The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, November 20, 2009 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
ALLEGAN, Mich.
Man, boy rescued
from van roof in
Kalamazoo River
Police say a 52-year-old Allegan
man and his 3-year-old nephew were
rescued from the roof of a van that
had rolled into the Kalamazoo River.
The Allegan County sheriff's
office says in a release that the van
was in 10 feet of water off Echo Point
boat launch Thursday afternoon
when deputies arrived.
A firefighter from Clyde Town-
ship swam to the van and was tossed
a safety line. A sheriff's lieutenant
then swam to the van and returned
to shore with the child. A member of
the sheriffs dive team then helped
James Birchfield to safety.
Birchfield and the boy were taken
to a local hospital and treated for
hypothermia.
DETROIT.
GM analyst
predicts solid
November sales
U.S. auto sales could top an annu-
al rate of 10.8 million in Novem-
ber, General Motors Co.'s top sales
analyst said yesterday. That would
mark the first month this year that
sales jumped to such levels with-
out the aid of Cash for Clunkers
rebates, which boosted sales in July
and August. Executive Director of
Market Analysis Mike DiGiovanni
says the industry is having a solid
sales month through the first 19
days of November, another sign
that the economy is beginning a
slow recovery from recession. He
also said GM could see its fourth
straight month of market share
gains in November.
Others are a bit less bullish. The
Edmunds.com automotive Web site
forecasts an annual light vehicle
sales rate of 10.3 million and J.D.
Power and Associates predicts 10.2
million.
The annual rate for Novem-
ber, typically a slow sales month,
is adjusted for seasonal variances.
Edmunds predicts light vehicle sales
will drop 4.5 percent this month
when compared with year-ago
results. J.D. Power estimates a 7.6
percent decline.
LOS ANGELES
U of Calif. approves
big tuition hikes
The governing board of the Uni-
versity of California approved a
$2,500 student fee increase yester-
day after two days of tense campus
protests across the state.
The vote by the Board of Regents
in a windowless University of Cali-
fornia, Los Angeles, meeting room
took place as the drone of protesters
could be heard from a plaza outside.
Scores of police in riot gear guarded
the building.
The 32 percent increase will
push the cost of an undergraduate
education at California's premier
public schools to over $10,000 a
year by next fall, about triple the
cost of a decade ago. The fees, the
equivalent of tuition, do not include
the cost of housing, board and
books.
"Our hand has been forced," UC
President Mark Yudof told report-
ers after the vote. "When you don't
have any money, you don't have any
Wmoney."
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras
Honduras interim
president may take
leave for vote
Honduras' interim president
said yesterday he may step down
temporarily to allow voters to con-
centrate on the upcoming presiden-
tial elections.
Roberto Micheletti said he will
consult his advisers and those who
have supported his government
on whether he should step aside
ahead of the Nov. 29 election and
until at least Dec. 2, when Congress
is scheduled to vote on whether to
reinstate ousted President Manuel
Zelaya.
Micheletti did not say who
would be in charge of the govern-
ment if he takes the weeklong leave
of absence.
"My purpose with this measure
is for the attention of all Hondurans
to concentrate on the electoral pro-
cess and not on the political crisis,"
Micheletti said in a message broad-
cast on national television.
He said he would immediately
return to the presidency should
threats to "order and security arise."
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Al- Qaida sites
in English rise:
in number
CHARLES BE N NETT/AP
In this May 22,1990 file photo, Comedian Bob Hope laughs with television talk show host Oprah Winfrey during the taping
of the "Oprah Winfrey Show" in Chicago.
Oprah to announce
ebnd of show today
Sites serve as a
recruiting tool, though
most are not run
directly by al-Qaida
RIYADH,Saudi Arabia (AP) -
Increasing numbers of English-
language Web sites are spreading
al-Qaida's message to Muslims in
the West.
