The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

NEWS BRIEFS
CARACAS, Venezuela
Thousands protest
Chavez referendum
Hundreds of thousands of peo-
ple flooded the streets of the capital
yesterday to oppose a referendum
that would eliminate term limits
for President Hugo Chavez and
help him establish a socialist state
in Venezuela.
Blowing whistles, waving plac-
ards and shouting "Not like this!"
the marchers carried Venezuelan
flags and dressed in blue - the cho-
sen color of the opposition - as they
streamed along Bolivar Avenue.
"This is a movement by those
of us who oppose a change to this
country's way of life," said former
lawmaker Elias Matta. "There
can't be a communist Venezuela,
and that's why our society is react-
ing this way."
The rally marked the close of the
opposition's campaign against the
proposed constitutional changes,
which will be submitted to a vote
Sunday. Chavez plans to lead rallies
in favor of the reforms today.
CAIRO, Egypt
Bin Laden urges
Europeans to leave
Iraq in new tape
AI-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden
called on Europeans to stop help-
ing the United States in the war in
Afghanistan, according to excerpts
of a new audiotape broadcast yes-
terday on Al-Jazeera television.
Bin Laden said it was unjust for
the United States to have invaded
Afghanistan for sheltering him
after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, say-
ing he was the "only one responsi-
ble" for the deadly assaults on New
York and Washington.
State Department spokesman
Sean McCormack dismissed the
new tape as typical of bin Laden's
tactics and expressed faith in the
European allies.
"I think our NATO allies under-
stand quite clearly what is at stake
in Afghanistan as well as elsewhere
around the world in fighting the
war on terror," he told reporters.
LOS ANGELES
Hollywood offers
new compromise to
striking writers
Hollywood studios presented a
sweetened contract offer to striking
film and TV writers yesterday, and
negotiators requested a four-day
recess to consider it, the producers'
organization said.
The talks will resume Tuesday,
the Alliance of Motion Picture
and Television Producers said in a
statement. There was no immediate
comment from the Writers Guild of
America. Talkshadbeenheld under
a media blackout since Monday.
The producers said the new
offer, dubbed the "New Economic
Partnership," included payments
for work shown on the Internet, the
key sticking points in the talks.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Musharraf vows
to end state of
emergency soon
Pervez Musharraf, newly sworn
in as a civilian president and minus
his trademark general's uniform,
promised yesterday to lift the state
of emergency by Dec. 16 and restore
Pakistan's constitution ahead of
parliamentary elections.
Musharraf urged opposition par-
ties to participate in the election
and help strengthen democracy,
returning to his usually, forceful
persona after blinking back tears
Wednesday when he resigned as
commander of Pakistan's military
and ended a 46-year army career.
"This is a milestone in the tran-
sition of Pakistan to the complete
essence of democracy," he told offi-
cials, diplomats and generals at his
oath-taking ceremony in the presi-
dential palace.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
3,9880
Number of American service mem-
bers who have died in the war in
Iraq, according to The Associated
Press. The military identified the
following dead service member
yesterday:
Marine Aircraft Group Cpl.
Allen Roberts, 21, Alcola, Ill.

