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Show NEWS IIP? Good news, interesting news, questionable news. Heck, a rumor. Send it along to statesman@cc.usu.edu. Don't forget your Valentine! Call or come see our specials. Fred's Flowers 41 North Main, Logan 752-6242 Valentine Giveaway January 31 - February 14 Guess the number of hearts and you could win a Romantic Prize Pack KISS ME STATES fvORLD & NATION Palestinians to receive control of West Bank cities BY MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH Associated Press 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 the first large-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. AP Photo/Khali! Hamra In another significant move, an Israeli official said amnesty would PALESTINIANS CHANT Islamic slogans as they participate in a Hamas movement rally in the southern be granted for fugitive Palestinians Caza town of Rafah, Saturday. in the West Bank, ending Israel's as a delaying tactic, and he appears to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is relentless search for dozens of extremists have the political muscle to push the plan scheduled to arrive in the region. suspected in attacks on Israelis. In more through. In all, 8,500 settlers stand to be Both sides appear eager to put four than four years of conflict, dozens of mili- displaced. years of violence behind them, but the tants have been killed in Israeli raids and bloodshed has frayed trust Each side has "Ariel Sharon, you have no mandate to many more have been arrested. expel Jews," said Effie Eitam, a pro-settler qualified its declarations about bringing The amnesty would allow Abbas to fulpeace by saying that progress depends on lawmaker who spoke to the crowd. The fill a key campaign pledge that fugitives the actions of the other side, and it is demonstrators pledged to go to Gaza to would be allowed to reintegrate into clear the atmosphere could sour quickly if block the pullout Palestinian society with no fear of Israeli there is a serious Palestinian attack or Palestinian officials say Abbas and reprisal. Israeli military strike. Sharon have agreed to meet for the first Meanwhile, more than 100,000 Jewish time since 2003, when Abbas was prime Israel's Channel Two TV showed video settlers and their backers demonstrated minister. It would be the first meeting Sunday of an advanced radar tracking Sunday night in Jerusalem against Prime between an Israeli premier and a system being installed next to Gaza to Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate Palestinian leader since 2000, when monitor incoming rockets heading for all 21 Gaza settlements and four West Arafat sat down with then-Prime Sderot, a much-battered Israeli town. Bank outposts this summer. Minister Ehud Barak The radar is part of a joint Israeli-U.S. The protesters demanded a referendum Feb. 8 was emerging as the dateforthe system intended to destroy small rockets on the plan, but Sharon has rejected that with laser beams. summit, which would be two days after After Iraq, Marine with mystery ailment receives new liver BY BEN FOX Associated Press Get it at your UtohStote UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE ONE ENTRY PER PERSON, MULTIPLE ENTRIES WILL BE DISQUALIFIED, DO NOT HAVE TO BE PRESENT TO WIN MONDAY, JAN. 31,2005 LOMA LINDA, Calif. — With little time left before his organs would likely fail, a U.S. Marine received a new liver Sunday for a mysterious ailment doctors said would kill him if he didn't get a transplant. Doctors operated on Lance Cpl. Chris LeBleu, who had been in a coma and on life support, for nearly 12 hours Sunday after an unidentified donor from New Mexico was found late Saturday night. Doctors said the procedure went well, said Sgt. Jennie Haskamp, spokeswoman at Twentynine Palms, where LeBleu was stationed. He was in critical condition late Sunday. In the hospital lobby, his 21-year-old wife, Melany, found comfort in photos of her wedding last fall, shortly after LeBleu returned from Iraq. Despite her fears, she has remained optimistic since her husbands illness was discovered earlier this month. Several of LeBleu's commanding officers, fellow Marines and other family members huddled with his wife Sunday as they awaited the outcome of the operation. The cause of the infection is unknown. Dr. Donald Hillebrand, a liver specialist, said LeBleu most likely caught a virus or was exposed to a toxin or chemical in Iraq or after his return. LeBleu, 22, was a rifleman in Iraq for seven months as part of a 2,200-man task force that lost 21 people and had nearly 200 wounded in action. His battalion commander, Lt. Col. Matt Lopez, said he wasn't aware of any other members of the unit with similar ailments to LeBleu. Fellow Marines call him "Blue " and say the Marine kept a cool head as his 160-man company guarded a base near the Syrian border. "He's a real resilient guy, the most relaxed, confident person you'll ever meet," said Lance Cpl. Rob Whittenberg, 23, of Spring Branch, Texas. The infection developed gradually. In mid-December, just months after he returned from Iraq, LeBleu told his new wife he felt tired, a little under the weather. "We kept telling him to go to a doctor, but he said it was just a sinus infection," Melany LeBleu said. "Of course, we didn't think it was anything major." Days later, he felt much worse during the drive back to the Marine base at