The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
NEWS BRIEFS
JERUSALEM r
Israeli army
chief resigns over
Lebanon failures
Israeli army commander Lt. Gen.
Dan Halutz, under fire for failures
in last summer's war in Lebanon,
has resigned, the Defense Ministry
said early today.
Halutz has been under pressure
to step down since the end of the
34-day war, which failed in its goals
of defeating the anti-Israel mili-
tant group Hezbollah and bringing
home two captured soldiers.
Israeli launched a full-scale
attack on Lebanese Hezbollah
guerrillas after they seized the two
men and killed three other soldiers
in a cross-border raid July 12.
ArmyRadioreportedthatHalutz
sent his letter of resignation to
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, say-
ing that he was taking responsibil- Members of the Michigan Belly Danci
ity for the outcome of the war. The group, open to people with all leve
"For me the concept of responsi-
bility is everything," Halutz wrote,
according to Army Radio. Bombs kill
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Pakistani airstrikes U.N: 34,452
£ni'rlr nrnA civilians killed in
ALL IN THE WAIST
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 - 3A
Obama to vie
for White
House in 2008
Illinois senator seeks up by money and influence, that we
can't tackle the big problems that
to capitalize on demand solutions. And that's what
we have to change first."
outsider image Obama filed paperwork forming
a presidential exploratory commit-
tee that allows him to raise money
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. and put together a campaign strut-
Barack Obama launched a presiden- ture. He is expected to announce a
tial campaign yesterday that would full-fledged candidacy on Feb. 10.
make him the first black to occupy Obama's soft-spoken appeal on
the White House, and immediately the stump, his unique background,
tried to turn his political inexperi- his opposition to the Iraq war and
ence into an asset with voters seek- his fresh face sethim apart in a com-
ing change. petitive race that also is expected to
The freshman Illinois senator include front-runner Sen. Hillary
- and top contender for the Demo- Rodham Clinton of New York.
cratic nomination - said the past Obama has uncommon political
six years have left the country in a talents, drawing adoring crowds
precarious place and he promoted even among the studious voters in
himself as the standard-bearer for a New Hampshire during a much-
new kind of politics. hyped visit there lastmonth. His has
"Our leaders in Washington seem risen on the force of his personality
incapable of working together in and message of hope - helped along
a practical, commonsense way," by celebrity endorsements from the
Obama said in a video posted on likes of Oprah Winfrey, billionaire
his Web site. "Politics has become investor Warren Buffett and actors
so bitter and partisan, so gummed Matt Damon and Edward Norton.
Bush chastises
Iraq for hanging
ing Club practice some basic dancing techniques on the first floor of Havn Hall pesterdap.
s of experience, meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
165 at Baghdad college
Pakistani helicopter gunships
attacked a suspected al-Qaida
hide-out in a forest near the Afghan
border yesterday, killing up to 10
people and sparking anger among
tribesmen who said the dead were
woodcutters, not terrorists.
The raid in South Waziristan
came as Defense Secretary Rob-
ert Gates visited Afghanistan and
as pressure grew on Pakistan to
crack down on militants launching
attacks across the frontier.
Pakistan's army said intelligence
sources confirmed the presence of
25 to 30 militants, including four
or five unidentified al-Qaida ter-
rorists, occupying five compounds
in the area of Zamzola - a village
about two miles from the frontier.
Pakistani forces backed by Cobra
gunships attacked them, destroy-
ing three of the compounds.
DETROIT
Chrysler to slash
Iraq last year
BAGHDAD (AP) - Twin car
bombs tore through aleadingBagh-
dad university as students left class-
es yesterday in the deadliest attack
in Iraq in nearly two months, and
the United Nations reported 34,452
civilians were slain last year, nearly
three times more than the govern-
ment reported.
A total of 142 Iraqis were killed
or found dead yesterday, in what
appeared to be a renewed cam-
paign of Sunni insurgent violence
against Shiite targets. The sharp
uptick in deadly attacks coincided
with the recent release of U.N. fig-
ures that showed an average of 94
civilians died each day in the sec-
tarian bloodshed during the past
year.
The blasts wrecked two small
buses as students at Al-Mustansi-
riya University were lining up for
the ride home at about 3:45 p.m.,
according to Taqi al-Moussawi, a
university dean. At least 65 stu-
dents died.
The attackers stationed a man
wearing a suicide belt in the
expected path of fleeing students
to take even more lives, but he was
spotted and shot by security men
before he could blow himself up,
the dean said.
"The only guilt of our martyred
students is that they pursued edu-
cation. They belongto all religions,
sects and ethnic groups," said an
angry al-Moussawi, himself a Shi-
ite. "The terrorists want to stop
education. ... Those students had
nothing to do with politics."
After the explosions, a rescue
worker and three men in civilian
clothes scrambled through the
debris to carry a charred victim
away ina sheet. Firefighters in yel-
low helmets examined the charred
wreckage of an bashed-in, over-
turned minivan.
