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4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2008
INTERNATIONAL
5-day Greek riots shock country
Lefteris Pitarakis/ASSOCIATED PRESS
An anarchist with a flag attacks a photographer as more rioters in the background smash a free press distribution booth in central Athens on Wednesday. Journalists and especially photographers have been the targets of enraged rioters over the five days of mayhem that have followed the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old youth by a police officer. More rioting took place Wednesday in the Greek capital outside Parliament and adjoining streets.
BY ELENA BECATOROS ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATHENS, Greece — Five days of rioting that saw bands of youths marauding through the streets has shocked a generally tolerant Greek public and led many to question how the situation was allowed to degenerate. The police and government are now under intense scrutiny, despite saying they went out of their way to avoid bloodshed.
The government, which also faced a crippling general strike Wednesday, insists it has acted in the public's best interests, safeguarding lives over property amid an unprecedented explosion of rage sparked by the shooting death by police of a 15-year-old in one of Athens' often volatile neighborhoods.
The two officers involved in the shooting were quickly arrested, charged and ordered jailed.
The government sought to show it was trying to act with restraint when it came to dealing with the protesters.
"Human life is top priority. Property comes next," Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said during the worst of the rioting Monday, as masked youths overturned cars, erected blazing barricades across city streets and smashed stores at will.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose conservatives are hanging with a single seat majority in the 300-member Parliament, is under threat. Already on the ropes after a series of financial scandals and widespread opposition to unpopular economic, pension and education reforms, the riots could be his undoing.
The general strike shut down schools, public services, hospitals and airline flights, increasing the pressure on Karamanlis.
To try to reassure businesses, Karamanlis pledged financial aid to those who lost property in the riots - cash payments of $12,800, delays in tax payments and three-month guarantees for
employee salaries
It is unclear if that will satisfy a shocked public.
"Society is frightened, but also angry at the rioters, the looters and the government," said political science professor Harris Papasotirion of Athens' Panton University. "They demand a more dynamic response (to the riots) and better policing."
Separate opinion polls published Wednesday, before the financial aid package was made public, showed 68 percent of Greeks disapproved of the government's handling of the crisis, and gave a nearly 5 percentage-point lead to the Socialists.
"This country is not being governed," senior Socialist party member Evangelos Venizelos said in Parliament. "There is no way Mr. Karamanlis can come back from this."
But Karamanlis has ignored calls for early elections.
The exact circumstances of the
death of the youth, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, are disputed. But one thing is clear: the boy was killed in a shooting by police, who have often been accused of heavy-handed tactics.
Alexis Cougias, a lawyer for one of the policemen, told reporters that a ballistics examination showed that the teen was killed by a ricochet and not a direct shot. One officer said he had fired warning shots but did not shoot directly at the boy.
"Because he fired in the air to save his life, as a result of this accident ... he faces family and personal ruin," Cougias said of the officer.
Still. students joined masked youths in the riots, chanting that favorite Greek slogan: "Cops! Pigs! Murderers!"
So authorities wanted to avoid forceful police tactics.
But that has been of little comfort to shopowners, who saw their businesses go up in flames.
"Nobody needs to care about the employees at the burnt shops. What will their fate be now over the Christmas season?" asked one shop assistant on the popular Ermou shopping street who would only give her first name, Eleni.
Although riot police fired tear gas, they did so mainly when attacked themselves and did not intervene when businesses were torched.
Soon, local media were reporting instances of enraged civilians confronting looters.
Violence is nothing new in Greece's frequent demonstrations, where the right to protest is considered an intrinsic part of democracy. The student uprising in 1973 against the 1967-74 military dictatorship has gained near mythical status.
Despite general public grumbling, the occasional Molotov cocktail and tear gas volley during a protest march is considered normal.
ECONOMY
Gerald Herbert/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Auto executives, from left, General Motors Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulaly, and Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Nardelli testify on Capitol Hill in Washington before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the auto industry bailout on Thursday.
House approves $14B auto industry bailout
BY JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — A $14 billion rescue package for the nation's imperiled auto industry sped to approval in the House Wednesday night, but the emergency bailout was still in jeopardy from Republicans who were setting out roadblocks in the Senate.
Democrats and the Bush White House hoped for a Senate vote as early as Thursday and enactment by week's end. They argued that the loans authorized by the measure were needed to stave off disaster for the auto industry — and a crushing further blow to the reeling national economy.
Republicans were preparing a strong fight against the aid plan in the Senate, not only taking on the Democrats but standing in open revolt against their party's lameduck president on the measure.
The legislation, approved 237-170 by the House, would provide money within days to cash-starved General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Ford Motor Co., which has said it has enough to stay afloat, would also be eligible for federal aid.
The Republicans want to force the companies into bankruptcy or
mandate hefty concessions from autoworkers and creditors as a condition of any federal aid. They also oppose an environmental mandate that House Democrats insisted on including in the measure.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House-passed bill represented "tough love" for U.S. auto companies and "giving a chance — this one more chance — to this great industry."
The White House, struggling to sell the package to congressional Republicans, said earlier that a carmaker bankruptcy could be fatal to the auto industry and have a devastating impact on workers, families and the economy.
"We believe the legislation developed in recent days is an effective and responsible approach to deal with troubled automakers and ensure the necessary restructuring occurs," said Dana Perino, the White House press secretary.
But the measure faces a difficult road in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to advance. Rank-and-file Senate Republicans skewered the bill during a closed-door luncheon with White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, who was dispatched to Capitol Hill to make a case for the rescue package.
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INTERNATIONAL
Assisted suicide shown on TV
BY GREGORY KATZ ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — The scene is difficult to watch, even for viewers inured to the subject of dying by a steady diet of violent Hollywood and television fare.
Graig Ewert, a former computer scientist from Chicago, is shown lying in bed with his wife at his side while he takes barbiturates. He asks for a glass of apple juice to mask the bad taste and help him swallow. Then he uses his teeth to turn off his ventilator — and dies on camera.
Britain's obsession with reality television reached new heights — or depths — Wednesday night with the broadcast of the assisted suicide of the 59-year-old terminally ill American at a Swiss clinic.
Showing the final moment of death had long been a final taboo, even for no-holds-barred British TV, where sex and violence are common, and the broadcast unleashed debate on an issue that strongly divides public opinion.
Photographs of Ewert's final moments dominated Britain's newspaper front pages Wednesday — "SUICIDE TV" screamed one tabloid — and prompted a debate in Parliament, where Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quizzed about the propriety of the decision to air the program.
Before he died, Ewert said taking his own life would mean less suffering for himself and his family.
"If I don't go through with it, my choice is essentially to suffer, and to inflict suffering on my family, and then die."
"If I go through with it, I die as I must at some point," he says in the documentary, which chronicles his 2006 decision to take his own life after being diagnosed with degenerative motor neuron disease.
Care Not Killing, an anti
"There is a growing appetite from the British public for increasingly bizarre reality shows," said the group's director, Peter Saunders. "Wed see it as a new milestone. It glorifies assisted dying when there is a very active campaign by the pro-suicide lobby to get the issue back into Parliament."
euthanasia group aligned with the Catholic Church and other religious organizations in Britain, denounced the broadcast as "a cynical attempt to boost television ratings" and persuade Parliament to legalize assisted suicide.
Mary Ewert wrote in the British press Wednesday that her husband had been enthusiastic about having his final moments televised.
The documentary by Oscarwinning director John Zaritsky has previously been shown on Canadian and Swiss TV and at numerous film festivals, where it provoked little controversy.