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Sharapovais oustedin Parism TheGrand Slamlosswasworst ofMaria Sharapova’scareer. Dinara Safinaadvances, 1B

ByVincent Kessler, Reuters

Maria Sharapova:Handed a defeat.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

cNO. 1 IN THE USA

McCartneyback inFlushingmHe jumped at thechance to openMets’newballpark. “That’smy venue.” 8B

ByKevorkDjansezian, Getty Images

PaulMcCartney: “Toomuch fun.”

.

USA TODAY interview

Searchers from three continents are focusing ona remote Atlantic Ocean stretch where Air FranceFlight 447 mysteriously went down in water thou-sands of feet deep, leaving debris scattered formiles and little hope of finding survivors.A 23-foot chunk of plane and a 12-mile-long oil

slick were found early Wednesday, Brazilian airforce spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral said. Rescuershave still found no signs of life.The new debris was discovered about 55 miles

south where searchers a day earlier found an air-plane seat, a fuel slick, an orange lifevest and piecesofwhite debris.Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim con-firmed that a 3-mile swath of wreckage, foundmore than 300 miles off the coast by militaryplanes, came from the doomed flight. The Airbus330-200 disappeared Sunday night in a lightningstorm while cruising at 35,000 feet, carrying 228people from Rio de Janei-ro to Paris.The crew never sent amayday message, andautomated transmissionsfrom the cockpit suggestloss of cabin pressure andelectrical failure. Jobimsaid the hunt for theplane’s "black box" voiceand flight data recorderswill be extremely difficultconsidering the wide areaof the search and theocean’s depth."It’s going to be veryhard to search" becausethe toaster-sizeblackbox-es are under up to 2milesofwater, Jobim said.Search crewsheaded tothe area with some of themost advanced militaryand commercial technol-ogy. A sonar- and radar-equipped U.S. Navy planearrived in Brazil on Tues-day morning with 21 crewmembers to run low-altitude search flights over the ocean. A French shipheaded to the site with unmanned submersiblescapable of exploring depths of up to 19,600 feet."Weare in a race against the clock," FrenchPrimeMinister Francois Fillon said, noting that "pingers"attached to the recorderstransmit signals for 30days before their batteriesrun out.Ocean depths averagejust over 9,000 feetaround the area wheresome of the debris wasfound, according to Accu-Weather.com, which said the search effort is likelyto be hampered by heavy thunderstorms.Earlier Tuesday, Brazilian military pilots spottedtwo areas of floating debris about 35 miles apart.The discovery indicated that Flight 447 might havetried to reverse course and land at the remote Bra-zilian archipelago Fernando de Noronha, said JorgeAmaral, a spokesman for Brazil’s air force.The distance between the two debris fields sug-gests that other aircraft parts, including black box-es, could be spread over hundreds of miles, saidFrancois Leroy, general manager of Teledyne Ben-thos. The Massachusetts company makes homingbeacons used to track black boxes. Leroy said theodds of finding the black boxes are "remote."Among the passengers were 61 French citizens,58 Brazilians, 26 Germans, nine Chinese and nineItalians. Two Americans living in Rio de Janeiro alsowere on board. Michael Harris, 60, and his wife,Anne, 54. They lived previously in Lafayette, La.

U.S. divesinto huntfor cluesof crashNewdebris found55miles awayFrom staff andwire reports

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CAIRO —Muhammad Farag isn’t planning totake time away from his studies to tune inwhen President Obama speaks at his universityhere Thursday.“It’s not like the world will change af-

ter he ends his speech, will it?” says Fa-rag, 27, an engineering student. He sumsup his feelings about Obama’s historicvisit with oneword: “So?”Across town,merchants in thenarrow,

dusty passageways of the 14th-century Khanal-Khalili bazaar are only vaguely aware of Oba-ma’s visit to Egypt. But their faces brighten atthe mention of his name. “Mr. Obama is wel-come any time in Cairo,” saysHassamYosef, 25.“You have a friend in theMuslimman.”Obama touches down here in this ancient

heart of the Arab world Thursday on a criticalmission: to try to repair the United States’ rela-

tions with Muslims after a decade of violenceand recrimination, and to reinforce voices ofmoderation in a long-volatile region.The setting of his speech — the capital of acountry that calls itself a democracy but is runas a police state — speaks to the complexitiesbefore him. InmanyMuslim nations, from Leb-anon to Afghanistan, where Obama’s words al-sowill be heard, extremists are gaining ground.Obama promised a new approach to theMuslim world during his campaign. He said hewould address Muslims from a major Muslimcapital early in his presidency to try to soften

hearts and minds hardened by the U.S.response to 9/11, its close ties to Israel,the war in Iraq, its treatment of terror-ism suspects andmore.“The president will be addressing agroup of people who not only feel that

U.S. government policy has wronged them, butthat they’ve unfairly been its targets,” says JonAlterman of the Center for Strategic and Inter-national Studies (CSIS) inWashington, D.C.The speechwill be at 6:10 a.m. ET. TheWhiteHouse says the president plans to remindMus-lims of his personal connection to them: His la-

ByH. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY

Fulfilling a promise:As a candidate, President Obama vowed to addressMuslims from aMuslim capital.Thursday in Cairo, he’ll follow through by, among other things, urging them to reject violent extremists.

Coverstory

In Cairo, Obama to facehope and skepticismover USA’s intentionsByMimiHallUSA TODAY

Please see COVER STORY next pageu

Even as colleges nationwide cele-brate commencement season, hun-dreds of schools are failing to gradu-ate a majority of their students in sixyears, a report says today.Nationally, four-year colleges graduated an aver-

age of just 53% of entering students within sixyears, and “rates below 50%, 40% and even 30% aredistressingly easy to find,” says the report by theAmerican Enterprise Institute, a conservative thinktank. It’s based on data reported to the EducationDepartment by nearly 1,400 schools about full-time first-time studentswho entered in fall 2001.Some findings aren’t surprising. Harvard Univer-

sity boasts one of the highest rates, 97%. SouthernUniversity at NewOrleans, which faced upheaval in2005withHurricane Katrina, reported 8%.Even so, the report documents a “dramatic varia-

tion” even across institutions with comparable ad-missions standards, which suggests some schoolsaremore effective in educating similar students.“While student motivation, finances and ability

matter greatly when it comes to college comple-tion, the practices of higher education institutionsmatter, too,” says leadauthor FrederickHess.Whensimilar colleges have a large gap in graduation rates,

