The Michigan Daily - miehigandaily.com

Thursday, January 12, 2012 -- 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, January 12, 2012 - 3A


® NEWS BRIEFS
LANSING
Senate Democrats
developing plan for
new college grants
Democrats in the Michigan
Senate said yeste they're develop-
ing a proposal that would allow
Michigan high school graduates
to get grants of up to roughly
$9,500 a year for attending col-
lege by ending some business tax
credits and other revenue chang-
es.
The grants could be used to pay
tuition or associated costs at pub-
lic universities and community
colleges in the state. The money
would be raised by closing what
Democrats call tax loopholes and
ending some business tax credits,
collecting sales tax from out-of-
state Internet retailers and saving
money on state contracts.
DEARBORN
Almost.500,000
minivans, SUVs
recalled by Ford
Ford Motor Co. said yesterday
that it's recalling nearly half a mil-
lion minivans and SUVs because
of a pair of mechanical issues.
The Dearborn, Mich.-based
automaker is recalling 205,896
Freestar and Mercury Monterey
minivans made during the 2004
and 2005 model years, because
their torque converter output
shaft may fail. If that happens,
there could be a sudden loss of
power that could cause a crash,
Ford said.
Ford is also recalling 244,530
Escape SUVs made during the
2001 and 2002 model years,
because their brake master cylin-
der reservoir cap could leak brake
fluid. If the fluid leaks, it could
corrode electrical connectors in
the vehicle's breaking system and
lead to melting, smoke, or a fire,
Ford said.
Ford said that with both
recalls, it will inform the affected
owners, and dealers will replace
the parts for free.
ATLANTA
Murder not a top
cause of death, a
first in 45 years
For the first time in 45 years,
homicide has fallen off the list of
the nation's top causes of death.
U.S. Health officials say the
murder rate fell enough in 2010
to drop it out of the top 15 causes.
Criminologists have not reached a
consensus about what's been driv-
ing murder rates down in recent
years.
Meanwhile, death rates have
been rising for diseases that kill
the elderly. Moving up to take to
homicide's place on the list was a
respiratory condition that mainly
kills people 75 and older. The top
two causes of death are heart dis-

ease and cancer, which account
for almost half of all U.S. deaths.
BEIRUT
French television
cameraman killed
in Syrian violence
A French cameraman was
killed yesterday in Syria during
a government-authorized trip to
the restive city of Homs, the first
Western journalist to be slain
since the country's uprising began
10 months ago, officials said.
' The killing of Gilles Jacquier,
43, who worked for France-2
Television, was likely to become
a rallying cry for both sides of
the conflict, as President Bashar
Assad's regime and the opposition
blame each other for arecent spate
of mysterious attacks.
According to a reporter who
was on the media trip, the group
was hit by several grenades. As
many as six Syrian civilians also
were killed, but the figure could
not be confirmed, activists said.
"France-2 Television has just
learned with great pain about the
death of reporter Gilles Jacquier
in Homs, Syria, in circumstances
that must still be clarified," the
network said.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports

Pakistani defense sec.
fired over leaked memo

An audience members takes a photo of President Barack Obama as he speaks during a campaign event yesterday.
Obamavists Chicago for three
campaign fundraising events

Crisis between
government,
military escalates
ISLAMABAD (AP) - Paki-
stan's prime minister fired the
defense secretary yesterday in a
dispute over a memo sent to Wash-
ington that has enraged the army,
escalating a crisis pitting the
civilian government against the
powerful military leadership.
The army warned darkly of
"grievous consequences" as a
result of the standoff, which is
hampering U.S. efforts to rebuild
shattered ties with the nuclear-
armed nation that are needed to
negotiate an end to the war in
neighboring Afghanistan. The
tensions have consumed the rul-
ing elite in a country that is
struggling to overcome economic
turmoil and a bloody al-Qaida
fueled insurgency.
The developments were a sign
of near-open conflict between
the army, which has often seized
power in the country's six-decade
history. Relations between Presi-
dent Asif Ali Zardari and the
generals have never been good,
but have soured dramatically in
recent months..
Instability has dogged the.
government since it took office
in 2008 after a 10-year army dic-
tatorship, and there have been
frequent, wrong predictions of
its demise. While unpopular, the
government has a solid majority in
parliament and it's unclearwheth-
er the army or the Supreme Court
have the stomach to unseat it.
The unsigned memo sent to
Washington asks for its help in
reining in the power of the mili-

