T ha Mihiann ly e^1rr air m
i e mcnigan Daily - "chiganaiy.
NEWS BRIEFS
Three EMU
* regents leave board
Three Eastern Michigan Uni-
versity regents resigned their posts
yesterday, the Detroit News report-
ed. EMU Board of Regents Chair
Karen Valvo, Jan Brandon and Sha-
ron Rothwell, all Republicans, sent
an open letter to Gov. Jennifer Gra-
iholm that said EMU suffers from,
among other problems, distrust and
animosity on campus.
Brandon is the wife of outgo-
ing University of Michigan Regent
David Brandon (R-AnnArbor).
Protester arrested
* at City Council
meeting
Radical anti-Israel activist
Blaine Coleman was arrested for
the second time in five days at Mon-
day's City Council meeting when
he showed up with a sign that said f
.com
WS
WednesdayDecember 6,20 A
,un ededy Deeme 6206-
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AND SO IT BEGINS...
Rumsfeld successor:
Bush will listen to me
Robert Gates, Bush's
nominee, appears to
clinch confirmation
WASHINGTON (AP) - Robert
Gates, seemingly clinching con-
firmation as the new secretary of
defense, said yesterday the United
States is not winning in Iraq and
he's confident President Bush will
listen to his ideas about forging a
new war strategy.
He won speedy and unanimous
approval from the Senate Armed
Services Committee after five
hours of testimony, a bipartisan
show of support that suggested
how eager many lawmakers are*to
replace Donald H. Rumsfeld at the
Pentagon. The full Senate could
seal Gates' confirmation as early as
today.
"In my view, all options are
on the table, in terms of how we
address this problem in Iraq," he
told the committee. But he also
acknowledged the complexity of
the challenge.
"There are no new ideas on
Iraq," he said during a discussion
of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group,
which previewed its findings and
recommendations to President
Bush yesterday and will release
them today. Gates was a member
of the group until Bush announced
his nomination for the Pentagon
job last month.
The senators voted 24-0 to sup-
port the nomination to replace
Rumsfeld, who has become a sym-
bol of the Bush administration's
steadfast course in a war that has
long since soured with the public
and much of the world.
"I voted yes because in both the
substance of his answers and the
tone of his answers, he seemed
open to course correction," said
Carl Levin (D-Mich.) who will be
the committee's chairman when
Democrats take control of the Sen-
ate next month.
During his appearance, Gates
would not commit to any specific
new course of action in the conflict.
He said he would consult first with
commanders and others.
Asked directly by Levin whether
the U.S. is winning in Iraq, Gates
replied, "No, sir." That response
appeared to contradict Bush, who
said at an Oct. 25 news conference,
"Absolutely, we're winning."
Gates later said he believes
the United States is neither win-
ning nor losing the war, "at this
point."
His statements on the war - and
his professed openness to change
- underscored pressures heaped
on Bush since Democratic victo-
ries in last month's congressional
elections, votes widely read as a
rejection of the administration's
steadfast course in the war.
Unrelenting violence by insur-
gents and between ethnic groups,
and a U.S. death toll that has soared
past 2,900, have raised questions
about the effectiveness of Iraq's
government.
Students walk toward the Michigan Union yesterday afternoon as the sun melts the
first substantial snow of the season.
-"uck israel," TneAnn'Arbor News
reported.
On Thursday, camopis police
arrested Coleman and two others
at a lecture on Iran in the Michi-
gan League after the three pro-
testers repeatedly interrupted the
speaker.
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NYC bans trans fats
- I
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Edwards hires
Bonior to manage
2008 bid
Former Rep. David Bonior, a
one-time leader in Congress who
has close ties to labor unions, has
signed on to manage a future John
Edwards presidential cempaign.
Bonior represented Detroit's
northern suburbs for 26 yearfin the
House, rising to be the No. 2 Demo-
crat before stepping down in 2002
for an unsuccessful campaign for
Michigan governor.
Since leaving Congress, Bonior
has been a professor af'labor studies
at Detroit's Wayne State University
and chairman of American Rights
at Work, which promotes employ-
ees' rights to unionize.
BAGHDAD
Iraqi envoys to talk
With neighhors
Iraq's prime minister reversed
course yesterday and said his envoys
will talk with Iraq's neighbors
about the possibility of a regional
conference on quelling the violence
here, despite opposition tothe plan
by some key political allies.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
made the announcement as more
than 100 people were killed or
found dead in and around Baghdad,
underscoring the urgency of find-
ing a solution to the bloodshed.
The U.S. military said three
more American troops had died
Monday - two as a resutt of insur-
gent attacks and one in a traffic
accident.
MERLIN, Ore.
Search intensifies
for missing San
Some worry about
Big Brother watching
their diet
NEW YORK (AP) - New York
yesterday became the first city in
the nation to ban artery-clogging
trans fats at restaurants, leading
the charge to limit consumption of
an ingredient linked to heart dis-
ease and used in everything from
french fries to pizza dough to pan-
cake mix.
Inacitywhereeatingoutisamajor
form of activity - either for fun or
out of hectic necessity - many New
Yorkers were all for the ban, saying
that health concerns were more
important than fears of Big Brother
supervisingtheir stomachs.
"I don't care about what might be
politically correct and what's not,"
said Murray Bader, nursing a cup of
coffee at Dunkin'Donuts on Tuesday
morning. "I want to live longer!"
