2 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 9, 2005
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NEWS
Thousands of
jobs lost due to
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KIEV, Ukraine
Katrina
WASHINGTON (AP) - An esti-
mated 10,000 workers who lost their
jobs because of Hurricane Katrina filed
for unemployment benefits last week,
the first wave of what is expected to
be hundreds of thousands of displaced
workers seeking benefits.
The Labor Department said yester-
day the 10,000 figure was an estimate
of the number of disaster-related claims
based on spot checks with claims offices
in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and
neighboring states such as Texas that
have agreed to accept benefit applica-
tions from relocated workers.
Overall, 319,000 newly laid off work-
ers filed for claims last week, a drop of
1,000 from the previous week.
Department analysts said the big-
picture figure would have been higher
if not for the shutdown of many claims
offices in the path of the hurricane.
Higher numbers of claims are expected
in the weeks ahead.
Private economists agreed and
said last week's total probably will be
revised higher once the government col-
lects more complete data on benefit fil-
ings last week.
"We know that a flood of Katrina-
related claims is coming," said Stephen
Stanley, chief economist at RBS Green-
wich Capital. "The magnitude and the
damage
timing are uncertain but the figures will
clearly be boosted sharply very soon."
In other economic news, the Fed-
eral Reserve reported that Americans
increased their borrowing by $4.39 bil-
lion in July, a slowdown after a $14.55
billion increase in debt in June, which
had been the biggest increase in eight
months.
The increase in consumer credit rep-
resented a 2.4 percent advance at an
annual rate and pushed total c6nsumer
debt in the categories surveyed by the
Fed to $2.16 trillion. The July increase
reflected a 4.8 percent rise in revolving
debt, which includes auto loans, and a
1.5 percent drop in revolving credit, the
category that includes credit card debt.
The government had reported that
Americans' personal savings rate
dipped to a record low of negative 0.6
percent in July. That meant they dipped
into savings or added to their borrow-
ing to finance their purchases in July.
Sales of autos soared during the month
as people took advantage of attractive
sales incentives.
On Wall Street, oil worries and eco-
nomic uncertainties plagued investors.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell
37.57 points to close at 10,595.93.
The Dow had gained 186.13 points in
the previous two sessions.
Yushchenko fires Orange Revolution cohorts
President Viktor Yushchenko fired his 7-month-old government Thursday, dis-
missing his dynamic prime minister - the heroine of the Orange Revolution that
swept him to power - and accepting the resignation of one of the movement's top
financial backers.
The government breakup, amid allegations of corruption, deepened a crisis that
has diminished the popularity of the man whose dioxin poisoning and defiant stand
against election fraud seized the world's attention last year.
It also left Yushchenko looking isolated, especially in contrast-to the broad coali-
tion that joined in the mass protests on Independence Square that many Ukrainians
saw as a fresh start for their country.
"We've stepped away from the goals of the revolution," the president told the
Ukrainian people, saying he had to act against his friends fbr the sake of the nation.
GAZA CITY, Gaza
Abbas vows to hunt down Arafat cousin's killer
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas vowed to hunt down the killers of a powerful
former security chief whose gangland-style slaying Wednesday laid bare Gaza's raging
power struggles just days before Israel hands over control of the coastal territory.
In a brazen challenge to Abbas, a shadowy militant group claimed responsibility
for killing Moussa Arafat, cousin of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, in a
burst of gunfire.
Adding to the tension, the Israeli military said the vital Rafah crossing point
between Gaza and Egypt would be closed Thursday until further notice as part of
Israel's Gaza pullout, which could be completed as early as Monday.
Citing the latest events a Palestinian official said Abbas had decided to cancel a visit
to the United Nations General Assembly later this month, where he had been expected
to meet Israeli premier Ariel Sharon.
UNITED NATIONS
Report: U.N. tolerated oil-for-food corruption
A yearlong investigation of the U.N. oil-for-food program issued a strong indict-
ment of the United Nations and its top leadership Wednesday, concluding they
tolerated corruption and allowed Saddam Hussein's government to pocket $10.2
billion.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the findings "deeply embarrassing to all
of us" and said he accepted the criticism leveled at him personally. But he said he
had no intention of resigning.
