The Michigan Daily -= michigandaily.com
Friday, December 7, 2012 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Nexxis Friday, December?, 2012 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.
State Rep. who
switched parties
obeyed finance law
The secretary of state's office
says a lawmaker from Grand Rap-
ids who switched parties did not
break campaign finance law.
In a letter sent to state Rep. Roy
Schmidt's attorney this week,
a law specialist in the state's
Bureau of Elections writes that
the Democrat-turned-Republican
intended to commit a campaign
finance violation by paying some-
one to run against him.
But Melissa Malerman
writes that the violation never
occurred, because the prospec-
tive opponent, Matt Mojzak,
withdrew from the ballot shortly
after filing paperwork to run,
and the payment apparently was
not made.
SEATTLE
Hundreds get gay
marriage licenses
Hundreds of same-sex couples
across Washington state started
picking up marriage licenses
Thursday as a voter-approved
law legalizing gay marriage took
effect.
King County, the state's largest,
opened the doors to its auditor's
office in Seattle just after mid-
night to start distributinglicenses.
But hundreds of people had lined
up hours earlier, snaking around
the building on a chilly Decem-
ber night. By Thursday afternoon,
more than 430 licenses had been
issued in Seattle, where the mood
was festive overnight.
"We waited a long time. We've
been together 35 years, never
thinkingwe'd get a legal marriage.
Now I feel so joyous I can't hardly
stand it," said 85-year-old Pete-e
Petersen, who with her partner,
77-year-old Jane Abbott Lighty,
were the first to get a license.
BANGKOK
FDormer PMr faces
murder charges
Investigators say they plan to
file murder charges against Thai-
land's former prime minister and
his deputy in the first prosecu-
tions of officials for their roles in
a deadly 2010 crackdown on anti-
government protests.
The protests and crackdown
left more than 90 people dead
and about 1,800 injured in Thai-
land's worst political violence in
decades. Former Prime Minister
Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat Party,
now in the opposition after being
ousted in elections last year, and
"red shirt" supporters of the rul-
ing Pheu Thai Party have blamed
each other for the bloodshed since.
Department of Special Inves-
tigation chief Tharit Phengdit
said Thursday that investigators
found Abhisit possibly culpa-
ble in the death of a taxi driver
because he allowed troops to use
war weapons and live ammuni-
tion against protesters.
LONDON
* Pregnant Kate
Middleton sent
home from hospital
The Duchess of Cambridge left
a London hospital Thursday after
being treated for acute morning
sickness related to her pregnancy.
Clutching a small bouquet of
yellow roses, the former Kate
Middleton smiled and posed brief-
ly for a photograph alongside her
husband, Prince William, before
leaving King Edward VII Hospi-
tal. She stepped delicately into a
waiting car.
The couple's office said she
would head to Kensington Pal-
ace in London for a period of rest.
She had been in the hospital since
Monday. Officials from St James's
Palace have said the duchess is not
yet 12 weeks pregnant with the
couple's first child.
William visited his wife at the
hospital every day, while media
from around the world camped
outside, seeking any news on the
royal pregnancy.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
NATO readies
forces for Syria
An Egyptian armytank is seen behind barbed wire securingthe perimeterof the presidential palacewhile protesters on theotherside chantanti
President Mohammed Morsi slogans, in Cairo, Egypt, onThursday.
Egyptian president rages
against protesting crowd
Morsi says
constitutional
referendum
will go on
CAIRO (AP) - An angry
Mohammed Morsi refused
Thursday to call off a referen-
dum on a disputed constitution
that has sparked Egypt's worst
political crisis in two years,
drawing chants of "topple the
regime!" from protesters who
waved their shoes in contempt.
The Egyptian president's
uncompromising stand came a
night after thousands of his sup-
porters and opponents fought
pitched battles outside his Cairo
palace, leaving at least six dead
and 700 injured.
Speaking in a nationally tele-
vised address, Morsi accused
someinthe oppositionofserving
remnants of Hosni Mubarak's
authoritarian regime and vowed
he would never tolerate anyone
working for the overthrow of
his "legitimate" government.
That brought shouts of "the
people want to topple the
regime!" from the crowd of
30,000 Morsi opponents - the
same chant used in the protests
that brought down Mubarak.
Morsi also invited the oppo-
sition to a "comprehensive and
productive" dialogue starting
Saturday at his presidential
palace, but gave no sign that
he might offer any meaningful
concessions.
The opposition has already
refused to engage Morsi unless
he first rescinds decrees giving
him nearly unrestricted powers
and shelves the draft constitu-
tion hurriedly adopted by his
Islamist allies in a marathon
session last week.
Morsi said the referendum on
the disputed charter would go
ahead as scheduled on Dec. 15.
He also refused to rescind the
Nov. 22 decrees.
Readingfrom prepared notes,
Morsi frequently broke off to
improvise. He wore a black tie
in mourning for the six people
killed in Wednesday's clashes.