“it is fair to askwhy,” the report says.Education leaders said the report could be useful.“We can learn from universities who are beating

the odds,” says Geri Malandra of theAmerican Council on Education.Examples from the study, whichgrouped schools by categories inBarron’s Profiles of American Colleges:uAmong schools that require onlya high school diploma for admission,Heritage University and Walla Walla

University, both in Washington state, reportedgraduation rates of 53% and 17%, respectively.uAmong colleges that require high school

grades averaging a B-minus or better, John CarrollUniversity in Cleveland and Chicago State Univer-sity in Illinois graduated 74% vs. 16%, respectively.uIn the “most competitive” group, Amherst Col-

lege inMassachusetts and Reed College in Portland,Ore., graduated 96% vs. 76%, respectively.The data have limits: They don’t account for stu-dents who transfer, for example. And they shouldnot be used as a sole measure of quality, the reportsays, because “schools shouldnot beunfairly penal-ized formaintaining high standards.”But as graduation rates grow increasingly centralto discussions about accountability, co-authorMark Schneider says, families ought to be thinkingthat way, too. “We are emphasizing transparency”and urging students to factor graduation rates intodecision-making, he says. “It’s one of these little se-crets that everybody in the industry knows. We’rejust trying to highlight it.”

4-year colleges graduate 53% in 6

ByMary BethMarkleinUSA TODAY

ByH. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY

Justice pick grilled on Hillm20 senators, including Patrick Leahy,above, tomeet Sonia Sotomayor, 2A

California cafes offer coffee and oglingShops find good business mixing drinks (non-alcoholic)with scantily-clad servers. 3A.

Many speculate on N. Korea’s successorReports say Kim Jong Il’s youngest son wouldtake power, butwhowill really be in charge? 5A.

mMoney: Bernanke’s deficit concernFed chiefwarns long-termbudget deficits threat-

en financial stability. 6A.uSome online travel agencies dropping fees. 6A.

mSports: Role players to lifesaversSome of baseball’s replacement players showthey can save their teams in times of need. 1B.

mLife: It’s time to suit upFashion-forward, body-conscious swimsuits forevery body shape. Go to usatoday.com.uStudy finds anxiety, depression can pass from

parents to children. 10B.

USATODAYSnapshots®

States with the highest and lowest percentage ofroads in “poor” condition:

Source: American Association of State Highwayand Transportation Officials

By Anne R. Carey and Dave Merrill, USA TODAY

Report card: Roads getting an ‘F’

Now at usatoday.comUSA TODAY’swebsite keeps youcurrent 24/7. Check now for:

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mPhoto contest in final daysMake picks at travel.usatoday.commLive fromE3Talk to game developers 2 p.m. ETtoday at gamehunters.usatoday.com

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Wii checks vital signs

Journey to Egypt

And some are far belowthat average, study finds

Technology’slimits testedmData deviceshard to find, 4A

Nintendo of America

mNintendo unveils ‘vitality sensor’mAt E3, Sony counters withwand,PSP Gom See usatoday.com

International special editionThis is a special edition of USA TODAY designedand edited for readers around the world.Additonal content and late-breaking news andsports scores can always be found atusatoday.com.

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2A · THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2009 · USA TODAY

te father was a Muslim from Ke-nya, and the president spentsomeof his childhood living in In-donesia, which has the world’slargest Muslim population ofmore than 206million.Grand Sheik Mohammad

Sayed Tantawi of Al-Azhar Uni-versity and mosque, one of theworld’s top Muslim leaders, sayshe appreciates that Obama “re-jects the idiot racism . . . thatanynormal personwould reject.”Obama’s speech may be most

closely watched, though, for howhe addresses some of the intrac-table foreign policy challenges hefaces, from Iran’s nuclear ambi-tions and the prospects for a Pal-estinian state to the militarybuildup in Afghanistan and troopdrawdown in Iraq.Aides sayObamawillmake the

case that better relations withthe Islamic world will contributeto peace, prosperity and securityfor all nations. “He doesn’t hes-itate to take on tough issues,”says deputy national security ad-viserMark Lippert.As more U.S. troops move into

Afghanistan and elections areheld in Lebanon and elsewherethat could give Islamist groups

more power in the region, “it’s animportant time,” says nationalsecurity spokesman DenisMcDonough. “The president be-lieves it’s an important opportu-nity to advance the national in-terest.”Americans seem to agree. In a

new Gallup Poll taken on the eveof Obama’s trip, 76% said thequality of the relationship be-tween the Muslim and westernworlds is important to them.Ali Hadi, vice provost of the

American University in Cairo,says people in Egypt and acrossthe Islamic world want a betterrelationship with the UnitedStates. After the 9/11 attacks,“the entire world, in-cluding the Arab andMuslim worlds, wasvery sympathetic,”Hadi says. “Unfortu-nately, the U.S. did notcapitalize on that tolead the world in abetter direction. Thisis a chance for theUnited States to redi-rect.”New Gallup polls

from 11 Arab coun-tries show dramaticimprovement in ap-proval ratings for theU.S. government’sleadership in eight of the coun-tries sinceObama tookoffice. Theapproval ratings, however, arestill well below 50%. Egypt’s ap-proval rating of U.S. leadershipwas just 6% inMay2008; it’s nowup to 25%.There’s a weariness and some

cynicism among the young here.Farag says former president

GeorgeW. Bush publicly promot-ed democracy in Egypt andpeace in the region, as did BillClinton and other U.S. presidents.But because of Egypt’s long roleas a peacemaker and U.S. ally,democratic nations have lookedthe other way while PresidentHosni Mubarak has ruled underemergency law for 28 years, im-prisoning thousands of dissi-dents, political opponents andanyone else hewishes atwill.“After a while,” Farag says,

“you know exactly what’s goingto be happening.”Obama will make a concerted

effort to reach out to Muslimyouth when he speaks at CairoUniversity, McDonough says.Hundreds of students have beengiven tickets to attend.Rania Al Malky, 37, editor of

the Daily News Egypt, says shebelieves most young people areopen to Obama’s message. “Peo-ple are definitely still a little skep-tical but not extremely skepti-

cal,” she says. “People feel he isfamiliar to them. They see him ina very different light from anyprevious president.”The human rights issues inEgypt, she says, need to be ad-dressed — and the White Housesays Obama will do that. But AlMalky says Obama should treadcarefully there because “no onewants the U.S. to try to imposedemocracy.”Obama is getting no shortageof advice about what to say in anaddress that’s scheduled to lastless than an hour.

