0 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, March 29, 2010 - 3A * The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, March 29, 2010 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS DETROIT Probe sought in fatal shooting of mosque leader Political and civil rights activists are renewing their call for an independent investiga- tion into the fatal shooting of a mosque leader during an FBI raid. About 200 people gath- ered Saturday for a town hall meeting at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroitto discuss the October death of Imam Luq- man Ameen Abdullah. He was shot at least 21 times during a raid on a Dearborn warehouse by FBI agents who said they were investigating Abdullah and several other men in connection with a theft operation. Abdullah's supporters say it was an act of police brutality aimed at a black Muslim. One of Abdullah's sons says one of his father's legs was bro- ken. WASHINGTON U.S. officials: Relationship with Israel still strong Top advisers to President Barack Obama say the rela- tionship between the U.S. and Israel remains strong despite sometimes blunt talk and dis- agreements between the two ' countries. David Axelrod tells CNN's "State of the Union" that Isra- el is a close and valued friend of the United States. He says there's an unshakable bond but that sometimes blunt talk is part of friendship. Axelrod says the peace pro- cess is essential to Israel's secu- rity and the administration is doing all it can to move that process forward. Meanwhile, senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett tells ABC's "This Week" that friends like Israel and the United States can disagree without incur- ring damage. She says what's important is to be able to have frank conversations and move forward. MONTERREY, Mexico More than 7,000 protest Mexican crime wave More than 7,000 people have gathered in the northern Mexico city of Monterrey to protest a wave of violence that has affected the country's third largest city in recent weeks. Most of the protesters wore white at a rally in Monterrey's main park and some released white balloons and a white dove as signs of peace. Nuevo Leon state Gov. Rodrigo Medina led the pro- testers on a brief walk through Fundidora Park. His border state has seen a surge in vio- lence that authorities blame on a turf war between the Gulf drug cartel and the Zetas, the cartel's former hit men. Hours before the rally yes- terday, two soldiers and a civil- ian were wounded in a shootout between troops and gunmen in Monterrey. LONDON Protesters demand Pope's resignation British protesters called on Pope Benedict XVI to resign yesterday as they staged a dem- onstration over the Catholic Church's handling of clerical sex abuse cases. Demonstrators gathered outside Westminster Cathedral to call for action over the scan- dal, carrying placards display- ing messages including "Pope? Nope!" and "Don't Turn a Blind Eye," though fewer than SO people joined the rally. Revelations of the sexual abuse of children by priests at Catholic institutions have swept across Europe, including in the pope's native Germany. Benedict has been criticized over a case dating to his tenure as archbishop of Munich, and his actions when head of the Vatican office responsible for disciplining priests. - Compiled from Daily wire reports FBI raids in Midwest lead to gun charges CHARLES DHARAPAK/AP President Barack Obama greets military personnel in an army dining facility at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan yesterday. Obama's visit came as a surprise to the troops, who listened as he voiced the country's continuing military support. During tri Obama vows to continue Afghanistan fight Obama tells troops that the war is 'absolutely essential' to American security KABUL (AP) - Under elabo- rate secrecy, President Barack Obama slipped into Afghanistan yesterday near the front lines of the increasingly bloody 8-year- old war he is expanding and affirmed America's commitment to destroying al-Qaida and its extremist allies in the land where the 9-11 plot was hatched. Obama's six-hour visit was con- ducted entirely under the shroud of nightfall, after Air Force One's unannounced flight from the U.S. Obama defended his decision to escalate the fight, telling troops whose numbers he is tripling that their victory is imperative to America's safety. His bid to shore up faith in the struggle was aimed both at the troops who cheered him and Americans back home. And, he demanded accountability from Afghan authorities to make good on repeated promises to improve living conditions, rein in corrup- tion and enforce the rule of law to prevent people from joining the insurgency. "Your services are absolutely necessary, absolutely essential to America's safety and security," the president told a lively crowd of about 2,500 troops and civil- ians at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul. "Those folks back home are relying on you. We can't forget why we're here." It was Obama's first trip as president to Afghanistan, where the number of U.S. troops killed has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared with the same period last year as Washington has added tens of thousands of additional soldiers to reverse the Taliban's momen- tum. "We did not choose this war," Obama reminded the troops, recalling