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IN BRIEF
Roseburg man accused
in green card scheme
ROSEBURG — The former co
owner of a Roseburg restaurant is
among 14 Chinese nationals ac
cused of fraudulently obtaining im
migration green cards and citizen
ship certificates.
A federal grand jury in New Or
leans indicted Xiang-Ni Kong, 35,
charging him with conspiracy to ob
tain, possess and use a permanent
alien card. Kong is one of four de
fendants still at large.
Kong, along with David Chen,
opened the China Buffet restaurant in
February 2003. Chen later bought out
Kong. Chen told the Roseburg News
Review that he doesn’t know the
whereabouts of his former partner.
An official with the Oregon Corpo
ration Division said Monday that
Kong’s name does not appear on cor
porate records filed with the state on
the restaurant’s current ownership.
On Feb. 2, authorities with U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforce
ment came to the Roseburg China
Buffet, looking for Kong. Officers
didn’t find him, but they took three
employees into custody on immi
gration charges, said Lori Haley, a
spokeswoman for the agency.
Haley would not identify the
three workers, saying that informa
tion was private because the trio
were taken into custody on immi
gration violations rather than crimi
nal charges.
Chen, speaking through an inter
preter in his native Mandarin, iden
tified one of the workers as Kong’s
wife, who is Chen’s older sister.
She was later released from cus
tody, he said.
Iran mosque fire kills 59,
injures more than 250
TEHRAN, Iran — A fire raged
through a crowded mosque in Tehran
during evening prayers Monday after
a female worshipper’s veil caught the
flames of a kerosene heater, killing at
least 59 people and injuring more
than 250, Iran’s official news agency
reported. The Arg Mosque was filled
with about 400 worshippers, more
crowded than usual because this is
the Islamic month of Muharram, a
holy period for Shiite Muslims.
Gas explosion in
Chinese mine kills 25
SHANGHAI, China — A gas explo
sion at a mine in northeastern China
has killed at least 25 miners and left
another 194 trapped underground, the
government said today.
The explosion Monday afternoon at
the Sujiawan mine of the Fuxin Coal
Industry Group occurred 794 feet un
derground, the official Xinhua News
Agency reported. It said rescue opera
tions began immediately.
The cause of the blast in the Liaon
ing province was under investigation.
China’s mines are by far the world’s
deadliest, with floods, explosions and
fires taking the lives of more than
6,000 people in 2004.
Mine owners and local officials are
frequently blamed for putting profits
ahead of safety, especially as the na
tion’s soaring energy needs increase
the demand for coal.
— The Associated Press
Iraqi leaders work to refine
government after elections
BY JAMIE TARABAY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A French-edu
cated finance minister and a former
London physician emerged Monday
as the top candidates to be Iraq’s next
prime minister after the clergy-backed
Shiite Muslim alliance failed to get the
necessary majority of votes to control
the legislature.
The prominence of urbane,
moderate, Western-oriented figures
appeared designed to counter con
cern in Washington that Iran’s in
fluence will grow in Iraq after a
Shiite-dominated government
takes power — even though the ul
timate decision may rest with a
reclusive elderly cleric.
Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the interim fi
nance minister, and Ibrahim al-Jaa
fari, the interim vice president, were
said to be the leading candidates for
prime minister as backroom trading
for the top posts in the new govern
ment began in earnest Monday.
The consultations were necessary
because the United Iraqi Alliance
failed to secure the two-thirds majori
ty in the newly elected assembly that
would have allowed it to control the
legislature and install whomever it
wanted as president.
The Kurds, who are poised to
become kingmakers in the new
Iraq, have already said they want
Jalal Talabani, a secular Sunni
Kurd and leader of the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan, to be Iraq’s
next president, a largely ceremoni
al post. The Shiites may seek a
deal with the Kurds to back Tala
bani for president in return for
Kurdish support for their prime
ministerial choice.
The Kurds, who comprise about 15
percent of Iraq’s population, have de
manded the new constitution legalize
Kurdish self-rule in the north. They
also want an end to what they call
“Arabization” of Kirkuk and other
northern areas where most of the
Arabs are Sunni Muslims.
But the Shiites know they must
move carefully, particularly if they
want to extend a hand to the minority
Sunni Arabs to form an inclusive gov
ernment and tame a virulent insur
gency. Many Sunni Arabs, who make
up about 20 percent of the popula
tion, stayed home on election day, ei
ther out of fear of violence or to sup
port a boycott call by radical clerics
opposed to the U.S. military.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamel
Kharrazi welcomed the results of the
Jan. 30 elections and said his country
expected Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majori
ty to work with the country’s other
ethnic groups.
