The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
U.S. to require
passports for nearly
all air travelers
Nearly all air travelers entering
the U.S. will be required to show
passports beginning Jan. 23, includ-
ing returningAmericans and people
from Canada and other nations in
the Western Hemisphere.
The date was disclosed yesterday
by Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff in an interview
with The Associated Press. The
Homeland Security Department
plans to announce the change on
Wednesday.
Until now, the department had
not set a specific date for institut-
ing the passport requirement for air
travelers, though the start had been
expected to be around the begin-
ning of the year. Setting the date
on Jan. 23 pushes the start past the
holiday season.
The requirement marks a change
for Americans, Canadians, Bermu-
dans and some Mexicans.
JERUSALEM
Watchdog group:
Israeli settlements
stand on illegally
seized land
Nearly 40 percent of West Bank
settlements are built on private land
seized from Palestinians, an Israeli
watchdog group said yesterday -
challenging the government's long-
standing assertion the communities
were built only on unclaimed terri-
tory.
Citing leaked Israeli military
documents, Peace Now unveiled a
report it said showed settlements
were built on Palestinian property
seized by the army long after Israel's
Supreme Court outlawed the prac-
tice in 1979.
"We are talking about an institu-
tional land grab," Dror Etkes, a set-
tlement expert with the group, told
reporters in Jerusalem.
In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile,
Israeli troops killed a top Hamas
commander in an operation against
Palestinian rocket squads. Two
other Palestinians, including an
elderly woman, also were killed,
hospital officials said.
In apparent Palestinian infight-
ing,aformerFatah Cabinetminister,
Abdel Aziz Shahin, 62, was shot and
wounded in Gaza City after criticiz-
ing the ruling Islamic Hamas on a
radio show, hospital officials said.
Peace Now said its information
was leaked from the Civil Adminis-
tration, the Israeli military depart-
ment responsible for civil affairs in
the West Bank, which Israel seized
in the 1967 Middle East war. It said
at the government's request, the
Supreme Court delayed a scheduled
May hearing on Peace Now's peti-
tion to have the data released under
freedom of information laws.
HONOLULU
Bush rallies troops

on war effort, heads
back home
President Bush circled the globe
on his Asian journey but never
strayed far from the subject of Iraq.
He dined with U.S. troops in Hawaii
before heading home yesterday,
telling them their efforts "will
determine how your children and
grandchildren live."
Bush, who was due back at the
White House late last night, visited
Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia
during an eight-day trip aimed at
assuring Asia of America's commit-
ment to the region. He even found
time to meet briefly with Russian
President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Still, Iraq and the war on terror
kept the president's attention. In
Vietnam, asked about lessons from
that war, Bush answered that in
Iraq, "we'll succeed unless we quit."
POSTSECRET.COM
The murkiest secrets of desper-
ate Americans are going through
the U.S. Postal System. They're
being sorted into tubs in Nevada
and spit through machines in Dela-
ware.
They end their journey at a
small black mailbox in Maryland,
where someone retrieves them
and posts them online. The anony-
mous postcards say things like,
"I feel ashamed of myself because
my grade is not like what an Asian
should get" or "I'm about to be a
doctor but I still giggle at the word
nipple" or "I know I'm not your
daughter."
And you can read them all at
postsecret.com.

GUITAR HERO

Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 3
Key Lebanese
politician
assassinated

Prominent Christian
was outspoken
critic of Syria
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Pierre
Gemayel, an anti-Syrian politi-
cian and scion of Lebanon's most
prominent Christian family, was
gunned down yesterday in a care-
fully orchestrated assassination
that heightened tensions between
the U.S.-backed government and
the militant Hezbollah.
Anti-Syrian politicians quickly
accused Damascus, as they have in
previous assassinations of Lebanese
opponents of its larger neighbor.
Gemayel, 34, an outspoken opponent
of the Syrian-allied Hezbollah, was
the fifth anti-Syrian figure killed in
the past twoyears and the first mem-
ber of the government of Prime Min-
ister Fuad Saniora to be slain.
The assassination, in Gemayel's
mainly Christian constituency of
Jdeideh,threatens furtherinstability
in Lebanon at a time when Hezbollah
and other parties allied with Syria
are planning street protests unless
Saniora gives them more power.
The United States denounced the
killing, calling it "an act of terror-
ism." The U.N. Security Council said
it "unequivocally condemns" the
assassination as well as any attempt
to destabilize Lebanon.
Saniora went on national televi-
sion to call for unity and warned
that "sedition" was being planned
against Lebanon. He linked the
slaying to the issue that sparked the
crisis with Hezbollah: plans to try
suspects in the 2005 assassination of
former prime minister Rafik Hariri