The 72-year-old Manhattan
resident called the ban a "wakeup
call" for a public often unaware
of the risks of artificial fats. "This
stuff clogs up your vessels," he said.
"When it comes to health, we only
have one life."
Toni Lewis, catching a quick
dinner at McDonalds on the eve of
the vote, acknowledged that yes, it
mightbe going too far for the city to
tell people what they can and can't
put into their stomachs. But, she
added: "I welcome the intrusion."
"This is New York," she said.
"People eat out alot. We don't have
a choice. We need someone to make
it a healthier proposition."
Trans fats are believed harmful
in a number of ways, with health
authorities saying they clearly con-
tributes to heart disease. Studies
have shown they raise bad choles-
terol and lower the good kind. Par-
tially hydrogenated vegetable oil, a
common form of trans fats, is used
for frying and baking and turns up
in a host of processed foods: cook-
ies, pizza dough, crackers and pre-
made blends like pancake mix.
"It's basically a slow form of poi-
son,"says David Katz, director ofthe
Yale Prevention Research Center.
Not everyone agrees with Katz
- he's gotten angry e-mails call-
ing him and colleagues the "food
police" and saying, "If I want to
eat trans fats, that's my inalien-
able right." To which he responds:
"Would you want the burden of
asking your restaurant whether
there's lead in the food? Whether
there's arsenic in the bread? For all
I know, maybe arsenic makes bread
more crusty. But it's poison."
Some industry representatives
were not happy. E. Charles Hunt,
executive vice president of the New
York State Restaurant Association,
said the city had overstepped its
authority by ordering restaurants
to abandon an ingredient permitted
by the FDA.
The Board of Health, which
passed the ban unanimously, did
give restaurants a minor break by
relaxing the proposed deadline.
Restaurants will now be barred
from using most frying oils con-
taining trans fats by July 2007 and
will have another year to eliminate
trans fats from all foods.
The ban, which was advocated
by health-conscious Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, follows a national
requirement beginning this past
January that companies list trans-
fat content on food labels. Efforts
are also being made to reduce the
trans-fat content of snacks inschool
vending machines.
Fiji's military commander
declares state of emergency
Announcement
comes day after coup
toppled government
SUVA, Fiji (AP) - Fiji's military
commander declared a state of
emergency earlier today, a day after
he overthrew the elected govern-
ment and brought international
sanctions and censure that began to
isolate the South Pacific country.
It was the nation's fourth coup in
19 years. The radio network Legend
quoted a military statement saying
that armed forces would set up a
cordon of checkpoints around the
capital, Suva, as part of the state of
emergency.
"As of 6 o'clock this evening, the
military has taken over the gov-
ernment, has executive authority
and the running of this country,"
Commodore Frank Bainimarama,
the armed forces chief credited
with resolving Fiji's last coup, said
Tuesday in a nationally broadcast
statement.
Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase,
who insists he is still Fiji's legiti-
mate leader, flew yesterday from
the capital to his home village on
the remote northeastern Lau group
of islands, said Pene Nonu, his pri-
vate secretary.
The takeover, like the previous
three coups, has its roots in the eth-
nic divide between the descendants
of ancient Melanesian warrior tribes
and those of Indian laborers brought
by former colonial power Britain to
work in sugar plantations.
In his declaration, Bainimarama
justified seizing power to prevent
legislation that favored indigenous
Fijians, contending the measures
"would undermine the constitu-
tion and deny many citizens their
rights."
Bainimarama said he had
assumed some powers of the presi-
dent and was using them to dismiss
the prime minister.
The nation's last coup, in 2000,
was led by indigenous national-
ists who overthrew the country's
first ethnic Indian prime minister.
Bainimarama was widely regarded
as a national hero after he stepped
in, brokered a resolution without
bloodshed and restored democra-
cy, hand-picking Qarase, a former
banker, to lead an interim govern-
ment.
He also promised amnesty to
coup participantsbut later reneged,
and the ringleaders were arrested,
tried and imprisoned for treason.
Bainimarama named Dr. Jona
Senilagakali, a military medic
with no political experience, as
caretaker prime minister and said
a full interim government would
be appointed next week to see the
country through elections that
would restore democracy some-
time in the future.
university unions-
almost as good as
Francisco man
M University
SMERLIN, Ore. (AP) -searchers US Unions
scouring a rugged canyon yesterday
found a pair of pants matching the
description of those worn by a miss-
ing man who struck out for help
after his family's car got stunk in the
snow.
A helicopter with heat-sensing
equipment joined other helicop-
ters, snowmobiles and foot patrols
Tuesday in the hunt for 35-year-old
James Kim of San Francisco. His To pfay: Corp
wife and two daughters were found
Monday after being lost for more and every
than a week.
Searchers found the gray pants There is
Tuesday afternoon about a mile j
fromwhere Kimleft the road hehad usu
been following on foot.
- Comspiled from DiffiCult
Daily wire reports
NOTABLE NUMBER
3,500
0 Number of troops in the 3 2
Fijian military in 2002. The
S military overthrew the gov-
ernment of the tiny island
nation yesterday. Eiji lies
in the middle of the South
Pacific Ocean, about 1,400 5
miles east of New Zeeland
and 3,100 miles west of
Hawaii.
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