the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and warning that al-Qaida was still using the region to plan terrorist strikes against the U.S. and its allies. "We are going to disrupt and dismantle, defeat and destroy al-Qaida and its extremist allies." Obama had gone Friday after- noon to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., from which unnoticed departures are easier because of its secluded mountain location. The small contingent of White House aides and media brought on the trip were sworn to secrecy. Obama arrived in Kabul just two days after a threaten- ing new audio message from al- Qaidaleader Osama bin Laden, believed to be hiding along the ungoverned border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "If this region slides back- wards," Obama told the troops, "if the Taliban retakes this country, al-Qaida can operate with impu- nity, then more American lives will be at stake, the Afghan peo- ple will lose their opportunity for progress and prosperity and the world will be significantly less secure. As long as I'm your com- mander in chief, I'm not going to let that happen." That resolve was meant just as surely for stateside citizens as for the people who heard it face to face. Polls find that Americans are divided on the war if, more recently, favorable to Obama's handling of it. Obama's dark suit was soiled with dust when he stepped off? his helicopter at the presidential palace in Kabul. White House officials said Obama, in private talks, wanted to drive home the point that Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Cabinet must do more to battle corrup- tion and cronyism in govern- ment. Karzai "needs to be seized with how important that is," said Jim Jones, Obama's national security adviser. Karzai has raised eye- brows in Washington with recent trips to Iran, China and Pakistan and his welcoming Iranian Presi- dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Kabul this month. In public remarks, Obama told Karzai and his cabinet that he was pleased with progress made since their last discussion by secure videoconference on March 15. Obama invited him to visit Wash- ington on May 12. He also praised recent steps in the military cam- paign against insurgents. But he stressed that Afghans need to see conditions on the ground get bet- ter. "Progress will continue to be made ... but we also want to con- tinue make-progress on the civil- ian front," Obama said, referring to anti-corruption efforts, good governance and adherence to the rule of law. "All of these things end up resulting in an Afghani- stan that is more prosperous and more secure." Karzai promised that his coun- try "would move forward into the future" to eventually take over its own security, and he thanked Obama for the American inter- vention in his country. He told Obama he has begun to establish more credible national institutions on corruption and made clear he intends to make ministerial appointments more representative of the multiple ethnic and geographic regions of the country, according to a U.S. account of the meeting. The White House insisted that Karzai's Cabinet partici- pate in most of the meetings with Obama. The Cabinetmincludesa number of ministers favored by the U.S., including the heads of finance, interior and defense, whom the Obama administration wants to empower as a way of reduc- ing the influence of presidential cronies. Some talented Afghans administrators have complained that Karzai marginalized them in an attempt to solidify his pow- ers. "We have to have the strategic rapport with President Karzai and his Cabinet to understand how we are going to succeed his year in reversing the momentum the Taliban and the opposition forces have been able to establish since 2006." The Afghan government has tried to tackle corruption in the past with little success but Kar- zai pledged after fraud-marred August elections to rein in graft by making officials declare their assets and giving the country's anti-corruption watchdog more power to go after those accused of misusing their office. This month he gave more powers to an anti- corruption body, including the authority to refer cases to court and act as prosecutor. Initially, the White House said Karzai had been informed of Obama's impending visit just an hour before his arrival. But Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said later that the Afghan government was told about the trip on Thursday. At least 945 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghan- istan, Pakistan and Uzbekistans since the U.S. campaign started in late 2001, according to an Associ- ated Press count. Obama, speaking to troops in a cavernous tent known as the "clam shell," said, "We know there's going to be some difficult days ahead, there's going to be setbacks. We face a determined enemy, but we also know this: the United States of America does not quit once it starts on something. We will prevail, I am absolutely confident of that." In December, Obama ordered 30,000 additional forces into the fight against the Taliban. Those new U.S. troops are still arriving and most are expected to be in place by summer, for a full force of roughly 100,000 U.S. troops. At least three people arrested in Mich, Indiana and Ohio ADRIAN, Mich. (AP) - The FBI said yesterday that agents conducted weekend raids