The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, September 12, 2013 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS EAST LANSING, Mich. Michigan State uses drones to help farmers A drone has joined the vehicle fleet at Michigan State University, which is using the pilotless air- plane to find ways to help farmers increase their yields through bet- ter use of fertilizer and water. The National Science Founda- tion is financing the research. The East Lansingschoolsaysthe information that the drone gathers also will help reduce the environ- mental effect of nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions. The university says the drone "measures how crops react to stress, such as drought, nutrients deficiency or pests." It says the plane can document a field's status "downto centimeters." MULBERRY, Fla. Florida pastor arrested before burning Qurans A Florida pastor has been arrest- ed beforehe could set fire to almost 3,000 Qurans. Polk County sheriff's officials say the Rev. Terry Jones and his associate pastor were arrested on unspecified felony charges in the small central Florida town of Mulberry on Wednesday. A news conference is scheduled for later Wednesday to announce specific charges. Media reports show he was stopped in a pickup truck that was towing a metal trailer filled with Qurans soaked in kerosene. He had said he planned to burn 2,998 Qurans - one for everyvictim who diedinthe9/11attacks12years ago. Jones is the pastor of a small evangelical Christian church. His congregation burned a Quran in March 2011 and last year he pro- moted an anti-Muslim film. His actions have sparked violence in the Middle East and Afghanistan. BERLIN Court orders Muslim girl to join co-ed swim class A court in Germany has ruled that a Muslim girl cannot be excused from mixed-sex swim- ming lessons on the grounds of religious belief. The 13-year-old girl fromFrank- furt had argued that the sight of bare-chested male pupils breached her religious modesty. She also claimed that accepting the school's offer that she herself could wear a full-body "burkini" swimsuit in the poolwould expose her to discrimination among her peers. But Germany's Federal Admin- istrative Court ruled Wednesday that it was reasonable to compro- mise between the girl's religious freedom and the state's duty to educate its citizens. BAGHDAD Blasts at Shiite mosque kill 35, Iraq officials say A suicide attacker staged a dou- ble bombing near a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad as worship- pers were leaving after evening prayers on Wednesday, killing at least 35 in the latest deadly episode of violence to rock the country, accordingto Iraqi authorities. The blasts follow months of heightened sectarian violence in Iraq, intensifying fears the coun- try is slipping back toward the widespread bloodshed in the years that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The past several months havebeenthe deadliestsince 2008, when Iraq was pulling back from thebrink ofsectariancivilwar. Wednesday's explosions went off as the heat of the day was eas- ing after sunset and worshippers and shoppers filled the streets. The area targeted is known as Kasra, a predominantly Shiite enclave in a part of the city that is otherwise largely Sunni. -Compiled from Daily wire reports Zimmerman probe on hold until clear evidence found People gather to look at the site of a car bombing in Benghazi, Libya, Wednesday. A powerful car bomb exploded near Libya's Foreign Ministry building in the heart of the eastern coastal city of Benghazi, security officials said, one year to the date after an attack there killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. ibya's ministry hiet with bomnb on 9/11 anniversary Prime Minister speaks out against militia involved TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - A car bomb tore through a Libyan Foreign Ministry building in the eastern city of Benghazi on Wednesday, a powerful remind- er of lawlessness in the North African nation on the anniversa- ry of a deadly attack on the U.S. consulate there as well as the 2001 terror attacks in the United States. Prime Minister Ali Zidan issued a stern warning to mili- tias blamed for much of the violence that has plagued Libya since the overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi two years ago, proclaiming that "we will not bow to anyone." But the challenges are mount- ing. The prime minister said that armed men had just stormed a post office in the capital, Tripoli, takingemployees hostage.A wit- ness at the scene, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, told The Associated Press that the attack- ers were seeking to cut off mail to the southern city of Sabha in retaliation for a rival tribe from Sabha cutting off the water sup- ply to Tripoli for a week, forcing hospitals and homes to rely on wells and large tanks. Other groups have shut down oil fields to protest corruption or demand