The university's well-shaded
campus occupies several square
blocks in north central Baghdad,
a mostly Shiite area. The school
ranks second among institutions of
higher education in Iraq. Founded
in 1963, it was named after one of
the oldest Islamic schools, estab-
lished in the 13th century during
the Abbasid dynasty that ruled the
Muslim world. Thousands attend
the university, known especially
for its colleges of science, literature
and education.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
blamed the attack on "terrorists
and Saddamists" seeking revenge
for Monday's hanging of two of
Saddam Hussein's top aides, con-
victed with him for the slaying of
148 Shiite men and boys after a 1982
assassination attempt in the north-
ern town of Dujail.
The violence yesterday against
Shiites may signal a campaign by
Sunni insurgents to shed as much
blood as possible before the deploy-
ment of 21,500 more American
troops. Most of the additional U.S.
troops will be used to back up the
Iraqi army in a security sweep to
rid the capital of Sunni and Shiite
gunmen.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Bush said yesterday the unruly exe-
cution of Saddam Hussein "looked
like it was kind of a revenge kill-
ing," making it harder to persuade a
skeptical U.S. public that Iraq's gov-
ernment will keep promises central
to Bush's newly-released plan for a
troop increase in theregion.
In his toughest assessment yet,
Bush criticized the circumstances
of Saddam's hanging last month,
as well as Monday's execution of
two top aides, including Saddam
Hussein's half brother.
"I was disappointed and felt like
they fumbled the - particularly
the Saddam Hussein execution,"
the president said in an interview
with PBS' Jim Lehrer.
A cell phone video of Saddam's
Dec. 30 hanging showed the
deposed Iraqi leader being taunted
as he stood on the gallows with a
noose around his neck. An official
video of the execution of Saddam's
half brother showed that the
hangman's noose ended up decapi-
tating the relative. Both hang-
ings provoked outrage around the
world, but also particularly among
Saddam's fellow Sunnis in Iraq.
Bush said he had expressed his
displeasure about the way Saddam's
execution was handled to Iraqi
Prime Minister Nourial-Maliki.
I I
jobs at engine plant Temperature drop raises citruS prices
About 250 workers at a Chrysler
Group plant that makes V-8 engines
willbe furloughed nextweek as the
company reduces engine produc-
tion to match truck manufacturing
cuts, a company official said Mon-
day.
The job cuts at the Mack Avenue
Engine1 plantinDetroitcome asthe
struggling company is studying all
of its operations as part of a restrue-
turing plan that will include more
job cuts and plant closures. Details
of the full plan are to be made public
when DaimlerChrysler AG releases
its 2006 earnings next month.
The plant makes Chrysler's 4.7-
liter V-8 that is used mainly in the
slow-selling Dodge Durango, Jeep
Grand Cherokee, Jeep Commander
and Dodge Dakota.
TEHRAN, Iran
Despite tension,
warm welcome in
Iran for wrestlers
U.S. wrestlers were welcomed
to Iran yesterday with bouquets of
pink and white flowers at a time of
increasing tensions between the
two countries, recalling the days
before Tehran's reformers were
defeated by its current hard-line
leadership.
- The Americans, wearing jackets
emblazoned with "USA Wrestling,"
were given the warm greeting by
young girls in traditional Iranian
dresses at an airport in the southern
city of Bandar Abbas.
The 14wrestlers are to participate
tomorrow and Friday in the Persian
Gulf Cup, also known as the Takhti
Cup, the top wrestling tournament
in Iran, where the sport has been a
national obsession for centuries.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
21i
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Shoppers
will feel the sting from a string of
subfreezing nights in California's
citrus groves and other farming
areas, with prices for oranges,
lemons, avocados and other pro-
duce poised to double or triple in
the upcoming weeks, according to
California fruit and citrus indus-
try officials.
"We may adjust the prices as
we discover the full extent of the
damage next week, but for now,
if you bought an orange at the
supermarket for 50 cents, expect
JOIN THE DAILY.
COME TO ONE
OF OUR MASS
MEETINGS AT 413
E. H URON ST.:
to pay a dollar to $1.49 for it," said
Todd Steel, owner of Royal Vista
Marketing, which sells California
citrus to markets throughout the
country.
With the NFL playoffs in full
swing, some fans may choose to go
without two traditional football
favorites.
"Avocados areexpensive enough
as it is," said Joseph Vasquez, a 32-
year-old school teacher from Pasa-
dena. "We may have to do without
guacamole for a while. And we may
be drinking our Coronas without
limes."
Nearly every winter crop is
affected by the freeze, from avo-
cados to strawberries to fresh-cut
flowers, but it's the state's citrus
crop that stands to take the big-
gest economic hit. California is the
nation's No. 1 producer of fresh cit-
rus, growing about 86 percent of
lemons and 21 percent of oranges
sold in the U.S., according to the
California Farm Bureau. Florida
produces more oranges, but those
are mostly processed for orange
juice.
university unions-
almost as goad as
snww,umich,edu,/~uuniorns
[we embrace diversity.]
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TOMORROW
AT 7:30P.M
To play: Complete the grid so that every row, column
and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9.
SUNDAY, JAN.
21 AT
7:30 P.M.
MONDAY,
JAN. 29
7:30 P.M.
E-MAIL US:
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Months between the creation
of popular website YouTube.com
and its rights being sold over to
Google for 1.65 billion dollars.
In less than two years, creators
Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and
Jawed Karim (all in their 20s)
turned YouTube into a sensation
with its mix of humorous and
edgy clips.
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