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NEWS BRIEFS
LANSING
State Supreme
Court hears
arguments in A2
benefits case
The Michigan Supreme Court
again heard arguments yesterday
in a lawsuit challenging the Ann
Arbor school district's same-sex
benefits policy.
But the justices didn't focus on
the constitutionality of providing
health insurance and other benefits
to workers' gay partners.
The case involves whether 17
taxpayers followed the proper pro-
cedure to stop Ann Arbor Public
Schools from offering benefits to
gay couples.
The high court first heard the
case in October and scheduled full
oral arguments on whether the tax-
payers had standing, or the legal
right to sue.
RAMALLAH, West Bank
Fatah stages
anniversary rally,
urges unity
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas told a large rally of his Fatah
movement yesterday that he won't
allow fighting with their Hamas
rivals to continue and called on
opposing factions to respect each
other.
Thousands of Fatah supporters
waved the movement's yellow flags
and chanted slogans against the
Islamic Hamas group and its Ira-
nian backers. Several Fatah activists
briefly carried Abbas on their shoul-
ders. "Go, go, until liberation," they
chanted. Others fired in the air
The rally in the West Bank city of
Ramallah was organized as a show
of Fatah's strength against Hamas
but Abbas aides said the moderate
Palestinian leader would also give
coalition talks with Hamas another
chance.
WASHINGTON
Intelligence chief:
Al-Qaida greatest
danger to U.S.
Al-Qaida poses the gravest ter-
rorist threat to the United States
and an emboldened Hezbollah is
a growing danger, the U.S. intelli-
gence chief said yesterday.
In his annual review of global
threats, National Intelligence
Director John Negroponte high-
lighted an increasingly worrisome
assessment of Hezbollah - backed
by Iran and Syria - since its 34-day
war with Israel last year.
"As aresult of last summer's hos-
tilities, Hezbollah's self-confidence
and hostility toward the United
States as a supporter of Israel could
cause the group to increase its con-
tingency planning against United
States interests," Negroponte told
the Senate Intelligence Committee.
GUANTANAMO, Cuba

Peace activists
protest U.S. camp
in Cuba
Cindy Sheehanmarched with the
mothers of a Guantanamo prisoner,
a New York firefighter killed on 9/11
and other peace activists yesterday
to demand the U.S. detention camp
at Guantanamo Bay be closed five
years after the first terror suspects
arrived.
The protest in Cuba came as
demonstrators in Washington and
 London, as well as U.N. Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon, called for
the prison's closure.
"What I've read happens in this
prison makes me sick to my stom-
ach," the 49-year-old Sheehan said
outside the post where Cuban offi-
cials stopped the dozen protesters
from entering the Cuban military
territory to reach the U.S. base's
maingate.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports

MAJOR LEAGUE GAMING

\/ Friday, January 12, 2007 - 3
Bush Iraq plan
draws fire on Hl

Even traditional
Bush allies on
Capitol Hill cry foul
WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi-
dent Bush's plan to send more
troops to Iraq ran into a wall of
criticism on Capitol Hill yesterday
as administration officials drew
confrontational, sometimes mock-
ing challenges from both Demo-
crats and Republicans.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates
said in response that the administra-
tionmight abandontheincrease if the
Iraqi government doesn't do its part,
but he provided no timetable. "I think
most of us, in our minds, are think-
ing of it as a matter of months, not
18 months or two years," he told the
House Armed Services Committee.
Bush and top members of his
nationalsecurityteam soughtto rally
support for the troop buildup a day
after he unveiled his plan for turn-
ing around a conflict that has lasted
nearly four years and cost more than
3,000 American militarylives.


exchanges in a battle that is likely
to dominate Congress for months
or longer and is already shaping the
2008 presidential election.
"I think this speech given last
night by this president represents
the most dangerous foreign policy
blunder in this country since Viet-
nam, if it's carried out," Sen. Chuck
Hagel of Nebraska, a potential 2008
presidential contender, told Rice.
While he is a Republican, adminis-
tration officials were defending the
plan for the first time to the Demo-
cratic-controlled Congress.
Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) noted his
own past support for the adminis-
tration on the war but said he could
not continue. He declared, "I have
not been told the truth over and
over again by administration wit-
nesses, and the American people
have not been told the truth."
A new AP-Ipsos poll found
approval forBush's handling of Iraq
hovering near a record low - 29
percent of Americans approve and
68 percent disapprove.
Bush, visiting with troops at
Fort Benning, Ga., cautioned that
the troop increase "is not going to
yield immediate results. It's going
to take awhile."

