0 6A - Thursday, February 24, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Two Western journalists die in intense shelling in Syria Veteran American reporter, French photographer killed in Homs BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian gun- ners pounded an opposition stronghold where the last dis- patches from a veteran Amer- ican-born war correspondent chronicled the suffering of civilians caught in the relent- less shelling. An intense morn- ing barrage killed her and a French photojournalist - two of 74 deaths reported yesterday in Syria. "I watched a little baby die today," Marie Colvin told the BBC from the embattled city of Homs on Tuesday in one of her final reports. "Absolutely horrific, a 2-year old child had been hit," added Colvin, who worked for Brit- ain's Sunday Times. "They stripped it and found the shrap- nel had gone into the left chest and the doctor said, 'I can't do anything.' His little tummy just kept heavinguntil he died." Colvin and photographer Remi Ochlik were among a group of journalists who had crossed into Syria and were sharing accommodations with activists, raising speculation that government forces target- ed the makeshift media center, although opposition groups had previously described the shell- ing as indiscriminate. At least two other Western journalists were wounded. Hundreds of people have died in weeks of siege-style attacks on Homs that have come to symbolize the desperation and defiance of the nearly year- old uprising against President Bashar Assad. The Syrian military appears to be stepping up assaults to block the opposition from gain- ing further ground and political credibility with the West and Arab allies. Yesterday, helicop- ter gunships reportedly strafed mountain villages that shelter the rebel Free Syrian Army, and soldiers staged door-to-door raids in Damascus, among other attacks. The bloodshed and crack- downs brought some of the most galvanizing calls for the end of Assad's rule. "That's enough now. The regime must go," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy after his government confirmed the deaths of Colvin, 56, and Och- lik, 28. The U.S. and other countries have begun to cautiously exam- ine possible military aid to the rebels. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton heads to Tunisia for a meeting tomor- row of more than 70 nations to look at ways to assist Assad's opponents, which now include hundreds of defected military officers and soldiers. "This tragic incident is anoth- er example of the shameless bru- tality of the Assad regime," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said of the kill- ingof the journalists. In Saudi Arabia, the state news agency described King Abdullah scolding Russian President Dmitry Medvedev - one of Assad's few remain- ing allies - for joining China in vetoing a U.N. Security Coun- cil resolution this month con- demning the violence. But even Moscow said the ongoing bloodshed adds urgen- cy for a cease-fire to allow talks between his regime and oppo- nents. Washington had strongly opposed arming anti-Assad forces, fearing it could bring Syria into a full-scale civil war. Yet the mounting civilian death tolls - activists reported at least 74 across Syria yesterday - has brought small but poten- tially significant shifts in U.S. strategies. It remains unclear, however, what kind of direct assistance the U.S. would be willing to provide. 0 George Huguely V, left, is escorted into the Charlottesville Circuit courthouse in Charlottesville, Va., yesterday. Huguely con victd of second degree -muder Former Virginia lacrosse player found guilty of slaying girlfriend CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - Jurors found a former University of Virginia lacrosse player guilty of second-degree murder yesterday in the drunk- en, jealousy-fueled slaying of his ex-girlfriend, rejecting a verdict of first-degree murder and a pos- sible life sentence. George Huguely V, 24, stood, flanked by his attorneys, as jurors returned the verdict after about nine hours of deliberations. He was convicted in the slaying of Yeardley Love, who was found bloodied, beaten and bruised in the bedroom of her Charlot- tesville apartment in the early morning hours of May3, 2010. Huguely displayed no emotion as the verdict was read. Sobbing could be heard in the courtroom filled with family and friends of Love and Huguely. Jurors who returned the ver- dict immediately began delib- erating a sentence, which will include punishment for a grand larceny charge the jury also found him guilty on. The second- degree murder conviction calls for a sentence of 5 to 40 years, while grand larceny's sentencing range is 1 to 20 years. Formal sen- tencing will occur at a later date. Prosecutors said Huguely, of Chevy Chase, Md., killed the U.Va. women's lacrosse player after a day of golf and binge drinking, incensed that she had had a relationship with a North Carolina lacrosse player. Love's right eye was bashed in and she was hit with such power that her brain was bruised. She also had wrenching head injury that caused bleeding at the base of her brain stem. A coroner concluded she died of blunt force trauma. Defense and prosecutionexperts offered differ- ent medical opinions on the lethal consequences of her injuries. Prosecutor Dave Chapman, who described the night Love was killed as a scene from a hor- ror show, said Huguely kicked a hole in Love's door to get in her bedroom and left his on-again, off-again girlfriend to die. Huguely's attorneys said he only went to Love's apartment to talk before the encounter quick- ly turned physical. He said she banged