The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, Apri115, 2013 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom MondayApriIl5,2013-3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Program launched
to help immigrant
entrepreneurs
As lawmakers in Washing-
ton work out an overhaul of the
immigration system, a Michi-
gan-based social and economic
services agency has launched a
comprehensive program to help
immigrants open or expand
businesses.
Dearborn-based ACCESS
recently held a graduation cer-
emony for the inaugural class
of its Immigrant Entrepreneur
Development Program. It's one
of several immigrant- and refu-
gee-focused efforts in the orga-
nization's new Growth Center
division.
The Detroit area, which is
home to one of the nation's larg-
est Arab populations, also has
Nigerian, Bangladeshi, Bosnian
and other communities. The pro-
gram aims to assist newcomers
in their entrepreneurial quest
through classes, individual busi-
ness coaching and direct access
to programs and services inside
and outside of the organiza-
tion, such as business incuba-
tors and financial institutions.
SAN FRANCISCO
Injuries sustained
0 in tour bus crash
near Yosemite
A tour bus carrying visitors
from Yosemite National Park
was traveling at an unsafe speed
when the driver lost control and
crashed on a mountain road,
leaving 16 people injured, the
California Highway Patrol said
Sunday.
The bus was about six miles
outside of the south entrance of
the park when it went off High-
way 41, a winding mountain
road, when it crashed about 6
p.m. Saturday. It came to a stop
when it hit a tree, CHP Officer
Scott Jobinger said.
Fifteen pas sengers and a tour
guide suffered minor to moder-
ate injuries.
NEW YORK
9/11 memorial to
begin charging $2
reservation fee
Visitors to the National Sep-
tember 11 Memorial & Museum
must now pay a $2 service fee to
reserve passes online or by phone.
The fee went into effect last
month, although there is no charge
for admission to the memorial
on the World Trade Center site.
There's also no charge for same-
day passes distributed on a first-
come, first-served basis.
Family members of some 9/11
victims say the fee violates the
memorial's mission.
"They're making money off
the people that died. It's disgust-
ing," Jim Riches, a retired FDNY
deputy chief who lost his firefight-
er son, told the New York Post.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia
Prince backs new
reforms allowing
women to drive
Saudi billionaire Prince
Alwaleed bin Talal has indicated
support of allowing women there
to drive.
He says that would help the
kingdom's campaign to cut down
on the number of foreign workers.
Saudi Arabia follows an ultra-
conservative interpretation of
Islam and bans women from driv-
ing.
"The question of allowing
women to drive in Saudi Arabia
will save more than 500,000 jobs
in addition to the social and eco-
nomic benefits," the prince wrote
Sunday on his Twitter account.
Thousands of foreign workers
have been fired from their jobs
and then deported, part of a gov-
ernment campaign against for-
eigners who illegally reside and
work in the kingdom.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports.
London School blasts
BBC for phony trip
S
US(
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, tours the Zojoji Buddhist temple in Tokyo Sunday, April 14, 2013. The
United States and Japan on Sunday offered new talks with North Korea concerning the nation's nuclear programs.
Sec. Kerry in Japan to seek
diplomacy with North Korea
Seoul and Beijing
also stops on State
Department trip
TOKYO (AP) - The United
States and Japan opened the
door Sunday to new nuclear
talks with North Korea if the
saber-rattling country low-
ered tensions and honored past
agreements, even as it rejected
South Korea's latest offer of dia-
logue asa "crafty trick."
U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry told reporters in Tokyo
that North Korea would find
"ready partners" in the United
States if it began abandoning its
nuclear program.
Japan's foreign minister,
Fumio Kishida, also demand-
ed a resolution to a dispute
concerning Japanese citizens
abducted decades ago by North
Korean officials.
The diplomats seemed to
point the way for a possible
revival of the six-nation talks
that have been suspended for
four years.
China long pushed has for
the process to resume without
conditions. But the U.S. and
allies South Korea and Japan
fear rewarding North Korea for
its belligerence and endless rep-
etition of a cycle of tensions and
failed talks that have prolonged
the crisis.
Kerry's message of openness
to diplomacy was clear, however
unlikely the chances appeared
that North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un's government would
meet the American's conditions.
"I'm not going to be so stuck
in the mud that an opportunity
to actually get something done
is flagrantly wasted because of
a kind of predetermined stub-
bornness," he told U.S.-based
journalists.
"You have to keep your mind
open. But fundamentally, the
concept is they're going to have
to show some kind of good
faith here so we're not going to
around and around in the same-
old, same-old," he said.
Tensions have run high
on the Korean Peninsula for
months, with North Korea
testing a nuclear device and its
intercontinental ballistic mis-
sile technology.
The reclusive communist
state hasn't stopped there. It has
issued almost daily threats that
have included possible nucle-
ar strikes against the United
States. Analysts and foreign
officials say that is still beyond
the North Koreans' capability.
