The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, November 4, 2010 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
. Ford announces
19.2% increase in
U.S. sales for Oct.
Ford Motor Co. says its October
U.S. sales rose 19.2 percent, led by
big increases in trucks and small
cars.
General Motors, Honda and oth-
ers have already reported strong
sales of crossover wagons last
month, and Ford was no exception.
Sales of the redesigned Edge cross-
overwereup 24 percent, while Ford
Escape sales rose 17 percent.
Ford says sales of the F-Series
pickup rose 24 percent, thanks in
part to a month-long truck promo-
tion.
The Fusion midsize sedan had
its best October ever. Sales for the
car rose 29 percent over the same
month last year.
BOWLING GREEN, Ky.
Paul hopes race will
set standards on
religion attacks
A day after a winning a hard-
fought U.S. Senate race, Republi-
can Rand Paul said he was hopeful
a religious attack that backfired
on his opponent will head off sim-
ilar strategies in future political
races.
Nearly four out of five Kentuck-
ians who voted in Tuesday's elec-
tion said they felt Democrat Jack
Conway unfairly attacked Paul by
running a TV ad that asked why
Paul was a member in college of a
secret campus society that mocked
Christians and claimed his god
was "Aqua Buddha," according
to exit polling conducted for The
Associated Press.
Paul denounced the ad as false
and chastised Conway for run-
ning it. The spot triggered a pub-
lic outcry across the state and
nation.
The Paul campaign aired an ad
in response in which he said he
keeps Christ in his heart. And for-
mer Arkansas Gov. Mike Hucka-
bee, a past Republican presidential
candidate and a Baptist minister,
went on Christian radio calling for
Conway to repent.
ALGIERS, Algeria
Minister: Algeria to
arm citizens in fight
* against terrorists
The interior minister has report-
edly said that Algeria will resume a
policy of arming people to reinforce
the fight against terrorism in the
north African country.
Dahou Ould Kablia says the gov-
ernment would honor a request of
some civilians in insecure areas for
weapons "to fight against terror-
ism."
He didn't specify which peo-
ple would be armed and said the
defense ministry was behind the
decision. Algerian media yester-
day published the comments made
Tuesday.
Al-Qaida's offshoot in North
Africa has its roots and has carried
out killings inAlgeria.
The government had a policy
of arming civilians during the
Islamist insurgency that left up to
200,000 people dead in Algeria in
the 1990s. It was later halted under
amnesty deals.
NAIROBI, Kenya
Somalian gov't to
release child soldiers
from country's army
Somalia's government will work
with the United Nations to release
and rehabilitate child soldiers in its
army, a U.N. envoy who tracks the
recruitment of child soldiers said
yesterday.
The number of children in the
Somali army is unclear, but a plan
to be developed, by the Somali gov-
ernment will help establish the
extent of the problem, said Rad-
hika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. spe-
cial representative for children in
armed conflict.
Human rights groups and media
outlets have been reporting about
the existence of child soldiers in
Somalia for years. -One Somali
* human rights group has estimated
that thousands of child soldiers are
used by both the weak, U.N.-backed
government and Islamist militias
like al-Shabab that have been try-
ing to overthrow it for the past
three years.
In June, President Sheik Sharif
Sheik Ahmed ordered an investiga-
tion into the reports.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports.
Three charged in
U.S. with aiding
Somali terrorists
Villagers watch as Mount Merapi pours searing gas and molten lava along its slopes in Wukirsari, Indonesia.
Indonesians fle
vcIon
.olCanicru to
One suspect from
St. Louis, one from
Minneapolis
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A federal
grand jury has charged three
men, including one from St. Louis
and one from Minneapolis, with
conspiring to funnel money to a
terrorist group in Somalia that the
U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida.
In an indictment returned Oct.
21 and unsealed Wednesday in U.S.
District Court in St. Louis, prosecu-
tors charged St. Louis taxi driver
Mohamud Abdi Yusuf, a Somali
national who immigrated to the
U.S. as a refugee, with one count of
conspiracyto provide material sup-
port to a foreign terrorist organiza-
tion and three counts of providing
material support to a foreign ter-
rorist organization - the radical
Islamistgroup al-Shabab.
The government contends that
Yusuf and Abdi Mahdi Hussein
sent money through a Minneapo-
lis wire-transfer business where
Hussein worked to al-Shabab sup-
porters in Somalia between 2008
and at least July 2009. Hussein,
who is also of Somali descent, is
charged with one count of conspir-
acy to structure monetary transac-
tions. Yusuf also faces that count.
Duane Mohamed Diriye, who
prosecutors contend was on the
receiving end of some transac-
tions, is charged with conspiracy
and terrorist-funding counts and is
believed to be in Somalia or Kenya.
The government says that
Yusuf used aliases to wire the
funds to al-Shabab supporters in
Somalia through Qaran Finan-
cial Express, where authorities
say Hussein worked. It was one of
three Minneapolis money transfer
businesses searched by FBI agents
in April 2009.
Kulane Darman, president of
Qaran Financial Express, told The
Associated Press he doesn't know
Hussein and the information from
the government is incorrect.
