® The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich.
Metro Detroit
judge accused of
misusing $130K
A misconduct hearing has
opened against a Detroit-area
judge who is accused of misusing
about $130,000.
Inkster District Judge Sylvia
James has been suspended with
pay after two decades on the
bench. She's accused of spending
court money to promote herself,
including giving cash for cheer-
leader uniforms, a school trip to
Europe and a high school reunion.
Margaret Rynier is acting as
a prosecutor during a trial-like
hearing that started yesterday
at the Michigan Judicial Ten-
ure Commission in Dearborn
Heights.
FRESNO, Calif.
Supreme Court
blocks California
slaughterhouse law
The Supreme Court yester-
day overturned a California law
that would require euthaniz-
ing downed livestock at feder-
ally inspected slaughterhouses to
keep the meat out of the nation's
food system.
California strengthened regu-
lations against slaughtering so-
called "downer" animals after
the 2008 release of an undercover
Humane Society of the United
States video showed workers
abusing cows at a slaughterhouse.
In a widely expected decision,
the high court ruled that the
state's 2009 law was blocked from
going into effect by federal law
administered by the Agriculture
Department's Food Safety and
Inspection Service.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands
Four of six Kenyan
suspects to face
trial for '07 attacks
International Criminal Court
judges yesterday ordered four
prominent Kenyans, including
two potential presidential candi-
dates, to stand trial for allegedly
orchestrating a deadly wave of
violence after their country's dis-
puted 2007 presidential election.
Among the four suspects sent
for trial were Deputy Prime Min-
ister and Finance Minister Uhuru
Kenyatta, and former Education
Minister William Ruto - both of
whom are planning to run for the
presidency this year.
Kenyatta, 50, is the son of
Kenya's founding president, Jomo
Kenyatta, and the country's rich-
est citizen with a personal for-
tune of half a billion dollars. Ruto
is a former ally of Prime Minister
Raila Odinga, but the two had a
falling-out - partly over Ruto's
insistence on making his own
presidential bid this year.
More than 1,000 people were
killed in postelection violence in
Kenya after police ejected observ-
ers from the center where votes
were being tallied and the elec-
toral body declared President
Mwai Kibaki the winner.
PARIS
French parliament
passes Armenian
genocide legislation
A bill making it a crime to deny
the 1915 killings of Armenians
was a genocide has passed both
houses of France's parliament.
The Senate's vote yesterday
came despite Turkey's threats to
impose new sanctions on France.
It already suspended military,
economic and political ties when
the lower house of French parlia-
ment passed the bill last month.
The measure now needs to be
signed by President Nicolas Sar-
kozy, whose party proposed it, to
become a law.
While most historians contend
that the 1915 killings of Arme-
nians as the Ottoman Empire
broke up was the 20th century's
first genocide, Turkey vigorously
denies that.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Iran revives
Persian Gulf
threats after
EU sanctions
MATT ROURKE/AP
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich meets with supporters at The River Church,
yesterday, in Tampa, Fla.
Gingrich in firing ine as
campaig moves to Florida'
Romney accuses
him of engaging
in "potentially
wrongful activity"
TAMPA, Fla. - Fresh off his
big South Carolina win, Repub-
lican Newt Gingrich found him-
self on the defensive yesterday
as the volatile GOP presidential
contest shifted to Florida.
Chief rival Mitt Romney
sharpened his attacks on the for-
mer House speaker, calling him
"erratic" and pressing for disclo-
sure ofclients, contracts, records
and other work he was paid to
do after leaving Congress. Atop
Romney's list are Gingrich's
consulting arrangements with
mortgage giant Freddie Mac and
details of ethics investigations in
the 1990s.
Romney also charged that
Gingrich had engaged in "poten-
tially wrongful activity" when
he worked with former col-
leagues in Congress to create
a prescription drug benefit for
Medicare.
"We could see an October sur-
prise a day from Newt Gingrich,"
Romney said after a round-table
session with people struggling
with home foreclosure prob-
lems.
Gingrich, who earlier had
appeared on ABC's "Good Morn-
ing America," mocked Romney
as "somebody who has released
none of his business records,
who has decided to make a stand
on transparency without being
transparent." After initially
balking, Romney is set to release
personal tax records today.
The sniping between the two
contenders opened a Florida
fight that is shaping up as piv-
otal to determining which one
of them will become the GOP's
presidential nominee. The four
candidates - Gingrich, Romney,
Rick Santorum and Ron Paul
- were to meet Monday night
in Tampa for the first of two
debates heading into Florida's
primary on Jan. 31.
