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Show 1 Monday, Jan, 30,2006 797-1769 statesman@cc.usu.edu Today's Issue Dedications Today is Monday, Jan. 30, 2006. Today's issue of The Utah Statesman is published especially for Alan Riding, a junior majoring in economics from Boise, Idaho. 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 $ Quick took Z~ZZZZ^ Bush will focus on energy issues in State of the Union WASHINGTON (AP) - "frying to calm anxieties about soaring energy costs, President Bush is using his State of the Union address this week to focus on a package of energy of proposals aimed at bringing fuel-saving technologies out of the lab and into use. In Bush's vision, drivers will stop at hydrogen stations and fill their fuel-cell cars with the pollution-free fuel. Or they would power their engines with ethanol made from trash or corn. More Americans would run their lights at home on solar power. Bush has been talking about these ideas since his first year in office. Proposals aimed at spreading the use of ethanol, hydrogen and renewable fuels all were part of the energy bill that he signed into law in August, but that hasn't eased Americans' worries about high fuel prices. .'_.,... ... Americans were hit with the biggest jump in energy prices in 15 years in 2005, and worries about the cost of gas and heating oil have damped spirits about the economy despite other recent encouraging signs. Add in the unrest in the Middle East, and energy becomes a major problem for. the president to address Tuesday night. "I agree with Americans who understand being hooked on foreign oil as an economic problem and a national security problem," Bush said in a recent interview with CBS. Republican lawmakers want AbramofPs contacts disclosed WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican lawmakers said Sunday that President Bush should publicly disclose White House contacts with Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who has pleaded guilty to felony charges in an influence-peddling case. Releasing the records would help eliminate suspicions that Abramoff, who helped raise more than $100,000 for Bush's re-election campaign, had undue influence on the White House, the Republicans said. "I'm one who believes that more is better, in terms of disclosure and transparency," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. "And so I'd be a big advocate for making records that are out there available." The president has refused to reveal how much access Abramoff had to the White House, but has said he does not know Abramoff personally. Bush has said federal prosecutors are welcome to see the records of Abramoffs contacts if they suspect something inappropriate, but he has not released them publicly. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., who appeared with Thune on "Fox News Sunday," said all White House correspondence, phone calls and meetings with Abramoff "absolutely" should be released. "I think this president is a man of unimpeachable integrity," Pence said. "The American people have profound confidence in him. And as Abraham Lincoln said, 'Give the people the facts and republican governance perhaps will be saved."1 Bush adviser Dan Bartlett said on CNN's "Late Edition" that prosecutors investigating Abramoff have not asked for any White House records. "They haven't done that because they're not relevant," Bartlett said. He rejected Democratic calls for an independent prosecutor to investigate. Mother accused of smothering 3 children in Arkansas left note Priest says she has 'tremendous remorse' DE QUEEN, Ark. (AP) - A mother accused of smothering her three young children left notes that officials say could help determine what led to the killings, and her priest said Sunday that she had expressed "tremendous remorse." Paula Eleazar Mendez, 43, was in a county jail Sunday after being treated at a hospital for swallowing a toxic substance. She had collapsed as officers arrived at her southwestern Arkansas home Saturday morning in response to a telephone call from the children's father in New York. Inside the home, the officers found the bodies of the children, ages 6 to 8, lying side by side on a bed, said Chris Brackett, an investigator with the Sevier County Sheriffs Office. "I do not believe there is any dispute as to who killed these three children, and therefore who will be charged," prosecutor Tom Cooper said. "However, we have not determined at this time the particular homicide charge or punishment we will be seeking." De Queen Police Chief Richard McKinley said investigators needed a translator to read the notes that were written in Spanish. A family priest who visited Mendez in a hospital Saturday night described a woman experiencing profound sorrow. "She has tremendous remorse. She is deeply sorry," the Rev. Salvador MarquezMunoz said Sunday before entering St. Barbara Catholic Church for Mass. "She asked for our prayers and forgiveness because she is realizing how much she has hurt the community, as well." He identified the children as 8-year-old Elvis and 6-year-old twins, Samanta and her brother Samuel. Autopsies were planned to determine whether the children had been poisoned or smothered, as their mother told police, Cooper said. The children's faces were not covered when police found them. Cooper said an emergency room doctor told him Mendez had not ingested enough of the toxic substance to kill herself. Her arraignment is expected Monday, McKinley said. In the house's yard Sunday was a sevenfoot pile of burned papers. A page in a religion book bore the words "vamos a celebrar" - Spanish for "let's celebrate." A child's handwriting was scrawled in blue ink across some papers, and there were charred letters from a labor union in New York City. AP Photo/Brian Chilson THE REV. SALVADOR MARQUEZ-MUNOZ, of St. Barbara Catholic Church in De Queen, Ark., addresses his congregation Sunday, Jan. 29,2006, the day after a parishioner, Paula Eleazar Mendez, 43, is alleged to have smothered her three small children in their home before calling her husband in New York to inform him. Mtinoz met with Mendez on Saturday and said she asked for forgiveness from God, the community and her children. The priest said Mendez, who moved to the United States from Mexico 10 years