a The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - 3
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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Protesters stage
another Detroit
City Hall sit-in
A few dozen protesters staged
an hour-long sit-in on Monday
outside the offices of Detroit
Mayor Dave Bing and state-
appointed emergency manager
Kevyn Orr to oppose Michigan's
law that allowed Orr to take over
the city's finances.
For the second time in less
than a week, the group demand-
ed - and failed - to meet with
Bing and Orr. But this time they
did make it the 11th floor of the
Coleman A. Young Municipal
Building, the Detroit Free Press
and WXYZ-TV reported.
On Thursday, they got as far
as the first-floor lobby before
leaving after about an hour.
HARRISBURG, Pa.
Pa. Sen. Casey.
publicizes his
support of gay
marriage
O Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob
Casey announced Monday that
he favors gay marriage, the latest
of several lawmakers to change
positions on the issue now before
the U.S. Supreme Court.
Casey said he made the shift
after reviewing the legal, public
policy and civil rights questions
involved and letters from Penn-
sylvania families.
"If two people of the same sex
fall in love and want to marry,
why would our government
stand in the way?" Casey said.
"At a time when many Ameri-
cans lament a lack of commit-
ment in our society between
married men and women, why
would we want less commitment
and fewer strong marriages?"
SAN O95E, Calif
* Police suspect
drug use in Calif.
Wal-mart crash
Police said Monday they sus-
pect a man was on drugs when he
rammed his car through the front
of a Wal-Mart in California and
began assaulting customers, injur-
ing four people.
HaamidAde Zaid, 33,of Seaside
was being held without bail at the
Santa Clara County Jail for inves-
tigation of assault with a deadly
weapon, hit and run, being under
the influence of drugs, and resist-
ing arrest, San Jose police Officer
Albert Morales said.
"In my 18-year career I have
never seen anything like this,"
Morales told the San Jose Mercu-
ry News. "After looking at some of
the pictures, it's amazinghe didn't
hit anybody with the vehicle."
CAIRO, Egypt
U.S. blasts arrest
warrant against
Egypt satirist
The U.S. State Department
said Monday that arrest warrants
and the investigation of a popular
Egyptian satirist and other crit-
ics of Egypt's Islamist president
highlight a "disturbing trend" of
growing restrictions on freedom
of expression in the country.
The strongly worded statement
by U.S. State Department spokes-
woman Victoria Nuland Monday
came a day after Bassem Youssef,
who criticizes President Moham-
med Morsi and hard-line clerics
on his Jon Stewart-style show,
was released on bail following an
interrogation into accusations he
insulted Morsi and Islam.
Youssef is the most prominent
critic of Morsi to be called in for
questioning in recent weeks,
in what the opposition says is a
campaign to intimidate critics
amid wave after wave of politi-
cal unrest in the deeply polar-
ized country. Prosecutors deny
launching a political crackdown,
saying they are only implement-
ing the law.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports.
UN to vote Tuesday
on treaty regulating
arms trade agreement
Petros Karadjias/AP
Volunteers help collect canned goods and other food items from people arriving for a music concert in the capital
Nicosia, Monday, April1,2013.
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budget surplus even further, to
year to reach 2018.
Cyprus agreed last week
-percent surplus to make bank depositors with
accounts over 100,000 euros
ICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - ($129,000) contribute to the
us has been granted an financial rescue in order to
year - until 2017 - to secure 10 billion euros ($12.9
ve a targeted budget sur- billion) in loans. Cyprus need-
of 4 percent as part of ed to raise 6 billion euros ($7.4
ut negotiations with inter- billion) on its own in order to
nal lenders, the govern- clinch the larger package, and
spokesman said Monday. banks remained shut for nearly
te change is designed to two weeks until politicians
are for what could be a hammered out a deal.
er than expected economic To prevent mass withdraw-
down as the Mediterranean als when the banks reopened on
try is forced to drastically March 28, Cypriot authorities
k its banking and financial imposed a raft of restrictions,
stry. including daily withdrawal
nder a preliminary agree- limits of 300 euros ($384) for
with Cyprus' euro area individuals and 5,000 euros
ners and the International ($6,426) for businesses. That
etary Fund for billions in amounted to the first so-called
ue money, Cyprus had until capital controls that any coun-
to generate the budget sur- try has applied in the eurozone's
target through spending 14-year history.
and tax hikes. Under the terms of the bail-
t that deal was based on an out deal, the country' second
yr forecast that the econ- largest bank, Laiki, isto be split
would shrink this year by up, with its nonperforming
ercent of gross domestic loans and toxic assets going into
uct. a "bad bank." The healthy side
Cyprus government official will be absorbed into the Bank
spoke on condition of ano- of Cyprus.
ty because he's not autho- Big Laiki depositors could
1 to discuss details of the lose as much as 80 percent of
tiations said the economy their money.
w projected to contract by Bank of Cyprus savers will
9 percent of GDP. lose 37.5 percent and possibly
r that reason, government 22.5 percent more, depend-
esman Christos Stylianides ing on what experts determine
Monday that negotiators over the next 90 days is needed
to prop up that bank's reserves.
