The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, January12, 2011 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
NEW YORK
Verizon announces
plan to sell iPhone 4
Verizon Wireless says it will
start selling a version of the iPhone
4 in early February, giving U.S.
iPhone buyers a choice of carriers
for the first time.
Since its 2007 debut, Apple
Inc.'s phone has been sold exclu-
sively for AT&T's network in the
U.S.
Verizon Communications Inc.'s
chief operating officer, Lowell
McAdam, made the announce-
ment yesterday in New York. He's
joined by Apple COO Tim Cook,
who calls it "the beginning of a
great relationship between Veri-
zon and Apple."
Sales are to begin Feb. 10 with
pre-orders starting Feb. 3. The
price will be $200 or $300 with a
two-year contract, depending on
the model, about the same as the
iPhone through AT&T.
FORT WORTH, Texas
" Authorities treat
missing girl as
criminal case
Authorities searching the past
two weeks for a missing 13-year-
old girl in West Texas are unsure
whether she was abducted or ran
away, but they're treating the case
as acriminal investigation, authori-
ties said yesterday.
Hailey Darlene Dunn, a middle
school cheerleader, was reported
missing Dec. 28, according to Colo-
rado City police. No Amber Alert
was issued because the case did
not meet the state's criteria, which
requires solid evidence that a child
has been abducted, among other
things.
State Trooper Sparky Dean said
there is no evidence that she ran
away or met foul play, although
investigators continue to follow
leads - including a witness account
that Hailey and two girls were
walking in a neighborhood a day or
two before she went missing.
The FBI, the Texas Rangers
and several sheriff's departments
are among about a dozen agencies
involved in the search. They've
scoured about 30 square miles on
foot and by helicopter and talked
to people in several neighborhoods
in Colorado City, a 4,500-resident
town about 200 miles west of Fort
Worth.
SPRINGFIELD. Ill.
Ill. bill to abolish
death penalty heads
to Gov. for decision
A bill to abolish the death penal-
ty in Illinois is on its way to Demo-
cratic Gov. Pat Quinn.
The state Senate voted 32-25 yes-
terday to abolish the punishment.
The House passed the legislation
last week.
The landmark action comes
more than a decade after then-Gov.
George Ryan cleared death row and

declared a moratorium on capital
punishment in Illinois.
It's not clear what Quinn will do
with the bill. The Chicago Demo-
crat supports the death penalty but
has continued the moratorium.
Critics say the state's capital
punishment system is fundamen-
tally flawed and point to Illinois'
record of wrongly convicting inno-
cent people.
Supporters of capital punish-
ment say Illinois has created new
safeguards. They also say execution
should be kept as a deterrent and a
bargaining chip to get confessions.
GEYSERVILLE, Calif.
Mass bird deaths
discovered in Calif.
California wildlife officials are
trying to figure out what caused the
death of more than 100 birds found
clustered together just off Highway
101.
The Santa Rosa Press Demo-
crat reports that California High-
way Patrol officers found the
dead birds near the roadway on
Saturday and called in the state
Department of Fish and Game to
investigate.
The officers who found the
birds described them as small with
brown and black feathers. They
were intact and had not been shot.
The reports come as other, larger
bird deaths have been reported in
Arkansas, Louisiana and other states.
Scientists say mass die-offs of
wildlife happen regularly, and
are usually unrelated and unre-
ported.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports

CARLOS OSORIO/AP
Ford Chief Technical Officer Paul Mascarenas, center, shows off the automaker's electric car battery to Sen. Debbie Stabenow and
Ron Bloom, President Obama's Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy, at the North American International Auto Show.
Detroit automakers
work to fix industry

