The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, September 18,2012-3
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Detroit police start
12-hour shifts
Police officers in Detroit are
beginning new, 12-hour shifts as
part of the department's efforts to
cut overtime and save cash.
The shifts start Monday and
will see officers work two weeks
and have the next 14 days off.
A judge ruled last month that
Mayor Dave Bing could institute
the new shifts and a 10-percent
pay cut to police. The $75 million
in police pay cuts is designed to
help the city cut into abudget def-
icit that once stood at more than
$300 million.
Other city workers also have
taken pay cuts.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
Space shuttle
Endeavour stuck
at home in Florida
Space shuttle Endeavour
apparently doesn't want to leave
home.
NASA's youngest shuttle was
supposed to depart Florida's Ken-
nedy Space Center on Monday for
its permanent museum home in
Los Angeles. But stormy weather
along the Gulf of Mexico nixed
the travel plans until Wednesday
morning.
The shuttle will be bolted to
the top of a modified jumbo jet
when it leaves Florida.
Endeavour will stop off in
Houston, home to Mission Con-
trol, and fly low over NASA
facilities en route. After a stop
at Edwards Air Force Base in
California, it will arrive at Los
Angeles International Airport on
Friday, a day later than planned.
NANTERRE, France
French court to
rule Tuesday on
topless photos
Lawyers for Prince William
and wife Kate asked a French
court on Monday to block further
publication of topless photos of
the Duchess of Cambridge, say-
ing the two were sharing a deeply
intimate moment caught by the
snap of an intruding photogra-
pher - images that ended up last
week in a popular French gossip
magazine, then in publications in
two other countries.
The court in Nanterre, outside
Paris, said it would announce its
ruling at noon Tuesday on the
request to stop Closer from repro-
ducing the images. The magazine
published 14 of the images of a
partially clad Kate in its pages
on Friday. On Monday, an Italian
magazine, Chi, Chi published a
26-page spread of the photos of
Kate.. Chi, like Closer, is part of
the Italian publishing house Mon-
dadori, owned by former Italian
Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
BEIRUT, Lebanon
Hezbollah leads
massive anti-U.S.
protest in Lebanon
In a rare public appearance,
the leader of the militant Hezbol-
lah group exhorted hundreds of
thousands of supporters Monday
to keep up the campaign against
an anti-Islam video that has
unleashed deadly violence and
anger at the United States across
the Muslim world.
Although the massive, well-
organized rally in Beirut was
peaceful, protesters in Afghani-
stan set fires near a U.S. mili-
tary base, clashed with police in
Pakistan, where one demonstra-
tor was killed, and battled with
officers outside the U.S. Embassy
in Jakarta, Indonesia, the world's
most populous Muslim country.
The turmoil surrounding the
low-budget video that mocks the
Prophet Muhammad showed
no sign of ebbing in the week
after protesters first swarmed
the walls of the U.S. Embassy in
Cairo. Four Americans, includ-
ing the U.S. ambassador to Libya,
died amid a demonstration in the
eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Libyans rushed
to save Stevens
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks to reporters about a leaked video from a campaign event.
Blunt Romney speech
leaked in online video
Group took
ambassador to
hospital after
consulate attack
CAIRO (AP) - Libyans
tried to rescue Ambassador
Chris Stevens, cheering "God
is great" and rushing him to a
hospital after they discovered
him still clinging to life inside
the U.S. Consulate, according
to witnesses and a new video
that emerged Monday from
last week's attack in the city of
Benghazi.
The group of Libyans had
stumbled across Stevens' seem-
ingly lifeless form inside a dark
room and didn't know who he
was, only that he was a foreign-
er, the man who shot the video
and two other witnesses told
The Associated Press.
The account underlines the
confusion that reigned dur-
ing the assault by protesters
and heavily armed gunmen
that overwhelmed the consul-
ate in Benghazi last Tuesday
night, killing four Americans,
including Stevens, who died
from smoke inhalation soon
after he was found. U.S. offi-
cials are still trying to piece
together how the top American
diplomat in Libya got separat-
ed from others as staffers were
evacuated, suffocating in what
is believed to be a consulate
safe-room.
The Libyans who found him
expressed frustration that
there was no ambulance and no
first aid on hand, leaving him to
be slung over a man's shoulder
to be carried to a car.
"There was not a single
ambulance to carry him.
Maybe he was handled the
wrong way," said Fahd al-Bak-
oush, a freelance videographer
who shot the footage. "They
took him to a private car."
U.S. and Libyan officials are
also trying to determine who
was behind the attack. Still
unclear was whether it had
been planned beforehand or
was sparked by an anti-Islam
film made in the United States
that, hours before the Beng-
hazi assault, had sparked pro-
tests at the American Embassy
in Cairo.
On Sunday, Libyan President
Mohammed el-Megarif con-
tended foreign militants had
been plotting the attack for
months and timed it for Tues-
day's 9/11 anniversary.
However, U.S. Ambassa-
dor to the U.N. Susan Rice
said it appeared spontaneous
and unplanned, that extrem-
ists with heavier weapons
"hijacked" the protest and
turned it into an outright
attack. She noted Libya is.
awash with weapons.
