THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012
PAGE 3
NEWS OF THE WORLD
Associated Press
ASIA
North Korea threatens a "merciless" attack
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea conducted live-fire military drills near its disputed sea boundary with North Korea on Monday despite Pyongyang's threat to respond with a "merciless" attack.
Washington and North Korea's neighbors are closely watching how new leader Kim Jong Un navigates strained ties with rival South Korea, the planned U.S.-South Korean military drills
North Korea did not carry out the threat as it focuses on internal stability two months after the death of longtime leader Kim Jong Il and prepares for nuclear disarmament talks with the United States later this week. But with American forces scheduled to conduct additional military exercises with ally South Korea over the next few months, tensions are expected to remain high in the region.
and a long-running standoff over the country's nuclear weapons programs.
South Korea's drills took place Monday in an area of the Yellow Sea that was the target of a North Korean artillery attack in 2010 that killed four South Koreans and raised fears of a wider conflict.
A North Korean officer told an Associated Press staffer in Pyongyang on Sunday that North Koreans would respond to any provocation with "merciless retaliatory strikes."
North Korea is prepared for a "total war" and the drills will lead to a "complete collapse" of ties between the Koreas, the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement carried Monday by the official Korean Central News Agency.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
South Korean navy sailors work at a floating base near South Korea's western Yeonpyong Island near the disputed sea border with North Korea, Monday, Feb. 20. South Korea on Monday conducted live-fire military drills from five islands near its disputed sea boundary with North Korea, despite Pyongyang's threat to attack.
EUROPE
Silene Stenophylla survived for 30,000 years
MOSCOW — It was an Ice Age squirrel's treasure chamber, a burrow containing fruit and seeds that had been stuck in the Siberian permafrost for over 30,000 years. From the fruit tissues, a team of Russian scientists managed to resurrect an entire plant in a pioneering experiment that paves the way for the revival of other species.
The Silene stenophylla is the oldest plant ever to be regenerated, the researchers said, and it is fertile, producing white flowers and viable seeds.
The experiment proves that permafrost serves as a natural depository for ancient life forms, said the Russian researchers, who published their findings in Tuesday's issue of "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" of the United States.
Canadian researchers had earlier regenerated some significantly younger plants from seeds found in burrows.
Svetlana Yashina of the Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy Of Sciences, who led the regeneration effort, said the revived plant looked very similar to its modern version, which still grows in the same area in northeastern Siberia.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Silene Stenophylla survived a Siberian permafrost for more than 30,000 years. It is still fertile and producing seeds.
AFRICA
Church service disrupted by car bombing
SULEJA, Nigeria — A bomb planted by an abandoned car exploded outside a church in the middle of a worship service Sunday near Nigeria's capital, wounding five people amid a continuous wave of violence by a radical Islamist sect, authorities and witnesses said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast outside the Christ Embassy church in Suleja, a city near the nation's capital Abuja. However, the area has been targeted in the past by the sect known as Boko Haram — including the Christmas Day car bombing of a Catholic church nearby that killed at least 44 people.
The explosion happened just after 10 a.m. as the church began its service, Pastor Uyi idugbee told journalists. Security guards at the church
The bomb also apparently had been wrapped with a motorcycle chain, which sent metal shrapnel flying everywhere when the explosive detonated, witnesses said. The explosion tore away the engine compartment of the abandoned car and damaged four other vehicles nearby.
had noticed something suspicious by the abandoned car, prompting the pastor to call everyone inside the church before the service began, he said.
One person was seriously injured in the blast and taken to a local hospital, local police spokesman Richard Oguche said. Another four people suffered minor injuries, said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
An abandoned car exploded outside of a worship service Sunday after a bomb was planted beside it. The bomb was planted by radical Islamist sects.
MIDDLE EAST
Albanian soldiers killed by Afghan police
KABUL, Afghanistan — Gunmen in Afghan police uniforms opened fire on NATO troops on Monday in southern Afghanistan, killing two Albanian soldiers and wounding another international service member, officials said.
The attack by suspected Afghan policemen appears to be the latest in a growing number of turncoat attacks that have raised questions about the vetting of Afghan recruits and threatened the international military commitment to Afghanistan.
Last month, France suspended its training program and threatened to withdraw its forces a year ahead of schedule after an Afghan soldier shot and killed four French soldiers on a base in eastern Afghanistan.
Monday's shooting occurred in the village of Robat, in Kandahar province's Spin Boldak district which borders Pakistan, said Kandahar police chief Abdul Raziq. The troops had gone there for a meeting about opening two schools
The soldiers "found themselves attacked by a group of persons wearing uniforms of the Afghan police," Brig. Gen. Viktor Berdo, the head of Albanian land forces, told reporters in the country's capital Tirana.
and a health center, the Albanian defense ministry said.
The attackers opened fire with five assault rifles and one light automatic machine gun, the Albanian Defense Ministry said. The two Albanians, a captain and a corporal, died later in a hospital in the provincial capital of Kandahar city. Another international soldier was wounded, the ministry said, without providing a nationality.
Albanian President Bamir Topi denounced the attack as a "grave terrorist act" and called for the punishment of those responsible.
