The Michigan Daily - mchigandaily.com
Monday, March 7, 2011 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, March 7,2011 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
NEW HAVEN, Conn.
East Coast suspect
of 17 rapes headed
to court today
The man suspected of ter-
rorizing women with sexual
assaults from Virginia to Rhode
Island over 12 years is scheduled
to appear in court in Connecti-
cut.
Police say DNA confirmed that
Aaron Thomas, an unemployed
truck driver, is the East Coast
Rapist, suspected in attacks on at
least 17 women.
Thomas tried to hang him-
self Saturday in his cell and was
returned to jail after a brief hos-
pital stay.
New Haven police spokesman
Joe Avery said yesterday that
the hearing in New Haven Supe-
rior Court is still on schedule for
today.
The East Coast Rapist is want-
ed for 17 rapes and other attacks
in Connecticut, Maryland,
Rhode Island and Virginia that
began in 1997. The cases were
linked by DNA.
HAWAII
Volcanic lava
spews 65 feet after
crater's collapse
Scientists in Hawaii say a new
vent has opened at one of the
world's most active volcanoes,
sending lava shooting up to 65
feet high.
The Hawaiian Volcano Obser-
vatory says the fissure eruption
was spotted shortly after the
floor at the Pu'u O'o (PUU'-oo
Oh-oh) crater collapsed around 5
p.m. Saturday. It occurred along
the middle of Kilauea (kee-
LAH'-wey-ah) Volcano's east rift
zone.
Kilauea has been in constant
eruption since Jan. 3, 1983.
Volcanologist Janet Babb told
the Hawaii Tribune-Herald that
the fissure has expanded to about
535 yards long and that scientists
were hiking into the remote area
to observe the fissure and take
readings.
. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti
Amid ruins, Haiti's
Carnival resumes
Raucous crowds danced in
the streets of the Haitian capital
yesterday as the city celebrated
its first Carnival since last year's
devastating earthquake forced
the cancellation of the annual
festivities.
The parade filed past the
ruined facades of downtown
shops, and the normally busy
boulevard outside the collapsed
National Palace was turned into
a pedestrian zone for three days
of revelry. Organizers erected
a plywood wall to separate the
Carnival zone from the huge
Champ de Mars plaza, now a
camp for tens of thousands of
people made homeless by the
quake.
Many spectators grumbled
that Carnival was much smaller
than in the past. Others said the
city had no business holding the
celebration at all.
TOKYO
Japanese foreign
minister resigns
from his position
Japan's foreign minister sud-
denly quit yesterday for having
accepted a political donation
from a foreigner - a violation of
Japanese law - dealing another
blow to the embattled adminis-
tration of Prime Minister Naoto
Kan.
Seiji Maehara, 48, was foreign
minister for just six months, and
was viewed as a leading candi-
date to succeed Kan.
Maehara acknowledged, re-
ceiving a total of 250,000 yen
($3,000) over the past several
years from a 72-year-old Korean
woman who has lived most of
her life in Japan. He said they
had been friends since his child-
hood.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Battles continue
torage iLibya
Participants in a rally sponsored by Americans for Prosperity gather under a statue of Abraham Lincoln, outside the
Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb., Friday, March 4, 2011.
Anti-union supporters
hold rally for Wisc. bill
Gadhafi's forces try
to stop rebel move
toward capital
BIN JAWWAD, Libya (AP)
- Forces loyal to Moammar
Gadhafi, some in helicopter gun-
ships, pounded opposition fight-
ers with artillery, rockets and
gunfire yesterday, dramatically
escalatingtheir counteroffensive
to halt the rebels' rapid advance
toward the capital
They also battled to loosen the
grip of rebels on two cities close
to Tripoli. But in at least one
case, their tactics appeared to
lead them into atrap.
Residents said pro-Gadhafi
troops punched into the city of
Misrata, 120 miles (200 kilome-
ters) east of Tripoli, the capi-
tal, with mortars and tanks but
were pushed out five hours later
by rebel forces. The rebel com-
manders intentionally opened
the way for government tanks to
enter the city, then surrounded
them and attacked with anti-
aircraft guns and mortars, said
Abdel Fatah al-Misrati, one of
the rebels.
"Our spirits are high," al-Mis-
rati said. "The regime is strug-
gling and what is happening is
a desperate attempt to survive
and crush the opposition. But the
rebels are in control of the city."
