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. We all make mistakes! Don't make not taking the Printeton Review MCATcourse one of them 'Over105 Hours ofLIVE In-Class lnstruction - 5 separte instrctors, ico,-Chem G-Chem, Physics,Verbal "'17 Computt-Based Tests withcrealisticoan-scceen tools - SatisfactionGuaranteed *FREEVerbalAccelerator-5Hours, a$299value *FREESuperBioReview-5 Hours,aSI99value *4,300Pagesof Mateials toTake Home '[t.U02 .wilPehte.Rcair m E|||ia" | C|"||||n|n8|3|| H- -,"""""*'""* ""'""""" 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.