Twentynine Palms. In Texas, LeBleu felt so nauseous he had to pull over. They made it back to their home on the base, but he didn't get better. On Jan. 10, she took him to a base emergency room, which sent him to Loma Linda University Medical Center, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. As recently as Thursday, he was jaundiced and swelling but could still answer questions, Hillebrand said. Within 24 hours, however, he was no longer coherent and had to be put on life support. GLOBAL PROBLEMS From page 2 n Wcrtch Uiouies a Garn Cash n save a tree n Become a blood plasma donor & Ulake a difference Donate Plasma German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, former President Clinton and newly elected Ukrainian President "Viktor Yushchenko. But the summit has become increasingly socially conscious in recent years, partly in response to anti-globalization protesters who have denounced the gathering as elitist and disconnected. Blair and French President Jacques Chirac challenged world leaders to finally address grinding poverty in Africa, where 300 million people lack safe drinking water, 3,000 African children under the age of 5 die every day from Malaria, and 6,000 people die daily of AIDS. "We know all of this. So what can be done?" Blair said in the forum's keynote address. American leaders, normally a strong presence at the summit, were notably absent this year amid a rise in anti-U.S. sentiment. The highest-ranking Bush administration official to attend was Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. Talks at the summit echoed sentiment around the world. There was optimism over IsraeliPalestinian reconciliation since the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in November. Shimon Peres, Israels vice premier, said the "magic has returned to the mountain" of Middle East peace after years of violence and hopelessness. . Far less optimism was expressed over Iraq, which a senior analyst at RAND Corp. described as a "clarion call" for Islamic militants that may spark terrorist attacks far from its borders. "In terms of perception, we've already lost the war," said Bruce Hoffman, chief of the think tank's Washington office. "I believe that a cult of the insurgent has emerged from Iraq." Other Mideast issues were given a posi- tive spin, with a senior Saudi ambassador predicting that women in the strictly segregated Islamic nation will be allowed to vote in future elections, and the Iranian foreign minister suggesting informal contacts with the United States over nuclear issues were achievable through European intermediaries. On the economic front, Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju said per capita income will triple during the next 15 years and there was no reason for the world to fear his country's emergence as a global giant "China will by no means pose a threat to others. The Earth is a common home to all of us," he said. Another celebrity activist, actress Sharon Stone, made headlines when she stood up during a weighty talk on African poverty, pledged $10,000 to fight malaria and urged others in the room to do the same. She raised $1 million in about 10 minutes. IRAQ From page 2 WESTERN PLASMA Main Street You can help save someone's life by giving plasma. Western Plasma 1061 No. Main • 753-7802 HOURS: Mon-Fri 10am - 6pm, Sat noon-4 pm, Closed Sun stood calmly in line at midday outside one polling station in the heart of Baghdad. Inside, the tight security included at least four body searches, and a ban on lighters, cell phone batteries, cigarette packs and even pens. The feeling was sometimes festive. One election volunteer escorted a blind man back to his home after he cast his vote. A woman too frail to walk by herself arrived on a cart pushed by a young relative. Entire families showed up in their finest clothes. But for the country's minority Sunni Arabs, who held a privileged position under Saddam Hussein, the day was not as welcome. No more than 400 people voted in Saddams hometown of Tikrit, and in the heavily Sunni northern Baghdad neighborhood of Azamiyah, where Saddam made his last known public appearance in early April 2003, the four polling places never even opened. Iraqi election officials said it might take 10 days to determine the vote's winner and said they had no firm estimate of turnout among the 14 million eligible voters. The ticket endorsed by the Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani was the pre-voting favorite. Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's slate was also considered strong. "The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East," said President Bush, who called the election a success. He promised the United States would continue training Iraqi soldiers, hoping they can soon secure a country America invaded nearly two years ago to topple Saddam. Iraqis, the US. president said, had "firmly rejected the antidemocratic ideology" of terrorists. The vote to elect a 275-National Assembly and 18 provincial legislatures was only the first step on Iraq's road to self-rule and stability. Once results are in, it could take weeks of backroom deals before a prime minister and government are picked by the new assembly. If that government proves successful by drawing in the minority Sunni Arabs who partly shunned the election, the country could stabilize, hastening the day when 150,000 US. troops can go home. |