"I don't know this person. This
person never worked for me," Dar-
man said.
According to the indictment,
Yusuf, Hussein and other unspeci-
fied alleged schemers tried to mask
thousands of dollars worth of wire
transfers by breaking them up into
small, independent transactions.
They spoke in code and used bogus
names, all to skirt laws govern-
ing wire transactions and to avoid
detection, authorities said.
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Mount Merapi, which means
ty aid funds are "Fire Mountain," has erupted many
times in the last century, often with
running low deadly results.
Thirty-eight people have died
UNT MERAPI, Indonesia since it burst back to life just over a
- Searing gas and molten lava week ago. In 1994, 60 people were
d from Indonesia's deadlyvol- killed, while in 1930, more than a
n an explosion three times as dozen villages were torched, leav-
ful as last week's devastating ingup to 1,300 dead.
chasing people from villages Still, as with other volcanoes in
anergency shelters along its this seismically charged country,
tens of thousands call its fertile
er more than a week of con- slopes home. Most now are packed
eruptions, and warnings in crowded government camps well
ressure inside Mount Merapi away from the base.
till be building, the province Djarot Nugroho, the head of Cen-
d yesterday it was running tral Java's disaster management
money to help more than agency, said money to buy instant
people forced from their noodles, clean water, medicine and
other supplies would run out with-
diers loaded women and in five days unless the Indonesian
children into trucks while government declares a national
and debris rained from the disaster, bringing in much-needed
Several abandoned homes federal funds.
et ablaze and the carcasses There have been more than a
inerated cattle littered the dozen strong eruptions at Merapi in
ain's scorched slopes. the last week - including another
new casualties were report- one earlier Wednesday - and thou-
:er yesterday's fiery explo- sands of volcanic tremors and ash
which followed just before bursts.
Thursday by another boom- The danger zone wVas widened
mor and ash cloud. from six miles to nine miles (10
is is an extraordinary erup- to 15 kilometers) from the peak
said Surono, a state volcanol- because of the heightened threat.
who had earlier said energy "I (didn't) think of anything else
ng up behind a magma dome except to save my wife and son.
crater appeared to be easing. We left my house and everything,"
said the blast, which dusted said Tentrem Wahono, 50, who
rees and roads in towns up fled with his family on a motorbike
miles (130 kilometers) away from their village of Kaliurang,
y ash, had triple the force of located about six miles from the
st eruption on Oct. 26. crater.
e have no idea what's hap- "We were racing with the explo-
g," he said, as he watched the sive sounds as the searing ash
ig needle of a seismograph chased us from behind," he said.
ne. "It looks like we may be Soldiers and police blocked all
roads leading up the 9,700-foot
(3,000-meter) mountain, chasing
away curious onlookers and televi-
sion crews and reporters.
Yesterday's eruption, which
occurred during a downpour,
raised Merapi to "crisis" status,
said Andi Arief, a staffer in the
presidential office dealing with
the disaster.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago
of 235 million people, is prone to
earthquakes and volcanos because
it sits along the Pacific "Ring of
Fire," a horseshoe-shaped string
of faults that lines the Pacific.
As a reminder of that, a
6.0-magnitude quake hit waters
off the eastern province of Papua
on yesterday evening, rattling sev-
eral villages but causing no known
damage or casualties. At the time,
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton was wrapping up
a visit to Papua New Guinea - on
the same island as Papua province.
She was in the capital, about 1,000
miles (1,600 kilometers) east of the
epicenter, and no shaking was felt
there.
The volcano's initial Oct. 26
blast occurred less than 24 hours
after a towering tsunami slammed
into remote islands on the west-
ern end of the country, sweeping
entire villages to sea and killing at
least 428 people.
There, too, thousands of people
were displaced, many living in
government camps.
In both cases, relief operations
are expected to take weeks, pos-
sibly months.
Helicopters and boats were
delivering aid to tsunami survi-
vors in the most distant Mentawai
islands, more than 800 miles
(1,300 kilometers) west of Merapi.
In court, Chavez
supporters back
Basque separatists
Spanish officials
call for man accused
of aiding militants
to be extradited
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - A
Basque separatist fighting extradi-
tion to Spain testified before Ven-
ezuelan prosecutors yesterday, a
Venezuelan activistsaid.
Spanish authorities want to
try Arturo Cubillas, who holds a
government job in Venezuela, on
accusations he helped the Basque
militant group ETA arrange
explosives training with Colom-
bian rebels in Venezuela. Cubillas
insists he is innocent.
Susana Gonzalez, who leads a
Venezuelan group that supports
Basque independence, said she
spoke with Cubillas and he testi-
fied for two hours. Prosecutors
did not immediately comment on
the hearing, and Cubillas did not
appear in public.
Dozens of demonstrators
voiced support for Cubillas out-
side the attorney general's office,
waving Basque flags and chanting:
"No to extradition!"
The protesters includedbackers
of President Hugo Chavez as well
as Cubillas' friends and co-work-
ers. Some wore T-shirts embla-
zoned with images of Argentine
revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che"
Guevara and held signs condemn-
ing Spain's treatment of Basque
separatists.
