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2 I Wednesday, November 15, 2006 | The Red & Black
NEWS
UGA TODAY
>■ Making it in Hollywood:
An Agent's Perspective. 4
- 5 p.m. 248 Student Learning
Center. Speaker: Norman
Aladjem, long-time Hollywood
agent. Sponsor: Grady
College of Journalism and
Mass Communication.
Contact: nkohn@uga.edu,
706-542-4972
nkohn@uga.edu
>• Tailgate with the Team.
5 - 7 p.m. Legion Field. Free
food and T-shirts for UGA stu
dents. Greet the Bulldogs
football team. Performances
by the Red Hotz dance team,
the Georgia Dymes, and the
football cheerleaders.
Sponsor: Student
Government Association.
>• SED Lecture Series. 5
p.m. 302 Caldwell Hall. Title:
“The Ranch House.” Speaker:
Richard Cloues, deputy state
historic preservation officer
>• Walk-In Research
Workshops. 7-10 p.m. 370
Student Learning Center.
Workshops to help students
perform electronic searches.
Sponsor: UGA Libraries.
Contact: Caroline Barratt, cca-
son@uga.edu, 706-542-6196,
http://www.slc.uga.edu/stu-
dents/writing_center.html
>- Southeast Asian
Heritage Week Tate
Blowout. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Tate Plaza. Indian fashion
show, dance performances,
food and items for sale.
Sponsor: Indian Cultural
Exchange. Contact:
706-542-5773
► Indian Film. 7:30 p.m.
Tate Theatre. Film: “Dilwale
Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ).”
Cost: $1 donation. Proceeds
will go to a local family in
need. Sponsor: Indian
Cultural Exchange. Contact:
706-542-5773
>• UGA Habitat for
Humanity Meeting. 7 p.m.
150 Student Learning
Center. Contact: avharri-
son@gmail.com
>• Camp Counselors
Summer Study Abroad in
Russia Interest Session.
2 - 3 p.m. Ramsey Center
Room 328. Sponsor:
Department of Counseling
and Human Development
Services. Contact: Gwynn
Powell, gpowell@uga.edu,
706-542-4332,
www.uga.edu/russiacamps
>• Management Society
Social. 7 p.m. Rooker
Fireside Lounge at East
Campus Village. Contact:
www.uga.edu/mgmtsociety
— Please send submissions
for UGAToday to
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viding the most accu
rate news possible.
Contact us if you see
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Editor-in-Chief:
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(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
Scores kidnapped from Baghdad office
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Gunmen
dressed as police commandos kid
napped scores of staff and visitors in a
lightning raid on an education min
istry office Tuesday in one of the
biggest mass abductions since the
start of the U.S. occupation. Five sen
ior police officers — including the
neighborhood police chief — were
arrested, the government said.
At least 82 people were found dead
in murders, bombings and clashes
nationwide.
Alaa Makki, head of parliament’s
education committee, interrupted
the legislative session Tuesday morn
ing to say that between 100 and 150
people, both Shiites and Sunnis, had
been abducted in the 9:30 a.m. raid at
the ministry offices, calling the kid
napping a “national catastrophe.”
Abed Theyab, the higher educa
tion minister, told parliament he had
repeatedly petitioned for more uni
versity security from the government
but had received none.
By late Tuesday, government offi
cials were giving wildly varying figures
for the number abducted, with the
higher education ministry saying
about 130 were missing and the prime
minister’s office saying about 50 were
taken and 20 of them had been
released.
“It was a quick operation. It took
about 10 to 15 minutes,” Theyab said.
Makki said the gunmen had a list
of names of those to take, and
claimed to be helping the govern
ment’s anti-corruption body check on
security ahead of a planned visit by
the U.S. ambassador. Those kid
napped included the office’s deputy
general directors, employees, and vis
itors, he said.
Police and witnesses said the gun
men, who numbered about 80, had
closed off streets surrounding the
Ministry of Higher Education and
Scientific Research, Scholarships and
Cultural Relations Directorate. The
institute is responsible for granting
scholarships to Iraqi professors and
students wishing to study abroad.
The facility appeared to be an easy
target for the kidnappers, whose
motives remain unknown but may be
linked to Iraq’s sectarian violence.
Police spokesman Maj. Mahir Hamad
said four guards put up no resistance
and were unharmed.
— Associated Press
KHALID MOHAMMED | Associated Press
A Iraqis gather at the scene following an explosion in downtown Baghdad,
Iraq, Tuesday. Fifteen civilians were killed and 25 injured when a parked
car bomb detonated in the old bus station, police said.
Nuclear waste found in Iran
Photo Courtesy Associated Press
A Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday
that Iran would soon celebrate completion of its controver
sial nuclear fuel program.
VIENNA, Austria —
International Atomic Energy
Agency experts have found
unexplained plutonium and
highly enriched uranium
traces in a nuclear waste facil
ity in Iran and have asked
Tehran for details, a report
from the U.N. watchdog said
Tuesday.
The report, prepared for
next week’s meeting of the 35-
nation IAEA, also faulted
Tehran for not cooperating
with the agency’s attempts to
investigate suspicious
aspects of Iran’s nuclear pro
gram that have led to fears it
might be interested in devel
oping nuclear arms.
And it said it could not
confirm Iranian claims that
its nuclear activities were
exclusively nonmilitary unless
Tehran increased its open
ness.
A senior U.N. official who
was familiar with the report
cautioned against reading too
much into the new finds of
traces of highly enriched ura
nium and plutonium, saying
Iran had provided explana
tions for both that were now
being examined by the IAEA
and — if confirmed — could
be plausibly classified as the
byproducts of peaceful
nuclear activities.