They translate writings and ser-
mons once largely out of reach of
English readers and often feature
charismatic clerics like Anwar al-
Awlaki, who exchanged dozens of
e-mails with the Army psychiatrist
accused of the Fort Hood shootings.
The U.S.-born al-Awlaki has
been an inspiration to several mili-
tants arrested in the United States
and Canada in recent years, with
his Web-based sermons often turn-
ingup on their computers.
"The point is you don't have to be
an official part of al-Qaida to spread
hatred and sectarian views," said
Evan Kohlmann, a senior investiga-
tor for the New York-based NEFA
Foundation, which researches
Islamic militants.
"If you look at the most influ-
ential documents in terms of
homegrown. terrorism cases, it's
not training manuals on build-
ing bombs," Kohlmann said. "The
most influential documents are the
ones that are written by theologi-
cal advisers, some of whom are not
even official al-Qaida members."
Most of the radical Islamic sites
are not run or directed by al-Qaida,
but they provide a powerful tool
for recruiting ,sympathizers to its
cause of jihad, or holy war, against
the United States, experts who
track the activity said.
The number of English-lan-
guage sites sympathetic to al-Qaida
has risen from about 30 seven years
ago to more than 200 recently, said
Abdulmanam Almushawah, head
of a Saudi government program
called Assakeena, which works to
combat militant Islamic Web sites.
In contrast, Arabic-language
radical sites have dropped to
around 50, down from 1,000 seven
years ago, bgcause of efforts by gov-
ernments around the world to shut-
them down, he said.
AI-Qaida has long tried to reach
a Western audience. Videotaped
messages from its leader, Osama
bin Laden, and his deputy Ayman
al-Zawahri usually have English
subtitles. But translations of writ-
ings and sermons that form thy
theological grounding for al-Qai-
da's ideology, along with preachers
like al-Awlaki, mostly eliminate the
language barrier.
Al-Awlaki's sermons have
turned up on the computers of
nearly every homegrown terror
suspect arrested in the United
States, Kohlmann said.
Members of a group of Canadian
Muslims arrested in 2006 for alleg-
edly forming a training camp and
plotting bombing attacks in Toron-
to listened to his online calls for
jihad, according to the case against
them in court.
Winfrey expected to
begin show on new
cable network in 2011
CHICAGO (AP) - "The Oprah
Winfrey Show," an iconic broad-
cast that grew from a local Chica-
go talk show into the foundation
of a multibillion dollar media
empire, will end its run in 2011
after 25 seasons on the air, Win-
frey's production company said
last night.
Winfrey, who became one of the
most powerful women in enter-
tainment from a seat on the couch
of her set in Chicago's West Loop
neighborhood, plans to announce
the final date for her show during
a live broadcast today, Harpo Pro-
ductions Inc. said.
A Harpo spokeswoman declined
to comment yesterday on Winfrey's
future plans except to say that "The
Oprah Winfrey Show" will not be
transferred to cable television.
Winfrey is widely expected to
start up a new talk show on OWN:
The Oprah Winfrey Network, a
much-delayed joint venture with
Discovery Communications Inc.
that is expected to debut in 2011.
OWN is to replace the Discovery
Health Channel and will debut in
some 70 million homes.
CBS Television Distribution,
which distributes "The Oprah Win-
frey Show" to more than 200 mar-
kets blanketing the United States,
held outhope that itcould continue
doing business with Winfrey, per-
haps producing a new show out of
its studios in Los Angeles.
"We have the greatest respect
for Oprah and wish her nothing but
the best in her future endeavors,"
the unit ofCBS Corp. said in astate-
ment. "We know that anything she
turns her hand to will be a great
success. We look forward to work-
ing with her for the next several
years, and hopefully afterwards as
well."
