The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, November 15, 2012 - 3A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, November 15, 2012 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS DETROIT Police officer shot outside Detroit funeral home ADetroit police officer was shot Wednesday after a high-speed car chase that ended when the driver being sought stopped in front of a funeral home, ran through the building and fired on police out- side, a police spokeswoman said. The single slug hit the offi- cer's bulletproof vest in his back and lodged there. The officer, an 11-year veteran, was hospitalized in stable condition, spokeswoman Sgt. Eren Stephens said. The suspect, who was being sought on a warrant for assault with intent to murder, was shot by the other officers and was in tem- porary serious condition at a near- by hospital, Stephens said. Neither his nor the officer's name has been released. SYRACUSE, New York Lotto put out false information to catch scammers The NewYork State Lottery put out false information to snare two * Syracuse-area brothers accused of scamming a customer out of a winning $5 million scratch-off ticket. Lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman put out the bogus story last month, saying that 34-year- old Andy Ashkar legitimately bought the ticket in2006 but wait- ed several years before trying to claim the prize in March. Ashkar planned to share the money with his brother, 36-year-old Nayel Ashkar, according to the Lottery. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said Lottery officials used the media to get the real winner to come forward after suspecting that the Ashkars were not the legitimate winners partly because they asked for alesser amount iftheyskipped a news conference. 1. . an ehind anti Muslim film gets one year in prison 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 stem- ming from a 2010 bank fraud conviction 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. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay Uruguay congress considers same-sex marriage law Uruguay's congress is con- sidering a gay marriage law that would give same-sex couples all the same rights and responsi- bilities of heterosexual married couples. The country already has a civil unions law and has stood out in Latin America lately for legaliz- ing abortion and planning to sell government-grown marijuana to any citizen who wants it. The proposed "marriage equality" law would change Uru- guay's nearly-century-old civil code and give married gays and lesbians all the rights and respon- sibilities of heterosexual married couples, including the possibility of adopting children. -Compiled from Daily wire reports California debuting landmark program to cap carbon emissions Obama responds warily to sex scandal, FBI probe Claims no evidence grilling FBI and CIA officials privately about the same issues: of potential danger whether national security was jeopardized by the case and to national security why they didn't know about the investigation sooner. WASHINGTON (AP) - "I have no evidence at this Responding warily to his point, from what I've seen, that administration's sudden sex classified information was dis- scandal, President Barack closed that in any way would Obama said Wednesday he's have had a negative impact on seen no evidence that national our national security," Obama security was damaged by the said at his first postelection news revelations that ended his CIA conference. director's career and imperil As, for the FBI's handling of that of his Afghan war com- the matter, Obama said: "My mander. expectation is that they fol- But the president said he is low the protocols that they've reserving judgment about how already established. One of the the FBI has handled the inves- challenges here is that we're not tigation that began in the sum- supposed to meddle in criminal mer but didn't reach his desk investigations, and that's been until after last week's election. our practice." "I have a lot of confidence, Federal law enforcement generally, in the FBI," Obama officials have said the FBI said, qualifying his words of didn't inform the White House s t.and G ,ngems soo >ut actis cae.the original "ivestigaion AOt p i t the because of rules set upefte-the scandal from the White House, Watergate scandal to prevent legislators on Capitol Hill were interference in criminal inves- tigations, and that lawmakers weren't given notice of poten- tial national security problems because the bureau had quickly resolved them. CIA Director David Petraeus resigned Friday, two days after the White House was notified that he'd acknowledged having an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. The FBI's investigation of the matter began last summer, after Broadwell allegedly sent harassing, anonymous emails to a woman she apparently saw as a rival for Petraeus' affections. That woman, Florida socialite Jill Kelley, in turn had traded sometimes-flirtatious messages with the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen. Kelley's complaints about the threatening emails triggered the FBI investigation that led to the resignation of Petraeus and the inquiry intoher communications with Allen. A lawyer for Allen released a statement promising the general would cooperate fully with the Auctioning permits for pollution allowances SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Cal- ifornia began auctioning permits Wednesday for greenhouse gas emissions, launching one of the world's most ambitious efforts to cut heat-trapping gases from industrial sources. The California Air Resourc- es Board said it began selling the pollution "allowances" in a closed, online auction expected to create the world's second- largest marketplace for carbon emissions. Under the program, the state sets a limit, or cap, on emissions from individual polluters. Busi- nesses are required to either cut emissions to cap levels or, buy allowances through the auction from other companies for each extra ton of pollution discharged annually. The board said the results of the auction - what price is paid for a ton of carbon, and how many' companies participated - would be released Nov. 19. The cap-and-trade plan is a central piece of AB32, the state's landmark 2006 global warming regulations. The auction was being closely watched nationally, as the world's ninth-largest economy institutes a program that has eluded law- makers in Washington. Only the European Union has implemented a similar plan in terms of scope, and it currently operates the world's largest car- bon marketplace. A much less inclusive cap-and-trade scheme covers only electricity produc- ers in the northeastern United States. Failure of the California pro- gram would be a devastating blow to carbon control efforts nation- ally, said Severin Borenstein, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley,an expert on energy economics. "Cap and trade is still probably the most likely way we eventually could get to a national carbon mit- igation