2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 29, 2005 NATION/WORLD hu ud c.,. . .w fih Iaq coud size wnnext year NEWS IN BRIEF Prediction comes amid post, said Ali Faisal, political coordi- "pnutiI 7 ~~~nator for the Shiite Political Council, "We hoe'tanxtsm rthewil-;a b* O '" 1n~Ytrrt pe that1-ext~"mmer, there1wil i ree omCH D1Is targe at country's Shiites BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's out- going interior minister predicted yester- day that his country's emerging police and army may be capable of securing the nation in 18 months, saying his offi- cers are beginning to take over from coalition forces. Insurgents, meanwhile, targeted Shi- ite pilgrims, setting off two blasts that killed at least three people. Interim Interior Minister Falah al- Naqib's comments came as security was heightened in the already heavily forti- fied Green Zone, where the National Assembly will hold its long-awaited second session today to choose a parlia- ment speaker and two deputies. Negotiators haggled over who would get the parliament speaker job, consid- ering interim President Ghazi al-Yawer. They hope the inclusion of Sunni Arabs like him in the new government will help quell the Sunni-led insurgency. But al-Yawer turned down the post and instead asked the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance for the vice president's which is part of the alliance. Alliance members agreed to nomi- nate former nuclear scientist Hussain al-Shahristani as one of two deputy par- liament speakers and interim Finance Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi as one of two vice presidents. Alliance negotiator Jawad al-Maliki said the Sunni Arabs were expected to name a candidate for the parliament's speaker position today. Al-Naqib predicted that militants will target today's National Assembly meet- ing - only the second since the parlia- ment was elected nearly two months ago in the nation's first free election in 50 years. The lawmakers met March 16 but repeatedly have postponed a second meeting because of negotiations over Cabinet positions. Roads were blocked off yesterday, and security was tightened around the area, already surrounded by concrete blast walls and barbed wire. Several mortar rounds slammed into the banks of the Tigris River, just short of the Green Zone. Underscoring tensions with the coun- try's majority Shiites - who make up 60 percent of Iraq's estimated 26 mil- be a huge reduction in the number of multinational patrols. In some cities, there will be no foreign troops at all." - Falah al-Naqib Interim Interior Minister KAUUL,Atghnistan U.S. bases get $83 million upgrade The United States is pouring $83 million into upgrading its main military bases in Afghanistan, an Air Force general said yesterday in a sign that Ameri- can forces will likely be needed in the country for years to come as al-Qaida remains active in the region. Meanwhile, in a reminder of the instability still facing the 25,000 foreign troops in the country, a roadside bomb hit a Canadian Embassy vehicle and another car in Kabul, injuring at least four people. U.S. Brig. Gen. Jim Hunt said the millions were being spent on construction projects already under way at Bagram, the main U.S. base north of Kabul, and Kandahar in the south. Both are being equipped with new runways. "We are continuously improving runways, taxiways, navigation aids, airfield light- ing, billeting and other facilities to support our demanding mission," Hunt, the com- mander of U.S. air operations in Afghanistan, said at a news conference in the capital. Afghan leaders are seeking a long-term "strategic partnership" with the United States, which expects to complete the training of the country's new 70,000-strong army next year, but it remains unclear if that will include permanent American bases. 0 lion people - insurgents set off two explosions targeting Shiite pilgrims heading to Karbala for a major religious ceremony. In Musayyib, 40 miles south of Bagh- dad, a suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up near a police patrol protect- ing the pilgrims, Capt. Muthana al- Furati of the Hillah police force said. Two policemen were killed. The attack wounded two other officers and three civilians. The other bombing took place at the Imam al-Khedher shrine compound in Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad. The attack killed one pilgrim and wounded two others resting at the compound, Col. Abdullah Hessoni Abdullah said. Pilgrims travel to Karbala to mark al- Arbaeen, the end of a 40-day mourning period after the anniversary of the 7th- century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, one of the Shiite religion's top saints. In a news conference, al-Naqib out-, lined progress by the country's fledg- ling security forces, predicting that U.S. troops would be able to begin slowly pulling out of parts of the coun- try, and that "hopefully, within 18 months at the most we will be capable of securing Iraq." "We hope that next summer, there will be a huge reduction in the num- bers of multinational patrols," he said. "In some cities, there will be no foreign troops at all." JER USAL EM Israeli parliament rejects Gaza pullout Israel's parliament rejected a last-ditch attempt to torpedo Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip yesterday, vetoing a pro- posed national referendum. The plan now goes to the nation's Supreme Court. Demoralized by the defeat, settlers said they would move their fight into the streets, promising to bring 100,000 protesters to the settlements slated for evacua- tion to prevent the withdrawal. They also pinned their hopes on the Supreme Court, which agreed Monday to hear a challenge to the law providing the legal framework for the withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements. Approval of a referendum would have almost certainly delayed the with- drawal, scheduled for this summer, and could have brought down Sharon's government and forced new elections. Sharon has repeatedly rejected calls for a national vote as a stalling tactic. Opinion polls show a large majority of Israelis back the withdrawal plan. WASHINGTON Top court will not prevent newspaper lawsuit More than 290 dead in earthquake BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) - A major earthquake struck late yes- terday off the west coast of Indonesia, and a local government official said 296 people were killed in collapsed buildings. Thousands panicked in countries across the Indian Ocean as tsunami warnings were posted. Fears of another catastrophe simi- lar to