1 0 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com . Friday Februar y 5, 201( * The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, February 5 201 NEWS BRIEFS DETROIT Obama nominates Oakland County judge for U.S. District Court President Barack Obama has nominated an Oakland County cir- cuit judge for a seat on the U.S. Dis- trict Court in Detroit. The White House says Mark A. Goldsmith was nominated yes- terday along with three others for seats on U.S. district courts. U.S. Senate confirmation is needed for the judges to take office, Goldsmith has been on the state court since 2004. Before that, he was a trial lawyer with the Detroit law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn. He's a former president of the Eastern Michigan chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Goldsmith received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1974 and a law degree from Harvard University in 1977. WASHINGTON Obama to meet with Dalai Lama over China-U.S. relations President Barack Obama will welcome the Dalai Lama to the White House this month for a meeting sure to enflame tensions between China and the U.S. Yesterday's announcement from the White House, which had long been expected, is the latest in a series of blows to a relationship the United States views as criti- cally important. The U.S. wants China's help in solving nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea and economic and climate change crises. China, which believes that shun- ning the exiled Tibetan monk should be a basic principle of inter- national relations, was quick to denounce the meeting. Wang Baodong, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washing- ton, said in an interview that China has been regularly pressing the United States on the Dali Lama, whom China accuses of pushing for Tibetan independence. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica Costa Rica likely to elect first female president " Costa Rican voters appear likely to elect the country's first female president, a protege of Nobel lau- reate Oscar Arias who holds a nearly 20-point lead over two male rivals ahead of Sunday's balloting. Laura Chinchilla's election would mark another political tri- umph in the storied career of out- going President Arias, who has been regularly called on to put out Central America's political fires. Chinchilla was Arias' vice presi- dent before launching her cam- paign. Ifvictorious, she has pledged to continue Aria's moderate free- market policies in what is consid- ered the most politically stable country in the region. Costa Rica "got on the right path four years ago and now is the moment to stay the course," Chin- chilla said during a recent debate. "It's not the moment for some change that will take us down a road we don't know." DETROIT Ward appointed Detroit Schools' administrator for athletics A former Grand Valley State University football star and high . school principal has been named the Detroit Public Schools' admin- istrator of athletics. Alvin Ward has spent the past - 32 years as an administrator, teacher and basketball coach in the Detroit district. He has been principal of Kettering and Finney high schools, and served as presi- dent of the Athletic Governance Board. The district says Ward holds a master's degree in sports adminis- tration from Wayne State Univer- sity. Former NBA and college bas- ketball star Derrick Coleman was named commissioner of athletics for the district in October. - Compiled from Daily wire reports 10 American missionaries charge with kidnapping Haitian children Baptist missionaries face up to 15 years in prison PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Ten U.S. Baptist missionaries were charged withkidnappingyes- terday fortrying to take 33 children out of Haiti to a hastily arranged refuge just as officials were trying to protect children from predators in the chaos of a great earthquake. The Haitian lawyer who repre- sents the 10 Americans portrayed nine of his clients as innocents caught up in a scheme they did not understand. But attorney Edwin Coq did not defend the actions of the group leader, Laura Silsby, though he continued to represent her. "I'm going to do everything I can to get the nine out. They were naive. They had no idea what was going on and they did not know that they needed official papers to cross the border," Coq said. "But Silsby did." Family members of the Ameri- cans released a statement late last night saying they were concerned about their relatives jailed in a for- eign country. "Obviously, we do not know details about what happened and didn't happenonthis mission," the statement said. "However, we are absolutely convinced that those who were recruited to join this mission traveled to Haiti to help, not hurt, these children." TheAmericans,mostmembersof two Idaho churches, said they were rescuing abandoned children and orphans from a nation that UNI- CEF says had 380,000 even before the catastrophic Jan. 12 quake. But at least two-thirds of the chil- dren, who range in age from 2 to 12, have parents who gave them away because they said the Americans promised the children a better life. The investigating judge, who interviewed the missionaries Tuesday and Wednesday, found sufficient evidence to charge them for trying to take the children across the border into the Domini- can Republic on Jan. 29 without documentation, Coq said. Each was charged with one count of kidnapping, which car- ries a sentence of five to 15 years in prison, and one of criminal associ- ation, punishable by three to nine years. Coq said the case would be assigned a judge and a verdict could take three months. The magistrate, Mazard Fortil, left without making a statement. Social Affairs Minister Jeanne Bernard Pierre, who has harshly criticized the missionaries, refused to comment. The government's communications minister, Marie- Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, said only that the next court date had not been set. U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten showed up after 5 p.m. out- side judicial police headquarters, where the Americans are being held and where President Rene Preval and top ministers now have temporary offices because theirs were destroyed in the quake. "The U.S. justice system cannot interfere in what's going on with these Americans right now," he told reporters. "The Haitian justice system will do what it has to do." U.S. consular officials have been making regular visits to the mis- sionaries. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the Americans' behavior "unfortunate whatever the motivation." State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. was open to discuss "other legal avenues" for the defendants, an apparent refer- ence to the Haitian prime minis- ter's earlier suggestion that Haiti could consider sending the Ameri- Four out of 10 Americans, who were arrested while trying to bus children out of Haiti without pr ernment permission, arrive to court inside a Haitian police truck in Port-au-Prince yesterday. cans back to the United States for prosecution. It's unlikely the Americans could be tried back home, according to Christopher J. Schmidt, an expert on international child kidnapping law in St. Louis, Mo. U.S. statutes may not even apply, he said, since the children never crossed an international border. Silsby waved and smiled faintly to reporters but declined to answer questions as the Baptists were whisked away from the closed court hearing back to the hold- ing cells where they have been held since Saturday. People ren- dered homeless by the quake sat idly under tarps in the parking lot, smoke rising from a cooking fire. Earlier, Silsby expressed opti- mism about being released. "We expect God's will will be done. And we will be released. And we're looking forward to what God is going to do," she told APTN before learning they would be charged. Coq complained about condi- tions where the Americans were being held. He said they are sleep- ing on the floor without blankets and aren't being provided with adequate food. He said he had delivered pizza and sandwiches. Silsby had begun planning last summer to create an orphanage for Haitian children in the Dominican Republic. When the earthquake struck she recruited other church members to help kick her plans into high gear. The 10 Americans rushed to Haiti and spent a week gathering children for their project. Most of the children came from the quake-ravaged village of Calle- bas, where residents told The Asso- ciated Press that they ha ndedo scr their children to the Af\rericarns because they were unahJo to feed or clothe them after tire erth- quake. They said thek mis;ra promised to educate tire ctliden and let relatives visit. Their stories contradicted Sits- by's account that the children c:te from collapsed orphainge ors s;e handed over by disrarr cl s She said the Americans hellcd they had all the papernor i -ed - documents she said she obtainred in the Dominican Republic - to take the children out of Haiti. "They are very precious kids that have lost their homes and families and are so deeply in need of, most of all, God's love and his compas- sion," she told the AP in ajailhouse interview Saturday. Settlers' house EU leaders: Obama's absence to be evacuated at summit won't be a problem in Jerusalem Mayor agrees to tear down Israeli, Palestinean homes JERUSALEM (AP) - The Jerusalem mayor has agreed to evacuate a Jewish settlers' house built illegally in the heart of a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood - but also plans to demolish dozens of Palestinian buildings erected without per- mission in the area, his spokes- man said yesterday. Sovereignty over east Jerusa- lem and its Old City holy sites is one of the most explosive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Evacuations and demolitions on either side of the political divide have sparked violence inthe past. Also yesterday, a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of Red Cross vehicles driving through northern Gaza, blowing out the windows of one car but injuring no one, a spokesman for the group said. There was no immediate claimof responsibility. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who opposes sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians in any final peace deal, had tried to buck an evacuation order against the sev- en-story structure, built in 2004 in east Jerusalem's Silwan neigh- borhood by an ultranationalist settler group. Buttheattorneygeneral'soffice backed the order, and forced Bar- kat to drop his resistance. Barkat announced in a state- ment released yesterday that he would evacuate the structure, named after the convicted U.S. spy Jonathan Pollard. The state- ment also said Barkat had been "forced to take action to carry out all the demolition orders in the Silwan neighborhood." The municipality said not all of the 200 Palestinian structures set for demolition were homes but it did not have an accurate breakdown. Palestinians say they can- not obtain building permits from Israeli authorities, and argue the planned demolitions are meant to assert Israel's controlover the city. "This is a provocation that sabotages the peace process," said RafiqHusseini, atop aideto Pales- tinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "Nopeaceprocesscansurviveand no negotiations can begin while people's homes in Jerusalem are being demolished." Jerusalem is one of the most intractable issues in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict because of the conflicting claims. Israel annexed east Jerusalem imme- diately after capturing it from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netan- yahu claims the entire city as Israel's capital, but the interna- tional community does not rec- ognize the Israeli claim. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem for their future capital. The four-car convoy carry- ing International Red Cross staff was driving in Gaza toward Isra- el's Erez border crossing when a roadside bomb exploded near the vehicles, said Iyad Nasr, a spokes- man for the Red Cross in Gaza. The foreigner staffers were unharmed and dropped off at the border post, Nasr said. The blast, which took place about half a mile (one kilome- ter) from the frontier, ripped a crater in the ground about three feet (one meter) across and two feet (half a meter) deep. An AP reporter at the scene saw glass from broken car windows scat- tered on the side of the road. Hamas security officials said police pursued a car seen fleeing the scene. Therewas no immediateclaim of responsibility. A Hamas official, Ehab Ghus- sein, said old Israeli ordnance might have exploded, although that appeared unlikely. The Israeli military said it had no involvement in the incident. Palestinian militants have targeted foreigners working in Gaza in the past. . The Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees group was the prime suspect in a 2003 bomb attack on a U.S. Embassy convoy that killed three U.S. Marine guards. That bombing took place near the site of Thurs- day's explosion.. Last June, Hamas security found whatappeared tobeexplo- sives buried in a sand dune next to the route taken at the time by former President Jimmy Carter. It was unclear whether Carter was the target. European media reading too much into it, leaders say PARIS (AP) - French Presi- dent Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel brushed off President Barack Obama's deci- sion not to attend an annual sum- mit with European leaders while stressing yesterday the importance of Russia as a European partner. A U.S. State Department deputy briefingreportersmadetheannounce- ment Monday that Obama would miss the EU-U.S. summit in May that will take place in Spain, which now holds the rotating EU presidency. Since then, European media have been awash with commentary wondering what the White House's snub means for Europe as it strug- gles to find a united voice in for- eign affairs following the creation of the new posts of EU president and foreign minister. "With the United States, I don't understand the debate," Sarkozy told a news conference with Merkel after a joint meeting of the entire French and German gov- ernments in Paris. "Where is the drama? Is that our only problem in the world today?" he continued. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also expressed understanding yester- day for Obama's decision, telling a meeting of the Atlantic Council in Washington that European lead- ers "do not think he has lost inter- est in the EU." Obama already had miffed Merkel by skipping the ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in Novem- ber, and she was more taciturn. She said that along with Sarkozy and other EU leaders, she would discuss the issue at an informal summit in Brussels next week. Sarkozy indicated that Obama might choose to meet with Euro- pean leaders in the fall when the U.S. president would be expected to attend the annual NATO lead- ers summit which this year is in Portugal - a combined solution the French leader said was a "rath- er good idea." "If the summit is in November instead of May, it truly doesn't matter. My feeling is that there are too many summits. There are too many trips. There is too much time lost," Sarkozy said. Zapatero, who spokebriefly with Obama earlier yesterday echoed that idea, indicating the timing of the next sumnit would be based on "content" and not a specific date. "We will be holding an EU-U.S. summit whenthe agendaso allows," Zapatero said. "By that I do not mean dates, I mean the content." The U.S. leader traveled to Europe half a dozen times last year and met European leaders at other international venues, including at the United Nations. Sarkozy and Merkel stressed the importance of their relationship with Russia. Both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Min- ister Vladimir Putin are scheduled to visit France in comingmonths. The French leader said that he wanted France and Germany to be in total harmony regarding rela- tionswith Russia, while Merkelsaid Russia's relationship with Europe was a "central question." "We have to end the Cod iat," she said. Sarkozy and Merkel er rrert ing for the first timie with their entire governments sirce ti. ter- man leader's re electon.' they outlined a roadirap for rilar i relations until 2020, airriig to strengthen their joit leadership role in Europe Most of the proposals concerned economy, education, climnnte change, civil affairs and isriga- tion. The two countris pledged greater cooperation on iAfyVasri- stan, fighting nuclear prolifer ation and transatlantic security Concerning the biggest issue of the day, however, the fate yo the financing of the A400tM ritt transport plane that is m c ring r and behind schedule, botr bleaders said only that a soluti on wouild be found. All lDay Fish Fry Platter f or $6.99 Domestic Bottles Start At $1 310 Maynard St-Food To Go 734.995.0100-Nextto the Maynard Parn' Stuciur