Augusto Pena, a co-worker
of Cubillas in the government's
National Lands Institute, called
the charges lies and said: "His
crime is working for Chavez's gov-
ernment."
Cubillas testified voluntarily
after asking Venezuelan authorities
last month to investigate, saying he
has not had access to details of the
accusations against him in Spain.
Cubillas told the Caracas-based
television network Telesur in an
interview posted yesterday on its
website that the charges against
him are part of an anti-Chavez
campaign.
Gay rights groups see midterm results as setback
Activists claim
Republican House
majority will have
negative affect
NEW YORK (AP) - Gay-rights
activists celebrated a few bright
spots on Election Day, but they
also suffered some major setbacks
- including losses by key support-
ers in Congress and the ouster of
three Iowa Supreme Court judges
who had ruled in favor of same-sex
marriage.
On both sides of the marriage
debate, the Iowa vote was seen as
a signal that judges in other states
could face similar punitive chal-
lenges.
. The congressional results fur-
ther clouded the prospects for
repealing the "don't ask, don't tell"
policy so that gays could serve
openly in the military. Democratic
leaders, includingPresident Barack
Obama, hope for a repeal vote in the
Senate during the upcoming lame-
duck session, but the post-election
climate may strengthen the hand of
conservatives wary of repeal.
And leading gay activists
acknowledged that the Republican
takeover in the House of Represen-
tatives likely doomed short-term
hopes for major gay-rights legisla-
tion addressing workplace discrim-
ination and federal recognition of
same-sex couples.
"The loss of the House to anti-
equality leaders is a serious blow,"
said Joe Solmonese, president of
the Human Rights Campaign. He
said the incoming GOP House lead-
ership had a track record of oppos-
inggay-rights initiatives.
Among the Democratic losers
on Tuesday were several staunch
gayrights supporters, including
Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin
and Rep. Patrick Murphy of Penn-
sylvania, an Iraq war veteran who
volunteered to be the House leader
of the effort to repeal "don't ask,
don't tell."
Elaine Donnelly of the Center for
Military Readiness, which opposes
any role for gays in the military,
welcomed the defeats of Murphy
and Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., the for-
mer Navy admiral who lost his bid
for a Senate seat.
"Both candidates tried to dis-
guise their extreme social liberal-
ism with military uniforms they
had previously worn," said Don-
nelly, who noted that Republican
Sen. John McCain - a key to block-
ing repeal of "don't ask, don't tell"
- was re-elected in Arizona.
Perhaps most sobering for gay
activists was the removal of the
three Iowa judges after a campaign
intended to punish them for joining
a unanimous ruling last year that
the state's ban on same-sex mar-
riage violated Iowa's constitution.
That ruling, making Iowa one of
five states to legalize gay marriage,
still stands. But gay marriage foes
said they plan to press Iowa Repub-
licans who took over the governor's
office and the state House to work
toward a new ban.
Justices Marsha Ternus, David
Baker and Michael Streit will be
removed at year's end after about
54 percent of voters backed their
ouster - the first time Iowa voters
have removed a Supreme Courtjus-
tice since the current system began
in 1962.
The National Organization for
Marriage and other foes ofgaymar-
riage around the country spent an
estimated $1 million on the removal
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), a staunch gay-rights supporter, concedes in the race for his Wisconsin U.S. Senate seat.
effort, while the three judges chose
not to raise money and campaign.
"This spiteful campaign is a
wake-up call to future voters who
must resist attempts to politicize
the courts," said Kevin Cathcart
of Lambda Legal, a national gay-
rights group. "If an embattled
judiciary were to lose its ability to
protect our laws and constitution
with impartiality, that would be a
tragic loss."
Brian Brown, president of the
National Organization for Mar-
riage, depicted the judges' ouster,
coupled with the GOP gains in Con-
gress, as a "historic and stunning"
victory for foes of gay marriage.
The Iowa result, he said, "sends
a powerful message to any judge
who thinks they can impose gay
marriage by judicial fiat against the
wishes of the people."
Evan Wolfson, a gay-rights law-
yer who heads the national group
Freedom to Marry, said the judicial
recall was intended as "an intimi-
dating, thuggish message" to other
courts.
"If I had just mugged a judge, I
wouldn't be running around brag-
ging about it," he said.
The results set the stage for sev-
eral likely state battles over same-
sex marriage next year.
Gay-rights groups said the elec-
tion of governors in Rhode Island
and Maryland who support same-
sex marriage created a chance for
breakthroughs in those states. In
New York, where a gay marriage
bill was defeated in 2009, the pic-
ture was clouded by uncertainty
over control of the state Senate,
but Democratic Gov.-elect Andrew
Cuomo is a firm supporter of gay
marriage.
Foes of gay marriage said
Republican legislative gains could
benefit their cause in Minnesota,
where conservatives would like to
put a gay-marriage ban on the bal-
lot, and in New Hampshire, where
some lawmakers would like to
repeal the 2009 law legalizing gay
marriage.
"The backers of gay marriage are
fond of telling the lie that gay mar-
riage is inevitable in this country,"
Brown said. "What we have shown
in this election is that support for
gay marriage is a career-ending
position for judges and legislators."