tary in exchange for favorable
security policies. It was allegedly
masterminded by Pakistan' envoy
to Washington, who resigned in a
failed attemptto stem the fallout.
The affair has outraged the
army, which has portrayed it as
a treasonous threat to national
security.
Acting under army pressure,
the Supreme Court ordered a
probe to establish whether the
memo had been sanctioned by
Zardari, a prospect that could lead
to impeachment hearings. As part
of the investigation, army chief
Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and
the head of the main spy agency,
Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, said
in statements submitted to the
court that the memo was genuine
and part of a conspiracy against
the army.
Prime Minister Yousuf Reza
Gilani said in an interview to a
Chinese newspaper this week
that Kayani and Pasha had violat-
ed the constitution by submitting
the statements. The interview
was also published by Pakistan's
state-run news agency. The
army denied the men's actions
were illegal, and said in a state-
ment that Gilani's allegations
had "very serious ramifications
with potentially grievous conse-
quences for the country." It did
not elaborate.
Gilani's office later said that
Defense Secretary Naeem Khalid
Lodhi, a retired general and army
loyalist seen as a bridge between
the high-command and the civil-
ian government, was dismissed
for "gross misconduct and illegal
action." He was replaced with
Nargis Sethi, who is close to
Gilani, the statement said.

In hometown,
president pledges
that change will
still come
CHICAGO (AP) - Presi-
dent Barack Obama scooped
up hometown campaign cash
Wednesday, promising support-
ers that change can still come if
they work even harder this time
around as his potential Repub-
lican challenger solidified his
standing.
A day after former Massa-
chusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's
convincing win in New Hamp-
shire's GOP primary, which
established him as the clear
front-runner-to take on the pres-
ident in the fall, Obama's visit
home was all about summoning
his backers' enthusiasm for the
fight ahead.
"If you're willing to work
even harder in this election than
you did in the last election, I
promise you, change will come,"
Obama said at the first of three
evening fundraisers, a large
event at the University of Illi-
nois at Chicago.
"You can't back down - not
now. We won't give up - not
now," Obama said. "We've got
to send a message we are going
to keep pushing and fighting for
the change that we believe in."
Obama used the trip to
restock his re-election finances
while making a surprise visit
to his campaign headquarters
for the first time. A few hun-
dred staffers listened as Obama

reminisced about the early days
of his Senate campaign and
thanked campaign aides for
their hard work. But publicly,
the president was beginning to
offer a contrast with Romney.
Obama's team has castigated
Romney at every turn as a politi-
cal opportunist willing to alter
his views - on abortion, the
environment and gay marriage
- to serve his political purpose.
Without naming Rom-
ney, Obama said he had led an
administration of principle that
has tried to invigorate the econ-
omy and kept its promises.
"I'm not a perfect man. I'm
not a perfect president, but I
promise you this - and I've kept
this promise - I will always tell
you what I believe and I will
always tell you where I stand."
"If you stick with me, we're
going to finish what we started
in 2008," Obama said.
Obama's campaign has
hauled in more than $150 mil-
lion through September, but
Democrats say they will need to
compete with Republican-lean-
ing outside groups that can raise
and spend unlimited amounts
of money to back specific candi-
dates.
Obama's event at the Univer-
sity of Illinois had ticket prices
starting at $44 per person and
he attended a pair of pricier fun-
draisers with tickets ranging
from $7,600 for one event and
$35,800 per couple for the other.
At the Lincoln Park home of
Fred Eychaner, a Chicago media
mogul, Obama joined with some
financial backers who had sup-
ported him since he served in

the Illinois state senate. The
president said he had stayed
true to the vision he had laid out
as a local candidate long ago and
his agenda as a presidential can-
didate four years ago.
"The reason I was successful
was not because I was a flaw-
less candidate or I ran a flawless
campaign but it was because
together we were able to give
voice to this shared vision of
what America should be. And
I want you to know that I have
kept faith with that vision all
these years," Obama said to a
dinner audience that included
former Senate colleagues Dick
Durbin of Illinois and Claire
McCaskill of Missouri and Illi-
nois Gov. Pat Quinn.
Obama arrived in Chicago
Wednesday on an unseasonably
warm early evening, and his
motorcade zipped along a bar-
ren Lakeshore Drive, cleared of
rush-hour traffic, to his down-
town campaign headquarters.
The White House said Obama
wanted to show his apprecia-
tion to his campaign staff with
the surprise visit - the presi-
dent's first to the headquarters
- but the White House kept the
moment private. Reporters trav-
eling with the president were not
allowed to witness the visit by
Obama, who has insisted he is
focused on governing, not cam-
paigning.
A White House statement said
Obama thanked his staffers for
their hard work and encouraged
them, saying that he hoped to
run "a campaign that embodies
the values we're fighting for."

Israeli leader hints at
involvement in attacks

Typically mum
military leaders
comment on Iran
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli
leaders typically greet word of vio-
lent setbacks to Iran's nuclear pro-
gram with a wall of silence. Now
a throwaway comment by Israel's
military chiefhas hinted of possible
Israeli involvement in attacks like
the explosion that killed an Iranian
nuclear scientistyesterday.
The car bombing in Teh-
ran was the latest in a string of
murky mishaps for Iran's nuclear
program caused by computer
worms, explosions and assassi-

nations of top experts. Israel,
which has identified a nuclear
Iran as an existential threat, is
widely suspected of involvement.
While officials never com-
ment on covert military activi-
ties, testimony by Lt. Gen. Benny
Gantz to a closed parliamentary
committee on Tuesday appeared
particularly prescient.
The Israeli military leader told
the Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee on Tuesday that
"2012 is expected to be a critical
year for Iran." He cited "the con-
fluence of efforts to advance the
nuclear program, internal lead-
ership changes, continued inter-
national pressure and things
that happen to it unnaturally."

Romney hopes to turn South
Carolina into rivals' last stand

#MICHLINKS

Jan. 21 primary
a crucial election
contest
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -
Republican presidential hopeful
Mitt Romney braced for a bru-
tal 10-day onslaught in South
Carolina as he looks to turn the
first-in-the-South primary into
the last stand for his Republican
rivals.
Coming off twin victories in
Iowa and New Hampshire, the
former Massachusetts governor
was already trying Wednesday
to lower expectations that he'll
win in a state defined by notori-
ously nasty politics, conserva-
tive Christians and an active
tea party - elements his rivals
hope they can use to slow what's
beginning to look like a sprint to
the nomination.
"Clearly I face more of an
uphill battle in South Caro-
lina than I have here in New
Hampshire," Romney said as
he boarded his campaign plane
in Bedford, Mass., en route to
Columbia. He lost in South Caro-
lina in 2008.
"Last time I came in fourth,"
he said, "so, you know, our team
recognizes this is going to be a
challenge."
Among those challenges:
fighting against attacks on his
time at Bain Capital, keeping
his campaign on message after
verbal missteps about pink slips
and liking to fire people, and
staying vigilant for any whisper

campaign about his Mormon
religion.
Rivals Rick Perry, Newt Gin-
grich and Rick Santorum were
scramblingto break through and
become a viable conservative
alternative to Romney. The early
contests scrambled the field,
with Santorum nearly winning
in Iowa but falling back in New
Hampshire. Gingrich led polls
in December but faded in the
face of withering attacks from
Romney's allies on the airwaves
in Iowa.
"We have everybody now
gunning with full-time despera-
tion. For most all of them, there
is no life after South Carolina,"
said Warren Tompkins, Rom-
ney's strategist in the state.
"Desperate people do desperate
things."
Most important, Romney
aides say, is trying to ensure
no single conservative oppo-
nent emerges so he can move
into Florida from a position of
strength. Romney is the only
candidate with a full operation
there, with calls, mail and TV
ads - and his top advisers now
see it as the place where Romney
can prove he's the only candidate
able to go the distance.
Florida's sizable Hispanic
population means it's also an
opportunity for Romney to
look ahead to the general elec-
tion. He's now on the air with a
Spanish-language ad featuring
his son Craig, who speaks Span-
ish. And on the trail, Romney is
dropping hints that he'll focus

his general election efforts on
Latino voters.
, "I need to get 50.1 percent of
Americans behind me," Romney
said during a speech in Nashua,
N.H. If he can win over Latino
Americans, "I can do well pretty
broadly."
First, he'll have to face down
SouthCarolina -,nd the mil-
lions in super PAC advertising
that will be directed at him. Gin-
grich allies plan to spend mil-
lions on ads hitting Romney's
record at Bain.
Romney advisers say they'll
start to point out where profits
from venture capital firms often
go: charitable foundations, uni-
versity endowments and pension
and retirement funds.
More helpful may be a grow-
ing conservative backlash
against what many on the right
say is an anti-capitalist atti-
tude. South Carolina Sen. Jim
DeMint, who backed Romney
in 2008 but isn't endorsing any
candidate this time, defended
Romney's time at Bain during a
radio interview. Radio talk show
host Rush Limbaugh also stood
up for him.
Romney learned anew in
New Hampshire how his rivals
will use his own words against
him. His reference to worrying
about receiving a pink slip as a
freshly minted Harvard MBA
and his comments about liking
to fire people gave his opponents
an opening to claim he's out of
touch with ordinary Americans
and a cold-hearted businessman.

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