Officials say U.S.
auto companies are
recovering from
tough economy
DETROIT (AP) - An Obama
administration official who over-
saw the restructuring of the
auto industry said yesterday he
was encouraged that U.S. auto-
makers are returning to profit-
ability despite tough economic
conditions.
Touring the Detroit auto show,
Treasury Department official
Ron Bloom said U.S. auto compa-
nies are "demonstrating that they
can make cars and make them in
America." He walked through the
exhibits of shiny new cars built by
General Motors, Ford and Chrys-
ler with Sen. Debbie Stabenow,
D-Mich., inspecting electric vehi-

cles, fuel-efficient compacts and
trucks.
"I think you're seeing a recov-
ery," Bloom said. "We obviously
hope that demand continues to
improve and I think most people
are looking at a decent increase
in demand fort'11 and I think with
that you're going to see even more
success."
GM and Chrysler were bailed
out by the Bush and Obama
administrations, which pumped
billions of dollars into the two
auto companies to keep them
afloat during the economic
downturn. GM has posted three
straight profitable quarters and
repaid about half of the govern-
ment's $50 billion investment.
Chrysler has yet to post a net
profit but is hoping to conduct a
stock sale later in the year to pay
back nearly $6 billion to taxpay-
ers.
Bloom declined to speculate on

how soon the government would
sell its remaining ownership
stakes in the two companies, say-
ing it would be "as soon as practi-
cable."
Chrysler executives said Mon-
day they will try to refinance
their government loans this
year as they prepares for an ini-
tial public stock offering. Bloom
would not address a refinance
plan, but he said, "If Chrysler
wants to pay us back, we will
keep the Treasury open late to
get their check."
Standing near an exhibitshow-
casing Ford's plans for an electric
car, Bloom said the company's
announcement that it would hire
7,000 workers during the next
two years provided evidence that
the domestic auto industry was
recovering.
"All of them are demonstrat-
ing that they can make cars and
make them in America," he said.

Secretary of State asks for
cooperation from Yemen

In unannounced
visit, Clinton
calls for joint fight
against terror
SANAA, Yemen (AP) - U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rod-
ham Clinton yesterday urged
Yemen to step up security coop-
eration with the United States
during an unannounced visit to
shore up ties with a nation that
is fast becoming a major focus
of American counterterrorism
efforts.
Following the Obama admin-
istration's pattern in Afghani-
stan and Pakistan, Clinton also
emphasized that the United
States wanted a broader rela-
tionship with Yemen beyond
the fight against violent
extremists. Clinton is the first
U:S. secretary of state to visit
Yemen in two decades.
"We face a common threat
posed by the terrorists and
al-Qaida, but our partnership
goes beyond counterterror-
ism," she told reporters after a
nearly three-hour meeting with
Yemeni President Ali Abdal-
lah Saleh. "We're focused not
just on short-term threats but
long-term challenges," such
as Yemen's chronic poverty
and other economic and social
problems, she said.
Under tight security, Clinton
landed in the capital of Sanaa,
where she pressed Yemeni
leaders to crack down further
on radicals who have used the
country as a base for launch-
ing attacks on the U.S. The
radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki,
thought to be hiding in Yemen,
is suspected of having inspired
some of those attacks.
"I want to be frank about
the fact that there are terror-
ists operating from Yemeni
territory today - many of
whom are not Yemeni, some
of whom, I am sorry to say, are
Americans," Clinton told stu-
dents, lawmakers and rights
activists at a town hall meet-
ing. "They represent an urgent
concern for the United States.
They have sought to attack our
country."
"Stoppingsuchthreats would
be a priority for any nation, and
it is a priority for the United
States. It is also a priority for
Yemen," she said.
At the same time, Clinton

said the U.S. supports efforts to
address the underlying causes of
extremism: poverty, corruption,
social inequality and political
divisions that have boiled into an
insurgency. She said Yemen must
stop thepractice of child marriage
and enact reforms.
"We seek a unified, stable,
democratic and prosperous
Yemen where civil society has
room to operate, but al-Qaida
does not," she said. She noted
that the Obama administration
had tripled aid to Yemen over the

past two years and rebalanced
the package so it is not "dispro-
portionally" weighted toward
military and security.
In the past five years, U.S.
military assistance to Yemen has
totaled about $250 million. In
2010, military and civilian aid was
almost evenly split and combined
for about $300 million.
Military aid to Yemen would
reach $250 million in 2011 alone,
U.S. officials said, and Clinton
said there will be additional
development aid.

School of the Art Institute
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