“Certainly it is promotion of
democracy and in that respect we
welcome that,” Kharrazi said Mon
day during a visit to Hungary. “We
hope there will be very good relations
between Iran and the future govern
ment of Iraq.”
Iran, though not Arab, is pre
dominantly Shiite, and its govern
ment has close ties with many
Iraqi Shiite leaders.
Kharrazi also said the elections in
Iraq were an indication of changes in
the region.
“So far, the Shiite population, al
though they are the majority, have
been deprived of their rights,” Khar
razi said. “Now, after this election,
they have the majority, but this does
not mean that they would neglect or
deny the rights of the minorities. ”
The election results for the Nation
al Assembly, announced Sunday,
gave the clergy-backed United Iraqi
Alliance 48 percent of the vote, the
Kurdish alliance 26 percent, and the
ticket led by interim Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite who
supported strong ties to Washington,
only 14 percent.
The National Assembly’s first
task is to elect a president and two
vice presidents by a two-thirds ma
jority. The three then choose a new
prime minister subject to
assembly approval.
The parties that make up the al
liance — the Islamic Dawa Party,
the Supreme Council for the Islam
ic Revolution in Iraq and former
Pentagon protege Ahmad Chalabi’s
Iraqi National Congress — huddled
for talks to decide on a prime
ministerial candidate.
Al-Jaafari was the Dawa Party’s
choice, while SCIRI nominated Ab
dul-Mahdi, said Humam Hainoudi,
a spokesman for the United Iraqi Al
liance. He said the alliance would
decide today.
But it may ultimately be Grand
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani who decides.
Al-Sistani’s tacit endorsement is be
lieved to have led to the Alliance’s
electoral victory. An official in al-Sis
tani’s office said representatives
from the alliance would visit the eld
erly cleric on Tliesday but that he
has not endorsed anyone.
CONGRATULATIONS/
2005 WHO'S WHO AWARD RECEPIENTS •
0213601
This year's University of Oregon recipients are:
This evening, 101 students from the
University of Oregon will be recognized
as notional outstanding campus leaders
by Who's Who Among Students in
American Universities and Colleges.
The Who's Who award is given to
students who demonstrate excellence in
their academic achievement, service to
the community, leadership in
extracurricular activities and potential
for continued success. They join an elite
group of students from more than 2,000
institutions of higher learning in all 50
states, the District of Columbia and
several foreign nations.
Robert Adkins
Diana Aguilar
Kyle Allred
Christina Argenti
Matthew Auxier
Kelly Baird
David Berney-Needleman
Lindsay Brown
Emily Buck
Macy Burnham
Marcus Cederstrom
Chat Chatchaisucha
Dunya Chirchi
Aryn Clark
Katelyn Colborne
Cristina Cruz-Uribe
Heather Daniel
LaMan Dantzler
Lynn Dean
Kimberly Evans
Kema Ferrall
Lisa Force
Kathleen Fox
Jamie Fryback
Leslie Frye
Sarah Gahagan
Laurence Gellert
Teresa Gonzalez
Reem Haj
Sarah Henselman
Jose Alfredo Hernandez
Forrest Herring
Casey Higgins
Laura Hindley
Ava Hirschsohn
Helen Hudson
Maria Hwang
Suyoung Jeong
Marques Johnson
Faryl Kagan
Jong Yoon Kim
Rochelle Koerner
Audrey Lane
Kira Lee
Amber Lindros
Megan Loperena
Tammy Luoh
Meghan Madden
Thomas Maffai
Michael Martell
Ian McConnaha
Westin Mclean
Kyle McMahon
Lucia Meza
Jessica Miller
Anna Moyer
Cleopatra Neculae
Sara Nelkin
Tyler Norwood
Jordan Oberhaus
Daniel Occhipinti
Mark Padoongpatt
Stephanie Pan
Maceo Persson
Adam Petkun
Kate Porter
Brandy Potterf
Kristie Price
David Rand
Men a Ravissipour
Jonathan Reed
Jose Reyes
John Rowland
Catherine Ryan
Crissy Jo Serviss
Gabe Shaughnessy
Austin Shaw-Phillips
Michael Sherman
Tara Siebenlist
Brenda Lee Sifuentez
Ryan Slunaker
Jodi Smith
Allison Solberg
Michael Sorondo
Benjamin Strawn
Karissa Strickland
Elizabeth Thomas
Heather Van Vactor
Jennifer Wagner
Allie Warner
Alison Waterkotte
Kyle Waters
Lauren Weiner
Kari White
Julie Whitecotton
Hannah Whitney
Ben Wolfgram
Stephanie Woodlee
Theodora Yang
Ayaka Yonezawa
Andrew Young