He said that while the
uranium traces were enriched
to a higher level than needed
to generate power, they
were still below weapons-
grade.
WORLD
South Africa allows
gay marriage
CAPE TOWN, South Africa
— South African lawmakers
passed legislation recognizing
gay marriages on Tuesday
despite criticism from both
traditionalists and gay
activists.
The bill, unprecedented on
a continent where homosexu
ality is taboo, was decried by
gay activists for not going far
enough and by opponents
who warned it “was provoking
God’s anger.”
South Africa’s constitution
was the first in the world to
prohibit discrimination on
the basis of sexual orienta
tion, providing a powerful
legal tool to gay rights
activists even though South
Africa remains conservative
on such issues.
To ease some of these
concerns, the bill allowed
both religious and civil offi
cers to refuse to marry same-
sex couples on moral
grounds.
— Associated Press
Pair charged with ‘overt sexual activity’
RALEIGH, N.C. — A
California couple are facing
federal charges after they
refused to stop “overt sexual
activity” during a flight to
Raleigh, authorities said. Carl
Warren Persing of Lakewood,
Calif., and Dawn Elizabeth
Sewell of Huntington Beach,
Calif., are accused of interfer
ing with flight crew members
during a Sept. 15 Southwest
Airlines flight from Los
Angeles with a stop in
Phoenix.
According to court docu
ments, flight attendants saw
Persing and Sewell kissing,
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
embracing and “acting in a
manner that made other pas
sengers uncomfortable” while
the plane was stopped in
Phoenix. Persing was
observed kissing Sewell near
her breast and was also
observed with his face
pressed against Sewell’s
lower body.
A flight attendant asked
them to stop. They obeyed
initially but resumed the
behavior during the flight
from Phoenix to Raleigh.
When the flight attendant
again requested them to
stop, Persing allegedly told
the flight attendant: “I’m
going to give you one warn
ing to get out of my face.”
Persing and Sewell contin
ued the verbal harassment
after a flight attendant
refused to serve Persing alco
hol, according to court docu
ments.
Law enforcement officials
were waiting for the couple
when they arrived at the
Raleigh, N.C., airport.
— Associated Press
Senate Democrats
choose party leaders
WASHINGTON — Senate
Democrats picked two
women for senior posts
Tuesday and appointed for
mer U.S. Capitol police chief
Terrance Gainer as sergeant
at arms. Their choice as
majority leader, Sen. Harry
Reid, said a top priority is
getting a new secretary of
defense confirmed.
Reid told The Associated
Press that he supports
replacing Donald Rumsfeld
with former CIA Director
Robert Gates by year’s end,
as President Bush has
urged.
Gainer, who also previ
ously was the No. 2 person
in the District of Columbia
police force, retired April 6
from the Capitol job after
objections were raised to
the hiring of his son-in-law
as a police officer.
When the 110th Congress
convenes in January, Sen.
Richard Durbin of Illinois
will be Reid’s deputy as the
vote-counting majority
whip.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-
N.Y., will continue serving as
the cash-raising campaign
committee chairman, and
also will assume the title of
vice chairman of the
Democratic caucus. As
such, Reid said, Schumer
will act as a utility man
who will tend to whatever
policy or political matters
require.
Sen. Patty Murray of
Washington will serve as
conference secretary. Sen.
Byron Dorgan of North
Dakota will chair the cau
cus’ policy committee,
which holds oversight hear
ings and researches legisla
tive proposals, while Sen.
Debbie Stabenow of
Michigan will head the party
steering committee.
House Democrats face a
difficult choice when they
pick their leaders Thursday,
now that speaker-to-be
Nancy Pelosi has rejected
her current top lieutenant
in favor of longtime confi
dante John Murtha of
Pennsylvania.
Murtha, a blunt Vietnam
NATIONAL
veteran whose call for U.S.
troops to begin withdrawing
from Iraq helped rally
Democrats for the election,
had appeared to be the
underdog to Rep. Steny
Hoyer of Maryland, the
House Democrats’ whip.
Talking Jesus doll
refused by charity
LOS ANGELES — A talk
ing Jesus doll has been
turned down by the Marine
Reserves’ Toys for Tots pro
gram.
A suburban Los Angeles
company offered to donate
4,000 of the foot-tall dolls,
which quote Bible verses,
for distribution to needy
children this holiday season.
The battery-powered Jesus
is one of several dolls manu
factured by one2believe, a
division of the Valencia-
based Beverly Hills Teddy
Bear Co., based on Biblical
figures.
But the charity balked
because of the dolls’ reli
gious nature.
Toys are donated to kids
based on financial need and
"we don’t know anything
about their background,
their religious affiliations,"
said Bill Grein, vice presi
dent of Marine Toys for Tots
Foundation, in Quantico,
Va.
As a government entity,
Marines "don’t profess one
religion over another," Grein
said Tuesday. "We can’t take
a chance on sending a talk
ing Jesus doll to a Jewish
family or a Muslim family."
According to the compa
ny’s Web site, the button-
activated, bearded Jesus,
dressed in hand-sewn cloth
outfits and sandals, recites
Scripture such as “I tell you
the truth, no one can see the
kingdom of God unless he is
bom again” and “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” It has
a $20 retail value.
— Associated Press
asWELECTED REPRESENTATIVE?!
All students interested in running for election to the
2007 STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION
must attend this upcoming
CANDIDATE SESSION:
Mil 81 a bot* 05 ®
m
Jfo THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16,2006
8:00pm, JOURNALISM 401
tr w
For more information, contact SGA, Room 153, Tate Student Center,
call 706-542-6396 or log on to www.uga.edu/sga.
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