The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
BERLIN
German Chancellor
Merkel re-elected
Angela Merkel was sworn in yes-
terday for a second term as German
chancellor and her new center-right
government took up the task of tack-
ling the country's tough economic
situation a month after national
elections.
Merkel, 55, will serve as chancel-
lor of a ruling coalition made up of
her Christian Democratic Party, its
Bavaria-only sister party the Chris-
tian Social Union, and the pro-busi-
ness Free Democrats
She was elected through a vote
of 323 in favor out of a possible
612. But nine members of coalition
parties voted against her, lead-
ing some to question the govern-
ment's solidity hours after she and
her 15 ministers were sworn in.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan
Car bomb kills 100
Suspected militants exploded
a car bomb in a market crowded
with women and children yester-
day, killing 100 people and turning
shops selling wedding dresses, toys
and jewelry into a mass of burning
debris and bodies.
The attack in the northwestern
city of Peshawar was Pakistan's
deadliest since 2007 and came as
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rod-
ham Clinton visited the country to
offer support for its fight against a
strengthening al-Qaida and Tali-
ban-led insurgency based along the
Afghan border.
Clinton was three hours' drive
away in the capital meeting Paki-
stani government leaders when the
bomb went off in Peshawar. Her trip
was not announced in advance in
Pakistan for security reasons.
The bomb was directed squarely
at civilians, unlike many previous
blasts that have targeted security
forces or government or Western
interests. While no one claimed
responsibility, the bomb appeared
aimed at undercutting public and
political support for an ongoing
army offensive against militants
close to the frontier and showing
that the government was unable to
keep its people safe.
CHICAGO
As H1N1 spreads,
-.
schools close
The number of students staying
home sick with the flu is multiply-
ing nationwide and normally quiet
school nurses' offices suddenly
look like big city emergency rooms,
packed with students too ill to finish
the day.
The federal government has
urged schools to close because of
the swine flu only as a last resort.
But schools are closing by the doz-
ens as officials say they are being
hit so hard and so fast by the H1N1
virus that they feel shutting down
for a few days is the only feasible
option.
"There was nothing else we could
do," said Michael Frechette, the
superintendent of Connecticut's
Middletown Public Schools where a
middle school closed for the rest of
the week after 120 students stayed
home sick Monday and another 25
were sent home by noon. "The only
way to stop that transmittal was to
keep the kids home for the rest of
the week."
At least 351 schools were closed
last week alone - affecting 126,000
students in 19 states, according to the
U.S. Education Department. So far
this school year, about 600 schools
have temporarily shut their doors.
LANSING
State Senate debates
stem cell research
Embryonicstemcellresearchsup-
porters are worried that legislation
debated in a state Senate committee
Wednesday could threaten the prog-
ress of research in Michigan.
The bills discussed in the Senate
Health Policy Committee would
establish reporting requirements
and penalties for violations related
to Proposal 2, which Michigan vot-
ers approved in 2008. The mea-
sure loosened state restrictions on
embryonic stem cell research by
allowing people to donate embryos
left over from fertility treatments.
Supporters of the new bills say
lawmakers have a responsibility
to define and clarify the constitu-
tional amendment within state law.
But stem cell research supporters
said the proposals go too far and
would violate a portion of Proposal
2 that says state law cannot prevent,
restrict, obstructor discourage stem
cell research that otherwise would
be permitted.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
PAUL SANCYA/AP
Detroit Police enter the temporary home tothe Masjid AI-Haqq mosque in Detroit yesterday. In the raid, Luqman Ameen
Abdullah, 53, was fatally shot while exchanging gunfire with federal agents at a warehouse in Dearborn.
Leader of radical Isla-m
groupklldin shootout
House Dems
agree on new
health bill
Plan reached to people with health conditions.
Pelosi has also said the bill
includes many of -would strip the health insurance
industry of a long-standing exemp-
White House's tion from antitrust laws covering
.t market allocation, price fixing and
top priorities bid rigging.