before an international court.
"I pledge to you that your blood
willnotgo invain,"Saniorasaid, eulo-
gizing Gemayel. "We will not let the
murderers control the fate of Lebanon
and the future of its children."
Gemayel, Lebanon's industry
minister and a member of the Pha-
lange Party, had just left a church
and was traveling through Jde-
ideh when a vehicle in front of him
slammed to a stop, causing his car to
ram it, security officials said. Wit-
nesses said Gemayel's car was also
struck frombehind.
Three gunmen stepped out of the
other vehicles and shot Gemayel at
point-blank range with automatic
weapons, security officials said.
Video showed Gemayel's car,
which apparently had been shot at
from both sides: The passsenger-
side window was shattered and the
driver's-side window was dotted
with about a dozen bullet holes, and
the front hood was crumpled.
Gemayel's driver, who was
wounded but survived, rushed the
gravely injured politician to a near-
by hospital. Soon afterward, Voice
of Lebanon - the Phalange-run
radio station - reported Gemayel
was dead - the fifth member of his
family to die in violence.
President Bush denounced the
assassination as an attempt to intim-
idate Saniora's government.
"We support the Saniora govern-
ment and its democracy and we sup-
port the Lebanese people's desire to
live in peace," Bush said in Hono-
lulu. "And we support their efforts
to defend their democracy against
attempts by Syria, Iran and allies to
foment instability and violence in
that important country."

BENJI DELL/Daity
Musician Christ Knight plays guitar at the Ark last night. Knight, who hails from Kentucky, has been described by USA Today an
reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp.
No grades, no tests:
Anarchy rules at school

Brooklyn Free School
gives students control
of their education
NEW YORK (AP) - One recent
day at the Brooklyn Free School,
the "schedule" included the follow-
ing: filming horror movies, chess,
debate and making caves for Teen-
age Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Not that the students had to go to
any of these sessions. At this school,
students don't get grades, don't
have homework, don't take tests,
and don't even have to go to class
- unless they want to.
"You can do basically anything
at any time, and it's just a lot more
fun because sometimes when you
need a break at regular schools
you can't get it," said Sophia Ben-
nett Holmes, 12, an aspiring sing-
er-actress-fashion designer. "But
here, if you just need to sit down
and read and have time to play,
then you can do that."
"Free schools," which had their
heyday decades ago, operate on the

belief that children are naturally
curious and learn best when they
want to, not when forced to. Today,
the approach is getting another
look from some parents and stu-
dents tired of standardized testing,
excessive homework, and overly
rigid curriculums.
"Every kid here is definitely
motivated to learn something,
there's no doubt in my mind,"
said Alan Berger, a former pub-
lic school assistant principal who
founded the Brooklyn school in
2004. "Our belief is that if we let
them pursue their passions and
desires, they'll be able to get into
it deeper. They'll be able to learn
more how to learn."
Hundreds of free schools opened
in the U.S. and elsewhere in the
1960s and 1970s. Most shut down,
but some, such as the Albany Free
School and Sudbury Valley School
in Massachusetts, have persisted.
Overall, it's unknown how many
free schools operate today.
The ones stillinoperationoftenuse
a"democratic"model,givingstudents
a say in running the institution.

