The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, November 8, 2012 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, November 8, 2012 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
HOWELL, Mich.
Mich. shootings
spree suspect
arraigned, jailed
A man suspected in two dozen
random shootings along a 100-
mile stretch of roadway in south-
eastern Michigan was charged
with several gun crimes Wednes-
day that are likely the first of many
charges.
Prosecutors believe that Raulie
Casteel, a geologist, is responsible
for the shootings last month that
mostly targeted moving vehicles
or near Interstate 96. One person
was injured.
A man suspected in two dozen
random shootings along a 100-
mile stretch of roadway in south-
eastern Michigan was charged
with several gun crimes Wednes-
day that are likely the first of many
charges.
NEW YORK
New storm bears
down on NYC, NJ
A nor'easter blustered into
New York and New Jersey on
Wednesday with rain and wet
snow, plunging homes right back
into darkness, stopping commuter
trains again, and inflicting anoth-
er round of misery on thousands
of people still reeling from Super-
storm Sandy's blow more than a
week ago.
Under ordinary circumstanc-
es, a storm of this sort wouldn't
be a big deal, but large swaths of
the landscape were still an open
wound, with the electrical system
highly fragile and many of Sandy's
victims still mucking out. their
homes and cars and shivering in
the deepening cold.
Exactly as authorities feared,
the nor'easter brought down tree
limbs and electrical wires, and
utilities in New York and New Jer-
sey reported that some customers
who lost power because of Sandy
lost it all over again as a result of
the nor'easter.
LOS ANGELES
Calif. man behind
anti-Muslim film
e gets prison time
The California man behind
an anti-Muslim film that roiled
the Middle East was sentenced
Wednesday to a year in prison for
violating his probation stemming
from a 2010 bank fraud convic-
tion by lying about his identity.
U.S. District Court Judge
Christina Snyder immediately,
sentenced Mark BasseleyYoussef
after he admitted to four of the
eight alleged violations, includ-
ing obtaining a fraudulent
California driver's license. Pros-
ecutors agreed to drop the other
four allegations under an agree-
ment with Youssef's attorneys,
which also included more proba-
tion.
None of the violations had to
do with the content of "Inno-
cence of Muslims," a film that
depicts Mohammad as a reli-
gious fraud, pedophile and wom-
anizer.
CAIRO
Top Egyptian
prosecutor bans
online porn
Egypt's top prosecutor
ordered government ministries
on Wednesday to enforce a ban
on pornographic websites, three
years after a court denounced the
sites as "venomous and vile."
An official in the prosecutor's
office said the order followed
a protest Wednesday by ultra-
conservative Muslims known as
Salafis, who have launched a cam-
paign called "Pure Net" to pro-
hibit the pornographic websites.
The official spoke on condition
of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to reporters.
In the past, though, similar
orders were not enforced because
of high costs associated with tech-
nical applications in blocking the
thousands of websites and their
various pages.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Global markets
plunge in fear of
U.S. policy gridlock
PAUL BEATY/AP
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama wave while boarding Air Force One before leaving O'Hare
International Airport in Chicago on Wednesday.
Obama heads back to
divided govern--ment
Boehner promises
towork towards
compromise on tax
laws
WASHINGTON (AP) - One
day after a bruising, mixed-ver-
dict election, President Barack
Obama and Republican House
Speaker John Boehner both
pledged Wednesday to seek a
compromise to avert looming
spending cuts and tax increas-
es that threaten to plunge the
economy back into recession.
Added Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.: "Of
course" an agreement is pos-
sible.
While all three men spoke
in general terms, Boehner
stressed that Republicans
would be willing to accept
higher tax revenue under the
right conditions as part of a
more sweeping attempt to
reduce deficits and restore the
Election causes
concern for future
of world economy
LONDON (AP) - Stock mar-
kets plunged Wednesday on
concerns that newly re-elected
President Barack Obama will
struggle to agree on a budget deal
with a divided Congress and as
Europe's economic outlook dark-
ened further.
The ease with which Obama
secured four more years in the
White House - avoiding the
uncertainty of ballot recounts,
as in 2000 - had buoyed mar-
kets early in the day. But as the
day wore on, investors grew con-
cerned over the implications of a
still divided Congress.
Though the Democrats main-
tained the presidency and their
majority in the Senate, the Repub-
licans remain in command in the
House of Representatives. That
could lead to a logjam in policy-
making, not least over the par-
lous state of the country's public
finances.
The most pressing matter fac-
ing the U.S. government is the
so-called "fiscal cliff" - a com-
bination of higher taxes and
government spending cuts that
automatically take effect unless
Congress agrees on a new budget
by Jan. 1. Economists warn that a
failure to reach a concrete deci-
sion will push the world's largest
economy back into recession.
"The initially favorable reac-
tion has evaporated with the ugly
task of dealing with the fiscal cliff
eclipsing earlier optimism," said
Andrew Wilkinson, chief econom-
ic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co.
