The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com NEWS BRIEFS WASHINGTON Bush to freeze mortgage interest rates for five years The Bush administration has hammered out an agreement to freeze interest rates for certain subprime mortgages for five years to combat a soaring tide of fore- closures, congressional aides said yesterday. The aides, who spoke on con- dition of anonymity because the details have not yet been released, said the five-year moratorium rep- resented a compromise between desires by banking regulators for a longer time frame of up to seven years and mortgage industry argu- ments that the freeze should last only one or two years. Another person familiar with the matter said the rate-freeze plan would apply to borrowers with loans made at the start of 2005 through July 30 of this year with rates that are scheduled to rise between Jan. 1, 2008, and July 31, 2010. WASHINGTON Agreement gives military new power over Blackwater A new agreement between the Pentagon and the State Department gives the military in Iraq more con- trol over Blackwater Worldwide and other private security contrac- tors. The agreement was signed yes- terday at the Pentagon by Deputy - Defense Secretary Gordon England and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, whose department uses Blackwater to guard its diplo- mats. It spells out rules, standards andguidelines forthe use of private security contractors. The agreement also says con- tractors will be accountable for criminal acts under U.S. law. That partly clarifies what happens if a contractor breaks the law, but leaves the details to be worked out with Congress. OMAHA, Neb. Bush tells Iran to release nuclear info or face sanctions President Bush, trying to keep pressure on Iran, called on Tehran yesterday to "come clean" about the scope of its nuclear activities or else face diplomatic isolation. Two days after anew intelligence report said that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago, Bush demanded that Tehran detail its previous pro- gram to develop nuclear weapons "which the Iranian regime has yet to acknowledge." "The Iranians have a strategic choice to make," he said. "They can come clean with the international community about the scope of their nuclear activities, and fully accept the long-standing offer to suspend their enrichment program and come to the table and negotiate, or they can continue on a path of iso- lation." ATLANTA * U.S. teen birth rate rises for first time in 15 years In a troubling reversal, the nation's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years, surprising government health officials and reviving the bitter debate about abstinence-only sex education. The birth rate had been drop- ping since its peak in 1991, although the decline had slowed in recent years. Yesterday, government stat- isticians said it rose 3 percent from 2005 to 2006. The reason for the increase is not clear, and federal health officials said it might be a one-year statisti- cal blip, not the beginning of a new upward trend. - Compiled from Daily wire reports 39886 FILM FEST From Page 1A Still, former State Rep. Leon "Drolet (R-Clinton Twp.) said at the time that the films' contents were "pornography so bad, no one will buy it." Shelli Weisberg, the legislative director for the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the fundingreduction violated the free speech clause of the First Amendment. "It's pretty clear they were censoringthe material to a degree that was unconstitutional," Weis- berg said. The settlement removes the legislation's specific bans on sex, flag destruction and fecal repre- sentations of religious symbols, and replaces it with language used by the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA's rules do allow funding for art deemed LEASING From Page 1A Public Policy senior Nick Assa- nis, a student representative atthe meeting, said certain groups of students - freshmen, out-of-state and international students - may be uninformed when it comes to findingsuitable housing. He said that students felt waivers made it more difficult to enforce the current ordinance. "We are more than willing to recognize that cheating so to speak has occurred on both sides of the table," Assanis said. "Not only did we feel it made the ordinance cleaner and easier to enforce but we also thought it made educational efforts." obscene, but the definition of obscenity is less strict and less specific. The new language says art "will be judged, taking intocon- sideration general standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the people of this state." If the art can't adhere to those principles, the state doesn't have to fund it. Weisberg said the rule altera- tion was a significant step for assuring free speech. "The bigger victory was get- ting the language changed," Weisberg said Christen McArdle, the AAFF's executive director, said she hopes this victory will translate into momentum for the festival, which is four months away. "It's very 'get back to work' for us," McArdle said. "We knew this day was coming. We worked really hard to get here." Landlord Lelahni Wessinger said reducing the waiting period is a step in the right direction. She said the housing system in Ann Arbor should be revamped so that seniors have first priority when looking for larger residenc- es in Ann Arbor because they have the most experience in the local housing market. "I've always said I don't have a problem with the experienced people benefiting from. their experience," Wessinger said. According to Greden, the changes to the ordinance will be reviewed by the City Council twice in January. He also said there will be a public hearing about the ordinance on Jan.22. If the council approves the changes, they will go into effect immediately after that. ' 0Thursday, December 6, 2007 - 3A Come study with us!1 Welcome Wednesdays might be over for this semester, but you can join us during finals for study days. to T11N' pe ~n~a~jlecevabei t ecembeY 20 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, WI-FI and free blue books will be provided. (Welcome Wednesdays returns Wednesday, January 16). ALUMNIASSOCIATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN www.umalumni.com/students wnen surrering overwnelms, can rain and love sustain the human spirit? The Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Archibald MacLeish Directed by Philip Kerr - Dept.lofTheatre & Drama Dec. 6 at 7:30 PM - Dec. 7 & 8 at 8 PM Dec. 9 at 2 PM - Power Center Tickets $24 and $18 - Students $9 with ID - League Ticket Office " 734-764-2538 E -' ' ' 'S: '°,' , . .', Li Li Li Li Li mom dad grandparents Santa : t . hanfu kka h christmas kwanzaa graduation my birthday sn i To play: Complete the grid so that every row, column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9. MacBook Pro Enjoy the power of a desktop computer in the one-inch-thin profile of MacBook Pro. With its up to 2.2GHz Intel Core Duo processor and PCI Express architecture, you're bound to soar. MacBook This decision is black or white. With its 13.3-inch glossy widescreen display, MacBook makes your work truly shine. Each compact and durable MacBook offers a wealth of features that make it ideal for the demands of students and professors alike. iPod Music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts, games. Dowload it all from iTunes, play it on your Mac or PC, then sync itnto your iPod in minutes. I 4 5 3 . .,. 3 2 5 4 2 4 1 9 6 7 8 8 7 :u<: . ,, University of Michigan Students, Faculty, and Staff, take advantage of your education discount on Macs and Apple software at the U-M Computer Showcase. U-M Computer Showcase Michigan Union - Lower Level http://showcase.itcs.umich.edu /Authorized (734) 647-2537 Campus Store Number of American service mem- bers who have died in the war in Iraq, according to The Associated Press. The Department of Defense 5 4 identified the following military death yesterday: Puzzle by- Sgt. Kyle Dayton, 22, of El Dora- do Hills, Calif. 4