in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio and arrested at least three people, and a militia leader in Michigan said the target of at least one of the raids was a Christian militia group. Federal warrants were sealed, but a federal law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said some of those arrested face gun charges and officials are pursuing other sus- pects. FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said there had been activity in two southeast Michi- gan counties near the Ohio state line. She wouldn't say whether they were tied to the raids in the other states. FBI spokesman Scott Wilson in Cleveland said agents arrest- ed two people Saturday after raids in two towns in Ohio. A third arrest was made in north- east Illinois yesterday a day after a raid took place just over the border in northwest Indi- ana. George Ponce, 18, who works at a pizzeria next door to a home raided in Hammond, Ind., said he and a few co-workers stepped outside for a break Sat- urday night and saw a swarm of law enforcement. "I heard a yell, 'Get eback inside!' and saw a squad mem- ber pointing a rifle at us," Ponce said. "They told us the bomb squad was going in, sweeping the house looking for bombs." He said another agent was in the bushes near the house, and law enforcement vehicles were "all over." He estimated that agents took more than two dozen guns from the house. Michael Lackomar, a spokes- man for the Southeast Michi- gan Volunteer Militia, said one of his team leaders got a frantic phone call Saturday evening from members of Hutaree, a Christian militia group, who said their property in southwest Michigan was being raided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "They said they were under attack by the ATF and want- ed a place to hide," Lackomar said. "My team leader said, 'no thanks."' The team leader was cooperating with the FBI yesterday, Lackomar said. He said SMVM wasn't affiliated with Hutaree, which states on its Web site to be "prepared to defend all those who belong to Christ and save those who aren't." "We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Anti-Christ," the group's Web site said. "Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment. An e-mail sent to the group by The Associated Press wasn't returned yesterday, and phone numbers for the group's lead- ership were not immediately available. Berchtold, the FlIt spokeswoman in Michigan, said she couldn't confirm if the raids were connected to Hutaree. Lackomar said none of the raids focused on his group. Lackomar said about eight to 10 members of Hutaree trained with SMVM twice in the past three years. SMVM holds monthly training sessions focusing on survival training and shooting practice, Lacko- mar said. In Michigan, police swarmed a rural, wooded property around 7 p.m. Saturday outside Adrian, about 70 miles south- west of Detroit, said Evelyn Reitz, who lives about a half- mile away. She said several police cars, with lights flashing, were still there yesterday eve- ning and IS to 20 officers were stationed in the area. Neighbor Jane Cattell said she came home from the movies Saturday night and a helicop- ter was circling above, its spot- light illuminating her house. She and her sister, Sarah Holtz, wouldn't say who lived in the home but said they knew them from riding their horses past their house. Russian president cuts two time zones President reduces number of time zones from eleven to nine MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's president thought the country had too much time on its hands, so yesterday he eliminated two of its 11 time zones. The changes mean that Chukotka - Russia's eastern extreme, just across the Bering Strait from Alaska - is now nine hours ahead of Russia's west- ernmost area, the Kaliningrad exclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland. Formerly, there was 10 hours' difference. As well as eliminating the time zone that previously cov- ered the Chukotka and Pet- ropavlovsk-Kamchatsky regions in the Pacific Far East, Presi- 'dent Dmitry Medvedev ordered that Samara and Udmurtia, two regions in central Russia, should be on the same time as Moscow. The changes went into effect before dawn yesterday when most of Russia switched to daylight savings time. People in the eliminated time zones didn't move their clocks an hour ahead. Medvedev initiated the change in his state of the nation address last November, prompt- ing some criticism that he was addressing marginal issues at the expense of the country's array of problems. But Medvedev said the changd would help some far- flung regions have more effi- cient communications with the central authorities, ease travel and even improve the country's international position. "It's possible that this could also aid the strengthening of Russia's position as a link in the global information infra- structure," he said at a meeting this month with ministers and regional leaders. But some people in the affect- ed regions believe Medvedev should have been doing some- thing else with his time. S U D O K U Today's Career Tip: Personal brand discovery is about figuring out what you want to do, setting goals, writing down a mission, vision and personal brand statement. Text "UMStudents" to 41411 to win great prizes and get daily career tips. ALUMNIASSOCIATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN