The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, October 26, 2006 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS TRENTON, NJ. N.J. court opens door to gay marriage New Jersey's highest court opened the door yesterday to mak- ing the state the second in the nation to allow gay marriage, rul- ing that lawmakers must offer same-sex couples either marriage or something like it, such as civil unions. Ina ruling that fell short of what either side wanted or feared, the state Supreme Court declared 4-3 that gay couples are entitled to the same rights as heterosexual ones. The justices gave lawmakers 180 days to rewrite the laws. The ruling is similar to the 1999 high-court ruling in Vermont that led the state to create civil unions, which confer all of the rights and benefits available to married cou- ples under state law. "Although we cannot find that a fundamental right to same-sex marriage exists in this state, the unequal dispensation of rights and benefits to committed same-sex partners can no longer be tolerated under our state Constitution," Jus- tice Barry Albin wrote for the four- member majority. MIAMI Man alleges sexual abuse by priest who fondled Rep. Foley Another former altar boy says he was sexually abused in the 1970s by the same retired Catholic priest who acknowledged fondling for- mer Rep. Mark Foley when Foley was a teenager, the man's attorney said yesterday. The new allegations against the Rev. Anthony Mercieca were made by a man who lived in North Miami and was an altar boy at St. James Catholic Church, where Mercieca worked, attorney Jeffrey Herman said. Herman said he planned to file a lawsuit yesterday against the Archdiocese of Miami. His client, now 40 and identified in the law- suit only as John Doe No. 26, says Mercieca abused him when he was about 12 years old. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina Argentines want former Iranian president arrested (AP) - Argentine prosecutors asked a federal judge yesterday to order the arrest of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and seven others for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed scores of people. The decision to attack the center "was undertaken in 1993 by the highest authorities of the then- government of Iran," prosecutor Alberto Nisman said at a news conference. He said the actual attack was entrusted to the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah. The worst terrorist attack ever on Argentine soil, the bombing of the Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires killed 85 people and injured more than 200 when an explosive-laden vehicle detonated near the building. Iran's government has vehe- mently denied any involvement in the attack following repeated accusations by Jewish community and other leaders here. WASHINGTON Bush says he's not satisfied with Iraq war as deaths climb WASHINGTON (AP) - Acknowledging painful losses in Iraq, President Bush said yesterday he is not satisfied with the progress of the long and unpopular war, but he still insisted the United States was winning and should not think about withdrawing. Thirteen days before elections in which Republicans fear Iraq could cost them control of the House or Senate, Bush expressed unwaver- ing confidence inDefense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. generals running the war and Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, .despite new strains between Baghdad and Washington. "The ultimate accountability rests with me," Bush said of Iraq. "If people are unhappy about it, look right to the president." He spoke in the East Room at an hour- long news conference dominated by Iraq questions. DID YOU KN w? PENSIN SPACE The first NASA astronauts to go into space discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in the zero-gravity conditions. To solve this prob- lem, NASA scientists worked dili- gently for 12 years and spent $12 billion to design a pen that would work without gravity. The pen also works upside down, underwa- ter and on almost any surface. The Russian cosmonauts used a pencil. THE COSMOS Voter database could cause trouble for voters Four states have been sued for not having lists of voters (AP) - Between every regis- tered voter and the voting booth is The List. And if you're not on it, you might not be able to cast a ballot. one of the biggest changes wrought by the Help America Vote Act is the mandate that every state must have a voter registration data- base up and working by the Nov. 7 general election. But a dozenstatesmissed the Jan. 1 deadline for finishing their data- bases, which produce lists of regis- tered voters for every precinct. And four states have been sued by the Justice Department. That leaves a confusing array of systems that may or may not work come Election Day, voting rights groups say. And it creates a growing anxiety that registered voters with every right to cast a ballot will be turned away because their names are not on the list for a variety of reasons, including something as innocuous as a typo. "No issue is more important on Election Day than the quality of the list,"said DougChapinofthenonpar- tisan reform group electionline.org. "Those databases are the final say on whether a person gets to vote." The regulation was designed to assure that each state would have a central, independent repository for all registered voters - created by cross-checking voter registra- tions with existingstate records to make sure dead people, incarcer- ated felons and others not eligible to casta ballot were removed from the rolls. It was also supposed to make it easier to vote by having a single list instead of scores of county- based rolls. There were other problems as well. Some states got started late building their databases. Some con- tracted with vendors that couldn't meet the new federal deadline. School of Music Prof. Stephen Rush leads his class in a performance. The nine burning torches in the pond represent the solar system, and the performance symbolizes the insignificance of humanity. Serial killer awaits executiont for murders of college students After 12 years on death row, Danny Harold Rolling set to die by lethal injection STARKE, Fla. (AP) - Danny Harold Rolling, Flor- ida's most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, awaited execution yesterday for butchering five col- lege students in a ghastly string of slayings that terror- ized the town of Gainesville in 1990. After 12 years on death row, Rolling, 52, was set to die by lethal injection. His final appeal was before the U.S. Supreme Court, where he was challenging the constitutionality of the chemicals used in Florida's execution procedure. The bodies of his victims were found over three days in late August, just as the University of Florida's fall semester was beginning. All had been killed with a hunting knife. Some had been mutilated, sexually assaulted and put in shocking poses. One girl's severed head had been placed on a shelf, her body posed as if seated. The killing spree touched off a huge manhunt and plunged the laid-back college town into panic. Stu- dents fled and residents armed themselves. Belongings that Rolling left at a campsite in the woods and DNA taken after a later arrest for rob- bery linked him to the slayings. When he came up for trial in 1994, he shocked the courtroom by pleading guilty. "There are some things you just can't run from, this being one of those," Rolling told the judge, who later sentenced him to death. The attention surrounding Rolling's impending execution reopened old wounds in Gainesville and for the families of the victims. Dianna Hoyt, whose stepdaughter was killed by Rolling and decapitated, planned to watch the execu- tion at Florida State Prison. "This is a tough thing, but is a necessary thing to go through," she said, adding, "It is very hard for us to see someone else die. But he deserves it." Student Housing nterCooperve C ounc Student Owned Democratically Run Since 1937 4 & 8 Month Fall/Winter Contracts $475/mo. 2 & 4 Month Spring/Summer $200-425/mo. Call 734-662-4414 I www-iCC.COOD Kidnapped photographer released unharmed GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail After a day in captivity, blindfold- Haniyeh's office said in a statement ed by gunmen and forced to wear that the identity of the kidnappers women's clothing as he was taken was known and they "would be from place to place in Gaza City, pursued." No further details were an Associated Press photographer given. was released unharmed - just the The Palestinian government latest abduction in an increasingly and main groups denounced the chaotic territory. kidnapping, and officials blamed Emilio Morenatti, 37,.was brought criminal elements. late Tuesday to the office of Pales- A Palestinian security official tinian President Mahmoud Abbas. said a doorman who worked at the Morenattilooked tired after his day- Gaza apartment where Morenatti long ordeal. "I'm tired but happy to was staying had been detained on have come back because there were suspicion of tipping off the kidnap- very anguished moments," he said. pers.