OCR Text |
Show Thursday, March 9, 2006 DAILY MORNINGBRIEFING Compiled from Daily Herald wire services al HERALD | FASTFACT Baroque, the style dominating the art and architecture of Europe and European colonies in the Americas (1600s) and in some places until 1750, was launched by the Counter-Reformation of the Roman Catholic church against Protestantism in Italy. Source: Micropedia of World Facts The NATION The WORLD Return of MS drug would mark rare move Former Texas governor is diagnosed with cancer _ WASHINGTON — A promis- AUSTIN,Texas — Former Gov. Ann Richards said Wednesday she has cancer of the esophagus and will undergo treatment at the world-renowned M.D.Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Richards, 72, wentin for tests Mondayandgot the diagnosis Tuesday, said spokesman Bill Maddox. ing drug for multiple sclerosis should be returned to the mar. ket despite questions about a rare brain disease,scientific advisers told the government Wednesday — evenas they continued to grapple with just * who shouldbe allowed to use it. The unanimous vote by ad- visers to the Food and Drug Administration came amid regulators’ own concerns about the drug Tysabri, and whether there is any way to minimize risk from the apparent rare || || tournaments in response | year’s college basketball They werescheduled to decide later in the day who would be toa cheerleader’s frightening fall from a 15-foot human pyramid. The injured cheerlead| er’s coach on Wednes- try, and how tightly drug use would be limited. || cheerleaders from per- could use the drug, agreeing to a manufacturerproposal for a mandatory patientregistry. allowed to enroli in the regis- Clinton's childhood hometo be a national landmark |) Effective immediately, the American Asso- ciation of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators recommended college conferences bar basket tosses and high pyramids without a mat. ed as a national historicsite. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite on Gonzales: No need to act on NSA program WASHINGTON — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made clear Wednesday that the White Houseis not seeking congressional action to inscribe the National Security Agency’s monitoringinto U.S. law, even as membersof Congress nego- tiate with the Bush administra- tion aboutlegislation. Gonzales maintained the programis legal the wayitis.. Three college students arrested in church arsons BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Three college students, includ- i | years — as “devastating” Hope, Ark., should be designat- allowing a Dubai-owned com- ing twoaspiring actors known around campus as pranksters, werearrested Wednesday ina string of nine churchfires that spread fear across Alal last month. Federal agentssaid the defendants claimedthatthefirst few blazes wereset as “a joke” and that the others werestarted to throwpvestigators off the track. Gov. Bob Riley said the fires did not appear to be “any type of conspiracy against orga- nized religion” or the Baptist faith. With the arrests, he said, “the faith-based community can rest a little easier.” Large Florida insurer dropping customers WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Thousands ofFlorida home and condominium ownerswill lose their insurancepolicies in Juneafter oneof the state’s © largest property insurers said | | and unnecessary. whetherthe little house in panyto help managesix U.S. seaports. || have been doing for clear: Her argument was not boyhood homeas a national | forming the high-flying tricks that many squads || woman from Florida wanted to makeonething absolutely landmark. Brown-Waite said she wanted to drawattention to Clinton's involvementin a deal the canceris and what her daycriticized the action es whichessentially bars The Republican congress- Wednesday’ delayed for hours the House passageofa bill designating President Clinton’s M.D. Anderson how advanced | ing stunts during this side effect. But the advisers were debating somecontrols on who Maddoxsaid the former governoris waiting to hear from A national cheerlead- ing safety groupis call|| ing for the suspension of | certain aerial andtower- But cheerleaders would not likely have time to haul the mats around during tournament games, meaning they would have to omit those routines. While the’association has no enforcement \| | || | | || power, the NCAA, NAIA andother basketball tournaments require cheerleading teams to conform to its guidelines. And squads arelikely to com- ply, since conferences could kick cheerleading teams out of games for breaking the rules. “It'd be an unwise movefor a coach or others to go against the committee,” Jim Lord, the cheerleading group's executivedirector,said | Wednesday. | On Tuestlay, the Missouri Valley Conference | barred its cheerleaders | | from suchstunts during | its women’s basketball | tournament, which be| gins today. The MVC | includes Southern Il| linois University, where || on Sunday cheerleader | Kristi Yamaoka lost | her balance,toppled the wrong wayoff the human pyramid andlanded on her head. She had a | concussion and cracked vertebrain her neck. it will stop issuing new policies and drop some customers because of hurricanelosses. The moveby Poe Financial Grouplikely means higherinsurancerates for everyonein the state. The Tampa-based company, the second-largest homeinsurer in South Florida, tooka $2 billion hit from 125,000 claims in the very active 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, prompting it to cut its policies to raise more capital, Senior Vice President David Gough said Wednesday. chances are. “She's facing this challenge,” Maddoxsaid. Richards, a Democrat, was governorfrom 1991 to 1995, los- ing a re-election bid to George W.Bush.Since 2001,she has been an adviserat a public relations and lobbying firm. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 13,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with esophageal cancer each year, usually when the disease is at a late stage. The five-year survival rate is 16 percent for white patients and9 percent for blacks, the organization said. Maddoxsaid he did not know if Richards had specific problem that sent her to the doctor, or if the cancer was discovered duringa routinevisit. Moussaoui's legal gaffe elicits negative testimony ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A bizarre legal misstep by confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui came back to haunt him Wednesdayas he helped confirm forjurors at his sentencingtrial that he had said Osamabin Ladenordered him tc fly a planeinto the White House. Moussaoui’s action emerged on a poorquality videotape shownin federal court, but it produced gust of laughter from the packed audience, whichis normally dead silent under fear of expulsion. The legal damage, however, mayhavebeennegligible be- cause Moussaoui made the sameadmissionlast April when he pleaded guilty to conspiring with al-Qaida to fly airplanes into U.S.buildings. Report: Problems in border counties dramatic JAMES AKENA/Reuters Amangrimaces in pain as he rests outside ahospital in Kampala, Uganda, along with others wounded when a church wall collapsed on Wednesday. At least 27 people werekilled and more than 20 othersinjured when a church wall collapsed duringtorrentialrains. Church wall in Uganda collapses; 27 dead KAMPALA, Uganda— A If the 24 counties along the -nation’s Southwest border were a 5ist state, it would rank first in federal crimes, secondin tuberculosis and near the bottom brick wall at a partly constructed church in Uganda's capital collapsed onto the in education, per capita income killing at least 27 people and andaccess to health care. Membersofthe U.S./Mexico Border Counties Coalition released a report including those estimates Wednesday as senators began to grapple with proposals for overhauling the nation’s immigration system. The 246-pagestudy by researchersat the University of Texas at El Paso examines the social, public health, criminal and environmental challenges facing the immigration-stressed region, which includes the sprawling urban communities of San Diego andEl Paso and the desert and ranch country of Arizona and New Mexico. Local officials say they hope the results show lawmakers they need help with alleviating grinding poverty, disease and crime. congregation Wednesdayduring an evening thunderstorm, injuring dozens more,authorities said. The Protestant evangelical church in a Kampala slum was: underconstruction, and parishioners set up a wood-andtin shackinside the unfinished structure so they could con- duct services, regional police CommanderGrace Puryagumanawesaid. “We're going to investigate the poorbuilding standards. Wehavealreadycollected samplesof the materials used,” he said. Fire andrescue chief Joseph MATT SLOCUM/Associated Press troops move in to replace African Union peacekeepers. 102 priests suspected of child abusein Dublin DUBLIN,Ireland — The RomanCatholic Churchin Ireland, rocked for a decade by sex scandals, on Wednesday madeits biggest admission yet: 102ofits Dublin priests past andpresent, or3.6 percent ofthe total, are suspected of abusingchildren. The disclosure comes a weekbefore the government convenesa probe into how church andstate authorities conspired, by negligence and design, to cover up decades of child abuse within the Dublin priesthood. “It’s very frightening for metosee that in someof these cases, so many children were abused.It’s very hard to weigh that up against anything,” said Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, a Vatican diplomat assigned to Dublin in 2003to address the problemin Ireland's largest Catholic congregation. during a thunderstorm withhigh winds and heavy rains, and 27 people were'killed. Campaign launched for kidnapped journalist Thousands march in Sudanagainst U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur the homeless official warning that violence Mugisa said the wall collapsed BAGHDAD,Iraq — The Christian Science Monitor has launched a campaignon Iraqi television stations, hoping to win the release of reporterJill Carroll who was kidnapped in Iraq two months ago. The newspaper’s videotaped messageappeared on the private Sharqiyatelevision Wednesdayafternoon,a day after it was first broadcast by state-run Iragiya-TV, according to theMonitor. Carroll, a free-lance writer for the paper, was kidnapped on Jan.7, n Baghdad's western Adl neighborhood while going to interview Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. Hertranslator was killed in the attack about 300 yards from al-Dulaimi'soffice. oe line up kt the Hunger Buster food van in Dallas. The city 6 Dallas ios relat eR laws banning ling and cracking down on shopping cart use among the of homeless residents. foo.oacity iyfoes stortad entrees cetone requiring that to the deployment, with a top will only increase if U.N. f pace: = to deploy ofTON aes in conflict-torn Darfur and demanding the expulsion of thetop U.N. and U.S. en- Associated Press Venezuelan congresswomanCilia Flores displays a copy of the new coatof armsduring a congress session in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday. VenezuelaOKs new flag backed by Chavez CARACAS,Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez has pulled Venezuela steadily to the left, and now he’s even got the horse on the national flag running that way. Venezuela’ssolidly proChavez National Assembly gavefinal approval Tuesday to neein the flag proposed by the socialist ee an sea star and a turnabout of horse that until onhs move clears the way for Chavez to unfurlthe new national banner on Fine Dey a nes ed direction fertiemee tected arms, which appears in the official flag’s upper left corner,is a not-so-subtle metaBi ee aresPees Inowledged the political symbolism only vaguely ee _, ing totl Piet Wiis Crim‘6 ack back the opposite directi Hesayshistorical drawings show the national image was intended to have a horse that “trotted freely to the left.” homeless be fed in ea dea \ |