The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
PASADENA, Calif.
NASA to study
Haiti earthquake
faults via radar
NASA will study Haiti's earth-
quake faults with a series of over-
flights by a jet equipped with a
special airborne radar system.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena says a space agency
Gulfstream jet carrying the system
departed NASA's Dryden Flight
Research Center in the Mojave
Desert on Monday.
Scientists had already planned
a three-week aerial survey of Cen-
tral America and added a series of
flights over the island of Hispaniola
after the magnitude-7.0 quake that
devastated Haiti on Jan. 12.
Principal investigator Paul Lun-
dgren says the radar will image
deformations of the Earth's surface
and other changes involving post-
earthquake geologic processes.
JPL has been using the system
since November to study Califor-
nia's huge San Andreas and other
major faults.
NEW CITY. N.Y.
Ex-NYC cop gets 5
years in prison for
incident at school
A former New York City police-
man has been sentenced to five
years in prison for holding a school
superintendent at gunpoint.
" The Rockland County district
attorney's office said Peter Cocker
was also barred from contacting
South Orangetown Superinten-
dent Ken Mitchell for 10 years. The
sentencing was yesterday.
The 37-year-old Tappan resi-
dent had pleaded guilty to second-
degree kidnapping.
Last June, he stormed past a
guard into a middle school and
threatened to shoot Mitchell. The
superintendent disarmed him dur-
ing a struggle.
Police later said the gun was not
loaded. Prosecutors said Cocker
had a sick child and was upset over
the schools' swine flu policy.
The defense said Cocker suf-
fered from post-traumatic stress
suffered while working for the
New York Police Department.
DETROIT
Pregnant women
dies in car crash
Authorities say a woman who
was seven-and-a-half months preg-
nant and the fetus she was carrying
died following a rollover crash on
Interstate 94 in Detroit.
Michigan State Police Sgt.
Linda Mys says 23-year-old Shar-
dae Homesly was thrown from an
SUV following the midday Tuesday
crash and the fetus was torn from
her body by the force of the crash.
Police say Homesly and the fetus
were transported separately to St.
John Hospital, where they were
pronounced dead.
Police say the Detroit woman
was riding in a Jeep Liberty and
wasn't wearing a seat belt. The
male driver, who was treated and
released from St. John Hospital,
was wearing a seat belt. His name
wasn't released.
Police say the crash hap-.
pened after the SUV was cut off
by another vehicle and swerved.
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS
Judge in Honduras
clears generals, coup
amnesty OKd
A Supreme Court judge cleared
Honduras' military commanders
yesterday in the coup that toppled
Manuel Zelaya, and hours later
lawmakers approved amnesty for
the ousted leader and all those
involved in his removal.
The two measures - combined
with Wednesday's inauguration
of a new president, conservative
rancher Porfirio Lobo - appeared
to spell the last chapter in the bitter
political dispute that led to Hondu-
ras' international isolation.
Supreme Court President Jorge
Rivera ruled the country's top gen-
erals did not abuse their power in
ordering soldiers to escort Zelaya out
of the country at gunpoint June 28.
"Prosecutors failed to prove the
military chiefs acted with malice,"
he said in a statement.
The prosecution's case did not
question Zelaya's ouster itself -
only whether the six members of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff went too far in
flying him to Costa Rica after he was
arrested by soldiers in a dispute over
a constitutional referendum.
In State of the
Union, Obama
to tout plans to
boost economy
A Saab is scene at Crossway Saab in Montpelier, Vermont yesterday. Saab got a new life yesterday as General Motors Co.
agreed to sell the Swedish car brand to the small Dutch luxury.
GM to sell Saab for $74M
Dutch automaker
Spyker to purchase
troubled brand
DETROIT (AP) - A small
Dutch automaker will try to
do what U.S. auto giant Gen-
eral Motors Co. couldn't - make
money by selling Saab brand auto-
mobiles in an increasingly com-
petitive global marketplace.
GM signed a deal yesterday to
sell Saab to Spyker Cars NV for
$74 million in cash plus $326 mil-
lion worth of preferred shares in
Saab.
The deal hinges on a $550
million loan from the European
Investment Bank, which the
Swedish government on yesterday
committed to guaranteeing.
The sale is a coup for Spyker,
which is based in Zeewolde,
Netherlands, and a lifeline for
Saab, which has lost money ever
since GM bought a 50 percent
stake and management control
for $600 million in 1989. The
Detroit automaker gained full
ownership in 2000 for $125 mil-
lion more.