Human rights in Egypt

Like presidents before him,Obama is taking heat from somehuman rights groups, such as theAlliance for Egyptian Americans,that fear he will paper overEgypt’s abuses in the name ofmaintaining relations with a stra-tegic ally and long-time peace-maker in the Arabworld.After a recent meeting withEgyptian pro-democracy activ-

ists, Secretary ofState Hillary Clintonsaid the issue wouldcome up duringObama’s trip, butsaid it wouldn’t be adominant theme.“We always raisedemocracy and hu-man rights,” shesaid. “And I thinkthat there is a greatawareness on thepart of the Egyptiangovernment thatwith young peoplelike this and withenhanced commu-

nications, it is in Egypt’s interesttomovemore towarddemocracyand to exhibit more respect forhuman rights.”Some say it’s a mistake not topush harder. “It’s great that Oba-ma’s going there to give a speech,but it’s going to sendmixedmes-sages. It’s going to give validationto a repressive regime,” saysAladdin Elaasar of the Alliance ofEgyptian Americans. “It is a bru-tal regime, and people are livingin subhuman conditions.”In Cairo, however, people don’tnecessarily expect — or evenwant—much fromObamawhenit comes to human rights issues.If he pushes for change and ithappens, thatwould be great, Fa-rag says. “If, over the next year,we start to see more democraticreforms, endingmarshal law, thatwould be a positive thing,” hesays. But “there’s a lot that weshould be doing, not him. Thesolving of our democracy issuesis our problem to dealwith.”Alterman, who heads CSIS’Middle East Program, says effortsto push democracy simply don’tplaywell in theMideast.“In the last administration, weheard a lot about democracy andliberty and freedom,” Altermansays. “These are ideas that comeout of our own enlightenment,history and tradition, and I hold

cern that Democrats in the U.S.,particularly Clinton, are “more onthe side of the Zionists.”Former United Nations secre-tary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, now living in Cairo andserving as the chairman of theNational Council for HumanRights, says the Brotherhood“represents extremists” and isbeing funded by extremistgroups fromoutside Egypt.Elaasar called the rise of theBrotherhood and similar groups“a danger that the West is notpaying attention to.” The Broth-erhood, he says, “has a very fun-damentalist agenda. It wouldturn Egypt into a theocracy.”The White House also iswatching parliamentary elec-tions in Lebanon that could seeHezbollah, considered a terroristorganization by the U.S., win in avictory that could boost influ-ence for Iran and Syria. Officialshaven’t saidwhether Obamawilladdress the June7elections inhisspeech. Clinton and Vice Presi-

dent Bidenhave visited the coun-try, sparking accusations of inter-ference fromHezbollah.

Justice for Palestinians

Obama is not expected to offera point-by-point Arab-Israelipeace plan, but Muslims here areexpecting strong pro-Palestinianstatements from him. Analystssay he’ll have to offer somethingconcrete beyond recent demandsthat Israel to halt West Bank set-tlements if hewants to earn cred-ibilitywith theMuslimpeople.Sheik Tantawi will not discusstheMuslim Brotherhood, humanrights issues or the elections inLebanon, but has plenty to saywhen it comes to the peace proc-ess. Obama should use “the pow-er and the weight” of his office to“give the Palestinians theirrights,” he says.It’s a common themehere.Ahmed Gheina, a tour guide atthe Egyptian Textile Museum onthe edge of the bazaar, calls Oba-ma a “good man” for wanting tobring change to U.S.-Muslim rela-tions. But he wants to hear somespecifics on the peace process aswell: “We want him to stay withthe Palestinian people. We wanthim to change (the U.S. relation-shipwith) the Israelis.”Analysts say that after address-ing the U.S.-Muslim relationshipin a post-inauguration interviewwith an Arab TV network and inan April speech in Turkey, Obamamust offer specifics this time.“He can only give the ‘Americaloves and respects the Muslimworld’ speech so many times,”says formerMideast peace nego-tiator Aaron David Miller. “In myview, Cairo should be about deal-ing with the Arab-Israeli issue,but it has to be backed up by astrategy. . . . You can only get bybeing Barack Hussein Obama forso long. ”In an interview with NationalPublic Radio earlier this week,Obama said achieving peace inthe Middle East “is not going tobe an easy path.”He did not say whether he willoffer an expanded policy pre-scription in Cairo. But he said hewill be tough onboth sides as the

processmoves forward.“It is important for us to beclear about what we believe willlead to peace and that there’s notequivocation and there’s not asense that we expect only com-promise on one side,” he toldNPR. “When it comes to the con-crete, then the politics of it getdifficult, both within the Israeliand the Palestinian communities.But, look, if this was easy, itwould’ve already been done.”

Changing hearts at home

“Any American president’sprinciple audience is domestic,”says Lisa Anderson, provost ofthe AmericanUniversity in Cairo.Obama’s outline of why theArab-Muslim world matters tothe United States “is all supposedto echo back home,” she says.Obama has somework to do inreshaping opinions about Mus-lims in the United States, as well.A new Gallup poll finds that only21% have a favorable opinion ofMuslim countries.Boutros-Ghali, an Egyptianwhose grandfather served asprime minister, says too manypeople think of Muslims as ex-tremists. “This is our main prob-lem,” he says. “How to explainthat they represent only 2-to-3%ofMuslims?”Atef Fahmey, 29, who sellsbrightly colored cotton scarvesand dresses from a small stall inthe middle of the city’s mazelikebazaar, says he has a simple hopefor Obama’s speech. He says hehopes Obama tells theworld that“Islam is a good religion, not badlike somepeople say inAmerica.”

