I The Behrend Beacon
Trial for Private Lynndie England commences
FORT HOOD, Texas - Opening statements were heard on Wednesday for the court-martial of
Pvt. Lynndie England for her participation in the Abu-Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.
Pvt. England, who had earlier pled guilty, was made to stand trial after her plea-bargain testi
mony for lesser punishment was contradicted by that of several other witnesses.
The prosecution plans to reveal a case in which Pvt. England was a ready and willing partici
pant in the abuse of prison detainees. “Pfc. England was very actively involved in what was
going on,” stated prosecutor Captain Chuck Neill.
If convicted by the jury of Army officers, Pvt. England faces 11 years in a military detention
facility.
Armed Nigerians seize US oil platform
PORT H ARCOURT, Nigeria - Several dozen armed militia troops forcibly took control of a
Chevron oil production facility to protest the arrest of their leader on treason and unlawful
assembly charges.
The arrest of Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, head of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force
(NDPVF), has started to cause widespread unrest in the country. Supporters of the movement
are threatening to start seizing oil production facilities across the country in protest of govern
mental inequalities.
“Apparently the militants are now heading for more stations,” an unidentified source related to
Chevron claimed. “The situation can only get worse,”
This may negatively affect the world oil market. Nigeria is the world’s eighth largest Oil pro
ducer and the fifth-ranked exporter of oil to the United States. Despite the oil revenue, the vast
majority of Nigerian people live in a state of abject poverty. Most of die money rests in the
hands of a few oil barons and foreign oil exploitation businesses, several of which are U.S.-
owned.
The Nigerian national government still maintains authority there, at least for die time being
Chevron officials were not available for comment.
Is there anyone to blame for the mass casualties caused by Hurricane Katrina?
“There were many mis
takes made, mostly on
the loeal and state level,
but the hurricane itself
did the real damage."
James Duberow,
Bioßehavioral Health 01
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Contact Annie Sevin at editorinchief@psu.edu
Classifieds
“Never befriend the oppressed
unless you are prepared to
take on the oppressor.”
Ogden Nash, American poet (1902-1971)
Janet Neff Sample Center ■DM
for Manners it Civility
Source: CNN.com, NOAA
‘1 think we should focus
on rebuilding and stop
pointing fingers.”
Casandra Sheldon
Chemistry 05
fE W.
• “No. The hurricane is a *
• natural force of nature. •
• We need to stop focusing *
• on why it happened and •
• focus on rebuilding.” •
Illona Joseph
Accounting 05
International Film Series Kicks Off
Begins with award-winning “The Sea Inside”
By Justin DeSantis
staff writer
Each Monday, the School of
Humanities and Social Sciences will
be holding the International Film
Series. The series highlights movies
picked by the Humanities Language
department.
“The idea was to present one movie
per language taught at [Penn State
Behrend],” explains Dr. Soledad
Traverso. Traverso has taken over
duties of the series while creator Dr.
Juan Femandez-Jiminez is on sabbati
cal. This will be the tenth year of
operation, as the International Film
Series began in 1995.
The first film in the section is enti
tled “The Sea Inside.” Although the
title may not be familiar to you, it is
in no way a film of small proportions.
Traverso explained that this year’s
film breaks with tradition.
“Usually, I pick two films. One
Latin American film and one Spanish
film from Spain,” says Traverso.
“However,” she continues, “this
year’s film is very expensive, but is
also very good.”
The film was nominated for two
Oscars! It won for Best Foreign
MiHlons flee ahead of Hurricane Rita
HOUSTON, Texas - As Hurricane Rita inches closer and closer to shore, local officials are
issuing mandatory evacuation orders.
Even Houston, a city of three million people, received a compulsory evacuation order from its
mayor as all levels of government scramble to avoid another disaster like Katrina.
The full evacuation of a large city has never been attempted before and problems are quickly
becoming apparent. Traffic moving on highways out of Houston quickly became prohibitively
congested, with reports on Thursday noting that outbound traffic was moving unsteadily at only
3-4 miles per hour over a 48 hour period.
While the powerful now-Category 4 Rita threatens the already-inundated New Orleans with
more water and heavy rains, its main target seems to be centered around the Houston / Galveston
area. Galveston, which was destroyed by a killer hurricane in 1900, is one of several low-lying
Texas cities in the area that are in serious danger of a direct hit. “We hope that whoever is left
here... will move on out today,” Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas said.
Hurricane Rita also threatens a significant portion of the U.S. oil refining capacity as it swirls
toward the Texas coast. Any disruption to this area, which processes about three million barrels
of oil a day, could cause gasoline and heating oil prices to skyrocket.
If Rita regains strength and makes landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, it will be only the third
Category 5 hurricane to do so in the last 70 years.
Jet fakes emergency for soccer fans
LIMA, Peru - A chartered jet carrying nearly 300 soccer fans from Gambia faked an emer
gency in order to land the plane so they could watch a soccer game.
The airplane, which was apparently chartered by the president of Gambia himself, deviated
from its flight plan to Lima to land almost directly at the site of the stadium in Piura. The flight
crew faked a fuel-loss emergency that required it to land immediately, leading Peruvian authori
ties to dispatch emergency response crews to the new landing site.
The aircraft landed without incident, and before anyone quite knew what was going on, the
passengers were already well on their way to the stadium, where they watched their team triumph
3-1 over Qatar.
Peruvian authorities are still debating what, if any, punishment to apply against the offending
airline.
Language Film of the Year, and a slew
of other top nominations. While his
ultimate goal is to win an Oscar, he is
content for the time being with inde
pendent film awards.
“I chose a movie that wouldn’t
come to the local cinema,” explains
Traverso,
The film itself is very powerful.
The relevance of the movie to western
themed audiences isn’t immediately
apparent. “The Sea Inside” portrays
the life of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro.
A paralyzed man, he fights for 30
years for the right to die with dignity.
The movie tells of his journey, not so
much the angle of wanting to die, but
a more powerful meaning that the
viewer will gain as they watch.
“The movie presents what a human
being goes through, much more than
‘I want to kill myself,”’ says
Traverso.
There are two more films in the
series as well. Traverso asks each
language teacher which film they
would like to choose. The German
film, “Free Radicals,” and the French
film “La Promesse.” “Free Radicals”
deals with Manu, a survivor of a plane
crash whose life changes dramatically
after she tries to piece it together
“It was an unforeseen
circumstance caused by
a natural disaster.”
Walter Kubcja
Physics 08
Friday, September 23, 2005
“Some people didn’t
have a way out, so it
wasn’t their fault.”
Beth Krahnke
Elementary Ed 02
again. The film focuses on people and
the choices that they make and the
ones they haven’t looked into yet.
“La Promesse” deals with two men,
Igor and his father. The men rent their
apartment to illegal immigrants, and
also hire them illegally. After the
building inspector visits, the movie
changes focus towards where Igor and
Roger differ in their values.
Each of these movies deals with
conventions that may not have been
previously viewed before. This is true
of the not only the protagonists of the
movies, but of an audience who has
yet to see these works. These films
are an enriching way to see other cul
tures’ cinematography and how they
view the world they live in.
All the movies will beshown in
Reed 117. The first movie, “The Sea
Inside,” will be shown Monday,
September 26th. “Free Radicals” will
debut October 3rd, and “La
Promesse” will premiere Monday,
October 10th. No admission will be
charged, and each film in the series is
open to the public.