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Show Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 Page 2 World&Nation Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com ClarifyCorrect 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 statesmaneditor@aggiemail.usu.edu Celebs&People LOS ANGELES (AP) – Swiss authorities set in motion the arrest of fugitive director Roman Polanski in his decades-old child sex case as he traveled to the country last month, documents obtained by The Associated Polanski Press show. A series of e-mails obtained under a public records request show the Swiss Federal Office of Justice sent an urgent fax to the U.S. Office of International Affairs on Sept. 22 stating Polanski was expected in Zurich. NewsBriefs Sealed Smart case records challenged SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Several Utah media outlets, including The Associated Press, have jointly petitioned a federal court judge to open sealed records filed in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case. Documents filed on behalf of the Deseret News, The Salt Lake Tribune, the Utah chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Press Association and the AP contend the public has a compelling interest in court filings related to the charges against Brian David Mitchell, who is charged in Smart’s abduction seven years ago. LateNiteHumor David Letterman, Oct. 15, 2009 – Top 10 Bernie Madoff Observations About Prison. 10. “Nothing beats a good delousing.” 9. “If you can make it through the first 100 years, the last 50 are cake.” 8. “Surprisingly easy to make apple martinis in cell toilet.” 7. “Prison football games more fun now that Plaxico is here.” 6. “Conjugal visits are never as good as they sound.” 5. “The guards watch you like a hawk, unlike the SEC.” 4. “My only regret: I’ll never get to see ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.’” 3. “I’ll tell you the whole story if you mail me $29.95.” 2. “They make a nice bologna sandwich.” 1. “With time to reflect, it occurred to me how much of a prick I really am.” Senate OKs trial transfers of Gitmo prisoners WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama won a modest victory Tuesday in his continuing effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, allowing the government to continue to transfer detainees at the facility to the U.S. to be prosecuted. The plan to permit terrorist suspects held at the facility to be shipped to U.S. soil to face trial was part of a larger $44.1 billion budget bill for the Homeland Security Department that passed the Senate by a 79-19 vote. The measure already passed by the House now goes to Obama for his signature. The Guantanamo provision generally tracks restrictions already in place that block release of detainees in the U.S., but permits them to be tried here. Obama in January ordered the facility closed in a year, but the administration has yet to deliver a plan and the effort has hit several roadblocks. Among the problems is unease among Obama’s Democratic allies on Capitol Hill, who have refused to fund the effort. The plan adopted Tuesday THE SUN RISES over Guantanamo detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Nov. 19, 2008 in this file image reviewed by the U.S. Military. AP photo requires the administration to develop a plan before any further transfers. It also requires 15 days’ notice before a transfer can occur and a certification that the prisoner does not represent a security risk. The Senate debate over Guantanamo prisoners was relatively sedate. Last week, House Democratic leaders had to press to defeat a GOP effort to block transfer of any of the Guantanamo Bay detainees to the U.S., even to face trial. “Prosecuting these indi- viduals in our U.S. courts simply will not work and there is too much at stake to grant the unprecedented benefit of our legal system’s complex procedural safeguards to foreign nationals who were captured outside the United States during a time of war,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. “Guantanamo must be closed because it’s become a recruiting tool for al-Qaida and other terrorists,” countered Dick Durbin, D-Ill. The homeland security measure is one of several bills addressing the Guantanamo issue. A Senate-passed defense spending measure would block all transfers while a separate defense policy measure would also permit transfers for trial. Separately, a group of retired generals and war veterans Tuesday launched a national campaign to rally support for closing the prison and transferring its inmates. The campaign, “CLOSE GITMO NOW” begins Tuesday with a relatively mod- est $100,000 ad buy on cable channels across the country, exhorting Congress to reject the “failed Bush-Cheney policies.” The underlying spending bill also backs the Obama administration’s refusal to release new photos showing U.S. personnel abusing detainees held overseas. The measure supports Obama’s decision to allow the defense secretary to bar the release of detainee photos for three years. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit to obtain unreleased photos of detainee abuse under the Freedom of Information Act and won two rounds in federal court. The bill would essentially trump the ACLU’s case. The administration has appealed to the Supreme Court and Obama has said he would use every available means to block release of additional detainee abuse photos because they could whip up anti-American sentiment overseas and endanger U.S. troops. His powers include issuing an order to classify the photos, thus blocking their release. Sleep disorder said factor in driver, air crashes WASHINGTON (AP) – The government should start screening truck and bus drivers, commercial pilots, train engineers and merchant sailors for sleep apnea, a disorder that is cropping up in transportation accidents, federal safety investigators said Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board