The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, January 7, 2013 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, January 7, 2013 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
HOUGHTON, Mich
Ice sculptures
are centerpeice of
carnival
Students in Michigan's frozen
far north are laughing in the face
of the frigid weather and tak-
ing to the outdoors for Michigan
Technological University's annual
Winter Carnival.
The Houghton school officially
kicked off the party on Wednes-
day, but students have been hard
at work since early January on the
snow and ice sculptures that are
the centerpiece of the carnival.
An all-night push to finish
the sculptures began at 4 p.m.
Wednesday and ends at 8 a.m.
Thursday, when judging starts.
HOUSTON
Texas prison
escapee caught
after 16 years
A Texas prison escapee on the
run for almost 16 years has been
captured by authorities in Mex-
ico and awaits extradition to the
U.S. to finish serving his sentence
on charges of attempted capital
murder of a police officer, state
Department of Criminal Justice
officials said Wednesday.
Juan Salaz was apprehended
last week. The 37-year-old Ameri-
can citizen had been sought for
years by authorities on both sides
of the border.
Salaz escaped the night of
March 22, 1997, from the Garza
East prison in Beeville in South
Texas by climbing over three
16-foot fences all topped with
razor wire.
SYDNEY
Villages destroyed,
six dead in
Solomons tsunami
Six bodies, including a child's,
have been found in the sodden
wreckage left by a tsunami that
smashed into villages in the Solo-
mon Islands, flattening dozens of
homes in the South Pacific island
chain.
The 1.5-meter (4 foot, 11-inch)
waves that roared inland on Santa
Cruz Island, in the eastern Solo-
mops, on Wednesdaywere too fast
to outrun for five elderly villag-
ers and one child, who died after
being sucked under the rushing
water, George Herming, a spokes-
man for the prime minister, said
Thursday. Several other people
were still missing and dozens of
strong aftershocks were keeping
frightened villagers from return-
ing to the coast, Herming said.
DUBLIN
Ireland readies
deal to ease costs of
bank bailout
The Irish government put law-
makers on standby to pass emer-
gency legislation Wednesday as
a deal neared with the European
Central Bank to reform the repay-
ment terms of Ireland's colossal
bank-bailout bill, a move designed
to reduce Ireland's deficits and
ease its return to normal borrow-
ing.
Aides to Finance Minister
Michael Noonan said he hoped
to unveil terms of the agreement
with eurozone banking chiefs in
Ireland's parliament Wednesday
night. But government officials
later said negotiations with ECB
partners might continue over-
night and delay the bill's passage
to Thursday.
The bill would authorize the
immediate liquidation of one of
Ireland's two government-owned
"bad banks," the Irish Bank Reso-
lution Corp. or IBRC, which for
the past two years has managed
the toxic property-based loans
of two collapsed banks, Anglo
Irish and Irish Nationwide. The
IBRC chairman, Alan Dukes, said
its board has already been dis-
solved as of Wednesday night and
responsibility handed over to a
consulting firm that will manage
the liquidation.
- Complied from
Daily wire reports
SIT BACK, RELAX
PAULSHERMAN/Daily
North Carolina State University student Deva Madhava Das and PhD student Sidharth Chhabra of the Bhakti Yoga
Society practice harinama, which is a form of meditation that helps both practitioners and onlookers in Mason Hall
on Wednesday.
. .
Boy Scouts delay decision
on gay exclusion policy
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ed organization The iconic youth organiza- on by the 1,400 voting members
tion is now deeply entangled in of the BSA national council at
o bans atheist the broader cultural and politi- a meeting during the week of
cal conflicts over such issues May 20 in Grapevine, Texas.
members as same-sex marriage and reli- The organization had
gious freedom. Tilting toward announced last week that it
NG, Texas (AP) - either side will probably alien- was considering allowing Scout
in an ideological cross- ate the other, and a midway bal- troops to decide whether to
BoyScoutsofAmericais ancing act will be difficult. allow gay membership, ensur-
off until May a decision Gay-rights supporters con- ing that the executive board
ther to ease its policy of tend that rio Scout units any- meeting would be in the nation-
ng gays. Whatever the where should exclude gays, and al spotlight.
ation eventually does, vowed to maintain pressure on Learning that a decision
ly to anger major con- the fSA's corporate donors to would be deferred, gay-rights
ties and worsen schisms achieve that goal. Some con- leaders assailed the BSA.
