The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
New Jeep Grand
Cherokee helps
Chrysler rebound
A year-and-half ago, Chrysler
almost went under. Now, a new ver-
sion of the Jeep Grand Cherokee is
helping turn its fortunes around by
narrowing its third-quarter loss and
raising its confidence as it rolls out
an unprecedented 10 new models
before the end of this year.
Chrysler was weighed down by
debt, billions in losses and a poor
reputation for quality when it filed
for government-funded bankruptcy
in April 2009. The company almost
didn't get government help to see
it through bankruptcy court. But
it emerged from Chapter 11 with
a tough new management and an
aggressive plan to remake its cars
and trucks.
Even though the company is still
losing money and must improve its
quality ratings, the push for goo
vehicles is payingoff.
DENVER, Colorado
Cocaine bust linked
to Mexican cartel
Gang members, a retired Den-
ver firefighter and a college team
coach were among 35 people
accused of transporting more than
40 pounds of cocaine from Mexico
to the Denver area every week, fed-
eral officials said Monday.
Officials said the drug ring's
source was the Sinaloa cartel,
which is in a bloody turf war with
the Juarez cartel in Ciudad Juarez,
a northern Mexican border city. At
least 20 people died in drug-gang
violence over the weekend there.
Despite the international sup-
plier, authorities described the
operation as "homegrown," with
all 35 defendants involved in dis-
tributing cocaine in the Denver
area. They said cocaine was trans-
ported in secret panels in vehicles
that traveled into Colorado on
Interstate 25.
KABUL, Afghanistan
Canadian troops to
remain overseas to
train Afghan troops
Canada's government has agreed
to keep 750 military trainers in
Afghanistan until 2014, a pledge
of support which may help plug a
critical shortage of 900 trainers for
NATO's year-old mission to bolster
Afghan security forces.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai
wants his nation's police and army
to take the lead in protecting and
defending their homeland by 2014
- a deadline that will be reached
only if the stepped-up training
effort continues with support from
foreign capitals weary of the war.
U.S. Lt. Gen. William Caldwell,
the commander of NATO's train-
ing mission, said Monday that the
NATO mission faced a shortage of
900 trainers.
Hours later, a senior Canadian
government official said that 750
military trainers and about 200
support troops will remain and
most likely be based in Kabul after
Canada's combat mission ends
in 2011. It was unclear whether
the offer was a direct response to
Caldwell's request.
"If that's what NATO is looking at
and that's the block that we're look-
ing at it may bridge the gap," the
official said, speaking on condition
of anonymity because no authoriza-
tion was given to speak publicly.
BAGHDAD, Iraq
Car bombs hit three
Iraqi cities, kill 21
Car bombs struck three Shiite
cities in southern Iraq on Monday,
killing more than 20 people in an
apparent move to derail progress
toward forming a new government
as political leaders tried to break
the eight-month deadlock.
The blasts in the holy cities of
Karbala and Najaf and in Iraq's sec-
ond largest city of Basra were the
third major attacks since last week,
after the slaughter of more than 50
Christians in a Baghdad church and
a string of 13 coordinated bombings
across Baghdad that killed more
than 90 people.
There was no claim of responsi-
bility for Monday's attacks, but the
violence underscores the desire of
al-Qaida and other Sunni extrem-
ists to foment sectarian division at
a time when Iraqis are watching
to see if their leaders can form a
new government accepted by both
the Shiite majority and the Sunni
minority.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports.
A STDN6OGNZTINSGUD 0
EFETV
MARKETIN
A Palestinian wan sits in front of a construction site in the Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa in east Jerusalem.
Israeli government moves
ahea with buiing plans
State Dept. calls
decision to build
counterproductive'
JERUSALEM (AP) - The
Israeli government is moving
ahead with plans to build nearly
1,300 apartments in disputed
east Jerusalem, an official said
Monday, drawing a harsh U.S.
response just as Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu is there for
meetings with American leaders.
The plan drew renewed atten-
tion to Israeli settlement policies
just as Washington was pressing
Israel to curb construction in a
bid to get stalled peace talks back
on track.