Many Iraqis who aided U.S. barred
from refugee immigration program

Homeland Security
Department fears
terrorists will slip in
WASHINGTON (AP) - Thou-
sands of Iraqis whose support for
the U.S. war effort in Iraq has put
them and their families in grave
danger at home are being excluded
from a new fast-track system aimed
atspeedinguprefugee resettlement
in the United States for American
allies, officials said yesterday.
The Bush administration
within the next month will begin
accepting refugee applications
directly from the about 100 Iraqi
employees of the U.S. Embassy
in Baghdad and their relatives,
letting them bypass an often-
lengthy U.N. referral process in
third countries where they must
travel at great expense, they said.
But possibly tens of thousands
more at-risk Iraqis - those who
worked for private contractors, aid
agencies or media outlets and their
relatives - won't be eligible due
to objections from the Homeland
Security Department, which fears
that terrorists might use it to slip
into the country, the officials said.
Homeland Security is effec-
tively blocking contract employ-
ees, like drivers, translators,
technicians, from benefiting from
the initiative by insisting they
provide official U.S. references
and sponsors before applying for
resettlement, a more stringent
standard than for direct hires and
even those in the U.N. system,
according to the officials.
TV
From Page 1
loaded. The clips often con-
tain hyperlinks to advertis-
ers' websites.
Piracy is not a concern
because Zattoo's technology
prevents recording of its pro-
gramming, according to the
company's website.
Jamin is optimistic that
broadcasters will be eager to
contract with the company to
reach young, tech-savvy con-
sumers.
"The market is wide open
for streaming media," said
School of Information Prof.
Thomas Finholt,tdirec-
tot of the Collaboratory for
Research on Electronic Work.
ButFinholtsaidhewas skepti-
cal about how successful Zat-
too will be when it launches
in the U.S. He thinks software
compatible with portable
media players would be more
likely to attract users.
While it has been more
difficult for the company to
negotiate with American
broadcasters than European
companies, Jamin said that
the company is working to
carry as many channels as
possible when Zattoo launch-
es in the United States.
"We'd like to carry all the
main channels, but which
channels we actually get is
still uncertain," he said.
The project that became
Zattoo began in 2000 as the
doctoral dissertation of Wen-
jie Wang, who was one of
Jamin's students at the time
and is now the chief architect

of the company.
While not designed to be
marketable, the software
immediately lent itself to
broad commercial use.
"We were (initially) using
the program for distributing
live conferences on the Inter-
net," said Jamin, "I got phone
calls from people who wanted
to use it. I figured if we were
going to do it, we might as
well do it right."
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Meeting that higher bar will be
almostimpossible for manywhose
work for private U.S. employers in
Iraq ended months or years ago,
the officials said.
The officialsspoke on condition
of anonymity to describe internal
deliberations between Home-
land Security, which must vet all
would-be Iraqi refugees, and the
State Department, which wants
to widen resettlement opportuni-
ties for Iraqi refugees.
The two agencies have been
unable to reach a compromise and
the issue has been referred to the
NationalSecurityCouncil,although
the matter may be resolved before
that happens through legislation
pending in Congress.
That legislation would include
Iraqi contract employees in the
so-called P2 refugee category.
Those in that category are consid-
ered to be members of groups of
"special humanitarian concern"
to the United States and have the
right to apply for resettlement in
the United States directly instead
of having to seek help from the
U.N. High Commissioner for Ref-
ugees.
The State Department's posi-
tion is that security safeguards
are already built into Homeland
Security's own vetting process
and that expanding the P2 catego-
ry does not guarantee any appli-
cant entry to the United States
as a refugee, only the chance to
apply directly.
Lori Scialabba, a top immigra-
tion lawyer at Homeland Security,
acknowledged the disagreements
but expressed hope that they

could be resolved.
"I'm sure State would say that
they're just as concerned with
security as we are, and we're just
as concerned with assisting this
group of people as State is," she
said.
Scialabba and James Foley, a
career diplomat and former ambas-
sador, were appointed by Secre-
tary of State Condoleezza Rice
and Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff to improve coor-
dination between the agencies.
Foley declined to comment.
The Bush administration has
set a goal of admitting 12,000
Iraqi refugees in the current bud-
get year that ends next October
That would be a more than seven-
fold increase in the 1,608 admit-
ted in fiscal year 2007.
Last month - the first of the
new budget year - only 450 Iraqis
were allowed in, less than half the
monthly average of 1,000 needed
to reach the target.
More than 2 million Iraqis have
fled their country since the war
began, most of them to neighbor-
ing countries and of those about
13,000 have been referred to the
United States for resettlement
through the U.N. process.
The U.S. admissions process
had been badly hampered by
the refusal since May of Syria to
grant visas to U.S. interviewers to
screen potential refugees. But on
a visit to Damascus last month,
Foley and Scialabba won approv-
al for the process to restart, and
Homeland Security officials are
currently in Syria interviewing
U.N. refugee referrals.

