Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 7A In emotional farewell, Annan appeals for unity As U.N. chief spoke, tanks surrounded office of Thai prime minister UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed for nations to unite against human rights abuses, religious divi- sions, brutal conflicts and an unjust world economy in an emotional farewell yesterday. But his remarks were overshadowed by a military coup in Thailand and the Iranian president's fiery defense of his country's nuclear program. Annan's opening address to the 61st annual U.N. General Assem- bly hit many issues on the ambi- tious agenda that leaders of the 192 member nations confront - reviv- ing a stalled Mideast peace process, curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions, getting U.N. peacekeepers into con- flict-wracked Darfur and promoting democracy. As the U.N. chief spoke, tanks were surrounding the offices of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shi- nawatra as the military staged a bloodless coup while he was in New York for the ministerial meetings - highlighting the threats to global security. Thaksin initially switched speak- ing slots so he could make his speech on 'Iesday evening, a day earlier than planned, but later can- celed the address. Trying to build bridges with people in the Middle East angry with the United States over Iraq and Lebanon, President Bush assured skeptical Muslims he is not waging war with Islam and urged support for the people trying to transform the region and bring Mideast peace. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the podium hours later and was harshly critical of U.S. policies in Iraq and Leba- non. He also accused Washington of abusing its veto power in the U.N. Security Council to punish others while protecting its own interests and allies. He insistedthathis nation's nucle- ar activities are "transparent, peace- ful and under the watchful eye" of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, and he reiter- ated his nation's commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. "If they have differences with a nation or state, they drag it to the Security Council" and assign themselves the roles of "prosecutor, judge and executioner," Ahmadine- jad said. "Is this a just order?" A U.N. Security Council resolu- tion had given Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment or face sanctions, but Tehran rejected the deadline. The U.S., France and other nations have been holding talks on what the consequences should be. Bush avoided a confrontational tone toward Tehran in his speech but insulted the government by directing his remarks directly to the Iranian people. "The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have cho- sen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund ter- rorism and fuel extremism and pur- sue nuclear weapons," he said. More than a week after the U.S. marked the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush and other leaders also stressed the need to step up the fight against terrorism. Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a staunch U.S. ally who spoke shortly after Bush, also urged the world to confront the plague of terrorism head-on and end end- ing conflicts in the Islamic world to eliminate the "desperation and injustice" that breed extremism. "Unless we end foreign occu- pation and suppression of Mus- lim peoples," he said, "terrorism and extremism will continue to find recruits among alienated Muslims in various parts of the world," he said, and the top prior- ity should be ending "the tragedy of Palestine." Annan, meanwhile, warned that "as long as the Palestinians live under occupation, exposed to daily frustration and humiliation, and as long as Israelis are blown up in buses or in dance halls, so long will passions everywhere be inflamed." Failure to resolve the Palestinian- Israeli conflict and Israel's 40-year occupation will continue to hurt the U.N.'s reputation and raise questions about its impartiality, he said. It also will stymie the U.N.'s best efforts to resolve other conflicts, "includ- ing those in Iraq and Afghanistan, whose peoples need our help just as badly, and are entitled to it' he warned. Ministers from the Quartet that drafted the stalled road map to Mid- east peace - the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia - will meet today, and the Security Coun- cil was to hold a ministerial meeting Thursday that Arab leaders hope will help revive the Mideast peace process. Annan, whose second five-year term ends on Dec. 31, said the past decade had seen progress in devel- opment, security and the rule of law - the three great challenges he said humanity faced in his first address to the General Assembly in 1997. But the secretary-general said too many people are still exposed to "brutal conflict" and the fear of terrorism has increased the risk of a clash of civilizations and religions. Terrorism is being used as a pretext to limit or abolish human rights, and globalization risks driving richer and poorer peoples apart, he said. "As a result, we face a world whose divisions threaten the very notion of an international com- munity, upon which this institution stands," Annan said. "The only answer to this divided world must be a truly United Nations." He also decried the continuing conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, less than two weeks before the mandate for the African Union peacekeeping force there expires. "The continued spectacle of men, women and children driven from their homes by murder, rape and the burning of their villages makes a mockery of our claim, as an inter- national community, to shield peo- ple from the worst abuses," Annan said. CRIME Continued from page 1A Police said the suspect entered by cutting through a dining-room screen. At about 1:20 a.m., a 20-year- old University student was on his front porch on the 1000 