The remaining 40 percent of big
deposits at the Bank of Cyprus
will be "temporarily frozen for
liquidity reasons," but continue
to accrue existinglevelsofinter-
est plus another 10 percent.
Cyprus has long attracted
many large Russian depositors,
but a senior Cabinet member in
Moscow said Monday that his
government won't protect indi-
vidual Russian victims of the
Cypriot economic crisis.
Regarding businesses, Styli-
anides said Monday that his
government's negotiators will
seek to soon give them access
to the frozen 40 percent of their
deposits in the Bank of Cyprus
in order to get the country's
moribund economy going again
as soon as possible.
"What we're striving and
hoping for is that as of tomor-
row morning that 40 percent is
freed up so that we can return to
some semblance of normal busi-
ness activity," Stylianides told
reporters.
He said the details have to
be hammered out by Thursday
when the eurogroup officials
meet to discuss the Cyprus deal.
Cypriot banks also will sell
their foreign operations under
the agreement.
For instance, the Bank of
Cyprus in Romania said Mon-
day it is immediately suspend-
ing operations at its 10 branches
for a week until it's sold. Bank
spokeswoman Liana Voinescu
She said ATM machines will
remain open.
First international
arms agreement is
heavily supported
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -
The U.N. General Assembly is
expected to vote Tuesday on
what would be the first U.N. trea-
ty regulating the multibillion-
dollar international arms trade
after Iran, North Koreaand Syria
blocked its adoption by consen-
sus.
Assembly spokesman Nikola
Jovanovic told The Associated
Press on Monday that the resolu-
tion to adopt the treaty requires
support from a majority of the
193 U.N. member states. Since the
treaty had strong support when
it was brought before U.N. mem-
bers last Thursday, its approval is
virtually certain - unless there
are attempts to amend it before
the vote.
Many countries, including
the United States, control arms
exports. But there has never been
an international treaty regulat-
ing the estimated $60 billion
global arms trade. For more than
a decade, activists and some gov-
ernments have been pushing for
international rules to try to keep
illicit weapons out of the hands of
terrorists, insurgent fighters and
organized crime.
Hopes of reaching agreement
at a U.N. negotiating conference
were dashed in July when the
U.S. said it needed more time to
consider the proposed accord -
a move quickly backed by Rus-
sia and China. In December, the
U.N. General Assembly decided
to holda final negotiating confer-
ence to agree on a treaty and set
last Thursday as the deadline.
After two weeks of intensive
negotiations, there was grow-
ing optimism as the deadline
approached that all 193 member
states would approve the final
draft treaty by consensus - a
requirement set by the United
States. This time, the U.S. was
prepared to support the final
draft treaty. But Iran, North
Korea and Syria objected.
Iran said the treaty had many
"loopholes," is "hugely suscep-
tible to politicization and dis-
crimination," and ignores the
"legitimate demand" to prohibit
the transfer of arms to those
who commit aggression. Syria
cited seven objections, including
the treaty's failure to include an
embargo on delivering weapons
"to terrorist armed groups and
to non-state actors." And North
Korea said the treaty favors arms
exporters who can restrict arms
to importers that have a right to
legitimate self-defense and the
arms trade.
Both Iran and North Korea are
under U.N. arms embargoes over
their nuclear programs, while
Syria is in the third year of a con-
flict that has escalated to civil
war and is under U.S. and Euro-
pean Union sanctions. Amnesty
International said all three coun-
tries "have abysmal human rights
records - having even used arms
against their own citizens."
The General Assembly had left
open the possibility of a vote on
the treaty if it failed to achieve
consensus.
Jovanovic said the assem-
bly will meet at 10 a.m. EDT on
Tuesday when the first order of
business will be a report from the
chair of the negotiations, Austra-
lian Ambassador Peter Woolcott.
That will be followed bythe vote.
The draft resolution, obtained
by AP, would adopt the Arms
Trade Treaty that was put to
members last Thursday.
If approved, the resolution
asks Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon, as depositary of the treaty,
to open it for signature by mem-
ber states on June 3. It calls on all
nations to consider signing and
then ratifying the treaty "at the
earliest possible date."
In a letter to the secretary-
general dated Friday, Britain's
U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall
Grant asked the U.N. chief to
circulate the draft resolution to
all U.N. members on behalf of
Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica,
Finland, Japan, Kenya, Mexico,
New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway,
the United States and the United
Kingdom.
