The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thursday, December 6, 2012 - 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, December 6, 2Q12 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
UNION TOWNSHIP, Mich.
CMU student
tried to poison
roommate
A Central Michigan University
student has appeared in court on
accusations she tried to poison a
roommate at their apartment by
putting bleach in a glass of iced
tea.
Mlive.com says 19-year-old
Kayla Ashlyn Bonkowski was
arraigned Wednesday in an Isa-
bella County court on a felony
poisoning charge inthe November
incident. Her preliminary exami-
nation is scheduled Dec.13.
Reached by email, Bonkowski
told The Associated Press on
Wednesday morning she needed
to consult with a lawyer before
commenting.
SEATTLE
Celebrations
planned as Wash.
legalizes marijuana
Legal marijuana possession
becomes a reality in Washington
state Thursday, and some people
plan to celebrate the new law by
breaking it.
Voters in Washington and
Colorado last month made those
the first states to decriminalize
and regulate the recreational use
of marijuana. Washington's law
takes effect Thursday and allows
adults to have up to an ounce of
pot - but it bans public use of
marijuana, which is punishable by
a fine, just like drinking in public.
Nevertheless, some people
planned togather at12 a.m.Thurs-
day to smoke up beneath Seattle's
Space Needle. Others planned to
partyoutside Hempfestheadquar-
ters in Seattle.
ALBANY, NewYork
West Point cadet
leaves school due to
religious culture
A cadet quitting West Point less
than six months before graduation
says he could no longer be part of a
culture that promotes prayers and
religious activities and disrespects
nonreligious cadets.
Blake Page announced his
decision to quit the U.S. Military
Academy this week in a much-
discussed online post that echoed
the sentiments of soldiers and
airmen at other military instal-
lations. The 24-year-old told The
Associated Press that a determi-
nation this semester that he could
not become an officer because of
clinical depression played a role in
his public protest against what he
calls the unconstitutional preva-
lence of religion in the military.
"I've been trying since I found
that out: What can I do? What can
I possibly do to initiate the change
that I want to see and so many
other people want to see?" Page

said. "I realized that this is one way
I can make that change happen."
SEOUL
Cashing in on
Gangnam fame
As "Gangnam Style" gallops
toward 1 billion views on You-
Tube; the first Asian pop artist to
capture a massive global audience
has gotten richer click by click. So
too has his agent and his grand-
mother. But the money from music
sales isn't flowing in from the rap-
per's homeland South Korea or
elsewhere in Asia.
With one song, 34-year-old
Park Jae-sang - better known as
PSY - is set to become a million-
aire from YouTube ads and iTunes
downloads, underlining a shift in
how money is being made in the
music business. An even bigger
dollop of cash will come from TV
commercials.
From just those sources, PSY
and his camp will rake in at least
$8.1 million this year, according
to an analysis by The Associated
Press of publicly available infor-
mation and industry estimates.
But for online music sales in
South Korea, he'll earn less than
$60,000.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports

Settlement issue
overshadows
Netanyau's trip
to Germany

Egyptian riot police stand guard during clashes between supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed
Morsi outside the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012.
IslamHists battle protests
as crisis grows in Egypt

Europeans unhappy
with Israeli plans to
build in West Bank
BERLIN (AP) - It was sup-
posed to be an amicable meeting
between close friends. Instead,
Israeli Prime Minister Benja-
min Netanyahu's visit to Ger-
many has been souredby Berlin's
refusal to oppose a Palestinian
U.N. statehood bid and anger
throughout Europe over Israeli
plans to expand settlements
around Jerusalem.
The sensitivity of Netanya-
hu's trip to one of Israel's closest
allies in Europe offers a taste of
the increasingdispleasure on the
continent at his government's
seeming intransigence, particu-
larly over Jewish settlements on
lands the Palestinians want for a
future state.
Europeans, however, appear
at a loss to develop an effective
strategy of their own to pres-
sure Israel to move forward on
a moribund peace process with
the deeply divided Palestinians.
And it was unclear how hard
Germany was prepared to push
the Israelis.
The European Union came
nowhere near a united front
when the U.N. General Assembly
voted last week to upgrade the
Palestinians' diplomatic status
- effectively recognizing a Pal-
estinian state in the West Bank,
east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip,
territories captured by Israel in
the 1967 Mideast war.
In a slap to Israel, its clos-
est European allies - Britain,
Germany, Italy and France - all
abstained or voted with the Pal-

estinians. The Czech Republic,
where Netanyahu stopped on his
way to Berlin, was the only EU
country to join the U.S. and Isra-
el in voting against the measure.
Germany's decision to
abstain rather than vote against
a Palestinian state shocked Isra-
el and sets the scene for tense
talks between Netanyahu and
Chancellor Angela Merkel on
Wednesday night and Thurs-
day. The issue overshadowed
the two governments' official
program of cooperation on sci-
ence, education and business at
an annual meeting of their two
Cabinets.
Israel's next move heated
the atmosphere further: Its
announcement Friday that it
would move ahead on plans to
build 3,000.settler homes in a
strategic corridor near Jerusa-
lem. Palestinians said the settle-
ment, whose construction would
be years away, effectively cuts
the West Bank in two and breaks
the link between the West Bank
and east Jerusalem -- their
hoped-for capital.
"It would be insincere to
hide the fact that I was disap-
pointed by the German vote at
the United Nations - like many
people in Israel," Netanyahu
told the German daily Die Welt.
"I think Chancellor Merkel
was of the opinion that this
vote would somehow encour-
age peace. In fact, the opposite
happened."
Since the settlement
announcement, at least six
European countries - Britain,
France, Spain, Sweden, .Den-
mark and Italy - and the EU in
Brussels have called in Israeli
ambassadors to protest the plan.

