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Show Friday, Jan. 21, 2011 Page 2 WorldeiNatiOn Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com OarifyCorrect 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. NatflBriefs Mafia takes a big hit from police roundup NEW YORK (AP) — Federal authorities orchestrated one of the biggest Mafia takedowns in FBI history Thursday, charging 127 suspected mobsters and associates in the Northeast with murders, extortion and other crimes spanning decades. Past investigations have resulted in strategic strikes aimed at crippling individual crime families. This time, authorities used a shotgun approach, with some 800 federal agents and police officers making scores of simultaneous arrests stemming from different mob investigations in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Attorney General Eric Holder made a trip to New York to announce the operation at a news conference with the city's top law enforcement officials. Holder called the arrests "an important and encouraging step forward in disrupting La Cosa Nostra's operations." But he and others also cautioned that the mob is known for adapting to adversity and finding new ways of making money and spreading violence. "Members and associates of La Cosa Nostra are among the most dangerous criminals in our country," Holder said. Wal-Mart to reformulate food products for health WASHINGTON (AP) — Wal Mart, the nation's largest grocer, says it will reformulate thousands of products to make them healthier and push its suppliers to do the same, joining first lady Michelle Obama's effort to combat childhood obesity. The first lady accompanied WalMart executives Thursday as they announced the effort in Washington. The company plans to reduce sodium and added sugars in some items, build stores in poor areas that don't already have grocery stores, reduce prices on produce and develop a logo for healthier items. "No family should have to choose between food that is healthier for them and food they can afford," said Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart's U.S. division. As the largest grocer in the United States, Wal-Mart's size gives it unique power to shape what people eat. The grocery business is nearly twice the size of No. 2 competitor Kroger. The company also has massive influence on products made by other manufacturers and sold at the store. Mrs. Obama said the announcement has "the potential to transform the marketplace and help Americans put healthier foods on their tables every single day." - LateNiteHumor Top 10 Changes To 'American Idol" —Jan. 19, 2011 10. Three "Nos" from the judges and you're neutered. 9. Now serving audience vodka and tonics. 8. All songs must be in the form of a question. 7. New microphones make everyone sound like a golden-voiced drifter. 6. Randy Jackson is contractually obligated to get fat again. 5. Losers shipped to a North Korean hard labor camp. 4. In week six, contestants will be mentored by the late John Denver. 3. Contestants are required to sing with ventriloquist dummies like Miss Arkansas. 2. Winner will be announced in the first episode. 1. Ryan Seacrest does even more... whatever the hell he does. Backpack bomb found at MLK event SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — FBI agents are checking "fruitful leads" in a bombing attempt at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade where a backpack filled with sophisticated explosives was placed near the marchers' route. The bomb had a remote detonator and the ability to cause mass casualties, according to an official familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information about the investigation. The bomb was defused without incident Monday but unnerved residents of Spokane, especially those who took part in a parade whose theme was steeped in peace and nonviolence. The attempt on the day set aside to honor the slain civil rights leader raised the possibility of a racial motive in a region that has been home to the white supremacist group Aryan Nations. "The confluence of the holiday, the march and the device is inescapable, but we are not at the point where we can draw any particular motive," Harrill said. Investigators have no suspects but are following up on "fruitful leads" they've received from the public, said Frank Harrill, special agent in charge of the Spokane FBI office. He declined to elaborate. Harrill said the black Swiss Army backpack has been shipped to an FBI lab in Quantico, Va., for analysis. In addition to the bomb, the backpack contained two T-shirts that authorities were analyzing for clues. SPOKANE POLICE CHIEF ANNE KIRKPATRICK credits two officers, including Eric Olson, left, with making a decision to steer the MLK Jr. parade away from what was determined to be an explosive device in downtown Spokane,Wash., Jan. I 9. AP photo Officials have praised as heroes the three city workers who spotted the backpack about an hour before the parade was to start. Harrill said they looked inside, saw wires and immediately alerted law enforcement. The bomb was carefully placed on a metal bench with a brick wall behind that would have directed shrapnel toward Main Street, where marchers were expected to pass, investigators said. No one has claimed responsibility for planting the bomb, Harrill said. The FBI released a photo of the backpack as it offered a $20,000 reward for information from the public. Also released were pictures of the T-shirts found in the pack. There was a gray T-shirt with writing for the Stevens County Relay for Life race last June. Stevens County is just north of Spokane County. The other dark T-shirt said "Treasure Island Spring 2009." Investigators are seeking anyone who took photographs or video in the area between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. Monday. Monday's parade route was changed after the bomb was found, and most of the several hundred people who marched in the annual event did not know about the device, said Liz Moore, one of the marchers. "No announcements were made at all," Moore said. "It seems like a specific effort was made not to alarm people." Harrill called the bomb an act of domestic terrorism. Spokane County Commissioner Mark Richard, who spoke at the King celebration and did not learn of the bomb until later, expressed concern about the number of people who could have been injured or killed if it had detonated. "Hundreds of people, including children, gathered to celebrate and recommit their lives to the cause of human rights," Richard said. Spokane has 200,000 residents and is about 100 miles south of the Canadian border. Another explosive device was found March 23 beside the Thomas S. Foley U.S. Courthouse in downtown Spokane. No arrests have been made