regional autonomy, causing the country to lose out on millions of dollars a day in potential revenue. The Benghazi blast caused no deaths or serious injuries, but destroyed the Foreign Ministry branch building in an attack rich in symbolism. The building once housed the U.S. Consulate under the rule of King Idris, who was overthrown in 1969 in a blood- less coup led by Gadhafi. The bombing took place about 6 a.m., well before anybody was due to arrive at the Foreign Min- istry for work and at a time when the nearby streets were nearly empty. The explosion blew out a side wall of the building, leaving desks, filing cabinets and com- puters strewn across the con- crete rubble. It also damaged the Benghazi branch of the Libyan Central Bank. Pictures circulated on Face- book showed men carrying dead doves, with one person com- menting that "the dog who did this will be punished for the guilt of killing doves." Another photo shows black smoke smol- dering out of the charred For- eign Ministry building, along with wrecked cars and burned palm trees. A green tarp was later placed over part of the building. The blast also rocked Beng- hazi's main boulevard, Gamal Abdel-Nasser, which runs through the city from north to south. Several pedestrians were slightly wounded. Mohammed el-Ubaidi, head of the Foreign Ministry branch in Benghazi, told Libyan televi- sion that the car carried 60 kilo- grams (132 pounds) of explosives and was blown up by remote control. No group immediately Alleged dispute occured after wife filed for divorce LAKE MARY, Fla. (AP) - The investigation of a domestic dispute between George Zim- merman and his estranged wife is on hold because there is no clear evidence to charge any- one and neither side wants to press the case, a police spokes- man said Wednesday. That could change if new evidence surfaces or techni- cians are able to extract video that recorded the dispute from Shellie Zimmerman's smashed iPad, said Officer Zach Hudson. Law enforcement analysts are having difficulty obtaining the video because the iPad is in bad shape, he said. "We have concluded the- investigation with what we have to work with right now," Hudson said. The dispute took place Mon- day, just days after Shellie Zim- merman filed divorce papers. In the papers, Zimmerman, 26, said she had separated from her husband a month after he was acquitted in the 2012 fatal shooting death of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin. A police report on the dis- pute released Wednesday shed some light on how it started. Shellie Zimmerman, accom- panied by her father and a friend, was removing some belongings from the couple's house when George Zimmer- man, who still lives there, arrived and began taking pho- tos of her, the report said. The house is owned by Shellie Zim- merman's parents. George Zimmerman record- ed the items she removed from the house and also the belong- ings she had placed in her father's truck, the report said. Zimmerman said his wife was "taking property that was not agreed upon and he began taking pictures and recording the items," the report said. Shellie Zimmerman then took her iPad and started record- ing her husband taking photos* of her, authorities said. George Zimmerman went in the house and locked the front door. What happened next is in dispute. Shellie Zimmerman told investigators she heard her father screaming from the garage. Her father, David Dean, told her that Zimmerman had hit him in the face, the report said. She said her husband then smashed her iPad. During a 911 call, she also told police that George Zim- merman was threatening her and her father with a gun. Later, however, she said she had not seen a gun. Police said they found no gun, but that Shellie Zimmerman's father "did have a swollen red mark on the bridge of his nose." At a news conference late Wednesday, Shellie Zimmer- man was with her attorney, Kelly Sims, but didn't answer any questions about what hap- pened. Sims cited the on-going divorce proceedings and proba- tion as the reason. Sims defend- ed his client's initial assertions that her husband was armed. Sims said Shellie Zimmerman found packaging for a new hol- ster in the trash that day and has alwaysknownhimtocarryagun. "Bottom line, Shellie had every reason to believe there was a gun," Sims said. Sims said his client is hoping to move on as soon as possible. "The only thing Shellie wants out of the end of this relationship is for it to end with a whimper and not a bang," Sims said. In the report George Zim- merman told investigators that his wife had told him she was done pickingup her belongings. He said he locked the front door and went to the garage to close it when Shellie Zimmer- man's father confronted him, according to the report. Shellie Zimmerman's father threw down his glasses and charged his son-in-law, accord- ing to George Zimmerman's account. Shellie Zimmerman at some point hit her husband with her iPad, George Zimmer- man