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Show Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 Page 2 World&Nation Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com ClarifyCorrect The policy of The Utah Statesman is to correct any error made as soon as possible. If you find something you would like clarified or find unfair, please contact the editor at statesmaneditor@aggiemail.usu.edu Celebs&People LOS ANGELES (AP) – A judge granted “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest a temporary restraining order against a man arrested on suspicion of stalking the radio and television host. Seacrest’s attorneys obtained the Seacrest order hours after they say Chidi Benjamin Uzomah Jr. was detained at the E! Entertainment Television headquarters in Los Angeles. The filing claims Uzomah was carrying a knife and was trying to see the popular television and radio host. NewsBriefs Mother stabs son BERGENFIELD, N.J. (AP) – A New Jersey mother whose inability to understand English apparently misled her to believe that her children would be taken away stabbed her 8-year-old son with a steak knife, then tried to kill herself, police said. Elida Marroquin was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, child endangerment and weapons offenses following Saturday’s incident at the family’s home in Bergenfield. Both she and the child were expected to recover from their wounds. LateNiteHumor Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009 – Top 10 Revelations In Chad Ochocinco’s Autobiography. 10. The book is all about my life as a hockey mom from Alaska. 9. I was once put on the disabled list when they found an ocho in my cinco. 8. During the season my QB Carson Palmer and I sleep in bunk beds. 7. I’m going to ask Tom Hanks to play me in the movie. 6. There’s nothing like winding down after a big game with a Red Bull and a DVR of “Tyra.” 5. I like tacos. 4. Brett Favre is so old, his social security number is 1. 3. Terrell Owens doesn’t like it when you criticize his teammate. 2. I’m planning a special touchdown celebration that involves pulling a dancing raccoon out of my pants. 1. I thank the Lord every day I don’t play for the Lions. Afghan challenger drops out of runoff election KABUL (AP) – President Hamid Karzai’s challenger withdrew Sunday from next weekend’s runoff election, effectively handing the incumbent a victory but raising doubts about the government’s credibility at a time when the U.S. is seeking an effective partner in the war against the Taliban. Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said he made his decision after Karzai turned down his demands for changes to the Independent Election Commission and other measures that he said would prevent massive fraud, which marred the first round of balloting on Aug. 20. Abdullah stopped short of calling for an electoral boycott and urged his followers “not to go to the streets, not to demonstrate.” AFGHANISTAN’S PRESIDENTIAL CHALLENGER Abdullah Abdullah gesAzizullah Lodin, the head of the tures after announcing his decision not to participate in Afghanistan’s runoff election Karzai-appointed commission, said he would have to confer with constitution- during a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday. AP photo al lawyers before deciding later Sunday announce a decision, but the war has fraud. whether the runoff would proceed intensified in the meantime. October Karzai’s campaign spokesman, without Abdullah. Technically, it is too was the deadliest month of the war for Waheed Omar, said it was “very unforlate for Abdullah to formally withdraw. U.S. forces, with at least 57 American tunate” that Abdullah had withdrawn Kai Eide, the top U.N. official in deaths. but that the Saturday runoff should Afghanistan, said in a statement that Before the announcement, U.S. proceed. the next step is to “bring this electoral Secretary of State Hillary Rodham “We believe that the elections have process to a conclusion in a legal and Clinton downplayed the importance to go on, the process has to complete timely manner.” of an Abdullah withdrawal, saying it itself, the people of Afghanistan have to The statement did not address would not undermine the legitimacy of be given the right to vote,” Omar said. whether the runoff should go forthe election. However, Karzai said in a stateward, though U.N. spokesman Aleem “I don’t think it has anything to do ment released by his office that he Siddique said it looked impractical. with the legitimacy of the election,” would accept any order issued by the “It’s difficult to see how you can Clinton told reporters Saturday in Abu Independent Election Commission. have a runoff with only one candidate,” Dhabi. “It’s a personal choice.” In an emotional speech, Abdullah Siddique said. Nevertheless, the contentious electold supporters that the KarzaiA clouded electoral picture further toral process has divided anti-Taliban appointed election commission had complicates the Obama administragroups at a time when the U.S., and its engineered massive fraud in the tion’s efforts to decide whether to allies are pressing for unity in the face first-round vote, but his demands for send tens of thousands more troops to of growing insurgent strength. replacing the top leadership had been Afghanistan to battle the Taliban and U.S. officials pressured Karzai into rejected. its al-Qaida allies. agreeing to a runoff after U.N.-backed “I will not participate in the Nov. The White House has been waitauditors threw out nearly a third of his 7 election,” Abdullah said, because a ing for a new government in Kabul to votes from the August ballot, citing “transparent election is not possible.” He later told reporters that he was not calling for a boycott, but instead leaving it up to his supporters to decide whether to vote if a runoff goes forward on Saturday. He said he made the decision “with a lot of pain” and hoped his withdrawal would “give the people of Afghanistan a chance to move on.” As recently as Saturday night, Abdullah staffers were saying he would call for supporters to boycott and for the runoff to be delayed until spring with an interim government in place until then. Eide, of the U.N., and U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry were negotiating with the two late into the night about a power-sharing deal, said a Western diplomat familiar with the talks. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. During the talks, Abdullah demanded the removal of three key election officials, suspension of three Cabinet members and constitutional changes that would give him a say in the appointment of ministers and in major policy decisions, according to an Afghan close to the Karzai campaign who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to talk about the confidential discussions. The negotiations broke down early Sunday morning when Karzai ultimately rejected the deal. If they had succeeded, Abdullah would have conceded rather than simply withdrawn his candidacy, the diplomat said. The fact that Abdullah did not go so far as to boycott could mean he is leaving open a window for further talks. Abdullah said he made his final decision to take a softer stance out of consideration of the costs in terms of lives, resources, and time and effort. Anguish over California teen suicides spurs action PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) – Grim news hit this university town in late October just two days before a PTA forum on teenage stress: Another Palo Alto teen had died after stepping in front of a commuter train, the fourth such suicide in less than six months. With hundreds of parents crowding the forum, school Superintendent Kevin Skelly told the anxious gathering that the latest death was “a cruel irony” because city officials were working to prevent another tragedy. “We have all experienced situations where, despite every effort, results fall short of our hopes,” Skelly said. Experts have struggled to understand what generates clusters of teen suicides, a phenomenon that breaks into a community’s awareness when they occur in a public place, as they did in Palo Alto. But officials in this San Francisco peninsula city of about 59,000 say they’re deploying a wide array of approaches to stop it from growing. Those efforts are moving with greater urgency since the most recent suicide on Oct. 19 that involved a 16-year-old male student at Henry M. Gunn High School. Two other Gunn students, a 17-year-old boy in May and a 17-year-old girl a month later, also took their own lives on the train tracks. A 13-year-old girl died the same way in August, days before she was to become a Gunn freshman. At least one Gunn student, another 17-year-old boy, was prevented from killing himself in June after his mother followed him to the tracks. “There is no single answer. There is not necessarily a cumulative set of answers either,” said Greg Hermann, a spokesman for Palo Alto, which convened a task force of psychologists, clergy and others to prepare a response plan. “There are intelligent steps we can be taking.” Police patrol the tracks while city officials negotiate with the railroad on a design to make them less accessible. Students are discouraged from erecting shrines at the sites, which might romanticize the deaths, and the media has been asked not to make public those locations. Some of the high school’s 1,900 students also have created T-shirts with the message “Talk to Me” and formed pacts not to harm themselves. One student left bracelets made of heart-shaped walnut shells for others in need of cheering up to find. A group posts optimistic notes around campus. Joyce Liu, a 17-year-old senior, created a peer-run support group that staffs a table during free periods and hosts a social networking site where classmates can find someone to listen. She also created a Web site called “Henry M. Gunn Gives Me Hope,” where teachers and students share random acts of kindness and beauty that have come their way. “A lot of the time, the problem is no one really knows the exact reason why someone would step on the tracks,” she said. “People keep on searching for answers, but sometimes you won’t ever really know because the person is not here anymore.” Vastly different communities that have been in the same situation also had valuable lessons to offer. One that resonated deeply in Palo Alto was that suicide can be contagious and should be treated as a public health crisis. Merily Keller, a founder of the Texas Suicide Prevention Council, tried to “prevent a downward spiraling of grief” when her 18-year-old son became the fifth and last boy to die in a suicide cluster in Austin, Texas, in 2000. She and her husband buried him at a family ranch so his friends could not gather at his grave site without adult supervision. “One of the biggest risk factors is knowing another kid who has died by suicide,” said Keller, who described that particular warning sign as having “a different quality.” “It’s like juggling something – if you have too many risk factors, they are going to crash,” she said. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among people between the ages of 15 and 24 in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But school, social stress, romantic problems or even having a classmate who died by suicide are rarely big enough triggers alone to cause a teenager to end his or her life, said Madeline Gould, a Columbia University psychiatrist. She found evidence of 50 suicide clusters nationwide between 1987 and 1996. The clusters, which resulted in about 200 deaths, constituted 2 percent or fewer of all youth suicides during that period, she said. “These poor kids died from an untreated psychiatric illness, or undertreated. It’s not as if it’s a mysterious thing and it’s not as if it’s not preventable,” Gould said. “Unfortunately, there is the misconception that if someone wants to die by suicide, it’s inevitable. That’s not the case. The impulse to kill yourself waxes and wanes.” Alex Crosby, a CDC epidemiologist, said not enough research has been done on clusters to know why the deaths stop. Is it due to intensive responses like the one in Palo Alto, “or did they run their own course and go away because maybe some of the already vulnerable folks had been susceptible?” he said. |