2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 8, 2006
1r1
NATION/WORLD.
Deacon Charles Oliver waits outside a
police tape barrier yesterday to see what
is left of his church, Gallilee Baptist, In
Sumpter County, Ala.
Church
fires
ragem
hC i
South
Motive unknown
for nine church fires
suspected to be arson
BOLIGEE, Ala. (AP) - Fires
damaged or destroyed four more
Baptist churches across the Alabama
countryside yesterday, less than a
week after a string of five blazes that
were ruled arson.
Church member Johnny Archibald
said smoke was pouring from Morning
Star Baptist in Boligee when he arrived
around daybreak.
"They had kicked the door in," he
said. "Evidently they had set the pulpit
on fire and went out the front door."
Yesterday's fires took place at church-
es off rural roads, about 10 to 20 miles
apart. They were in a cluster of three
counties, about 60 miles from the Bibb
County area where the five other church-
es were burned early Friday.
FBI acting assistant director Chip
Burrus said investigators were work-
ing on the assumption that the nine
fires are linked.
Authorities have no suspects or
motive, Burrus said in an interview
with The Associated Press in Wash-
ington, D.C.
Rich Marianos, a spokesman for the
federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives agency, said more than 50
agents are now assigned to the investiga-
tion in Alabama.
"This is our No. 1 priority nation-
ally," he said.
The fire that damaged Dancy First
Baptist Church early yesterday in Pick-
ens County appeared to be arson, said
Sheriff David Abston. He said volunteer
firefighters responded to a burglar alarm
that went off at 5:13 a.m.
Ragan Ingram, a spokesman for the
state insurance agency that oversees fire
investigations, said investigators were
pursuing several leads in last week's
fires, but "the leads haven't led us to a
specific suspect or a motive."
King s
widow
honored
Coretta Scott King
remembered as an
influential leader
LITHONIA, Ga. (AP) - Four U.S.
presidents joined more than 10,000
mourners yesterday in saying goodbye
to Coretta Scott King, praised by Presi-
dent Bush as "one of the most admired
Americans of our time"
"I've come today to offer the sym-
pathy of our entire nation at the pass-
ing of a woman who worked to make
our nation whole," President Bush told
King's four children and the crowd that
filled New Birth Missionary Baptist
Church for her funeral.
"Coretta Scott King not only secured
her husband's legacy, she built her own,"
Bush said. "Having loved a leader, she
became a leader, and when she spoke,
Americans listened closely."
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin
stresedAthrat King nae o~ut. not us~t
NEWS IN BRIEF
KABUL, Afghanistan
Three die in protests over cartoons
International peacekeepers clashed yesterday with Afghans protesting draw-
ings of the Prophet Muhammad, leaving three demonstrators dead and prompt-
ing NATO to send reinforcements to a remote northern city.
Senior Afghan officials said al-Qaida and the Taliban could be exploiting
anger over the cartoons to incite violence, which spread to at least six cities in a
second day of bloody unrest in Afghanistan.
Demonstrations rumbled on around the Muslim world, and the political reper-
cussions deepened, with Iran suspending all trade and economic ties with Den-
mark, where the drawings were first published. The Danish prime minister called
the protests a global crisis and appealed for calm.
In a new turn, a prominent Iranian newspaper, Hamshahri, invited artists to
enter a Holocaust cartoon competition, saying it wanted to see if freedom of
expression - the banner under which many Western publications reprinted the
prophet drawings - also applied to Holocaust images.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti
Throngs of frustrated voters flood polls
Scuffles broke out and polling stations opened hours late yesterday as masses
of Haitians waited - sometimes in mile-long lines - to vote under the protec-
tion of U.N. peacekeepers crouching behind machine guns and patrolling alongside
armored vehicles.
Outside the gang-controlled Cite Soleil slum, frustrated voters pounded on empty
ballot boxes and chanted, "It's time for Cite Soleil to vote!"
The turnout for the vote - called a key step toward steering this bloodied, impov-
erished nation away from collapse - overwhelmed electoral officials. At dawn, when
the 800 polling stations were supposed to open, it immediately became apparent the
day would not go smoothly. In the upscale Petionville suburb of the capital, members
of a crowd of thousands of voters stormed a voting station. Several women fainted.
WASHINGTON
Bush's budget proposal may not have future
President Bush's budget is barely a day old, but it already faces dire prospects in
Congress. It's a blueprint better suited for an odd-numbered year.
Odd-numbered years are when Congress typically takes on difficult budget issues.
During even-numbered years, when lawmakers have to face the voters, they don't like
to vote for things like cuts to Medicare, food stamps, farm subsidies and education.
"I can't believe that there's a will to cut $36 billion out of Medicare," said Sen. Tom
Harkin (D-Iowa). "I can't imagine the Republican Party ... is going to allow this to
come through this year in an election year."
"We all know who votes in election years," Harkin added, referring to the high vot-
ing rate for senior citizens who rely on the health care program for the aged.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.
Disgusted veteran will run for Congress
After 20 years in the Air Force and Bronze Star service during the 1991
Gulf War, Democrat Jay Fawcett decided to come home and run for Congress,
largely out of disgust with the way American troops were being used in Iraq.
"I think it's just gotten to the point where a significant number of us
who've served are looking at this administration particularly - and Con-
gress doesn't get off the hook - and saying, 'What're you doing? What's
the plan?"' he said.
- Compiled from Daily wire reports
CORRECTIONS
A story on yesterday's front page (The wait is over: Int'l studies minor finally
approved) incorrectly stated that prospective students will need to have their
plan of study approved by the director of the International Institute. Plans will be
approved by the director of the Center for International and Comparative Studies.
The same story incorrectly stated that funds granted by the U.S. Department
of Education could go toward hiring new faculty. The funds could support new
initiatives from existing faculty.
Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com.
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