} The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, November 19, 2007 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Pakistani president
won't end state of
emergency
President Gen. Pervez Mush-
arraf'sgovernmentdismissed alast-
ditch U.S. call to end emergency
rule, leaving the Bush administra-
tion with limited options yesterday
in steering its nuclear-armed ally
back toward democracy.
Pakistan said U.S. Deputy Sec-
retary of State John Negroponte
brought no new proposals on a
make-or-break visit, and received
no assurances after urging Mush-
arraf to restore the constitution
and free thousands of political
opponents.
"This is nothing new," Foreign
Ministry spokesman Mohammed
Sadiq told The Associated Press.
"The U.S. has been saying this for
many days. He (Negroponte) has
said that same thing. He has reiter-
ated it."
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia
OPEC considers
pulling reserves
out of dollar
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said yesterday that
OPEC's members have expressed
interest in converting their cash
reserves into a currency other than
the depreciating U.S. dollar, which
he called a "worthless piece of
paper."
His comments at the end of a
rare summit of OPEC heads of state
exposed fissures within the 13-
member cartel - especially after
U.S. ally Saudi Arabia was reluc-
tant to mention concerns about the
falling dollar in the summit's final
declaration.
The hardline Iranian leader's
comments also highlighted the
growing challenge that Saudi Ara-
bia, the world's largest oil producer,
faces from Iran and its ally Ven-
ezuela within the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
Tribunal arrests
former Khmer
Rouge chief
The U.N.-backed genocide tribu-
nalin Cambodia arrested the former
Khmer Rouge head of state Monday
following his release from a hospital
in the capital, officials said.
Khieu Samphan's arrest makes
him the fifth senior Khmer Rouge
official to be detained ahead of
the long-delayed tribunal that is
expected to begin next year.
The arrests come almost three
decades after the group fell from
power, with many fearing the aging
suspects might die before they ever
see a courtroom.
Police escorted Khieu Samphan
from the hospital today, holding
his arms for support, and led him
to a police car that sped away in a
convoy of about a half dozen police
vehicles.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia
Explosion in natural
gas pipeline kills 28
An accidental explosion and fire
on a natural gas pipeline in eastern
Saudi Arabia yesterday killed 28
people and left 12 missing, Saudi
officials said.
An unspecified number were
wounded in the blaze, which did
not disrupt gas supplies, Oil Minis-
ter Ali al-Naimi told reporters dur-
ing a summit of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries in
Riyadh.
National oil company Saudi
Aramco said the fire broke out
just after midnight while contract
workers were linking a new pipe to
the line during some maintenance
work.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
3,868
Number of American service mem-
bers who have died in the war in
Iraq, according to The Associated
Press. The following deaths were
identified over the weekend:
2nd Lt. Stuart F. Liles, 26, of
Hot Springs, Ark.
eSgt. Kenneth R. Booker, 25, of
Vevay, Ind.
Sgt. Mason L. Lewis, 26, of
Gloucester, Va.
Sgt. Steven C. Ganczewski,
22, of Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Study:
Detroit
tops for
violence
Crime experts
question study
methods
DETROIT (AP) - In another
blow to the Motor City's tar-
nished image, Detroit pushed
past St. Louis to become the
nation's most dangerous city,
according to a private research
group's controversial analysis,
released yesterday, of annual
FBI crime statistics.
The study drew harsh criti-
cism even before it came out.
The American Society of Crimi-
nology launched a pre-emp-
tive strike Friday, issuing a
statement attacking it as "an
irresponsible misuse" of crime
data.
The 14th annual "City Crime
Rankings: Crime in Metropoli-
tan America" was published by
CQ Press, a unit of Congressio-
nal Quarterly Inc. It is based on
the FBI's Sept. 24 crime statis-
tics report.
The report looked at 378 cit-
ies with at least 75,000 people
based on per-capita rates for
homicide, rape, robbery, aggra-
vated assault, burglary and
auto theft. Each crime category
was considered separately and
weighted based on its serious-
ness, CQ Press said.
