The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
tV8
Thursday, February 24, 2011 - 3A
I
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Video recordings
released of local
store explosion
Newly released audio and
video recordings reveal chaos,
calm and acts of charity in the
aftermath of a suspected gas
main explosion that leveled a
Detroit-area furniture store,
leaving two employees dead and
critically injuring the owner.
The recordings obtained by
The Associated Press through
a Freedom of Information Act
request include 911 calls, police
and fire radio traffic and images
captured by cameras mounted to
police cars and inside a nearby
business.
The video footage doesn't
show the event itself, but one
of the police car cameras does
show debris flying through the
air and landing on the street and
smoke lifting into the air. "Oh my
God. We have the entire city on
Wayne Road," Sondgerath said.
"Actually, the entire county."
NEW YORK
Man charged for
killing victims on
subway and streets
A man charged with kill-
ing four people and wounding
four others in a 28-hour ram-
page across New York City was
charged yesterday with slashing
a subway rider's head in a final
burst of violence moments before
his dramatic arrest beneath
Times Square.
Maksim Gelman didn't enter a
plea or speak as he was arraigned
on attempted murder and assault
charges, appearing via video link
from a hospital where he's being
held in a psychiatric ward on a
slate of murder and other counts.
The Ukraine-born Gelman is
accused of attacking his stepfa-
ther; a woman whose friends say
Gelman was obsessed with her;
the woman's mother; and total
strangers in a spree that spanned
homes, streets and subways.
Most victims were stabbed or
slashed; one was run over.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.
Court asked to
clear way for Calif.
gay marriages
Lawyers for two same-sex
couples again asked a federal
appeals court yesterday to allow
gay marriage to resume in Cali-
fornia while the court consid-
ers the constitutionality of the
state's ban on same-sex unions.
The couples' attorneys filed a
motion asking the 9th U.S. Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals to lift the
stay it imposed in September on
a trial court ruling that struck
down the voter-approved ban
known as Proposition 8.
The request was prompted by
an "intolerable" delay created
last week when the California
Supreme Court said it needed the
rest of the year to consider a piv-
otal legal question in the case -
whether Proposition 8 sponsors
have authority to challenge the
lower court's decision, lawyer
Theodore Olson said.
BRUSSELS
U.N. may mandate
no-fly zones in
Libyan air space
A no-fly zone may be imposed
over Libya to protect civilians
from attacks by government
aircraft, the U.N.'s top human
rights official said yesterday.
U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights Navi Pillay says
if unconfirmed reports of aerial
attacks against civilians turn
out to be true, "I think there's an
immediate need for that level of
protection."
In an interview with The
Associated Press yesterday, Pil-
lay said she was "appalled" by the
level of violence in Libya because
protesters are only demanding
basic human rights.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
a
EMANUEL EKRA/AP
South African soldiers providing security for South African President Jacob Zuma wait for his arrival at the airport in
Abidjan, Ivory Coast Monday, Feb.21, 2011.
Libyan protesters de-mand
removal of leader Gadhafi
On prank phone
call, Wisconsin gov.
discusses strategy
In talk with editor cozy relationship with two bil-
'e lionaire brothers who have
Walker reveals plans poured millions of dollars into
conservative political causes,
to dismantle public including Walker's campaign last
year.
employee unions Walker compared his stand
to that taken by President Ron-
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - On ald Reagan when he fired the
a prank call that quickly spread nation's air-traffic controllers
across the Internet, Wisconsin during a labor dispute in 1981.
Gov. Scott Walker was duped into "That was the first crack in the
discussing his strategy to cripple Berlin Wall and led to the fall of
public employee unions, promis- the Soviets," Walker said on the
ing never to give in and joking recording.
that he would use a baseball bat The audio was posted by the
in his office to go after political Buffalo Beast, aleft-leaning web-
opponents. site based in Buffalo, N.Y., and
Walker believed the caller was quickly went viral.
a conservative billionaire named Ian Murphy told The Associat-
David Koch, but it was actu- ed Press he carried out the prank
ally the editor of a liberal online to show how candidly Walker
newspaper. The two talked for at would speak with Koch even
least 20 minutes - a conversation though, according to Democrats,
in which the governor described he refuses to return their calls.
several potential ways to pres- Murphy said he arranged
sure Democrats to return to the the call Tuesday after speaking
Statehouse and revealed that with two Walker aides, including
his supporters had considered the governor's chief of staff. He
secretly planting people in pro- placed the call using Skype and
union protest crowds to stir up recorded it.
trouble. Walker spokesman Cullen
The call, which surfaced yes- Werwie confirmed that it was
terday, also showed Walker's Walker's voice on the call.
