The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, October 1, 2012 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Detroit water
workers on strike
Employees of Detroit's water
and sewer system, which serves
four in 10 Michigan residents,
went on strike Sunday to protest
plans to eliminate most of their
jobs through privatization or
other measures.
The union for 950 employees
of the Detroit Water and Sewer-
age Department said its mem-
bers went on strike about 10 a.m.
Sunday, setting up a picket line at
a wastewater treatment plant in
southwest Detroit's Delray neigh-
borhood.
"Workers are very happy to
be fighting for a change," said
Michael Muholland, secretary-
treasurer of American Federation
of State County and Municipal
Employees Local 207. "Detroit
has been taking it in the neck for
so long."
DALLAS
3.4 magnitude
quake hits Dallas
A small earthquake followed
by an aftershock rattled a suburb
west of Dallas overnight, crack-
ing some walls and knocking,
down pictures, but authorities
reported no serious damage and
the unscathed Dallas-Fort Worth
airport near the epicenter kept up
normal flight operations.
Emergency officials said they
had no indications of any inju-
ries from Saturday's late-night
quake.
The initial earthquake mea-
suring a preliminary magnitude
of 3.4 struck at 11:05 p.m. CDT
on Saturday and was centered
about 2 miles north of the Dallas
suburb of Irving, the US Geologi-
cal Survey's national earthquake
monitoring center in Golden,
Colo., reported. USGS Geophysi-
cist Randy Baldwin told The
Associated Press from Colorado
that the initial quake lasted
several seconds and appeared
strong enough to be felt up to 15
or 20 miles away.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti'
Thousands in
Haiti protest gov't
Several thousand people
poured into the streets of Haiti's
capital on Sunday to protest the
government of President Michel
Martelly.
It was among the biggest dem-
onstrations this year in Port-
au-Prince against the first-time
leader as he tries to rebuild the
impoverished nation following a
powerful 2010 earthquake that
displaced more than a million
people and destroyed thousands
of homes.
Demonstrators' complaints
included the high cost of living,
rising food prices and allega-
tions of corruption as they snaked
through the poorer neighbor-
hoods Port-au-Prince.
The Martelly government had
no immediate public reaction to
the protest.
EAST LANSING, Mich.
MSU to get $45-
million to educate
African students
Michigan State University is
getting $45 million for the educa-
tion of 185 African students over
the next nine years under a new
scholarship program.
The East Lansing school says
the money comes out of a $500
millioneffortthat the MasterCard
Foundation unveiled Wednesday.
The university says the money
will pay for the education of 100
undergraduates and 85 master's
degree students. It says it's the
only university in the Midwest
participating in the program.
Michigan State President Lou
Anna Simon says "Africa now
hosts seven of the world's 10 fast-
est-growing national economies
and is the world's youngest conti-
nent demographically."
But she says poverty in Africa is
responsible for a lag in secondary
and higher education rates there.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Syrian suicide
bombing kills at
least four people
In this photo released by the African Union-United Nations Information Support Team, Kenyan soldiers serving witht
African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) prepare to board a re-supply convoy vehicle.
U .S . miDi'ta ry d e ath s inflh n 'lt n h~
Afghaista hi 2,000
Attacks by Afghan
soldiers, police
on U.S. forces has
caused toll to climb
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)
- The killing of an American
serviceman in an exchange of
fire with allied Afghan soldiers
pushed U.S. .military deaths in
the war to 2,000,a cold reminder
of the perils that remain after an
11-year conflict that now garners
little public interest at home.
The toll has clilnbed steadily
in recent months with a spate
of attacks by Afghan army and
police - supposed allies --against
American and NATO troops.
"The tally is modest by the
standards of war historically, but
every fatality is a tragedy and 11
years is too long," said Michael
O'Hanlon, a fellow at the Brook-
ings Institution in Washington.
"All that is internalized, however,
in an American public that has
been watching this campaign for
a long time. More newsworthy
right now are the insider attacks
and the sense of hopelessness
they conveyto many. "
Attacks by Afghan soldiers or
police - or insurgents disguised
in their uniforms - have killed
52 American and other NATO
troops so far this year.
The insider attacks are con-
sidered one of the most serious
threats to the U.S. exit strategy
from the country. In its latest
incarnation, that strategy has
focused on training Afghan forces
to take over security nationwide -
allowing mostforeigntroops to go
home by the end of 2014.
