OCR Text |
Show Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010 Page 2 World&Nation Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com OarifyCorrect The policy of The Utah Statesman is to correct any error made as soon as possible. If you find something you would like clarified or find unfair, please contact the editor at statesmaneditor@aggiemaiLusu.edu Correction A photo in the Jan. 11 issue of the Statesman mislabeled Aggier basketball player Modou Niang as a redshirt soph. on the men's basketball team. Niang is not a redshirt. Celebs&People PETA pulls Obama advertisement McLEAN, Va. (AP) — The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Tuesday it is pulling an ad campaign that used the likeness of first lady Michelle Obama without her permission. PETA said it used photos of Michelle Obama in an anti-fur campaign because the first lady does not wear fur. But they never received authorization to NewsBriefs VATICAN CITY (AP) — "Avatar" is wooing audiences worldwide with visually dazzling landscapes and natureloving blue creatures. But the Vatican is no easy crowd to please. The Vatican newspaper and radio station are criticizing James Cameron's 3-D blockbuster for flirting with the idea that worship of nature can replace religion — a notion the pope has warned against. They call the movie a simplistic and sappy tale, despite its awe-inspiring special effects. LateNiteHumor Monday, January 11, 2010 David Letterman's Top Ten Signs There's Trouble At NBC 10.Lineup has more holes than the Green Bay Packers defense 9.Winner on "Deal Or No Deal" gets to run the network for a week 8.NBC peacock crashed his car and beaten with a golf club 7.NBC Christmas party is a week from Thursday 6.Tina Fey is having a hard time making fictional network executives dumber than the real ones 5.Replacing "Biggest Loser" with a show about people whose weight fluctuates but is still within an acceptable range 4.NBC president seen wandering halls shouting, "Is 'Night Court' still on?" 3.Promise they'll have this figured out by the 2014 Olympics 2.Just gave 10pm show to Snooki 1.It's so bad, they've even considereded me North Korea envoy seeks peace talks NEW YORK (AP) – North Korea's envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday his nation is willing to conduct parallel talks on its nuclear program and on formally ending the Korean War, but only if all sanctions against it are lifted. Summoning a few reporters to North Korea's U.N. Mission, Ambassador Sin Son Ho described U.S. and international sanctions as "an expression of distrust" that must be put aside before the North will rejoin stalled six-party talks to rein in its nuclear program and rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. The talks have involved the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. He repeated his country's position, outlined in a statement Monday from North Korea's Foreign Ministry, that it will only resume the nuclear talks and start peace negotiations to formally end the Korean War after international sanctions on it are lifted. Asked about the timing of resuming the six-party talks and peace negotiations with the U.S., Sin said, "we can work in parallel." "The six-party talks is possible to be returned to sooner ... if the sanctions are removed," Sin said during a question-and-answer session. "Sanctions itself is an expression of distrust. "A cease-fire agreement should have been signed long ago already," he said. "We will try to push the U.S." But the U.S. and South Korea have already rejected the North Korean proposal outlined Monday. Seoul said Tuesday that sanctions can be lifted only after the North rejoins disarmament talks and reports progress in denuclearization. U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley on Monday urged Pyongyang to return to the talks, "and then we can begin to march down the list of issues that we have." Despite the rejections, the North's top diplomat in Beijing on Tuesday repeated his country's position that it will only resume the nuclear talks after international sanctions on it are lifted. "If sanctions are lifted, the sixparty talks can be held at once," North Korean Ambassador to China Choe Jin Su said in a group interview in Beijing, according to Japan's Kyodo News agency. The U.N. Security Council imposed tough new sanctions on North Korea last June, strengthening an arms embargo and authorizing ship searches on the high seas. Those were intended to rein in its nuclear program after Pyongyang's second nuclear test last May, which violated a council resolution adopted after its first nuclear blast in 2006. Choe also said the conclusion of a peace treaty will help promote denuclearization "at a rapid tempo," Kyodo VISITORS PASS BY the weapons used during the Korean War on display at War Memorial of Korea in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. II, 2010 AP Photo reported. North Korea, which claims it was forced to develop atomic bombs to cope with U.S. threats, called for a peace treaty to be concluded this year, which it emphasized marks the 60th anniversary since the outbreak of the Korean War. The signing of a peace treaty has been discussed at the six-nation disarmament talks before but has always been based on the assumption that there would be progress in North Korea's denuclearization. The North quit disarmament talks last year in anger over international condemnation of a long-range rocket launch. The country later conducted its second nuclear test, test-launched a series of ballistic missiles and restarted its plutonium-producing facility, inviting widespread condemnation and tighter U.N. sanctions. dais urge limit on kids' play SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Schools in parts of Utah kept students inside for sports and recess Tuesday after soaring pollution levels prompted