ago, had lived in New York until last summer, when she moved with her children to De Queen because wanted them to live in a safer environment. He described her as a quiet, devout woman concerned about her children's welfare. She was not working, and her husband was supporting the family with a job in New York, he said. She and the children never missed Sunday services and attended religious education classes. Mendez seemed "very loving," said M. Rocio • CHILDREN see page 14 Saddam trial falls into chaos AP Photo/David Furst FORMER IRAQI PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN, center front, listens as his half brother, Barzan Ibrahim, standing at back, addresses the court moments before Barzan Ibrahim was forcibly removed from the trial held fn Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, Sunday Jan. 29,2006. BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Saddam Hussein's trial collapsed into chaos shortly after resuming Sunday, with one defendant dragged out of court and the defense team walking out in protest. The former Iraqi leader was then escorted out after he shouted "down with the Americans" and refused his new court-appointed lawyers. The new chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, pressed ahead with the proceedings even after the opening drama, hearing three prosecution witnesses before adjourning the trial after 4 1/2 hours, as he sought to assert tight control over the court. Abdel-Rahman said the trial will continue Wednesday but could begin Thursday instead depending on the date of the Islamic new year, which is set according to the sighting of a new moon to start the lunar month. Abdel-Rahman was installed as chief judge after his predecessor resigned amid complaints he was not doing enough to rein in Saddams frequent courtroom outbursts. The stormy session was sure to increase doubts over the trial's fairness - a vital concern in a nation that is trying to reconcile its Sunni Arab minority, which dominated Iraq under Saddam, and the Shiite Muslim majority that now controls the government. Sundays proceedings, the first in over a month, disintegrated almost immediately into shouting and insults. First, co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim Was pulled out by guards after he stood and called the court "the daughter of a whore," while Saddam shouted "down with traitors" and "down with the Americans." Then Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, threw out a defense attorneys for arguing with him. The rest of the defense team stormed out in protest as the judge shouted after them, "Any lawyer who walks out will not be allowed back into this courtroom." Abdel-Rahman appointed four new defense lawyers. But Saddam stood and rejected them. Holding a copy of the Quran and other papers under his arm, he said he wanted to leave. After an argument with the judge - during which guards pushed Saddam back into his chair - guards escorted the former Iraqi leader out of the room. People NEW YORK (AP) - More guys want Jessica Alba for their girlfriend than any other woman, according to AskMen.com's top 99 list for 2006. The 24-year-old actress tops the Web site's list ranking female celebrities on their "long-term relationship material." Alba is followed by "Alfie" star'' Sienna Miller and the ubiquitous Angelina Jolie. The list will be posted Tuesday. '' James Bassil, editor-in-chief of * AskMen.com, told The Associated • Press the list was determined by the rankings of 2.5 million readers ' and by the site's staff. '• Readers of the online magazine 'were asked to vote according to the * woman they would most want a relationship with, would consider ' marrying or thought best-suited to :-> be the mother of their children. •'Of course, few have ever accused Alba, Miller or Jolie of being short A on movie star glamour. J "We encouraged readers not to * go on looks alone," Bassil said. "I •' don't believe it's an entirely accurate reflection of what a reader * strives for in their long-term rela- • • tionships, but at the same time, it's *' not a sheerly surface appreciation." ' The rest of the top 10, in order, is ' Brazilian model Adriana Lima (No. 1 last year), "Access Hollywood" •• correspondent Maria Menounos, Charlize Theron, Jessica Biel, singer • Amerie, Natalie Portman and Eva .' Longoria. •* Britney jSpears - a mainstay of -' such lists in previous years - failed ' to chart. KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) - The : Barbershop Harmony Society •' could be singing a different tune - country-style - with its decision i to relocate to Nashville. '> Nashville beat out the • •? Dallas-Fort Worth area and the Milwaukee-Chicago corridor after : i a four-year search for a new home- town. "Nashville's reputation as 'Music City USA' connects our musical art form with many other resources to advance our mission and vision," said Ed Watson, the society's executive director. The society, founded in 1938, is the world's largest all-male singing ' organization, with 30,000 mem- • bers in more than 800 chapters in North America. It employs 28 people. It's formally known as the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America. DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - Muhammad Ali was honored at the World Economic Forum for his efforts to promote dialogue and understanding between the Muslim' and Western worlds. Accompanied by his wife, Yolanda, Ali received the firstever prize from the Council of 1OO Leaders, a group formed at the forum's annual meeting two years ago to promote understanding between the West and Muslims. Late Night David Letterman j Top Ten Surprising Facts About Osama Bin Laden f 10. Plans to release next threatening- r videotape in high-definition. ; *. 9. In the seventies, had a gay fling •.• with the blind sheikh. ;• 8. Secretly likes Kosher pickles. • •) 7- Middle name: Duane. •) 6. Stole "Death to America" catch- ; phrase from Fran Tarkenton. -r 5. Got cave hooked up with Sirius so he can listen to Howard Stern. .{ ', r 4. Knows all the words to the Black .r Eyed Peas song "My Humps." I 3. After Colts loss to Steelers, declared jihad on Mike Vanderjagt. • > 2. Has a bumper sticker that reads, >: "Don't blame me, I voted for Kerry." .* 1. The son-of-a-bitch is still alive. |