The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - 3A
NEWSBRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Feds cut interest rate
for sixth time since
September
The Federal Reserve slashed a
keyinterestrateyesterdaybythree-
fourths of a percentage point, mov-
ing aggressively to contain a credit
crisis threateningto push the coun-
try into a severe recession. ,
The latest action broughtthe fed-
eral funds rate - the interest that
banks charge each other - down to
2.25 percent, the lowest point since
late 2004. It marked the second cut
of three-fourths of a percentage
point this year. The first occurred
at an emergency meeting on Jan.
22 and was followed by a half-point
cut at a regular meeting on Jan. 30.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
and his colleagues have now cut
the funds rate six times since last
September, with the reductions
becoming more aggressive since
January as the central bank has
faced growing turmoil in global
financial markets.
ALBANY, N.Y..
Paterson admits to
multiple affairs
The state's new governor
revealed yesterday that he had
affairswithseveralwomen, includ-
ing a state employee. The confes-
sion came a day after he took over
from former Gov. Eliot Spitzer,
who was driven from office amid a
prostitution scandal
Gov. David Paterson said the
affairs happened during a rough
patch in his marriage, and that the
employee did not work for him.
He insisted he did not advance her
career, andthatnocampaignorstate
money was spent on the affairs.
"I do not feel I have broken my
commitment to the citizens of New
York state," Paterson said at a news
conference with his wife, Michelle
Paige Paterson.
WASHINGTON
Supreme Court
considers second
amendment
The Supreme Court appeared
ready yesterday to endorse the view
that the Second Amendment gives
individuals the right to own guns,
but was less clear about whether
to retain the District of Columbia's
ban on handguns.
The justices were aware of the
historic nature of their under-
taking, engaging in an extended
98-minute session of questions
and answers that could yield the
first definition of the meaning of
the Second Amendment in its 216
years.
A key justice, Anthony Kennedy,
left little doubt abouthisview when
he said early in the proceedings
that the Second Amendment gives
"a general right to bear arms."
Several justices were skeptical
that the Constitution, if it gives
individuals' gun rights, could al-
low a complete ban on handguns
when, as Chief Justice John Rob-
erts pointed out, those weapons
are most suited for protection at
home.
BEIJING
China: Dalai Lama
allies sabotaging
Olympics
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
accused supporters of the Dalai
Lama on yesterday of organizing
violent clashes in Tibet in hopes of
sabotaging the Beijing Olympics
and bolstering their campaign for
independence in the Himalayan
territory.
The Dalai Lama urged his fol-
lowers to remain peaceful, say-
ing he would resign as head of
the Tibetan government-in-exile
if violence got out of control. But
he also suggested China may have
fomented unrest in the Tibetan
capital of Lhasa and nearby prov-
inces to discredit him.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
U
Number of American service mem-
bers who have died in the war in
Iraq, according to The Associated
Press. There were no deaths identi-
fied yesterday.
Lynndie England-
apologizes for photos
BERLIN (AP) - Lyndie
England, the public face of the
Abu Ghraib prison scandal, told
a German news magazine that
she was sorry for appearing in
photographs of detainees in
the notorious Iraqi prison, and
believes the scenes of torture and
humiliation served as a powerful
rallying point for anti-American
insurgents.
In an interview with the
weekly magazine Stern con-
ducted in English and posted on
its Web site yesterday, England
was both remorseful and unre-
pentant - and conceded that the
published photos surely incen'sed
insurgents in Iraq.
"I guess after the picture
came out the insurgency picked
up and Iraqis attacked the
Americans and the British and
they attacked in return and they
were just killing each other. I felt
bad about it ... no, I felt pissed
off. If the media hadn't exposed
the pictures to that extent, then
thousands of lives would have
been saved," she was quoted as
saying.
Asked how she could blame
Afghan
children
killed in
U.S. raid
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)
-U.S. forces raided a village
near the border with Pakistan
early today and killed six people,
including two children and a
woman, villagers and a govern-
ment official said.
The raid came a day after
NATO said it killed about 12
insurgents in an airstrike in
southern Afghanistan, denying
accusations from two Afghan
lawmakers that civilians were
amongthe dead.
Three men were also killed in
today's raid, including one who
used to work as a border police-
man patrolling the region in
between Afghanistan and Paki-
stan, said Mirza Gul, a villager
from Hom in Khost province,
where the violence took place.
One woman and two children
were among the six killed, said
Khibar Pashtun, a spokesman for
the Khost governor.
An official with the U.S.-led
coalition said he had no imme-
diate comment but that officials
were preparing a statement.,
The raid began just after
midnight early today and lasted
about an hour, said Gul. Ground
troops first arrived with a trans-
lator, then more later came by
helicopter, said Khadim Khan, a
familymember.
The governor of Khost prov-
ince, Arsallah Jamal, has pre-
viously called on U.S. forces to
seek Afghan assistance before
launching nighttime raids, say-
ing Afghans would be in a posi-
tion to "reduce mistakes."