in that investigation, and agents didn't know if the two incidents were related, Harrill said. The Spokane region and adjacent northern Idaho have had numerous incidents of anti-government and white supremacist activity during the past three decades. The most visible was by the Aryan Nations, whose leader Richard Butler gathered racists and anti-Semites at his compound for more than two decades. Butler went bankrupt, lost the compound in a civil lawsuit in 2000 and died in 2004. In 1996, white supremacists placed a pipe bomb outside City Hall in Spokane. The bomb exploded, blowing out a window and sending nails and screws across the street. In December, a man in Hayden, Idaho, built a snowman on his front lawn shaped like a member of the Ku Klux Klan holding a noose. The man knocked the pointy-headed snowman down after getting a visit from sheriff's deputies. U.S. deports first Haitians since 2010 MIAMI (AP) — Immigration authorities repatriated 26 Haitians previously convicted of crimes on Thursday, plus another man who was acquitted in a 2007 terror plot, the first such deportations since the Obama administration halted them following the devastating 2010 earthquake. The deportations were immediately criticized by members of the Haitian-American community and immigration advocates who say the Haitians will face dire, inhumane conditions on their return. "I think it's outrageous and it's inhumane and very insensitive," said Marleine Bastien, executive director of the Haitian Women of Miami. "We are outraged, really outraged." An attorney for Lyglenson Lemorin, who was acquitted in 2007 of a plot to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago, confirmed the 35-yearold man was among those deported. Officials have said Lemorin remained a national security threat. Five others were convicted in the case. "Mr. Lemorin's removal is a high water mark in the injustice inherent in our broken immigration system," Charles H. Kuck, his attorney, said. "Deporting an innocent man should never be condoned." Kuck is appealing Lemorin's deportation. In a statement, Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the removals were "consistent with ICE's priority of removing aliens who pose a threat to public safety." Gonzalez added that ICE will continue the deportations periodically. Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, a nonprofit law firm, said the Haitian deportees were being sent back to a "death trap." "Why is it so urgent for the U.S. to deport Haitians when Haiti remains in ruin?" she said. According to the firm, deportees who have a criminal history are routinely held in inhumane jail conditions in Haiti, not fed or provided medical care. "Whether or not they have served a criminal sentence, no Haitian should be sent to a cholera-infested jail where they risk death," the organization said in a statement. Haiti is still recovering from the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that killed an estimated 316,000 people and a subsequent cholera epidemic that has killed thousands and complicated recovery efforts. The tiny Caribbean nation is also facing political instability following the disputed Nov. 28 first-round presidential election. On Sunday, former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier unexpectedly returned after being forced into exile following a mass uprising nearly 25 years ago, sending shock waves through the country. Duvalier took over the presidency after his father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, died and ruled from 19711986 and has been accused of widespread human rights abuses. Bastien said her organization found out about the deportations after being contacted by relatives of the repatriated Haitians. She said the families are "devastated." "There's a high chance that they will be detained in Haiti, and we are really concerned about their safety," she said. Florida Rep. Daphne Campbell, whose district includes Miami's Little Haiti, said she didn't wish to comment on the deportation of those convicted of crimes, but that she did reach out to Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama in hopes of discussing immigration policy toward Haitians. Brazil to create system after disaster BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil will create a nationwide disaster-prevention and early-warning system following recent floods and landslides that killed more than 750 people in mountain towns north of Rio de Janeiro, government officials said Thursday. The government also will invest $6.7 billion through 2014 in water-drainage and hillside-recovery projects across the country in an effort to prevent future flooding and slides, Planning Minister Miriam Belchior said. "We will prioritize those places where experts say the problems are most serious," Belchior said, according to a statement issued by the office of President Dilma Rousseff? Belchior said that $5.9 billion will be used for drainage projects and the rest for the hillside-stabilization projects. Half of the total funding will be made available to municipalities that submit plans for ongoing projects. FIREFIGHTERS, A NATIONAL FORCE SOLDIER and residents carry the body of a landslide victim Widespread flooding and mudslides hit Brazil from a home where the bodies of eight family members were found in Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, every year, costing hundreds of lives. Thursday Jan. 20. Deaths from last week's mudslides rose to at least 727 and left thousands homeless. AP photo Last week's slides were among the worst natural Minister Aloizio Mercadante. state and municipal levels. disasters Brazil has suffered — and with the death Speaking in an interview with radio reportThe bank also said it has earmarked a $485 toll climbing daily, it is likely to become the deadliers that was aired on the government's website, million loan to rebuild houses and relocate famiest natural disaster the nation has ever recorded. Mercadante said officials have not yet calculated lies living in areas at risk for mudslides and heavy A new alert system, expected to be fully how much the system will cost. flooding. operational in four years, will use 15 radars and a Meanwhile, the World Bank said in a statement Mercadante said he expected the death toll in recently purchased supercomputer to help forecast e-mailed to news media outlets Wednesday night the flood zones to eventually reach 1,000 and that and monitor extreme weather conditions, givthat it is considering funding a project to restrucBrazil has at least 500 high-risk areas where 5 miling authorities enough time to evacuate people ture Brazil's civil-defense system at the federal, lion people are at risk. from high-risk areas, said Science and Technology |