The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam
Friday, September 23, 2011 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, September 23, 2011 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
LANSING, Mich.
Michigan State,
Wayne State may
lose state funds
A Republican lawmaker is
sponsoring a bill that would strip
Michigan State University and
Wayne State University of some
state aid.
Rep. Bob Genetski of Saugatuck
says the proposal was introduced
recentlybecause some lawmakers
don't think the universities com-
plied with the intent of a require-
ment aimed at keeping tuition
increases below 7.1 percent for the
2011-12 academic year.
State budget director John
Nixon ruled earlier this year that
the universities were in "tech-
nical compliance" with tuition
restraint provisions. But there
were differing interpretations
of how the academic year was
defined and how tuition increases
were calculated.
Michigan State has about $18
million at risk with the new mea-
sure. Wayne State would lose
about $13 million.
Both universities have said
they're in compliance with the
law.
CHICAGO
Illinois launches
Asian carp anti-
hunger program
Minced Asian carp tacos? How
about spaghetti with carp sauce?
Illinois officials hope serving
the invasive species on a plate is
the creative solution to two big
problems: controlling the plank-
ton-gobbling carp from enter-
ing the Great Lakes and record
numbers of people facing hunger.
But the idea has major obstacles,
mainly overcoming people's nose-
crinklingresponse to eating a fish
that grows to 100 pounds and is
able to sail out of the water - a
trait spotlighted in YouTube vid-
eos.
"We are in unchartered water
here," said Illinois Department
of Natural Resources spokesman
Chris McCloud. "Why remove
them and put them into a landfill
when you can take them and use
them for good? If we can get past
the name 'carp' and the percep-
tion ... we can prove this is going
to be a highly nutritious, cheap
meal."
HAVANA
Swimmer plans to
attempt Cuba to
Florida swim again
Cuban authorities said yester-
day that American Diana Nyad
plans to take another shot at what
would be a record swim from
Cuba to Florida after falling short
of her goal last month.
An email from Cuban press
officials invited journalists to an
encounter with the famed endur-
ance swimmer today at a marina
in Havana.
"Diana Nyad will offer a news
conference before once again
beginning to swim across the
Florida Straits between Havana
and Key West, in continuation of
the attempt realized on Aug. 7,"
the invitation read.
BERLIN
Pope talks ethics
in German speech
Pope Benedict XVI addressed
Germany's parliament in the
historic Reichstag building
yesterday, warning that politi-
cians must not sacrifice ethics
for power and evoking the Nazi
excesses of his homeland as a les-
son in history.
Amid scattered protests out-
side and a boycott by some law-
makers, Benedict began his first
state visit to Germany in a bid to
stem the tide of Catholics leaving
the church while acknowledging
the damage caused by the clerical
sex abuse scandal.
The pope spoke for 20 min-
utes in the Reichstag, which was
torched in 1933 in an incident
used by Hitler to strengthen his
grip on power.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Chrysler, UAW
talks break down
r
ANDREW BURTON/A
Iranian President Mahmnoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly at
U.N. headquarters yesterday.
Ahrn,-adinej ad attacks
U.S. during U.N. speech
Two sides still
disagree over key
financial issues
DETROIT (AP) - Negotia-
tions over a new four-year con-
tract between Chrysler and the
United Auto Workers have bro-
ken down as both sides refuse
to budge on key financial issues,
two people briefed on the bar-
gaining said yesterday.
The talks ended late Wednes-
day in a dispute over the num-
ber of workers who are paid an
entry-level wage, said the peo-
ple, who asked not to be identi-
fied because the negotiations
are private.
Chrysler Group LLC, which
is losing money, wants no limit
on cheaper entry-level workers.
The union wants a cap on the
number of those workers, who
make $14 to $16 an hour, about
half of what a longtime union
employee earns.
"There was a line drawn in
the sand," one of the people
said. "Somebody's going to have
to give."
Chrysler factories continue
to operate under a contract
extension.