program," Borenstein said. For the first two years of the program, large industrial emit- ters will receive 90 percent of their allowances for free in a soft start meant to give companies time to reduce emissions through new technologies or other means. The cap, or number of allow- ances, will decline over time in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions year-by-year. If a business cuts emissions below its cap, it could profit by selling its extra allowances at a later auction. Firms can also generate credits by investing in forestry and other projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere. Those credits can satisfy up to 8 percent of a company's mandated emissions reductions Some businesses targeted by the program have argued the increased costs will drive jobs out of California. Executives also argue it could result in increased emissions by businesses in neigh- boring states that boost produc- tion to grab business. "Raisingcosts in California will allow out-of-state firms to lower prices and take market share," said Shelly Sullivan of the AB32 Implementation Group, a business coalition that supports green- house gas reductions but opposes the auctioning of allowances. "As it stands now the auction equates to a tax for these busi- nesses to continue to operate in the state," Sullivan said. "Those costs will be passed through to consumers." The California Chamber of Commerce has filed a law- suit challenging the air board's authority to sell the allowances to generate revenue for the state. It claims the sale of allowances is an illegal tax because taxes need a two-thirds vote by the Legisla- ture. Stanley Young, a board spokesman, said cap-and-trade will withstand legal scrutiny. "This market-based approach to cutting greenhouse emissions gives businesses the flexibility to best decide how to reduce their emissions," Young said. Pakistan frees a handful ( prisoners to jumpstart pe Move comes at the request of the Afghan government. ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan agreed to free a handful of Tali- ban prisoners at the requestofthe Afghan government, in a move meant to help jumpstart a shaky peace process with the militant group in neighboring Afghani- stan, officials said Wednesday. The decision to release the prisoners - described as mid- and low-level fighters - is the most encouraging sign yet that Islam- abad maybe willing to play a con- structive role in peace efforts that have made little headway since they began some four years ago, hobbled by distrust among the major players involved, including the United States. The U.S. and its allies fighting in Afghanistan are pushing to strike a peace deal with the Tali- ban so they can pull out most of their troops by the end of 2014 without the country descending into further chaos. Butcconsider- able obstacles remain, and it is unclear whether the Taliban even intend to take part in the process, rather than just wait until foreign forces withdraw. Pakistan is seen as key to the peace process. Islamabad has ties to the Taliban that date back to the 1990s, and many of the group's leaders are believed to be based on Pakistani territory, having fled there following the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. There were conflicting reports about whether Pakistan had already released the Taliban pris- oners or just intended to. There was also some confusion about exactly how many prisoners were involved. A Pakistani government offi- cial and an intelligence official said Islamabad released at least seven Taliban militants Wednes- day in response to a personal request by Salahuddin Rabbani, the head of an Afghan govern- ment council for peace talks with the Taliban, who was wrapping up a three-day visit to Islamabad. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. An Afghan official with knowledge of the talks said no prisoners had yet been released. He said the delegation gave Pakistan a list of 40 Taliban prisoners they wanted released. Pakistan provided a list of 10 prisoners they would release, but this list was rejected by the delegation, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The two sides were still trying to reach a compro- mise, he said. A joint statement put out by Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday said "a number of Taliban detainees are being released" to support the peace process at the request of the Afghan government. It also called on the Taliban and other armed opposition groups to par- ticipate in peace talks and sever links with al-Qaida. The Pakistani government official said the men involved in the release were "low- and mid- level" fighters and did not include the Taliban's former deputy lead- er, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was captured in Pakistan in 2010. The Afghan government has repeatedly asked Pakistan to release Baradar because he is seen by some as crucial to the peace process. Baradar was reportedly conducting talks with the Afghan government that were kept secret from the Pakistanis, and his arrest in the sprawling southern port city of Karachi reportedly )f Taliban ace talks angered Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Pakistan helped the Taliban seize control of Afghanistan in the 1990s - providing funding, weapons and intelligence - and the Afghan government and the U.S. have accused Islamabad of continuing to support the group. Pakistan has denied the allega- tions, but many analysts believe the country continues to see the militant group as an important ally in Afghanistan to counter archenemy India. However, Pakistan is also wor- ried about instability in Afghani- stan following the planned withdrawal of foreign forces. If civil war breaks out again as it did in the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees could stream across the border into Pakistan. Violence could also give greater cover to Paki- stani militants who are at war with Islamabad. These concerns have made a peace deal more urgent in the minds of Pakistanis. Talat Masood, a retired Paki- stani army general and defense analyst, said the prisoner release would improve the relationship between Pakistan and Afghani- stan, increasing the chances they could work together to strike a peace deal with the Taliban. "It will improve the trust level and confidence," Masood said. "It will help Kabul find a genuine solution to the problem." The prisoners could also playa positive role in the negotiations, said Masood. "I am sure the released Tali- ban can play some partin making the peace process a success," he said. Pakistan has also increased 'its cooperation with the U.S. in recent months. The two sides have set up working groups to identify Taliban leaders who could be open to reconcilia- WANT TO SEE YOUR NAME IN PRINT? JOIN THE DAILY. E-MAIL RAYZAG@ MICHIGANDAILY.COM THE NEW LIME CHINESE CUISINE 7(ai arden *CRROU SPECIALIZING IN HONG KONG, TAIWANESE, SZECHUAN & HUNAN STYLES 734-995-1786 116 S. MAIN STREET (BETWEENW. 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