The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
NEWS BRIEFS
BAGHDAD
Saddam's half
brother beheaded in
double execution
The Iraqi government's attempt
yesterday to close a chapter on Sad-
dam Hussein's repressive regime
- by hanging two of his henchmen
- only appeared to anger many of
Saddam's fellow Sunni Muslims
after the former leader's half broth-
er was decapitated on the gallows.
A thickset Barzan Ibrahim
plunged through the trap door and
was beheaded by the jerk of the
thickbeige rope at the end ofhis fall,
in the same the execution chamber
where Saddam was hanged a little
over two weeks earlier.
A government video of the hang-
ing, played at a briefing for report-
ers, showed Ibrahim's body passing
the camera in a blur. The body came
to rest on its chest while the sev-
ered head lay a few yards away, still
wearing the black hood pulled on
moments before by one of Ibrahim's
five masked executioners.
LONDON
Judge says no to
having jury in
Princess Di case
A judge in Britain ruled yester-
day that she alone would determine
what caused the deaths of Princess
Diana and her boyfriend, rejecting
arguments that a jury was the best
way to ensure justice.
In the ruling, Baroness Elizabeth
Butler-Sloss said a jury - unlike a
judge - would be forbidden under
British law from considering the
conspiracy theories that have
dogged the investigation into the
Aug. 31, 1997, deaths of Diana and
Dodi Fayed.
"In particular, the jury would not
be able to answer questions on alle-
gations that aperson,group or orga-
nization hadbeenguilty of criminal
activities in respect of the death of
the princess or Dodi," she said.
DETROIT
Environmentalists,
state criticize
manure spraying
State regulators and environ-
mental activists are criticizing
operators of two dairy megafarms
in southern Michigan for spraying
manure-filled liquid waste in the
air and piping it into fields in viola-
tion of a court order.
A spokeswoman for the family
owned dairies, which have about
5,600 cows in all, says the waste
disposal was an emergency mea-
sure to keep multimillion-gallon
waste lagoons from spilling.
"It's a situation due to the very
wet fall that we had," said Cecilia
Conway, whose Dutch-born father
co-founded Vreba-Hoff Dairy LLC.
Waterlogged soil prevented opera-
tors from spreading the manure in
the fields before cold weather set in,
she said.
WASHINGTON
Jury selection
begins in politicized
CIA leak case
Potential jurors in the perjury
trial of former White House aide I.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby likely will
be asked their opinions of the Bush
administration, political scandals
and the Iraq war today, foreshadow-
ing the political tenor of a lengthy
trial.
Libbyis accused oflyingto inves-
tigators about his conversations
with reporters regarding outed CIA
officer Valerie Plame. Plame's iden-
tity was leaked to reporters in 2003
after her husband criticized the
Bush administration's prewar intel-
ligence on Iraq.
The leak set off a political fire-
storm and an FBI investigation that
Libby is accused of obstructing.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
7,000
A COLD WAR PROTEST
,/ w Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 3A
U.S. sets up summit for
Israeli-Palistinian peace
First talks in six
years aim0to form
Palestinian state
LUXOR, Egypt (AP) - Hoping
to breathe life into moribund peace
efforts, the United States will gath-
er Israeli and Palestinian leaders to
discuss an eventual independent
Palestinian state, President Bush's
top diplomat said yesterday.
Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice also asked Arab allies to help
support the fragile government in
Iraq, on whose success much of
Bush's new plan to turn the war
around will depend.
The three-way U.S.-Israeli-Pal-
estinian meeting would be the first
among the main parties thought
necessary to draft any settlement
in the six-decade-long dispute. It
represents more direct involvement
from a U.S. administration that has
sometimes viewed Mideast peace-
making asa fool's errand.
"The parties haven't talked about
these issues for a long time," Rice
told reporters following a meet-
ing with Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak in this southern Egyptian
town following a three-day visit to
Israel and the Palestinian territo-
ries.
"It's been at least six years since
they talked about these issues,"
Rice said. "It seems wise to begin
this ... informal discussion, to
just really sit and talk about the
issues."Diplomats described a pre-
liminary session meant to build
confidence after years of fighting
and rhetorical sniping.
It is designed to strengthen
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas in his internal power strug-
gle with Palestinian Islamic mili-
tants and to offer Palestinians a
glimpse of their future that makes
negotiating with Israel seem
worthwhile.