Detroit's three carmak-
ers are each negotiating labor
agreements with the UAW,
which represents 113,000 work-
ers at the companies. The new
contracts would be the first
since two of the automakers -
GM and Chrysler - nearly col-
lapsed during the recession and
needed government bailouts
in 2009. Ford Motor Co. didn't
need a bailout but took billions
in private loans to survive.
GM and the union agreed to
a tentative contract last week.
Chrysler was expected to be the
second Detroit automaker to
reach a deal.
Instead, Chrysler and UAW
negotiating teams were sent
home after the talks resulted
in a stalemate. The union said
it will now focus on talks with
Ford. No more bargaining with
Chrysler is scheduled.
The company is against any
limit on entry-level workers
because it would raise labor
costs. About 12 percent of
Chrysler's 23,000 factory work-
ers now are paid the lower wage
and the carmaker plans to hire
thousands more over the next
four years as it retools factories
to make new models.
The union, on the other
hand, wants a deal similar to
what GM agreed to - a 25 per-
cent cap on the number mak-
ing entry-level pay by the end
of 2015, the people said. Then,
entry-level workers would have
a chance to make higher pay, a
key issue for the union. Long-
time workers earn about $29 an
hour.
Chrysler has more entry-
level workers than GM or Ford,
and as a result, its hourly labor
costs are the lowest of the
Detroit companies.
The union agreed to a lower
tier of wages in 2007 to help
Detroit's carmakers survive
financial troubles, and to avoid
pay cuts for veteran workers.
Besides setting wages at
General Motors Co., Ford and
Chrysler, the contracts influ-
ence pay at U.S. factories run by
foreign carmakers, auto parts
makers and other manufactur-
ers.
Before talks broke up,
Chrysler and union negotia-
tors extended their current
contract. That extension lasts
another month.
Negotiators at Chrysler have
settled all non-economic issues
and were nearing an agreement
before the stalemate, the people
said. UAW President Bob King
was involved in the talks when
they broke down, one of the
people said.
UAW spokeswoman Michele
Martin would not comment.
Talks with Chrysler already
were strained before the break-
down. Last week, CEO Sergio
Marchionne sent a letter to
King accusing him of failing
to show up to complete nego-
tiations as scheduled. King
wouldn't discuss the letter.
Diplomats from
30 countries walk
out during Iran
president's talk
UNITED NATIONS (AP)
- American diplomats led a
walkout at the U.N. General
Assembly yesterday as Iran's
President Mahmoud Ahma-
dinejad fiercely attacked the
United States and major West
European nations as "arrogant
powers" ruled by greed and
eager for military adventurism.
The two U.S. diplomats, who
specialize in the Middle East,
were followed out of the cham-
ber by diplomats from more than
30 countries. They included the
27 European Union members,
Australia, New Zealand, Soma-
lia, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San
Marino and Macedonia, a U.N.
diplomat said. Israel boycotted
the speech.
Ahmadenijad's fiery anti-
U.S. and anti-Israeli rhetoric
has been a staple of the General
Assembly's ministerial meet-
ings.
Last year, Ahmadinejad pro-
voked a walkout by the U.S.,
EU, and others when he said a
majority of people in the United
States and around the world
believe the American govern-
ment staged the Sept. 11, 2001
terror attacks in an attempt to
assure Israel's survival.
The provocative comments
prompted the U.S. delegation to
walk out of Ahmadinejad's U.N.
speech, where he also blamed
the U.S. as the power behind
U.N. Security Council sanc-
tions against Iran for its refusal
to halt uranium enrichment, a
technology that can be used as
fuel for electricity generation or
to build nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad's speech pit-
ted the poverty and unhappi-
ness of most countries against
the riches and power of the U.S.
and unnamed European nations
that he accused of perpetuating
wars, causing the current global
economic crisis and infringing
on "the rights and sovereignty
of nations."
