The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, November 28, 2011 - 3A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, November 28, 2011 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS FLINT After inn standoff, ex-convict arrested for two deaths Police have arrested an ex- convict suspected in two homi- cides in Flint Township after a standoff lasted more than four hours in Flint. Police tell The Flint Journal that the suspect had a female hostage at an inn yesterday. Offi- cers entered the room after hear- ing a struggle. The man is a suspect in the deaths of 78-year-old Charles Woodson and his daughter, 53-year-old Phyllis Woodson. Their bodies were discovered Saturday at a Flint Township apartment. Township Police Chief George Sippert says the standoff lasted hours because the suspect was talking to his family by phone at the same time. Sippert says the man was trying to control the situation and doesn't want to return to prison. LOS ANGELES Alleged Walmart pepper-spraying shopper surrenders Authorities in Los Angeles say a woman who allegedly fired pepper spray at other customers during a Black Friday sale has surrendered to police. Police Sgt. Jose Valle says the woman who allegedly caused minor injuries to 20 shoppers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart turned herself in Friday night. He says she is currently not in custody but could face battery charges. Her identity was not released. Police plan to release more details Saturday morning. The attack took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday shortly after doors opened for the sale. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA launches robotic rover S 'Curiosity' to Mars The world's biggest extrater- restrial explorer is on its way to Mars. NASA on Saturday launched the six-wheeled, one-armed robotic rover, nicknamed Curi- osity. An unmanned rocket blast- ed off with the spacecraft from Cape Canaveral. The journey to Mars will take 8 months and cover 354 mil- lion miles. Curiosity weighs a ton and is the size of a car. It's a mobile, nuclear-powered laboratory hold- ing 10 science instruments that will sample Martian soil and rocks, and analyze them right on the spot. There's a drill as well as a stone-zappinglaser machine. Curiosity will spend two years looking for evidence that Mars may once have been - or still is - suitable for microbial life. S The mission costs $2.5 billion. MEXICO CITY 'Zombies' gather in Mexico City to challenge record Thousands of self-proclaimed "undead" have gathered in the historic center of Mexico's capital for a "Zombie Walk" that orga- nizers hope sets a world record. The announced 9,860 regis- tered participants are dressed in rags and ghoulish makeup to look bloody and decaying. Organizer Pablo Guisa says the fifth annual Mexico City event is meant to celebrate diversity and human rights. The participants also collected dona- tions for a local food bank. Cities around the world hold zombie walks, and Guinness . World Records currently recog- nizes Asbury Park, New Jersey, as the record holder, with 4,093 participants on Oct. 30, 2010. A group in Brisbane, Austra- lia, has applied for the record, claiming it massed 8,000 "zom- bies" last month. -Compiled from Daily wire reports In unprecedented step, Arab League imposes several sanctions on Syria EVAN VUCCI/AP Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Republican presidential candidates, talk with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at a Republican presidential debate in Washington on Tuesday, Nov. 22. ingrich endorsed N.H.'s largest papmerP Editorial praises GOP candidate's ability to 'improve Washington' CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire's largest newspa- per yesterday endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the 2012 GOP presidential race, signaling that rival Mitt Romney isn't the universal favorite and potentially resetting the contest before the state's lead-off prima- ry Jan.10. "We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing," The New Hampshire Union Leader said in its front-page editorial, which was as much a promotion of Gingrich-as a discreet rebuke of Romney. "We don't back candidates based on popularity polls or big- shot backers. We look for conser- vatives of courage and conviction who are independent-minded, grounded in their core beliefs about this nation and its people, and best equipped for the job," the editorial said. Romney enjoys solid leads in New Hampshire polls and remains at the front of the pack nationally. A poll released last week showed him with 42 per- cent support amonglikely Repub- lican primary voters in New Hampshire. Gingrich followed with 15 percent in the WMUR- University of New Hampshire Granite State poll. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas post- ed 12 percent support and for- mer Utah Gov. John Huntsman found 8 percent support in that survey. Those numbers could shift based on the backing of The Union Leader, a newspaper with a conservative editorial stance that proudly works to influence elections, from school boards to the White House, in the politi- cally savvy state. The front page one editorial, signed by publisher Joseph W. McQuaid, suggested that the only state-wide newspaper in New Hampshire was ready to again assert itself as a player in the GOP primary. "We don't have to agree with them on every issue," the news- paper wrote in an editorial that ran across the width of the front page. "We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear." While Romney enjoys solid support in national polls, the large pack of Republicans has shifted all year from candidate to candidate in search of an alterna- tive to the former Massachusetts governor. That led to the rise, and fall, of potential challengers such as Huntsman, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Yet with six weeks until the primary, The Union Leader's move could shuffle the race and further boost Gingrich. In recent weeks, he has seen a surge in some polls as Republicans focus more closely on deciding which candidate they consider best positioned to take on President Barack Obama. "A lot of candidates saythey're going to improve Washington," the newspaper wrote. "Newt Gingrich has actually done that, and in this race he offers the best shot of doing it again." As voters started focusing more on the race, Gingrich has turned in solid debate perfor- mances and found his, stride on a national stage. He has rebuilt his campaign after a disastrous summer that saw many of his top aides resign en masse and fund- raising summaries report million in debt. In New Hampshire, he brought on respected tea party leader Andrew Hemingway to lead his efforts and his team has been contacting almost 1,000 voters each day. Punishments aim to prevent further civil unrest BEIRUT (AP) - In an unprec- edented move against an Arab nation, the Arab League yester- day approved economic sanctions on Syria to pressure Damascus to end its deadly suppression of an 8-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad. But even as world leaders abandon Assad, the regime has refused to ease a military assault on dissent that already has killed more than 3,500 people. Yes- terday, Damascus slammed the sanctions as a betrayal of Arab solidarity and insisted a foreign conspiracy was behind the revolt, all but assuring more bloodshed will follow. The sanctions are among the clearest signs yet of the isolation Syria is suffering because of the crackdown. Damascus has long boasted of being a powerhouse of Arab nationalism, but Assad has been abandoned by some of his closest allies and now his Arab neighbors. The growing movement against his regime could transform some of the most enduring alliances in the Middle East and beyond. At a news conference in Cairo, Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said 19 of the League's 22 member nations approved a series of tough punishments that include cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank, halt- ing Arab government funding for projects in Syria and freezing gov- ernment assets. Those sanctions are to take effect immediately. Other steps, including halting flights and imposing travel bans on some, as-yet unnamed Syrian -officials, will come later after a committee reviews them. _ "The Syrian people are being' killed but we don't want this. Every Syrian official should not accept killing even one person," bin Jassim said. "Power is worth nothing while you stand as an enemyto your people." He added that the League aims to "to avoid any suffering for the Syrian people." Iraq and Lebanon - impor- tant trading partners for Syria - abstained from the vote, which came after Damascus missed an Arab League deadline to agree to allow hundreds of observers into the country as part of a peace deal Syria agreed to early this month to end the crisis. Arab League Secretary Gener- al Nabil Elaraby said the bloc will reconsider the sanctions if Syria carries out the Arab-brokered plan, which includes pulling tanks from the streets and ending violence against civilians. The regime, however, has shown no signs of easing its crackdown, and activist groups said more than 30 people were killed Sunday. The death toll was impossible to confirm. Syria has banned most foreign journal- ists and prevented independent reporting inside the country. The Local Coordinating Com- mittees, a coalition of Syrian activist groups, praised the sanc- tions but called for a mechanism to ensure compliance. "The sanctions leave open the opportunity for the regime to commit fraud and strip the sanc- tions of any substance, thereby prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people at the hands of an, oppressive and brutal regime," the group said. The Arab League move is the latest in a growing wave of international pressure push- ing Damascus to end its crack- down. The European Union and the United States already have imposed sanctions, the League has suspended Syria's member- ship and world leaders increas- ingly are calling on Assad to go. REMEMBER THE VICTORY FOREVER PURCHASE A POSTER OF TODAY'S FRONT PAGE www.michigandaily.com/store U.N. conference to decide how to reduce carbon emissions Officials to address how to help poor countries cope with climate change DURBAN, South Africa (AP) - The U.N.'s top climate official said yesterday she expects gov- ernments to make a long-delayed decision on whether industrial countries should make further commitments to reduce emis- sions of climate-changing green- house gases. Amid fresh warnings of cli- mate-related disasters in the future, delegates from about 190 countries were gathering in Dur- ban for a two-week conference beginning Monday. They hope to break deadlocks on how to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Christiana Figueres, head of the U.N. climate secretariat, said the stakes for the negotiations are high, underscored by new scientific studies. Under discussion was "noth- ing short of the most compelling energy, industrial, behavioral revolution that humanity has ever seen," she said. Archbishop Desmond Tutu led a rally at a soccer stadium later yesterday urging negotia- tors to be more ambitious during what were expected to be dif- ficult talks. Unseasonably cold, windy weather kept the crowd to a few hundred spectators. Hopes were scrapped for an overall treaty governing global carbon emissions after the col- lapse of talks at a climate sum- mit in Copenhagen two years ago. The "big bang" approach has been replaced by incremental efforts to build new institutions to help shift the global economy from carbon-intensive ener- gy generation, industries and transportation to more climate- friendly technologies. But an underlying division between rich and poor countries on the future of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol has stymied the nego- tiators. Figueres said she hoped for a decision on extending emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto accord, which has been postponed for two years. Previ- ous commitments expire next year. "It's a tall order for govern- ments to face this," but they show no interest in yet another delay, she said. High on the conference agen- da is the management of a fund scaling up over the next eight years to $100 billion annually to help poor countries cope with changing climate conditions. Questions remain how the money will be governed and dis- tributed, but more immediately, how those funds can be gener- ated from new sources beyond established development chan- nels from the West. Ideas on the table include a carbon surcharge on internation- al shipping and on air tickets, and a levy on international financial transactions - sometimes called a Robin Hood tax. A committee of 40 countries worked for the past year on drawing up a plan to adminis- ter the Green Climate Fund, but agreement on the final paper was blocked by the United States and Saudi Arabia, and the final con- tentious issues will have to be thrashed out in Durban. Todd Stern, the chief U.S. del- egate, said the negotiations had been too rushed. "I am pretty confident that we're going to be able to work these things out," he told report- ers last week, without naming the problematic issues. But Figueres said the future of the Kyoto accord, which calls on 37 wealthy nations to reduce car- bon emissions 5 percent below 1990 levels by the end of next year, is the most difficult political issue that nations face. "If it were easy we would have done it years ago," she said. Poor countries want the industrial nations to commit to more cuts for a second period, saying the protocol is the only legal instrument ever adopted to control carbon and other gases that trap the Earth's heat. But the wealthy countries, with growing consensus, say they cannot carry the burden alone, and want rapidly develop- ing countries like China, India, Brazil and South Africa to join their own legally binding regime to slow their emissions growth and move toward low-carbon economies. r "