Somali militants
display five dead
p eacekeeper bodies
White House
mulling options to
stop violence
BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) -
The scope of Moammar Gad-
hafi's rule in Libya was whittled
away yesterday as major cities
and towns closer to the capital
fell into the hands of protesters
demanding his ouster. In Libya's
east, now allbut broken awaythe
opposition vowed to "liberate"
Tripoli, where the Libyan leader
is holed up with a force of militia-
men roaming the streets.
In a further sign of Gadhafi's
faltering hold, two air force pilots
- one from the leader's own
tribe - parachuted out of their
warplane and let it crash into the
deserts of eastern Libya, rather
than follow orders to bomb a
opposition-held city.
International momentum was
building for action to punish
Gadhafi's regime for the bloody
crackdown it has unleashed
against the week-old upris-
ing against his rule. The White
House said it is reviewing options
to compel Libya to stop violence,
including sanctions. French
President Nicolas Sarkozy raised
the possibility of the EU cutting
off economic ties.
"The violence is abhorrent, it
is completely unacceptable and
the bloodshed must stop," White
House spokesman Jay Carney
said in Washington.
Italy's Foreign Minister Fran-
co Frattini said estimates of some
1,000 people killed in the vio-
lence in Libya were "credible,"
althoughhe stressed information
about casualties was incomplete.
The New York-based Human
Rights Watch has put the death
toll at nearly 300, according to a
partial count.
In Tripoli, Gadhafi's strong-
hold, protest organizers were
calling for new rallies today and
Friday, raisingthe potential for a
new bloody confrontation.
Militiamen and Gadhafi sup-
porters - a mix of Libyans and
foreign African fighters bused
in - roamed the capital's main
streets, called up by the, Libyan
leader in a fist-pounding speech
the night before in which he
vowed to fight to the death. The
gunmen fired weapons in the air,
chanting "long live Gadhafi" and
waving green flags. With a steady
rain all day long, streets were
largely empty, residents said.
In many neighborhoods, resi-
dents set up watch groups to
keep militiamen out, barricad-
ing their streets with concrete
blocks, metal and rocks and
searching those trying to enter,
said a Tripoli activist.
Gadhafi's residence at Trip-
oli's Aziziya Gates was guarded
by loyalists along with a line of
armed militiamen in vehicles;
some masked, he said. The radio
station building downtown was
also heavily fortified. In one
western neighborhood, security
forces stormed several homes
and arrested three or four peo-
ple, a witnesses said.
"Mercenaries are everywhere
with weapons. You can't open
a window or door. Snipers hunt
people," said another resident,
who said she had spent the last
night in her home awake hearing
gunfire outside. "We are under
siege, at the mercy of a man who
is not a Muslim."
But below the surface, pro-
testers were organizing, said the
activist. At night, they fan out
and spray-paint anti-Gadhafi
graffiti or set fires near police
stations, chanting "the people
want the ouster of the regime,"
before running at the approach
of militiamen, he said. The Trip-
oli residents, like other witnesses
around the country, spoke on
condition of anonymity because
of fear of retaliation.
In opposition-controlled
Benghazi, the eastern city where
the uprising began on Feb. 17,
residents held a mass rally out-
side the city's main courthouse,
vowing to support protesters in
the capital, said Farag al-Warfali,
a local banker. They also called
a one-day fast in solidarity with
them. Afterward, young men
went into the courthouse to reg-
ister to obtain weapons, which
had been looted from police sta-
tions and military bases and then
turned over to the city's new rul-
ers, he said.
The idea is to "take their weap-
ons and march toward Tripoli,"
al-Warfali said - though Beng-
hazi lies 580 miles (940 kilo-
meters) east of the capital, and
territory stilloyal-to'Gadhafi lies
between them.
The extent ofGadhafi's control
over the country he has ruled for
41 years had been reduced to the
western coastal region around
Tripoli, the deserts to the south
and parts of the center.
Ater Gadhafi's speech Tuesday
night, militiamen flooded into
Sabratha, a town west of Tripoli
famed for nearby ancient Roman
ruins, and battled protesters who
had taken over, said one resident.
Around 5,000 militiamen from
neighboring towns, backed by
army and police units, clashed
with protesters and drove them
from the streets, he said.
But his territory was being
eroded.