Scouting. servatives, including religious "Every day. that the Boy
delay, which the Scouts leaders whose churches spon- Scouts of America delay action
ed to "the complexity sor troops, warned of mass is another day that discrimina-
issue," was announced defections if the ban were even tion prevails," said Chad Grif-
sday after closed-door partially eased. They urged fin, president of the Human
ations by the BSA's supporters to flood headquar- Rights Campaign. "Young
1 executive board. ters with phone calls. Americans, gay and straight,
onsideration was a pro- "In the past two weeks, are hurt by the inaction associ-
o ease the longstanding Scouting has received an out- ated with today's news."
gays by allowing spon- pouring of feedback from the "A Scout is supposed to be
ocal troops to decide for American public," said the brave, and the Boy Scouts failed
lves on the membership BSA's national spokesman, to be brave today," said Jennifer
couts and adult leaders. Deron Smith. "It reinforces how Tyrrell, an Ohio mother ousted
he board met over three deeply people care about Scout- as a den leader of her son's Cub
a hotel near Dallas, it ing and how passionate they are Scout pack because she's a les-
clear that the propos- about the organization." bian.
ld be unacceptable to The BSA "needs time for a "They failed us yet again,"
umbers of impassioned more deliberate review of its she told The Associated Press.
g families and advoca- membership policy," Smith "Putting this off until May only
ps on both the left and added. He said the board would ensures other gay kids and gay
prepare a resolution to be voted parents are discarded."
Hezbollah linked
to 2012 bombing
of Israeli tourists
Bulgaria implicates the bomber never intended to
die. He said a Europol expert
militant group in who analyzed a fragment of a
.ohitk circuitboard determined that
sophisticated attack the bomb was detonated remote-
ly.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Hez- The investigators found no
bollah was behind a bus attack links to Iran, which Israel had
that killed five Israeli tourists accused of playing a role in the
in Bulgaria last year, investiga- attack.
tors said Tuesday, describing The findings increased pres-
a sophisticated bombing car- sure on Europe to declare
ried out by a terrorist cell that Hezbollah to be a terrorist orga-
included Canadian and Austra- nization, as the United States
lian citizens. and Canada do.
The first major announce- "The attack in Burgas was an
ment in the investigation attack on European land against
carried broad diplomatic impli- a member of the European
cations, as countries that con- Union," Israeli Prime Minister
sider the Shiite militant group Benjamin Netanyahu said. "We
to be a terrorist organization hope the Europeans learn the
called on Europe - which has proper conclusions from this
resisted such a move - to crack about the true character of Hez-
down on the group. bollah."
Interior Minister Tsvetan U.S. counterterrorism adviser
Tsvetanov said two of the sus- John Brennan, who is President
pects had been living in Leba- Barack Obama's nominee to run
non for years - one with a the Central Intelligence Agen-
Canadian passport and the cy, said Europe should seek to
other with an Australian one. uncover Hezbollah's infrastruc-
Ie said investigators had ture and disrupt the group's
traced their activities back to finances and operational net-
their home countries, work.
"We have well-grounded Canadian Foreign Affairs
reasons to suggest that the two Minister John Baird went fur-
were members of the militant ther.
wing of Hezbollah," Tsvetanov "We urge the European Union
said after a meeting of Bulgar- and all partners who have not
ia's National Security Council. already done so to list Hezbol-
A third suspect entered Bul- lah as a terrorist entity and pros-
garia with them on June 28, he ecute terrorist acts committed
said, without giving details. by this inhumane organization
Within hours, Lebanese to the fullest possible extent," he
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said.
condemned the attack and said Catherine Ashton, the Euro-
his country would cooperate pean Union's top foreign and
fully. security official, said the EU
Hezbollah, a Shiite militant needs to assess the implications
group and political party in Leb- of the investigation seriously but
anon that emerged in response stressed any decision on add-
to Israel's 1982 invasion, has ing Hezbollah to the EU list of
been linked to attacks and kid- terrorist organizations would
nappings on Israeli and Jewish require a unanimous decision by
interests around the world. the foreign ministers of the 27
The group has denied EU countries. Their next sched-
involvement in the Bulgaria uled meeting is Feb. 18.
bombing, and Hezbollah offi- France and Germany, wary
cials in Beirut declined further of coming under pressure to
comment Tuesday. They cus- condemn the group, had urged
tomarily defer to Hezbollah investigators not to publicly
leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah name Hezbollah in the bomb-
to comment on security issues. ing, according to a U.S. offi-
The bomb exploded as the cial who spoke on condition of
Israeli tourists made their way anonymity because he was not
from the airport to their hotel in authorized to speak to the news
the Black Sea resort of Burgas. media.
