A report from the United Nations denies genocide has occurred in the Darfur region of Sudan, the country's foreign minister said Monday, according to The Associated Press.
The U.N. report will not be officially released until today, but diplomats at the U.N. headquarters in New York told The Associated Press the report is critical of actions taken by the Sudanese government.
Sudan's government has been accused of directing Arab militia, known as the Janjaweed, to carry out attacks against non-Arab groups in Darfur. The conflict began in February 2003, when rebel groups began to fight back following what they believed to be years of neglect in the region.
The United Nations has called Darfur the world's worst humanitarian crisis. It estimates the conflict in Sudan has claimed 70,000 lives since March-mostly from disease and hunger-and now affects 2 million people, up from 1.8 million in September.
The U.N. report also recommended that the International Criminal Court investigate evidence of widespread abuses including torture, rape, killings of civilians and pillaging.
A bill introduced by two legislators Monday would require Wisconsin voters to show a photo ID at the polls.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Jeff Stone, R-Greendale, and Sen. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, is similar to legislation vetoed by Gov. Jim Doyle last year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday. The Legislature failed to override the veto by five votes.
Doyle does not support mandating photo IDs because he believes it would jeopardize the voting rights of more than 85,000 senior citizens who do not have photo IDs.
The debate over photo IDs has grown because of new reports of voter irregularities in Milwaukee in last November's election.
The Student Service Finance Committee approved the UW-Madison Child Care Tuition Assistance Program's $672,000 budget request in full Thursday.
CCTAP is an organization designed to assist with some of the financial burdens and access-to-care issues student-parents face while attending UW-Madison, according to CCTAP's budget proposal.
According to the proposal, CCTAP also assists student parents afford and access high-quality child-care for their children.
The full approval marks one of the largest budget approvals by SSFC this academic year.