A CIA memo sent to U.S.
lawmakers this weekend, and
obtained by The Associated
Press, says current intelligence
still suggests the demonstra-
tions in Benghazi "were spon-
taneously inspired by the
protests at the U.S. Embassy
in Cairo" and "evolved into a
direct assault" on the diplo-
matic posts by "extremists."
Soon after the attack, Libyan
civilians roamed freely around
the trashed consulate, its walls
blacked and furniture burned.
Among them were the videog-
rapher al-Bakoush, and a pho-
tographer and art student he
often works with.
They heard a panicked
shout, "I stepped over a dead
man," and rushed to see what
was going on, al-Bakoush said.
The body hadbeen found inside
a dark room with a locked door
accessible only by a window. A
group of men pulled him out
and realized he was a foreigner
and still alive.
He was breathing and his
eyelids flickered, al-Bakoush
said. "He was alive," he said.
"No doubt. His face was black-
ened and he was like a para-
lyzed person."
GOP candidate
claims 47 percent
of Americans
aren't his problem
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Already scrambling to steady
a struggling campaign, Repub-
lican Mitt Romney confronted
a new headache Monday after
a video surfaced showing him
telling wealthy donors that
almost half of all Americans
"believe they are victims" enti-
tled to extensive government
support. He added that as a
candidate for the White House,
"my job is not to worry about
those people."
At a hastily called news con-
ference late in the day, Rom-
ney conceded the comments
weren't "elegantly stated" and
that they were spoken "off the
cuff."
President Barack Obama's
campaign quickly seized on the
video, obtained by the maga-
zine Mother Jones and made
public on a day that Romney's
campaign said it needed a
change in campaign strategy
to gain momentum in the presi-
dential race. Romney aides
were already working behind
the scenes to calm dissension
in the GOP ranks and reassure
nervous donors and consultants
about the state of a race some
Republicans worry may be get-
ting away from their nominee.
"There are 47 percent of the
people who will vote for the
president -no matter what,"
Romney is shown saying in
a video posted online by the
magazine. "There are 47 per-
cent who are with him, who are
dependent upon government,
who believe that they are vic-
tims, who believe that govern-
ment has a responsibility to
care for them, who believe that
they are entitled to health care,
to food, to housing, to you name
it."
"Forty-seven percent of
Americans pay no income tax,"
Romney said.
Romney said in the video
that his role "is not to worry
about those people. I'll never
convince them they should take
personal responsibility and
care for their lives."
In his remarks to reporters
before a fundraiser Monday
night in Costa Mesa, Calif.,
Romney did not dispute the
authenticity of the hidden-
camera footage, but he called
for the release of the full video,
instead of the clips posted
online. He sought to clarify his
remarks but did not apologize.
"It's not elegantly stated, let
me put it that way. I was speak-
ing off the cuff in response'
to a question. And I'm sure I
could state it more clearly in a
more effective way than I did
in a setting like that," Romney
said. "Of course I want to help
all Americans. All Americans
have a bright and prosperous
future."
About 46 percent of Ameri-
cans owed no federal income
tax in 2011, although many
of them paid other forms of
taxes. More than 16 million
elderly Americans avoid federal
income taxes solely because of
tax breaks that apply only to
seniors, according to the non-
partisan Tax Policy Center.
Obama's campaign called the
video "shocking"
"It's hard to serve as presi-
dent for all Americans when
you've disdainfully written off
half the nation," Obama cam-
paign manager Jim Messina
said in a statement.
An Obama adviser said the
Democratic campaign might
use Romney's comments from
the fundraising video in tele-
vision advertisements. The
official wasn't authorized to
discuss campaign strategy pub-
licly and requested anonymity.
Romney's 2010 federal tax
returns show he paid a tax
rate of about 14 percent on an
annual income of $21 million.
The vast majority of his income
came from investments, which
are taxed at a lower rate than
wages. His wealth has been
estimated as high as $250 mil-
lion.
Democrats have tried to
make an issue of what Rom-
ney pays in taxes and what he
is willing to divulge about his
taxes and investments. While
he has released his 2010 tax
returns and a summary of his
2011 returns, he has rejected
calls for releasing as many as 10
years of tax returns. His cam-
paign has pledged to release his
complete 2011 returns before
the election Nov. 6.
The private remarks are the
latest in a string of comments
from the multimillionaire
Republican businessman whom
Democrats have criticized as
out of touch. During the prima-
ry campaign, Romney insisted
that he was "not concerned"
about the very poor, said he
knew what it felt like to worry
about being "pink-slipped,"
and said that his wife drove
a "couple of Cadillacs." Aides
to Obama's campaign said the
latest video would help them
continue to make the case that
Romney doesn't understand the
concerns of average Americans.
180 protesters incarcerated on
Occupy Wall Street anniversary
Occupiers take
i
to the streets in
NYC's financial
district
NEW YORK (AP) - Occupy
Wall Street protesters celebrat-
ed the movement's anniversary
on Monday by clogging inter-
sections in the city's financial
district, marching to the beat
of drums that were a familiar
refrain last year.
