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Show Friday, April |24,T 200 Celebs&People Today'slssue Today is Friday, April 24, 2009. Today's issue of The Utah Statesman is published especially for Chris Bowen, a senior majoring in biology and biochemistry from Mendon, Utah. ClarifyComct The policy of The Utah Statesman is lo 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 orTSClOS. /Briefs Texas woman charged for campus threat NACOGDOCHES. Texas (AP) - A student was charged Thursday with terroristic threat for allegedly posting signs around Stephen F. Austin State University that warned of a deadly mass shooting. Jennifer Grant, a sophomore from Palestine, was arrested Wednesday and released Thursday after posting $7,500 bond, said Officer Katie Sanders of the Nacogdoches County Jail. Grant, 20, lives in an off-campus apartment complex where many of the signs appeared April 16. They warned that 10 people at the complex would be shot to death. S.C. wildfire is biggest in three decades NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina's biggest wildfire in more than three decades - a blaze four miles wide - destroyed dozens of homes Thursday and threatened some of the area's world-famous golf courses at the height of the spring tourist season. The flames, fed by tinder-dry scrubland, forced hundreds of people to flee, and some took shelter in the House of Blues honkytonk. The fire got within 10 miles of Route 17, the main coastal road that links beachfront towns and is lined with fast-food restaurants, beachwear stores and trinket shops. By Thursday evening, the flames were about 3 miles west of the highway. F A R H A N H A M Z A VISITS his father's grave, which is next to other relatives at the cemetery in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq's government has recorded 87,215 of its citizens killed since 2005. AP photo Tally reaches 87,215 Iraqi deaths since 2005 BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's government has recorded 87,215 of its citizens killed since 2005 in violence ranging from catastrophic bombings to execution-style slayings, according to government statistics obtained by The Associated Press that break open one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war. Combined with tallies based on hospital sources and media reports since the beginning of the war and an in-depth review of available evidence by The Associated Press, the figures show that more than 110,600 Iraqis have died in violence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The number is a minimum count of violent deaths. The official who provided the data to the AP, on condition of anonymity because of its sensitivity, estimated the actual number of deaths at 10 to 20 percent higher because of thousands who are still missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official records. The Health Ministry has tallied death certificates since 2005, and late that year the United Nations began using them - along with hospital and morgue figures - to publicly release casualty counts. But by early 2007, when sectarian violence was putting political pressure on the U.S. and Iraqi governments, the Iraqi numbers disappeared. The United Nations "repeatedly asked for that cooperation" to resume but never received a response, U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said Thursday. The data obtained by the AP measure only violent deaths - people killed in attacks such as the shootings, bombings, mortar attacks and beheadings that have ravaged Iraq. It excluded indirect factors such as damage to infrastructure, health care and stress that caused thousands more to die. Authoritative statistics for 2003 and 2004 do not exist. But Iraq Body Count, a private, Britishbased group, has tallied civilian deaths from media reports and other sources since the war's start. The AP reviewed the Iraq Body Count analysis and confirmed its conclusions by sifting the data and consulting experts. The AP also interviewed experts involved with previous studies, prominent Iraq analysts and provincial and medical officials to determine that the new tally was credible. The AP also added its own tabulation of deaths since Feb. 28, the last date in the Health Ministry count. The three figures add up to more than 110,600 Iraqis who have died in the war. That total generally coincides with the trends reported by reputable surveys, which have been compiled either by tallying deaths reported by international journalists, or by surveying samplings of Iraqi households and extrapolating the numbers. Donors pledge $250 millionfor Somalia Wis. first to require cochlear implants MADISON. Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin could become the first state requiring private insurance companies to cover cochlear implants for children with severe hearing problems. The state Legislature passed a bill Thursday requiring private health insurance plans lo cover cochlear implants, hearing aids and related treatment for those under the age of 18. Gov. Jim Doyle has promised to sign it into law. Graduating? BRUSSELS (AP) - International donors pledged more than $250 million Thursday to strengthen Somalia's security forces and try to stop the rampant attacks by armed Somali pirates that have plagued one of the world's most important waterways. The hefty sum, which included funding for military equipment and material as well as development aid, exceeded the initial request made by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said. "We have just begun the first step of an important process to restore rule of law in Somalia ... which has been a lawless state for 20 years," Ban told a news conference following a one-day, U.N.-sponsored donors' conference. Stabilizing Somalia was the focus of Thursday's meeting, but the near-daily pirate attacks along Somalia's 1,900-mile-long (3,100-kilometer) coastline that endanger ships from around the world immediately moved to the forefront of the discussions. "Piracy is a symptom of anarchy and insecurity on the ground," Ban told the delegates. "More security on the ground will make less piracy on the seas. Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed pledged to do "everything imaginable" to stabilize Somalia and fight piracy. "This phenomenon will not last forever," he promised, expressing "regret" for the pirates' actions. The pledges were a recognition of the need to end two decades of anarchy in Somalia and of the threat that further lawlessness posed to the world, not just one nation. The funds included at least $134 million for the African Union peacekeeping mission. UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) -Jay Leno checked into a hospital with an undisclosed illness Thursday and canceled the taping of the "Tonight" show, but was doing well and planned to return next week, his publicist and NBC said. LENO Leno left his office at NBC's studios about midday and checked himself into a hospital for observation, said his publicist, Dick Guttman. He would not identify what ailed Leno or where he went, but characterized his illness as "mild" and said the comedian continued working throughout the day, making phone calls and writing jokes. "Jay Leno is doing just fine," read a statement from NBC spokeswoman Tracy St. Pierre. "He was kidding around with the hospital staff and running his monologue jokes by the doctors and the nurses. He's expected back to work on Monday." A woman who answered the media line at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, which is near the Burbank studio where Leno tapes "Tonight," said they had no patient by that name, and referred inquiries to NBC. LOS ANGELES (AP) - "American Idol" finalists Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai aren't closer to becoming household names. Both singers were dismissed Wednesday after it was revealed they received the fewest number of viewer votes on the popular Fox singing competition. "I'm so really disappointed," Desai said after his ouster. "I really am." The third lowest vote-getter after this week's disco-themed performances was Allison Iraheta. For the past several weeks, the judges have not been favorable to Rounds, the 24-year-old mother of three from Memphis, or Desai, the 22-year-old college student from Chapel Hill, N.C. LgfeMteHumor David Letterman's Top Ten Least Useful College Majors for September Z 2005. 10. Stamp-licking. 9. Shopping for Scarves. 8. Guesstimation. 7. The Physics of Chair-throwing on "Jerry Springer." 6. English Accents: Why They Sound So Fruity. 5. Comparitive Blinking. 4. Counting Backwards from 10 to 1 (with department head David Letterman.) 3. Melonballing. 2.. The Ethnobiosocioanthropsychopharmacolinguistics of Fudge. 1. Lee Majors. Losing Coverage? Leaving for the Summer? Make sure you are covered!! Short Term Health Insurance 'for less than $50/month Getting hurt or sick can be expensive, good thing we're not. ROADBENT Call the Voice of Choic: 752.7200 Financial Services |