The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, April 2, 2010 - 3 S The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, April 2, 2010 - 3 NEWS BRIEFS LANSING New state law will allow cheaper park fees for motorists Gov. Jennifer Granholm has signed into a law a plan allowing Michigan motorists to visit state parks by paying a $10 fee when they renew their vehicle license plates each year. Voluntarily paying the fee would exempt state residents from having to buy $6 daily or $24 annual passes to enter state parks and have access to recreation areas, forests and boat ramps. The system takes effect Oct. 1. Granholm signed the bill Wednes- day. Those choosing not to pay the $10 can select an option on the vehicle registration form to not use the state parks system. Out-of-state visitors still must buy daily or annual passes for Michigan parks. Park officials hope the new fee will raise more money for park upkeep and operations. WASHINGTON Army decides to dismiss troops who choose to come out Army Secretary John McHugh is backtracking on his promise not to discharge troops who tell him that they are gay. McHugh said in a statement released yesterday that he was "incorrect" when he had said there would be a moratorium on dismissals while the Pentagon conducts a yearlong review on its "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Earlier this week, McHugh had said he wouldn't punish troops who admitted they were gay in private conversations with him, even though they technically vio- lated the law. MAKHACHKALA, Russia Russian pres. tells police to be tougher to fight terrorism President Dmitry Medvedev made a surprise visit yesterday to the violence-wracked south- ern province of Dagestan, telling police and security forces to use tougher, "more cruel" measures to fight the "scum" responsible for terrorist attacks. Russia's security chief said some terror suspects had been detained. Twin suicide bombings in Mos- cow - which Islamic militants from the North Caucasus claim to have carried out - have refocused attention on the violence that for years has been confined to Russia's predominantly Muslim regions. The rush-hour attacks Monday on the Moscow subway killed 39 people and left nearly 90 hospitalized. On Wednesday, two suicide bombings in Dagestan killed 12 people, including nine policemen, a frequent target of attacks in part because they represent Russian authority. Another explosion Thursday killed two suspected militants and wounded a third in Dagestan near the border with Chechnya. Police said the men may have been transporting a makeshift bomb. CLAY TOWNSHIP, Mich. Single-engine plane crash on St. Clair River kills pilot A single-engine seaplane crashed into a dock near a home on the St. Clair River, killing the 8o-year-old pilot. The St. Clair County sheriff's department says the Grosse Pointe man was flying the plane about 1 p.m. Thursday when witnesses said the plane circled, went side- ways and crashed into a dock in Clay Township. His name wasn't immediately released. Dock owner Ronald Mikolajc- zyk tells the Times Herald of Port Huron he heard a propeller buzz- ing and then the sound of the plane hitting the dock. Federal Aviation Administra- tion spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Corey says the pilot was the only person aboard. The FAA and National Transportation Safe- ty Board were investigating the crash about 30 miles northeast of Detroit. - Compiled from Daily wire reports Obama thanks flood workers- AP PHOTO Relatives of mine workers weep at the Wangjialing coal mine in Xiangning township, Shanxi province, yesterday. Mne explosion in China leaves 12 dead, 32 trapped Record-breaking rainfall causes road,. sewage problems FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) - Detouring from his schedule, President Barack Obama yesterday thanked emergency workers strug- gling against disastrous flooding in the Northeast. "When these kind of natural disasters hit, what matters are the people on the ground," Obama told crews at the Massachusetts Emer- gency Management Agency head- quarters some 20 miles west of Boston. Joined by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Obama met with state and local emergency opera- tions officials who are monitoring floods throughout the state. The president thanked the work- ers on behalf of all Americans for their thorough response to the floods. He did not visit any flood-hit areas in hisbrief detour. Record rainfalls have caused flooding across the New England states, with Rhode Island taking the most devastating toll. Bridges and highways have washed out from Maine to Connecticut and sewage systems have been over- whelmed to the point that families were asked to stop flushing toilets. National Guard troops were deployed in Rhode Island, Massa- chusetts and