block of Packard Street when he was approached by a stranger. The man jabbed the student in the stomach with a butcher knife. The victim tried to run, but stopped, hindered by his flip-flops. He told suspect that his money was inside his home. The robber then fol- lowed him past several roommates and into his bedroom, where he handed over the $7 in his wallet. The victim sustained a superficial cut on his stomach. Police used tracking dogs to find the man, who was hiding under a BMW on the 1000 block of Oak- land Street. Another robbery occurred last Wednesday at about 10:45 p.m. on the well-lit 200 block of North Ingalls Avenue. A female University student was walking home from a coffee shop listening to her iPod. The 18-year- old was attacked from behind by two men and struck in the head with a foot-long metal pipe. The men held the victim down and hit her several more times beforethey stoleherwalletandfled, police said. Police officers were flagged down and found assailants below the Broadway Bridge using tracking dogs. One was a 25-year-old male Ann Arbor resident and the other was a 20-year-old man from Santa Fe, N.M. The victim has been released from the hospital. Since student move-in, there have also been reports of sexu- al prowling, several of them at sorority houses. Last Wednes- day, at the Alpha Phi sorority on Oxford Street, sorority mem- bers spotted a man on their fire escape at about midnight. He ran when they started shouting at him. Members told police the incident was similar to others that had happened at the soror- ity. On Sept. 8, a man broke in to the Alpha Chi Omega sorority on Hill Street and started to massage a woman's back while she lay sleeping. When she screamed, he ran. On Aug. 27, an intruder was discovered in the Alpha Delta Pi sorority house on South Forest Avenue. AAPD Detective Sgt. Richard Kinsey said the events are probably not connected. Johanna Soet, director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, emphasized that "you should follow your inter- nal clock and what you think is safe or not." Soet said there is usually an increase in sexual assault reports in the first weeks of school. She -said an especially significant number of those are reported by freshman girls. Alcohol is involved in 75 percent of all sexual violence cases at col- leges, Soet said. Charlotte DeMatteo, an AAPD crime statistician, advised that stu- dents pay special attention to lock- ing windows - even those with screens - and should always lock, rather than just close them. Kinsey said students should lock upper-level windows, especially if they're near a fire escape. "This is a university town and it does attract thieves, prowlers, you name it,' he said. BOOKS Continued from page 1A Fuchs said he and his friend sold almost all of their used text- books, as well as those of their roommates. "We realized we were onto something," he said. The next spring, they ran a campuswide used textbook drive to support a community- learning center affiliated with Notre Dame, collecting 2,000 textbooks and raising $8,000 for an after-school reading pro- gram. The Mishawaka, Ind.-based company calls itself a "socially responsible bookstore" for its charitable economic and environ- mental contributions. The company has raised more than $1.3 million for 70 different education and literacy charities since 2003. The company has donated more than 425,000 books to Books for Africa for post-secondary educa- tion and more than $80,000 to the National Center for Family Lit- eracy. Aaron King, Better World Books's Great Lakes regional director, said the state of Michi-, gan donated between 15,000 and 20,000 books last year. More than 30 colleges in the state partici- pated. King said he hopes students at the University, who gave a total of 1,000 books last year, will be more proactive in donating books this year. "We'd like to see 6,000 books donated," King said. That would be 2,000 more than the total they've collected since 2003. "In the fall of 2002, back when we were just getting started, I remember parking a 24-foot truck right on South State Street as I loaded boxes of books into the back of a Penske truck," Fuchs said. The company never throws a book away and strives to get the maximum value out of every book donated, King said. Books that cannot be sold are recycled. To date, the company has recycled more than 5 million pounds of books. Golden Key International Honor Society is planning a Better World Books drive on campus this year, but a date has not been set. the michigan daily EARLY CHILDHOOD SUBSTI- TUTES needed for St..Paul Early Child- hood Center. Fun job, close to campus. Work according to your schedule, $8/hr. Call 734-668-0887. OCCASSIONAL SPANISH SPEAK- ING babysitter for 4yr. old boy in Ann Arbor. Call 994-0855. PART-TIME EARLY CHILDHOOD position avail., Mon-Fri, 3:30-5:30. $8/hr. Fall semester openings. Feu working environment, great for psych students, teacher ed, or anyone who likes kids. Call director at668-0887. RESPONSIBLE, ENERGETIC,ATH- LETIC student needed for occ. care in my home. Email tassavat@comcast.net1 0' 734.996.2861 TESTGURU.COM Rich Klarman's street cred: - Perfect 180 on LSAT 0 Michigan Law grad (3.85 gpa) " Licensed attorney " 14 years of teaching experience - Hundreds of delighted students POPE Continued from page 1A the Muslim Graduate Students' Association, said the remarks came as a shock, given that Pope John Paul II had been active in dialogue with Islamic leaders. "(Benedict) has much more rigid and conservative agenda when it comes to other faiths, which is really concerning for a lot of Mus- lims I know;" Blauvelt said. Porter said Benedict does not believe in indifferentism - the belief that all religions are equal paths to God. Porter said that as a cardinal, Benedict expressed concern that John Paul was too aggressive in his gestures to pursue interfaith dialogues. Benedict felt those gestures diminished