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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 2004)
Global update | Today Wednesday Thursday High: 72 Low: 54 Precip: 30% High: 70 Low: 49 Precip: 30% High: 74 Low: 52 Precip: 20% IN BRIEF Car bombs kill 24, wound more than 100 in Iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents un leashed a pair of powerful car bombs Monday near the symbol of U.S. au thority in Iraq — the Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy and key gov ernment offices are located — and ho tels occupied by hundreds of foreign ers. T\vo other explosions brought the day’s bombing toll to at least 24 dead and more than 100 wounded. More than three dozen car bombings since the beginning of September illustrate the militants’ seeming ability to strike at will despite recent pledges by the United States and Iraq to intensify the suppression of insurgents, and the morale-boosting recapture of Samarra over the weekend. First open Saudi Arabian trial is canceled RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s first open trial for democrat ic advocates was abruptly closed by the judge Monday, a decision seen by progressive Saudis as a setback to re form efforts in the kingdom. The three defendants are the last re maining detainees among 13 reform ers arrested in March after openly criti cizing the strict religious environment and slow pace of reform in the king dom, where the United States has been pressing for democratic change. Some of the 13 had signed a letter to Crown Prince Abdullah calling for political, economic and social reforms, including parlia mentary elections. Rocket wins $10 million prize for trip to space MOJAVE, Calif. - A stout, star-spangled rocket plane broke through the Earth’s atmosphere to the edge of space Monday for the second time in five days, cap turing a $10 million prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists. The privately built SpaceShipOne took off under neath the belly of a mother plane that carried it about nine miles over the Mojave Desert. From there, SpaceShipOne fired its en gine and streaked skyward at about three times the speed of sound on a half-hour flight that took it more than 62 miles high, generally considered the point where space begins. Teachers overlooked killing warning signs NAGASAKI — The Nagasaki prefectural education board said Tuesday in a report that teachers had overlooked warning signs before an 11-year-old girl in the city of Sasebo killed her class mate in June because they had considered the girl to be “an earnest and hard worker.” The education board unveiled the report on its findings about the incident at the prefectural as sembly meeting in the morning. The girl, whose name has been withheld because she is a minor, killed Satomi Mitarai, 12, on June 1, by slashing her neck with a knife in an empty class room at Okubo Elementary School in Sasebo during the lunch hour and leaving her to bleed to death. — The Associated Press Attack-plagued Indonesia holds democratic elections Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to begin president Oct. 20 after receiving 60 percent of the votes BY MICHAEL CASEY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JAKARTA, Indonesia — Susilo Bam bang Yudhoyono was declared Indone sia’s next president Monday and now faces the tough task of rebuilding a country plagued by attacks from Al Qaida-linked terrorists, separatist con flicts and an economy still reeling from the 1998 Asian financial crisis. The U.S.-educated Yudhoyono won 60 percent of the vote compared to President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s 39 percent in the Sept. 20 runoff election, final results showed Monday. He will be inaugurated Oct. 20 and is expect ed to announce his Cabinet soon after. Even with his popular mandate, the 55-year-old general, who critics say has a history of indecisiveness, declined to declare victory on Monday or give specifics on how he intended to govern the world’s largest Muslim nation. “Our big theme will be reconcilia tion and working together within democracy for the country’s future,” he told reporters in his first com ments after being declared the win ner. He did not elaborate. Yudhoyono was planning to make an acceptance speech but canceled after Megawati refused to concede, his aides said. Megawati’s campaign spokesman Pramono Anung said she accepted the results but would “speak at the right time.” Analysts said Yudhoyono could go a long way to shoring up his pop ularity and pleasing markets in the first few weeks by picking a Cabinet of professionals. He also could unveil a policy agen da that reflects voters desires for a crackdown on widespread corruption and reduction of the country’s dou ble-digit unemployment rate that has lingered since the 1997-98 Asian fi nancial crisis. He could also take a tougher stand against hardline Islamic groups by formally outlawing the Al-Qaida linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group which has been blamed for a string of bombings, including the Sept. 9 at tack outside the Australian Embassy and the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. Yudhoyono attended officer training college in the United States and led the country’s anti-terror effort as Megawati’s security minister. He is also credited with attempting to bring peace to the province of Aceh, where sepa ratist guerillas have been fighting since 1976 for an independent homeland. He has said he wants to settle the conflict peacefully but must contend with a powerful military that believes force is the best option. “We still have a political and eco nomic crisis in the country so it is important for us to have a credible Cabinet,” analyst Eep Saefulloh Fa tah said. The election was the first in which Indonesia’s 210 million people voted for their president directly. The bah lot, which was peaceful and free of irregularities, was praised as a key step in the country’s transition to democracy after the downfall of ex-dictator Suharto in 1998. Yudhoyono presented few distinct policies during the campaign, but voters hungry for change were im pressed by his grasp of the issues and his steadfast, honest image. Analysts said Yudhoyono could learn much from the largely unsuc cessful administrations of Megawati and former president Abdurrahman Wahid, both of which he served in. Megawati lost much of her support early on by allowing corruption to go unchecked and dragging her feet on economic reforms. Wahid is remem bered as an erratic leader who rou tinely fired Cabinet ministers, issued contradictory policies and traveled abroad in times of crisis. The biggest challenge for Yudhoy ono will be balancing the expecta tions of his supporters for far-reach ing reforms with the political realities on the ground. His Democratic Party has less than 10 percent of the seats in par liament, meaning he will either have to forge coalitions with the po litical elite who he ran against, or go it alone and risk political gridlock during his five-year tenure. An early test of his resolve will be how he deals with the issue of fuel subsidies, which have ballooned in recent months as oil prices reached $50 per barrel. Critics say the subsidies mostly benefit rich car owners, and cutting them would free up money for edu cation and programs for the poor. 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