TECHNOLOGY
Students await iPad 3 as tablets gain popularity
Student Senate recently made a decision to help fund 'Gaypril' by contributing $3,180. Pride Week was changed to a monthlong event, called Gaypril, after Queers and Allies decided it was more practical to schedule events over the course of a month, as opposed to one week.
Senate will contribute $2,925 for guest speaker Kenyan Farrow and comedian Fortune Feimster and $255 will be used toward the asexual part of the film festival portion of Gaapril.
MARSHALL SCHMIDT
mschmidt@kansan.com
Reeb owns a Motorola Xoom tablet given to him by the department of electrical engineering, but if he were to purchase a new tablet, he said he would pick the Asus Transformer over the iPad 3. Reeb said that the newest iPad will play catch-up to the Transformer, which has been on the market since last April.
Students have expressed a range of opinions in regards to Senate's decision on funding
Tablets are the latest, hottest tech item for students and many are eagerly awaiting Apple's iPad 3 announcement in March.
"Tablets provide a different user experience," said Tim Reeb, a junior from Haysville and technology specialist at the KU Bookstore. "A lot of the user interface is simpler, streamlined and easier to access."
"Tablets are all about content consumption, whereas computers
"Right now, tablets are just too limited," Beckmann said. "But I'm looking forward to when that changes."
The Transformer Prime, released in Dec. 2011 at $500, uses a quadcore processor, 32 GB of hard drive and can dock into a keyboard port that has USB inputs. Whether students should rely solely on a tablet or still have a computer depends on each student's needs. According to Reeb, tablets work well for surfing the internet, playing music and writing documents, but computers are best for editing music and photos.
"Lawrence is already a pretty liberal town, and I think it's a pretty well-recognized issue," said Preston Moore, a sophomore from Overland Park. "I think there are more effective ways of going about it than spending $3,000 putting up ads for gay pride month. People respect it more when you talk to them in person."
"I think they [Student Senate] need to fund this. If people don't feel accepted, they are less likely to accept themselves. It is Student Senate's job to enrich the experience of KU students," said Emma Halling, a sophomore from Elkhart Ind..
Edited by Christine Curtin
Right now, the iPad is only meant to be an extension of a computer, and Beckmann said if he had to choose, he would buy a MacBook air instead of an iPad 3.
"We're trying to expand the educational topics this year. We want to talk about body image. Right now we're trying to get people from the rec to work with body image and what it means for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students," said Clark. "Queer people in general have a place on campus, they're not tucked away."
Apple plans to announce more details about the new product on March 7. The iPad 3 will likely be on sale a few weeks later, but until then, any specs about the device are rumors. Beckmann said that some of the rumors he has heard include the iPad 3's 4G network access, a similar price as the iPad 2 — $499, an 8-megapixel camera and a quad-core processor.
Outside of Senate, other sources of funding include Queers and Allies, the Media Education Foundation and Coca-Cola.
However, Corey Beckmann, a junior from Overland Park and an Apple sales associate for iCafe, said the iPad 3 is a significant improvement to the tablet market. While most features on the iPad 3 have yet to be confirmed, Apple announced that it will include a retina display, which provides a higher resolution than Blu-Ray.
CRIME
ELISE REUTER
ereuter@kansan.com
"You will notice a difference because the fact that it's higher quality than a Blu-Ray disc already tells you that it's going to be amazing." Beckmann said.
are all about content creation," Reeb said. A study conducted by The NDP Group suggests that only 10 percent of tablet users rely on their tablet for all of their computing needs. For students, this could mean that it is more practical to invest in a laptop than a tablet.
Woman goes to trial for stealing pumpkin
is accused of taking the pumpkin in October 2011 from McCall's Pumpkin Patch in Moriarty.
Her sister, Annette Atencio, says Medina spent $75 on food that day but forgot to pay for the pumpkin she picked up as she was leaving. Atencio says her sister offered to put but was refused and then handcuffed.
According to Queers and Allies president, Cherae Clark, the main purpose of Gaypril is "to bring awareness of our presence, not to mention it's really fun to have a standing tradition like the drag show."
Q&A is working to finalize plans for Gaypril, and will have a finalized schedule in mid-March. Other planned events include the annual Pride Parade, the Pride Prom, a music performance and a series of panels and workshops. The drag show is one of Gaypril's biggest events, bringing in several students of all orientations. This year, however, Q&A is focusing more on informative programs for interested students.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A 23-year-old college student from New Mexico is scheduled to go to trial for allegedly stealing a small pumpkin worth two dollars.
KOAT-TV in Albuquerque, N.M., reports that Lauren Medina will go before a jury and Moriarity Magistrate Judge Steve Jones on Tuesday. She
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Student Senate to fund part of Gaypril
Associated Press
Get ready for Spring Break!
UNLIMITED TANNING
$59 ANY UV BED for the semester
Edited by Anna Allen
THE LANGSTON HUGHES VISITING PROFESSORSHIP COMMITTEE
&
The OFFICE OF THE PROVOST
Invite you to
IN THE BATTLEFIELD:
Black Women Musicians and the 'Voicing' of the Civil Rights Movement
TAMMY KERNODLE
Spring 2012 Langston Hughes Visiting Professor, American Studies
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 3:30 p.m. in the Kansas Room at the Kansas Union
.
A reception in the Malott Room will immediately follow