As fighting across Libya grew
more fierce, the international
community appeared to be
struggling to put military muscle
behind its demands for Gadhafi
to give up power. -
A small British delegation
sent to talk to the rebels head-
quartered in the main eastern
city of Benghazi, meanwhile,
was arrested by the rebels them-
selves, who said the group had
entered the country without
permission. The rebels have set
up an interim governing council
that is urging international air-
strikes on Gadhafi's strongholds
and forces, though they strongly
oppose foreign intervention on
the ground.
Yesterday's fighting appeared
to signal the start of a new phase
in the conflict, with Gadhafi's
regime unleashing its air power
on the rebel force trying to oust
the ruler of 41 years. Resorting
to heavy use of air attacks sig-
naled the regime's concern that
it needed to check the advance of
the rebel force toward the city
of Sirte - Gadhafi's hometown
and stronghold.
Demonstration
met by hundreds of
counter-protestors
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -
About 700 people rallied yes-
terday in support of Republican
Gov. Scott Walker and his anti-
union plan to balance the bud-
get - a demonstration meant
to counter three weeks of large
anti-Walker protests in and
around the state Capitol.
The rally was the culmi-
nation of a 10-stop bus tour
sponsored by the conservative
advocacy group Americans for
Prosperity that started Thurs-
day in Kenosha. It took place
at the Aliant Energy Center in
Madison, which is a couple of
miles from the Capitol, where
thousands of pro-union dem-
onstrators rallied Saturday and
yesterday.
Hundreds of pro-union
counter-protesters lined up
outside the arena entrance and
parking lot carrying placards
and chanting "Shame!" at the
Walker supporters. The gov-
ernor's backers held their own
signs with messages such as "I
Stand with Walker" and "Dems
Serve Unions not 'The People."'
Matt Seaholm, the state
director of Americans for Pros-
perity, said the purpose of the
bus tour and rallies was to show
that Walker still has support
among those who voted him
into office in November.
"We've got to continue the
push!" he said at the rally to
loud cheers. "It's not going to
end anytime soon."
The legislation was passed
in the Republican-controlled
Assembly but stalled in the state
Senate because its 14 Demo-
cratic members fled the state to
deprive their Republican col-
leagues of the quorum they'd
need to vote on the bill.
Walker defends the anti-
union bill as necessary to help
Wisconsin plug a $3.6 billion
budget hole, but unions and
Democratic opponents say it
overreaches and is more about
busting the unions than bal-
ancing the budget because
it aims to strip most public
employees of nearly all their
collective bargaining rights.
Union leaders have agreed
to pay more for their benefits,
which equates to an 8 percent
pay cut, as Walker has pro-
posed as long as they can retain
their bargaining rights. Walker
has refused to compromise,
although he said last week
that he was negotiating some
changes with Democrats.
Walker spokesman Cullen
Werwie said yesterday there
were no new developments
with the negotiations. One of
the 14 Democrats, Sen. Tim
Cullen, said Saturday that the
talks with Walker broke down
on Thursday.
With the bill stalled, Walker
said layoffs may be necessary
so the state can start to realize
the $30 million savings he had
assumed would come from the
concessions. All state workers,
except those at prisons, state
hospitals and other facilities
open around the clock, would
be potential layoff targets.
Walker informed state
employee unions Friday that he
intends to issue layoff notices
to 1,500 workers that would be
effective on April 4.
The pro-Walker rally comes
after tens of thousands of peo-
ple protested on Saturday at
the Capitol for a third straight
weekend. The previous two ral-
lies attracted about 70,000 and
more than 80,000. About 5,700
people had been at the Capi-
tol as of early yesterday after-
noon, the state Department of
Administration estimated.
At the Americans for Pros-
perity rally, former Madison
school board member Nancy
Mistele accused unions of being
concerned only with maintain-
ing their power, and not with
taking care of their rank-and-
file members.
"Democrats andunions stand
for bankrupting our state," she
said. "Shame on them."
Joel Ninneman, a 51-year-old
information technology spe-
cialist from the Madison area
who is a Walker supporter, said
the Democratic state senators
should allow the vote.
"It's time our state sena-
tors get back and do the job
they were elected to do," said
Ninneman, 51.
One of the union backers out-
side the rally, Jeannie Fiegel,
60, of Madison, said she wished
those who were supporting the
bill would get informed on all
the issues at play. She said the
protesters' efforts were paying
off.
"The bill isn't passed, is it?"
she said.
