The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, September 25, 2009 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS LANSING, Mich. Indiana man admits to stealing cemetery funds A man admits embezzling about $4.2 million in perpetual- care trust funds from a Michigan cemetery operated by his India- napolis-based company. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox announced yesterday that Robert Nelms of Green- wood, Ind., pleaded guilty in Kent County Circuit Court to embezzlement and failing to trust funeral contracts. He faces up to 10 years in prison. Nelms is accused of stealing about $24 million from the trusts of funeral homes and cemeteries he controlled in Michigan and Indiana. About $4.2 million was taken from Chapel Hill Memorial Gar- dens in Grand Rapids. Nelms faces charges inIndiana for the rest. MAUMEE, Ohio. Woman given wrong embryo An Ohio woman who is car- rying another woman's baby because of a fertility clinic error says she's still not sure where to place the blame. Carolyn Savage told The Asso- ciated Press yesterday that she and her husband have not been told who made the mistake or @ why it happened. She says that "hopefully some- day an explanation will come." The 40-year-old woman from the Toledo suburb of Sylvania is due to give birth within the next two weeks. The couple say they will give the baby boy over to his biological parents, who live in Michigan. The Savages' attorney says he's been contact with a lawyer for the fertility clinic. He says he hopes they can reach a resolution without going to court. The Savages have not dis- closed the name of the clinic. WASHINGTON Up to 8 Uighurs to leave Guantanamo The Obama administration says at least six, and as many as eight, Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will soon leave their island prison for freedom in another island nation, Palau. Word of the upcoming trans- fer to the tiny Pacific country, * planned for sometime after Oct. 1, came in a letter released yes- terday from Solicitor General El- enaKagantothe Supreme Court. Kagan also confirmed that Palau has agreed to accept all but one ofthe 13 Chinese Muslims, orUi- ghurs (pronounced WEE'-gurs), who remain at Guantanamo. Kagan's letter was intended to demonstrate that the adminis- tration was the process of mov- ing the Uighurs out of Guantan- amo and that the Supreme Court thus would not need to review a challenge over their detention. Six Uighur detainees have agreed to the transfer and at- tempts to persuade two others are ongoing, Kagan wrote. BAHGDAD Members of al-Qaida escape from Iraqi prison U.S. aircraft and Iraqi patrols combined in a massive manhunt Thursday after the escape of 16 prisoners - including five al-Qai- da-linked inmates awaiting exe- cution - who apparently crawled through a bathroom window in a makeshift jail on a former com- pound of Saddam Hussein. The jailbreak in Saddam's hometown Tikrit highlighted the struggles for Iraqi authori- ties to maintain control over an overcrowded prison system and absorb thousands of detainees turned over by U.S. forces as part of a broad security pact. At least two senior officials were fired after the late Wednesday escape. Few details on the fugitives were provided by Iraqi security chiefs. But five were Iraqis who were sentenced to death for ter- rorism-related crimes and links to al-Qaida in Iraq, said a Tikrit police officer, said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the operation with media. - Compiled from Daily wire reports Feds: Suspect hit beauty stores for bomb supplies Airport shuttle driver buys supplies for homemade bomb NEW YORK (AP) - An Afghan immigrant who received explo- sives training from al-Qaida went from one beauty supply store to another, buying up large quanti- ties of hydrogen peroxide and nail- polish remover, in a chilling plot to build bombs for attacks on U.S. soil, authorities charged yesterday. Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old shuttle driver at the Denver air- port, was indicted in New York on charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Investigators found bomb-making instructions on his computer's hard drive and said Zazi used a hotel room in Colorado to try to cook up explosives a few weeks ago before atrip to New York. The extent of Zazi's ties to al- Qaida was unclear, but if the alle- gations prove true, this could be the first operating al-Qaida cell to be uncovered inside the U.S. since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Over the past few days, talk of the possible plot set off the most intense flurry of national terrorism warnings since the aftermath of 9/11. Prosecutors said they have yet to establish exactly when and where the Zazi attacks were supposed to take place. But Attorney General Eric Holder said in Washington, "We believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been dis- rupted." A law enforcement official told The Associated Press yesterday that Zazi had associates in New York who were in on the plot. Zazi was arrested in Denver last weekend and was charged along with his father and a New York City imam with lying to investiga- tors. Authorities said in the past few days that they feared Zazi and others might have been planning to detonate homemade bombs on New York trains, and warnings went out to transit systems, stadi- ums and hotels nationwide. Explosives built with hydro- gen peroxide killed 52 people four years ago intheLondonctransitsys- tem. They are easy to conceal and detonate, and last week's warnings asked authorities to be on the look- out for them. A law enforcement official said Thursday that authorities had been so worried about Zazi - and that his Sept. 10 trip to New York City coincided with a visit by President Barack Obama - that they consid- ered arresting him as soon as he reached the city. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation continues. Zazi left a Denver court yester- day without commenting and will be transferred soon to New York. He and his lawyer have denied he is a terrorist. EL6E AMENDOLA/AP Former Democratic Party chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr. takes the podium at a news con- ference in Boston on Thursday where it was announced that he will temporarily fill the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat. Kennedy loyalist na-med as Senate replacem__ent MATT ROURKE/AP Demonstrators begin a protest march in Arsenal Park in Pittsburgh, yesterday in protest of the G20 summit - a gathering of some the world's most influential leaders. G-20protestors and police, clash on P ittsburgh strlLu-ets Kirk will be the interim replacement until special election in January BOSTON (AP) - Paul G. Kirk Jr. served Edward M. Kennedy as an aide, rooted beside him at Harvard-Yale football games and is the executor of his will. Now, as Kennedy's replacement in the Senate, he is charged with trying to complete his late friend's legacy by passing health care reform. