2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 10, 2006 NATION/WORLD Dems take on Alito in hearings NEWS INEF e * Democrats begin hearing more aggressively than they did in Roberts's last September WASHINGTON - Judge Samuel Alito absorbed hours of criticism from Senate Democrats at close quarters yesterday, then pledged at his confirmation hearings to do what the law requires "in every sin- gle case" if approved for the Supreme Court. "A judge can't have any agenda, a judge can't have any preferred outcome in any particular case, and a judge certainly doesn't have a client," said Alito, the 55- year-old appeals judge who is President Bush's choice to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor for the swing seat on a divided high court. Alito spoke after several Democrats on the Judi- ciary Committee made clear they intended to ques- tion him with unusual aggressiveness across the next few days about abortion, presidential powers in an age of terrorism, his personal credibility and more. "In an era when the White House is abusing power, is excusing and authorizing torture and is spying on American citizens, I find Judge Alito's support for an all-powerful executive branch to be genuinely troubling," said Sen. Edward Ken- nedy (D-Mass.) "You give the impression of being a meticu- lous legal navigator, but, in the end, you always seem to chart a rightward course," added Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) Republicans, with a majority on the committee and the Senate, offered Alito shelter. "As of right now, there's no question that he's going to have my vote," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned Democrats against setting a precedent of filibus- tering Alito's nomination on the basis of abor- tion rights. If that became the standard, there are many senators who believe so deeply that "an abortion is certain death for an unborn child that they would stand on their feet forever," he said. The atmosphere was different by several degrees Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is sworn In during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill yesterday. from confirmation hearings last fall for Chief Jus- tice John Roberts. He had originally been named to succeed O'Connor, but then Chief Justice Wil- liam Rehnquist died, and Bush quickly made Rob- erts his choice for that post. That meant Roberts would be replacing one of the court's most reliable conservative votes on abortion and other issues. Bush's next choice for the O'Connor vacancy, Har- riet Miers, withdrew her nomination after coming under sustained criticism from conservatives who said they doubted her credentials on abortion. Those two factors - plus the erosion in Bush's public support as measured in the polls - com- bined to make for a feistier Democratic presence in the committee room, and a more contentious opening day of hearings. JERUSALEM Sharon recovering from stroke Ariel Sharon started breathing on his own yesterday and moved his right arm and leg in response to pain stimulation in what his surgeon called an important development. But it will be days before doctors can determine whether he is lucid or will be able to return to the job. "The prime minister is breathing spontaneously," said Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of Hadassah Hospital, adding that the movements of Sharon's arm and leg marked "a slight but significant improvement." Sharon's response is a "very important" sign and indicated his brain stem is work- ing, said his chief surgeon, Felix Umansky, briefing reporters for the first time. It is still too early, however, to assess what impact the massive bleeding he suffered in his right brain would have on his abilities to think and reason or on the left side of his body, Umansky said. WASHINGTON Cheney hospitalized for pill complications Medication that Dick Cheney was taking for a foot problem caused fluid reten- tion that in turned caused shortness of breath, resulting in a brief but not serious hospital stay early yesterday for the vice president, his office said. Cheney was taken to the hospital at 3 a.m. About four and a half hours later, he headed for home - walking out of the hospital without the use of a cane and carrying coffee and a newspaper. By mid-afternoon, the vice president was at the White House attending meetings and following his regular schedule, Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said. "He's feeling well,"she said. The 64-year-old vice president has a long history of mostly heart-related health problems -' four heart attacks, though none since he became vice president in 2001; quadruple bypass surgery to clear clogged arteries; two artery-clearing angioplasties; and an operation to implant a pacemaker. But doctors determined from an unchanged EKG, or electrocardiogram, that the shortness of breath was related instead to anti- inflammatory drugs he was taking for a foot problem, McBride said. WASHINGTON Army to discharge absentee reservists The Army yesterday began moves to expel dozens of reserve soldiers who failed to report for duty months after being mobilized for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in effect serving notice to hundreds of others that they could face penalties for ignoring or refusing orders to return to active duty. The proceedings mark a turning point in the Army's struggle to contact, train and deploy thousands of Individual Ready Reserve soldiers, nearly half of whom have requested a delay in returning, asked to be exempt or simply ignored their orders. The soldiers in this category of reserve status, who have served previously on active duty but not completed their eight-year service obligation, are different than those in the National Guard or Reserve, and they are rarely mobilized. So far, mobilization orders have been issued