The price tag, topping $1 trillion
WASHINGTON (AP) - House over 10 years, would be paid for
Democrats reached agreement by taxing high-income people and
yesterday on key elements of a cutting some $500 billion in pay-
health care bill that would vastly ments to Medicare providers. The
alter America's medical landscape, legislation would extend health
requiring virtually universal sign- coverage to around 95 percent of
ups and establishing a new gov- Americans.
ernment-run insurance option for Republicans criticized the bill
millions. even before it was unveiled.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "Americans' health care is too
planned a formal announcement important to risk on one gigantic
this morning in front of the Capi- bill that was negotiated behind
tol. Lawmakers said the legislation closed doors,"said Rep.Dave Camp,
could be up for avote on the House R-Mich. "The Medicare cuts will
floor next week. hurt seniors, the tax increases will
The rollout will cap months of kill jobs and the government take-
arduous negotiations to bridge over of health care will increase
differences between liberal and premium costs."
moderate Democrats and blend One change expected to be
health care overhaul bills passed revealed today is that some of the
by three separate committees over provisions of the bill, which were
the summer. The developments in set to take effect mostly in 2013,
the House cameas Senate Majority have been moved up so Ameri-
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried cans would see the benefits of the
to round up support among mod- legislation more quickly, accord-
erate Democrats for his bill, which ing to Pelosi spokesman Nadeam
includes a modified government Elshami.
insurance option that states could "I'm pretty confident that we've
opt out of. got the right pieces in place," said
Reid met Wednesday with Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.,
Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln, chairman of the Education and
who faces a potentially tough re- Labor Committee, one of the three
election next year. panels involved in writing the bill.
The final product in the House, "We can quibble over parts of it,
reflecting many of President but the fact is when you're taking
Barack Obama's priorities, includes a 60-year-old system that grew up
new requirements for employers to in a rather haphazard fashion and
offer insurance to their workers or you're trying to bring some coher-
face penalties, fines on Americans ence to it, these are sort of the
who don't purchase coverage and things you have to do at the begin-
subsidies to help lower-income ning of that process."
people do so. Insurance compa- Plenty of work remains to be
nies would face new prohibitions done before a bill could land on
against charging much more to Obama's desk - and there's still
older people or denying coverage no guarantee that Congress can
Radicals advocating
violence against U.S.
arrested in raid
DETROIT (AP) - Federal
authorities yesterday arrested
several members of a radical
Sunni Islam group in the U.S., kill-
ing one of its leaders at a shootout
in a Michigan warehouse, the U.S.
attorney's office said.
Agents were trying to arrest
Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, at a
Dearborn warehouse on charges
that included conspiracy to sell
stolen goods and illegal possession
and sale of firearms. Authorities
also conducted raids elsewhere to
try to round up 10followers named
in a federal complaint.
No one was charged with ter-
rorism. But Abdullah was "advo-
cating and encouraging his
followers to commit violent acts
against the United States," FBI
agentGaryLeone.said in an affida-
vit filed with the 43-page criminal
complaint unsealed yesterday.
FBI spokeswoman Sandra Ber-
-htold said -Abdu lah- refused o
surrender, fired a weapon and was
killed by gunfire from agents.
In the complaint, the FBI said
Abdullah, also known as Chris-
topher Thomas, was an imam, or
prayer leader, of a radical group
named Ummah whose primary
mission is to establish an Islamic
state within the United States.
He told them it was their "duty
to oppose the FBI and the govern-
ment and it does not matter if they
die," Leone said.
Abdullah regularly preached
anti-government rhetoric and was
trained, along with his followers,
in the use of firearms, martial arts
and swords, the agent said.
Leone said members of the
national group mostly are black
and some converted to Islam
while in prisons across the United
States.
"Abdullah preaches that every
Muslim should have a weapon,
and should not be scared to use
their weapon when needed,"
Leone wrote.
Seven of the 10 people charged
with Abdullah were in custody,
including a state prison inmate,
the U.S. attorney's office said.
Three were still at large. Another
man not named in the complaint
also was arrested.
The group believes that a sepa-
rate Islamic state in the U.S. would
be controlled by Jamil Abdullah
Al-Amin, formerly known as H.
Rap Brown, who is serving a life
sentence in a federal prison in
Colorado for shooting two police
officers in Georgia in 2000, Leone
said. Al-Amin, a veteran of the
blaak -power movement, started
the group after he converted to
Islam in prison.
"They're not taking their cues
from overseas," said Jimmy Jones,
a professor of world religions at
Manhattanville College and a
longtime Muslim prison chaplain.
"This group is very much Ameri-
can born and bred."
The movement at one time was
believed to include a couple of
dozen mosques around the coun-
try. Ummah is now dwarfed in
numbers and influence by other
African-American Muslim groups,
particularly the mainstream Sun-
nis who were led by Imam W.D.
Mohammed, who recently died.
By evening, authorities still
were working the scene near the
Detroit-Dearborn border and the
warehouse was surrounded by
police tape.
The U.S. attorney's office said
an FBI dog was also killed during
the shootout.
Abdullah's mosque is in a brick
duplex on a quiet, residential street
in Detroit. A sign on the door in
English and Arabic reads, in part,
"There is no God but Allah."
Several men congregated on the
porch Wednesday night and sub-
sequently attacked a photographer
from The Detroit News who was
taking pictures from across the
street. Ricardo Thomas had his
camera equipment smashed and
had a bloody lip from the attack.
Imad Hamad, regional director
of the American-Arab Anti-Dis-
crimination Committee in Dear-
born, said the FBI had briefed him
about Wednesday's raids and told
himthey were the result of a two-
year investigation.
"We know that this is not some-
thingto be projected as something
against Muslims," Hamad said.
The complaint shows the FBI
built its case with the help of con-
fidential sources close to Abdullah
who recorded conversations.
A source said that Abdullah
regularly beat children inside the
mosque with sticks, including a
boy who was "unable to walk for
several days," Leone said.
H,-",
Obama mulls sending
fewer to Afghanistan
Despite calls by
military leaders,
Obama considers
smaller surge
WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi-
dent Barack Obama is consider-
ing sending large numbers of
additional U.S. forces to Afghani-
stan next year but fewer than his
war commander, Gen. Stanley
McChrystal, prefers, U.S. officials
said.
Such a narrowed military mis-
sion would escalate American
forces to accomplish the com-
mander's broadest goals, pro-
tecting Afghan cities and key
infrastructure. But the option's
scaled-down troop numbers like-
ly would cutback on McChrystal's
ambitious objectives, amounting
to what one official described as
"McChrystal Light."
Under the pared-down option,
McChrystal would be given fewer
forces than the 40,000 additional
troops he has asked for atop the
current U.S. force of 68,000, offi-
cials told The Associated Press
yesterday.
Senior White House officials
stressed, however, that the presi-
dent has not settled on any new
troop numbers and continues to
debate other strategic approaches
to the 8-year-old Afghanistan
war. The officials say Obama has
not yet firmly settled on the nar-
rowed option or any other as his
final choice for how to overhaul
the war effort.
Two officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity because
Obama has not announced his
decision, said the troop numbers
under the narrowed scenario
probably would be lower than
McChrystal's preference, at least
at the outset. The officials did not
divulge exact numbers..
The stripped-down version
of McChrystal's plan still would
adopt the commander's overall
goals for a counterinsurgency
strategy aimed at turning the
corner against the Taliban next
spring.
But that pared-down approach
would reflect a shift in thinking
about what parts of the war mis-
sion are most important and the
intense political domestic debate
over Afghan policy.
A majority of Americans either
opposethewarorquestionwheth-
er it is worth continuing to wage,
according to public opinion polls
dating to when Obama shook up
the war's management and began
a lengthy reconsideration of U.S.
objectives earlier this year.
Any expansion of the war
will displease some congressio-
nal Democrats. If Obama does
not meet McChrystal's request,
Republicans are likely to accuse
Obamaof failingto give McChrys-
tal all of what he needs.
A stripped-down approach
would signal caution in widen-
ing a war that is going worse this
year than last despite intense U.S.
attention and an additional 21,000
U.S. forces on Obama's watch.
Fourteen Americans were
killed Monday in Afghanistan
in two helicopter crashes, and
roadside bombings Tuesday left
eight U.S. troops dead. October
has been the worst month for
U.S. fatalities since the U.S.-led
invasion of Afghanistan began in
October 2001.
Even if McChrystal gets less
than he wants from Obama, the
U.S. may still end up adding more
troops later in 2010. The most
likely reason would be to fill voids
left by some NATO allies who
have been considering troop cut-
backs.
Defense Secretary Robert
Gates has pushed back hard
against a faction of administra-
tion officials, led by Vice Presi-
dent Joe Biden, who contend that
much of the U.S. national security
objective in Afghanistan could be
accomplished by concentrating
on strikes at al-Qaida along the
Pakistan border.
That approach would hunt ter-
rorists with techniques such as
missile-loaded pilotless drones,
and could require little or no
additional U.S. manpower.
Gates has bridged both sides,
officials said. Long wary of a large
U.S. presence that could too eas-
ily look like an occupation army,
he has suggested recently that he
could support a carefully designed
expansion.
Obama meets Friday with the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, the mili-
tary leaders who would have the
responsibility for carrying out his
strategy decisions. White House
officials said the president will
continue to consider his options
with advisers over the nextcouple
of weeks, adding that other broad
war council meetings may still be
called during that period.
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