Contributing: TheodoreMay

Speaking in Cairo, Obama plans to reach out toMuslim youthsContinued from 1A

Cover story

By Cris Bouroncle, AFP/Getty Images

Waiting for Obama:On the outskirts of Cairo, aworker applies fresh paint on the fence surrounding theSphinx, one of Egypt’smost famous landmarks, in anticipation of President Obama’s visit Thursday.

Arab attitudes toward Obama and the U.S.President Obamawill find a skeptical publicwhen he arrives in Egypt thisweek to deliver amajor address to theMuslimworld. A look at findingsfrom a poll of six Arab nations:

Source: 2009 Arab Opinion Poll by the University of Maryland/Zogby International. The pollsurveyed 853 people in Egypt, 760 in Saudi Arabia, 500 in the United Arab Emirates, 774 inMorocco, and 600 each in Lebanon and Jordan from April 21 to May 11. Themargin of error:± about 4 percentage points for each poll.

By Julie Snider, USA TODAY

14%Egypt

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United Arab Emirates

Favorable opinionof theUnited States

Positive view ofObama’s actions to-ward theArabworld

18%

26%25%

29%38%

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50%52%

Obama can bring positive change to U.S.-Arab relations

Agree Disagree No president can

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0Jordan Lebanon Morocco Saudi

ArabiaUnitedArabEmirates

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Fans of the president:A souvenir shop owner in Cairo displays ametal plaque comparingObamawith the pharaoh Tutankhamen.

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HassamYosef: “Mr.Obama iswelcomeany time in Cairo.”

these ideals dear. But if I’m hon-est, I have to concede that theydon’t really resonate amongMus-lim audiences; justice does.”

The influence of extremists

Although it is officially banned,a group called theMuslim Broth-erhood has beenmaking gains inparliamentary elections in Egypt,and its members now hold 88 of454 seats. The organization,which seeks to impose an Islamicstate, publicly renounces vio-lence and is pushing for demo-cratic reforms so that its mem-bers can gainmore seats throughopen elections.During an interview in his of-fice in which his cellphone rangincessantly, Muslim BrotherhoodDeputy Chairman Mohamed Ha-bib emphasized that “we don’tlike violence” and favor “thepeaceful changing of authority.”He said he’s optimistic Obamacan bring change on behalf of thePalestinians but expressed con-

WASHINGTON — Judge SoniaSotomayor on Tuesday counteredRepublican charges that shewould let her background dictateher rulings.As Sotomayormadeher Senate

debut with a series of privatemeetings, Republicans said theywould prefer holding hearings onher nomination in September,which could delay the speedysummertime confirmation Presi-dent Obamawants.Sotomayor, who would be the

Supreme Court’s first Latina andits third woman, told senatorsshe would follow the law as ajudge without letting her life ex-periences inappropriately influ-

ence her decisions.“Ultimately and completely, ajudge has to follow the law nomatterwhat their upbringing has

been,” Judiciary CommitteeChairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,quoted the nominee as saying intheir closed-door session.

Republicans are questioninghow she would apply the law,noting her remark in 2001 thatshe hoped her decisions as a“wise Latina” would be betterthan those of a white male whohadn’t had the same experienc-es. Obamahas said shemisspoke.Radio host Rush Limbaugh andformerHouse speakerNewGing-rich have said Sotomayor is a rac-ist. Limbaugh said choosing her islike nominating former Ku KluxKlan leader David Duke.Leahy, hoping to shepherd asmooth and quick confirmationfor Sotomayor, asked her whatshemeant by her 2001 commentand said the judge told him, “Ofcourse one’s life experienceshapes who you are, but . . . as ajudge, you follow the law.”Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama,the top Republican on the com-mittee, said Sotomayor used sim-

ilarwordswith him aswell.“We talked about the idea andthe concept of personal feelingsand . . . how that influences adecision and how it should not,”Sessions said, declining to elabo-rate on the private discussion.Sessions, who is to meetWednesday with Leahy to dis-cuss scheduling Sotomayor’s con-firmation proceedings, said hethought hearings shouldwait un-til September.The exchanges came as Soto-mayor rushed from one meetingto another on Capitol Hill — 10 inall — visiting senators who willdecide her future. She meets 10moreWednesday.In public, the nominee andsenators were all grins and politeexchanges. Sotomayor chattedwith Leahy about his grandchil-dren and smiled demurely asSenate Majority Leader Harry

Reid praised her. Sessions calledtheir talk “a delight.”Democrats praise Sotomayor’slife story as the New York-borndaughter of Puerto Rican parentswhowas reared in a housing pro-ject and went on to Princetonand Yale before ascending to thehighest legal echelons.“We have the whole packagehere,” said Reid, D-Nev. “Americaidentifieswith the underdog, andyou’ve been an underdog manytimes in your life, but always thetop dog.”Democrats hope to begin thesessions next month, whichwouldmeetObama’s goal of hav-ing her confirmed before theSenate departs in earlyAugust fora month-long vacation. Reid saidthat although Democrats want tohold hearings “as quickly as wecan,” they will not seek to im-pose “arbitrary deadlines.”

Sotomayor explains ‘wise Latina’ remark to senatorsRepublicans seekhearings in fallThe Associated Press

ByH. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY

SupremeCourt nominee on Capitol Hill: Judge Sonia Sotomayormeets Tuesdaywith Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in his office

A Nationline headline on Mon-day misidentified the militaryservice of Isaiah Mays. Mays, aCongressional Medal of Honorwinner,was anAfrican-AmericanBuffalo Soldierwho died in 1925.

Corrections&ClarificationsUSATODAY is committed toaccuracy. To reachus, contact StandardsEditorBrent Jonesat1-800-872-7073ore-mail accuracy@usatoday-.com.Please indicatewhetheryou’re respond-ing tocontentonlineor in thenewspaper.

President Obama’s four-nation tripbegins today in Saudi Arabia andends Sunday in France. A look at hisschedule:uToday—Saudi ArabiaObama meets with King Abdullahin Riyadh.uThursday—EgyptThepresident speaks to theMuslimpeople from Cairo University at6:10 a.m. ET. He also plans to visit a

mosque and the pyramids.uFriday—GermanyObama meets with Chancellor An-gela Merkel at Dresden Castle; vis-its Buchenwald concentrationcamp, Ramstein Air Base, Land-stuhl RegionalMedical Center.uSaturday—FranceHe meets with President NicolasSarkozy in Caen; visits NormandyAmerican Cemetery andMemorial.

