The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Wednesday, Februar y 5, 2014 - 5A

NEWS BRIEFS
EAST LANSING
Obama will sign
Farm Bill during
MSU visit Friday
The White House says that
President Barack Obama will
sign the farm bill at Michigan
State University on Friday
during a previously announced
visit to East Lansing.
The White House first
announced the trip last Friday. it
confirmed Tuesday that he will
sign the farm bill during the visit
Michigan Democrat Debbie
Stabenow chairs the U.S. Senate
Agriculture Committee and
led the fight for congressional
passage of the farm bill.
The sweeping $100-billion-
a-year measure won Senate
approval Tuesday on a 68-32 vote
after House passage last week.
The bulk of its cost is for the food
stamp program, which aids I in 7
Americans.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Website problems
result in fewer
insurance signups
Budget experts for Congress
say fewer uninsured people than
expected will get covered this
year through President Barack
Obama's health care law.
The Congressional Budget
Office dropped its estimate by 2
million people. That's partly the
result of website problems that
prevented people from signing up
last fall when new markets for sub-
sidized private insurance went live.
Website woes have largely
cleared up, but the nonpartisan
analysts said Tuesday they
expect 1 million fewer people
to sign up through the new
insurance exchanges, for a new
total of 6 million in 2014. They
predict enrollment will pick up
and top 20 million in 2016.
PETERSBURG, Ken.
Bill Nye debates
head of Kentucky
creation museum
TV's "Science Guy" Bill Nye
and the leader of a Kentucky
museum who believes in cre-
ationism dehated a question
Tuesday that has nagged human-
kind: How did we get here?"
Ken Ham, the founder of the
Creation Museum, believes the
Earth was created 6,000 years
ago and that the Bible tells the
factual account of the universe's
beginnings and the creation of
humans. Nye said he, and the
rest of the scientific community,
believe the Earth was created bya
hig hang hillions of years ago and
people have evolved over time.
"I just want to remind us all
there are billions of people in the
world who are deeply religious,
who get enriched by the wonder-

ful sense of community by their
religion," said Nye, who wore his
trademark bow tie. "But these
same people do not embrace the
extraordinary view that the Earth
is somehow only 6,000 years old."
Nye said technology keeps the
U.S. ahead as a world leader and
he worried that if creationism is
taught to children the country
would fall behind..
TRIPOU, Libya
Libyan leader says
chemical weapons
destroyed
Libya's Foreign Ministry
says the country's caches of
chemical weapons, including
bombs and artillery shells filled
with mustard gas, have been
completely destroyed.
Mohammed Abdel-Aziz made
his announcement on Tuesday
after a mission was completed
few days ago.
"Libya is totally empty of any
presence of chemical weapons ...
which could pose threat to the
safety of people, the environ-
ment, or neighboring regions,"
he said in remarks carried by
Libya's state news agency.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports

L.A. policemen
wrongly shoot
at two women

In hunt for officer,
force violates
department policy
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Eight
Los Angeles police officers vio-
lated department policy when
they mistakenly riddled a pickup
truck with bullets, injuring two
women, during a manhunt last
year for cop-turned-killer Chris-
topher Dorner, a civilian over-
sight board announced Tuesday.
Police Chief Charlie Beck
and Alex Bustamante, inspec-
tor general for the Los Angeles
Police Commission, indepen-
dently recommended that the
shooting be ruled out of policy,
commission President Steve
Soboroff said. He did not pro-
vide further details.
Beck will decide disciplin-
ary measures for the officers,
who were assigned to non-field
duties during an LAPD investi-
gation. Possible measures could
include extensive retraining,
suspensions or even firings.
At a news conference, Beck
said he couldn't comment on
what discipline the officers may
receive because their informa-
tion is private under state law.
He said "these officers will all
and have all received extensive
training as had the whole Los
Angeles Police Department rel-
ative to these types of issues."
Los Angeles Police Protec-
tive League spokesman Eric
Rose said the union's president,
Tyler Izen, was waiting to
review the commission's report
before providing comment.
Last year, the city paid the
women $4.2 million to settle a
claim. That was in addition to
a separate $40,000 settlement
for the loss of their truck.
The Police Commission's
determination didn't surprise
the women's attorney, Glen
Jonas.
"There (are) 4.2 million rea-
sons I have to believe it's out of
policy," he said. "Anyone with

any common sense would agree
it's out of policy."
Dorner, a fired Los Angeles
police officer, claimed he was
unfairly dismissed and vowed
revenge against law enforce-
ment officers in a rambling
online manifesto.
He killed the daughter of a
former LAPD police official
along with her fiance and two
law enforcement officers over
10 days before being cornered
and killing himself in a burn-
ing mountain cabin in San Ber-
nardino County.
On Feb. 7, 2013, Los Angeles
police guarding the Torrance
home of a high-profile target
named in Dorner's manifesto
opened fire on a pickup truck
they thought was Dorner's.
It actually contained the two
women delivering newspapers.
"This was a tragic cascade
of circumstances that led to an
inaccurate conclusion by the
officers," the police chief said.
The officers had earlier
learned that the target's wife
recently had seen Dorner in
the neighborhood appearing to
case the location, and just prior
to the shooting officers heard
over police radio that Dorner
was getting off the freeway
nearby, Beck said. In the early
morning hours, officers said
they saw the blue Toyota pick-
up "creeping" down the road,
according to the chief's report,
with its high beams and flash-
ers on.
In his report to the commis-
sion, the chief said he expected
that officers "make every effort
that they determine that the
truck was in fact Dorner's."
He wrote, "While there
were similarities, the truck
that approached was a differ-
ent make and model, different
color, had no ski racks and no
over-sized tires."
Beck said officers opened fire
immediately after one woman
threw a newspaper and an offi-
cer mistook the sound of it hit-
ting the pavement for gunfire.

