THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012
PAGE 3
NEWS OF THE WORLD
NORTH AMERICA
MONTERREY, Mexico Police in northern Mexico have captured an alleged member of the Zetas drug gang who confessed to killing at least 75 people, including many who were pulled off of buses, authorities said Monday.
Police capture violent gang member
Enrique Elizondo Flores told investigators 36 of his victims were bus passengers traveling through the town of Cerralvo, near the border with Texas, said Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene.
Associated Press
Elizondo was detained Jan. 20 in the town of Salinas Victoria, but authorities delayed announcing his arrest so they could verify details of his confession, said Nuevo Leon state Attorney General Adrian de la Garza.
Domene said the 35-year-old
suspect told investigators he had been working in the area at least three years and that he was in charge of killing members of the rival Gulf drug cartel heading to the towns of Cerralvo and General Trevino. He and other gunmen last January began pulling passengers off of buses as they arrived at Cerralvo's bus station, Domene said.
Elizondo distinguished himself "for torturing, maiming and then killing his victims," Domene said.
They are among at least 92 bus passengers that the Zetas are accused of killing in three attacks in January and March 2011. Many the victims were originally from the central state of Guanajuato and had arrived in Cerralvo from the border city of Reynosa, Domene said.
Security forces kill two at protest
AFRICA
DAKAR, Senegal — The paramilitary police say two people were killed in Senegal during an anti-government protest, and a witness says security forces opened fire on the crowd.
Amadou Diagne Niang, a resident of the northern town of Podor, said the two dead Monday include an elderly woman and a high school student. He says they were killed when security forces opened fire on the crowd after protesters refused to disperse.
a spokesman for the national gendarmerie, says had been informed that two people were killed in Podor, but he could not disclose details. He says the gendarmerie was investigating.
Cmdr. Papa Ibrahima Diop,
Senegal has been on edge since Friday, when the country's highest court validated President Abdoulaye Wade's bid to run for a third term even though the constitution was changed in 2001 to impose a two-term maximum.
EUROPE
Government official sentenced to jail
BUCHAREST, Romania
BOUHAKEST, Romania Romania's highest court on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase to two years in prison after convicting him of illegally raising funds for a failed presidential campaign.
The ruling is the first time a former Romanian premier has been sentenced to prison since communism ended in the country in 1989.
Four others in the case received six-year prison sentences. The sentences can be appealed.
Nastase, who was prime minister from 2000 to 2004, insists he is innocent and that the case is politically motivated. He said he would appeal.
Prosecutors alleged that companies and state agencies were forced to pay fees to attend a conference in 2004, and the money was then
used to pay for Nastase's unsuccessful run for the presidency in 2004. He lost the runoff to President Traian Basescu.
"The one that won the elections wanted to take revenge on the one that lost," Nastase said Monday.
Nastase
Romania is under pressure from the European Union, which it joined in 2007, to crack down on endemic corruption.
Romania will hold local and parliamentary elections later this year. Observers expect these to be the most bitterly contested polls of recent years.
Japan's population to fall by 2060
ASIA
TOKYO Japan's population of 128 million will shrink by one-third and seniors will account for 40 percent of people by 2060, placing a greater burden on a smaller working-age population to support the social security and tax systems.
The grim estimate of how rapid aging will shrink Japan's population was released Monday by the Health and Welfare Ministry.
In year 2060, Japan will have 87 million people. The number of people 65 or older will nearly double to 40 percent, while the national work force of people between ages 15 and 65 will shrink to about half
of the total population, according to the estimate, made by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
The total fertility rate, or the expected number of children born per woman during lifetime, in 2060 is estimated at 1.35, down from 1.39 in 2010 — well below more than 2 needed to keep the country's population from declining. But the average Japanese will continue to live longer. The average life expectancy for 2060 is projected at 90.93 for women, up from 86.39 in 2010, and 84.19 years for men, up from 79.64 years.
Dating experts to share advice with KU students
CAMPUS
Without a special someone as Valentine's Day approaches? Fear not, college dating coaches Dave and Ethan will be in woodruff Auditorium tonight at 8 p.m., providing advice for the lovelovel.
In 2008, childhood friends Dave Ahdoot and Ethan Fixell posted ads inviting women to go on a double date with them. After 200 double dates and a web series about their exploits, Dave and Ethan decided to put their dating experience to good use by offering college students advice and sharing anecdotes
from their personal experience.
Although the pair has a background in comedy and improvisation that gives the show a satirical tone, genuine matchmaking does occur, said Ahdoot, particularly during their spin on the classic dating show where one single girl interviews prospective suitors and picks her match.
"We've had a lot train-wrecks, but we've had some success stories," Ahdoot said. "We have two or three couples that are still together."
NATIONAL
Dentist pleads guilty to malpractice charge
-Kelsey Cipolla
ASSOCIATED PRESS
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — A former Massachusetts dentist was sentenced to one year in jail Monday for using paper cups instead of stainless steel posts in root canals.
Dr. Michael Clair pleaded guilty earlier this month to a list of charges, including assault and battery, defrauding Medical of $130,000, illegally prescribing medications and witness intimidation.
Prosecutors said Clair sometimes used sections of paper clips when performing root canals in an effort to save money. Some of his patients reported infections and other problems.
Brenda Almeida said her teenage sons to tooth turned black and had to be removed after Clair performed a root canal on him in 2005. She said Clair also performed shoddy dental work on her other two children.
Almeida, who watched Clair get sentenced in Fall River Superior Court Monday, said she was angry about what she considers to be a light sentence.
"He put my kids in pain for months. I hope he rots there," she said after Judge Richard Moses sentenced Clair to a year in the Bristol County House of Correction.
Prosecutors asked for a sentence of five to seven years.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said Clair billed the Medicaid program for the costs of stainless steel posts and submitted false claims using other dentists' provider numbers.
"The defendant physically and emotionally harmed his patients by taking advantage of the trust they placed in him as their dentist." Coakley said in a statement. "Mr. Clair brazenly cheated the Medicaid program and defrauded taxpayer dollars, billing for health care services he did not provide."
Clair, who had a dental practice in Fall River, now lives in Crofton, Md.
The judge said he considered Clair's acceptance of responsibility, lack of a criminal record and "certain mental health issues" Clair is dealing with in deciding on the one-year sentence. He did not give any specifics on the mental health issues.
Clair's lawyer, John Dingee, declined to comment.
Moses granted a request from prosecutors to order Clair to stay away from his victims and seven people who worked in his office. Assistant Attorney General Toby Unger said Clair's former staff members "have expressed concern for their safety," but did not elaborate.
HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE
CLAIRE HOWARD/KANSAN
Benjamin Cleveland and Etta Fung, playing Tamino and Pamina, take the stage during the KU Opera Gala's presentation of The Tale of Die Zauberflote, a retelling of Mozart's famous opera, The Magic Flute. The Tale of Die Zauberflote is retold by Holocaust victims in a German concentration camp. As part of the experience, each member of the audience is asked to take a felt symbol to pin to their clothing during the show that represents a group of people in the camps - red for political prisoners, green for criminals, pink for homosexuals, blue for emigrants, and brown for gypsies.
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