While many threats have
been dismissed as bluster, U.S.
and South Korean say they
believe the North in the coming
days may test a mid-range mis-
sile designed to reach as far as
Guam, the U.S. territory in the
Pacific where the Pentagon is
deploying a land-based missile-
defense system.
Japan is the last stop on a
10-day trip overseas for Kerry,
who visited Seoul and Beijing as
well in recent days.
In South Korea, he strongly
warned North Korea not to
launch a missile and he reaf-
firmed U.S. defense of its allies
in the region. In China, he
secured a public pledge from
Beijing, the lone government
with significant influence over
North Korea, to rid the North of
nuclear weapons.
Before returning to the
United States, Kerry planned a
speech Monday in Japan on the
Obama administration's Asia
policy.
So far, Republican lawmakers
in the U.S. have largely backed
the administration's efforts on
North Korea.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.,
told CBS' "Face the Nation" that
he was encouraged by Kerry's
China visit and that he hoped
"we can get the Chinese to care
more about this issue.
U.S. Sen. John McCain of
Arizona suggested on CNN's
"State of the Union" that the
U.S. make a counter-threat by
using missile interceptors to hit
anyNorth Korean missile thatis
test-fired.
At each stop along his trip,
Kerry stressed that the United
States wanted a peaceful resolu-
tion of the North Korea situation
six decades after a cease-fire
ended the Korean War.
But North Korea on Sunday
served a reminder of the diffi-
cult task ahead. Its Committee
for the Peaceful Reunification
of Korea said the government
had no intention of talking with
Seoul unless the South aban-
dons its confrontational pos-
ture, as the North called it.
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ed students to get She said Sweeney was being
"disingenuous" by citing free-
into country speech concerns as justification
for putting students in danger.
NDON (AP) - One of Brit- LSE blamed BBC for not being
leading academic insti- forthcoming about its reporting
ts, the London School of plans in North Korea. In the past,
omics, is accusing the BBC journalists have at times been
ttting students at risk by detained for working without
them as cover for a covert authorization in North Korea,
ting trip to North Korea. where foreign reporting crews
e school says BBC's decision usually have to operate under
nd three TV journalists to strict governmental supervision.
cretive communist state in In an email sent to staff and
h to shoot a documentary students, the university com-
cut governmental permis- plains that the BBC program
o work there by posing as was produced "using as cover a
bers of a student trip could visit to North Korean which took
caused grave trouble for place from 23-30 March in the
upils, if the deception had name of the Grimshaw Club, a
uncoveredby North Korean student society at LSE."
rities. BBC News Head of News Pro-
e squabble between two gramsCeriThomassaidonaBBC
rful British institutions News program Sunday that the
s at a time of uncertainty students were given the infor-
d by North Korea's bellicose mation needed to give informed
ts to launch a new medium- consent to the increased risk of
missile at its enemies. traveling with journalists who
brought more unwelcome did not have authorization to
tion to the BBC, which has work in North Korea.
sustained criticism for its He said, however, that the stu-
ing of an investigation into dents were told roughly a month
'd child sex abuse commit- before the trip that there would
y the late Jimmy Savile, long be "a journalist" traveling with
BBC talk showhost. thembutcwere latertold,oncethey
e "Panorama" documen- were enroute to North Korea,that
cn North Korea based on the there would be three journalists
day trip in March is set to who would be conducting under-
onday night. cover filming for TV.
e BBC has thus far refused Thomas said the students may
niversity's plea to keep it off have been under the impres-
ir to protect the students sion that a print journalist, not a
possible retribution if their three-person TV crew, was going
ities are revealed on the to be involved.
The broadcaster said three He said BBC would air the
%ts who have asked to be documentary despite LSE's con-
ved fromthe showwill have cerns because of high public
images blurred so they can- interest in the show.
e identified. "It is disappointing for us that
e trip was not organized LSEhas chosentomakethis pub-
E but by a students' soci- lic,"hesaid. "We wouldhavekept
known as the Grimshaw them out of this altogether. They
University officials said could have avoided the publicity,
did not know about the BBC and we think that would have
gement and would not have lowered the reputational risk."
'ved it if they had known He said BBC executives felt
BBC's plans. that if the deception was discov-
e BBC's John Sweeney, who ered the students likely would
fficials say posed as a post- have been deported, but he
late LSE student, said Sun- admitted he could not "categori-
t was "entirely wrong" for cally" rule out the possibility
niversity to try to prevent that their lives might have been
roadcast. He said all of the at risk.
nts had been told about the BBC press officials said senior
tial risk and had agreed to executives would not discuss the
the journalists to join the matter but might issue further
adding that all were over 18 statements.
of age and capable of mak- The BBC's action sparked con-
eir own decisions. cerns that the use of a British
BBC story about the trip that academic research trip as a cover
etwork filed online Sunday for a clandestine TV reporting
Sweeney and a two-person venture might undermine the
that included his wife spent ability of researchers to operate
t days undercover" in North overseas.
a. Nicola Dandridge,chiefexecu-
E student union general tive of Universities UK, said BBC
tary Alex Peters-Day said must understand how its actions
ay that the students were might hurt research institutions.
o and that at least one of the She said the BBC may have not
nts on the eight-day trip only put students in harm's way
not told in advance of the but also damaged the reputations
alists' participation. of British universities.
his is a student welfare "We regret the BBC's
" she told a BBC interview- approach," she said.
