' The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com . . ~.< Friday, September 12, 2008 - 3 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, September12, 2008 - 3 NEWS BRIEFS HOUSTON Ike churns in Gulf, targets Texas coast, metro Houston Cars and trucks streamed inland and chemical companies buttoned up their plants yester- day as a gigantic Hurricane Ike took aim at the heart of the U.S. refining industry and threatened to send a wall of water crashing toward Houston. Nearly 1 million people along the Texas coast were ordered to evacuate ahead of the storm, which was expected to strike late today or early tomorrow. But in a calculated risk aimed at avoiding total gridlock, authorities told most people in the nation's fourth- largest city to just hunker down. Ike was steering almost direct- ly for Galveston and, beyond that, Houston, where gleaming. skyscrapers, the nation's biggest refinery and NASA's Johnson Space Center lie in areas vulner- able to wind and floodwaters. KABUL, Afghanistan Latest deaths make 2008 deadliest for U.S. in Afghanistan Insurgents killed two U.S. troops in Afghanistan on the an- niversary of the 9/11 attacks yes- terday, making 2008 the deadliest year for American forces since U.S. troops invaded the country in 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden. The deaths brought the number oftroops who have died inAfghan- istan this year to 113, according to an Associated Press tally, surpass- inglast year's record toll of 111. Afghanistan was the launching pad for al-Qaida's terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. U.S. forces in- vaded in October 2001 in response and quickly drove the Taliban out of power. Across Afghanistan, U.S. troops pausedinsilenceyesterdayto com- memorate the 9/11 attacks. SEOUL, South Korea After stroke, North Korean leader had brain surgery North Korea's Kim Jong Il had brain surgery after a stroke last month and could have partial pa- ralysis on one side, media reports said yesterday, after the South Ko- rean government said the commu- nist leader remained in control of his country. Foreign doctors, possibly from China and France, performed the operation after Kim, 66, collapsed about Aug. 15, the newspapers Dong-a Ilbo and JoongAng Ilbo re- ported, citingunidentified govern- ment officials. Kim's condition has improved andheisnotsufferingfromslurred speech, a disability often associat- ed with a stroke, the reports said. If Kim were incapacitated, it could have serious implications for international negotiations on North Korea's nuclear disarma- ment. DETROIT Source: Ford wants to cut 4,200 jobs Ford Motor Co. has said that it wants to cut its blue-collar work force by another 4,200 employees, according to a person briefed on a presentation to union officials. The struggling automaker is offering buyout and early retire- ment packages at manufacturing operations in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana as it con- tinues efforts to trim its factory ranks to match lower demand for its products. Ford has declined to publicly state a target number, but Joe Hinrichs, group vice president of global manufacturing, told union officials the company has 4,200 more blue collar workers than it needs, according to the person briefed on the presentation. - Compiled from Daily wire reports U,,. DEATHS 4,155 Number of American service members who have died in the war in Iraq, according to The Associated Press. There were no deaths identified yesterday. Feds look for suitor for troubled Lehman Officials mull private, not public, options for bank By DAVID CHO, HEATHER LANDY and NEIL IRWIN The Washington Post WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve and Treasury Depart- ment are actively helping Lehman Brothers put itself up for sale, and officials are hoping a deal will be in place this weekend before the Asian markets open on Monday, according to sources familiar with the matter. The government is looking for an agreement that would not involve public money. One scenario that is emerging includes multiple suitors acquiringdifferentpiecesoftheven- erable investment bank, which has suffered staggering losses from its bets on real estate and mortgages. The situation was still fluid Thursday, and there was no guar- antee what form an agreement would take or even that it would be in place by Monday, the sources said on condition of anonymity because they had not been autho- rized to speak. Regulators have been in touch with Lehman on an almost hourly basis in recent days. High-ranking officials including New York Feder- al Reserve President Timothy Gei- thner, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have been discussing a broad range of possibilities for Lehman, trying to determine the risks each outcome could pose to the financial system, the sources said. Securities and Exchange Com- mission Chairman Christopher Cox and Lehman chief executive Richard Fuld have also been speak- ing several times daily. Lehman declined to comment Thursday. The effort by regulators comes just a few days after Treasury and other federal officials announced they were taking control of mort- gage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in one of the largest government interventions into the private markets in history. A collapse of Lehman could pres- ent many of the same systemic risks that regulators sought to eliminate in March when they arranged the sale of Bear Stearns to J.P. Morgan Chase. That deal was done over the course of a weekend during which Fed and Treasury officials feared the absence of a deal could cause a global financial catastrophe. Lehman's problems have been different. Bear Stearns was the victim of a bank run, as inves- tors refused to continue lending it money. Lehman's problems have developed more gradually, through waves of losses on investments in real estate and securities tied to mortgages. Lehman also has a larger cash cushion than Bear Stearns had. On Wednesday, Lehman reported about $42 billion of liquidity, com- pared with the $17billion cash posi- tion Bear Stearns said it had in the days before its collapse. But beyond having cash in the bank, brokerag- es such as Lehman need continued access to funding to maintain con- fidence in the