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2A I Thursday, August 31, 2006 | The Red & Black NEWS UGA TODAY >■ Demosthenian Literary Society Meeting. 7 p.m. Demosthenian Hall. Contact Josh Weiss jdweiss@uga.edu > Libertarians of UGA Meeting. 8 p.m. Hot Comer Coffee. Contact liberty- dawgs@gmail.com, www.uga.edu/libertarians > Mark Richt Speech. 7 p.m. Georgia Hall, Tate Center. Sponsor: H.E.R.O. for Children. Contact: Bonnie Williams, bonniew@uga.edu, (678) 234-9995 Friday > Ecology Seminar. “Invasive Plant Impacts on Wildlife: A Search for Generalities.” Noon. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources Ecology Auditorium. Sponsor: Institute of Ecology. Contact: anisaj@uga.edu >- “First Friday Pep Rally”. Stegeman Coliseum. 5:30 - 7 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m. Sponsor: UGAAIumni Association. Cost: free, and the first 1,000 fans receive a commemorative t-shirt Saturday >- Fall Bird Rambles. 8-11 a.m. Orange Trail Kiosk near the upper parking lot of the State Botanical Garden. Contact sbgeduc@uga.edu, (706) 542-6156. >- Nuci’s Space Benefit Cookout. 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Earth Fare. Cost: $5 grilled lunch plate supports Nuci’s Space. With live music by local musicians. Sunday > Grafica Mexicana Exhibition. Through Sunday, Oct. 29. Georgia Museum of Art. Sponsor: Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art and the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation. Prints from the mid-1940s Mexico. Contact (706) 542-4662, www.uga.edu/gamuseum Monday >- Tsunami Photo Exhibition. “Rebuilding Homes, Renewing Spirits.” Through Sept. 14. Sponsor: UGA Habitat for Humanity. Contact ugahabitat@hotmail.com Tuesday >- Comedian Godfrey. 8 p.m. Georgia Hall. Sponsor: University Union. Cost: $5 Pre-show, $7 Day of Show for UGA Students; $12 Pre-show, $14 Day of show for non-stu dents. Contact (706)-542- 6396, mlamotte@uga.edu Wednesday >- Dorm Days. 4 - 6 p.m. Reed Quad. Sponsor: Phi Sigma Pi Co-Ed Honor Fraternity. Contact www.uga.edu/phisigpi Sunday ►Taped rebroadcast: Congressional Field Hearing on Agroterrorism. 4 and 8 p.m. On University Cablevision, Channel 15. “Agroterrorism's Perfect Storm: Where Human and Animal Diseases Collide.” Tuesday ►Art Lecture. 6:30 - 8 p.m. Main Gallery, 116 Visual Arts Bldg. Sponsor: Lamar Dodd School of Art and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “Sheets in the Wind,” an installation by Nell Ruby. Contact (706) 542-1511, artinfoiguga.edu — Please send submissions for UGAToday to uga today @ randb.com. Listings are published on a first-come-first-serve basis as space permits. CORRECTIONS The Red & Black is committed to journalis tic excellence and pro viding the most accu rate news possible. Contact us if you see an error, and we will do our best to correct it. Editor-in-Chief: David Pittman (706) 433-3027 dpittman@randb.com Managing Editor: Lyndsay Hoban (706) 433-3026 lhoban@randb.com TOP STORIES FROM AROUND THE STATE, NATION AND WORLD Israel rejects U.N. chief’s demands to lift blockades, withdraw from Lebanon JERUSALEM — Israel rejected demands Wednesday from visiting U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan that it immediately lift its sea and air blockade of Lebanon and withdraw its forces once 5,000 international troops are deployed. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert indicated Israel would only lift the blockade and withdraw its soldiers from Lebanon after the full imple mentation of a U.N.-brokered cease-fire. Annan and Israeli officials said they hoped that the truce would lead to a full peace accord between Israel and Lebanon. However, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said in Beirut that Lebanon “will be the last Arab country that could sign a peace agreement with Israel.” And a Hezbollah minister in the Lebanese Cabinet said that the guerrilla group will not unconditionally release two Israeli soldiers whose capture set off the con flict, saying they only would be freed in a prisoner exchange. “There will be no uncondi tional release. This is not pos sible,” Minister of Energy and Hydraulic Resources Mohammed Fneish said in Beirut. “There should be an exchange through indirect negotiations. This is the prin ciple to which Hezbollah and the resistance are adhering.” Israel has said it would not lift its blockade unless inter national forces, along with Lebanese troops, are deployed on the Israel- Lebanon border and Lebanon’s frontier with Syria to prevent the flow of weapons to Hezbollah. —Associated Press KAREL PRINSLOO Associated PRESS A Lebanese soldiers man a roadblock Wednesday in the Lebanese town of Ibel Al Saki. Israel sidestepped U.N. demands that it immediately lift its blockade of Lebanon. Iran keeps nuclear program, uranium enrichment YAHYA AHMED | Associated PRESS A Iraqi army soldiers inspect the damaged minibus in Kirkuk, Iraq, Wednesday, after a suicide bomber blew him self up inside the bus, killing three people, police said. VIENNA, Austria — A defi ant Iran kept on enriching uranium up to two days before the U.N. Security Council’s Thursday deadline for Tehran to freeze such activity or face the threat of sanctions, U.N. and European officials said. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged European members of the council against resorting to sanctions, saying punish ment would not dissuade his country from pursuing its dis puted nuclear program. “Sanctions cannot dis suade the Iranian nation from achieving our lofty goals of progress. So it’s better for Europe to be independent (of the U.S.) in decision-making and to settle problems through negotiations,” Ahmadinejad said Wednesday, according to state-run television. Iran could theoretically still announce a full stop to enrichment before the dead line set by the Security Council. But that appeared unlikely, considering Tehran’s past refusal to consider such a move and findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency that it was enriching small quantities of uranium as late as Tuesday WORLD Iran’s refusal to heed the Security Council up to now will be detailed in a confiden tial IAEA report to be com pleted Thursday and circulat ed among the Vienna-based agency’s 35 board member nations. The report also will include new details on Tehran’s research into advanced enrichment equip ment, and other points, diplo mats accredited to the agency told The Associated Press. The report, also scheduled to go to the Security Council on Thursday, would likely trigger council members to consider economic and politi cal sanctions. Russia and China, however, were likely to resist U.S.-led efforts for a quick response, which likely means sanctions do not loom immediately. An earlier resolution on Iran took weeks for the Security Council members to negotiate, as did talks over a weaker council statement earlier this year demanding that Iran suspend enrich ment. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said the U.S. still has not decided how it will for mally respond once the dead line expires, though he will likely make some sort of statement on Thursday after noon. He repeated, however, that Washington would seek sanctions if Iran disregards the resolution. Iraqi troops could take over next year BAGHDAD, Iraq — The top U.S. general in Iraq said Wednesday that Iraqi forces should be able to take over security with little coalition support as early as next year, even as bloodshed around the country killed at least 66 peo ple. Violence has spiked in recent days, with more than 200 people dying since the beginning of the week in clashes, bombings or shoot ings. Gen. George Casey nonetheless said Iraqi troops are on course to eventually take over from coalition forces. “I don’t have a date, but I can see over the next 12 to 18 months, the Iraqi security forces progressing to a point where they can take on the security responsibilities for the country, with very little coalition support,” Casey said. His comments do not nec essarily mean the United States will be pulling troops from the country, but American officials have always maintained that build ing up the Iraqi security forces is vital to any U.S. exit strategy. A roadside bomb killed 24 people in Baghdad’s largest and oldest wholesale market district, Shurja, where ven dors sell food, clothing and home products from ware houses, stalls and shops. At least 35 people were wound ed. Earlier, an explosives- rigged bicycle blew up near an army recruiting center in Hillah, a city about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people. A man posing as an army applicant planted the bomb-laden bicycle out side the recruiting center as volunteers gathered outside. —Associated Press STEFANO PALTERA | Associated press A Comedian Dave Chappelle told an audience at Ohio’s Central State University Tuesday that leaving his TV show was “one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life.” Chappelle: no regrets about leaving TV show WILBERFORCE, Ohio — Dave Chappelle doesn’t regret his decision to walk away from a $50 million deal to continue his hit Comedy Central television show. However, he might miss the money. Halting his “Chappelle’s Show” last year was “one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life,” the 33-year- old comedian said Tuesday while addressing the opening convocation at Central State University. “Now, economically, it makes no sense at all,” he added. Chappelle, who lives near the southwest Ohio village of Yellow Springs, encouraged students not to compromise their values. Video award nods annoy Kanye West NEW YORK — One of the best videos wasn’t even nom- NAMES & FACES mated, according to Kanye West, the maker of said video. West, who’s nominated for best pop video at