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. BREW YOUR OWN BEERO? WE HAVE A CONTEST FOR THAT. E-mail calero@michigandaily.com to enter the Daily's second annual home brew contest. Sign up and SAVE! $300 Off any MCAT or LSAT course. Now is the perfect timeV o prep With one of ths natiods leaders in test -Small Classes *ExpertInstrctors Free Extra Help =WMW 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.