The blast also killed the Bulgar- Wainwright - whose orga-
ian driver and the suspected nization helps coordinate
bomber, a tall and lanky pale- national police across the EU,
skinned man wearing a baseball which includes Bulgaria - said
cap and dressed like a tourist. in an interview that counterfeit
Although it was initially U.S. driver's licenses that were
believed to be a suicide bomb- found near the bombing scene
ing, Europol Director Rob Wain- were made in Lebanon. Tsveta-
wright told The Associated Press nov said the fake licenses were
that investigators now believe from Michigan.
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-II.U-
Acapulco rape case hurts
tourism in peak season
Gang members
raped women in
beachfront home
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP)
- The tourism world turned
its eyes on Mexico after six
Spanish women were raped by
masked gunmen during a vaca-
tion in the long-troubled Pacific
coast resort of Acapulco.
While there has been talk
of reviving the golden era of
the '40s and '54s, international
tourists have long steered away
from Acapulco, even before the
drug violence of recent years, as
the city fell into disrepair and
glitzier Cancun and Los Cabos
gained favor.
The question now is wheth-
er the attack will affect other
resorts as Mexico prepares
for its annual spring break
onslaught and peak season.
The hours-long assault was
carried out by a gang of masked
gunmen who burst into the
beachfront home before dawn
on Monday and tied up the
six men inside, then raped the
women. A seventh Mexican
woman was unharmed.
"We are really sorry about
what happened with the Span-
ish tourists because ... it is
something that affects Mexi-
co's image," said Juan Carlos
Gonzalez, tourism secretary of
Quintana Roo, the Caribbean
coast state where Cancun is
located and which hosted about
17 million tourists last year.
But, he added, "we are defi-
nitely not as contaminated
with the crime issue as other
states in Mexico."
Acapulco barely registers on
U.S. tourists' radar anymore,
said Kathy Gerhardt, a spokes-
woman for Travel Leaders,
a network of independently
owned and operated travel
agencies in the U.S.
"Those individuals trying
to lump Acapulco into the list
of top Mexico destinations for
U.S. travelers are simply misin-
formed," she said.
In a recent survey of over
1,000 travel agency owners,
managers and agents, "not a
single individual chose Aca-
pulco as a top international
destination they are booking
fortheir clients," Gerhardtsaid.
"We do not see any spillover
effect," she added, for areas like
Cancun, which Travel Leaders
lists as the No. 2 foreign desti-
nation for U.S. travelers, after
Caribbean island cruises.
From a 2009 shootout that
killed 18 near Acapulco's fabled
Flamingo Hotel to this week's
attack, the resort once celebrat-
ed in Frank Sinatra songs and
Elvis Presley movies has been
the scene of body dumpings,
beheadings and taxi-driver
killings as gangs vie for drug
transport routes once con-
trolled by the now-decimated
Beltran Leyva cartel.
Oceania and Regent Seven
Seas Cruises - some of the
last lines making port calls in
Acapulco - canceled those in
December, before the latest
attack.
An estimated 50,000 Span-
iards travel to Mexico each
year, but mostly to the Carib-
bean coast, not Acapulco.
Mexicans and Spaniards liv-
ing in Mexico like the victims,
however, flock to Acapulco
during Easter week and other
long holiday weekends, such as
Monday, when the country cel-
ebrated its Constitution Day.
Local tourists believe they
can distinguish unsafe areas of
the city, and even foreign travel
warnings say it's safe for those
who don't wander far from the
beach.
"For us, this is an incredibly
safe zone," said Rafael Gallego
Nadal, president of the Span-
ish Confederation of Travel
Agencies. "This was a terrible
attack, but it's not the first time
that something bad has hap-
pened in that part of Mexico."
He said there has been no
talk of travel agencies reducing
package tour prices.
Some press reports Wednes-
day suggested a drug purchase
could have played a role in
Monday's rapes, but Marcos
Juarez, the chief investigator
for Guerrero state prosecutors,
said there was no evidence of
that.
Still, the attack exposed a
dangerous security situation
in areas that had been consid-
ered safe, such as the laid-back
stretch of beach dotted with
restaurants, small hotels and
homes southeast of the city's
center, where the Spaniards
had rented a villa.
The five attackers held the
group at gunpoint, tying up the
six men with phone cords and
bathing suit straps, then raping
the six women over a three-
hour period, authorities said.
The manager of a hotel near
the house said he heard shout-
ing just after midnight Mon-
day, but did nothing because he
felt it would be too dangerous.
The man did not want to give
his name for safety reasons.
4