His plan,outlinedina prime-time
address to the nation on Wednes-
day, would raise troop levels in Iraq
by 21,500 - from 132,000 to 153,500
- at a cost of $5.6 billion. It also calls
for the Iraqi government to increase
its own forces and to do more to
quell sectarian violence
"Americanpatience islimited, and
obviously if the Iraqis fail to main-
tain their commitments we'll have to
revisit our strategy," said Gates.
At one point Gates, just three
weeks on the job, told lawmakers,
"I would confess I'm no expert on
Iraq." Later, asked about reaching
the right balance between Ameri-
can and Iraqi forces, he told the
panel he was "no expert on military
matters."
Committee members pressed
Gates, who replaced Donald H.
Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, on an
exit strategy for the U.S.
"At the outset of the strategy, it's
a mistake to talk about an exit strat-
egy," he said.
Gates, in testimony to the com-
mittee and earlier at a news con-
ference, said he was requesting
increasing the size of the Army and
Marine Corps by 92,000 troops
over the next five years.

LSA sophomore Joe Pwlowski plays Warcraft 3 in the Michigan League Under-
ground Cyber Lounge yesterday.
House passes stem cell
bill, but Bush to veto

Margin too small
for override
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Democratic-controlled House
yesterday passed a bill bolstering
embryonic stem cell research that
advocates say shows promise for
numerous medical cures.
But the 253-174 vote fell short of
the two-thirds margin required to
overturn President Bush's promised
veto, despite gains made by support-
ers in the November elections. Bush
vetoed identical legislation last year
and the White House yesterday
promised he would veto it again.
The White House said the bill
- the third bill of the Democrats'
first 100 hours agenda to pass the
House - "would use federal taxpay-
er dollars to support and encourage
the destruction of human life for
research."
The debate raises passions
because the research typically
involves the destruction of frozen
embryos created for in vitro fer-
tilization. It draws fierce opposi-
tion from anti-abortion lawmakers
and like-minded constituents who
believe their taxes should not fund
such research. Proponents of the
research said it is done on embryos

that would otherwise be discarded Instead, Gates and Secretary of
from fertility clinics anyway. State CondoleezzaRicefoundthem-
"I support stem cell research selves embroiled in the first pitched
with only one exception - research
that requires, killing human life,"
said Minority Leader John Boehner
(R-Ohio). "Taxpayer-funded stem ST IC
cell research must be carried out Instant Tan Center
in an ethical manner in a way that
respects the sanctity of human life. V
Fortunately, ethical stem cell alter-
natives continue to flourish in the I AND
scientific community."1I eL I z
Democrats countered with Rep. 1 Mysk Ton Not AvaiableatSouth Main lnoan.
James Langevin, (D-R.I.) an anti- RedeemableWh Ad. ResatIonsApply
abortion lawmaker who is paralyzed Exptre: 1/01/07 ma
from the chest down from a hand-
gun accident that occurred when t
he was a teenager. The research,
Langevin said, offers "tremendous
hope" for the discovery of cures for f
spinal cord injuries and diabetes. Muat use in consecutive days on 3 leve
Polls show most Americans sup- nitatVisit Only With Vlid Photo D.
port embryonic stem cell research, e..mabtewit h ad.hS ec ions Appy.
and Democrats say the issue played Expes:1/31/07 34
a big role in the Nov. 7 elections that
returned their partyto the majority
in the House and Senate.
At stake was whether research oat. os1
on cells taken from human embryos pM tMht
- considered by scientists tobe the
most promising approach to devel-
oping potential treatments or cures
for dozens of diseases - should be
underwritten with taxpayer funds.

Duke accuser exonerated
one player, defense says

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - The
accuser in the Duke lacrosse
sexual assault case told prosecu-
tors in December that one of the
three players charged did not
commit any sex act on her dur-
ing the alleged attack, according
to papers filed yesterday by the
defense.
Reade Seligmann was repeatedly
urged to take part in the alleged
attack, the accuser told an inves-
tigator, but he said he could not

because he was getting married,
the papers said.
"The accuser's most recent rec-
ollection of events demonstrates
clearly that she cannot accurately
recall and describe her attackers
and that any identification made by
her is necessarily unreliable," the
defense said.
Lawyers have said Seligmann,
20, has a girlfriend, but there has
been no indication that he was
engaged or married.


. 59
Number of restaurants in the
Southwest owned by Pizza Patron,
a chain that began accepting pesos
this week, according to The Associ-
ated Press. Since the decision was
announced, the company began
receiving death threats and hate
mail.

i

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