Obama to go from theMideast to Europe

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USA TODAY · THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2009 · 3A

In the news

Deadline looms topass laws inMiss.Mississippi’s three-month legislative session

endedWednesday unless two-thirds of lawmakersvote to extend it.Also:uNew Hampshire lawmakers are scheduled to

take a second vote on expanded religious protec-tions needed to win the governor’s signature on abill to permit gaymarriage.

Across the nation

Man charged in abortiondoctor’s deathTheman accused of killing abortion clinic owner

GeorgeTillerwas chargedwithfirst-degreemurder.Scott Roeder, 51, allegedly shot Tiller on Sunday

at the physician’s church.Tiller’s Wichita abortionclinic is one of only a fewthat provided late-termabortions in which the fetuscan live outside the womb.Roeder, whose last addresswas Kansas City, Mo., is anabortion opponent. Roeder’sonly question was when hecould see his lawyer.Tiller’s funeral will be at

10 a.m. Saturday at CollegeHill United MethodistChurch inWichita.

FormerMass. House speaker indictedSalvatore DiMasi, the former Massachusetts

House speaker, and three associates were indictedon federal charges of conspiring to help a softwarecompany win $20 million in state contracts andthen conceal themoney received from the firm.“Every decision I made as speaker and as a state

representative was made in the best interests of. . . the people of the Commonwealth,” the BostonDemocrat, who denied the charges, stated.

Chicago cop guilty in bartender beatingSuspended Chicago police officer Anthony Ab-

bate was found guilty of aggravated battery in thevideotaped beating of a female bartender whowashalf his size.He acknowledgedbeingdrunkbut saidKarolina Obrycka pushed him first as she tried toremove him from behind the bar. She had refusedto serve him more drinks. The judge allowed Ab-bate to remain free before June 23 sentencing, atwhich he faces up to five years in prison.

Court nixes schools’ random drug testsA North Carolina school board violated teachers’

constitutional rights by deciding to subject employ-ees to random tests for drugs and alcohol, the stateCourt of Appeals ruled Tuesday.The court ruled that the drug-testing policy vio-

lates the state constitution’s prohibitions on unrea-sonable searches.The ruling could discourage other districts in the

state from following the lead of 1,200-student Gra-ham County Schools. The school board in 2006 ap-proved randomtesting for its 250 teachers, staff andadministrators, saying it would be unsafe for themto interact with students while under the influenceof drugs or alcohol. — Jordan Schrader

Police: Manwanted to kill more soldiersAMuslimwho pleaded not guilty to killing a sol-

dier outside a recruiting center had the firepowerto take outmanymorewhile on amission to “kill asmany people in the Army as he could,” police said.Court documents said Abdulhakim Muhammad

hadMolotov cocktails, three guns and ammunitionin his pickup truck when he fired at two soldiersMonday in a suburban Little Rock shopping center.Pvt. William Long, 23, was killed; Pvt. QuintonEzeagwula, 18,waswounded.Muhammad targeted soldiers “because of what

they had done to Muslims in the past,” police saidin the documents.

Ohio troopers fight firings over weightIn Ohio, state troopers are fighting a rule that al-

lows dismissal for those consistently exceedweightlimits. Thehighwaypatrol is among ahandful in theUSA that allowpunitivemeasures for trooperswhofail to meet weight requirements. Union contractsin Alaska and Massachusetts allow removing offi-cers from duty if they’re overweight, but it rarelyhappens, National Troopers Coalition chairmanMike Eades said. Ohio contract talks are underway.

OnDeadline:What others are reporting

Tulsa fireworks plan can’t get off groundA proposal for Tulsa to sell $20 permits that

would have allowed July Fourth revelers to shootfireworks within city limits bombed before comingto a vote, the TulsaWorld (tulsaworld.com) said.The city banned fireworks in the 1970s after

wooden-roofedhouses caught firefrom bottle rockets,theWorld said.Council members

expressed concernsabout themeasure, byDennis Troyer, that

would have helped raise money for a public fire-works festival. “If just one house caught fire be-cause of this, it wouldn’t be worth it,” councilmember Bill Christiansen told theWorld.

Nationline

Seemore storiesfromacross theWeb at our

OnDeadline blog atUSATODAY.com, your 24/7site for news fromaroundthe nation and theworld

Sedgwick County Jail via AP

Roeder: 1st-degreemurder charge.

Please recycle

By SteveMarshall withwire reports

ByMark Lorenz, The SalemNews, via AP

Car drives intoWal-MartInDanvers,Mass.: Police Sgt.WilliamCarletonsurveys the scenewhere a 91-year-old driverplowed through the entrance of aWal-Mart onTuesday, injuring awoman and her 1-year-old girl.

Nation

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. —Even as Starbucks shuttersstores, some coffee shops inSouthern California’s LittleSaigon are booming with aformula that seems to defyrecession.They are serving up strong

Vietnamese brew, deliveredto tables by young women inbikinis, spandex, fishnet sa-rongs or lingerie, displayingbountiful skin and cleavage.Lots and lots of cleavage.“I think it’s kind of like Star-

bucks meets Hooters,” saysTinaNguyen, 19, awaitress atCafé Lu, who was exposing abare midriff between tightLakers jersey and black mi-cro-mini tube skirt.Like all the six to eight

servers on duty at any time,she was teetering on 6-inchplatform stiletto-heeledshoes of clear plastic. She paused to chat and laughwith customers as she delivered $5 servings ofthick, sweet iced coffee and refilled bottomlessglasses ofweak iced tea.Customers are overwhelmingly male and largely

Vietnamese-Americans, although men of all eth-nicities find their way into Café Lu or one of itsmany nearby competitors. Ten large TVs line thewalls, tuned to sports and cable news. Customerssuch as James La play Chinese checkers and talkwith friends at 40 ormore tables.“It’s kindof like abikini bar, almost,” says La, 36, a

recentmedical school graduate. “It’s unique. I don’tthink other cultures have this.”Indeed,while risqué coffee shopshavebeen tried

elsewhere, and bars that display ample amounts ofthe female form are commonplace, the mixture ofeye candy and coffee seems to have taken hold likenowhere else here in the nation’s largest Vietnam-ese community.Natalie Nguyen, 36, owner of Café Lu, says the

concept has been popular for more than two dec-ades in an area that became amagnet for Vietnam-ese refugees after the fall of Saigon in 1975.In recent times, she says, more competitors haveopened. She estimates there are 50 to 60 suchplaces in this area ofOrangeCounty outside LosAn-geles. Like her competitors, Nguyen’s café doesn’tserve alcohol or food.