ALUM
From Page 1
against someone who was estab-
lished shows that the voters really
do look at the candidates," said
Christopher Whittington, chair of
the Louisiana Democratic Party.
Hines called himself "pro-busi-
ness" and "conservative" in an
interview Monday. And though he
is affiliated with the Democratic
Party, Hines said he resists polar-
izing politics.
"You're going to see a lot of
bipartisan legislation passed," he
said.
Those positions put Hines at
odds with the Tulane University
College Democrats. The group
officially endorsed another Demo-
cratic candidate, Evan Wolf.
Tulane University is in Hines's
district.
"I don't think he's very repre-
sentative of it," said Zach Press, the
group's president, of Hines' Demo-
cratic identification.
When it comes to typical Demo-
cratic stances on social issues like
gay marriage, education, and reli-
gion Press said, "That's clearly not
what he stands for. That's a matter
of fact."
Whittington said Hines and the
rest of the Louisiana legislature
will have to get creative to figure
out how to fund ongoing recon-
struction efforts, especially when
the state needs to spend more than
it takes in from taxes.
"He's got some special challeng-
es coming up," Whittington said.
Hines said he is optimistic

Friday, November 30, 2007 - 3
about the future of the Hurricane
Katrina-devastated state despite
the obstacles ahead. Among these
hurdles is the loss of young busi-
ness people from Louisiana.
"The focus of my platform was
reversing the exodus of young pro-
fessionals," Hines said. Hines said
he has been involved in a network-
ing group called the Young Urban
Recovery Professionals - he calls
it a "sophisticated Facebook" - for
young professionals who live in
New Orleans.
"This is sort of the beginning of
the rebirth of New Orleans," Hines
said.
Press said he hoped Hines would
maintain communication with the
Tulane student Democrats.
"He said he was going to rep-
resent young democrats. That's
Tulane University."
Though Hines was criticized for
his age and lack of political experi-
ence, Whittington said Hines's age
is an advantage.
"He brings a fresh, new face and
young, progressive ideas," Whit-
tington said.
Hines said he hopes to bring
governmental "transparency" and
"full disclosure" to the Louisiana
citizens through reform.
One of his main objectives is
minimizing the amount of influ-
ence lobbyists hold over the Loui-
siana House of Representatives by
making lobbyists' donations to leg-
islators public information, Hines
said.
"We're considered the most cor-
rupt state in the United States,"
Hines said. "We cannot afford to
be corrupt, nor poor."

I

I

Information Meeting
Friday, November 30
3:00 p.m.
International Center, Room 9
800.424.8580 www.peacecorps.gov
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The Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute is proud to recognize the first
Graham Scholars Program Participants:

Erin Bachynski
Junior, Naval Arcritecture + Marine
Eirgine rrg
Lukas Bell-Dereske
.junior, P'colo3gy + 1~vorlutionaryJ Biology
Carolyn Bergstrom
Senior, Program in th Environment
Liz Coon
Senior, 'scanail Engineering
Joshua Creger
nrori, sEconsmics + Political Science
Christopher Detjen
Senior. 'rogram in the Environment +
Political Science
Sarah Duffy
Junir Pgrogam in thec Environmrent +.
ain AmereanrStudies
Anjali Jain-Figera
Junior, Civil + Enviromental
Engin ee-ring
Katie Goodall
astr's Student,Schoolif Narural
li resorces +Environment

Matthew Koski
Junior, Program in the Environment
Jeffrey Leto
Senior, ohersical Engineering
Nora Lewandowski
Senior, Prograr in the Ensvironment
mathematical Sciences
Andrew Munn
Senior, Program in the Envirsonment
Music Plerosrmance
Meredith Neely
SeniorCisil + Environmental
Engineering
Molly Phillips
Senior, Program in the Envirrnenrt
Anne Rosinski
Senio,eogram in thsEnvironment
Gahriel Slahasky
Senior, Econotnics
Brandi Thompson
Senior, Program in the Environment

The Graham Scholars Program is designed to provide enrichment opportunities for
undergraduate students to participate in cross-disciplinary action-based learning
experiences domestically and overseas that are focused on critical environmental
sustainability issues. In its inaugural year these scholars are examining the
engineering, biodiversity, economic, and social issues associated with expanding
hydroelectric power in southern Chile. Classes in Ann Arbor in the fall and winter
terms will be augmented by alten-day field trip to Patagonia to see first-hand the
people, geography, promise, and challenges poised by this technology. These 18
students were selected from a pool of 63 strong applications based on their
professional goals, academic accomplishments, and work experience.
For more information about the Graham Institute and Graham Scholar's program,
please visit our Web site at: www.provost.uich.edulgesi