Instead, Annan urged world leaders at next week's U.N. summit to use the "gold-
en opportunity" to adopt U.N. reforms the Independent Inquiry Committee said
were imperative for the world body to regain its respect and credibility.
The 191 U.N. member states negotiating a final document for the leaders to adopt
are deeply divided on the proposals to overhaul U.N. management, and Annan
warned of the "grave danger that the opportunity will be missed."
JERUSALEM
Medical records say massive stroke killed Arafat
JERUSALEM (AP) - A massive stroke caused by an infection killed
longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last year, though it remains
unclear what led to the rapid deterioration of his health, according to French
medical records kept secret since his death.
The records, from the military hospital outside Paris where Arafat died
and obtained yesterday by The Associated Press, offered the first indepen-
dent glimpse into his final days after months of questions and controversy.
The report did nothing to clarify the nature of the infection that caused
the 75-year-old leader's stroke.
The medical dossier initially was obtained by The New York Times and
two Israeli media outlets, which conducted separate reviews of the infor-
mation, resulting in different explanations for the cause of the stroke and
deepening the puzzle.
0
Ar rnPOT
Ayana Russell walks through the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in
the Grace Temple Baptist Church in Gulfport, Miss. yesterday.
New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - More stragglers seemed
willing to flee the filthy water and stench of death yes-
terday as increasingly insistent rescuers made what
may be their last peaceful pass through swamped New
Orleans before using force.
"Some are finally saying, 'I've had enough," said
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokes-
man Michael Keegan. "They're getting dehydrat-
ed. They are running out of food. There are human
remains in different houses. The smells mess with
your psyche."
Across a flooded city where as many as 10,000 hold-
outs were believed to be stubbornly staying put, police
made it clear in orders barked from front porches and
through closed doors that they would return - next
time, getting tough.
Police said they were 80 percent done with their
scan of the city for voluntary evacuees, after which
they planned to begin carrying out Mayor Ray Nagin's
order to forcibly remove remaining residents from a
city filled with disease-carrying water, broken gas
lines and rotting corpses.,
"The ones who wanted to leave, I would say most of
stragglers fin
them are out," said Detective Sgt. James Imbrogglio.
"There may be a few left, so we're going to go check
one of our last areas that's underwater today and then,
hopefully that will be it."
The job of carrying out the mayor's order was left
largely to the 1,000 or so remaining members of New
Orleans' beleaguered police force.
"We are not going to be rough," said Police Chief
Eddie Compass. "We are going to be sensitive. We are
going to use the minimum amount of force."
The near-conclusion of the voluntary evacuation
came as receding floodwaters revealed still more rot-
ting corpses. Nagin has said the death toll in New
Orleans alone could reach 10,000, and state officials
were ordering 25,000 body bags.
Volunteer rescuer Gregg Silverman, part of a
14-boat contingent from Columbus, Ohio, said he
expected to find many more survivors in his excursion
through the city's flooded streets. Instead, he found
mostly bodies.
"They had me climb up on a roof, and I did bring
an ax up to where a guy had tried tostick a pipe up
through a vent," Silverman said. "Unfortunately, he
I
llygiving up
had probably just recently perished. His dog was still
there, barking. The dog wouldn't come. We had to
leave the dog just up there in the attic."
As for other bodies his group encountered: "Obvi-
ously we are not recovering them. We are just tying
them up to banisters, leaving them on the roof."
At St. Rita's nursing home in the town of Chal-
mette, authorities struggled to identify as many as 30
residents who may have perished.
Dr. Bryan Patucci, coroner of St. Bernard Parish,
said the nursing home staff apparently believed it was
more dangerous to move the residents than keep them
at the building. He said it may be impossible to iden-
tify all the victims until authorities compile a final list
of missing persons.
The Army Corps of Engineers said the city was still
about 60 percent flooded - down from as much as
80 percent last week - but was slowly being drained
by 37 of the 174 pumps in the Orleans, St. Bernard
and Plaquemines parishes, and 17 portable pumps.
Together, those pumps can move 11,000 cubic feet of
water per second, roughly equal to 432 Olympic-size
swimming pools per hour.
A
- Compiled from Daily wire reports
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