Demonstrators
voice discontent
with constitution
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt descend-
ed into political turmoil on
Wednesday over the constitution
drafted by Islamist allies of Presi-
dent Mohammed Morsi, and at
least 211 people were wounded as
supporters and opponentsbattled
each other with firebombs, rocks
andsticksoutside the presidential
palace.
Four more presidential aides
resigned in protest over Morsi's
handling of the crisis, and a key
opponent of the Islamist presi-
dent likened Morsi's rule to that
of ousted authoritarian leader
Hosni Mubarak.
Both sides were digging in for
a long struggle, with the opposi-
tion vowing more protests and
rejecting any dialogue unless the
charter is rescinded, and Morsi
pressing relentlessly forward
with plans for a Dec. 15 constitu-
tional referendum.

"The solution is to go to the
ballot box," declared Mahmoud
Ghozlan, a spokesman for Morsi's
Muslim Brotherhood, asserting
the charter was "the best consti-
tution Egypt ever had."
The clashes outside the presi-
dential palace in Cairo's Heliopo-
lis district marked an escalation
in the deepening crisis. It was
the first time supporters of rival
camps fought each other since
last year's anti-Mubarak uprising,
when the authoritarian leader's
loyalists sent sword-wielding
supporters on horses and cam-
els into Cairo's Tahrir square in
whatbecameoneoftheuprising's
bloodiest days.
The largescale and intensityof
the fighting marked a milestone
in Egypt's rapidly entrenched
schism, pitting Morsi's Broth-
erhood and ultra-conservative
Islamists in one camp, against
liberals, leftists and Christians in
the other.
The violence spread to
other parts of the country later
Wednesday. Anti-Morsi protest-
ers stormed and set ablaze the

Brotherhood offices in Suez and
Ismailia, east of Cairo, and there
were clashes in the industrial city
of Mahallah and the province
of Menoufiyah in the Nile Delta
north of the capital.
Compounding Morsi's woes,
four of his advisers resigned,
joining two other members of his
17-member advisory panel who
have abandoned him since the
crisis began.
Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading
opposition reform advocate, said
Morsi's rule was "no different"
than Mubarak's.
"In fact, it is perhaps even
worse," the Nobel Peace Prize
laureate told a news conference
after he accused the president's
supporters of a "vicious and
deliberate" attack on peaceful
demonstrators outside the palace.

Fiscal cliff talks
re sume via phone
Obama and same time, they said that for the
first time in a few days, at least
Boehner look to one top presidential aide had
been in touch with Republicans
avoid tax increases by email on the subject.
Each side has been declaring
WASHINGTON (AP) - For that the crisis can be averted if
the first time in days, Presi- the other will give ground.
dent Barack Obama and House "We can probably solve this
Speaker John Boehner spoke in about a week, it's not that
by phone Wednesday about the tough," Obama said in lunch-
"fiscal cliff" that threatens to time remarks to the Business
knock the economy into reces- Roundtable.
sion, raising the prospect of It has been several days since
fresh negotiations to preventtax either the president or congres-
increases and spending cuts set sional Democrats signaled any
to kick in with the new year. interest in negotiations that
Officials provided no details both sides say are essential to a
of the conversation, which came compromise. Presidential aides
on the same day the president, have even encouraged specula-
hewing to a hard line, publicly tion that Obama is willing to let
warned congressional Republi- the economy go over the "fiscal
cans not to inject the threat of cliff" if necessary and gamble
a government default into the that the public blames Republi-
already complex issue. cans for any fallout.
"It's not a game I will play," Eventually, Democrats
Obama told a group of business acknowledge, there will be
leaders as Republicans strug- compromise talks, possibly
gled to find their footing in talks quite soon, toward an agree-
with a recently re-elected presi- ment that raises revenues,
dent and unified congressional reins in Medicare and other
Democrats. government benefit programs,
Among the Republicans, and perhaps raises the govern-
Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklaho- ment's $16.4 trillion borrowing
ma became the latest to break limit.
ranks and say he could support For now, the demonstration
Obama's demand for an increase of presidential inflexibility
in tax rates at upper incomes as appears designed to show that,
part of a comprehensive plan to unlike two years ago, Obama
cut federal deficits. will refuse to sign legislation
Across the Capitol, House extending top-rate tax cuts and
Majority Leader Eric Can- also to allow public and private
tor said Republicans want to pressure to build on the Repub-
"sit down with the president. lican leadership.
We want to talk specifics." He Treasury Secretary Tim
noted that the GOP had made a Geithner underscored the presi-
compromise offer earlier in the dent's determination when he
week and the White House had told CNBC the administration
rejected it. was "absolutely" prepared to
Officials said after the talk have the economy go over the
between Obama and Boehner, so-called cliff if its terms aren't
R-Ohio, there was no immediate met. "The size of the problem is
plan for a resumption of nego- so large that it can't be solved
tiations to avert the cliff. At the without rates going up," he said.

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