Saab employs around 3,500
people in Sweden and was within
days of liquidation as part of GM's
restructuring.
Now GM will continue provid-
ing vehicles and parts to the new
company, to be called Saab Spyker
Automobiles NV.
Spyker CEO Viktor Muller
knows that Spyker faces a huge
challenge to turn Saab into a
money maker, but said he's confi-
dent it can be done.
"I think what we can bring to
the table is entrepreneurship and
tenacity," he told reporters.
Saab already was struggling as
a niche brand with a small mar-
ket share when GM bought it, and
industry analysts say the Detroit
automaker ruined Saab's unique
character by supplying the unit
with vehicles designed for other
GM brands.
Before GM, Saab specialized
in egg-shaped aerodynamic small
cars with rapidly sloping backs
and four-cylinder engines. But
sales dropped as loyal followers
found the GM offerings no dif-
ferent than those made by other
mainstream brands.
But Muller said Spyker will
harness "the Swedishness of the
brand" to reconnect with Saab's
loyal following of 1.5 million driv-
ers.
"I think the unique heritage of
the brand requires a very strong
focus," he said. "If you are part
of a very large conglomerate, it's
very difficult to have focus on all.
these brands."
Spyker is estimating that it
will make 100,000 Saabs a year,
enough to be profitable. Asked
whether production would stay
in Sweden, Muller joked that it
would be shortsighted to believe
Saab buyers would remain loyal to
the brand if the cars were made in
Mumbai.
Spyker also must quickly sign
deals with GM or other automak-
ers to design and build new Saabs,
said Michael Robinet, an automo-
tive analyst with CSM Worldwide
in Michigan.
Without deals, Saab will have
to compete against global auto-
makers with much lower costs
that can pack features into their
cars and sell them for less, Robi-
net said.
"They have to find a friend or
work with other manufacturers
to bring in the products that they
want designed to their needs," he
said.
The sale came after an earlier
attempt to sell Saab to another
Swedish automaker fell through,
and after GM's bid to sell the Sat-
urn brand also collapsed. Pontiac
and Saturn now will be phased
out, and GM is trying to sell its
Hummer brand to a Chinese
heavy equipment maker.
Robinet said GM's board
pushed hard for the Saab sale,
forcing management to move
more quickly to focus on four core
brands: Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac
and GMC.
GM expects to close the sale by
mid-February. The company gets
a relatively small amount of cash
but it unloads an expense. GM
also retains the preferred shares,
giving it a stake should the com-
pany become profitable.
The Detroit auto giant will
continue to provide engines and
transmissions to Saab for "an
extended period of time," and it
will keep making the 9-4X cross-
over vehicle, said John Smith,
GM's vice president of planning
and alliances. Crossovers have the
interior room of an SUV but are
built on a car instead.of a truck
frame.'
Speech will try to
move past recent
troubles for the
White House
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Barack Obama will try to pivot past
rocky times for the nation and him-
self tonight in his first State of the
Union address, offering a skeptical
public repackaged plans to energize
the economy, stem a tide of red ink
and strengthen anti-terror defenses.
He'll also be trying to revive his
own "yes we can" image.
One year into office, and a
week after pledging to do better at
"speaking directly to the American
people," Obama faces urgent chal-
lenges as he stands before lawmak-
ers gathered in the Capitol and a
prime-time television audience at
home for the constitutionally man-
dated ritual of U.S. governing. The
country has lost more than 7 mil-
lion jobs since the recession began
two years ago, unemployment is
stuck at 10 percent, and the govern-
ment is grapplingwith arecord $1.4
trillion deficit.
Obama's presidency is troubled
as well. The percentage of Ameri-
cans giving him a thumbs-up has
fallen precipitously, from 74 per-
cent when he took office to 56 per-
cent now. He hasn't had a breakout
legislative or diplomatic victory,
and he's failed to break Washing-
ton's partisanship as promised.
Then last week, an upset Repub-
lican victory in a Massachusetts
Senate race threw Obama's signa-
ture domestic priority, a sweeping
health care overhaul, into jeopar-
dy and shined a spotlight on eco-
nomic angst now being taken out
on him.
Among the expected ideas in
Obama's speech: an emphasis on
education, with calls for more
accountability for performance
but also more money to support
reforms. Obama's next budget
proposal is likely to suggest con-
solidating a series of elementary
and secondary school programs,
but overall, would increase Educa-
tion Department spending more by
than 6 percent.
Obama will be using one of the
presidency's loudest and grand-
est megaphones to press several
themes. They will be fleshed out
in greater detail afterward as the
president travels to Florida on
Thursday and New Hampshire on
Tuesday for jobs-focused appear-
ances and when he submits his 2011
budget to Congress on Monday.