for more than 5,700 IRR soldiers since mid-2004. BAGHDAD Suicide bombers kill 29 Iraqis at celebration Two suicide bombers disguised as police infiltrated the heavily fortified Interior Ministry compound in Baghdad and blew themselves up yesterday during celebrations of National Police Day, killing 29 Iraqis. The attackers died before getting near the U.S. ambassador and senior Iraqi officials at the festivities, but the blasts capped a particularly deadly week for American and Iraqi forces. Iraqi police also were searching for an American journalist who was kidnapped Saturday by gunmen who ambushed her car and killed her translator in Baghdad. Jill Carroll, a 28-year-old freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor, was seized in Baghdad's predominantly Sunni Arab al-Adel neighborhood. Police said she went there to see a Sunni Arab politician. The escalating violence after the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections - at least 498 Iraqis and 54 U.S. forces have been killed - came as Iraq's electoral commission again delayed releasing the results of the vote. - Compiled from Daily wire reports CORRECTIONS Please report any error in the Dailyto corrections@michigandaily.com. abe Ikbit Dui g 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com Rally propels market to pre-9/11 heights Signs that Fed may end interest rate hikes, stabilizing oil prices push Dow above 11,000 NEW YORK - The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 11,000 yesterday for the first time since before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, buoyed by a rally that has sent stock prices soaring through the first five sessions of 2006. Wall Street's best-known stock indicator rose as high as 11,020.15 by mid-afternoon, the first time since June 13, 2001, that the index of 30 blue chip stocks traded above 11,000. It last closed above that milestone on June 7, 2001, when it stood at 11,090.74. Yesterday's advance followed a 241- point surge last week as investors grew increasingly optimistic that the Federal Reserve will soon end its string of interest rate hikes. Investment firms' upgrades of Dow components General Motors Corp. and JP Morgan Chase & Co. also helped carry the index past 11,000 yesterday. "It sends a signal that the U.S. economy has weathered some pretty harsh storms over the past few years and in recent months," said Art Hogan, chief investment strategist at Jefferies & Co. Hogan said heightened clarity about the Fed's rate tightening, sta- bilizing oil prices and new invest- ment money from 401(k) and pension funds have contributed to the mar- ket's gains in the new year. "We probably can hold onto it," he said. "If companies can continue to weather this energy surge, operate in a higher interest rate environment and create jobs, the market should be able to continue this rise." In mid-afternoon trading, the Dow was up 4499, or 0.41 percent, at 11,004.30. Broader stock indicators were at their own highest levels since May 2001. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 4.09, or 0.32 percent, at 1,289.54, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 13.05, or 0.57 percent, to 2,318.67. Bonds fell slightly, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.38 percent from 4.37 percent Friday. The dollar was higher against most major currencies, while gold prices rebounded. Crude oil and natural gas.futures dropped amid mild winter weather across the country. A barrel of light crude lost 96 cents to $63.25 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where natural gas slipped 32 cents to $9.31 per 1,000 cubic feet. The Dow came within 16 points of 11,000 last March 7, but fell back amid worries about inflation and higher oil prices, concerns that dogged the market for much of 2005. The blue chips are still more than 6 percent below their all-time high of 11,722.98, reached Jan. 14, 2000, as the high-tech boom approached its peak, but they have recovered well from their low of 7,286.27, reached on Oct. 9, 2002, while the nation wrestled with an economic slow- down spurred by the terrorist attacks on.the World Trade Center and Pen- tagon the year before. Bird flu infects five in Turkey DOGUBAYAZIT, Turkey - Pre- liminary tests showed five more people in Turkey have been infected with the deadly strain of bird flu that already killed two teenage siblings, officials said yesterday as Indonesia and China each reported a new case. The new results raise the number of human cases in Turkey to 15, although most have not yet been confirmed by the World Health Organization. A WHO official said Turkish patients appear to be catching the disease from infected domestic birds, the normal path of the disease, and not from each other. He warned that the chance that bird flu may mutate into a danger- ous form transmitted from person to person increases with every new human infection. Two teenagers from the same fam- ily died of bird flu last week. They were the first fatalities from the H5N1 strain of the virus outside East Asia, where 74 people have been killed by H5N1 since 2003. The cases are turning up in Turk- ish towns and villages hundreds of miles apart, in every section of the country except the west. Turkish offi- cials said they are near wetlands on the paths of migratory birds, which have been carrying the disease from country to country. Indonesian authorities reported yesterday that a 39-year-old man with a history of contact with poul- try had died of bird flu, according to preliminary tests. In China, authorities said local tests showed that a 6-year-old boy in stable condition at a central China hospital has tested positive for the H5N1 strain. Poultry at the boy's home died before he fell ill, the offi- cial Xinhua News Agency reported. 0 JASON Z. 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