The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Shooting at Detroit
school places two
students in hospital
An argument that started at a
Detroit high school on the first day
of class led to two students being
shot nearby and a hunt for other
students who might have been
involved, police said yesterday.
The shootings happened about
3:30 p.m. about a block from Mum-
ford High School, just after class-
es ended for the day, police said.
Detroit police spokeswoman Sgt.
Eren Stephens said a 16-year-old
boy was shot in the buttocks and a
14-year-old girl was grazed in the
eyebrow.
Police didn't release the names
of the students, who were taken to
a nearby hospital.
Stephens said the shootings
stemmed from an argument
between the boy and another stu-
dent police believe was the shooter.
Another student also may have
been involved, she said.
Police are questioning a person
of interest but no arrests have been
made, she said.
The district's state-appointed
leader, Robert Bobb, told reporters
at the scene that the good news is
the injuries didn't appear to be seri-
ous.
"The bad news is the shooting
happened at all," Bobb said.
A string of shootings and the
perception of crime has caused
some parents to flee the roughly
78,000-student district for charter,
suburban or private schools.
CHICAGO
Lawsuit underway
regarding Ill carp
The reliability of genetic test-
ing to detect the presence of Asian
carp is the focus of the first full day
of expert testimony in a five-state
lawsuit.
Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio,
Minnesota and Pennsylvania want
a federal judge to close Illinois ship-
ping locks to prevent the invasive
fish from overrunning the Great
Lakes.
The first witness called by the
states yesterday was a biologist who
found traces of Asian carp DNA in
Chicago-area waterways near Lake
Michigan.
David Lodge says the DNA most
likely came from live carp.
Others have suggested the carp
DNA could have been transported
in the ballast water of barges and
so the positive test don't neces-
sarily mean the fish is present.
ELIZABETHTOWN, KY
Corn kernels pop in
field due to weather
A Hardin County farmer said
that some ears among his feed corn
rows popped on the stalk in a phe-
nomenon that agricultural experts
believe is associated with irregular
rainfall and high heat.
Star Mills farmer Patrick Pres-
ton sent a photo of the burst kernels
that look like partially popped pop-
corn to the University of Kentucky
Cooperative Extension Service.
Hardin County Extension agent
Doug Shepherd told The News
Enterprise he's never seen popped
kernels before.
Shepherd said the outer coat
of a kernel can explode from heat
after the ears are pollinated. Tem-
peratures in corn fields can be 10
degrees higher than in the sur-
rounding area as the plants are pro-
ducing energy.
NAIROBI, Kenya
Somali pirates tried
in Kenyan courts
A Kenyan court has convicted
and sentenced seven Somalis
of piracy to five years in jail, a
defense lawyer said yesterday.
A court in the Kenyan port
town of Mombasa found the
Somalis guilty of attacking a Ger-
man naval supply ship in the Gulf
of Aden on March 29 last year,
said Jared Magolo, their lawyer.
He said his clients plan to appeal
the verdict made Monday.
"Even though we believe that
the verdict was not very heavy,
but the conviction was not prop-
er," said Magolo.
The European Union anti-pira-
cy task force said it welcomes the
court's decision.
The "judgment marks an
important step in the coopera-
tion between EU and Kenya in the
repression of acts of piracy and
armed robbery off the coast of
Somalia," said.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
War-torn Congo
endures brutal
sexual violence
REZA SHIRMOHAMMADI/AP
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan is asking for 2,00 more soldiers in Kabul to help meet the 2011 deadline.
Afghan govt. to regain
security control in'1
NATO troops to
begin transfer of
responsibility
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S.-
led NATO troops in Afghanistan
should be able to start handing
off responsibility for security to
the Kabul government sometime
next year, Secretary-General
Anders Fogh Rasmussen said
yesterday.
While stopping short of set-
ting a firm deadline, Rasmussen's
public declaration puts the secu-
rity alliance in line with President
Barack Obama's promise to begin
pulling U.S. troops out in July
2011.
But Rasmussen's latest pre-
diction also reflects a growing
realization by NATO that secu-
rity conditions won't dramatically
improve this year, as many hoped.