By the time the draft resolu-
tionwas circulated Mondaytrea-
ty supporters collected a total of
64 cosponsors and they were try-
ing to add more countries before
Tuesday'spot vote.
The draft treaty would not
control the domestic use of
weapons in any country, but it
would require all countries to
establish national regulations
to control the transfer of con-
ventional arms, parts and com-
ponents and to regulate arms
brokers. It would prohibit states
that ratify the treaty from trans-
ferring conventional weapons if
they violate arms embargoes or
if they promote acts of genocide,
crimes against humanity or war
crimes.
The final draft made the
human rights provision even
stronger, adding that the export
of conventional arms should be
prohibited if they could be used
in attacks on civilians or civil-
ian buildings such as schools and
hospitals.
In considering whether to
authorize the export of arms, the
draft says a country must evalu-
ate whether the weapon would
be used to violate international
human rights or humanitar-
ian laws or be used by terrorists
or organized crime. The final
draft would allow countries to
determine whether the weapons
transfer would contribute to or
undermine peace and security.
Conn. reaches deal on tough gun
laws after Newtown shooting
Creates dangerous
offenders list,
state certificate
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)
- Connecticut lawmakers
announced a deal Monday on
what they called some of the
toughest gun laws in the coun-
try that were proposed after
the December mass shooting
in the state, including a ban on
new high-capacity ammuni-
tion magazines like the one in
the massacre that left 20 chil-
dren and six educators dead.
The proposal also called for
background checks for private
gun sales and a new registry
for existing magazines that
carry 10 or more bullets, some-
thing of a compromise for par-
ents of Newtown victims who
had wanted an outright ban
on them, while legislators had
proposed grandfathering them
into the law.
The package also creates
what lawmakers said is the
nation's first statewide danger-
ous weapon offender registry,
immediate universal back-
ground checks for all firearms
sales and expansion of Con-
necticut's assault weapons
ban.
A new state-issued eligibil-
ity certificate would be needed
to purchase any rifle, shotgun
or ammunition under the leg-
islation. To get the certificate,
a buyer would need to be fin-
gerprinted, take a firearms
training course and undergo a
national criminal background
check and involuntary com-
mitment or voluntary admis-
sion check.
The deal is "the most
comprehensive package in
the country because of its
breadth," said Senate Minority
Leader John McKinney, a Fair-
field Republican whose district
includes Newtown.
McKinney said people tend
to focus on assault weapons
and high-capacity magazines,
but he said "there's a lot here
underneath the surface"
addressing mental health and
other issues.
The proposal was revealed
to rank-and-file lawmakers
Monday after weeks of nego-
tiations amonglegislative lead-
ers. A vote was expected later
this week in the Legislature,
where Democrats control both
chambers, making passage all
but assured. The bill would
then be sent to Gov. Dan-
nel P. Malloy, who has helped
lead efforts to strengthen the
state's gun laws.
Both Democratic and
Republican leaders were
expected to support the pro-
posal. Connecticut is sending
a message to Washington and
the rest of the country "this is
the way to get this job done,"
said House Speaker Brendan
Sharkey, a Democrat from
Hamden.
Legislative leaders have
been negotiating since early
March, reviewing recommen-
dations on guns, mental health
care and school security in the
wake of the shooting.
Six relatives of Newtown
victims visited the Capitol
on Monday, asking lawmak-
ers to include a ban on exist-
ing high-capacity magazines.
Some handed out cards with
photographs of their slain
children. They delivered a let-
ter signed by 24 relatives that
demanded that legislators
include existing large-capac-
ity ammunition magazines in
an expected ban on the sale
of magazines that carry 10 or
more bullets.
Allowing such large-capaci-
ty magazines to remain in the
hands of gun owners would
leave a gaping loophole in the
law, said Mark Barden, whose
7-year-old son, Daniel, was
killed in the shooting.
"It doesn't prevent someone
from going out of the state to
purchase them and then bring
them back. There's no way to
track when they were pur-
chased, so they can say, 'I had
this before,"' Barden said. "So
it's a big loophole."
The gunman in the New-
town shooting blasted his way
into Sandy Hook Elementary
School and fired off 154 shots
with a Bushmaster .223-cali-
ber rifle within five minutes.
He went through six 30-round
magazines, though half were
not completely empty, and
police said he had three other
30-round magazines in addi-
tion to one in the rifle. He
gunned down 26 people, then
shot himself to death with a
handgun.
for more information call 734/615-6449
The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science,
and the Arts presents a public lecture and reception
L SA
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Rackham Amphitheater
4:10pm
__ _.