The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Monday, September 24, 2012 - 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, September 24, 2012 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Detroit in line to
set world record
for hop scotch
 Several groups set out to cre-
ate the world's largest hopscotch
course in the city on Saturday.
They invited artists, communi-
ty leaders, children, families and
businesses to come out and chalk
up 22,720 feet worth of Detroit's
sidewalks. That's a 4.2-mile
course, which would be good for a
new world record. Mlive.com says
the results are being submitted to
recoredsetter.com for validation.
Guinness World Records says
the longest hopscotch game until
now was 3.4 miles set last year in
Eden Mills, Ontario.
Organizers say their idea is to
bring people together in the city
and encourage community, play,
imagination and the creative use
of design.
NEW YORK
Man jumps in cage
with Siberian tiger,
accomplishes goal
Before his now-infamous tan-
gle with a Bronx Zoo tiger, David
Villalobos adorned his Facebook
page with New Age odes to Moth-
er Earth and affirmations like,
"Be love and fearless."
Police said Saturday that Vil-
lalobos had told detectives that it
was without fear that, he leaped
from an elevated train into the
animal's den. His reason, they
said, was that "he wanted to be
one with the tiger."
Villalobos also recounted how,
after he landed on all fours, the
400-pound beast attacked him
and dragged around by his foot,
said New York Police Department
spokesman Paul Browne. Despite
serious injuries, he claimed he
was able to get his wish and pet
the tiger - a male Siberian named
Bashuta - before his rescue, the
spokesman added.
KATMANDU, Nepal
Avalanche kills 9,
six still missing,
many left injured
An avalanche hit climbers on a
high Himalayan peak in Nepal on
Sunday, leaving at least nine dead
and six others missing, officials
said. Many of the climbers were
French or German.
Police official Basanta Bahadur
Kuwar said the bodies of a Nepal-
ese guide and a German man were
recovered and that rescue pilots
had spotted seven other bodies on
the slopes of Mount Manaslu in
northern Nepal, the eighth high-
est mountain in the world.
Ten other climbers survived the
avalanche but many were injured
and were flown to hospitals by res-
cue helicopters, Kuwar said.
HILLSBORO, Ore.
Attempted

burgalar found
sleeping on floor
Sheriff's deputies respond-
ing to a burglary call say they
found a 20-year-old man asleep
on the kitchen floor of a home in
Oregon.
The Washington County sher-
iff's office says the homeowner
discovered the sleeping stranger
early Friday. Deputies arrived to
find Cristian Villarreal-Castillo,
who had in his pockets small
electronic devices believed to be
stolen from unlocked vehicles.
Deputies say many items in
the home in the Rock Creek
neighborhood of Hillsboro had
been ransacked in an appar-
ent attempt to find valuables.
They believe Villarreal-Castillo
entered the home through an
unlocked door and was in the
process of gathering items when
he fell asleep.
He is charged with burglary,
attempted theft, trespassing
and criminal mischief. Investi-
gators also linked him to a bur-
glary that happened a few hours
before his arrest.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports

Giant panda cub
dies after one week

HUSSEIN MALLA/AP
A Free Syrian Army fighter from the AI-Faruk brigade guards the main entrance of the Tal Abyad, a Turkish-Syrian border
crossing captured by the rebels earlier in the week, eastern Syria on Saturday.
move
Free Syrian Army moe
headquarters to Syria
Lead rebel group reason for why the rebels might the uprising began.
attack a Lebanese position. In The group has said two of its
had been based in the past, Syrian government leaders disappeared after arriv-
forces have fired shells or mis- ing at Damascus International
Turkey siles across the border. Lebanese Airport on Thursday, along with
pro- and anti-regime groups a friend who was to pick them
BEIRUT (AP) - The leaders have also clashed. up. It blamed the regime for the
of the rebel Free Syrian Army Syria's activist networks, disappearance. The state-run
said Saturday they moved their which monitor the country's news agency SANA quoted the
command center from Turkey violence, were not aware of the Interior Ministry as saying "ter-
to Syria with the aim of unit- fighting. rorist groups" kidnapped the
ing rebels and speeding up the In Damascus, an umbrella three, using the term it employs
fall of President Bashar Assad's opposition group, the National for rebels, and that a search has
regime. Coordination Body for Demo- been launched.
Brig. Gen. Mustafa al-Sheikh, cratic Change in Syria, said it is Some Syrians had hoped that
who heads the FSA's Military postponing a conference that the conference might result in a
Council, told The Associated would have been the largest unified opposition voice inside
Press that the group made the gathering of anti-regime repre- Syria that could credibly negoti-
move last week. He would not sentatives in the country since ate with the regime.
say where the new headquarters
is located or give other details.
The FSA is the most promi-
nent of the rebel groups trying to
topple Assad, though its author-
ity over networks of fighters in
Syria is limited. Its commanders
have been criticized for being
based inTurkey while thousands
are killed inside Syria.
Despite the announcement of
the command move, rebels still
have to rely on Turkey as a rear
base for supplies and reinforce-
ments. In the past few months,
rebels have captured wide All of my tasty sub sandwiches are a full 8 inches of
swaths of Syrian territory bor- homemade French bread, fresh veggies and the finest
dering Turkey, along with three . mea..... eeI.. cn.bund if it mters to ou.
border crossings, allowing them here where you can see it.(No mystery meat here!)
to ferry supplies and people into
Syria.
FSA commander Col. Riad al- Real applewood smoked ham and provolone cheese
Asaad announced the move of garnished with lettuce, tomato, and Mayo.
the command center in a video # BGJOHN@
with the title "Free Syrian Army Medium rare choice roast beef, topped with
Communique Number 1 from yummy Mayo, lettuce, and tomat.
Inside." Wearing a military uni-
form and surrounded by a dozen #3 TOTALLY TSMA*
gunmen, the commander said Fresh housemade tuna, mixed with celery, onions,
the aim is to "start the plan to and our tasty sauce, then topped with alfalfa sprouts,
liberate Damascus soon, God cucumber, lettuce, and tomato.(My tuna rocks!)
willing." #4 TURKEY TOM*
In recent months, rebels have,
In rcen mothsrebls ave Fresh sliced turkey breast, topped with lettuce,
succeeded in taking the fight tomato, alfalfa sprouts, and Mayo.(The original)
to Damascus, but the regime
has reasserted control in many #5 VITO
areas. In the summer, rebels also The original Italian sub with genoa salami, provolone,
launched an offensive on Syria's capicola '.anion,.ettuce,tomato,& a realtasty Italian
largest city, Aleppo, and are
/ JIMMY
holding several neighborhoods #+VEGETARIAN
there, despite daily battles with Layersof provlonecheeseseparatedbyreal
regime forces. vadspadaalasrtssid umb,
Activists say nearly 30,000 lette,'tomato.and'map.(Trulyagourmetsunot
people have been killed since forvegetariansonly...........peacedde!)E
Syria's crisis began in March
2011. The uprising began with
largely peaceful protests against ( y s '
Assad's regime, but has since
morphed into a civil war in the
face of a brutal government
crackdown.
The Syrian conflict has SodaPop
increasingly spilled into neigh- Giant chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookie
boring Turkey, Jordan and .
borig Tukey Joran ad *Real potato chips or jumbo kosher dill pickle
Lebanon, with several hundred
thousand Syrians seeking refuge Extra lead of meat This sandwich
there and battles occasionally Extra cheese or extra avocado spread
being fought along Syria's bor- *otPeppers
ders.
Turkey also reinforced its
border with anti-aircraft mis- FREEBIES "
siles after Syrian forces brought
siles afer Syria forces rought Onion, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, tomato, Mayo, slic d te mtee
down a Turkish jet on June 22,,. , ' .
down a Turish jet o June 22, cucumber, Dijon mustard, oil &vinegarand oregano. lt~e oao
and it threatened to target any
approaching Syrian military ele-

ments. Turkey said its plane was
in international airspace, coun-
tering Syrian claims that it was W ELR
in Syrian airspace.
Also Saturday, Lebanon's T 'I IE CE
army said Syrian rebels attacked
one of its positions in the moun-
tain town of Arsal and that its
forces drove the rebels away OUR MOM WANTS YOUT
without causing casualties.
The military did not give a

Cause unknown,
no signs of
external trauma
found at DC zoo
WASHINGTON (AP) -
The giant panda cub born a
week ago at the National Zoo
in Washington died Sunday
morning, saddening zoo offi-
cials and visitors who had her-
alded its unexpected arrival.
The 4-ounce cub, about the
size of a stick of butter, showed
no obvious signs of distress and
made its final recorded noise
shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday,
zoo officials said at a news con-
ference.
The cub's mother, Mei
Xiang, then made an unusual
honking sound at 9:17 a.m. that
her keepers interpreted as a
distress call, and she moved
away from where she had been
nesting with the cub. About
an hour later, one keeper dis-
tracted her with honey water
while another used an instru-
ment similar to a lacrosse stick
to pick up the cub.
The cub, whose gender
could not be determined
externally, was not breathing
and its heart had stopped. A
veterinarian attempted CPR
before it was pronounced dead
at 10:28 a.m.
"This is devastating for
all of us here," National Zoo
director Dennis Kelly said at
a news conference. "It's hard
to describe how much passion
and energy and thought and
care has gone into this."
Four American zoos have
pandas, but Washington's pan-

das are treated like royalty.
The zoo was given its first set
of pandas in 1972 as a gift from
China to commemorate Presi-
dent Richard Nixon's historic
visit to the country.
Mei Xiang's first cub, Ta;
Shan, born in 2005, enjoyed
enormous popularity before he
was returned to China in 2010.
The new cub, born Sept. 16,
had been a surprise at the zoo.
Fourteen-year-old Mei Xiang
had five failed pregnancies
before giving birth.
Panda mothers are about
1,000 times heavier than their
cubs, and sometimes they acci-
dentally crush them. On any
given day in the first two weeks
of life, cubs have a mortality
rate of 17 to 18 percent, zoo offi-
cials said.
A necropsy was being con-
ducted to determine the cause
of death, and preliminary find-
ings were expected Monday,
said Suzan Murray, the zoo's
chief veterinarian. The cub
showed no external signs of
trauma, she said.
As they did after Tai Shan
was born, keepers had been
leaving Mei Xiang alone with
her offspring, monitoring her
on video feeds that were also
streamed on the zoo's website.
Mei Xiang was resting com-
fortably after the cub's death,
officials said.
The cub had not yet been
named in accordance with
Chinese tradition - it was to
receive a name after 100 days
on Dec. 24. Had the cub sur-
vived until then, it would have
been roughly the size of a loaf
of bread and weighed around
10 pounds. It will not be named
posthumously, Kelly said.