At a NATO meeting in April, the
secretary-general had said that
handing over responsibility to the
Afghans was a primary goal for
this year.
Some NATO members have
already pulled out of the mission
or plan to do so soon because of a
lack of public support.
NATO members were to meet
in Lisbon, Portugal, in November
to devise a plan for handing off
control to the Afghans, including
a timeline for various provinces
and benchmarks to measure prog-
ress.
Rasmussen said he believes
security conditions have
improved enough so a transition
is possible. However, he said the
precise timing of a drawdown will
depend upon conditions on the
ground.
"We will not leave until we
finish our job," he told reporters
before a meeting with Obama at
the White House. "But it is very
helpful to have this roadmap."
War commanders have been
more reluctant to put a date on
when Afghan troops might take
control. Lt. Gen. Bill Caldwell, the
head of NATO's training mission
in Afghanistan, has said the alli-
ance needs at least another year to
recruit and train enough soldiers
and police officers.
Rasmussen said setting next
year as a goal for beginning to
wind down troop levels does not
conflict with a request by Gen.
David Petraeus, NATO's top com-
mander in Afghanistan, for 2,000
more troops. Rasmussen said
most of the 2,000 troops would be
assigned to train Afghan security
forces, in preparation for NATO's
eventual withdrawal.
"Trainers are the ticket to tran-
sition," he said.
The Pentagon said Tuesday
that the request for 2,000 more
troops is a long-standing require-
ment for more trainers that will
not be filled by U.S. forces.
"NATO will have to determine
how to fill that requirement,"
said Marine Col. Dave Lapan, a
Defense Department spokesman.
NATO has been eager to show
progress in the war. The alli-
ance's top commander in south-
ern Afghanistan, British Maj. Gen.
Nick Carter, said this week that
coalition troops will clear the area
around the key city of Kandahar
by December.
In the meeting with Obama, the
president thanked Rasmussen for
NATO's efforts to promote peace
and stability around the world,
particularly in Afghanistan, the
White House said. Obama and
Rasmussen also discussed goals
for the Nov. 19-20 NATO Summit
in Lisbon.
UN says rape has
become regular
weapon of war
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The
United Nations reported yester-
day that more than 500 systematic
rapes were committed by armed
combatants in eastern Congo since
late July - more than double the
number previously reported - and
accepted partial responsibility for
not protecting citizens.
U.N. Assistant Secretary-Gen-
eral for Peacekeeping Atul Khare
told the U.N. Security Council that
260 more rapes occurred in anoth-
er region of the country, in addi-
tion to 242 rapes earlier reported
in and around Luvungi, a village of
about 2,200 people located a half-
hour drive from a U.N. peacekeep-
ers' camp.
"While the primary responsi-
bility for protection of civilians
lies with the state, its national
army and police force," said Khare,
"clearly, we have also failed. Our
actions were not adequate, result-
ing in acceptable brutalization of
the population of the villages in
the area. We must do better."
The area peacekeeping force,
called MONUSCO, on Sept. 1
launched an operation using 750
troops to back efforts by Congo-
lese security forces to arrest the
perpetrators of the attacks, said
Khare. At least 27 rebels armed
with automatic rifles have surren-
dered and at least four more have
been arrested, he said.
Meanwhile, Khare said, peace-
keepers will undertake more night
patrols, and perform more random
checks on communities. The U.N.
is also looking into ways of pro-
viding peacekeepers with mobile
phones by installing a high fre-
quency radio in Luvungi, he said.
Rape as a weapon of war has
become shockingly commonplace
in eastern Congo, where the gov-
ernment army and U.N. peace-
keepers have failed to defeat the
few thousands rebels responsible
for a protracted conflict fueled by
vast mineral reserves. The United
Nations says at least 8,300 rapes
were reported last year and it is
believed that many more rapes go
unreported.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon in recent days sent Khare
to Congo to investigate why U.N.
peacekeepers didn't learn about at
least 242 mass rapes in the Luvun-
gi area from July 30 to Aug. 4 until
Aug. 12, when it was informed by
the International Medical Corps
which was treating many of the
victims.