U.S. stocks opened lower and
kept falling throughout the morn-
ing in New York. The Dow Jones
industrial average was down 2.5
percent at 12,918.23 and the broad-
er S&P 500 index off the same rate
at 1,392.99.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index
of leading British shares dropped
1.6 percent to close at 5,791.63
while Germany's DAX fell 2 per-
economy to full health.
While the impending "fiscal
cliff" dominates the postelec-
tion agenda, the president and
Republicans have other con-
cerns, too.
Obama is looking ahead to
top-level personnel changes in
a second term, involving three
powerful Cabinet portfolios at
a minimum.
And Republicans are head-
ing into a season of potentially
painful reflection after los-
ing the presidency in an econ-
omy that might have proved
Obama's political undoing.
They also have fallen deeper
into the Senate minority after
the second election in a row
in which they lost potentially
winnable races by fielding can-
didates with views that voters
evidently judged too extreme.
One major topic for GOP dis-
cussion: the changing face of
America.
"We've got to deal with the
issue of immigration through
good policy. What is the right
policy if we want economic
growth in America as it relates
to immigration?" said former
Republican Party Chairman
Haley Barbour. Obama drew
support from about 70 percent
of all Hispanics. That far out-
paced Romney, who :said dur-
ing the Republican primaries
that illegal immigrants should
self-deport, then spent the gen-
eral election campaign trying
to move toward the political
middle on the issue.
The maneuvering on the
economy - the dominant issue
by far in the campaign - began
even before Obama returned
to the White House from his
home town of Chicago.
After securing a second
term, the president is com-
mitted to bipartisan solutions
"to reduce our deficit in a bal-
anced way, cut taxes for middle
class families and small busi-
nesses and create jobs," and he
told congressional leaders as
much in phone calls, the White
House said.
cent to 7,232.83. The CAC-40
in France dropped 2 percent to
3,409.59.
Sentiment has also been hit by
a downbeat set of European eco-
nomic forecasts from the Euro-
pean Commission. The executive
arm of the European Union now
expects the 17-country eurozone
to contract by0.4 percent this year
and to grow by only 0.1 percent
next year.
Figures showing that Ger-
many, Europe's largest economy,
saw industrial production in
September fell by 1.8 percent,
worse than market expectations
for minus 0.6 percent, also hurt
sentiment.
The turnaround in stocks mar-
kets was evident in currencies,
too- when risk appetite wanes,
the dollar usually finds support.
By late afternoon London time,
the euro was 0.4 percent lower
at $1.2762, a full cent lower than
where it had been trading earlier.
Investors are also turning
their attention toward a crucial
vote in the Greek Parliament
later in the day. If lawmakers
don't back a 13.5 billion ($17.3
billion) package of spending
cuts and tax increases, the coun-
try faces the prospect of los-
ing access to its bailout lifeline
and potentially defaulting on its
mountain of debt and leaving the
euro.
That toxic combination could
have massive negative reper-
cussions in financial markets,
regardless of whether a biparti-
san budget solution is reached in
the U.S. in the coming weeks.
"Strange to think that over
100 million votes cast in the U.S.
may have less impact upon the
markets over the next month or
so than some 300 votes due to
be cast in the Greek parliament
this evening," said Gary Jenkins,
managing director of Swordfish
Research.
Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nik-
kei 225 index closed marginally
lower at 8,972.89. Hong Kong's
Hang Seng added 0.7 percent to
22,099.85. South Korea's Kospi
gained 0.5 percent to 1,937.55.
39 dead after strong Legalization of pot in two
quake in Guatemala states challenges drug war
Hundreds more
reported injured or
missing in 22 states
SAN MARCOS, Guatemala
(AP) - A 7.4-magnitude earth-
quake rocked Guatemala on
Wednesday, killing at least 39
people as it toppled thick adobe
walls, shook huge landslides
down onto highways, and sent
terrified villagers streaming into
the streets of this .idyllic moun-
tain town near the border with
Mexico. One hundred people
were missing, and hundreds were
injured.
The quake, which hit at 10:35
a.m. in the midst of the work day,
caused terror over an unusually
wide area, with damage reported
in all but one of Guatemala's 22
states and shaking felt as far away
as Mexico City, 600 miles to the
northwest.
San Marcos, where more than
30 homes collapsed, bore the
brunt of the temblor's fury.
More than 300 people, includ-
ing firefighters, policemen and
villagers, tried to dig through a
half ton of sand at a quarry in the
commercial center of town in a
desperate attempt to rescue seven
people believed buried alive.
Among those under the sand was
a 6-year-old boy who had accom-
panied his grandfather to work.
"I want to see Giovanni! I
want to see Giovanni!" the boy's
mother, 42-year-old Francisca
Ramirez, frantically cried. "He's
not dead. Get him out." She said
the boy's father had emigrated to
the U.S. and there was no way to
reach him.
President Otto Perez Molina
flew to San Marcos to view the
damage. He said the death toll
stood at 39, most of it in this lush
mountainous region of 50,000
indigenous farmers and ranchers,
many belonging to the Mam eth-
nic group.