He attacked the United States
and European colonial powers
for abducting tens of millions
of Africans and making them
slaves, for their readiness "to
drop thousands of bombs on
other countries," and for domi-
nating the U.N. Security Coun-
cil He singled out the U.S. for
using a nuclear bomb against
Japan in World War II and
imposing and supporting mili-
tary dictatorships and totalitar-
ian regimes in Asia, Africa and
Latin America.
"It is as lucid as daylight that
the same slave masters and colo-
nial powers that once instigated
the two world wars have caused
widespread misery and disorder
with far-reaching effects across
the globe since then," Ahma-
dinejad said. "Do these arrogant
powers really have the compe-
tence and ability to run or gov-
ern the world?"
Adm. Mullen blames Pakistan for assault on U.S. Embassy
Complaint made
at International
Criminal Court
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
top U.S. military officer yester-
day accused Pakistan's powerful
intelligence agency of backing
extremists in planning and exe-
cuting the assault on the U.S.
Embassy in Afghanistan last
week and a truck bomb attack
that wounded 77 American sol-
diers days earlier.
In his last congressional tes-
timony before he retires next
week, Adm. Mike Mullen, chair-
man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
insisted that the Haqqani insur-
gent network "acts as a veritable
arm" of Pakistan's Inter-Servic-
es Intelligence agency, under-
mining the uneasy U.S.-Pakistan
relationship forged in the terror
fight and endangering American
troops in the nearly 10-year-old
war in Afghanistan.
Pakistan is "exporting vio-
lence" and threatening any suc-
cess in Afghanistan, Mullen said.
"In choosing to use violent
extremism as an instrument of
policy, the government of Paki-
stan, and most especially the
Pakistani army and ISI, jeop-
ardizes not only the prospect
of our strategic partnership but
Pakistan's opportunity to be a
respected nation with legitimate
regional influence," Mullen said.
"They may believe that by using
these proxies, they are hedg-
ing their bets or redressing
what they feel is an imbal-
ance in regional power. But
in reality, they have already
lost that bet."
Mullen's harsh words
marked the first time an
American official had direct-
ly tied Pakistan's intelligence
agency to the attacks and sig-
naled a significant shift in the
U.S. approach to Islamabad.
In the past, U.S. criticism of
Pakistan largely had been
relayed in private conver-
sations with the countries'
leaders while American offi-
cials publicly offered encour-
aging words for Islamabad's
participation in the terror
fight.
In recent days, U.S. officials
have been explicit in linking the
government to extremists who
are attacking American forces
in Afghanistan.
"With ISI support, Haqqani
operatives plan and conducted
that truck bomb attack, as well
as the assault on our embassy,"
Mullen told the Senate Armed
Services Committee.
He also said the United States
had credible information that
Haqqani extremists, with help
from the Pakistani intelligence
agency, were responsible for the
June 28 attack on the Inter-Con-
tinental Hotel in Kabul and other
small but effective assaults.
The Joint Chiefs chairman has
nurtured ties with the Pakistan-
is, meeting with officials more
than two dozen times, including
a 2 1/2-hour session last week in
Spain with his Pakistani coun-
terpart, Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq
Pervez Kayani.
Mullen reaffirmed his support
for continued U.S. engagement
with the nuclear-armed Pakistan
and warned of the consequences
if the relationship breaks down.
poetry series presents
An Evening with Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet
Franz Wright
September 23, 2011, 7pm
Reading from his newest work
- / /u(/c rc/c '' a//
Reception and book-signing
to follow.
CONTACT: Sarah MessEr LOCATiON: 71t w Ytsberty Rd Ann Arbor
Copper Clord Mountain Ars All readings andConversations are FREE
Emrail: sarah.ccrnarts.org and open to the pub05
Teleplone 035-0 47
Ono Pause Poetry and Itdprogrmsi
are sponvdIn partb
A. -
ce"""sor
Q Up to $7,500 award
71 Pre-candidate doctoral
students
7 International component
required
7 Proposals must integrate
all three areas
Marshali m. weinberg (BA. a)