told investigators. Police officers asked George Zimmerman to remove his shirt so they could see if there were marks on his back. "There were no signs of trauma, red- ness or marks of any kind in the area where he said he was struck," the report said. As many as seven people were at the house - friends of the Zimmermans - and they all have been questioned by investigators, Hudson said. The friends said they didn't see what happened and footage from the house's surveillance cameras was inconclusive, Hudson added. Both sides are refusing to press charges, but Florida law allows police officers to arrest someone for domestic violence without the consent of the vic- tim. Investigators are hoping video from the iPad will allow them to determine if charges should be filed. Hudson told a news con- ference Wednesday that law enforcement analysts are hav- ing difficulty extracting the video because the iPad is in bad shape. Pakistani Taliban, army exchange prisoners with peace talks hopes Exchange included six militants, two soldiers DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pak- istan (AP) - The Pakistani Tal- iban and the army exchanged prisoners Wednesday as a confidence building measure ahead of possible peace talks, intelligence officials and mili- tant commanders said. The exchange included six militants and two paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers, the officials and commanders said. It occurred in the Shawal area of the South Waziristan tribal region. The militants were sub- sequently taken to neighboring North Waziristan, the coun- try's main Taliban sanctuary. Militants fired in the air with joy when their colleagues were freed, the intelligence officials said. The two officials and two Taliban commanders spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not autho- rized to talk to journalists. Pakistan's military pub- lic affairs office denied the exchange occurred. But the intelligence officials and Tali- ban commanders provided the names of the militants who were freed and said the two paramilitary soldiers released were kidnapped by the Taliban in southwest Baluchistan prov- ince in March 2012. The release occurred only days after Pakistan's main political parties endorsed peace negotiations with the Taliban and their allies Mon- day as the best way to end a decade-long insurgency that has killed thousands of people. The exchange was meant to build confidence between the government and the militants before formal peace talks, one of the Taliban commanders said. Senior Taliban leaders are currently discussing whether to take the government up on its offer to hold negotiations, said the commander and one of his colleagues. The Taliban said they were open to talks at the end of last year but withdrew that offer in May after the group's dep- uty leader was killed in a U.S. drone strike. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif campaigned on a platform of holding peace talks and has maintained that line since he took office in June. He scored a victory when his stance was endorsed by other parties on Monday - a decision that was generally welcomed by the Taliban. But there are plenty of skep- tics who doubt negotiations actually will bring lasting peace. The government has struck various peace deals with the Taliban in the past, but all have fallen apart. Crit- ics say the agreements sim- ply gave the militants time to regroup and continue their fight against the state. "Not only is the path well worn, it is also a path that has on every previous occasion been attempted and led to fail- ure, mutual recrimination and renewed bloodshed," an edito- rial published Wednesday in The Express Tribune newspaper said. The editorial also point- ed out that it's unclear with whom exactly the government would negotiate. Analysts say there are more than 100 mili- tant groups operating in Paki- stan's tribal region along the Afghan border with varying levels of allegiance. "Then there is the question of just what is on the table, what is up for negotiation," the editorial said. "No itera- tion of the Taliban either his- torically or in recent years has wanted anything other than the dismantling of the demo- cratic process, the dissolution of legislatures at the federal and provincial levels, and the imposition of their own nar- row interpretation of religion." It's also unclear what kind of negotiated peace Pakistan's army, considered the country's most powerful institution, would accept after losing hun- dreds of its soldiers in combat with the Taliban. A peace deal could worry the United States if it gives more breathing room to Afghan mili- tants in Pakistan who carry out cross-border attacks against American troops in Afghanistan. The Afghan and Pakistani Taliban are allies but have aimed their guns at different targets. The Afghan Taliban have fought coalition forces in Afghanistan, while the Paki- stani Taliban have taken on the government at home.