Tunisian security forces stand outside a bullet-riddled house in which suspected militants were holed up in the taoued
suburb of Tunis, Tuesday, Feb. 4,
0 0
Tunisian National Guard,
militants create conflict

Anti-terror units
invade hideout, kill
seven extremists
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) -
Tunisia's National Guard
stormed a suspected militant
hideout in a seaside suburb of
Tunis after a daylong standoff
Tuesday. Seven radicals were
killed, including suspect in a
political assassination last year,
a minister said.
One National Guard member
also died in the clash, which
comes almost a year after the
assassination of left-wing poli-
tician Chokri Belaid by Islamist
extremists set off a political cri-
sis in this North African nation.
Hundreds of masked anti-
terror units flooded the Tunis
neighborhood of Raoued during
the standoff, filling its streets
with armored vehicles. Snipers
were perched on rooftops.
In the aftermath of the 2011
overthrow of its secular dicta-

torship, Tunisia saw a rise of
radical Islamic groups, many
of whom took up arms against
the state, killing politicians and
clashing with soldiers.
Interior Minister Lotfi Ben
Jeddou told a press conference
that one of the militants killed
had been identified as Kamel
Gadhgadhi, the suspected
assassin of Belaid. Two other
radicals killed were involved
in the gruesome ambush of sol-
diers in Mount Chaambi that
left eight dead, five with slit
throats, he said.
"We chose not to drop our
guard in the face of terrorism
and we will fight them despite
the costs to our security forces,"
said Ben Jeddou, whose job has
been threatened by his inability
until now to bring the killers
of Belaid and another opposi-
tion politician to justice. "We
will keep working to reveal the
truth of the two political assas-
sinations."
Ben Jeddou showed a photo
of the slain Gadhgadhi wear-

ing an explosive belt. He said
police had recovered a large
amount of weapons, explosives
and rocket-propelled grenades
from two houses occupied by
the militants.
The minister identified the
attackers as members of Ansar
al-Shariah, an ultraconserva-
tive Islamic movement that
has been banned as a terrorist
movement for its alleged links
to al-Qaida and its involvement
in attacks.
Sandwiched between Alge-
ria, the birthplace of al-Qaida's
North African branch, and
Libya, a source of weapons fol-
lowing its civil war, Tunisia has
had to deal with a rising threat
of armed militants.
Nearly every month there's
news of a shootout between
security forces and militants,
especially in the mountains
along its border with Algeria,
At least a dozen soldiers have
been killed in clashes around
Mount Chaambi, near the city
of Kasserine.

Ukrainian citizens
become polarized
amid controversy
Protests for new middle of the night on Kiev's
central square.
government comes Suddenly, the calls for EU
integration were replaced with
with violent demands for Yanukovych's
ouster and a new government
consequences that would guarantee human
rights and democratic free-
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - The doms. Slogans such as "Ukraine
mayor of a western city warned is Europe" were replaced by
that his police would fight any "Down with the gang!"
troops sent in by the president. The divide deepened further
The governor of an eastern as peaceful protests turned ever
region posted an image of an more violent. Last month, after
opposition lawmaker beaten four protesters were killed and
bloody, saying he couldn't con- police were widely reported to
tain his laughter. have beaten and abused activ-
Two months into Ukraine's ists, the opposition's anger
anti-government protests, the became more intense. And
two sides are only moving fur- Yanukovych's supporters were
ther apart. appalled by images of riot
To be sure, Ukraine has policemen set aflame by pro-
never been monolithic. Russia testers' Molotov cocktails, the
and Europe have vied for domi- toppling of a statue of former
nance for centuries, foster- Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin
ing deep cultural differences and the occupation of govern-
between the mostly Ukrainian- ment buildings.
speaking western and central The differing visions are
regions that yearn for ties with rooted in cultural realities. To
the West, and the Russian- the west, protest-friendly Lviv
speaking east and south that feels like a typical European
looks to Russia for support. city, with cobblestone streets,
As the crisis has deepened, Catholic churches and outdoor
each side has grown stronger cafes. To the east, the Yanu-
in its convictions - and those kovych stronghold of Kharkiv
who stood in the middle have is an industrial city with mas-
been forced to choose sides. sive Soviet architecture and a
The demonstrations began giant Lenin statue.
with an old question: Should Linguistics also come into
Ukraine follow a European play in a country where rough-
path or move closer into Rus- ly 40 percent of people speak
sia's sphere? In November, Ukrainian at home, a third
President Viktor Yanukovych speak Russian and a quarter
- after years of touting a politi- speak both.
cal and economic treaty with for one Ukrainian to address
the European Union - had another in one language and
abruptly walked out on it in hear a response in another.
favor of a bailout loan from Most speakers on Kiev's Inde-
Russia. But the crisis changed pendent Square address the
significantly a week later when crowds in Ukrainian, but both
riot police violently broke up languages are heard at the bar-
a small, peaceful rally in the ricades.

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