Israel's Interior Ministry said
the decision to seek public com-
ment on the building plans was
merely a procedural step.
Even so, the announcement
risked setting off another Israeli
run-in with Vice President Joe
Biden, who met with Netanyahu
in New Orleans on Sunday. Israel
infuriated Biden early this year
by announcing other construction
plans in east Jerusalem while the
vice president was visiting.
In Washington, State Depart-
ment spokesman P.J. Crowley
said Monday's announcement
was "deeply disappointing" and
"counterproductive to our efforts
to resume direct negotiations
between the parties."
Netanyahuis office did not com-
ment.
The U.S., along with the rest
of the international community,
opposes Israeli settlement con-
struction in the West Bank and
east Jerusalem - captured terri-
tories claimed by the Palestinians.
Washington is already frus-
trated over Netanyahu's refusal
to renew curbs on settlement con-
struction in the West Bank that
expired in September. The Pales-
tinians say they will walk away
from peace talks, relaunched just
two months ago, if the building
restrictions aren't renewed.
Netanyahu's talks with Biden,
and later this week with Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton,
are aimed at finding a compro-
mise to restart the talks. Clinton
has said that the settlements are
a secondary issue that would be
solved automatically if the two
sides agree on borders.
. News of the new building
plans came from Israel's Interior
Ministry, which is controlled by
the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas
Party, and it was not known
whether Netanyahu was told
about it ahead of time.
Interior Ministry official
Efrat Orbach said the plans to
build 978 apartments in the Har
Homa neighborhood and 320 in
the neighborhood of Ramot were
approved six months ago but that
for unspecified "technical rea-
sons" the ministry only recently
published the plans to give the
public an opportunity to appeal.
She denied the timing of the
move had anything to do with
Netanyahu's U.S. trip and said it
would take years before building
actually starts.
The anti-settlement Israeli
group Peace Now denounced the
move as a "huge provocation by
Netanyahuoat avery sensitivetime
in the negotiation process." It said
in a statement that "it is going to
take a few years until the bulldoz-
ers can start the construction."
Palestinian negotiator Saeb
Erekat said regardless of when
the building actually takes place,
the latest Israeli move was a sign
of bad faith.
He said the Palestinians had
hoped Netanyahu had gone to the
U.S. "to make a choice for peace
and not settlements."
"Unfortunately, once again,
when given the choice, he chooses
settlements," Erekat said. "We
hold him fully responsible for the
collapse of these negotiations."
Trial begins for Smart kidnapper
Kidnapping victim
Smart testifies
before jurors
SALT LAKE CITY - Elizabeth
Smart remembers not being able
to make out the threat, only the
feel of cold knife at her neck.
As the then-14-year-old lay
in bed alongside her baby sister,
the man repeated: "Don't make
a sound. Get out of bed and come
with me, or I will kill you and your
family." She was his hostage, he
told her.
"I was shocked. I thought I was
having a nightmare. It was just
indescribable fear," Smart, now
23, told jurors Monday on the first
day of testimony in the federal
trial of Brian David Mitchell, the
man accused of kidnapping her in
June 2002.
That night, they fled up the hills
above her home, with Smart in her
red pajamas and tennis shoes, and
the knife to her back.
Her younger sister - a baby
blanket wrapped around her head
and neck - rushed to their moth-
er, telling of the kidnapping.
"It was utter terror," their
mother, Lois Smart, testified earli-
er Monday. "It was the worst feel-
ing, knowing that I didn't know
where my child was. I was help-
less."
Nine months later, motorists
spotted Elizabeth Smart walking
in a Salt Lake City suburb with
Mitchell.
His attorneys did not dispute
the facts of the abduction. But
during opening statements, they
said the prosecution's allegation
that he was a calculating person
who planned the kidnapping was
wrong.
Known as a homeless street
preacher named "Immanuel,"
Mitchell was influenced by a
worsening mental illness and reli-
gious beliefs that made him think
he was doing what God wanted,
his attorneys said.