After intense
fighting, dozens
wounded, 10 AU
troops killed
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP)
- Somali militants said yester-'
day they had paraded the bodies
of five African Union peacekeep-
ers killed in fighting and also
were holding a soldier from
Burundi captive after intense
battles in the capital.
The fighting appeared to come
amid a major push in Mogadishu
by Somali troops and African
Union peacekeepers against the
militants. Heavy fighting had
broken out over the weekend
after AU troops ^ discovered a
trench used by militants to move
supplies and fighters in the capi-
tal.
The violence started yester-
day after AU peacekeepers and
Somali troops launched a dawn
attack on rebel positions, seiz-
ing the former Somalia Ministry
of Defense-building, which had
been servi9g as the militants'
base; according to Maj. Barigye
Bahoku,- spokesman for the AU
troops'
Bahok eclined to comment
on reports of heavy losses by the
AU troops.
An al-Shabab spokesman;
Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, said
that militants had killed five
peacekeepers and captured one
alive. He said the militants had
paraded the bodies of the five
men.
A Nairobi-based diplomat who
quoted defense sources in Moga-
dishu said reports indicated that
up to 10 African Union troops
were killed and dozens were
wounded in yesterday's fighting.
The diplomat said he could not
be quoted by name because his
organization does not allow it.
Somalia's prime minister,
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed,
said yesterday that government-
allied troops are expanding con-
trol of the capital.
U.S. denounces mistreatment of
Cuban political prisoner's mother
Protests mark one-
year anniversary of
prisoner's 83-day
hunger strike
HAVANA (AP) - The United
States yesterday denounced
what it said is a campaign of
intimidation against the moth-
er of a Cuban political prisoner
who died after a hunger strike,
and called on the government of
Raul Castro to release all dissi-
dents still behind bars.
Meanwhile, Cuban oppo-
sition leaders on the island
planned low-key protests to
mark the one-year anniversary
of the death of Orlando Zapata
Tamayo, who passed away on
Feb. 23, 2010 after an 83-day
hunger strike.
State Department spokes-
man P.J. Crowley joined a cho-
rus of international criticism
of Cuba for its treatment of
Zapata's mother, Reina Luisa
Tamayo, who was detained for
about 12 hours last week in her
hometown of Banes, in eastern
Cuba.
"Mr. Orlando Zapata
Tamayo's death highlights
the injustice of Cuba's deten-
tion of political prisoners who
should now be released without
delay," he said in a statement
from Washington yesterday.
He called Zapata a "courageous
humanitarian who died defend-
ing a universal human right -
freedom of expression."
Amnesty International
issued its own denunciation of
Cuba's treatment of Zapata's
mother on Tuesday.
Reached by telephone in
Banes, Reina Luisa Tamayo
said she spent the day laying
flowers and a Cuban flag on
her son's grave and then went
to get passport photos made
for a visa to the United States,
which has granted her political
refuge.
She said she plans to have
her son cremated and bring the
ashes when she departs Cuba
for good - expected to be in
the coming months, although
Tamayo recently said she was
still awaiting Cuban paper-
work.
Cuba had no comment on the
anniversary. The government
considers the dissidents to be
mercenaries paid by Washing-
ton to destabilize the country,
and says its doctors did every-
thing they could to keep Zapata
alive during his fast.
Since Zapata's death, the
government has cleared its jails
of many political prisoners. It
has freed 46 activists, intellec-
tuals and social commentators
arrested in a 2003 crackdown,
and now holds just six men
arrested in that sweep who are
considered "prisoners of con-
science" by Amnesty.
It has also freed about 25
other prisoners arrested sepa-
rately for violent - but politi-
cally motivated - crimes like
hijacking and sabotage. Eliz-
ardo Sanchez, a prominent
human rights activist on the
island, says around 100 such
prisoners remain in Cuban jails,
some convicted of violent acts
including murder.
Members of the Ladies in
White, formed by the wives and
mothers of the 2003 detainees,
gathered at the Havana home
of Laura Pollan, one of the
opposition group's leaders, to
mark the anniversary of Zapa-
ta's death.
Associated Press reporters
saw a heavy police presence
on the streets outside Pollan's
home, perhaps in anticipation
of a march. But another Ladies
in White leader, Bertha Soler,
said the women had no plans to
emerge.
"All we wanted was to get
together and pay tribute to
Zapata;" she said. "We are pray-
ing, lighting candles and laying
flowers. For the moment, we
have no plans to march."
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