December's devastating tsuna- mi eased within hours, as officials in countries closest to the quake's epi- center said there were no reports of big waves striking their coasts after the temblor was reported. Early reports of damage and casu- alties were confined to the island of Nias, off the Sumatran coast, close to the epicenter. The quake collapsed about 70 per- cent of houses and buildings in the town of Gunungsitoli, said police Sgt. Zulkifli Sirait. Agus Mendrofa, deputy district head on Nias island, told el-Shinta radio station that 296 people were Ar rnHT A Sri Lankan family, survivors of Asian tsunami of Dec. 26, listens for updates of a possible tsunami at a temporary shelter for the displaced, after the government issued a warning, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. ltof Pow 3n /..............i' :00 p.m., Hale Auditorium Stphen M. Ross School ofBusines s - .A keynote by y O Mh aDr. Martha Burk Chair of the National Council A bo ok s-n y her,, -inonir's~aa.'. the author to ollow. - Dr. Burk has led the NCWO effort to open the Augusta National Golf Club to women and remains at the forefront of the debate. Her TV appearances include HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumnbel, ESPN Outside the Lines, Listen UP! With Charles Barkley and others. She has also appeared on numerous news shows, including The Today Show, ABC World News tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsnight with Aaron Brown. Lou Dobbs Money- line, CNN Financial, Bloomberg News, Wolf Blitzes Reports, American Morn- ing with Paula Zahn, Crossfire and many more. killed. He said this figure was based on reports from humanitarian work- ers on the island. "We still cannot count the number of casualties or the number of col- lapsed building because it is dark here," Sirait said in a telephone interview. "It is possible that hun- dreds of people trapped in the col- lapsed buildings died." Nias, a renowned surfing spot, was badly hit by the 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on Dec. 26 that killed at least 175,000 people in 12 Indian Ocean nations and left another 106,000 missing. At least 340 residents of Nias perished and 10,000 were left homeless. The U.S. Geological Survey said yesterday's quake, which occurred at 11:09 p.m. local time (11:09 a.m. EST), measured a magnitude of 8.2. A later reading put the magnitude at 8.7, said Paul Earle, a USGS geo- physicist. A tsunami warning was issued in Thailand and Sri Lanka, although officials later canceled it. The only tnami-reported withinfour hours was a tiny one - less than four inch- - es - at the Cocos Islands, a group of 27 islands about 1,400 miles west of Australia with a population of about 600, meteorologists in Sydney said. No damage was reported. "It seems this earthquake did not trigger a tsunami. If it had, the tsu- nami would have hit the coastline of Sumatra by now," said Prihar Yadi, a scientist with the Indonesia Geophysics Agency. "And if there's no tsunami on the coastline near the epicenter of the quake, there will not be one heading in the other direction." Indonesian officials said the epicen- ter was in the Indian Ocean about 56 miles south of the island of- Simeulu, off Sumatra's west coast, and just north of Nias. It was described by a USGS geologist as an aftershock of the devastating Dec. 26 quake. Preliminary indications are that energy from the quake might be directed toward the southwest, said Frank Gonzalez, an oceanographer with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. He stressed it was based on "very scanty information" about the epicenter and magnitude. Yesterday's quake had an epicenter about 110 miles southeast of where the Dec. 26 quake was centered. The USGS said it occurred on a segment of the same fault line that triggered the Dec. 26 quake, the world's big- gest in 40 years. Two aftershocks - one measuring 6.0 and another measuring 6.7 - were reported in the same region late yester- day and early today, the USGS said. The quake occurred at a depth of 18.6 miles, and was centered 125 west-northwest of Sibolga, Sumatra, and 150 miles southwest of Medan, Sumatra, the USGS said. The depth does not mean a lot for a quake this large, Earle said, call- ing it a near-surface earthquake and comparable to the one in December. After that quake, the agency initially recorded the depth of the temblor at six miles. Shallow earthquakes like that generally are more destructive because the seismic energy is closer to the surface and has shorter to travel. Yesterday's quake was considered to be at a moderate depth. The Supreme Court refused to step into a lawsuit against a newspaper yesterday, leaving the media in Pennsylvania legally vulnerable when it reports defamatory comments by public figures. The case could chill news coverage of political campaigns where charges and countercharges are commonplace, First Amendment advocates say. The justices' decision not to consider the case was a victory for the former mayor and current council president of Parkesburg, Pa., who sued when the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pa., reported that a council member claimed they were homo- sexuals. The newspaper reported the councilman also had issued a statement strongly implying that he considered the two officials to be "queers and child molesters." BISHEK, Kyrgyzstan Interim leader backs part of parliament bids More political leaders threw their support behind Kyrgyzstan's newly elected parliament yesterday in a bid to restore stability to this impover- ished Central Asian nation following the dramatic ouster of President Aska Akayev. It remained to be seen whether the move would be accepted by opposition supporters, whose violent protests over alleged voting irregularities in parlia- mentary elections chased Akayev from the country Thursday. But a crowd of protesters dispersed peacefully after interim leader Kurman- bek Bakiyev, a former prime minister who joined the opposition to Akayev, promised that allegations of electoral abuses would be dealt with. Bakiyev, who urged Akayev to formally resign, spoke to the demonstrators after recognizing the new parliament as legitimate, which he did after that body named him prime minister. - Compiled from Daily wire reports 0 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. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. 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. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. 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. 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