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Show 2 U T A H/*iS T A T E S M A N MONDAY, JAN. 31,2005 •;.» Contact: 797-1742 statesman@cc.usu.edL ' ' - -->- <• - : itfaV , Iraqis embrace democracy Today's Issue Today is Monday, Jan. 31, 2005. Today's issue of The Utah Statesman is published especially for Su Leagett, a graduate student in photography from Fargo, Minnesota. Joy violence and uncertainty felt in Iraq's free election Sunday BY SALLY BUZBEE Associated Press Clarifications 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 797-1762 or TSC 105. National Briefs ^^ Utah gets $5 million from feds to help homeless SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah is getting more than $5 million of a $1.4 billion federal government award to provide shelter and care for the homeless. The total dispersal is the largest from the federal government in history to fund an unprecedented number of local projects. Some of the funding will go toward permanent or transitional housing and services like job training and health care. Others will provide resources to convert buildings into homeless shelters, assist in the operation of local shelters and fund drug and alcohol treatment, child care, and homeless prevention and alcohol prevention programs. West Valley City Housing Authority, Housing Assistance Management Enterprise and Salt Lake County Housing Authority received the biggest grants — more than $700,000. Palestinians prepare to control West Bank cities RAMALLAH, West Bank Palestinian police commanders began preparations Sunday to take control of four West Bank towns by midweek, after top Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed on a security plan for the West Bank. Transfer of the towns' control would be thefirstlarge-scale Israeli move on the ground to acknowledge that violence has decreased significantly since Palestinians elected Mahmoud Abbas to replace the late Yasser Arafat as their leader Jan. 9. If the calm holds, Israel promises to move all its troops back to positions they held before the latest Palestinian uprising began in September 2000, turning the populated areas of the West Bank back to Palestinian control and making a major step toward resuming peace talks. Lights out for 230,000 in Georgia after ice storm ATLANTA (AP) - More than 230,000 customers had no electricity Sunday in Georgia while crews worked to repair power lines snapped by an ice storm, and the city's airport reopened all its runways as temperatures rose above freezing. Two traffic deaths in Georgia and one in South Carolina were blamed on the storm that spread sleet and freezing rain across parts of the Southeast on Saturday. By Sunday, all four runways at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were operational again. Only two — and at one point only one — of its four runways were available Saturday as crews labored to scrape off ice. British military plane crashes north of Baghdad BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A British C-130 military transport plane crashed Sunday north of Baghdad, scattering wreckage over a large area, officials said. At least 10 troops were killed, Britain's Press Association new agency said. The crash occurred at around 5:25 p.m. about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad, a spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense. Press Association quoted unidentified military sources saying the death toll was "around 10" and it was "highly unlikely" to be more than 15. There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash, which occured about a half hour after polls closed in Iraq's elections. BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers Sunday, standing in long lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they couldn't walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in Iraq'sfirstfreeelection in a half-century. "We broke a barrier of fear," said Mijm Towirish, an election official said. Uncertain Sunni turnout, a string of insurgent attacks that killed 44 and the crash of a British military plane drove home that chaos in Iraq isn't over yet Yet the mere fact the vote went off seemed toricochetinstantly around a world hoping for Arab democracy and fearing Islamic extremism. ^1 am doing this because I love my country, and I love the sons of my nation," said Shamal Hekeib, 53, who walked with his wife 20 minutes to a polling station near his Baghdad home. "We are Arabs, we are not scared and we are not cowards" Hekeib said With helicoptersflyinglow and gunfire close by, at least 200 voters IRAQ See page 8 AP Photo/The Free Press, Richard Lee AMIR ALMASHKUR carries his son Adam, 3, on his shoulders along with an Iraqi flag draped around them as they prepare to vote at in Southgate, Mich., Sunday. World Economic Forum wraps up talks ing peace to the Middle East and elsewhere. They left with a message of optimism from South Associated Press Korean unification minister Chung Dong-young, DAVOS, Switzerland — More than 2,000 of the who said he was hopeful there would be "substanworld'srichand powerful decamped from this lux- tial resolution" in nuclear talks with North Korea. "The time for diplomacy is now" he said. urious Swiss ski resort Sunday afterfivedays of _ Whether any of the lofty goals set forward at the talks on how to improve the world, particularly by World Economic Forum will take root in the global stamping out poverty,fightingdisease and bringtrouble spots farfromthis idyllic Alpine village will not be known for some time. But there was hope among many social activists here, including U2 frontman Bono, that the world leaders were doing more than just blowing smoke. "I think we can be the generation that ends extreme poverty, I really do, and I think I will spend the rest of my life pledged to that commitment," Bono said, heaping praise on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates and others he said were committed to "getting it right" infightingpoverty, particularly in Africa. The Davos summit has been going on for decades, mostly as a place for billionaires and millionaires to mingle. Businessmen pay $12,000 each for the privilege of rubbing shoulders with each other AP Photo/Michael Probst and political heavyweights such as BY PAUL HAVEN AN UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTOR wears sunglasses with dollar signs on them, during a demonstration during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday. GLOBAL