Winfrey's 24th season opened
earlier this year with a bang, as
she drew more than 20,000 fans
to the city's Magnificent Mile on
Michigan Avenue for a Chicago
block.party with the Black Eyed
Peas.-
She followed up with a series
of blockbuster interviews - Mike
Tyson and Evander Holyfield,
exclusives with singer Whitney
Houston and ESPN's Erin Andrews,'
and just this week, former Alaska
governor, GOP vice presidential
candidate and best-selling author
Sarah Palin. She found time
between shows to lobby the Inter-
national Olympic Committee in
Denmark for Chicago's failed bid to
host the 2016 Olympics.
The loss of "The Oprah Win-
frey Show" would be a blow to
CBS Corp. because it earns a per-
centage of hefty licensing fees
from TV stations that use it.
On a conference call with
analysts two weeks ago, CBS
Chief Executive Leslie Moonves
said the contract with the show
ran through most of 2011 and
"if there's a negative impact, it
wouldn't hit us until '12."
CBS continues to sell several
top shows into syndication, how-
ever, including "Wheel of For-
tune" and "Jeopardy." But many
TV stations are struggling with
falling advertising revenue and
were unlikely to pay the same fees
as in the past for Winfrey's show,
which has seen ratings slip 7 per-
cent from a year ago and saw its
average viewership slip below 7
million last season.
Winfrey started her broad-
casting- career as a teenager in
Nashville, Tenn., reading the
news at WVOL. Two years later,
Winfrey started co-anchoring
news broadcasts on WTVF-TV
in Nashville. In 1976 she moved
to Baltimore to anchor newscasts
at WJZ-TV before becoming host
of the local talk show "People Are
Talking."
In 1984, she relocated to Chicago
to host WLS-TV's morning talk
show "A.M. Chicago" - the show
was became "The Oprah Winfrey
Show" one year later. She set up
Harpo the following year and her
talk show went into syndication,
rising to become one of the most
successful in the history of broad-
casting.
"I came from nothing," Win-
frey wrote in the 1998 book
"Journey to Beloved." "No
power. No money. Not even my
thoughts were my own. I had no
free will. No voice.
Hundreds cheer
Palmn in Mich.
Grand Rapids was
first stop on'Going
Rogue'book tour
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP)
- College students ditched class,
employees skipped work and some
huddled in the cold overnight just
to make sure they get an orange
wristband yesterday that would let
them meet Sarah Palin.
A line of more than a thousand
people - some sporting Palin
Power stickers and Palin T-shirts
- moved slowly into a Barnes &
Noble store yesterdayto see the for-
mer Republican vice presidential
candidate and Alaska governor on
the first stop of her "Going Rogue"
book tour. During the hours they
waited, some broke out in chants of
"Palin! Palin! Palin!"
Scores more who couldn't get
wristbands awaited Palin's arrival
outside, braving the cold and yell-
ing. "USA!" and "Sarah, Sarah!" at
an event that took on the feel of a
political pep rally.
"She's a person of faith, she has a
family, she has gone through a lotof
the trials and tribulations we have.
I'd vote for her in a heartbeat," said
Lana Smith, a dispatcher at a bus
companywhotookthedayoffwork,
and had been waiting in line since
5:30 a.m.
"Someday I hope her name is up
in lights and I'll have had the privi-
lege of meeting her," Smith said.
The song "Only in America," a
standard on George W. Bush's 2004
campaign stops, played as Palin's
tour bus, painted to resemble the
cover of her book, pulled up to the
Woodland Mall in Grand Rapids.
"I just can't tell youhow good it is.
to be back in Michigan," the former
Alaska governor said after getting
off the bus carrying her youngest
son, Trig. "Alaska and Michigan
have so much in common, with the,
huntin' and the fishin' and the hock-
eymoms, and just the hardworking,
patriotic Americans who are here."
China continues detention,
mistreatment of US geologist
Chicago-trained
Xue Feng charged
with stealing
state secrets
BEIJING (AP) - Sometime into
his longdetentionbyChina's feared
state security agents, American
geologist Xue Peng had something
to show U.S. consular officials on
their monthly visit. He rolled up his
sleeve, revealing the burns where
his interrogators pressed lit ciga-
rettes into his arm.