the Roman Catholic Church's status, Porter said. Zaib Rasool, political chair of the Muslim Students' Associa- tion, said the pope's comments were troubling. "I was deeply disheartened by the choice of words of Pope Benedict XVI," she said. "Being that he is an influential religious leader of and for a huge civilization, it is sadden- ing that he chose to cite and rely on erroneous interpreta- tions of Islam from a 14th Cen- tury text, especially in such volatile times." Rasool said the Muslim Stu- dents' Association does not have any plans to specifically address the Pope's remarks. She added that the group's annual Islam Awareness Week this November will include events to dispel ste- reotypes surrounding Islam. Blauvelt said he believed the reaction in the Muslim com- munity is a result of "built-up frustration from repeated disre- spect." "History proves that Islam has peaceful origins," he said. "It gets frustrating to keep hearing negative things about Islam." LSA senior Azmat Khan, who is a Muslim, said the pope's remarks were incorrect and derogatory. But Khan said the reaction by some Muslims, like burning the pope in effigy were "equally intolerant." "If Muslims expect some sort of acceptance, they can't be involved in that type of behav- ior," Khan said. It is unclear whether the pope's scheduled visit next month to Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, will be canceled. Rasool said the Turkish gov- ernment should not cancel the visit. "Canceling such plans would lessen the chance for dialogue," she said. On his blog Informed Com- ment, Middle Eastern and South Asian History Prof. Juan Cole wrote that the pope was mis- taken to try to oversimplify and separate religious traditions. "Religious traditions are complex and multiple and often self-contradictory," Cole wrote. "Trying to play politics with them by putting down the founder of a religion with false accusations will always cause trouble, of course. But what is worse is that the allegation causing the trouble is simply inaccurate." Cole said the pope could have communicated the virtues of the Roman Catholic Church without demeaning others. "If Christianity is superior, that can be perceived without it being necessary to brand Islam inferior;" Cole wrote. - The Association Press contributed to this report NEED 2 U of M football tickets for MSU and Iowa games. Call 996-4247. SPRING BREAK 2007 Celebration 20th Anniversary w/ Sun Splash Tours. Free trip on every 12 before Nov. 1. Free Meals & Parties, Hottest Deals Ever. Group Discounts on 6+. Hottest Spring Break Destinations. Call 1800426-7710. www.sunsplashtours.com SPRING BREAK W/STS to Jamaica, Mexico, Bahamas & Florida. Sell Trips, Earn Cash, Travel Free! Call for group discounts. Info/Reservations 800-648-4849. www.ststravel.com BIG THREE Continued from page 1A The Big Three have often resisted calls to increase fuel economy because of the costs associated with developing new technology, choosing instead to promote trucks and SUVs. But if the companies hope to survive, McManus said, that will need to change. "Deploying new technologies takes time and money to accom- plish, and time and money are in short supply in Detroit," he said. "While management is cur- rently focused on cutting capac- ity through massive layoffs, they need to undertake a deep trans- formation to much more fuel- efficient fleets to avoid going under." - Jessica Vosgerchian contrib- uted to this report Abducted Missouri newborn found alive, officials say FREE KITTENS! SILKY, black, litter trained. 734-747-9484. UNION, Mo. (AP) - A newborn abducted after her mother was slashed was found alive yester- day in excellent condition, and a woman who had recently miscarried was arrested, officials said. Dr. Peter McCarthy, an emergency room phy- sician at St. John's Hospital in Washington, Mo., said 11-day-old Abigale Lynn Woods has been reunited with her mother, father and other rela- tives. She was expected to be released from the hospital later yesterday. "The family is elated and thankful to everyone in the community who prayed for them," McCar- thy said. "The baby was hydrated, nourished and in good condition when she arrived at the hospi- tal." FBI agent Roland Corvington identified the sus- pect as Shannon Beck, who lives a few miles from the home of the mother and baby. The case broke when Beck's sister-in-law, Doro- thy Torrez, contacted authorities. "She's the hero," Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said. "She's the one that made it happen." On Sunday, Beck contacted Torrez to say she had given birth, Corvington said. Beck had been pregnant but apparently miscarried shortly before her own child was to be born. Torrez visited Beck on Monday and urged her to take the child to a doctor, the FBI agent said. Beck agreed, and Torrez accompanied her to St. Louis on Tuesday;about 45 miles away. Torrez noticed what appeared to be makeup on the baby's forehead, Corvington said. When she rubbed the forehead, makeup came off what was covering a small birthmark. In publicizing the abduction, police had described Abby's strawberry-red birthmark. Her suspicions aroused, Torrez confronted Beck, who gave her the baby, Corvington said. Torrez contacted police, and the baby was hand- ed over to authorities around 5 p.m. Tuesday. "An outstanding ending, obviously," Toelke said. Toelke said the county prosecutor would address criminal charges on Wednesday. It wasn't immedi- ately clear where Shannon Beck was or whether she had a lawyer. The family has declined to speak with the media. The child's mother, 21-year-old Stephenie Och- senbine, told police Friday a woman entered her rural home, attacked her with a knife and stole the baby, who was a week old at the time. Police had received more than 500 leads in the investigation. Yesterday, they gave the baby's father, James Woods, a polygraph test, which he passed. ad gr ) a ai hipyour out, 4 4