Thursday’s MTV Video Music Awards for “Gold Digger,” says his elabo rate Evel Knievel spoof “Touch the Sky” — featuring Pamela Anderson — was bet ter than that. “It didn’t get any nomina tions, but it’s one of the most memorable videos of the year for me,” he said Tuesday night, speaking backstage before performing at an exclusive concert for American Express cardhold ers. West said he doesn’t see his videos as a way to boost his sales — and noted that even though “Touch the Sky” was his favorite video, the song was not a huge hit. —Associated Press California law to reduce emissions SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California would become the first state to impose a cap on all greenhouse gas emis sions, including those from industrial plants, under a landmark deal reached Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legisla tive Democrats. The agreement marks a clear break with the Bush administration and puts California on a path to reducing its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by an esti mated 25 percent by 2020. The bill still needs legisla tive approval. It would require the state’s major industries — such as utility plants, oil and gas refineries and cement kilns — to reduce their emissions of the pollutants widely believed to contribute to global warm ing. The key mechanism driv ing the reductions will be a market program that will allow businesses to buy, sell and trade emission credits with other companies. Jeffs still leader for many congregants HILDALE, Utah — In his two years as a fugitive, polygamist church leader Warren Jeffs never loosened his grip on his 10,000 congre gants, and people close to the sect say his arrest this week won’t change that. “I think there’s a struc ture in place that if Warren got caught they’ll still carry out his word, and they’ll fig ure out how to keep commu nicating with him,” said Andrew Chatwin, a former church member. Jeffs, 50, was caught by chance when a Cadillac Escalade in which he was riding was pulled over by the Nevada Highway Patrol for NATION AND STATE having a temporary Colorado license tag that was hard to read, FBI and Nevada Highway Patrol offi cials said. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with con gregants mostly in Hildale and neighboring Colorado City, Ariz., split from the mainstream Mormon Church when the Mormons disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago. Jeffs, who took over the renegade sect in 2002 after the death of his 98-year-old father, has been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list since May, charged in Utah and Arizona with felony sex crimes that include alleged arranged marriages between underaged girls and older men. Sex offender found guilty, faces death FARGO, N.D. — A con victed sex offender on trial in North Dakota’s first death penalty case in more than a century was found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping and killing a college student who was seized from a shop ping mall parking lot. The jury will return next week to begin hearing evi dence on whether Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 53, should be executed for the slaying of 22-year-old Dru Sjodin. North Dakota does not have capital punishment. But the case was heard in federal court, where the jury took less than four hours to reach a verdict. Sjodin, a University of North Dakota student from Pequot Lakes, Minn., was abducted outside a Grand Forks mall in 2003. Her body was found the following spring in a ravine near Crookston, Minn. Prosecutors said Sjodin (pronounced shuh-DEEN) was stabbed, raped and left to die. Before Sjodin’s slaying, Rodriguez had served more than 20 years for offenses that included rape and attempted kidnapping. He got out of prison about six months before the killing. In closing arguments, U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said Sjodin fought for her life “every step of the way” and “left us unmistakable mes sages,” including her blood in Rodriguez’s car, discov ered in a mist pattern that indicated she was beaten. Kidd hopes for new redistricting maps ATLANTA — A Democratic state lawmaker, caught in a battle over redis tricting, pushed Wednesday for an independent commis sion to oversee the drawing of political boundaries in Georgia. Rep. Jane Kidd of Athens-Clarke County said that if she wins election to the state Senate in November she will move quickly to introduce a con stitutional amendment on redistricting. Her bill would create a nonpartisan com mission to recommend new political maps for state law makers and members of Congress every 10 years. The state Legislature would still have to give final approval to the commission’s maps. Kidd made the comments to a task force set up Gov. Sonny Perdue to examine redistricting in Georgia. The task force is set to come out with a report in December. —Associated Press