The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
ANN ARBOR
Borders cuts jobs at
A2 headquarters
" Borders Group Inc. says it elimi-
nated 45 jobs at its corporate head-
quarters as the bookseller works to
cut costs.
The job cuts disclosed yesterday
came in several areas of opera-
tions, including human resources,
finance, merchandising and dis-
tribution centers. Spokeswoman
Mary Davis said in an e-mailed
statement employees who lost jobs
will receive severance.
Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Bor-
ders is facing stiff competition
from online retailers, discount
stores and the growing electronic
book industry.
It announced plans last week
to close a Tennessee distribution
center and eliminate 310 jobs.
The No. 2 traditional book
seller in the U.S. said last month
it delayed payments to vendors to
preserve cash as it works to refi-
nance its debt.
Borders launched its e-book-
store last summer. It is expanding
a selection of e-readers in its stores
and children's toys and games.
DETROIT
Detectives search
for attacker of
seven women
Detectives are searching for
a man who they believe sexu-
ally assaulted seven women since
New Year's Day and tried to attack
another, Detroit's police chief said
yesterday.
The first attack happened
before dawn on Jan. 1, and the
most recent attack happened at
2:40 a.m. Thursday, hours before
volunteers hit the streets to warn
women and to circulate a sketch of
the suspect, Chief Ralph Godbee
said at a news conference.
"We don't want people to be
gripped by fear. ... We're not going
to let this monster cripple us,"
Godbee said.
The suspect is described as
black, in his 30s and about 5 feet
9 inches tall. All of the victims are
black, and they range in age from
17 to 33 years old, the chief said.
All of the attacks happened
about five miles from downtown
Detroit, and in most cases, the
victims were waiting for a bus or
walking to or from a bus stop, God-
bee said.
MIAMI
Suspicious cargo
! found on Florida-
bound flight
Authorities say an empty holder
for detonators used in construction
or oil drilling prompted a bomb
squad inspection of an American
Airlines plane that arrived yester-
day at Miami International Air-
port from Brazil.
A Miami-Dade Police bomb
squad was dispatched to the plane
after baggage handlers found a
suspicious item in the cargo hold
of Flight 930 from Sao Paolol.
Authorities said the holder was
discovered rattling around inside
a container during an inspection
of the plane's cargo shipments. All
of the flight's 169 passengers had
already deplaned.
"They found what appeared to
be detonator devices, but it turned
out to be empty containers that are
made to hold detonators. There
were no explosives inside them,"
said police spokeswoman Det.
Edna Hernandez.
American Airlines spokesman
Tim Smith called the detonator
holder "nothing threatening."
TOLUCA, Mexico
Eight dead in drug
dealer shootout
Police say eight people have died
in a shootout among drug dealers
in a poor suburb of Mexico City.
Mexico State Attorney General
Alfredo Castillo says drug deal-
ers who once worked together
are fighting over control of the La
Esperanza neighborhood in the
city of Nezahualcoyotl.
State investigators say in a
statement that gunmen arrived in
three cars at a house in the gritty
neighborhood and opened fire on a
group of people gathered there on
Sunday.
Turf battles between drug car-
tels have left more than 30,000
people dead since December 2006
but the capital has been spared of
the violence.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Destiney Scott, 16, used her day off from school to join her friends in the 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. parade which begins at
City Park next to the Dr. Martin Luther King I Have Dream Memorial and continues west down Colfax Ave.
Nation honors Dr.
Martin Luther KIng
In light of shooting,
thousands gather
to remember King's
message of peace
ATLANTA (AP) - The nation
observed the Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr.'s birthday yesterday with
thousands volunteering for ser-
vice projects and more reflecting
on his lessons of nonviolence and
civility in the week following the
shootings in Arizona.
Six people were killed in
Tucson and Democratic Con-
gresswoman Gabrielle Giffords
is fighting for her life. The vio-
lent outburst was a reminder to
many gathered at King's former
church in Atlanta that the Bap-
tist preacher's message remained
relevant nearly four decades after
his own untimely death at the
hands of an assassin.
Attorney General Eric Hold-
er praised him as "our nation's
greatest drum major of peace"
and said the Jan. 8 bloodshed
was a call to recommit to King's
values of nonviolence, tolerance,
compassion and justice.
"Last week a senseless ram-
page in Tucson reminded us
that more than 40 years after
Dr. King's own tragic death, our
struggle to eradicate violence
and to promote peace goes on,"
Holder said.
President Barack Obama and
first lady Michelle volunteered
to paint for a service project at a
middle school in Washington's
Capitol Hill. He urged Americans
to get out into their communities
- a step he suggested would have
special meaning following the
shootings.
"After a painful week where so
many of us were focused on the
tragedy, it's good for us to remind
ourselves of what this country is
all about," he said.
National and local politicians
joined members of the King fam-
ily at Ebenezer Baptist Church
in Atlanta to mark what would
have been the civil rights icon's
82nd birthday. Members of the
King family also laid a wreath at
the tombs of King and his widow,
Coretta Scott King, on the 25th
anniversary of the federal holi-
day established to honor the 1964
Nobel Peace Prize winner.
The largely African American
audience of about 2,000 gath-
ered at Ebenezer - where King
preached from 1960 until his
death in 1968 - included par-
ents and children, members of
the clergy, politicians and foot-
soldiers of the civil rights move-
ment.
Two of the Kings' four chil-
dren, Martin Luther KingII and
the Rev. Bernice King attended
Monday's ceremony. Their broth-
er, Dexter King, was unable to
attend the service because he
is recovering from injuries he
received in a car crash last year.
