10 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, September 23, 201Q - 3A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, September 23, 201Q - 3A NEWS BRIEFS DETROIT * Gov't needs $134 a share to recover GM money A government watchdog says the U.S. Treasury would have to sell its General Motors stock for $133.78 each to get back the nearly $50 bil- lion it spent bailing out the Detroit automaker. Special Inspector General for bailout funds Neil Barofsky revealed the figure in an Aug. 30 letter to Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa. The letter was obtained by The Associated Press yesterday. ! He says the government gave GM $49.5 billion to stay in busi- ness. GM repaid $6.7 billion and the rest was converted to preferred shares and a 61 percent stake in the company. The government plans to start selling its GM shares in mid- * November. Barofsky told Grassley he would look into the steps taken to make sure taxpayers get their money back. HELENA, Mont. U.S. sen. says local Canada border crossing frivolous A U.S. senator with an influential voice in the dispute over a little- used border post between Montana and Canada said yesterday that offi- cials should scrap an $8.5 million stimulus-funded upgrade and shut down the underused crossing. Sen. Jon Tester said Canada, which surprised U.S. officials by closing its side of the Whitetail port this summer, was not interested in sharing a new station or fully reopening its side of the border. He said a renovation to the port going into Saskatchewan no longer makes sense. The port is one of a few that ser- vices a rural and long stretch of the border in northeastern Montana. Residents say it is largely used by farmers who live in the area for trade and convenience. Federal officials say they can't keep the border station open with- out modernizing security. Ieforet terrorism became a chief concern, the station closed for the night by a fin angeones insthe road,. KABUL, Afghanistan 25 militants killed at NATO outpost near border Insurgents attacked a NATO and Afghan army outpost in eastern . Afghanistan near the Pakistan bor- Wder and at least 25 of the militants were killed in the resulting skir- mish, officials said yesterday. Troops at the combat outpost in Spera district of Khost province returned fire with mortars late Tuesday, killing 25 to 30 insur- gents, NATO said in a statement. Initial reports found there were no civilian casualties, it said. Gen. Raz Mohmmad Horya Khil, a senior commander of the Afghan National Army in the province, said 29 insurgents were killed. There were no casualties among NATO or Afghan troops, he said. Horya Khil said the attack, com- ing from the Pakistan side of the border, was directed at the Mir Safar joint-NATO and Afghan army camp and lasted for more than two hours. Helicopters were called in to provide support. Bodies and weapons on the field were being recovered, he said. LANSING Retirement plan stalling state's budget negotiations A plan aimed at sparking more retirements of state government workers continues to lack votes to pass in the Michigan House. The plan drew opposition late yesterday afternoon from both Democrats who hold the major- ity in the House and Republicans. Attempts to pass two versions of the plan failed so convincingly that votes weren't formally counted before an electronic board display- ing the votes was cleared. A retirement incentive plan is part of a tentative state budget deal reached between Demo- cratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration, Republican Sen- ate Majority Leader Mike Bishop and Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon. The plan could raise at least $50 million in its first year. - Compiled from Daily wire reports. French police chief: Country facing a 'peak'terror threat French Authorities suspect al-Qaida affiliate is plotting PARIS (AP) - France is fac- ing a "peak" terror threat, and authorities suspect al-Qaida's North African affiliate of plot- ting a conventional bomb attack on a crowded target, the national police chief said yesterday. The warning from National Police Chief Frederic Pechenard came on the eve of national pro- tests that unions hope will send millions into city streets, and was the latest warning in a recent drumbeat from French officials that the public needs to be more alert about terrorism. "France is today under threat. For that matter, French people need to get used to it," he told Europe-1 radio. "We're now fac- ing a peak threat that can't be doubted. There is a specific threat against French interests." "We have serious indications, coming from reliable intelligence, saying that there's an important risk of an attack," he said, add- ing that al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, "is targeting us in particular." Last week, there was a false bomb alert at the Eiffel Tower, and investigators are looking into an anonymous phone call that prompted police to evacuate the most-visited monument in the tourism-oriented country. AQIM claimed responsibility for last week's abduction of five French nationals and two Afri- cans in northern Niger. Peche- nard said the group isn't thought to have the means to launch a nuclear or biological attack in France, but could carry out assas- sinations or attacks using conven- tional explosives. "In order to do the maximum possible damage (such an attack) would be likely to happen in a place where there are lots of people, which could be the pub- lic transit system, a department store or a gathering," Pechenard said. Last week, the French Senate voted to ban burqa-style Islamic veils in France, a subject that has prompted warnings by AQIM. Counterterrorism officials in France say the ban is just one of several factors that have made France a target of the group. Another was France's military logistical support for a July raid by Mauritanian forces against the group that left six of its militants dead. AQIM has its base in a vast swath of African desert. Today, hundreds of thousands are expected to take to the streets across France for demonstrations against the government's pension reform. A previous round of pro- tests earlier this month brought more than 1 million people out. Pechenard said he didn't believe the protests would be a terrorist target. But in an underground nerve center at Paris police headquar- ters, agents were bracing for any possibility, laying out maps of the planned march route in the capi- tal and going over deployment plans. Olivier Bagousse, who runs the Paris police department's Com- mand and Information Center, said authorities have stepped up their alert level following recent intelligence that France is under high threat. "For the last few weeks, we have been particularly sensitive. Our staffers have been encour- aged anew to be on the lookout," he told The Associated Press in a restricted-access zone at police headquarters, which sits across the square from Notre Dame Cathedral. "We are very vigi- lant." The center resembles a small- scale police version of NASA's