Gingrich, who planned a pre-
debate campaign appearance on
yesterday afternoon in Tampa,
basked in his come-from-behind
triumph in South Carolina two
days earlier. The win made for
three different winners in the
first three states to hold con-
tests, with Santorum winning
Iowa and Romney taking New
Hampshire.
Gingrich's campaign said it
had raked in $1 million in the
first 24 hours since South Caro-
lina's primary Saturday.
Frequently the aggressor in
the race, Gingrich is now the one
taking fire from all sides.
Santorum described Gin-
grich as too "high risk" to be the
Republican standard-bearer.
Romney has been calling Gin-
grich a lobbyist. Gingrich flatly
denied lobbying on behalf of
Freddie Mac or other clients.
"It's not true. He knows it's
not true. He's deliberately say-
ing things he knows are false,"
Gingrich said. "I just think that's
what the next week will be like."
Gingrich told ABC he has
campaign lawyers working to
make the Freddie Mac records
public. He said the decision
rests with the Center for Health
Transformation, which he
founded but no longer owns.
Two former Gingrich compa-
nies earned $1.6 million over
eight years from Freddie Mac.
Gingrich has said he only earned
about $35,000 a year himself.
Gingrich's work for Freddie
Mac has come under scrutiny
because of its role in the housing
meltdown.
After the housing forum
yesterday, Romney told report-
ers that Gingrich should con-
sider giving back any money he
earned from the troubled mort-
gage company.
Gingrich said he was braced
for more criticism from his
remaining opponents and their
allies. On Sunday, some Repub-
lican leaders voiced worry
about Gingrich's combative
style.
After oil embargo
Iranian officials
target Strait of
Hormuz
TEHRAN (AP) - Senior
Iranian lawmakers stepped up
threats yesterday that Islamic
Republic warships could block
the Persian Gulf's oil tanker
traffic after the latest blow by
Western leaders seeking to rein
in Tehran's nuclear program: A
punishing oil embargo by the
European Union that sharply
raises the economic stakes for
Iran's defiance.
The EU decision in Brus-
sels - following the U.S. lead to
target Iran's critical oil exports
- opened a new front against
Iran's leadership. Pressure is
bearing down on the clerical
regime from many directions,
including intense U.S. lobbying
to urge Asian powers to shun
Iranian crude, a nose-diving
national currency and a recent
slaying in what Iran calls a
clandestine campaign against
its nuclear establishment.
In response, Iranian officials
have turned to one of their most
powerful cards: The narrow
Strait of Hormuz at the mouth
of the Gulf and the route for
a fifth of the world's oil. Iran
has rattled world markets with
repeated warnings it could
block the hook-shaped water-
way, which could spark a con-
flict in the Gulf.
Military experts have ques-
tioned whether Iran has the
naval capabilities to attempt a
blockade. But the U.S. and allies
have already said they would
take swift action against any
Iranian moves to choke off the
30-mile (50-kilometer) wide
strait - where the American
aircraft carrier USS Abraham
Lincoln, along with British and
French warships, entered the
Gulf on Sunday without inci-
dent.
The British. Ministry of
Defense said the three nations
sought to "underline the
unwavering international com-
mitment to maintaining rights
of passage under international
law."
Earlier this month, Gen.
Martin Dempsey, chairman of
the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff,
told CBS' "Face the Nation"
that 'Iranian forces could block
shipping through the strait
"for a period of time," but
added "we can defeat that"
and restore the flow of oil and
other commerce. He did not
offer details on a U.S. military
response, but the Pentagon is
believed to have contingency
plans for such a scenario.
A member of Iran's influen-
tial national security commit-
tee in parliament, Mohammad
Ismail Kowsari, said yesterday
that the strait "would defi-
nitely be closed if the sale of
Iranian oil is violated in any
way." He went on warn the U.S.
against any "military adven-
turism."
Another senior lawmaker,
Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh,
said Iran has the right to shut-
ter Hormuz in retaliation for
oil sanctions and that the clo-
sure was increasingly probable,
according to the semiofficial
Mehr news agency.
"In case of threat, the closure
of the Strait of Hormuz is one
of Iran's rights," Falahatpisheh
said. "So far, Iran has not used
this privilege."
The lawmakers' comments
do not directlyreflect the views
of Iran's ruling clerics, but they
echo similar statements made
earlier this month by military
commanders with close ties to
the theocracy.