Yolanda King, the eldest of the
King siblings, died in 2007. Ber-
nice King is also president-elect
of the Southern Christian Lead-
ership Conference, which her
father co-founded in 1957.
Rep. John Lewis of Georgia,
who worked with King during
the civil rights movement, issued
a renewed call for Americans to
unite in peace and love as King
preached during his lifetime.
"If Dr. King could speak to us
today, he would tell us that it does
not matter how much we disap-
prove of another person's point
of view, there is never a reason
to deny another human being
the respect he or she deserves,"
Lewis said.
The Rev. Raphael Warnock,
pastor of Ebenezer, called for
members of Congress to show
solidarity during the State of
the Union Address this month.
Quoting the Bible and Abraham
Lincoln, Warnock said, "A house
divided against itself cannot
stand."
"Maybe after Arizona what
our children need to see is us sit-
ting together," Warnock said.
In Philadelphia, hundreds
of volunteers including Mayor
Michael Nutter helped refurbish
computers for needy residents as
part of the city's "day of service"
events to mark the King holiday.
"The computer is your pass-
port, not only to the future but
to knowing what's going around
you," Nutter said.
Tunisia works toward
developing government
Three days after
president flees,
citizens protest
former ruling party
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) - Tuni-
sia took a step toward democracy
and reconciliation yesterday,
promising to free political pris-
oners and opening its govern-
ment to opposition forces long
shut out of power - but the old
guard held onto the key posts,
angering protesters.
Demonstrators carrying signs
reading "GET OUTt demanded
that the former ruling party be
banished altogether - a sign
more troubles lie ahead for the
new unity government as secu-
rity forces struggle to contain
violent reprisals, shootings and
looting three days after the coun-
try's longtime president fled
under pressure from the streets.
"We're afraid that the presi-
dent has left, but the powers-
that-be remain," said Hylel
Belhassen, a 51-year-old insur-
ance salesman. Even before the
new government was announced
yesterday, security forces fired
tear gas to repel demonstrators
who see the change of power
as Tunisia's first real chance at
democracy.
President Zine El Abidine Ben
Ali fled Friday to Saudi Arabia
after a month of protests over
unemployment and corrup-
tion led to his downfall after 23
years in power. The government
announced yesterday that 78
civilians have died in the month
of unrest - an announcement
that underlined the depth of the
violence in the usually placid
Mediterranean tourist destina-
tion.
Under autocratic Ben Ali,
Tunisia was effectively under
one-party rule. The new govern-
ment named yesterday includes
three ministers from the oppo-
sition - a first in Tunisia - but
members of Ben Ali's RCD party
held onto mostofthejobs, includ-
ing the most important posts.
Security forces have gotten
an image makeover in the pub-
lic mind. The once-feared police
have been fighting snipers and
armed groups widely believed to
be Ben Ali loyalists.
Nearby nations, meanwhile,
faced a wave of self-immolation
attempts yeseterday, apparently
influencedby the desperate Tuni-
sian man who set himself on fire a
month ago, sparking the protests
that brought his president down.
In Tunisia, hundreds of
stranded tourists were still being
evacuated and foreign airlines
gradually resumed flights that
were halted when Tunisian air-
space closed amid the upheaval.
Besides the 78 civilians killed
in the monthlong protests, Interi-
or Minister Ahmed Friaa said 94
civilians were injured - a jump
from the previous official death
toll of 23. The new figure- does
not include members of security
forces, some of whom also died,
Friaa said.
Among victims of the violence
was a French photojournalist
who died Monday after being hit
in the face with a tear gas canis-
ter three days earlier. The French
Foreign Ministry said Loucas
Von Zabiensky-Mebrouk, 32, was
the "victim of a deliberate homi-
cidal act."
The troubles have reverber-
ated to the tourist-based Tuni-
sian economy, which Friaa said
has lost $2 billion because of the
unrest. Resort towns like Ham-
mamet are boarded up and under
police control, said Norredine
Gohdbani, who worked in a res-
taurant there and has returned to
stay with his family in Tunis.
Friaa told reporters that 85
police stations have been dam-
aged around the country, along
with 13 town halls, 43 banks, 11
factories and 66 stores or shop-
ping centers.
Streets of the capital appeared
calmer Monday but police were
posted on most corners in down-
town Tunis, with busloads of
forces waiting to deploy. Most
shops remained shuttered, but a
rare eatery, a pizza restaurant,
opened its doors - filled mostly
with hungry police officers.
Prime Minister Mohamed
Ghannouchi offered a number
of concessions to try to appease
Ben Ali's critics, while maintain-
ing the ruling party's dominance
of government and public posts
around the country.
Ghannouchi, a longtime Ben
Ali ally who has been premier
since 1999, retained his post,
as did the current ministers of
defense, interior and foreign
affairs.
Three opposition figures,
including Nejib Chebbi, a founder
of the opposition PDP party, will
take up posts in the new govern-
ment.
More significantly, Ghannou-
chi pledged such measures as
freeing political prisoners and
lifting restrictions on a leading
humanrightsgroup, the Tunisian
League for the Defense of Human
Rights. He said the government
would create three new state
commissions to study political
reform, investigate corruption
and bribery, and examine abuses
during the recent upheaval.
However, at least one union
leader said the changes were not
enough and predicted demon-
strations would continue until all
key figures ruling party had been
swept from power.
"It (the ruling RCD) left by
the back door and is coming back
through the window," said Habib
Jerjir, a member of the executive
bureau of the Regional Workers'
Union of Tunis.