Mission Control: Officers plot police positions on a big-screen electronic city map - think Google Maps - and keep tabs on a wall of TV monitors feeding in video from some of the 400 closed-circuit cameras scattered throughout the city. Using a computer's joystick, one officer remotely zooms the lens on a camera atop the famed Arc de France in and out - peer- ing down the bustling Champs- Elysees. Authorities are straddling a fine line between keeping the public watchful and sowing panic or at least, as one police spokes- man described it, "a situation where people start seeing poten- tial bombs everywhere." President Barack Obama speaks at a summit on the Millennium Development Goals at the United Nations yestenday. At U -N., Obama calls for oreforeign aid President pushes for greater help despite sour economy UNITED NATIONS (AP) - President Barack Obama yes- terday defended U.S. aid to impoverished people even dur- ing sour economic times at home yet promised a sterner approach, favoring nations that commit to democracy and economic revival. Addressing world leaders, Obama offered no new commit- ments of U.S. dollars, but rather a blueprint of the development policy that will drive his govern- ment's efforts and determine where the money flows. His mes- sage was that the United States wants to help countries help themselves, not offer aid that pro- vides short-term relief without reforming societies. "That's not development, that's dependence," Obama said. "And it's a cycle we need to break. Instead of just managing poverty, we have to offer nations and peo- ple a path out of poverty." Obama spoke at a major anti- poverty summit convened by the United Nations, one day ahead of his main speech to the U.N. Gen- eral Assembly. The president is in the midst of a three-day trip to the U.N. for its annual meeting. World leaders yesterday were wrapping up an intensive review of the poverty reduction goals adopted 10 years ago, a highly ambitious effort that has yielded mixed results. The mission is to cut extreme poverty, reduce child and maternal mortality and expand primary education, among other objectives, by 2015. The president, met by applause as he took the grand U.N. stage, sought to elevate the mission of U.S. development. Noting the Americans hurting at home, where a recession has eroded millions of jobs, Obama defended the spending of U.S. tax dollars to help others build up their agriculture, transportation and health systems. He called it not just a moral imperative but an investment that can help the global economy and reduce the threats of instability and extremism. "Let's put to rest the old myth that development is mere charity that does not serve our interests," Obama said. The White House framed the president's blueprint as a fresh, far-reaching approach to helping other countries, although it builds on programs of other presidents. Obama sought to offer a sense of clarity of why the United States aids other nations, saying it is "rooted in America's enduring commitment to the dignity and potential of every human being." Obama said development should no longer be measured by how much money or medicine is delivered, but by the extent to which the U.S. helps countries build up themselves. He aimed to show toughness in setting demands of recipient nations. I.- Man's death clouds Mideast peace talks Shooting death sparks outcry from Palestinian youths JERUSALEM (AP) - Crowds of Palestinian youths violently rampaged in east Jerusalem yes- terday following the shooting death of a local man, clouding fragile peace efforts even as the Palestinian president signaled he may back away from threats to quit negotiations if Israel resumes West Bank settlement construction. At one point, Israeli riot police stormed the hilltop compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary - the most explosive site in the Israeli-Pal- estinian conflict, and the place where the last Palestinian upris- ing began almost exactly 10 years ago. That uprising - which killed thousands of people over some five years of violence - erupt- ed after a failed U.S.-led peace effort at Camp David. Yester- day's outburst comes less than a month after the sides resumed peace negotiations, at a tense moment when those talks are already facing possible col- lapse over Israel's plans to end its 10-month slowdown of con- struction in the Jewish settle- ments of the West Bank. The "moratorium" on con- struction was declared last November under intense U.S. pressure to help coax the Pal- estinians into talks with the government of Prime Minis- ter Benjamin Netanyahu, who - despite having accepted the principle of a Palestinian state - inspires very little faith in the Palestinians. Netanyahu said all along that the measure would end on Sunday - and the Palestinians have threatened to walk away from the talks if this occurs. The impasse and looming deadline have created a palpable tension that has built throughout the week. On Monday, Israel's deputy premier made a public call on the Palestinians to abandon their demand, casting such a move as a mutual "compromise" in which Israel might retain some of the restrictions. On Tuesday, Israel's military chief warned that a col- lapse of the talks could well lead to violence. Meanwhile, the Israeli politi- cal system braced for either out- come. If Netanyahu backs down and extends the freeze, troubles with his pro-settler coalition partners are likely and he would have to persuade the centrist Kadima party to join the coali- tion. If he doesn't and the talks break down, Israel's internation- al standing would suffer - along- side the possibility of renewed violence with the Palestinians. A glimmer of hope arrived from the United States, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas indicated a possible soft- ening of his position in a Tues- day night address to prominent American Jewish figures. "I cannot say I will leave the negotiations, but it's very dif- ficult for me to resume talks if Prime Minister Netanyahu declares that he will continue his (settlement) activity in the West Bank and Jerusalem," Abbas said, according to a transcript of the event obtained by The Asso- ciated Press. The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations later said Abbas' comments had been mis- construed and Abbas was still ready to walk away. "The position of the presi- dent is still the same," Riyad Mansour said. But he stopped short of a denial, and the S. Dan- iel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, which sponsored the meeting, said the comments were recorded and Abbas was speaking in English. GET YOUR SENIOR PORTRAIT TAKEN Monday 9/20 - Friday 9/24 in the Sophia B. Jones room of the Michigan-Union The sitting fee isjust $10! This price includes your portrait featured in the 2011 Michignensian Yearbook Sign up online by visiting www.OurYear.com and entering School Code:87156 Phone 734.418.4115 ext. 247 E-mail ensian.um~a~umich.edu wPCA Bring in this ad and receive $2 off the sitting fee. Michiganensian Y EA R BO OK x