Mitchell, who has a long gray-
ing beard to the middle of his
chest and hair to the middle of his
back, was again removed from the
courtroom Monday for singing
hymns,eso he's watching and lis-
tening from a holdingcell.
Smart's mother testified that
she and her children ran into
Mitchell downtown and that she
offered him ajob doinghandyman
work at the family's home. One of
her sons encouraged her to give
him money, she said.
"He looked like a clean-cut,
well-kept man that was down on
his luck," she said. "I gave him $5."
Later, the family hired Mitchell
to help fix a leaky roof, Lois Smart
said. It was the only job he did for
the family.
EVENT
From Page 1
research and politics, according to
Forrest, the University has been
involved in alternative energy
research for decades.
"We were the first University in
the United States to have a formal
nuclear reactor," Forrest said, cit-
ing the Ford Nuclear Reactor facil-
ity that began operating in 1957.
Forrest stressed the importance
of University researchers partner-
ing with industry leaders, adding
that the North Campus Research
Complex - a 28-building complex
formerly owned by Pfizer Inc. - is
a great starting point.
"The North Campus Research
Complex is a place where we can
do this combination of research,
where we bring University teams
together and industry and govern-
ment partners," Forrest said.
Stabenow is one of the govern-
ment officials who is actively mak-
ing an effort to establish alternative
energy in the state, Forrest said.
At the event, Stabenow said
Michigan has the tools to take
advantage of the green revolution,
given the state's ties with the auto-
mobile industry.
"We have some of the very best
engineers in the world in Michi-
gan, supported by our wonderful
universities," Stabenowsaid.
Stabenow said she believes that
new alternative energy technology
will generate new jobs and indus-
fries in the state and will s&ccess-
fully boost Michigan's economy.
"There are 8,000 parts in a wind
turbine," Stabenow said. "We can
manufacture every one of those
parts here in Michigan."
Stabenow also emphasized the
importance of producing this tech.
nology domestically.
"Creating this wonderful new
technology is important, but it's
also important where it's made,"
Stabenow said. "If (this greenrevo-
lution) happens in America, as it
should, we will benefit in Michi-
gan."
Grewe said his company, Gener-
al Motors, has realized the impor-
tance of getting ahead in the global
market when it comes to alterna-
tive energy. Its newest electric
vehicle - the Chevy Volt - will be
revolutionary in the realm of elec-
tric cars, he added.
"This is really true. You are liv-
ing a reality, everything Senator
Stabenow said, you are about to see
how it was brought to Michigan,"
Grewe said.
Grewe said there has been spec-
ulation surrounding the efficiency
of electric cars, noting that owners
who forget to plug in their elec-
tric automobile will need to wait
four hours until it is completely
charged. With the Volt, Grewe said,
owners won't have to wait due to
the car's new on-board generator
technology.
"You have 40 or 50 miles of elec-
tric and after that, you don't have
to wait for it to recharge," he said.
"You aren't held hostage by elec-
tricity." r
Grewe added that because elec-
tricity is less expensive than gaso-
line, owners of electric cars will
end up paying the equivalent of
only 2 to 3 cents per mile.
Echoing Stabenow's sentiments
concerning domestic manufactur-
ing, Grewe said the Volt epitomizes
Michigan's ability to sustain its
automobile industry and embrace
new technology.
"It took so many diverse tech-
nologies and diverse trades to make
this car happen," he said. "Very few
companies can do it. Michigan can
do it."
Grewe, who brought with him
three models of the Volt, said in an
interview after the event that feed-
back surrounding the car has been
overwhelmingly positive. In line
with Grewe's statement, audience
members raced outside to see the
cars after the presentation.
Business School sophomore
Simon Qin, who attended the sym-
posium, said he was extremely
impressed by the Chevy Volt, add-
ing that he believes it may be one
catalyst in improving Michigan's
economy.
"There really aren't any compet-
itors," Qin said. "Plus, this car looks
better than anything that comes
close, hands down."
At the end of his presentation,
Grewe hinted that the Volt is just
the beginning of the auto industry
taking advantage of alternative
energy technology.
"I can't even tell you what we're
doing next," Grewe said. "It's going
t6 be grcat."