institution. Earlier this week, Lehman reported a $3.9 billion third- quarter loss and said it would sell a majority stake in its investment- management division, cut its divi- dend and spin off about $30 billion of real estate assets. SAID ALSALAH / Daily -The Delta Tau Delta bus drove fans to different stops on campus, then to the football game against Miami University on Saturday. New fraternity rolls out 'party bus' for gamedays Official: Pakistan never agreed to new U.S. plan By KAREN DEYOUNG Meanwhile, Afghan President The Washington Post Hamid Karzai said at a news con- ference in Kabul that he approved WASHINGTON - New rules of the new U.S. strategy, citing of engagement authorizing U.S. the need to "remove and destroy" ground attacks inside Pakistan, insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan. signed by President Bush in July, But NATO said it had no intention were not agreed to by thatcountry's of sending any of the 48,000 troops civilian government or its military, under its command in Afghanistan according to U.S. and Pakistani offi- across the border. NATO's United cials. Nations mandate does not include Pakistani Army Chief of Staff "ground or air incursions ... into Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani was informed Pakistani territory," said spokes- last month by senior U.S. defense man James Appathurai. officials that if Pakistan failed to Therearecurrentlynearly31,000 stem the flow of Taliban and other U.S. troops in Afghanistan, divided militant fighters into Afghanistan, between the NATO command and a the United States would adopt a separate force under the U.S. Cen- new strategy, one that included tral Command. ground strikes on targeted insur- A senior European official said gent encampments. A senior Paki- the NATO allies shared U.S. con- stani official said Kiyani believed cern over the deteriorating situ- the strategy was still under dis- ation in Afghanistan and were cussion and that Pakistan's coun- aware new U.S. rules were under terinsurgency performance was consideration, but that they were improving. unaware the rules had been News of Bush's order, following approved. Bush's July order, first a strike last week by helicopter- reported Thursday by the New borne U.S. commandos on a village York Times, was confirmed by sev- about 20 miles inside Pakistan, eral U.S. officials. brought denunciation Thursday Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's from Prime Minister Yousaf Raza ambassador to Washington, said Gillani, who echoed Kiyani's ear- that U.S. officials assured him lier charge that the attack violated Thursday that "no such order had Pakistani sovereignty. been given." Delta Tau Delta hopes bus will raise its profile on campus By JILLIAN BERMAN Daily StaffReporter Some students consider the walk to the Big House an excit- ing part of football Saturdays, reveling in the maize-and-blue- lined crowds and Hoover Street cheers. But others - especially those trekking from distant corners of campus - deem it hot, exhausting and altogether terrible. Delta Tau Delta, a fraternity that came to campus in 2006, has revved up a solution. The fraternity now offers stu- dents game-day transportation on a "party bus" complete with air- conditioning and leather seats. The bus is an effort to boost the house's recruitment numbers and make it better known around campus. Starting about three hours before kickoff, the bus, adorned with large magnets bearing the fraternity's name, shuttles stu- dents from stops at Mary Markley residence hall, Bursley residence hall and the C.C. Little Building to a tailgate at DTD's house on Geddes Avenue. An hour before the game, the bus takes students from the tail- NOW SERVING: THE TABLE THE DAILY'S NEW FOOD BLOG RECIPES, RESTAURANTS, FESTIVALS, COOKING TIPS thetable.blogs. michigandaily.Com gate to the stadium. Anyone, regardless of class year or Greek affiliation, can use the bus. LSA senior Will Doyle, a mem- ber of the fraternity, said the ser- vice is an easy sell, especially to people waiting for the usual bus from North Campus. "It's not hard to convince, people to really get in there. It's air-conditioned,, so people are immediately willing to get on," he said. "It's basically like a limou- sine. Here's the standard blue bus taking kids to the game," he said, motioning with his hands, "here, come to our bus." The atmosphere in the bus from the house to the Miami University game was relatively subdued. There were no raucous chants being echoed out the windows or renditions of the fight song, but those might come in time. "We're the only fraternity that's ever done this before, so there'sa learning curve," College of Engi- neering junior Derek Geiger said. Engineering senior Brandon Geiger, the fraternity member who pitched the idea and Derek's brother, said the bus attracted quite a bit of attention, even lur- ing away a spectator partying at a nearby tailgate. "The house on the corner (of Geddes Avenue and Observatory Street) was having a tailgate and we kept driving by it," he said. "One guy was like 'Hey can I get on?' He left his own tailgate to get into our limo." Doyle said the party bus has been successful in combating the main problem with getting stu- dents to tailgate at their house: location. Though the DTD house has a large lawn for the tailgate, it's away from the path most people take to the stadium. The bus is sponsored by Adri- an's T-shirt Printery, Luxury Limousine, and Express Sign Design. The fraternity is absorb- ing the other costs of about $1,500 to $2,000 each game day. Engineering junior Emily Orban, a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority that partners with DTD for football game pre-party- ing, said the bus made the trip to the house much easier. "It was fun," she said. "A lot of people could fit in it, so it was cool." LSA junior Jordan Nelson, another AGD member, agreed. "It's very relaxing and luxuri- ous," she said. "It's a nice little ride early in the morning with heat and AC." DTD plans to provide the bus for the next home game against Wisconsin, but they're not sure if they will continue running the service once the weather cools down. - Sou , .,B~end's" inle 183 outa~h Ben~d Ave.aSoh Bnd, IN 46637 674-27-5283 - e - - g j