PROBLEMS 5ee page 8 Darfiir official denies Sudan bombed villagers Rebels ask African Union to send more troops for protection KHARTOUM, Sudan- The governor of North Darfur state said reports that a Sudanese government plane bombed villagers last week were fabricated by foreigners, according to the official news agency Sunday. Darrur rebels appealed Sunday to the African Union, which has truce monitors in the western region, to send more troops to stop government forces from attacking civilians. The request came as African leaders met in Nigeria to discuss ways of tackling conflicts, poverty and disease. The United Nations, citing African Union observers at the scene, said Friday that the Sudanese air force bombed civilians in the village of Shangil Tobaya in North Darfur state, killing or wounding nearly 100 people. U.N. officials said it was one of the most serious violations of a ceasefire signed last year by the government and Darfur rebels. Osman Mohamed Yusuf Kibir, the governor of North Darfur state, denied the allegations in a statement carried by the Sudan News Agency. "We personally went there... and the people in the area were surprised as to the lies diffused by the organizations and the Western media," he was quoted as saying. Aid workers based in Shangil Tobaya, 40 miles south of El Fasher, said they saw bombs exploding on the ground Wednesday afternoon and an air force Antonov circling overhead. Later Wednesday, the African Union, which has 1,400 cease-fire monitors and protection troops in Darfur, confirmed the bombing, calling it a "major violation" of the truce. The Sudanese government often has been accused of employing its air force against civilians in Darfur, and it usually denies the allegations. However, it is rare an air strike is confirmed by the African1 Union. Fighting in the area around Shangil Tobaya has displaced more than 10,000 people during the past two weeks, according to U.N. figures. The violence has been a blow to hopes that the momentum from a peace accord in a separate Sudan conflict could help produce a settlement in Darfur. On Jan. 9, the Khartoum-based government signed a peace agreement with the Sudan People's Liberation Army to end 22 years of civil war in southern Sudan. The Darfur conflict, which the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Army and allied Justice and Equality Movement took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin. The government responded with a counterinsurgency campaign in which the Janjaweed, an Arab militia, committed wide-scale abuses against the African population. An estimated 1.8 million people have been displaced in the conflict and more than 70,000 have died. U.S. diplomats at the United Nations in New York said this week that they would be making proposals to the Security Council to bring to justice the perpetrators of atrocities in Darfur. People WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Neo-soul rock band Maroon 5 will perform the opening musical number at next month's Grammy Awards. "It's going to be awesome," lead singer Adam Levine said Thursday. "We're going to do 'This Love' unless they change it up on us and say, OK, 'Superfreak.'" Maroon 5 has earned two Grammy nominations for its debut album, "Songs About Jane," which has sold more than eight million copies since its June 2002 release and was the seventh best-selling album in 2004. The Grammies are televised Feb. 13. MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the works of director Francis Ford Coppola as the two met for tea at the Kremlin before Coppola received a film award. "In Russia your works are well known and highly valued," Putin told Coppola during a televised portion of the meeting Saturday. He said he was not just referring to "The Godfather" - which is extremely popular in Russia — but also to films "that so accurately tell of the horrors of war." Coppola, in turn, lauded Putin's speech marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops, during which Putin said he was ashamed of antiSemitism's existence in Russia, "Excellent speech," Coppola said. "But in person you look much younger than you did on TV." Coppola was in Moscow to receive a Golden Eagle award from Russia's National Academy of Cinematic Arts and Sciences for his contribution to world cinematography. NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Former NBA star Dennis Rodman said he has resolved a dispute with an industry group that accused him of using copy- 1 righted music without permission" at his California restaurant. Rodman has agreed to pay licensing fees back to 2002 and has signed a new agreement with the American Society of M Composers, Authors and Publishers, his publicist, Shannon Barr, told the Los Angeles Times for Saturdays editions. Rodman said he was unhappy about the ASCAP s rule that commercial establishments must pay fees for the use of any of its eight million copyrighted songs and compositions performed live, played on jukeboxes or piped in from radio stations. "But hey, what can you do?" said Rodman, who has attracted publicity because of his brief marriage to Carmen Electra, wild partying and brushes with the law. Late light Late-night quotes compiled from www.politicalhumor.about.com • "SpongeBob SquarePants — he's here, he lives in a pineapple under the sea, get used to it." —Jon Stewart, after the cartoon character came under attack by religious conservatives for allegedly advocating a pro-homosexual agenda. • "Michael Moore announced his latest project. A film looking at voter fraud at the Oscars. ... As you heard Michael Moore's film, 'Fahrenheit 9/11' did not get one nomination for an Oscar, not one. Today, President Bush said, 'Does this mean I can't get best actor now?'" —Jay Leno • "In Washington President Bush has asked Congress for another $80 billion to fight the war in Iraq. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy Iraq?" —Craig Ferguson • "According to a new book, female officers at Guantanamo Bay would sometimes wear just a thong,while they interrogated these Iraqi prisoners. In order to make them feel uncomfortable they'd just put on a thong. Is that they best way to get at the truth? Usually when a guy sees a women in a thong is when he starts lying. No, I'm not married, I'm just hanging out." —Jay Leno • "President Bush has a plan to shrink the record budget deficit. Today he put all the blue states on Ebay. Every one of them." —Craig Ferguson |