Last year's crime leader, St.
Louis, fell to No. 2. Another
Michigan city, Flint, ranked
third, followed by Oakland
Calif.; Camden, N.J.; Birming-
ham, Ala.; North Charleston,
S.C.; Memphis, Tenn.; Rich-
mond, Calif.; and Cleveland.
The study ranked Mission
Viejo, Calif., as the safest U.S.
city, followed by Clarkstown,
N.Y.; Brick Township, N.J.;
Amherst, N.Y.; and Sugar Land,
Texas.
CQ Press spokesman Ben
Krasney said details of the
weighting system were propri-
etary. It was compiled by Kath-
leen O'Leary Morgan and Scott
Morgan, whose Morgan Quitno
Press published the study until
its acquisition by CQ Press.
The study assigns a crime
score to each city, with zero
representing the national aver-
age. Detroit got a score of 407,
while St. Louis followed at 406.
The score for Mission Viejo, in
affluent Orange County, was
minus 82.
Detroit was pegged the
nation's murder capital in the
1980s and has lost nearly 1 mil-
lion people since 1950, accord-
ing to the Census Bureau.
Downtown sports stadiums
and corporate headquarters -
along with the redevelopment
of the riverfront of this city of
919,000 - have slowed but not
reversed the decline. Officials
have said crime reports don't
help with the reconstruction
process.
T HE 0 R I G I A L
512 E. William (734) 663-3379
WEEKDAY
HAPPY HOUR
rMONDAY-FRIDAY
Despite lawsuit, complaints,
stadim construction begins
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The
sent a
ame barely over Oct. 29 threatening to cut federal
funding if the University did not
fore crews move make Michigan Stadium more
accessible for disabled fans.
to start building The University denied the claims
regarding the stadium's lack of
luxury boxes accessibility for disabled fans on
Nov. 5 in a letter to the Department
ByANDY KROLL of Education. It cited efforts the
Daily StaffReporter University has made to make the
stadium more accessible.
than 24 hours after the The dispute with the Depart-
.1's team loss to Ohio State, ment of Education has yet to be
uction crews arrived at Mich- resolved.
adium to begin renovations, Additionally, there is a pending
threats from the Depart- lawsuit against the University filed
f Education and a pending by the Michigan Paralyzed Veter-
t questioning the stadium's ans of America arguing that the
bility for the disabled. new renovations do not provide the
ordingtoastatement released number of wheelchair-accessible
versity, several parking lots seats mandated by the Americans
reets near the stadium will With Disabilities Act.
ed to the public in order to Neither challenge is directly
modate construction vehicle related to the addition of luxury
as part of the renovation boxes, which the University says
t. will be accessible to wheelchair
University has faced com- users.
about the stadium's acces- But if the University loses the
to the handicapped. lawsuit and is forced to add 1,000
Department of Education wheelchair-accessible seats to
letter to the University on the stadium, it could decrease the
stadium's capacity so much that it
wouldn't be the nation's largest.
The University might be able
to add seats to the endzones to
increase the capacity, but officials
have refused to comment on pos-
sible contingency plans.
Construction workers began
painting new stripes in parking
lots yesterday so they contain more
vehicles. Department of Public
Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown
said construction workers will soon
begin removing temporary build-
ings surrounding the stadium.
In addition, a large fence was
erected yesterday in the main ath-
letic parking lot east of the stadium
to create trucking routes for vehi-
cles entering and exiting the con-
struction site.
The fence's location eliminates a
significant number of parking spots
available to University staff who
work nearby at the Administrative
Services and Facilities Services
buildings.
The parking lot northwest of the
stadium at the intersection of East
Keech Avenue and South Main
Street closed yesterday.
Despite the loss of parking spots
surrounding the stadium, Brown
said there will be sufficient park-
ing availability for University staff
members in lots unaffected by the
renovations.
Pending city approval, the Uni-
versity will close East Keech Ave-
nue and Stadium Way to the north
of the stadium to accommodate
increased construction traffic.