Republican Gov. Bob McDon-
nell of Virginia will deliver a
televised response tonight, two
months after putting his state in
GOP hands in one of the party's
major recent election victories.
Among the freshly sharpened
messages Obama will weave
through his remarks: He's a fighter
for struggling families and against
Lawyers seek to
silence al-Qaida
linked scientist
China issues warning of
U.S. arms sales to Taiwan
Issue raises tensions
between Beijing
and Washington
BEIJING (AP) - Contacts with
China's military would likely be
the first to suffer if Beijing moves
to retaliate over upcoming U.S.
arms sales to Taiwan - the lat-
est in a flurry of disputes elevat-
ing tensions between Washington
and Beijing.
Foreign Ministryspokesman Ma
Zhaoxu warned that the Obama
administration risked damaging
ties with China if it proceeds with
the arms package deal, which is
likely to include Black Hawk heli-
copters and Patriot missiles.
"Once again, we urge the U.S.
side to recognize the sensitivity
of weapon sales to Taiwan and its
gravity," Ma told reporters yes-
terday at a regularly scheduled
news conference. He said failure
to halt the sales would "impair
ZARAGON.PLACE
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the larger interests of China-U.S
cooperation."
Ma's comments were echoed
last week by the Cabinet's Taiwan
Affairs Office which handles con-
tacts with Taiwan, considered by
Beijing to be a breakaway province.
"Our stance of opposing arms
sales to Taiwan by any country
is consistent and clear," spokes-
man Yang Yi said. "We feel that
advancing the peaceful develop-
ment of cross-strait relations is
the only real way to benefit Tai-
wan's peace and stability."
Weapons sales to self-governing
Taiwan is one of a string of sensi-
tive issues roiling ties between
China and the United States that
have prompted pointed responses
from Beijing.
Last week, China issued a
sharp counterattack after U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rod-
ham Clinton criticized Internet
censorship and called on China
to investigate cyberattacks
against Google. The search giant
has threatened to pull out of the
world's most populous online
market if Beijing doesn't relax its
Internet censorship.
Yesterday, another government
spokesman rebuked Washington
for Clinton's comments, saying
they aimed to discredit China. An
editorial in the official People's
Daily the same day accused U.S.
politicians of using the issue to
"meddle in other nations' affairs
on the one hand and to con-
solidate American hegemony in
cyberspace on the other hand."
Arms sales to Taiwan are man-
dated by a U.S. law requiring
Washington to ensure Taiwan is
capable of defending itself from
Chinese threats, including the
more than 1,000 ballistic missiles
pointed at the island.
Pakistani scientist
accused of shooting
U.S. Army personnel
NEW YORK (AP) - Lawyers
for aPakistani scientist accused of
shooting at U.S. Army personnel
in Afghanistan asked a judge yes-
terday to stop her from testifying,
saying her "diminished capacity"
would result in a "painful spec-
tacle indeed."
Lawyers for Aafia Siddiqui
said verbally and in a letter to
Judge Richard M. Berman that
the 37-year-old Pakistani scien-
tist should not be allowed to tes-
tify when the defense case begins
today despite her repeated stat-
ed desire to do so. Prosecutors
declined to immediately comment
on their opinion regarding the
request.
Siddiqui's trial, which began
with opening statements last
week, has featured repeated out-
bursts by Siddiqui in which she
decries the court proceedings as
unfair and challenges the testi-
mony of government witnesses.
She has been escorted from court
several times.
Siddiqui's lawyers said there is
precedent for denying the right
to testify to a defendant who has
been disruptive in court and who
intends to testify about issues that
are not relevant to the charges.
The lawyers wrote that their
client's desire to testify "are driv-
en by an irrational and- delusional
belief that she can convince lis-
teners that she can bring world
peace."
In a footnote, they said their
conversations with her regarding
what she would talk about if she
testifies show that her perceived
ability "to bring world peace,
especially between the United
States and the Taliban, appears to
be the primary, if not sole, topic."
Siddiqui is on trial on charges
that she attempted to murder U.S.
Army officers and FBI agents in an
Afghan police station in July 2008
by picking up a rifle and firing it as
she was about to be questioned.
U.S. authorities say it happened
as she was about to be questioned
after she was caught a day earlier
carrying handwritten notes ref-
erencing a "mass casualty attack"
and listing the Brooklyn Bridge,
Statue of Liberty and other New
York City landmarks.
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