The Michigan Daily --michigandaily.com
T D aThursday, November 11, 2010 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
ALBION, Mich.
College takes action
after students burn
gay pride flag
Albion College says it has taken
"appropriate action" after con-
firming that students burned a gay
pride flag last month at the school.
School President Donna Ran-
dall says in a statement yesterday
that the private four-year liberal
arts college was contacted Oct.
19 by a student who claimed that
other students had burned the flag.
The Michigan school's Cam-
pus Safety department investi-
gated and identified the students
involved. Randall says investiga-
tors determined that the students
found the flag in a trash can and
decided to burn it.
Randall says "appropriate action
has been taken to address the con-
duct of the students involved," but
says privacy laws prohibited her
from providing additional details
about that action.
Randall says the school "con-
demns harassment."
PHOENIX
Authorities find
'major' human
smuggling ring
Arizona authorities say they've
dismantled a major cell of a human
smuggling ring that maybe respon-
sible for the transportation of thou-
sands of illegal immigrants from
Mexico to Phoenix and other parts
of the country.
Nine people are accused of pick-
ing up illegal immigrants after they
crossed the border by foot, and tak-
ing them to what are known as drop
houses in Phoenix before they were
distributed to other parts of the
country.
The group also has been con-
nected to a June 2009 vehicle
rollover near the Arizona town of
Sonoita that killed 11 illegal immi-
grants.
Arizona Department of Public
Safety Capt. Fred Zumbo says the
group displayed a "total disre-
gard" for human life and that law
enforcement has put a "huge dent
in the human smuggling arena."
TEHRAN, Iran
Iran to test new
missile system
Iran is building its own
advanced anti-aircraft missile
system, after Russia wouldn't sell
it one, a top commander of Iran's
elite Revolutionary Guard said
yesterday.
Gen. Mohammad Hasan Man-
sourian said Iran will soon test its
own version of the S-300 missile
system, which is still heing devel-
oped at military industrial sites, the
official IRNA news agency report-
ed.
Mansourian's comments come
after Russia banned all sales of
S-300 missile systems to Iran, cit-
ing the latest round of tough U.N.
sanctions.
.Russia signed a 2007 contract to
sell the sophisticated systems that
would have dramatically boosted
Iran's ability to defend against air
strikes. Israel and the United States
objected to the deal.
ATLANTA
Georgia further
investigates student
death at party
Georgia prosecutors said yes-
terday they are searching for
more suspects in the killing of an
18-year-old who was stomped to
death in an apparently random
attack at a house party over the
weekend, even as three of the four
men charged with the teen's mur-
der say they are innocent.
Douglas County District Attor-
ney David McDade said witnesses
have indicated there may have
been others involved in the death of
Bobby Tillman, who was stomped,
kicked and punched to death early
Sunday at a house party while doz-
ens of bystanders watched.
"With so many young people
in the crowd you can imagine the
difficulty we are having in sorting
out the numerous varying versions
of what took place," McDade said.
"We are working on identifying
everyone involved if we can."
Tillman and about 80 others had
descended on a house party Satur-
day night in Douglasville, a work-
ing-class suburb west of Atlanta,
that spilled out on the street when
the crowd grew unruly.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports.
SAMAN AGHVAMI/AP
Iranian President Mahmaud Ahmadinejad gestures prior to delivering his speech at a public gathering during his provincial
tour in the city of Qazvin about 90 miles west of the capital Tehran, Iran.
Iran declineitSI to di4scu-ss
litin nuclear program
Ahmadinejad says
country will discuss
more collaboration
with other nations
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's
president said yesterday that his
country wants to discuss coopera-
tion to resolve global issues and
to promote peace and security at
nuclear talks with world powers,
but won't talk about what it insists
is its right to continue nuclear
activities.
President Mahmoud Ahma-
dinejad spoke a day after Iran
offered to resume nuclear talks
this month with six nations -
the United States, Russia, China,
Britain, France and Germany.
The talks collapsed last year and
Ahmadinejad's comments raise
further questions about whether
Iran is willing to reopen the dia-
logue on its nuclear program.
In Washington, a senior U.S.
official said that the U.S. and
its allies are willing to discuss
a range of issues with Iran, but
chief among them is Tehran's
nuclear activities.
"Iran's nuclear program is on-
top of our list but we will come
to the meeting prepared for talks
on a range of subjects," the U.S.
official said. He spoke on condi-
tion of anonymity in order to dis-
cuss the sensitive issue.
The U.S. and its allies suspect
Iran's nuclear program is aimed
at producing weapons, though
Iran denies this and says it only
wants to generate power.
The president's remarks were
among the many conflicting and
ambiguous messages from Iran
over the years about its willingness
to enter into nuclear negotiations.
it has also sent counterproposals
and used delaying tactics that have
brought talks to an impasse.
Addressing a group of people in
Qazvin, in northern Iran, Ahma-
dinejad said Tehran is ready to
discuss "global challenges" and
help global peace based on mutual
respect but won't discuss its right
to continue nuclear activities.