Nguyen (pronouncedWIN) is acommon name in the Vietnam-ese community. Five of six wait-resses at Café Lu one day sharedthe surname but were not relat-ed.Love of coffee is somethingVietnamese immigrantsbrought with them, the ownersays, as is entrepreneurial zeal.

Nguyen arrived in theU.S. at 16 and at 17was a cof-feewaitress. By 18, she opened her own shop.Somemay find the concept offensive, servers ac-

knowledge. Some women haven’t told their par-ents exactlywhat their job is.“I was scared at first to tell them,” says Natalie

Tran, 21, who has been a server for three years.“Most Vietnamese parents are kind of strict.”Police have not detected any funny business. Po-

lice departments in three cities with jurisdictionover parts of Little Saigon — Westminster, SantaAna andGardenGrove—say the coffee shops aren’ta big source of concern or complaints, though gangfights and gambling arrestswere seen years ago.“Overall, ours (coffee shops) are very low on ourradar as far as a concern,” Westminster Police Sgt.Dan Schoonmaker says.Daniel Nguyen, pastor at Calvary Chapel Living

Water of Little Saigon church, says he doesn’t likethe shops but says the community is OKwith thembecause theymakemoney.“I feel sorry for them, that they feel they have to

dowhat they do.” he says. “I think it’s very inappro-priate.”Hoa-Nhien Vu, who publishes a Little Saigon

blog, Bolsavik.com, (a word play on Bolsa Avenue,the main street in the community) says an almostVictorian prudishness in the older generation ofVietnamese Americans is coupled with a tolerant,

boys-will-be-boys attitude toward businesses.“I’vemetpeoplewhowouldn’t go to those shops,

but I don’t think I’vemet anyonewho is so offendedtheywant the places closed down,” Vu says.At Café Di Vang II,manager DanNguyen (also not

related) says the shops offer an enjoyable experi-ence at a cheapprice. Even lacedwithmilk and sug-ar, the coffee is so strong no one can drink morethan two, he says, and a $5 or $10 bill, plus tip, is abargain for an hour or two of ogling.In a patio corner, Beverly Hills producer John

Wilson and Darko Ostojic, a Croatian-born actorand producer, were holding a business meetingabout a film they are producing about vampires in3-D.“Not only do they look great, they are so nice,”

Wilson says of the servers.At Starbucks a few blocks up Euclid Street, the

scene is different. Manager Ann Hsu says her storeis on a list of shops the corporate office may close.But she doesn’t see the cafes as competition.“It’s a different clientele,” saysHsu, 29. “Youdon’tgo there for the coffee. You definitely go there forsomething else.”While Starbucks’ baristas get a few bills and

change in a jar on the counter, customers at Café Lumay tip $5 or more, says customer Sonny Tran, 35,who brings a laptop computer and works after-noons from the cafe.“They’re really generous,” Tina Nguyen says of

customers.Waitresses say they rarely get an inappropriate

touch or proposition and laugh off customers whoassume toomuch.“All we serve is coffee,” Nguyen says. “It’s not a

brothel. Guys here know their limits.”

These baristasadd a jolt tocoffee shopsSpots givecustomerseye candywith caffeine

Photos by Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

Brewing up customers: Jen Tranworks at Café Lu in Santa Ana, Calif., which specializes in coffees, teas and smoothies.

Steamyatmosphere:Dustin Jorgensen,21, is a regular atGardenGrove,Calif.’s Cafe DiVang II whereSoutheast Asianwomen servecoffee, tea andfruit smoothies.

ByWilliamM.WelchUSA TODAY

DETROIT — Every little bit helps forEarleanWhite’s family.The neighborhood garden a block

from her home was the source offresh tomatoes, cucumbers and pep-pers for her family last summer.So on a recent sunny Saturday,

White, 48, enlisted two of her kids —Katherine White, 9, and David Smith,13 — and her grandson Robert Puri-tan, 8, to start planting for this year.White says the garden helps ease

her grocery bill and “helps the com-munity andmakes it look better.”

With the help of Urban Farming, aDetroit-based non-profit group, this20-foot-by-20-foot lot andmore than600 others like it across the USA arebeing turned into gardens.

Taja Sevelle, an R&B recording artistfrom Detroit, started the agency in2005 with three gardens in the city.That’s grown to gardens in seven oth-er states aswell as Jamaica, she says.The group also operates gardens in

New York, New Jersey, California,Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolinaand Hawaii. In each location, UrbanFarming sponsors provide seeds andother neededmaterials, she says.“The whole focus is getting rid of

hunger,” Sevelle says. “But it alsobeautifies the area and brings peopletogether.”In Los Angeles, Joyce Lapinsky-

Lewis, program development con-sultant for Urban Farming’s WestCoast operation, says one of the aimsis to pass on the skills needed to farmindependently. “Everyone can learn

enough to sustain their own pro-gram,” she says.Sevelle says shehas beenhelpedby

Wayne County and the city of Detroit,which have turned over tax-fore-closed lots to the group. The landstays in the name of the city or thecounty, so if a developer arises it canbe returned, says Terrence Keith,Wayne County deputy treasurer.In the past, the programwas able toturn over about 50% of the producegrown to food banks throughout thecity, Sevelle says. As the recession hit,that dropped to 5% last year.“That’s how badly people needed

food,” Sevelle said. “People werepicking the gardens clean.”

Gray reports for theDetroit Free Press.Contributing: Tina Irgang, USA TODAY

Gardens ease bills, brighten cityscape

ByKathleenGray, USA TODAY

Pullingweeds: EarleanWhite, cen-ter, workswith her childrenDavidSmith, left, and KatherineWhite.