Instead of talking about the
daily frictions and threats that
define the deeply mistrustful
Israeli-Palestinian relationship, an
informal session could look ahead
to what Rice has called broader
issues, and certainly more attrac-
tive ones. U.S. officials said.
"It's very clear what we mean
by 'broader issues,"' Rice said. "We
mean what would lead to the estab-
lishment of a Palestinian state."
Recent prospects for Mideast
peace have looked dim, with the
Hamas radicals in charge of much
of the Palestinian government,
street clashes among the Palestin-
ian factions, a Western aid cutoff
and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert's weakened political posi-
tion following Israel's summer
war in Lebanon.
Abbas and Olmert agreed to
attend the session, to be held in
three or four weeks, during their
separate weekend meetings with
Rice, U.S. officials said. Rice would
represent the United States, with
the thought that Bush could par-
ticipate at a future session if initial
discussions go well.
ALL15N 5HAMAN/Daily
The Liberty Street Agitators, a group of Ann Arbor residents, protest the war in Iraq
on Friday in front of the post office on Liberty Street.
Nation marks first MLK
Day without King's widow
ATLANTA (AP) - The first
Martin Luther King Jr. Day since
the death of King's widow and
chief keeper of his civil rights
dream was marked yesterday with
speeches, visits to the couple's
tomb and the opening of a collec-
tion of his papers, including a draft
of his famous "I Have a Dream"
speech.
The legacy of Coretta Scott King
loomed large over the 21st obser-
vance of the King holiday at the
historic Ebenezer Baptist Church,
where King preached.
"It is in her memory and her
honor that we must carry this pro-
gram on," said her sister in law,
Christine King Farris. "This is as
she would have it."
Mayor Shirley Franklin urged
the congregation not to pay trib-
ute to King's message of peace and
justice on his birthday and then
contradict it the next.
"Millions can't find jobs, have
no health insurance and struggle
to make ends meet, working mini-
mum-wage jobs. What's goingon?"
Franklin said, repeating a refrain
from the soul music singer Marvin
Gaye.
As King condemned the war in
Vietnam 40 years ago, Ebenezer's
senior pastor, the Rev. Raphael G.
Warnock, denounced the war in
Iraq.
"The real danger is not that
America may lose the war," War-
nock said. "The real danger is that
America may well lose its soul."
Visitors also paid homage to
the slain civil rights leader and his
wife at their tomb, not far from the
church.
"They're together at last," said
Daphne Johnson, who was bap-
tized by King at Ebenezer.
bG- W
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Storm batters Northeast
after hammering Midwest
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - A
storm blamed for at least 36 deaths
in six states spread into the North-
east yesterday, coating trees, power
lines and roads with a shell of ice
up to a half-inch thick and knock-
ing out power to more than half a
million homes and businesses.
Ice-covered roads cut into Mar-
tin Luther King Jr. holiday obser-
vances from Albany, N.Y., to Fort
Worth and Austin, Texas, where
officials also canceled Gov. Rick
Perry's inauguration parade today
because another round of ice was
expected.
The weight of the ice snapped
tree limbs and took down power
lines, knocking out electricity to
about 135,000 customers in New
York state and New Hampshire.
Even in Maine, well-accustomed
to winter, a layer of sleet and snow
on roads shut down businesses, day
care centers and schools.
In hard-hit Missouri, the util-
ity company Ameren said it would
probably not have everyone's lights
back on until tomorrow night. As of
yesterday afternoon, about 312,000
homes and businesses still had no
electricity.
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MIKE JUDGE & DON HERZTFELDT
The Animation Show Boxset: Volumes 1& 2
-ON ONVDJAN. 16 -
Personally programmed by Mike Judge
(Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill,
Office Space) and Academy Award"
nominee Don Hertzfeldt, the first two
years of The Animation Show brought
.together award-winning animators from
all over the world on the big screen.
DVD Boxset includes additional films
not included on the tour. Each volume
is also available separately at
AnimationShow.com.
NOT RATED
Number of people who die each
year because of doctors' sloppy
handwriting, according to Time - -
magazine. Most of the issues stem
from illegible instructions and
unclear dosage indications and
abbreviations. A group of technol-
ogy and health care companies are
working to give electronic prescrip-
tion technology to doctors.
A A I
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