As part of that drawdown, the
first 33,000 U.S. troops withdrew
by the end of September, leaving
68,000 still in Afghanistan.
The program to train and
equip 350,000 Afghan policemen
and soldiers has cost the Ameri-
can taxpayer more than $22 bil-
lion in the past three years.
The most recent attack came
just days after Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta said most U.S. and
coalition combatunits inAfghan-
istan returned to their practice of
partnering with Afghan forces,
nearly two weeks after the top
U.S. commander put restrictions
on such cooperation.
On Sunday, U.S. officials con-
firmed the deaths of two Ameri-
cans, a service member and a
civilian contractor killed late Sat-
urday.
The fighting started when
insurgents attacked a checkpoint
set up by U.S. forces in eastern
Wardak province, said Shahidul-
lah Shahid, a provincial govern-
ment spokesman. The Americans
thought they were under attack
from their allies at a nearby
Afghan army checkpoint and
fired on it. The Afghan soldiers
returned fire, Shahid said.
The Afghan Defense Minis-
try spokesman said the shooting
broke out as a result of a "misun-
derstanding" while ISAF forces
were on patrol near an Afghan
army checkpoint.
NATO's International Secu-
rity Assistance Force, commonly
referred to as ISAF, gave a differ-
ent account of the fighting in Sayd
Abad district.
"After a short conversation
took place between (Afghan
army) and ISAF personnel, fir-
ing occurred which resulted in
the fatal wounding of an ISAF
soldier and the death of his civil-
ian colleague," the coalition said
in a statement. It said the three
Afghan soldiers died "in an ensu-
ing exchange of fire."
According to the Afghanistan
index keptby Brookings, about 40
percent of the American deaths
were caused by improvised
explosive devices. The majority
of those were after 2009, when
President Barack Obama ordered
a surge that sent in 33,000 addi-
tional troops to combat height-
ened Taliban activity. The surge
brought the total number of
American troops to 101,000, the
peak for the entire war.
In recent years, some of those
casualties have generated a great
deal of criticism from President
Hamid Karzai and changed
the way NATO forces carry out
airstrikes. The overwhelming
majority of civilian casualties are
caused by insurgents - with the
United Nations blaming them
for more than 50 percent of the
deaths and NATO putting that
figure at more than 90 percent.
Obama deployed more troops
to Afghanistan, and casualties
increased sharply in the last
several years. But the American
public grew weary of having its
military in a perpetual state of
conflict, especially after the with-
drawal of American troops from
Iraq at the end of last year.
Turkey provides
haven for rebels,
refugees fleeing
violence
BEIRUT (AP) - A suicide
attacker detonated a car bomb
near a Syrian security com-
pound in a remote, predomi-
nantly Kurdish town Sunday,
killing at least four people, state
media said, in a new sign that
the country's largest ethnic
minority might be drawn into a
widening civil war.
Opposition activists said at
least eight Syrian intelligence
agents were killed and several
dozen people wounded in the
attack in the northeastern town
of Qamishli, more than 700
kilometers (435 miles) from the
capital Damascus.
Syria's more than 2 million
Kurds, long marginalized, have
largely stayed out of the fight-
ing, though some have partici-
pated in protests against the
regime of President Bashar
Assad.
The uprising against Assad
that erupted 18 months ago
has gradually morphed into a
bloody civil war. The conflict
has killed more than 30,000
people, activists say, and has
devastated entire neighbor-
hoods in Syria's main cities,
including Aleppo, the scene of
intense fighting Sunday.
The leaders of Turkey and
Egypt, among Assad's main
foreign foes, sent stern warn-
ings to the regime and its allies,
in speeches to Turkey's ruling
party.
Egyptian President Moham-
med Morsi said that "we will be
on the side of the Syrian people
until the bloodshed ends, the
cruel regime is gone and Syrian
people reach their just rights."
Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged
Syria's allies Russia, China and
Iran to end their support for
Assad, warning that "history
will not forgive those who stand
together with cruel regimes."
Turkey has given shelter to
tens of thousands of Syrian
refugees and Turkish soil has
served as a crucial logistical
center for rebel fighters since
they captured several Syrian
border crossings with Turkey
over the summer.