Urban communitiesgrow fresh foodByKathleenGrayUSA TODAY

For a gallery ofphotos from thecoffee shops,visit us atusatoday.com

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4A · THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2009 · USA TODAY

An Iraqi court Tuesday convicted a Sunni archi-tect in the 2004 kidnap-slaying of British aid work-er Margaret Hassan and sentenced him to life inprison. Her family appealed for Ali Lutfi al-Rawi torevealwhere her body is buried so her remains canbe returned to Britain.The Irish-born Hassan, who was married to an

Iraqi and had lived in the country for 30 years, wasamong the highest-profile figures in the wave ofkidnappings that swept Iraq in the early years of thewar. Shewas seized in October 2004 on her way towork in Baghdad, where she served as director ofCARE International in Iraq. Shortly after her ab-duction, a terrified Hassan, 59, was shown on avideo trembling and pleading for her life. She waskilled amonth later. Her body has not been found.

A three-judge panel handed down the sentenceagainst al-Rawi, 36, after a one-day trial inBaghdad,convicting him of kidnapping, murder and extor-tion. The defendant, who had pleaded not guilty,showed no reaction after the sentencing.

U.S. military: Gitmo detainee killed selfA Yemeni detainee at Guantanamo Bay has diedof an apparent suicide, U.S. military officials saidTuesday. The Joint Task Force that runs theU.S. pris-on in Cuba said guards found Muhammad AhmadAbdallah Salih unresponsive and not breathing inhis cellMonday night.In a statement issued from Miami, the U.S. mil-itary said the detainee was pronounced dead by adoctor after “extensive lifesaving measures hadbeen exhausted.”The Yemeni prisoner, also known asMohammadAhmed Abdullah Saleh Al-Hanashi, had been heldwithout charges atGuantanamoBay since February2002.A prison spokesman, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brook De-

Walt, confirmed thedetainee’s apparent suicide butdeclined to discuss details or to say whether anyfamilymembers had been contacted.

Illegal miners found dead in S. AfricaAt least 61 prospectors have been found dead inan abandoned goldmine in SouthAfrica, police saidTuesday.The bodies were found by other illegal miners,who brought 36 to the surface over the weekend,according to Harmony Gold Mining. The companyno longer uses the mine shaft in central Free Stateprovince.An additional 25 bodies underground werebrought up Tuesday, said Tom Smith of Harmony.Harmony saidmore bodiesmay be in the shaft, andhe suggested an underground fire could havecaused the deaths. The miners may also have diedafter inhaling poisonous gas sometimes found inmines, police spokesman Stephen Thakeng said.

Fromwire reports

By TauseefMustafa, AFP/Getty Images

Police break up protestsIn Srinagar, India:Kashmiri demonstrators are ar-rested Tuesday. Theywere protesting the deaths oftwowomenwhom they say soldiers killed.

Iraqi gets life termin Briton’s murder

World

It weighs less than half a pound, is 4 inches long,and can potentially unlock themystery of Flight 447.Frenchnavy ships searching theAtlanticOceanwilldip a receiver into the water to pick up signals fromthe 4-inch “pinger” attached to the airplane’s “blackbox” recorders possibly resting on the ocean floor.The search will cost millions of dollars and involvesophisticated military equipment. It also could ignitea debate about whether airplanes should beequippedwith recorders that float.The Transportation Security Administration, prod-ded by lawmakers for years, plans this summer totest a recorder that detaches from an airplane in acrash, agency spokeswoman Kristin Lee said. HouseDemocrats began urging a test shortly after the Sept.11, 2001, attacks. The cockpit-voice and flight-datarecorders never were found for the two planes thathit theWorld Trade Center.“The circumstances of 9/11 have demanded theneed for this type of recorder,” former NationalTransportation Safety Board chairman Jim Hall said.“This (Flight 447) accident puts an exclamation pointon it.”

Spotlight on building better beacon devices

Thedetachable recorder emits a signalwithinmin-utes of a crash indicating its location, potentially sav-ing days of searching andmillions of dollars, saidHall,who consults for a New Jersey company, DRS Tech-nologies, that makes the devices. Unlike standardblack boxes that are embedded deep in an airplane’stail assembly, the detachable recorders would sit inan inset on a plane’s tail, Hall said.U.S. commercial ships recently have been requiredto install the detachable beacons to help rescue ef-forts if a ship sinks, said Francois Leroy, generalman-ager of Teledyne Benthos, a Massachusetts companythat makes pingers. Adding them to jets might befruitless, though, because “an airplane hitting thewater at great speed creates a violent impact” thatcould destroy the devices,Leroy said.For now, searchers look-ing for the recorders fromFlight 447 will undergo apainstaking process thatbegan Tuesday when Bra-zilian military planes founda 3-mile swath of debrisfrom theAir France plane ina remote stretch of the At-lantic Ocean.Searcherswill first do a complex study ofwind andocean currents to try to determine where the debriswent Sunday, said Richard Limeburner, an ocean-ographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institu-tion inMassachusetts.That could narrow the area where military shipswill begin listening for thepinger.When shipspickupa signal, theywill continue tomove around the vicin-ity to find the loudest sound from the pinger, in-dicating themost likely spotwhere it’s located, Leroysaid.At that point, unmanned, remote-controlled sub-mersibles would be dropped in the water and low-ered to the ocean floor to take camera or sonar im-ages.Workers on the ship can guide the submersibles

and use their electronic arms to pick up objects thatwould be brought back to the ship, Leroy said.Although the technology has been used for years,Leroy and others say Flight 447 will put it to an ex-treme test because the recorders are submerged un-der thousands of feet ofwater.“I’m a little worried how deep” the recorders are,said Bill Voss, president of the non-profit Flight SafetyFoundation. “We’re closer to the limits of technologythan I’d like to be.”Leroy said searchers “will be looking for a small ob-ject in the middle of an area that could be severalhundredmiles square.”Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administrationplans to require bynextMarch that black-box record-ers meet stricter reliability requirements and holdmore information critical to helping accident in-vestigators solve crashes.The proposal, first suggested by the safety board in2005, would require cockpit voice recorders to beimpervious to power failures and that the deviceshave two hours of recording time instead of the cur-rent 30-minute limit.