We don't know what could A BBC story about the trip
happened to those students says Sweeney and a two-person
truthfully, neither does the crew that included his wife spent
It's absolutely disgraceful "eight days undercover" in North
e (Sweeney) put students in Korea.
Debate renews over Mich. high
school graduation requirements
Lawmakers claim
current system
doesn't allow for
trade careers
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -
Some Michigan lawmakers
are making another attempt
to change the state's high
school graduation require-
ments, which they argue do
not provide flexibility to allow
students to pursue career and
technical education programs.
Then-Gov. Jennifer Gran-
holm signed the Michigan Merit
Curriculum into law in 2006,
making the state's graduation
requirements among the tough-
est in the country. Backers said
they'd create a well-educated,
well-prepared workforce cru-
cial to the state's economic
future. But some lawmakers
say the standards are designed
for students heading to four-
year colleges, leavingthose who
want to pursue careers in con-
struction, welding and agricul-
tural science behind.
"We are not trying to degrade
the education system and cre-
ate a two-tied set of students,"
Republican Rep. Peter Pettalia
of Presque Isle told the House
Education Committee. "We
are trying to engage a group of
students we believe are falling
through the cracks."
Under the bills, students
would still need four years of
math, but would be able to sub-
stitute algebra II with statis-
tics, technical math or another
math relevant to their career
and technical education, said
Republican Rep. Ed McBroom
of Vulcan.
The bills, which are also
backed by some Democrats,
would also remove foreign lan-
guage requirements and allow
students to use extracurricular
activities to replace some phys-
ical education credits. Agri-
cultural science would be an
eligible science course. Similar
bills are pending in the Senate.
The Michigan Association
of Secondary School Principals
opposes the bills because it
says the current requirements
work. Since 2006, the state's
graduation rate has increased
by about 1 percent while the
dropout rate has decreased
by 4 percent, according to the
group.
Efforts have been made to
revise the graduation require-
ments nearly every year since
the law was signed, but the
bills never gained traction in
the Legislature. But McBroom
said changes in these bills are
so small that he thinks they
will make it through the House
this year.
The question remains
whether Republican Gov. Rick
Snyder, who in his State of the
State Address called it "unac-
ceptable" that only 17 percent
of the state's students are "col-
lege ready," would back the
changes.
"These bills do represent a
significant policy change and
so the administration will be
thoroughly reviewing them
and the impacts they could
have in our efforts to prepare
our kids for the workplace of
tomorrow," Snyder spokesman
Kurt Weiss said in an email.
McBroom told the commit-
tee that by the time students
complete the 18 required cred-
its, they usually only have
about 6 credits left for other
classes. That means students
can get boxed out of career and
technical education programs,
which has caused some schools
to stop offering such programs,
he said.
But State Superintendent
Mike Flanagan said the per-
centage of Michigan students
in career and technical educa-
tion programs has remained
flat since the curriculum was
put in place. About 7.6 percent
of Michigan students are in
these programs now, compared
to about 7.5 percent when the
requirements were set.
There is already plenty of
leeway, particularly when
it comes to algebra II, said
Wendy Zdeb-Roper, the exec-
utive director of the Michi-
gan Association of Secondary
School Principals and a former
high school principal. Stu-
dents can spread out the alge-
bra II content over two years.
Algebra II can also be embed-
ded into career and technical
classes.
Students may also follow a
personal curriculum, or an indi-
vidualized curriculum devel-
oped by the superintendent,
parents and student.
CENTER FOR SIOETHICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN MEDICNE
2013
CBSSM Research Colloquium
& Bishop Lecture in Bioethics
Wednesday, April 17th, 8:15 am-4:15 pm
Alumni Center (200 Fletcher St.)
Featured Keynote Address:
Ruth Macklin, PhD will present the Bishop Lecture in Bioethics
entitled, "Global Gender Justice: Violence against women;
whose responsibility?"
The Bishop lecture is sponsored by the.Ronald C. and Nancy
V. Bishop estate and the Center for Bioethics and Social
Sciences in Medicine.
For more information, including Colloquium abstracts & speaker
bios: cbssm.org/events
BUILDING 16U4TH FLOOR C
ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 to .
WWW.CBSSM.ORG CENTER FOR BIOETHICS AND
SOCIAL SCIENCES IN MEDICINE