2 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 9, 2005 r1 . NEWS Thousands of jobs lost due to ai S EWS IN BRIEF ti 1: I'v e 0, NA, VFJ 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 CORRECTIONS HEY, COMPUTER NERDS: EVERY NEWSPAPER IN THE COUNTRY IS LOOKING TO IMPROVE ITS ONLINE SERVICES. WHY NOT LEARN TO HELP THEM? E-MAIL ESTON @MICHIGAN -DAILY.COM. An article in Thursday's edition of the paper should have said Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick is a redshirt junior. Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com. 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www. michiganddily.com JASON Z. PESICK Editor in Chief pesick@michigandaily.com 647-3336 Sun.-Thurs. 5 p.m. - 2 a.m. JONATHAN DOBBERSTEIN Business Manager business@michigandaily.com 764-0558 Mon-Fri. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. CONTACT INFORMATION News Tips Corrections Letters to the Editor Photography Department Arts Section Editorial Page Sports Section Display Sales Classified Sales Online Sales Finance Newsroom: 763-2459 Office hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. news@michigandaily.com corrections@michigandaily.com tothedaily@michigandaily.com photo@michigandaily.com 764-0563 artspage@michigandaily.com 763-0379 opinion@michigandaily.com 763-0379 sports@michigandaily.com 764-8585 display@michigandaily.com 764-0554 classifted@michigandaily.com 764-0557 onlineads@michigandaily.com 615-0135 finance@michigandaily.com 763-3246 T-SHIRT PRINTERY A2'S FINEST & FASTEST PRINTED & EMBROIDERED TEES, SWEATS, CAPS, TEAM SHIRTS, SHORTS --UM PODS ACCEPTED- --CALL FOR OUR LOW PR ICE Q UOT E 5-DAY TURNAROUND r 1002 PONTIAC TR. TEL. 994-1367 adrianstshirts.com Join us this Sunday for Lively Bible Teaching EDITORIAL STAFF Alison Go Managing Editor go@michigandaily.com Farayha Arrine Managing News Editor arrine@michigandaily.com NEWS EDITORS: Donn M. Fresard, Anne Doling, Michael Kan, Jameel Naqvi Suhael Momin Editorial Page Editor momin@michigandaily.com Sam Singer Editorial Page Editor singer@michigandaily.com ASSOCIATE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Emily Beam, Mara Gay, Christopher Zbrozek Ian Herbert Managing Sports Editor herbert@michigandaily.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITORS: Megan Kolodgy, Sharad Mattu, Matt Singer, Matt Venegoni, Stephanie Wright SPORTS NIGHT EDITORS: Scott Bell, H. Jose BRsch, Gabe Edelson, Jack Herman, Katie Niemeyer, Kevin Wright Adam Rottenberg Managing Arts Editor rottenberg@michigandaily.com ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITORS: Alexandra M. Jones, Melissa Runstrom ARTS SUBEDITORS: Jeffrey Bloomer, Victoria Edwards, Puive Mato, Evan McCarvey, Bernie Nguyen Ryan Weiner Managing Photo Editor weiner@michigandaily.com ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITORS: Forest Casey, Jason Cooper ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS: Trevor Campbell, Ali Olsen, David Tuman Ashley Dinges Assistant Managing Editor, Design dinges@michigandaily.com Eston Bond Managing Online Editor eston@michigandaily.com ASSOCIATE ONLINE EDITOR: Angela Cesere Doug Wernert Magazine Editor wernert@lmichigandaily.com