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 --Revve FREE GRAD PRACTICE TESTS MCAT 10/0612012 LSAT 1006/2012 GRE 10/0612012 GMAT 10/106/2012 Try an MCAT, LSAT, GMAT or ORE Free Practice Test and receive a detailed score breakdown to see how you would do on the actual test! 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.