The additional sexual attacks,
in an area called Uvira and other
regions of North and South Kivu,
came to light during Khare's
trip. He told council members he
learned of 74 cases of sexual vio-
lence, including against 21 minors
- all girls between the ages of 7
and 15 - and six men, in a village
called Miki, in South Kivu. All the
women in another village, Kiluma,
may have been systematically
raped, he said.
Khare said in a community
called Katalukulu, 10 women
were raped by Congolese soldiers,
which he said must "maintain a
much higher standard of disci-
pline, good behavior and conduct,
and observance of human rights."
The undersecretary-general
called for prosecution of Rwandan
rebel FDLR and Congolese Mai-
Mai rebels blamed for many of the
attacks and U.N. sanctions against
their leaders.
U.N. envoy Margot Wallstrom,
expressed her alarm over the
increase in reported rapes, saying
they show "a broader pattern of
widespread and systematic rape
and pillage." A senior member of
Wallstrom's staff accompanied
Khare on his recenttrip.
"It is evidentthatrape is increas-
ingly selected as the "weapon of
choice in Eastern DRC, with num-
bers reaching endemic propor-
tions," shetoldthesecuritycouncil.
"The sad reality is that incidents of
rape have become so commonplace
that they do not trigger our most
urgent interventions."
Wallstrom last month warned
leaders of rebel groups that they
could be prosecuted by the Inter-
national Criminal Court because
widespread and systemic sexual
violence can constitute war crimes
and crimes against humanity.
Congo's permanent represen-
tative to the U.N., Ileka Atoki,
expressed his "deep disgust" with
the mass rapes and thanked the
security council for investigating
the attacks.
"These heinous acts, that have
become a weapon of war, are one
more episode of the unspeakable
suffering that the people of Congo
have been plunged for more than
a decade now," Atoki told council
members.
Atoki told the council that his
country would continue to need
international help to combat the
attacks, characterizing national
police sources as "pathetic." But
international backing for efforts to
end the protracted conflictin east-
ern Congo are just as important,
he said.
Tape of alleged attempted
NY temple bomber shown
Alleged mastermind
planned to attack
synagogues, planes
NEW YORK (AP) - A video-
tape shows the alleged master-
mind of a plot to attack New
York synagogues and shoot
down military planes prac-
ticing with a shoulder mis-
sile launcher and praying two
weeks before the planned
attack.
The tape played for a jury
yesterday at the federal trial
of James Cromitie and three
other men capture a paid FBI
informant giving him a crash
course in a bugged warehouse
in Connecticut - part of an
elaborate sting in 2009.
"This is the handle, OK?"
the informant, Shahed Hus-
sain, tells Cromitie as he
holds the weapon on his
shoulder.
He instructs Cronfitie,
"Once we shoot it, then we
destroy the thing" by throw-
ing it in the Hudson River.
Cromitie responds that
learning to shoot seemed
"easy." However, he adds, "I
wish you had a blank, so we
could take a shot."
He can be heard chuck-
ling. at times and seen rub-
bing his hands together. At
end of the tape, Cromitie, two
of his alleged cohorts and the
informant bow their heads in
prayer.
Cromitie, 43, Onta Wil-
liams, 34, David Williams, 29,
and Laguerre Payen, 28, have
pleaded not guilty to charges
of conspiracy to use weap-
ons of mass destruction and
conspiracy to acquire and use
anti-aircraft missiles to kill
U.S. officers and employees.
Prosecutors in federal court
in Manhattan allege that with
Hussain's encouragement,
Cromitie hatched the scheme
to blow up the synagogues in
the Bronx with remote-con-
trolled bombs. They say the
men also also wanted to shoot
down planes at the Air Nation-
al Guard base in Newburgh,
N.Y., about 50 miles north of
New York City.
Agents arrested the men in
2009 after they planted the
devices - fakes supplied by the
FBI - in the Bronx while under
heavy surveillance.
Hussain met Cromitie in 2008
after being sent by the FBI to
infiltrate a Newburgh mosque.
After that, the 53-year-old Paki-
stani immigrant helped make
hundreds of hours of video and
audio tapes that are the center-
piece of the case.