0 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, November 30, 2009 - 3A
NEWSBRIEFS
TEGUCIALPA, Honduras
* Honduras hopes
to move past coup
with election
Hondurans yesterday elected a
new president whose first challenge
will be defending his legitimacy to
the world and ending a crisis over
a June coup that has isolated one of
Latin America's poorest countries.
Porfirio Lobo and Elvin Santos,
two prosperous businessmen from
the political old guard, are the front-
runners. But their campaigns have
been overshadowed by the debate
over whether Hondurans should
vote at all in an election largely
* shunned by international monitors.
The dispute has split Western
Hemisphere countries, and voter
turnoutcould determinehow widely
the next government is recognized.
The United States, hoping to
resolve its first major policy test
in Latin America, is defending the
election while leftist governments
allegeitwhitewashesCentralAmer-
ica's first coup in 20 years.
WASHINGTON
Senator says Afghan
forces, not US, key
to success
The leading Senate Democrat on
militarymatters said yesterdaythat
President Barack Obama's antici-
pated plan forsignificantlyexpand-
ing U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan
must show how those reinforce-
ments will help increase the size of
the Afghan security forces.
Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee,
said that more Afghan army and
police are central to succeeding in
the 8-year-old war and more U.S.
trainers and equipment can help
meet that goal. But it's unclear,
Levin said, what role tens of thou-
sands additional combat troops
will play and Obama has to make
a compelling case during a nation-
al address he's scheduled to give
Tuesday night from the U.S. Mili-
tary Academy at West Point, N.Y.
"Thekeyhere is anAfghansurge,
not anAmerican surge," said Levin,
D-Mich. "We cannot, by ourselves,
win (the) war."
Levin's remarks are a preview
of the possible roadblocks Obama
faces from his own party as he pre-
pares to sell a broader, more expen-
sive battle plan for Afghanistan to
an American public weary of the
conflict that began just weeks after
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
GENEVA
Iran defies United Nations
Iran plans 1O uranium
enrichment facilities,
despite UN opposition
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran
approved plans yesterday to
build 10 industrial scale uranium
enrichment facilities, a dramat-
ic expansion of the program in
defiance of U.N. demands it halt
enrichment and a move that is
likely to significantly heighten
tensions with the West.
The decision comes only days
after the U.N. nuclear watchdog
agency censured Iran over its pro-
gram and demanded it halt the
construction of a newly revealed
enrichment facility. The West has
signaled itisrunningoutofpatience
with Iran's continuing enrichment
and its balking at a U.N. deal aimed
at ensuring Tehran cannot build a
nuclear weapon in the near-term
future. The U.S. and its allies have
hinted atnewU.N. sanctions if Iran
does not respond.
The White House said the move
"would be yet another serious vio-
lation of Iran's clear obligations
under multiple U.N. Security Coun-
cil resolutions and anotherexample
of Iran choosing to isolate itself."
"Time is running out for Iran
to address the international com-
munity's growing concerns about
its nuclear program," White House
press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
British Foreign Secretary David
Miliband described Iran's move as
a provocation.
"This epitomizes the fundamen-
tal problem that we face with Iran,"
he said. "We have stated over and
again that we recognize Iran's right
to a civilian nuclear program, but
theymustrestore internationalcon-
fidence in their intentions. Instead
of engaging with us Iran chooses to
provoke and dissemble."
On Friday, the U.N.'s Inter-
national Atomic Energy Agency
issued a strong rebuke of Iran over
enrichment, infuriating Tehran.
Parliament speaker Ali Larijani
threatened yesterday to reduce
cooperation with the IAEA.
"Should the West continue to
pressure us, the legislature can
reconsider the level of Iran's coop-
eration with the IAEA," Larijani
told parliament ina speech carried
live on state radio.
Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi,
who is also Iran's nuclear chief,
said Sunday's decision was "a firm
message" in response to the IAEA.
He told state TV that the agency's
censure was a challenge aimed at
"measuring the resistance of the
Iranian nation."
Any new enrichment plants
would take years to build and
stock with centrifuges. But the
ambitious plans were a bold show
by Iran that it is willing to risk
further sanctions and won't back
down amid a deadlock in negotia-
tion attempts.
Police gather at the site where four police officers were killed in an ambush at
the Forza Coffee Co. near Parkland, Wash. yesterday.
Four police officers
killed at coffeshop
Police looking for
one male suspect in
'execution' of
Washington officers
PARKLAND, Wash. (AP) -
A gunman burst into a coffee-
house yesterday and opened fire
on four police officers as they sat
working on their laptops, killing
the three men and one woman
in what an official described as
a targeted ambush.
Pierce County Sheriff's
spokesman Ed Troyer said offi-
cers were looking for one male
suspect who fled the scene and
haven't ruled out an accomplice,
possibly a getaway driver.
Troyer said investigators had
spoken to a person in nearby
Tacoma, who gave informa-
tion that led them to believe the
gunman was on foot and still
near the coffee shop. Troyer
would not given any details nor
characterize that person in any
way, but said the information
led officers to carefully search
buildings close by.
It wasn't clear whether the
slain officers even had time to
draw their weapons to return
fire, Troyer said.
"This was more of an execu-
tion. Walk in with the spe-
cific mindset to shoot police
officers," Troyer said.
Troyer said the officers -
all from the Lakewood Police
Department - were catching up
on paperwork at the beginning
of their shifts when they were
attacked at 8:15 a.m. yesterday.
Troyer said the attack was
clearly targeted at the officers,
not a robbery gone bad.
"There were marked patrol
cars outside and they were all
in uniform," Troyer said.
With no known suspects,
there was no indication of any
connection with the Hallow-
een night shooting of a Seattle
police officer. The suspect in
that shooting remains hospi-
talized.
"We won't know if it's a copy-
cat effect or what it was until
we get the case solved," Troyer
said. "We don't even have a sus-
pect ID right now."
Troyer would not release the
names of the victims in Sun-
day's shooting. He said Lake-
wood has a small police force
and the deaths represent a loss
of 10 percent to 15 percent of the
department.
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Cheek-ep
Swiss approve ban R
of mosque minarets
Swiss voters overwhelmingly
approved a constitutional ban on
minarets yesterday, barring con-
struction ofthe iconic mosque towers
in a surprise vote that put Switzer-
land at the forefront of a European
backlash against a growing Muslim
population.
Muslim groups in Switzerland
and abroad condemned the vote as
biased and anti-Islamic. Business
groups said the decision hurt Swit-
zerland's international standing and
could damage relations with Muslim
nations and wealthy investors who
bank, travel and shop there.
"The Swiss have failed to give a
clear signal for diversity, freedom
of religion and human rights," said
Omar Al-Rawi, integration represen-
tative ofthe Islamic Denomination in
Austria, which said its reaction was
"grief and deep disappointment."
KALAMAZOO, Mich.
1 EPA sets meetings
on two Kalamazoo
river cleanups
The U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency has announced two
public meetings set this week for two
Kalamazoo River cleanup projects.
The Kalamazoo Gazette reports
the EPA will host a 6:30 p.m. meet-
ing Tuesday at the Comfort Inn and
Conference Center in Plainwell to
update the public on planned clean-
up activities and other developments
at the Plainwell portion of the Kala-
mazoo River Superfund project. Offi-
cials will take comments and answer
questions.
A Thursday night meeting will
review cleanup alternatives being
proposed by Millennium Holdings
Co. LLC, the responsible party in the
Allied Paper/Portage Creek/Kala-
mazoo River Superfund project. The
6:30 p.m. meeting will be held at the
Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites in
Kalamazoo.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
UUuLaLlu
HPV Fact:
it is estimated
that e a
minutein t he
US, there, is a.
new case of
There's something you can do.
Visi your
Attend an information session.
Tuesday, December 1st
6:30 p.m.
U-M International Center, Room 9
800.424.8580 1 www.peacecorps.gov
Life is calling. How far will you go?
,