sent letters to the federal agency that regulates bus and truck safety and the U.S. Coast Guard citing accidents in which sleep apnea was a factor. The disorder causes pauses in breathing, which can interrupt sleep and increase fatigue. The letters recommend the Coast Guard and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration require screening of ship pilots and bus and truck drivers for sleep apnea during medical exams and to develop programs to identify the disorder. Sleep apnea has been found to be a factor in incidents involving every transportation mode, NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said in the letters. Earlier this year, the board sent similar recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration and to local transit agencies across the country. Among the incidents cited in the letters: – In January 2008, a motorcoach with passengers returning from a weekend ski trip went too fast around a curve on a rural Utah highway. The bus went careening down a mountainside, killing nine people and injuring 43 others. The driver suffered from sleep apnea and had trouble using a device to regulate his breathing while sleeping in the days before the accident. – The same month, two go! airlines pilots conked out for at least 18 minutes during a midmorning flight from Honolulu to Hilo, Hawaii, as their plane continued to cruise past its destination and out to sea. Air traffic controllers were finally able to raise the pilots, who turned the plane around with its 40 passengers and landed it safely. The captain was later diagnosed with sleep apnea. – A trolley train that crashed into another train in May 2008 in Newton, Mass. Investigators said the driver likely fell asleep because she suffered from sleep apnea, but it could not be proved because she died. – In November 2001, a train engineer who drove through a stop warning in Clarkston, Mich., striking another train and killing two crew members. He was found to be a high risk for sleep apnea, but had not been diagnosed or treated. – In June 1995, a cruise ship maneuvering through Alaska’s Inside Passage was grounded on a submerged, but charted and marked rock by a pilot later diagnosed with sleep apnea. The ship was carrying about 2,200 people. A 2002 study that found 7 percent of adults have at least a moderate form of the disorder, but people often don’t know they have it. The motor carrier administration is already considering a rule to tighten its standards for medical certification of commercial drivers, Transportation Department spokeswoman Sasha Johnson said. The FAA is also in the process of drafting new rules to broadly address pilot fatigue and will consider the board’s recommendations, spokeswoman Laura Brown said. The letters noted the Federal Railroad Administration is also working on drafting new regulations to address the problem. Mark Rosenker, a former NTSB acting chairman, said the issue has long been a concern of the board, but the go! airlines incident jarred board members. “Obviously when two pilots fall asleep in the cockpit and they miss their stop that triggers a lot of interest at NTSB,” Rosenker said. U.K. govt in uproar over exposure given to far right LONDON (AP) – To the outrage of many Britons, a white-supremacist fringe party riding a wave of electoral success has been invited to participate in a BBC prime-time TV show on politics. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party government says it is appalled that the far right British National Party will get such high-profile exposure to millions of viewers. The BBC, however, says as a publicly funded broadcaster it must cover all political parties that have a national presence. “It’s not for the BBC to make decisions about what parties it does and doesn’t like,” a BBC spokesman said Tuesday on condition of anonymity in line with company policy. “That, quite rightly, is a decision for the electorate.” The BNP, which opposes immigration and says it fights for “indigenous” Britons, wants to become a force in British politics. Although it isn’t likely to gain a seat in the national Parliament because of Britain’s firstpast-the-post electoral system, the BNP serves on several city councils and made an electoral breakthrough in June, when it took about 6 percent of the British vote in European elections, winning two EU parliament seats. On Thursday, BNP leader Nick Griffin is scheduled to appear on the BBC’s flagship political debate show “Question Time” – a highly valued imprimatur of political respectability. A senior Cabinet minister, Justice Secretary Jack Straw, is supposed to be on the same program, where panelists are questioned on current affairs by a studio audience. The far right party is so pleased with the invite that it is counting down the seconds until the broadcast on its Web site. The government and anti-racist groups say the invi- tation to Griffin legitimizes fascist views, and protesters have vowed to picket Thursday’s taping at the BBC’s West London studios. Welsh Secretary Peter Hain – a former anti-apartheid activist – has called on the BBC to drop Griffin from the program, saying the party is “an unlawful body” because historically it has not allowed nonwhite people to be members. Last week the BNP agreed to change its constitution to accept nonwhite members after it was taken to court by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The BBC says it is bound by its public-service mandate to give the party a platform. In a letter to Hain, BBC director-general Mark Thompson said “it remains the BBC’s obligation to scrutinize and hold to account all elected representatives and to do so with due impartiality.” 42 South Main, Logan, Utah Hoodies, Hats, T-Shirts Polos, Beanies, Kids Apparel, Blankets Back Packs, and more! FREE TATOOS FREE USU TATOO PACKET EXPIRES OCTOBER 31, 2009 $5.00 OFF 09.17 ANY USU HOODED SWEATSHIRT IN THE STORE! EXPIRES OCTOBER 31, 2009 09.17 |