The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
U.S. loweringtroop
level in Baghdad
The first big test of security gains
linked to the U.S. troop buildup in
Iraq is at hand.
The military has started to
reverse the 30,000-strong troop
increase and commanders are hop-
ing the drop in insurgent and sec-
tarian violence in recent months
won't prove fleeting.
The current total of 20 combat
brigades is shrinking to 19 as the
3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division,
operating in volatile Diyala prov-
ince, leaves. The U.S. command in
Baghdad announced on yesterday
that the brigade had begun heading
home to Fort Hood, Texas.
Between January and July the
force is to shrink further to 15 bri-
gades. The total number of U.S.
troops will likely go from 167,000
now to 140,000-145,000 by July.
As the U.S. troop reductions
proceed, it should become clear
whether the so-called "surge" strat-
egy that increased the U.S. troop
presence in and around Baghdad
resultedinany lastinggains against
sectarianism.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip
Seven killed at
Fatah rally
A rally of more than 250,000
Fatah supporters ended in mayhem
yesterday, with Hamas police open-
ingfire andprotesters hurlingrocks
or running for cover. Seven civil-
ians were killed and dozens were
wounded in the violence between
Palestinian factions.
The demonstration in a Gaza City
square, marking the Nov. 11, 2004
death of iconic Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat, posed the strongest
challenge to Hamas rule in Gaza
since the Islamic militant group
seized the impoverished territory
byforce in June.
BEIJING
Chinese gov't
creates database of
Olympic reporters
The Chinese government has
,created profiles on thousands of
foreignjournalists comingto report
on next summer's Beijing Olympics
and is gathering information on
thousands more to put into a data-
base, a top official said in comments
published yesterday.
The profiles appeared to under-
mine promises made by Chinese
leaders in 2001, when they were
bidding for the Games, that the
event would lead to greater media
freedoms.
The database with information
on the 28,000 foreign journalists
expected for the Olympics would
be a reference for interview sub-
jects, designed to protect them
from being tricked or blackmailed
by "fake reporters," Liu Binjie, min-
ister of the General Administration
of Press and Publication said.
PHILADELPHIA
Att'y: American
teen chatted with
Finnish killer
A teenager who admitted plotting
a school attack near Philadelphia
had communicated online about the
Columbine massacre with a teenage
outcast who killed eight people and
himself in a high school shooting
in Finland, the Pennsylvania boy's
attorney said yesterday.
. But the teen was "horrified"
when he found out about the Finn-
ish attack and said he never would
have suspected him of follow-
ing through with a violent act, the
attorney said.
Finnish police said material
seized from the computer of Pekka-
Eric Auvinen suggests the 18-year-
old had communicated online with
Dillon Cossey, 14, who was arrested
in October on suspicion of preparing
an attack at Plymouth Whitemarsh
High School in suburban Philadel-
phia.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
3,861
Number of American service mem-
bers who have died in the war in
Iraq, according to The Associated
Press. No new deaths were identi-
fied yesterday.
LADUKE
From Page 1
she said, a large amount of people
are displaced.
"Our economy requires denying
human rights," she said.
LaDuke criticized the Bush
administration, half-jokingly say-
ing that the nation was part of an
"axis of evil."
"The Bush administration is
arguably one of the worst violators
of international law," she said.
Alyx Cadotte, a MESA program
specialist who helped coordi-
nate the event, said that although
the U.N. declaration isn't legally
binding, it's an important step for
groups who she said are frequently
denied basic human rights.
"The declaration could have alot
of impact on how native tribes are
treated in the United States," she
said. "It's been brought to national
attention."
Native Americans, she said, are
often denied territory and full use
of resources on reservations.
Margaret Noori, a University
professor of Ojibwe language and
literature, said having a notable
figure who speaks her language
visit the University is meaningful.
"I was thankful that MESA
chose to bring a woman who is one
of us and is known throughout the
world," Noori said.