The rally's organizer, Amer-
icans for Prosperity, launched
a $320,000 television ad cam-
paign in support of Walker's
proposal last month. The
group is heavily financed by
billionaire brothers David and
Charles Koch, who own Koch
Industries Inc. and who sup-
ported Walker's election cam-
paign.
i1
New members named
to Egyptian Cabinet
Pro-reform groups suburb of Nasr City. The protests
followed reports that agents
expected to approve were burning and shredding
.e a documents to destroy evidence
that would incriminate them in
possible cases of human rights
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's prime abuses.
minister-designate named a Yesterday, army soldiers fired
caretaker Cabinet yesterday to in the air and used stun guns to
help lead the country through disperse hundreds of protest-
reforms and toward free elec- ers who wanted to storm the
tions after the-uprising that oust---State-Security offiees-inside the
ed President Hosni Mubarak. Interior Ministry in downtown
The changes include new Cairo. The protesters said they
faces in the key foreign, interior wanted to see for themselves
and justice ministries - a deci- whether the building had secret
sion expected to be met with cells and to stop officers from
the approval of the pro-reform destroying documents.,
groups that led an 18-day upris- Thugs armed with rocks,
ing that forced Mubarak to step firebombs and machetes also
down on Feb. 11. Meanwhile, a charged at the protesters, but
rally outside the Interior Minis- it was not immediately known
try in Cairo, which houses offic- who had sent them. The State
es of the hated State Security Security agency, which employs
agency, was violently broken up. about 100,000 of Egypt's
Protesters have over the past 500,000-strong security forces,
two days rallied outside some is blamed for the worst human
dozen state security offices rights abuses against Mubarak's
across the nation. In many cases, opponents.
protesters stormed the buildings, Dismantling the agency has
including the main State Secu- been a key demand of the protest
rity headquarters in the Cairo groups that led the uprising.
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White House praises Muslims
before congressional hearings
Protestors rallied
in Time Square
against hearing
STERLING, Va. (AP) -
Muslim Americans are not part
of the terrorism problem fac-
ing the U.S. - they are part of
the solution, a top White House
official said yesterday at a
Washington-area mosque.
Deputy National Security
Adviser Denis McDonough set
the Obama administration's
tone for discussions as tensions
escalate before the first in a
series of congressional hear-
ings on Islamic radicalization.
The hearings, chaired by New
York Republican Peter King,
will focus on the level of coop-
eration from the Muslim com-
munity to help law enforcement
combat radicalization.
The majority of the recent
terror plots and attempts
against the U.S. have involved
people espousing a radical and
violent view of Islam. Just a
few weeks ago a college student
from Saudi Arabia who studied
chemical engineering in Texas
was arrested after he bought
explosive chemicals online. It
was part of a plan to hide bomb
materials inside dolls and baby
carriages and blow up dams,
nuclear plants or the Dal-
las home of former President
George W. Bush.
King said the Muslim com-
munity could and should do
more to work with law enforce-
ment to stop its members from
radicalizing and recruiting
others to commit violence.
"I don't believe there is
sufficient cooperation" by
American Muslims with law
enforcement, King said Sunday
on CNN's "State of the Union."
"Certainly my dealings with
the police in New York and
FBI and others say they do
not believe they get the same
- they do not give the level of
cooperation that they need."
In New York City on yester-
day, about 300 protestors gath-
ered in Times Square to speak
out against King's hearing,
criticizing it as xenophobic and
saying that singling out Mus-
lims, rather than extremists, is
unfair.
McDonough said that
instead of condemning whole
communities, the U.S. needs
to protect them from intimida-
tion.
McDonough spoke to an
interfaith forum at a Northern
Virginia mosque known for
its longtime relationship and
cooperation with the FBI. The
executive director of the cen-
ter, Imam Mohamed Magid,
also spoke, as did speakers
from a local synagogue and a
Presbyterian church.
The administration has
tried to strike a balance on
the thorny issue, working to
go after homegrown Islamic
extremists without appearing
to be at war with the Muslim
world. There has been an effort
to build stronger relationships
with Muslims - internation-
ally and in the United States.
During his remarks yester-
day, McDonough called the
mosque a "typically American
place" and said it reminded him
of his Catholic parish where he
grew up in Minnesota.
"Being religious is never un-
American. Being religious is
quintessentially American," he
said.
He commended the
mosque's members for taking
"an unequivocal stand against
terrorism."
"You've sent a message that
those who perpetrate such
horrific attacks do not rep-
resent you or your faith, and
that they will not succeed in
pitting believers of different
faiths against one another,"
McDonough said.