At the Brooklyn Free School,
much of that decision-making
occurs in a mandatory (yes, as in
required) weekly gathering called
the Democratic Meeting. Here,
students air grievances, pose chal-
lenges, propose rules and set policy.
Even the youngest kids have a vote
equal to staffers. One agreed-upon
rule? No sword-fighting allowed
inside.
The school - granted a provi-
sional charter by the state to run as
a private educational institution -
occupies two floors of a Free Meth-
odist church.
Students are required to show up
for at least 5 1/2 hours a day, partly
so that the school can meet legal
definitions, but what they do with
their time is up to them. The stu-
dent population - 42 students, ages
5 to 17 - is diverse racially, eco-
nomically and in terms of ability,
and the students are not separated
by age.
On any given day, a student might
be playing chess, reading a book,
practicing yoga or helping mum-
mify a chicken.

Canceled O.J. account
could show up on Web

NEW YORK (AP) - The O.J.
Simpson project is dead, but the book
and the TV interview could turn up in
bootleg form in this age of YouTube
and eBay, when scandalous informa-
tionseldom stays secret forlong.
News Corp., owner of Fox
Broadcasting and publisher Harp-
erCollins, called off Simpson's "con-
fession" Monday after advertisers,
booksellers and even Fox personal-
ity Bill O'Reilly branded the project
sick and exploitive.
An interview hadbeen scheduled
to air Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 on Fox,
with the book to follow on Nov. 30.
HarperCollins spokeswoman
Erin Crum said some copies had
already been shipped to stores but

would be recalled, and all copies
would be destroyed. She would not
say how long that would take.
But with the interview already
taped, and thousands of books either
sitting in warehouses or headed to
booksellers, his supposedly hypo-
thetical account of how he would
have committed the murders of his
ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and
her friend Ron Goldman appears all
but certain to surface.
"A book becomes collectible
when it's hard to find, and this will
become very, very collectible, surely
worth four figures," said Richard
Davies, a spokesman for AbeBooks.
com, an online seller that special-
izes in used and collectible books.

Ala. bus plunge claims fourth casualty university unions-
J almost as good as

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - A
fourth teenage girl died and four
people remained in critical condi-
tion yesterday from a school bus
crash in which the driver, who was
severely injured, miraculously left
the bus before it plunged about 30
feet off an interstate overpass.
Witnesses said a car struck the
bus Monday morning on the I-565
overpass, causing it to swerve and
plow into and over concrete rail-
ing, crashingnose-first into a street
below.
One witness said the car hit
the bus accidentally after possibly

blowing a tire, while another said
the car was speeding up and trying
to get past the bus as lanes merged
on the interstate ramp.
"He's real upset. He thinks it's
his fault," said 17-year-old Chelsea
Walker, who described herself as a
friend of the car's driver. She said
she had spoken to him Tuesday
morning.
Authorities have not released the
name of the driver in what police
said is a criminal investigation.
Police spokesman Wendell John-
son said evidence will be presented
to a grand jury to decide if charges

such as vehicular homicide or man-
slaughter are warranted.
He said a criminal investigation
"does not mean a crime has been
committed."
Police Chief Rex Reynolds iden-
tified the fourth victim of Mon-
day's school bus wreck as Crystal
Renee McCrary, 17. Like the other
victims, she was a student at Lee
High School in Huntsville who
was on the bus when an orange
Toyota Celica came up in a side
lane, with the bus veering over the
railing and crashing into Church
Street below.

[the tap room used to be a bar.]
M University
R$$Unions

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IPD Trade Shows

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Integrated Product Development (IPD) Trade Shows
Eight teams. Eight products. Jump into the action by casting your vote!
Online Trade Show
November 22 through November 28, 2006
Location: Online at www.tmi.umich.edu
Each team has created a web page to market their product to YOU!
Check them out starting 11/22, and then use the easy online form to vote.
On-Campus Trade Show
Wednesday, November 29, 2006 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: Tishman Atrium, CSE Building, North Campus
See the actual products and test them out yourself! Catch the competitive
buzz and enjoy some snacks while you cruise around the displays.
The 2006 product class challenge is:
The One-handed Kitchen: A system that facilitates food
preparation by people with the use of just one arm or hand.

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Contact TMI at 734.647.1333 or email tmi.info@umich.edu
www.tmi.umich.edu

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