From Washington, President
Barack Obama called Morsi to
express "deep concern" about
the deaths and injuries of pro-
testers in Egypt, according to a
White House statement.
The statement Thursday
night said that Obama told
Morsi that he and other politi-
cal leaders in Egypt must make
clear to their supporters that
violenceisunacceptable. Obama
welcomed Morsi's call for a dia-
logue with opposition leaders
in Egypt but stressed that such
a dialogue should occur with-
out preconditions. The United
States also has urged opposition
leaders to join in talks without
preconditions.
Earlier Thursday, Morsi's
troubles grew when another of
his advisers quit to protest his
handling of the crisis, raising to
seven the number of those in his
17-person inner circle who have
abandoned him.
Chemical weapons,
prompt allies to
send soldiers and
missiles to Turkey
BEIRUT (AP) - As fears
grow in the West that Syrian
President Bashar Assad will
unleash chemical weapons as
an act of desperation, NATO
moved forward Thursday with
its plan to place Patriot mis-
siles and troops along Syria's
border with Turkey to protect
against potential attacks.
Assad's regime blasted the
move as "psychological war-
fare," saying the new deploy-
ment would not ,deter it from
seeking victory over rebels it
views as terrorists..
The missile deployment
sends a clear message to Assad
that consequences will follow
if he uses chemical weapons or
strikes NATO member Turkey,
which backs the rebels seeking
his ouster. But its limited scope
also reflects the low appetite
in Western capitals for direct
military intervention in the
civil war.
The U.S. and manyEuropean
and Arab countries called for
Assad to step down early in the
uprising but have struggled to
make that happen. Russia and
China have protected Assad
from censure by the U.N. Secu-
rity Council, and the presence
of extremists among the rebels
makes the U.S. and others ner-
vous about arming them.
In Dublin, Ireland, U.S. Sec-
retary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton joined Russia's foreign,
minister and the U.N. peace
envoy to the Arab country for
three-way talks that suggested
Washington and Moscow were
working toward a common
strategy as the Assad regime
weakens.
The diplomatic efforts to end
the civil war come days after
NATO agreed to post Patriot
missiles and troops along Tur-
key's southern border with
Syria after mortars and shells
from Syria killed five Turks.
Germany's Cabinet
approved the move on Thurs-
day, and German Defense Min-
ister Thomas de Maiziere told
reporters that the overall mis-
sion is expected to include two
batteries each from the Neth-
erlands and the United States,
plus 400 soldiers and monitor-
ing aircraft.
"Nobody knows what such a
regime is capable of and that is
why we are acting protectively
here," said German Foreign
Minister Guido Westerwelle.
In Washington, U.S. Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta said
Thursday that intelligence
reports raise fears that an
increasingly desperate Assad is
considering using his chemical
weapons arsenal - which the
U.S. and Russia agree is unac-
ceptable.
The Assad regime said the
NATO. deployment would not
make Assad change course,
calling the talk of chemical
weapons part of a conspiracy
to justify future intervention.
"The Turkish step and
NATO's support for it are pro-
vocative moves that constitute
psychological warfare," Syr-
ia's Deputy Foreign Minister
Faisal Mekdad said in an inter-
view with Lebanon's Al-Manar
TV. "But if they think this will
affect our determination and
work for a decisive victory in
this fight against terrorism,
they are very wrong."
Syria has not confirmed it
has chemicals weapons, while
insisting that it would never
use such arms against its own
people.
Suicide bombattack kills
Aghan intelligence chiefj
Taliban claims
credit for the fifth
assassination
attempt on Khalid
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)
- A Taliban suicide bomber
posing as a messenger of peace
blew himself up near Afghani-
stan's newly appointed intel-
ligence chief on Thursday,
seriously wounding him, offi-
cials said.
The Taliban claimed respon-
sibility for the attack on Asa-
dullah Khalid - the fifth such
assassination attempt on his
life in as many years, the offi-
cials added.
"Thank God, he's OK. It's
positive," President Hamid
Karzai told reporters outside
a medical facility run by the
National Directorate of Secu-
rity where Khalid had surgery.
"Now there is hope that he'll
get healthy again."
The attempted assassina-
tion-of-the nation's top intelli-
gence official came just as the
president described the U.S.-
led military coalition as partly
responsible for instability in
Afghanistan.
"Part of the insecurity is
coming to us from the struc-
tures that NATO and America*
created in Afghanistan," Kar-
zai told NBC News in an inter-
view broadcast on Thursday.
Terrorism will not be defeated
"by attacking Afghan villages
and Afghan homes," he said.
Shafiqullah Tahiri, a spokes-
man for the intelligence ser-
vice, said that the bomber had
used the false peace offer as a
ruse to close in on the intelli-
gence chief.