Protesters roamed around
the lower Manhattan financial
district all morning in groups
of a few dozen each, from one
intersection to another and
back again, chanting loudly
about the ills of Wall Street. In
total, there were a few hundred
protesters scattered through-
out the city. More than 180 of
them were arrested by early
Monday evening, mostly on dis-
orderly conduct charges.
The day's events lacked the
heft of Occupy protests last
year, when protesters gath-
ered by the thousands. But
Occupiers were upbeat as they
spread out in their old stomping
grounds, giddy at the prospect
of being together again. They
brushed off any suggestions
that the movement had petered
out.
"This is a movement. It's
only been a year," said protester
Justin Stone Diaz, of Brooklyn.
"It's going to take many years
for it to develop and figure out
exactly who we are."
But the movement is now a
shadow of its mighty infancy,
when a group of young people
harnessed the power of a disil-
lusioned nation and took to the
streets chanting about corpo-
rate greed and inequality.
A familiar Statue of Liberty
puppet was back, bobbing in
the crowd above protesters'
heads. Protesters in wheel-
chairs blocked a road and
chanted "All day, all week,
occupy Wall Street!" before
they were steered off the road
by police.
Zuccotti Park, the former
home of the encampment, was
encircled by metal police barri-
cades lined with police officers
standing watch.
Hamza Sinanaj, a 30-year-
old airplane mechanic who
works in upstate New York as
a security guard, said he was
among the first Occupy pro-
testers last September.
"I felt that protest was long
overdue, and I'm back today,"
he said, holding up a sign that
read, "America Rise Up."
He was staying at his sister's
home in the Bronx but wasn't
sure he'd be there Monday
night because he was "ready to
be arrested, to sit on the street
and be arrested."
Events were planned in more
than 30 cities worldwide.
In San Francisco, local Occu-
py groups planned to occupy 10
banks across the city and then
hold an evening rally honor-
ing foreclosure fighters, people
who've been helping residents
stave off foreclosures by squat-
ting or holding sit-ins, outside
the Bank of America building in
the Financial District, the site
of previous protests. They then
planned to march.
Last year, hundreds of pro-
testers camped out for weeks
at Justin Herman Plaza across
from the city's Ferry Building,
a magnet for tourists and in the
heart of the Financial District,
where nearby businesses were
affected.
LSU evacuates dorms
after bomb threat
Scare is the fourth and roads were closed, though
some people and cars were still
at universities moving around. Police officers
with dogs combed through
across the country buildings, including the com-
puter services center.
in a week State police bomb techni-
cians were on the scene, said
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Louisiana State Police Capt.
- The thousands of students Doug Cain. He said authorities
who live on the Louisiana were talking to their counter-
State University campus have parts in Texas, North Dakota
begun returning to their dor- and Ohio, where similar threats
mitories after bomb-sniffing were received Friday, but offi-
dogs and police methodically cials say they're not sure if the
swept residential halls Mon- phone call made Monday was
day following a threat that connected to those threats.
sparked a campus-wide evacu- Police found no explosives on
stion, those campuses.
LSU spokesman Herb Vin- "It's kind of been an epidem-
cent said officials hope to ic. This has been the fourth in a
reopen the Baton Rouge cam- week. But it's better to be safe
pus by Monday night, but they than sorry," said Joseph Vera,
aren't certain if a building-by- a communications disorders
building sweep will be com- graduate student.
plete before Tuesday. Vera and a fellow gradu-
"Residential Life buildings ate student were working in
have now been deemed ready a language clinic with seven
to return to normal opera- children near the edge of cam-
tions," Vincent said Monday pus when they received the
evening. text message about the bomb
Evangeline Hall, a residen- threat. The pair walked the
tial building on campus, was children across the street to
reopened first and officials an off-campus restaurant and
began directing some of the they called the children's par-
6,000 on-campus residents ents.
into the building as the investi- The university sent a follow-
gation continued, Vincent said. up message to students at 1:36
He said residential halls were p.m. telling them not to return.
searched first and buses to and Col. Mike Edmonson, Loui-
from the campus have been siana State Police superinten-
running normally. dent, said despite some initial
Thousands of students, pro- traffic congestion, the campus
fessors and workers were told was evacuated in under an
to leave campus Monday morn- hour.
ing after a threat was phoned The university put out
into 911 about 10:32 a.m., uni- a statement on its website
versity spokeswoman Kristine announcing the evacuation an
Calongne said. But the threat hour after the phone call was
did not indicate a specific part received, then distributed
of campus, so police and bomb- the information through text
sniffing dogs have been metic- messages, emails and social
ulously sweeping each of the media.
250 buildings on campus. There are 30,000 students,
LSU Police Capt. Corey professors and university
Lalonde said no explosives employees located on the Baton
have been found. Rouge campus, but it was not
By mid-afternoon, the LSU clear how many were there at
campus was largely deserted the time of the threat.
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