} 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 Gi be in Less footbal constrt igan St despite ment o lawsuit accessi Accc by Uni and str be clos accomr traffic project The plaints sibility 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 512 E. William (7341) 663-3379 LIMITED TIME OFFER For Our Friends at The U CUSTOMER APPRECIATION Lunch Buffet M-F 11-2pm $2 OFF our Lunch Buffet With Beverage Included Just Present Your U of M I.D. Offer Expires: 11/30/2007 1h A StudentUniverse.com I