- tive multilateral diplomacy." Mindful that he, like the president, has sometimes questioned the rel- evance of the United Nations, Bolton said, "Working closely with others is essential to ensure a safer world." Rice praised the international organi- zation as she announced Bolton's selec- tion. "The United States is committed to the success of the United Nations, and we view the U.N. as an important component of our diplomacy," she said. She said Bolton "knows how to get things done," citing his work in nullifying a U.N. resolution that equated Zionism, the philosophic underpinning of a Jewish state, with racism, and in organizing 60 countries to curb the spread of dangerous weapons. BAGHDAD, Iraq Insurgent attacks in Iraq kill 33 Iraqi insurgents set off bombs and fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at military convoys, checkpoints and police patrols in a spate of violence yesterday that killed 33 people and wounded dozens. The terror group Al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for much of the bloodshed. As the attacks persisted, so did negotiations to form Iraq's first democrati- cally elected government. Iraqi Kurds said they were close to.a deal with the Shiite clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance to secure many of their territorial demands and ensure the country's secular character after its National Assem- bly convenes March 16. The dominant Shiite Muslim alliance, however, said although it agreed that Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani would become Iraq's president, it was still talking about other conditions set by the Kurds for their support in the 275- member legislative body. The Shiite alliance controls 140 seats and need the 75 seats won by the Kurds in the Jan. 30 elections to muster the necessary two-thirds majority to elect a president and later seat their choice for prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. WASHINGTON Senate unlikely to raise minimum wage The Senate lined up yesterday to defeat dueling proposals to raise the minimum wage, one backed by organized labor, the other salted with pro-business provisions, in a day of skirmishing that reflected Republican gains in last fall's elections. Aides in both parties agreed mutually assured defeat was the likely outcome, with both alternatives falling short of the 60 votes needed to prevail. "I believe that anyone who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year should not live in poverty in the richest country in the world," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the lead supporter of the Democratic proposal to increase the federal wage floor by $2.10 over the next 26 months. He accused Republicans of advanc- ing a "deeper poverty agenda" for the poor by including provisions to cut long- standing wage and overtime protections for millions of Americans. Kennedy took particular aim at Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), a conservative who is atop the Democratic target list for 2006 and the lead supporter of the GOP minimum wage alternative. "The senator from Pennsylvania has a record of opposing increases in the minimum wage," he said. "He has voted against it at least 17 times in the last 10 years." CHICAGO Boeing CEO forced out over affair with exec Boeing Co. CEO Harry Stonecipher, brought back from retirement 15 months ago to boost the aerospace manufacturer's tainted image, has been forced out because of a scandal involving an affair he had this year with a female company executive. In a stunning announcement that left the exact circumstances behind the ouster unclear, Boeing said yesterday the 68-year-old president and chief executive officer had resigned at the board's request a day earlier for improper behavior while carrying out the consensual relationship. Chairman Lew Platt said the affair by itself did not violate the code of business conduct at the company, where a string of defense scandals has raised questions about the way Boeing obtains its lucrative contracts. But an internal investigation that started because of an employee's complaint discovered "some issues of poor judgment" involv- ing Stonecipher, who is married. ORLANDO, Fla. Aspirin shows reverse effects for women In a stunning example of gender differences in medicine, a new study found that aspirin helps healthy women avoid strokes but makes no difference in their risk of heart attacks unless they're 65 or older - the polar opposite of how the drug affects men. Aspirin is recommended now for both men and women at high risk of heart disease. Many doctors have assumed it also prevented heart problems in healthy women because of research showing it helped healthy men. The new study "raises issues about the dangers of generalization," said Dr. Paul Rid- ker of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, one of the researchers. "This is an issue we thought we already had an answer to." e John Bolton, President Bush's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, listens as he IstIntroduced by Secretary of State Con- doleezza Rice, not pictured, at the State Department yesterday. Afghan female politicians face struggles Despite the oppurtunity to achieve a high office, Afghan women still struggle for equality KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Fifteen Afghan men, heads slightly bowed, file into a crowded living room to greet the new leader of Bamiyan province. They sip tea and listen patiently as the governor holds court. Such a courtesy call is commonplace in this deeply hierarchical society when someone wins high office - but this time there's a critical difference: They are paying respect to a woman, the first female governor in the history of this Islamic nation. Three years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghani- stan is casting off the fundamentalism that once barred women from public life and kept girls out of school. The selection of Habiba Sarobi to head the central province of Bamiyan is a milestone, but she is the first to acknowledge that it masks a sad reality. "There are equal rights for women on paper. The challenge is to put it into practice ... Afghanistan is still a male-dominated society," Sarobi told.The Associated Press as she received well-wishers last week at her Kabul apartment For most Afghan women, little has changed since the Taliban's ouster; most women's daily lives are still dominated by archaic traditions and grinding poverty. Women's literacy rates are just 14 percent, far below the literacy rate for men, and maternal mor- tality is about 60 times higher than in industrial- ized countries, with an Afghan mother dying every half hour on average. Before Afghanistan descended into war two decades ago, women held high office. As early as the 1950s, they served in parliament, and worked as judg- es and diplomats. In the 1970s, a woman was minister of health: During the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, up to 70 percent of teachers were women. A wave of fundamentalism swept the country after Muslim fighters ousted the Soviet army in 1989, and the Taliban came to power seven years later. Since the hard-line regime's ouster by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, millions of girls have returned to school. And while women are still mostly on the periphery of public life, career opportunities have reopened for them, at least in the cities. Women's rights were enshrined in a democratic constitution adopted in 2004, and women turned out in force to vote in presidential elections in October. A female presidential candidate is now the women's affairs minister. President Hamid Karzai has given three women minor posts in his new, 30-member Cabinet, and named women to lead the Afghan Red Crescent Society and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. But skeptics - and even high-profile women appointees - concede they have little political clout. "I still believe most of us are selected for these seats because they (the government) wants to give a good impression to the world," said Fatema Gailani, who has won praise for shaking up the Red Crescent since her appointment two months ago. "But we really want to achieve things," she said. Malalai Joya, a 26-year-old woman who created a stir at last year's constitutional convention by calling Afghan warlords criminals, said progress in women's rights was only cosmetic. "Women still live under the shadow of the gun," she said by telephone from her home in western Farah province. "In Kabul, some women now walk to work without a burqa (all-covering veil) ... In the villages, there's no change. Women are still victims of violence." - Compiled from Daily wire reports - 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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