Noori said 140 University stu-
dents are enrolled in Ojibwe class-
es.L
LaDuke also focused heavily on
Water issues loom
for '08 hopefuls
Wet states worry that Several Great Lakes states,
including Ohio, are also swing
dry areas might take states certain to be top priorities
in the general election.
valuable resource Yetcsidesteppingthe problem is a
luxury that presidential candidates
won't have forever, Duke Univer-
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) sity political scientist David Rohde
- When it comes to water, the said. Population is surging in the
2008 presidential candidates are arid West, where water shortages
remarkably parched for words. are chronic, and in the Southeast,
They are well aware that there where the drought has prompted
are few faster ways for a candidate spats between neighboring states.
to get into political trouble than The government projects
to wade into the sensitive subject that at least 36 states will face
of the water shortages afflicting water shortages within five years
large areas of the nation. That's because of rising temperatures
especially true when it comes to and evaporation rates, lack of rain,
proposals for regional water shar- urban sprawl, waste and overuse.
ing. Water-rich regions such as Water levels of the three big-
the Great Lakes states have long gest Great Lakes - Superior,
been wary that water-scarce, but Huron and Michigan - have been
politically robust regions like the in steep decline since the late
Sun Belt will tryto siphon off their 1990s. The region's eight state leg-
precious resource. islatures are considering a com-
Such competing regional pact that would prohibit sending
interests are laden with politi- water outside the drainage basin
cal implications. The handful of except to localities that straddle
states leading off the presidential the boundary.
nominating contests in January A group representingthe gover-
tentatively includes the Great nors of the eight Great Lakes states
Lakes state of Michigan, as well urged the presidential contenders
as Nevada in the desert Southwest last week to endorse a wide-rang-
and South Carolina and Florida in ing plan for protecting the lakes
the Southeast, which is suffering a - including keeping them off-lim-
historic drought. its to outsiders.
Ojibwe activist Winona LaDuke spoke about food and energy sustainability to a
crowd of about 60 at the Trotter House last night.
issues of food and energy sustain-
ability, drawing strong support
from the crowd of about 60 listen-
ers.
"What I am trying to impart,
which I am sure in my ranting you
will get, is that it's not the law, it's
not what the U.N. says, it's how we
choose to live," she said.
Amid a chorus of affirma-
tions from the audience, LaDuke
emphasized that it wasn't enough
for Ann Arborites to buy hybrid
cars but to ignore other environ-
mental issues.
"This is a privileged city, but
that's the thing about privilege,"
she said. "You have responsibility."
Group pushi'ng for
part-time legislature
Unnamed org. son days.
The number of lawmaker
needs 300,000 would drop from the current 14
signatures to place
issue on 2008 ballot
LANSING (AP) - A citizens'
group is trying to build momen-
tum for a possible petition drive
aimed at making Michigan's Leg-
islature part-time.
The group wants to place the
issue on the November 2008 bal-
lot. But it won't be easy.
More than 300,000 valid sig-
natures of Michigan voters would
have to be collected to make the
ballot.
The as-yet-unnamed group
plans organizational meetings
this week in Clarkston.
The proposal would call for
limiting the Legislature to 90 ses-
Pair
charged
in thrill
killing
DETROIT (AP) - Two thrill-
seeking teenagers stabbed an
adult acquaintance, took a blow-
torch to his corpse and threw his
severed head into a river, pros-
ecutors said yesterday as they
charged the pair.
Canton High School senior
Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 17, and
Alexander James Letkemann,
18, ambushed 26-year-old Dan-
iel Sorenson last Wednesday in
a garage owned by Orlewic's
grandfather, Wayne County
Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.
A tarp had been spread on the
floor, she said.
"They lured him in the garage
where they prepared a space to
kill him," Worthy said at a news
conference.
Sorenson, who had worked
as a bouncer, was stabbed mul-
tiple times in the back, his head
was sawed off and his body was
wrapped in the tarp, authorities
said. Orlewicz and Letkemann
burned his hands and feet with
a blowtorch, possibly in an
effort to conceal his identity,
Worthy said.
"They made plans on how
they were to clean up the blood,"
Worthy said. "They made plans
on how they were going to dis-
pose of the body."
The teens loaded Sorenson's
torso into apickup truck, dumped
it in a cul-de-sac in Wayne Coun-
ty's Northville Township and set
it on fire using gasoline, police
said.
A utility crew found it Thurs-
day morning, they said.
Sorenson's head was found
Saturday in the Rouge River on
the border of Detroit and Dear-
born Heights, about 15 miles
from where the torso was found.
MEC ERY
www~fordcolegehq~comL I N C 0 L N M~UYe
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