"We've said repeatedly that the
Iranian nation will never discuss
its basic rights with anybody,"
Ahmadinejad said. "Iran is ready
for talks on equal conditions to
cooperate to resolve global issues,
ease international concerns and
help global peace and security."
Adding to the uncertainty of
Iran's offer, different officials
suggested different dates: Nov.
15 or 23 or Dec. 5. Iran wants the
talks to take place in Istanbul,
where it would have its Turkish
allies on the sidelines.
Iran says it has a non-negotia-
ble right under the Nuclear Non-
proliferation Treaty to enrich
uranium for producing nuclear
fuel.
The international community
has sought to persuade Iran to
give up enrichment because the
technology also offers a poten-
tial pathway to weapons devel-
opment.
"The Iranian nation will wel-
come any hand extended to it
with honesty but will cut the
hand if it is with deception and
conspiracy," Ahmadinejad said,
prompting chants of "Death to
the U.S." from the crowd.
Addressing the six nations, he
said, "If some of you have the men-
tality of selfishness and arrogance,
the response of the Iranian nation
will be the same it has given until
today and will disappoint you from
the continuation of your life."
"We are ready for talks under
these conditions," he added.
Iran has called on the U.S. and
its European allies to explain
in the talks their position on
Israel's nuclear program, which
is widely believed to include an
undeclared arsenal of weap-
ons. Iranian officials have also
sought to discuss what they see
as U.S. interference in the Mid-
dle East and the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
Ahmadinejad appeared to refer
to these demands again yesterday.
"We in the past said you must
declare your views about some
global issues," he said. "If you do,
we will discuss them with you on
that basis. If not, we will deter-
mine the answers for you and will
talk to you on the basis of your
past behavior."
Iran has ruled out any discus-
sion of a nuclear fuel exchange
deal that it balked at last year
and which was meant to ensure it
could not divert material to nucle-
ar weapons production.
That U.N.-drafted proposal
would have at least delayed
Iran's ability to potentially
go down the weapons path by
requiring it to ship nearly all of
its stockpile of enriched ura-
nium abroad to be returned as
reactor-ready fuel.
Iran refused, but later accept-
ed a similar fuel swap proposal
from allies Brazil and Turkey.
The six nations, however, said
that offer fell short of their
demands.
LSA-SG
From Page 1A
University spokesman Rick
Fitzgerald said the survey eventu-
ally led to a technical showdown
between the top two vendors -
Google and Microsoft - to pick
which one would be implemented
at the University.
"The survey that was offered
to students, faculty and staff was
meant to really help better under-
stand what tools people use and
how they use them, and then that
was narrowed down to (Google
and Microsoft), who were invited
to campus and made presenta-
tions," Fitzgerald said.
Beginning in late September,
Google and Microsoft held pre-
sentations at the University to
introduce the collaborative tools
that they said could improve the
quality of IT services for the cam-
pus, giving students, faculty and
staff the opportunity to better
understand the future of IT ser-
vices.
Fitzgerald said he's not sure
exactly when the University
would officially announce the
new IT collaborative system, but
he speculates that the decision
will come before the end of the
calendar year.
Steven Benson, LSA-SG Presi-
dent, said his organization first
looked into the University's adop-
tion of new collaborative tools
when Google and Microsoft held
their presentations on campus in
late September and the beginning
of October.
"Right when Microsoft and
Google were coming to campus
was when we started to take a
personal interest in this," Ben-
son said. "A lot of our members of
government were really person-
ally interested in seeingthe direc-
tion of (the University) in terms
of e-mail systems, calendars and
what system they would use."
Following the presentations,
LSA senior Jeff Wojcik, academ-
ic relations officer of LSA-SG,
stressed the potential of the col-
laborative tools to improve both
the academic and extracurricular
lives of students.
Initially, Wojcik, who spon-
sored the resolution, said he sent
an e-mail to all of the members of
the studentgovernmentto receive
feedback on whether they pre-
ferred Google or Microsoft for the
new University system.
"I encouraged people ... to go to
the presentations for both Micro-
soft and Google to learn about
the products, so that they could
be better educated when they
weighed in about which (collabo-
ration tools suite) they wanted to
push for," he said.
By urging other members of
LSA-SG to attend the presenta-
tion, the government was able to
gather an array ofviews regarding
differences in the presentations of
the two companies, Wojcik said.
Wojcik explained that before
determining whether LSA-SG
was going to formally endorse
one product suite or the other, the
group collectively decided that
it was necessary to research the
two options and allow a variety of
opinions within the government
to be expressed.
Despite the widespread use of
Google products within the LSA-
SG community, some members
voiced concerns regarding the
privacy policies of Google.
"There were concerns brought
up in our most recent meeting
about Google's ability to preserve
the privacy and security of stu-
dents and really faculty and staff
data at the University," Wojcik
said.