Going back as far as 2002,
President Hamid Karzai has
publicly and repeatedly accused
the U.S. of heavy-handedness in
its counterterrorism operations.
The U.S. has said over the years
that it has modified tactics to cut
down on civilian deaths.
NATO's International Secu-
rity Assistance Force said the
only people killed in Monday's
airstrikes in southern Helmand
province were militants who had
fired on alliance troops.
"The air attack took place
in an isolated area where there
was no housing or civilian activ-
ity," NATO said. "There was no
evidence of civilian casualties,
which would have been clearly
seenbyISAF, andtherehavebeen
no reports by hospitals in the
region of any injuries, or requests
for medical aid received."
DadMohammadKhanandMir
Wall Khan, the two Afghan law-
makers who said civilians were
killed, were in the capital, Kabul,
at the time of the strike and relied
on reports from local Afghans.
Insurgents and some Afghan
civilians hostile to the presence
of foreign troops sometimes
exaggerate accounts of civilian
deaths caused by international
forces, or make up claims alto-
gether. Independent verification
of battlefield casualties is diffi-
cult because the areas are remote
and dangerous for travel.
Meanwhile, some of the 3,200
U.S. Marines slated for a seven-
month deployment to Afghan-
istan's volatile south continued
arriving at the region's largest
base following a call from Cana-
da for more troops.
the media for the controversy,
she said it wasn't her who leaked
the photos.
"Yeah, I took the photos but
I didn't make it worldwide.
Yes, I was in five or six pictures
and I took some pictures, and
those pictures were shameful
and degrading to the Iraqis and
to our government," she said,
according to the report.
"And I feel sorry and wrong
about what I did. But it would
not have escalated to what it did
all over the world if it wouldn't
have been for someone leaking it
to the media."
England, who was a private
first class, was in several images
taken in late 2003 by U.S. guards
at Abu Ghraib. One showed her
holding a naked prisoner on a
leash, while in others she posed
with a pyramid of naked detain-
ees and pointed at the genitals of
a prisoner while a cigarette hung
from the corner of her mouth.
Asked by the magazine if what
appened at Abu Ghraib was a
scandal or something that hap-
pens during wartime, England
said it was the latter.
PROPOSAL 2
From Page 1A
decision," he said. "This is a law that
was designed to exclude black, Lati-
no, and Native American students.
To uphold it without even giving
those students a day in court is outra-
geous."
At a hearing last month attorney
Margaret Nelson argued on behalf of
Attorney General Mike Cox that Pro-
posal 2 eliminates race- and gender-
baseddiscrimination.
She said the plaintiffs weren't
seeking protection from discrimina-
tion but preferential treatment in the
admissions process instead.
When Proposal 2 passed in Michi-
gan with 58 percent of the vote in
Nov. 2006, other states, including
California and Texas, had already
passed similar proposals. None of the
bans have been overturned.
TRUMKA
From Page 1A
Trumka said rising education
costs have also been a major burden
on the lower and middle classes, cit-
ing research showing that people
between ages 24 and34 spend abouta
quarter of their income on debt, mak-
ing it difficult for them to eventually
become homeowners.
"It doesn't have to be this way," he
said. "Workers, families, and unions,
can rebuild and restore the American
dream."
The lecture drew union workers
from the area. one of those workers,
Daisy Jackson, a member of Child
Care Union in Wayne County, said
the lecture was an important one for
college students to hear.
"If we let our young people under-
stand this, they can get a better
understanding of health care and the
importance of having a union and
why America is falling apart," she
-said.
Billie Rohl, program administra-
tor for the University's Labor Stud-
ies Center, said Trumka was asked to
speak at the University to foster open
communication between organized
labor and the University.
"Organized labor is stepping up to
support what they view as a lack of
interest at the University," she said.
"We want to be sure that there is still
a link to labor studies at the Univer-
sity."
Kilpatrick
refuses to
step down
DETROIT (AP) - A defi-
ant Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
quickly rejected the City Coun-
cil's call yesterday for him to
resign because of accusations
that he lied under oath about
not having an affair.
"You take a whole dayto dis-
cuss an issue like this," he said.
"My reaction is: This is over. It
has no effect. It's not binding.
Let's get back to work."
The resolution, passed 7-1,
amounted to a "no-confidence"
vote because the council lacks
the power to force Kilpatrick to
step down.
Wayne County Prosecutor
Kym Worthy is investigating
whether the mayor and former
Chief of Staff Christine Beatty
lied under oath when they tes-
tified in a whistle-blowers'
lawsuit that they had not had a
physical relationship.
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$2 Long Islands until I1I PM, $ 10
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before 10 PM. Guys with college ID
FREE until 11 PM. 21+ $5 cover.
18-20 $8 cover.
SATURDAYS
DJ Hardy holds down Top40 and
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and Coke, $2 Cranberry and Vodka
all night long. NO cover before
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FHOPTRY MONDAYS
DJ Jinx w/ Goth, Synthpop, and
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