The University is also waitingfor
city approval to shorten the right
turn lane from westbound East
Stadium Boulevard to northbound
South Main Street on the stadium's
southwest corner.
The $226 million renovations
will add 83 luxury boxes, 3,200
club seats with seat backs and a new
press box to the stadium.
Some fans have fiercely opposed
the luxury boxes, which opponents
say will be an eyesore that will
separate the wealthiest fans from
everyone else.
The University has maintained
that the boxes and the revenue
they'll generate is necessary for
the future of the athletic depart-
ment.
Economists say unemployment could hit 10 percent
ECONOMY From Page 1A
"The state's job market has been
running at a pace that could be
described as two steps forward,
three steps back," Crary said at the
University's Annual Conference
on the Economic Outlook. Crary
said the steady decline makes it
appear as if there is no hope for
progress, but there is forward
momentum that shows signs of
an economy that will eventually
break through.
Although the economists pre-
dicted that Michigan will continue
to lose salaried jobs in the 2007 and
2008 fiscal years, Crary said they
expect to see the number of jobs
stabilize in 2009 before swinging
toward job growth of about 1 per-
cent in 2010.
They also forecast that unem-
ployment will begin to drop in 2009
after two years of climbing jobless
figures. Michigan's unemployment
rate currently stands at about 7.5
percent, up roughly 1 percentage
point from this time two years ago.
According to the economists, that
figure will rise to about 8.2 percent
next year.
Crary said the effect of current
Big Three restructuring efforts
like the negotiation of new union
contracts will play a large role in
whether Michigan's economy will
rebound.
"As in past years, the prospects
for the state economy over the next
few years will be tied in large part
to the outcome of the sweeping
changes in the domestic auto indus-
try," Crary said.
According to the report, the state
of Michigan has faced a 36 percent
decline in transportation equip-
ment manufacturing jobs since
2000, much of which results from
the loss of jobs during restructur-
ing.
And it's not just that Big Three
factories and offices are being
moved out of Michigan. Crary
said the American auto industry's
slipping market share has forced
auto companies to cut costs and
eliminate jobs entirely. According
to projections by the economists,
American cars will make up less
than half of cars sold in the United
States by 2008.
On Thursday, University econo-
mists issued predictions for the
U.S. economy as a whole.
In spite of rising oil prices, weak
automotive sales and increasing
unemployment, University econo-
mists predict that the U.S's econ-
omy will show signs of recovery
within the next two years.
A national economy fore-
cast, released by the University's
Research Seminar in Quantita-
tive Economics on Thursday, fore-
sees the rate of national economic
growth increasing from 2.1 percent
this year to 2.4 percent in 2008 and
3.4 percent in 2009.
Despite the recent spike in oil
prices in the U.S., with current
prices nearing $95 per barrel, the
forecast predicts oil prices to drop
15 percent to around $80 per barrel
in 2009.
University economists predict
that national unemployment will
increase from 2007 to 2008 - from
4.8 percent to 5.1 percent - but will
decrease to 4.8 percent by the end
of 2009.
According to the forecast, home
sales will decrease from 4.94 mil-
lion sales this year to 4.14 next year
but will rebound in 2009 to 4.84
million sales.
- Andy Kroll contributed
to this report.
63 killed in mine blast
in eastern Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) - A
methane blast ripped through a
coal mine in eastern Ukraine
early yesterday, killing at least
63 miners in the ex-Soviet
nation's worst mining accident
in years, emergency officials
said.
More than 360 miners were
rescued but 37 others remained
trapped inside the mine - one
of Ukraine's largest and deepest
- with a raging fire hampering
efforts to save them, officials
said.
The explosion occurred
around 3 a.m. more than 3,300
feet deep inside the Zasyadko
mine in the regional capital
Donetsk, the heart of the coun-
try's coal mining industry, the
Emergency Situations Ministry
said.
Authorities evacuated 367
miners. Twenty-eight were hos-
pitalized, the ministry said.
THE O R I GINAL
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