"One thing is to hear about
what happened and another
thing entirely is to see it," Perez
told The Associated Press. "As
a Guatemalan I feel sad ... to see
mothers crying for their lost chil-
dren."
The president said the govern-
ment would pay for the funerals
of all victims in the poor region.
Many of the colorful adobe
buildings in the 10-square-mile
center of San Marcos were either
cracked or reduced to rubble,
including the police station and
the courthouse. The temblor left
a large gash in one of the streets,
and hundreds of frightened vil-
lagers stood in the open, refusing
to go back inside.
Hundreds of people crammed
into the hallways of the small
town hospitalwaitingfor medical
staff to help injured family mem-
bers, some complainingtheywere
not getting care quickly enough.
Ingrid Lopez, who went to the
hospital with a 72-year-old aunt
whose legs were crushed by a
falling wall, said she had waited
hours for an X-ray.
"We ask the president to
improve conditions at the hospi-
tal," she said. "There isn't enough
staff."
The quake, which was 20 miles
deep, was centered 15 miles off
the coastal town of Champerico
and 100 miles southwest of Gua-
temala City. It was the strongest
earthquake to hit Guatemala
since a 1976 temblor that killed
23,000.
Officials said most of 100
missing were from San Marcos,
which is surrounded by lush
mountains. The mainly indige-
nous inhabitants farm corn and
heard cattle, mostly for their
own survival.
Colorado and
Washington to
allow recreatioinal
marijuana use
DENVER (AP) - First came
marijuana as medicine. Now
comes legal pot for the people.
Those who have argued for,
decades that legalizing and
taxing weed would be better
than a costly, failed U.S. drug
war have their chance to prove
it, as Colorado and Washington
became the first states to allow
pot for recreational use.
While the measures earned
support from broad swaths of
the electorate in both states
Tuesday, they are likely to face
resistance from federal drug
warriors. As of Wednesday,
authorities did not say whether
they would challenge the new
laws.
Pot advocates say a fight is
exactly what they want.
"I think we are at a tipping
point on marijuana policy,"
said Brian Vicente, co-author of
Colorado's marijuana measure.
"We are going to see whether
marijuana prohibition survives,
or whether we should try a new
and more sensible approach."
Soon after the measures
passed, cheering people poured
out of bars in Denver, the tangy
scent of pot filling the air, and
others in Seattle lit up in cel-
ebration.
Authorities in Colorado,
however, urged caution. "Fed-
eral law still says marijuana is
an illegal drug, so don't break
out the Cheetos or Goldfish
too quickly," said Democratic
Gov. John Hickenlooper, who
opposed the measure.
As the initial celebration
dies down and the process to passed across the country in
implement the laws progresses the 1930s.
over the next year, other states Pot has come a long way
and countries will be watch- since. In the 1960s, it was a
ing to see if the measures can counterculture fixture. In
both help reduce money going 1971, President Richard Nixon
to drug cartels and raise it for declared the War on Drugs.
governments. Twenty-five years later, Cali-
Governments in Latin Amer- fornia approved medical
ica where drugs are produced marijuana. Now, 17 states and
for the U.S. market were largely Washington, D.C., allow it.
quiet about the measures, but Meanwhile, many more cit-
the main adviser to Mexico's ies either took pot possession
president-elect said the new crimes off the books or direct-
laws will force the U.S. and his ed officers to make marijuana
country to reassess how they arrests a low priority.
fight cross-border pot smug- On Tuesday night, broad sec-
gling. tions of the electorate in Colo-
Analysts said that there rado and Washington backed
would likely be an impact on the measures, some because
cartels in Mexico that send pot they thought the drug war had
to the U.S., but differed on how failed and others because they
soon and how much. viewed potential revenue as
Both measures call for the a boon for their states in lean
drug to be heavily taxed, with times. A similar measure in
the profits headed to state cof- Oregon failed.
fers. Colorado would devote, "People think little old ladies
the potential tax revenue first with glaucoma should be able
to school construction, while to use marijuana. This is differ-
Washington's sends pot taxes ent. This is a step further than'
to an array of health programs. anything we have seen to date,"
Estimates vary widely on said Sam Kamin, a University
how much they would raise. of Denver law professor who
Colorado officials anticipate has studied the history of pot
somewhere between $5 million prohibition.
and $22 million a year. Wash- The Justice Department says
ington analysts estimated legal it is evaluating the measures.
pot could produce nearly $2 When California was consider-
billion over five years. ing legalization in 2010, Attor-
Both state estimates came ney General Eric Holder said it
with big caveats: The current would be a "significant impedi-
illegal marijuana market is ment" to joint federal and local
hard to gauge and any revenue efforts to combat drug traffick-
would be contingent upon fed- ers.
eral authorities allowing com- Federal agents have cracked
mercial pot sales in the first down on medical pot dispen-
place, something that is very saries in states where it is
much still in question. legal, including California and
Both measures remove crim- Washington. Individual pot
inal penalties for adults over 21 users may not be immediately
possessing small amounts of impacted, as authorities have
the drug - the boldest rejec- long focused on dismantling
tion of pot prohibition laws trafficking operations.