In response to the apprehen-
sion about the security of the
campus community, members of
the student government exten-
sively researched the security
policies of Google and talked with
University students about their
feelings of security when using
Google products.
The United States government
under the Federal Information
Security Management Act has
certified the security policies of
Google, Wojcik said.
After many members of LSA-
SG attended the presentations
by Google and Microsoft, Wojcik
said the consensus was that more
students were in favor of the
collaboration tools offered by
Google.
"I think both Microsoft and
Google's products are ... really
useful collaboration tool suites,
but ... Google was the best choice
for students," Wojcik said.
Benson echoed Wojcik's senti-
ments, adding that "there were
definitely some members of gov-
ernment, too, that supported
Microsoft, so we had a really
healthy discussion."
Wojcik said many student orga-
nizations across campus includ-
ing LSA-SG often use various
features offered by Google, like
Gmail, Gchat and Google Docs,
adding that LSA-SG's resolution
to endorse Google has been in the
works for the past few weeks fol-
lowing the presentations of the
companies.
"We thought it would be a good
ideato lobbyfor whatthe students
were interested in seeing in their
collaboration tools," he said.
Federal grand jury indicts
19-year-old 'Barefoot Bandit'
Five counts for kan.
Harris-Moore faces up to 10
alleged two-year years in prison each on four of
the counts. He remains in a fed-
string of thefts eral detention center in SeaTac,
Wash., and is scheduled to be
SEATTLE (AP) - The 19-year- arraigned on the indictment Nov.
old "Barefoot Bandit," whose 18.
alleged two-year string of thefts A message left with Harris-
from Washington state to the Moore's attorney, John Henry
Caribbean garnered national Browne, was not immediately
attention and prompted movie returned.
and book offers, was indicted Harris-Moore, a self-taught
Wednesday by a federal grand pilot, is suspected in more than
jury in Seattle. 80 crimes across nine states since
Colton Harris-Moore was authorities say he walked away
indicted on five counts, including from a halfway house in April
interstate transportation of a sto- 2008, many of them in Washing-
len aircraft and being a fugitive in ton's bucolic islands. He grew up
possession of a firearm, the U.S. in Camano Island, a quiet rural
Attorney's Office announced. community in the Puget Sound
"The grand jury action today north of Seattle.
is an important step in holding. After a two-year run from the
Colton Harris-Moore account- law, he was caught July 10 in the
able for his criminal conduct," Bahamas, a week after authori-
said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Dur- ties say he crash-landed an air-
plane stolen from an Indiana
airport. Bahamian authorities
launched an extensive manhunt
for the teenager and arrested him
as he tried to flee in a boat.
Harris-Moore was deported
by the Bahamas to the U.S. after
pleading guilty to illegally enter-
ing the island nation east of
Miami. The U.S. embassy paid a
$300 fine on his behalf.
Harris-Moore's alleged home-
town exploits garnered atten-
tion in Washington state. But
his notoriety took off after his
alleged daring escape to the
Caribbean.
Executives from movie and
television production companies
inquired about his story, prompt-
ing his mother - Pam Kohler - to
hire a well-known entertainment
lawyer to help her field unsolic-
ited offers. A Harris-Moore fan
club on Facebook boasts more
than 23,000 members.
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INSTITUTE
From Page 1A
initiatives on faculty and student
exchange programs, teaching and
research initiatives, conferences
and publications and continuing
legal education programs."
The Centre will be directed
by Univeristy Law School Prof.
Vikramaditya Khanna and Profs.
Vivek Pande, Charles Maddox and
Ajay Goyal of Jindal Global Law
School.
According to Khanna, the long-
term goal of the partnership is to
gain a deeper understanding of
legal issues in a global society.
"(The aim is) to enhance under-
standing of law and legal issues in
India and obtain a deeper under-
standing of legal issues related to
development and the role of the
law in an increasingly heteroge-
neous society and world," Khanna
wrote in an e-mail interview.
The center will focus on
research and legal policy analy-
sis, while working to develop col-
laborative teaching and research,
officials said.
According to the press release
the centre will focus on studying
"the regulation of financial mar-
kets and corporate governance in
the United States, India, and other
jurisdictions."
"Michigan Law has a long and
proud tradition of global law, and
today, most areas of the law have
international aspects," Caminker
said in a press release. "We look
forward to working with O.P.
Jindal Global University to estab-
lish new initiatives and exchanges
of benefit to our students and fac-
ulty in this global context."
Khanna said in the same press
release that building relationships
with Indian institutions is vital to
the University because of India's
growing role in a global society.
"India is the world's largest
democracy, second most popu-
lous country, and one of the fast-
est growing economies," Khanna
wrote. "Studying legal issues
related to India and the US is
important and fascinating and
helps to better understand the
role of the law in a heterogeneous,
fluid, and increasingly global
environment."
As a first step in this partner-
ship, the Jindal Global Law School
has invited Khanna to serve as a
visiting professor this upcoming
semester.