her head against the wall of her bedroom, and she only had a bloody nose when he left. A prosecution witness testi- fied Love smothered in her own blood-dampened pillow. Love's mother, Sharon, tear- fully testified during the sen- tencing phase as Huguely cast his gaze down at the defense table. She described the death of her daughter as "unbearable." "Every year that goes by I'd like to know what she'd be doing now," Sharon Love said. Love's sister, Lexie, 28, described the absence of her kid sister. "A song will come on the radio and I'll just burst out in tears," she said, sobbing. Her sister's death, she said, "left a large hole and nothing will fill it." The defense did not present any witnesses at the sentencing hearing. "No person is the sum of the worst decision he ever made," one of Huguely's defense attor- neys, Rhonda Quagliana, told jurors before they began deliber- ating his punishment. The jury of seven men and five women heard from nearly 60 wit- nesses over nine days to deter- mine what happened to Love. *I After bipartisan debate, Obama signs payroll tax cut extension $143 billion measure continues jobless benefits WASHINGTON (AP) - PresidentfBarack Obamasigned the payroll tax cut extension into law yesterday, notching an election-year victory and rare bipartisan agreement in the continuing partisan battle over jobs, taxes and debt. The $143 billion measure that Congress passed over- whelmingly yesterday con- tinues the 2 percentage-point reduction in the tax that funds Social Security, a cut begun last year to aid the nation's struggling economic recovery. It also extends jobless benefits for between 63 weeks and 73 weeks, and averts a big cut in the reimbursements doc- tors get for treating Medicare patients. The president signed the measure without ceremony yesterday, having already cel- ebrated its passage at an event Tuesday at the White House. Obama senior adviser David Plouffe emailed his gratitude to people who sent the White I I i C L l 4 RELEASE DATE- Thursday, February 23, 2012 Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS DOWN 29 Essentialacid 47 Stuck, after "in" 1 Payment option 1 Cleveland cagers 30 Of a higherquality 48 Major- 5 The Arthur Ashe 2 Contribute to, as 31 Praise 49 Rapper _ Fiasco Award for a crime 36 Played, but not in 50 Pulitzer-winning Courage is one 3 Sound measure the field, briefly WWi journalist 9 Detergent target 4 Portable cooker 37 Ice cream truck 51 $150 Monopoly 13 Peek- 5 Site of an early offering prop. 14One-named exile 391992 Summer 52 Carry singer of "Rolling 6 Space exploration Olympicscountry 53 Gloomy in the Deep" org. .42 Roosters, at times 54 Present opening? 15 Creepytlake? 7 It's hatched 43 Lyre-playing 55 Asiantflatbread 16 Joint 8 Ja or da, Muse 57 "The Purloined Chemolet/Kia stateside 44 Ladies' court gp. 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So get ready," Plouffe wrote in an email that included a photo- graph of Obama signing the bill at his Oval Office desk. The payroll tax cut became a centerpiece of the jobs plan Obama unveiled in September - and of a re-election strategy that seeks to cast his GOP foes as protectors of the rich and out oftouchwiththe worries of working families. The administration esti- mates that for a worker earning 50,000 a year, the tax holiday means $80 a month in extra take-home pay. For better-paid employees, the bonus could total $2,200 a year. But the cost to the deficit is substantial: another $93 billion for the latest extension. How- ever, bowing to its inevitability, House GOP leaders last week agreed not to demand spending cuts to offset the lost tax rev- enues. The legislation also extend- ed benefits for the long-term unemployed that average about $300 a week, though Obama and Democratic allies compro- mised over an initial demand for 99 more weeks. Those ben- efits will be paid for by auction- ing broadcast frequencies and requiring newly hired federal workers to contribute more to their pensions. Obama maintained that both extensions are crucial to sup- porting a still-fragile recovery from the nation's deepest reces- sion since the 1930s. GOP leaders initially balked at the extensions, then clashed with Obama and congressio- nal Democrats over how to pay for them. As the holidays approached in December, their opposition drew a fierce pub- lic backlash, especially when House Republicans rejected a compromise that Senate lead- ers had brokered. In the end, Republicans accepted a two- month extension - after paying a heavy political price. "We did not want to repeat the debacle," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said. "We're dumb, but we're not stupid." The extension puts off until December - after the presiden- tial and congressional elections - a mix of taxing and spending decisions, including whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts, increasing the debt ceiling and meeting a trillion-dollar spend- ing cut requirement. 38 Sidewall letters 39 Glitened 40 Feaare of Amerimn paneling , but not British? 41 Joint Ford/Chrysler vacation package? 45 Chap 46 ICU workers 47 Two-time loser to Ike 50 Soughtat auction 56 Joint Dodge/Toyota vamation package? 58 Clock radio letters 59 Colleague of Thomas 60 Pale-green moth 61 Homer's tavem 62 Legendary Brazilian footballer 63 Celtic land I M 10 . a- - a a- a - n 11 110~ 1 2 3 4 5 6 13 14 16 17 19 21 23 24 25 26 27 32 33 35 36 38 39 41 42 45 47 48 49 5a 51 56 57 58 59 61 62 28 8 9 10 11 15 18 20 22 I 29 30 34 37 40 43 44 48 53 54 so 63 I I ! STERLING 411 LOFTS - Reserve a summer only bed space at U-M's Best housing. 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