Also over the summer, Syrian
troops left several towns and
villages in the Kurdish north-
east, possibly to divert forces
to overstretched troops fight-
ing in hotspots elsewhere. The
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fl=== mu
regime ceded de facto control
to Kurdish fighters who began
exercising a degree of autonomy
unheard of before.
However, the regime has
maintained a security pres-
ence in Qamishli, which abuts
the Turkish border, said Rami
Abdul-Rahman, head of the
Britain-based Syrian Obser-
vatory for Human Rights, an
activist group.
There was no immediate
claim of responsibility for Sun-
day's blast. Several previous
suicide attacks in Syria were
claimed by a Syrian militant
group, the Al-Nusra Front.
Syrian state media said the
explosion went off in an area
housing security officers. It
said four.people were killed,
dozens wounded and nearby
buildings damaged. An amateur
video posted online by activ-
ists showed a column of white
smoke rising between buildings
in Qamishli.
Most Kurds live in the north-
east, but Aleppo and Damascus
also have Kurdish-dominated
neighborhoods.
Fighting continued Sunday in
several areas of Aleppo, as part
of what rebels say is new push to
drive out regime forces. Oppo-
sition fighters seized several
areas in an initial offensive two
months ago, but were unable
to keep up the momentum.
On Thursday, they announced
what they said would be a deci-
sive battle.
Either side could potentially
shift the direction of an other-
wise stalemated war if it seizes
Aleppo, a city of 3 million peo-
ple.
Abdel Kader, a commander
of the Tawhid Brigade, the larg-
est rebel unit in Aleppo, said by
phone from Aleppo that his men
were fighting in seven areas
Sunday. Pro-Assad troops have
been shelling rebel-held dis-
tricts. Amateur video posted by
activists SundayShowed Syrian
warplanes flying over the city
and heavy smoke rising from
the city's skyline.
Another video showed night
fighting. "We want to liberate
the city from these shabiha,"
a man says in the background,
referring to Syria's pro-Assad
militiamen.
In the video, what appears to
be a rebel fighter firing projec-
tiles from the cover of a hillside
to the shouts of "God is Great"
from others nearby.
Syria imposes tight restric-
tions on foreign reporters and
the authenticity of the videos
could not be verified indepen-
dently.
Kenyan soldiers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia prepare to board a re-supply convoy vehicle at their
sector headquarters in the town of Dhobley, in southern Somalia on Sunday.
Rebels linked to al- Qaida flee Somalia
Kenyan troops
on the heels of
al-Shabab
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP)
- The al-Qaida-linked rebels
who once controlled nearly all of
Somalia's capital and sowed fear
throughout the southern part of
the country are fleeing their last
remaining stronghold because
they are outgunned and don't
want heavy losses, experts said
Sunday.
Kenyan troops invaded the
southern Somali city of Kis-
mayo early Friday, and the mili-
tant Islamist group al-Shabab
announced soon after that their
forces were leaving the lucrative
port town behind. Kenyan forc-
es have not yet moved through
the whole town, but a military
spokesman said troops met no
resistance on Sunday.
Kenyan forces invaded Soma-
lia late last year, and have been
moving slowlytoward Kismayo.
The once-powerful al-Shabab
spent years defending its Moga-
dishu territory, but since being
forced out has chosen to retreat
from towns when challenged by
African Union forces or Ethiopi-
an troops who moved into west-
ern Somalia earlier this year.
"The most plausible explana-
tion is that they fear that they'll
be outgunned by the coalition
force, and as a result are incentiv-
ized to retreat," said Abdihakim
Aynte, a Somali political analyst
in Mogadishu.
Col. Cyrus Oguna, the spokes-
man for the Kenyan military, said
that Kenyan troops nowstationed
in northern Kismayo are making
plans to expand south. Oguna
said he didn't know how many
al-Shabab fighters are left in Kis-
mayo, but that "we can probably
say nowthat the numbers are less
than when we got in."
An al-Shabab spokesman said
on Twitter that the militants
had left town and residents have
reported that government and
police buildings once occupied by
al-Shabab have been abandoned.
Oguna said Kenyan forces are pre-
pared for multiple scenarios.
Yusuf Abdi Hussein, a former
colonel in the Somali army, said
the future political leadership of
Kismayo will also dictate what
al-Shabab does. The new admin-
istration will either empower or
thwart their guerrilla attacks, he
said.
"Usually Kismayo is contested
by rival clans seeking to manipu-
late the resources and revenues
from the port," Hussein said.