state health warnings on driving and outdoor activity. Highland Park Elementary students with respiratory problems were kept inside for morning recess and no one was allowed outside for lunch recess, principal Sue Parker said. Most students don't seem to mind, but teachers have to make an adjustment to their plans, she said. "It's a drag," she added. For the third straight day, AIRNow, a national index for reporting daily air quality, ranked portions of Utah as having the most polluted air in the country, thanks to a growing layer of dust pinned by cold air against the Salt Lake Valley floor. Tuesday's pollution levels in Salt Lake and Davis counties far exceeded health standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. State data showed that Salt Lake City has exceeded standards for tiny flecks of pollution known at PM2.5 since Saturday, with Tuesday's reading nearly three times that of federal standards. At those levels, it's more likely that harmful bits of pollution will be inhaled and damage sensitive lung tissue, cause tightness in the chest and other health effects, said Rebecca Jorgensen, with the state health department's asthma program. "It's going to affect even those that don't have chronic conditions," Jorgensen said. Prolonged exposure to PM2.5 has been linked to premature death in people with heart and lung disease, increased hospital admissions and exacerbated health problems. A Pacific storm Wednesday was expected to blow in, increasing chances for precipitation and partial relief from inversion-trapped pollution. "Right now, we don't think it will completely clear the air" but it will help some areas, said Linda Cheng, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City. State environmental officials late Tuesday afternoon issued a new "red" air quality alert for the five counties on Wednesday, saying everyone should reduce exertion outdoors. Obama wants $33 billion more for war WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration plans to ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, on top of a record request for $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned. The administration also plans to tell Congress next month that its central military objectives for the next four years will include winning the current wars while preventing new ones and that its core missions will include both counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations. The administration's Quadrennial Defense Review, the main articulation of U.S. military doctrine, is due to Congress on Feb. 1. Top military commanders were briefed on the document at the Pentagon on Monday and Tuesday. They also received a preview of the administration's budget plans through 2015. The four-year review outlines six key mission areas and spells out capabilities and goals the Pentagon wants to develop. The pilotless drones used for surveillance and attack missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan are a priority, with a goal of speeding up the purchase of new Reaper drones and expansion of Predator and Reaper drone flights through 2013. The extra $33 billion in 2010 would mostly go toward the expansion of the war in Afghanistan. Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops for that war as part of an overhaul of the war strategy late last year. The request for that additional funding will be sent to Congress at the same time as the record spending request for next year, making war funding an especially difficult pill for some of Obama's Democratic allies. Military officials have suggested that the 2011 request would top $700 billion for the first time, but the precise figure has not been made public. U.S. officials outlined the coming requests on condition of anonymity because the budget request will not be sent to Congress until later this month. Obama's request for more war spending is likely to receive support on Capitol Hill, where Republicans will join moderate Democrats to pass the bill. But the budget debate is also likely to expose a widening rift between Obama's administration — it sees more troops and money as necessary to winning the war — and Democratic leaders, who have watched EDINBURGH & HIGHLANDER public opinion turn against the military campaign. "The president's going to have to make his case," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters last month at her year-end briefing. The 2010 budget contains about $128 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. That figure would rise to $159 billion next year under the proposals prepared for Congress. The Pentagon projects that war funding would drop sharply in 2012, to $50 billion, and remain there through 2015. That is a calculation that the United States will save money from the withdrawal of forces in Iraq, as well as a prediction that the Afghanistan war will begin to wind down in the middle of 2011. Obama has promised that U.S. forces will begin to withdraw from Afghanistan in July 2011, but his defense advisers have set no time limit for the war. The Pentagon projects that overall defense spending would be $616 billion in 2012; $632 billion in 2013; $648 billion in 2014; and $666 billion in 2015. Congress sets little store by such predictions, which typically have fallen short of actual requests and spending. EDINBURGH Best of the Best • Single Student Apartments • Living Room • Private Bedroom and Bathroom • No Parking Hassles • Desk, Bed & Bookcase in each Bedroom • Air Conditioning • Fully Furnished • High Speed Wireless Internet • Laundry in each Apartment • Modern Kitchen Facilities Service in each Bedroom 710 ---Norei HIGHLANDER • TV, VCR, DVD • Cable TV with Jacks in each Bedroom Accepting Applications for Summer and Next School Year For more information call Dennis • G135) 770 - 2326 • (435) 755-8525 • delmax@digis.net 720 NORTH 700 EAST |