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Pat- rick tapped the former chairman of the Democratic National Com- mittee yesterday to hold Ken- nedy's seat until a special election Jan. 19. Kirk, 71, said he would not. run himself. The announcement came after the Democratic-dominated Leg- islature changed the state's Sen- ate succession law to restore the governor's power to appoint an interim replacement. Republicans went to court in a last-ditch effort to stop Kirk from being sworn in. President Barack Obama and his staff lobbied for the change, hoping to regain a 60th Demo- cratic vote that would prevent Senate filibusters from derail- ing his top legislative priority, a national health care overhaul. Obama said in a statement: "Paul Kirk is a distinguished leader, whose long collaboration with Sen. Kennedy makes him an excellent, interim choice to carry on his work until the voters make their choice in January." Kennedy's widow and sons had encouraged Patrick to appoint Kirk. Vicki Kennedy and Edward Kennedy Jr. sat in the front row next to Kirk's wife, Gail, as the governor made his announcement at the Statehouse. Besides health carePatricksaid Kirk would represent the state's interests in upcoming debates on the economic recovery, financial regulation and climate change. "In all these and other ways, Congress is debating our future - right now," Patrick said. "The issues before the Congress and the nation are simply too impor- tant to Massachusetts for us to be one voice short." Kennedy died last month of brain cancer. Kirk, who has never held elective office, recalled how his late friend used to say rep- resenting Massachusetts in the Senate "was the highest honor he possibly could have imagined." "It's certainly nothing I imag- ined, but it would be my highest honor as well," Kirk said. He is to be sworn in this after- noon by Vice President Joe Biden. The Massachusetts Republican Party went to a Boston court seeking an injunction to stop Kirk's swearing-in, questioning an emergency power the governor invoked in naming him. In restoring the governor's power to appoint an interim sena- tor, lawmakers declined to have it go into effect immediately, rather than after the standard 90 days. The governor has the power to put the law into effect if he deems it an emergency; Republicans say this law does not qualify. State Secretary William F. Gal- vin said the power to make the immediate appointment is "very clearly available" to governors and was used more than a dozen times by Patrick's Republican pre- decessor, Mitt Romney. The court set a hearing for 8 a.m. today. Anarchists say police denied their right to peaceably assemble PITTSBURGH (AP) - Police fired canisters of pepper spray and smoke at marchers protesting the Group of 20 summit yesterday after anarchists responded to calls to disperse by rolling trash bins and throwing rocks. The march turned chaotic at just about the time that Presi- dent Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrived for a meeting with leaders of the world's major economies. The clashes began after hun- dreds of protesters, many advo- cating against capitalism, tried to march from an outlying neigh- borhood toward the convention center where the summit is being held. The protesters banged on drums and chanted "Ain't no power like the power of the people, 'cause the power of the people don't stop." The marchers included small groups of self-described anar- chists,some wearing dark clothes and bandanas and carrying black flags. Others wore helmets and safety goggles. One banner read, "No borders, no thanks," another, "No hope in capitalism." A few minutes into the march, protesters unfurled a large banner reading "NO BAIL- OUT NO CAPITALISM" with an encircled "A," a recognized sign of anarchists. The marchers did not have a permit and, after a few blocks, police declared it an unlaw- ful assembly. They played an announcement over a loudspeak- er telling people to leave or face arrest and then police in riot gear moved in to break it up. Protesters split into smaller groups. Some rolled large metal trash bins toward police, and a man in a black hooded sweat shirt threw rocks at a police car, breaking the front windshield. Protesters broke windows in a few businesses, including a bank branch and a Boston Market res- taurant. Officers fired pepper spray and smoke at the protesters. Some of those exposed to the pepper spray coughed and complained that their eyes were watering and stinging. Police were planning a news conference to discuss their response. Officers were seen tak- ing away a handful of protesters in cuffs. About an hour after the clashes started, the police and protesters were at a standoff. Police sealed off main thoroughfares to down- town. Twenty-one-year-old Stephon Boatwright, of Syracuse, N.Y., wore a mask of English anarchist Guy Fawkes and yelled at a line of riot police. He then sat cross- legged near the officers, telling them to let the protesters through and to join their cause. "You're actively suppressing us. I know you want to move," Boat- wright yelled, to applause from the protesters gathered around him. Protesters complained that the march had been peaceful and that police were trampling on their right to assemble. "We were barely even protest- ing," said T.J. Amick, 22, of Pitts- burgh. "Then all of a sudden, they come up and tellus we're gathered illegally and startusing force, start banging their shields, start telling us we're going to be arrested and tear gassed. ... We haven't broken any laws." Bret Hatch, 26, of Green Bay, Wis., was carrying an American flag and a "Don't Tread on Me" flag. U .qf 338 S. State St Ann Arbor 734.996.9191 U of Michigan Animal Rights Society SaTURD 1 'Kegs and Eggs' Breakfast Buffet: Open Early For Every Big Ten Home Game Featuring Breakfast, Beer, and a Bloody Mary Bar SIGn UP FOR MaIL UPDaTOS AT www.ashleys.com 10113 OURTWITTOR: a2ashleys You're Sick LSA students, if you're concerned about flu season this year, be sure to visit the LSA website. You can self-report your illness and simultaneously inform your instructors and advisor as well as read up on University efforts to curtail the spread of H1N1 and other potential campus outbreaks. www.Isa.umich.edu