The bombing was reminis-
cent of the September 2011 kill-
ing of former Afghan President
Burhanuddin Rabbani, who
at the time was the leader of a
government-appointed peace
council seeking reconciliation
with militants. In that attack,
an insurgent posing as a Tali-
ban peace envoy detonated a
bomb that was hidden in his
turban as he met Rabbani at his
home in Kabul.
Khalid, in his early 40s, suf-
fered serious injuries to his
stomach and lower part of the
body when the bomb exploded
at his guest house as he was
receiving a visitor, a senior
Afghan official said, speak-
ing on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized
to disclose the information.
The intelligence chief had used
the house for private meetings
he preferred not to hold at his
agency's official compound, he
added.
The bomber passed through
at least one check without the
explosives being discovered,
the official said. The house was
not as heavily guarded as the
agency's compound, he added.
Shuja Momuzai, 31, who
manages a house a couple
doors from Khalid's guest
house, said he heard an explo-
sion shortly after 3 p.m., after
which he saw Khalid being
evacuated.
He said that people in the
neighborhood knew Khalid
used the house, which had at
least two perimeter walls.
Karzai said Khalid would
be sent elsewhere for further
treatment, implying that he
could be transferred outside
the country.
Taliban spokesman Zabi-
ullah Mujahid said the intel-
ligence chief was the target of
a suicide bombing carried out
by an attacker named Hafez
Mohammad.
Khalid, who was appointed
to head the intelligence service
in September, comes from the
Pashtun ethnic group and has
served as governor of restive
Ghazni province in the east
and Kandahar province in the
south. He is also Afghanistan's
former minister of tribal and
border affairs.
He says he first eluded an
assassin in 2006, and bombers
had targeted him 3 times since,
before Thursday's attack.
Karzai, in his interview, also
said that he was not convinced
that al-Qaida "has a presence in
Afghanistan."
Charles arapak/AP
President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks about the fiscaldciff at the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers, in
Washington,on Wednesday.
Obama and GOP continue to
negotiate as deadline looms
President seeks to 2 percent," Obama said. "But I Timothy Geithner said, the
do remain optimistic that we can administration will "absolutely"
highlight personal get something done that is good let the country go over the fiscal
for families like this one and is cliff.
stories in campaign good for the American econo- The size of the problem is so
my." large it can't be solved without
for public support The president's quick trip - rates goingup," he told CNBC on
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) -
President Barack Obama, trying
to put a personal touch on "fis-
cal cliff" negotiations, visited a
northern Virginia family's base-
ment apartment Thursday to
press his hard line on tax rate
increases for the wealthy.
"We're in the midst of the
Christmas season," Obama said, t
sitting at a table in the Santana
family's Falls Church home. "I
think the American people are
counting on this getting solved.
The closer it gets to the brink, the
more stress there is going to be."
Obama and lawmakers have
until the end of the year to avert
across-the-board spending cuts
and tax increases. The president
reiterated the firm stance he has
taken in recent days, warning
that he's willing to let that econ-
omy-rattling double whammy
take effect if Republicans don't
drop their opposition to higher
tax rates for the wealthy.
"Just to be clear, I'm not going
to sign any package that some-
how prevents the top rate from
going up for the folks in the top
just a 15 minute drive from the
White House - was part of an
effort to rally public support for
his tax proposals. The family
whose home he visited is one of
many that shared their stories
online, at the White House's urg-
ing, of how they would be hurt if
their taxes went up at the end of
the year. The president will also
travel to Detroit on Monday.
Obama and House Speaker
John Boehner spoke on the
phone Wednesday, their first
known conversation in nearly
a week. Neither side provided
details of the call, but the White
House said the lines of com-
munication with Capitol Hill
Republicans were open and
there had been multiple conver-
sations between staff.
Unless the president and
Republicans reach a deal, George
W. Bush-era tax rates will expire
on all income earners on Jan. 1.
Obama wants to continue them
for 98 percent of Americans,
while letting them expire on the
upper income earners.
If Republicans try to block
that effort, Treasury Secretary
Wednesday.
Geithner drew a fierce
response from Republicans. Sen.
Orrin Hatch of Utah called his
statement "stunning and irre-
sponsible." He added, "Going
over the fiscal cliff will put our
economy, jobs, people's pay-
checks and retirement at risk,
but that is what the White House
wants, according to Secretary
Geithner, if they don't get their
way."
Economists inside and outside
the government warnthat failing
to reach agreement on taxes and
spending could land the econo-
my back in recession.
Beyond his insistence that
taxes increase on the wealthy,
Obama has also warned Repub-
licans not to inject the threat of
a government default into nego-
tiations over the fiscal cliff as a
way of extracting concessions on
spending cuts.
"It's not a game I will play,"
he said Wednesday, recalling
the brinkmanship of last year in
which a budget standoff pushed
the Treasury to the edge of a
first-ever default.