At the same time, however,
Iran has tried to ease tensions
by offering to reopen nuclear
talks with the U.S. and other
world powers after a one-year
gap, and backing off warnings
about U.S. naval operations
in the Gulf - where the U.S.
Navy 5th Fleet has a base in
Bahrain.
Yesterday in Brussels, the
EU's foreign policy chief Cath-
erine Ashton urged Iranto offer
"some concrete issues to talk
about."
"It is very important that it
is not just about words; a meet-
ing is not an excuse, a meeting
is an opportunity and I hope
that they will seize it," she said
as the EU adopted its tough-
est measures on Iran with an
immediate embargo on new oil
contracts and a freeze of the
country's Central Bank assets.
About 90 percent of the EU's
nearly $19 billion in Iranian
imports in 2010 were oil and
related products, according to
the International Energy Agen-
cy.
Yesterday, the U.S. added
new sanctions on Bank Tejer-
at, Iran's third-largest bank.
Obama has also approved new
sanctions on Iran's powerful
central bank that take effect
later this year.
International child trafficking
ring cracked by Mexican police
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set for illegal Blanca Barron told reporters the
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[options turned for 20 years, though she gave no
details. Prosecutors also say four
over to state of the children show signs of
sexual abuse, though they gave
kPOPAN, Mexico (AP) no details on how or by whom.
fe seemed to give Karla Nine people have been
da a break when a woman detained, including two sus-
to her dusty neighborhood pected leaders of the ring, but
nderblock homes and dirt no one has yet been charged.
looking for babies to pho- At least 15 Irish citizens have
ph in an anti-abortion ad been questioned, the Jalisco
aign. state attorney general's office
e woman asked to use said, but officials have not
5-year-old's baby girl in a released their names and their
week photo shoot for $755 lawyer says all have returned to
000 pesos), a small fortune Ireland after spending weeks or
een mother who earns $180 months in Ajijic trying to meet
nth at a sandwich stand and requirements for adopting a
s a cramped, one-story child. None was detained.
e with her disabled mother, For Karla Zepeda, the story
ather, and three brothers. began in August, when she
t 9-month-old Camila was approached by Guadalupe
't just posing for photo- Bosquez and agreed to lend her
hs when she was taken daughter for an anti-abortion
. advertising campaign, she told
lisco state investigators The Associated Press. Bosquez
he child was left for weeks later returned with another
ime in the care of an Irish woman, Silvia Soto, and gave
e who had come to Ajijic, a her half the money as they
of cobblestone streets and picked the child up. She got the
communities 37 miles (60 rest two weeks later when they
eters) away, thinking they brought Camila home.
adopting her. "They showed me a poster
osecutors say the baby that showed my girl with other
apparently part of an ille- babies and said 'No To Abor-
doption ring that ensnared tion, Yes To Life,"' said Karla, a
tute young Mexican women petite girl cleaning her house to
g to earn more for their loud norteno music. "I thought
ren and childless Irish it was legal bec. -se everything
es desperate to become seemed very normal."
tts. Before long, the message
mila and nine other chil- spread to her neighbors. Seven
have been turned over to other women, most between
officials who suspect they the ages of 15 and 22, agreed to
being groomed for illegal let their babies be part of the
ions. And authorities hint ad campaign. Some already had
several children. Some are single
mothers. One of them doesn't
know how to read or write. Five
of them told the AP that they did
not even have birth certificates
for their babies when they came
across Bosquez and Soto.
One said she needed money to
pay for her child's medical care,
another to finish building an
extra room on her house.
All deny agreeing to give their
children up for adoption.
"We're going through a
nightmare," said Fernanda
Montes, an 18-year-old house-
wife who said she took part to
pay a $670 hospital bill from the
birth of her 3-month-old. "How
could we have trusted someone
so evil?"
The women say that Bosquez
and Soto persuaded three of
them to register their children
as single mothers so they could
participate in the anti-abortion
campaign, even though they
live with the children's fathers.
Children's rights activists
say that also could have made
it easier to release the child for
adoption: only the mother's sig-
nature would be needed.
The mothers were assured
that the babies were being taken
care of by several nannies and
checked by doctors. The babies
often returned home wearing
new clothes.
Investigators say that
Bosquez and Soto were taking
the children to a hotel in Gua-
dalajara, where they met with
Irish couples who believed they
were going to adopt them.
The plan began to unravel
on Jan. 9, when local police
detained 21-year-old Laura Car-
ranza and accused her of trying
to sell her 2-year-old daughter.
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