Xue also had something to say:
He wanted his previously unpub-
licized detention made public in
hopes that the outcry would win his
release.
But Xue did not get his wish.
His wife balked, as did the U.S.-
based consultancy that employed
him until months before he was
detained, both saying that going
public might hurt rather than help
his case. The U.S. Embassy, caught
between his desire to go public and
his wife's wish for privacy, worked
behind-the-scenes for his release.
So two years after disappear-
ing into custody, the University of
Chicago-trained Xue (pronounced
shway)remainsheld at anunknown
location in Beijing, charged with
stealing state secrets over the pur-
chase of a commercial database on
the oil industry. His case has been
batted inconclusively between
prosecutors and the courts, which
twice asked for more evidence,
acyording to a summary of the case
prepared by Xue's wife and seen by
The Associated Press.
On Tuesday, President Barack
Obama raised Xue's case at his Bei-
jing summit with Chinese President
Hu Jintao in the latest and highest-
level intervention, said a White
House official on the trip, speaking
on condition of anonymity because
he was not authorized to release the
information.
More than an instance of abu-
sive, intransigent Chinese justice,
Xue's case raises disturbing ques-
tions about the quiet lobbying for-
eign governments, companies and
the families of detainees often use,
believing it more effective with an
authoritarian Chinese leadership.
"Under difficult and danger-
ous circumstances, Dr. Xue made
it clear that he wanted the Ameri-
can people to learn of his ordeal. I
have little doubt thathad his wishes
beenrespected,hiscase wouldhave
already been resolved," said John
Kamm, a human rights campaigner
with a two-decade track record of
getting prisoners released to whom
the State Department turned for
help this month.
Beijing's State Security Bureau
and the Procuratorate, or prosecu-
tor's office, declined comment. A
spokesman for the city's No.1 Inter-
mediate Court, a Mr. Niu, said Xue's
trial "is still in mid-process," where,
according to the case summary, it
has been since July.
Xue's wife, Nan Kang, who was
born in China like her husband and
who lives with their children out-
side Houston, has hired a lawyer.
She said she wanted to keep her
husband's detention quiet for fear
that going public would have reper-
cussions for their parents in China
and disturb their two children,
especially their young son.,
Kang declined to comment fur-
ther publicly. In the case summary
she wrote: "My husband denies the
charge against him, and he believes
that he was helping China attract
inward investment and to improve
the Chinese economy."
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said
that it has monitored Xue's case
since soon after his arrest, visiting
him over 20 times, delivering mes-
sages from his family and pressing
for his release. It declined to release
further details and would only say
that Xue asked for his detention to
be made public "some time ago."
U.S. governments have for years
weighed whether jailed dissidents
and Anmerican prisoners are better
served by public pressure, closed-
door diplomacy or a combination of
thetwo. The Obama administration
has tried to keep any likely disputes
over human rights, a perennial irri-
tant in relations, from damaging a
broader agenda crowded with the
economic crisis, climate change,
nuclear proliferation and other
global issues.
The AP learned of Xue's case last
week. The U.S. Embassy initially
requested that publication be with-
held, saying it mightharm attempts
under way to gain his release. But in
recent days, the embassy has said
it detects no progress in the case.
Xue's wife has asked that the case
not be made public out of concern
for her family. Given Xue's wishes
to go public and the lack of prog-
ress, the AP decided to publish.
"I have been writing letters to
members of Congress, the Senate,
the Bush administration, the Obama
administration, at least two ambas-
sadors in Beijing - Huntsman and
Randt - trying hard over time to
raise his case and make sure every-
one was aware of it," said David
Rowley, a geo-sciences professor at
the University of Chicago who was
Xue's doctorate thesis adviser.
"I have tried to be an advocate,
but in the wishes of Dr. Xue's wife,
I have tried to keep this out of the
public eye and tried to deal withthis
privately."
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