Hope of finding survivors dissolves

The chance of finding survivors in Flight 447 “isvery, very small, even non-existent,” said Jean-LouisBorloo, the French minister overseeing transporta-tion.The recorders may be the only hope in finding outwhatmay have happened, Borloo said.Borloo called the A330 “one of the most reliable

planes in the world” and said lightning alone, evenfrom a fierce tropical storm, probably couldn’t havebrought down the plane.“There really had to be a succession of extraordi-nary events to be able to explain this situation,” Bor-loo said on RTL radio Tuesday.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Reuters

Low-tech lookout:Amember of a French search team scans the Atlantic Ocean. Debris along a 3-mile swathwas confirmed to be part of themissing jet.

Crashmystery hinges on 4-inch ‘pingers’Tragedy tests limits oftechnology, resourcesByThomas FrankUSA TODAY

Underwater searchHow to find “black box” airplane recorders:

Source:

By Dave Merrill, USA TODAY

When a “pinger” is detected,a boat will move in variousdirections toget thestrongestsignal from the pinger. Thatspot will be the best indica-tion of where the recordersare sitting.

When airplane debris is foundon the surface of water, boatsequippedwith special listeningdevices patrol the area.

The listening devices are loweredas deep as 300 feet into the water.

Source: Teledyne Benthos

In shallow depths,divers can look forthe recorders. Indeeper depths, ro-botic devices withelectronic arms andcamerasor sonar aresubmersed to searchfor the recorders.

They listen for pinging sounds emit-ted by flashlight-sizemechanismsattached to airplane recorders.

Flashlight-sizepinger

Flightdatarecorder

The pingers canwithstand waterpressure at depths up to 20,000feet. Their sounds travel throughwater columns for several miles,either vertically or horizontally.That means that if a pinger is inshallowwater, it can be detectedfrom a point on the surface a fewmiles away. If a pinger is in deepwater, the listening devicemustbe almost overhead.

Flightdatarecorder

Roboticsubmersible

Patrolboat

GettyImages

Acoustic pingingLAFAYETTE, La. — Mary Miley expect-ed to hear from her sister Anne DebaillonHarris on Sunday once Harris and herhusband, Michael, reached Paris, but thecouple never reached theirdestination.The Harrises were the

only twoAmericans on thelist of named passengersaboard Air France Flight447, which disappearedover the Atlantic OceanSunday.They were headed to

France for a training semi-nar involving Michael Har-ris’workwithDevonEner-gy, and then planned somevacation time in Franceand Spain.“We’re all in a state of

shock,”Miley said.The Airbus 330-200 car-

ried 228 people.Anne Harris, 54, was a

physical therapist. MichaelHarris, 60, was a geologist. The couple,married 16 years, lived in Lafayette untilfour years ago when they moved to theHouston area.Michael Harris began working with

Devon as a contractor in Houston in July2004, supporting international projects.In 2006, he became a full-time geological

adviser on projects in West Africa andAsia. Last July, Devon transferred the cou-ple to Rio de Janeiro.“They enjoyed Rio,” Miley said. “Annesaid she’d never have that experienceagain, so they went. They enjoyed Carni-val. They had friends at the American

Club. They were makingthe best of it.”Miley described AnneHarris as “a brilliant red-head.”“Sheputherself throughphysical therapy schooland was first in her class,”she said.Miley’s last communica-tion with Anne Harris wasthroughe-mail. “I got ane-mail from her day beforeyesterday, and she said herson would have their itin-erary, but he never got it,”Miley said. “He is a pilotwith Continentalwho livesat their house” in Texas.The Harrises planned tovisit Lafayette in Decem-ber.

“They were both gregarious, caring,patient, kind, fun-loving individuals,” Mi-ley said. “My only comfort is that theydied together.”The couple had two children, B.S.HamptonHarris IV, 27, andAndrewMus-grove, 30, according to the AssociatedPress.

Sister in shock at lossof U.S. couple on flight

Family photo

TheHarrises: Plannedvacation after seminar.

By Bruce BrownThe (Lafayette, La.) Daily Advertiser

PARIS — A woman fromDublin had toured with theRiverdance troupe for yearsand performed at Radio CityMusic Hall. One man was adescendant of Brazil’s lastemperor. And a Hungariantherapist who worked withchildren with motor disabili-ties in Budapestwas travelingwith her 7-year-old son.Theywere among216pas-

sengers on the ill-fated AirFrance Flight 447 fromRio deJaneiro to Paris. The jet,which crashed in the AtlanticOcean on Sunday night, car-ried 61 French citizens, 58Brazilians, 26 Germans, nineChinese and nine Italians.People from 27 other coun-

tries also were on the pas-senger list, including twoAmericans. Air France said 11of the 12 crewmemberswere French.French tiremaker Michelinhad three executives aboardthe plane, including Miche-lin’s president for SouthAmerica, Luiz Roberto Anas-tácio, 50, who had been pro-moted May 4 and was trav-eling to France tomeet fellowtop executives.Ten salesmen and theirspouses from CGE Distribu-tion, a French electronicssupply company, had woncompany prizes of a trip toBrazil. CanadianBradClemes,49, was a Coca-Cola exec-utiveworking in Brussels.The dancer, Eithne Walls,

29, had gone on a two-weekvacation in Brazil with twoother women who had grad-uated frommedical school in2007 from Ireland’s TrinityCollege Dublin.Walls joined Riverdance in

2000 and spent nearly a dec-ade dancing in troupes fromNew York to Shanghai andwas pursuing a career as aDublin eye surgeon.“Eithne, we will miss youreasy smile.Wewill miss your

dancing feet,” her parentsand siblings said in a state-ment. “Her friends will, wehope, remember their specialtime together with fondnessand joy.”Five Britons aboard includ-ed Arthur Coakley, 61, astructural engineer fromnearWhitby, North Yorkshire. Hiswife of 34 years, Patricia,broke down describing her“fabulous husband,” father totheir three grown children.“He worked so hard for hisfamily; that’s all he wanted,to retire,” she told Britain’sPress Association. “It’s notgoing to happen, is it?”

Contributing: Claudia San-chez in Paris, the AssociatedPress

Details emerge of the 228 on doomed jet

By Robert Pratta, Reuters

At Saint-Étienne stadium: French soccer playerswear blackarmbands Tuesday to honor victims of Air France Flight 447.

From staff andwire reports

“We’re closerto the limits oftechnology thanI’d like to be.”

— Bill Voss,flight-safety expert

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