Connecticut. Home- land Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and FEMA Deputy Administrator Rich Serino planned to travel to Rhode Island on Friday to assess the damage. Obama made'his unannounced stop after rallying in Maine for his new health care law. He then dart- ed to a pair of evening fundraisers in Boston for fellow Democrats. Flooded tracks in Rhode Island prompted Amtrak to suspend some services in the Northeast for the second consecutive day. The major route between East Coast cities opened late yesterday afternoon. The rains stopped Wednes- day and the floodwaters began to recede in hard-hit Rhode Island, though flooding could persist for several days and permanently close businesses alreadystrugglingin the weak economy. The flooding capped rainfall records across the region. Mine tragedy is the second to occur in China this week BEIJING (AP) - A gas explo- sion at a mine in central China killed 12 workers and trapped 32 underground, state media said yesterday, the second major mine disaster in the country this week. Fifty miners were able to escape after the Wednesday eve- ning blast, which was caused by an underground gas leak, the Xin- hua News Agency said, citing in Henan province's governor, Guo Gengmao. It'spossiblethe trapped miners survived the explosion, he was cited as saying. About 100 rescue workers were trying to reached the trapped workers at the privately owned Guomin Mining Co. coal pit in Yichuan County of Luoyang City, Xinhua said. The mine had been under renovation. Mine boss Wang Guozheng has disappeared and authorities ordered his assets frozen in the wake of the accident, Xinhua said. Yichuan County Chief Wu Ligang and three other county officials were fired. News of the explosion came as rescue work continued at a mine in northern China's Shanxi prov- ince, four days after 153 workers were trapped underground when water flooded the shaft where they were working. The flood at the Wangjialing mine started when workers dig- ging tunnels broke through into an old shaft filled with water, a government safety body said, accusingmine officials of ignoring safety rules and danger warnings in a rush to open the mine. There has been no contact with the trapped miners, but authori- ties held out hope that some could be alive. China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, despite a multiyear government effort to reduce fatalities. Most accidents are blamed on failure to follow safety rules or lack of required ventilation, fire-control and equipment. Accidents killed 2,631 coal min- ers in China last year, down from 6,995 deaths in 2002, the most dangerous year on record, accord- ing to the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety. All Day Fish Fry Platter for $6.99 - & at 7 C6oCi 10-C Domestic Bottles Start At $1 Free Happy Hour Wing Buffet 4- I^. IMt Guinea-Bissau PM held at his home in attempted coup 110 Maynard t.~Food 10 G 134.1l.r1'-Next to the Maynat arding 3lrutrg H,-,, Citizens of Guinea- Bissau show support for detained leader BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) - Mutinous soldiers seized the head of Guinea-Bissau's armed forces yesterday and placed the country's prime minister under house arrest in an apparent coup attempt in the tiny coup-plagued African nation where the president was assassi- nated last year. A crowd of hundreds gathered outside Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr.'s office in the capital in a show of support for the detained leader as martial music played on the radio, code for a military-led coup in this part of the world. Soldiers surrounded the prime minister's office at around 8 a.m. yesterday, said his press attache Mamodou Djau, who arrived shortly after the soldiers made off with Gomes and a member of his Cabinet. Djau said the pre- mier was taken to a military camp, before being driven back to his residence where he appeared to be under house arrest. "We don't know what is going on. We are all asking the same question," said Djau, who was reached on his cell phone. He said he had not been able to speak to the prime minister since the inci- dent. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon "is following with concern the military incidents in Guinea- Bissau involvingthe detention and subsequent release of the prime minister," U.N. associate spokes- man Farhan Haq said in a state- ment. "He calls on the military and political leadership of Guinea- Bissau to resolve differences by peaceful means and to maintain constitutional order and ensure respect for the rule of law," Haq said. Immediately after the prime minister was seized, hundreds of people descended into the street in a show of support for the demo- cratically elected leader whose party controls 67 of the parlia- ment's 100 seats. The crowd gath- ered first around Gomes' office and later around his private resi- dence. At the military camp, the head of the armed forces Zamora Indu- ta remained under guard, while his No. 2 appeared to be in control. Antonio Ndjai, the detained army chief's deputy, called a news conference soon after Gomes was released and issued a chilling warning: "If the people continue to go out into the streets to show their support for Carlos Gomes Jr., then I will kill Carlos Gomes Jr. Or Iwill send someone to kill him," he said, according to the interview broadcast on state TV. Earlier in the day, soldiers had gone to the United Nations com- pound in the capital, where a senior army leader accused of a previous coup attempt had been in hiding for the past 95 days. A foreign diplomat who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press said that Admiral Bubo Na Tchuto left the U.N. compound with the soldiers. He appeared to be acting as second-in-command of the muti- nous soldiers and he told reporters gathered at the news conference: "I spent 95 days inside the U.N. compound. Why didn't the popu- lation take to the streets then? Why are they takingto the streets now for Gomes?" Na Tchuto asked. "I spent 11 years fighting for Guinea-Bissau's independence. Gomes did not take part in that fight," he said. "If the popula- tion continues to go out into the streets, I will send the military to clean the streets," he said. Na Tchuto was himself placed under house arrest in 2008 after being accused of plotting a coup. He escaped his captors and fled abroad. He disguised himself as a fisherman and returned in a dug- out canoe and immediately sought refuge inside the U.N. compound. Since independence from Por- tugal in 1974, the West African nation has been beset by coups, military revolts and political assassinations. The lawlessness has in recent years attracted South American drugs traffickers, who have used the country as a transit point for shipping cocaine to Europe. The country's last president who had ruled for nearly a quar- ter-century was assassinated on March 2, 2009 hours after the head of the army was killed in a bomb explosion. Elections were held three months after the twin assassinations and Gomes' party came to power. Experts applauded the elec- tions which appeared to be free and fair, but cautioned that the country needed to find a way to contain the military, which has long controlled the country from behind the scenes. Today's Career Tip: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life. Text "UMStudents" to 41411 to win great prizes and get daily career tips. ALUMNIASSOCIATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN With new rules, consumers to pay more for cars, trucks, less at pumps New standards to increase mileage by 10 mpg in six years WASHINGTON (AP) - Driv- ers will have to pay more for cars and trucks, but they'll save at the pump under tough new federal rules aimed at boosting mileage, cutting emissions and hastening the next generation of fuel-stingy hybrids and electric cars. The new standards, announced Thursday, call for a 35.5 miles- per-gallon average within six years, up nearly 10 mpg from now. By setting national standards for fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes, the government hopes to squeeze out more miles per gallon whether you buy atiny Smart fortwo micro car, a rugged Dodge Ram pickup truck or somethinginbetween. Theruleswillcostconsumers an estimated $434 extra per vehicle in the 2012 model year and $926 per vehicle by 2016, the government said. But the heads of the Trans- portation Department and Envi- ronmental Protection Agency said car owners would save more than $3,000 over the lives of their vehi- cles through better gas mileage. Touting the plan, Transporta- tion Secretary Ray LaHood said, "Putting more fuel-efficient cars on the road isn't just the right thing to do for our environment, it's also a great way for Americans to save a lot of money at the pump." The requirements for the 2012-2016 model years pleased environmentalists who have criti- cized sluggish efforts by previous administrations to boost fuel effi- ciency. They also were welcomed by automakers who have been seeking a single standard after California and a dozen states tried to create their own rules. Dave McCurdy, a former Okla- homa congressman who leads the Alliance of Automobile Manufac- turers, a trade group representing 11 automakers, said the industry supported the single national standard for future vehicles. He said the program made "sense for consumers, for government poli- cymakers and for automakers." Not all dealers were pleased. Ed Tonkin, a Portland, Ore., car dealer who chairs the National Automobile Dealers Association, said the rules were the "most expensive fuel economy mandates in history" and would turn many new cars and trucks into luxury items for consumers.