Today Thursday Friday
High: 68 High: 71 High: 68
Low: 49 Low: 50 Low: 49
Precip: 50% Precip: 0% Precip: 60%
IN BRIEF
Record flu vaccine
shortage hits U.S.
WASHINGTON — Americans’ sup
ply of flu vaccine was abruptly cut in
half Thesday, prompting the govern
ment to ask most healthy adults to de
lay or skip flu shots so that the elderly
and others most at risk from influenza
can get scarce supplies. British regula
tors unexpectedly shut down a major
flu-shot supplier Thesday, prompting a
record shortage in this country just as
flu season is about to begin.
White House staunchly
defends Iraq policy
WASHINGTON — The White
House staunchly defended its Iraq pol
icy Thesday as new questions emerged
about President Bush’s prewar deci
sions and postwar planning. An im
pending weapons report undercut the
administration's main rationale for the
war, and the former head of the Amer
ican occupation said the United States
had too few troops in Iraq after the in
vasion. Four weeks before Election
Day, Sen. John Kerry pounced on the
acknowledgment by former Iraq ad
ministrator Paul Bremer that the Unit
ed States had “paid a big price” for in
sufficient troop levels.
U.S.-Iraqi forces launch
major offensive
BAGHDAD, Iraq — More than 3,000
U S. and Iraqi troops launched a major
operation Tliesday against insurgent
strongholds just south of Baghdad,
their second mission in five days to
wrest control from militants whose at
tacks threaten national elections seen
as crucial to stabilizing this turbulent
country. The operation in Babil
province — an area notorious for kid
nappings and ambushes and home to
the fabled, ancient city of Babylon —
follows last week's U.S.-Iraqi drive to
oust insurgent forces from Samarra,
about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
Turkey edges closer to
European Union entrance
BRUSSELS, Belgium — The Euro
pean Union head office will likely push
for stringent and long-term conditions
to membership for Tlirkey as part of its
expected approval on Wednesday to
start entry negotiations, which are like
ly to last at least 10 years.
The 30-member executive Euro
pean Commission is expected to
warn Ankara in its recommendation
that any backtracking on human
rights or other democratic reforms
could cause a delay in negotiations.
Body found in Willamette
River still unidentified
DUNDEE — A body was discov
ered in the Willamette River over the
weekend, and authorities on Tliesday
still could not determine the man's
identity or what caused his death.
A child on a day outing with his
family spotted the body floating face
down on Sunday. Yamhill County
District Attorney Brad Berry said an
autopsy was performed Monday at
the state Medical Examiner’s Office
in Portland.
“What we know is more about
what did not happen,” the district at
torney said. “He was not shot,
stabbed or strangled.”
— The Associated Press
Voters rally in Afghanistan
as weekend elections near
Thousands gather in support of three presidential
candidates; elections focus is on recovery from war
BY AMIR SHAH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GHAZNI, Afghanistan — Watched
over by American bodyguards and
sharpshooters, Afghanistan’s eternal
ly optimistic interim president told a
campaign rally of 10,000 people Tlies
day that this weekend’s election is a
key step in their recovery from
decades of war and hardship.
The gathering was one of three
big rallies by leading presidential
contenders on the most active day
yet in a campaign that has mostly
been waged behind closed doors,
with the candidates courting the
support of tribal elders who can in
fluence how whole villages vote.
It was only President Hamid
Karzai’s second campaign trip out of
the capital since an assassination at
tempt by Taliban rebels last month,
and security was tight. Truckloads
of Afghan police lined the road lead
ing to the dusty field, and everyone
attending the rally had to pass
through security checkpoints as U.S.
helicopters flew overhead.
Karzai, the overwhelming favorite
among the 18 contenders, said Satur
day’s election is an opportunity to
build a new future for a country that
has known nothing but war, drought
and poverty for a quarter century.
“Brothers and sisters of
Afghanistan, I ask you to vote for me
freely, with no pressure,” Karzai told
the crowd in Ghazni, about 75 miles
south of Kabul. “We want a proud
Afghanistan, a stable Afghanistan, a
peaceful Afghanistan. ”
After the rally, he mingled in the
crowd, shaking hands with an old
man who pressed closer to meet him.
“Don’t push him! Don’t push
him!” Karzai told his security detail
when they tried to keep the man
away. “This is democracy. This is
emotion!”
People in the crowd danced and
sang, while drummers beat out a
traditional song.
Karzai’s main rival, former Interior
Minister Yunus Qanooni, addressed
more than 2,000 people at the Kabul
sports stadium to appeal for support.
Qanooni, an ethnic Tajik, is expected
to finish second but hopes to hold
Karzai below the majority vote need
ed to avoid a runoff.
In the northern city of Mazar-e
Sharif, Uzbek strongman Abdul
Rashid Dostum told several thou
sand people that Karzai’s govern
ment had fallen short on promises
of reconstruction and improved se
curity. Afterward, Dostum mounted
a brown horse — his electoral sym
bol— as the crowd pressed in
around him, chanting his name.
Afghan police raid
hideout Monday
On Monday, Afghan soldiers and
police raided a hideout where Tal
iban militants were suspected of
preparing attacks to disrupt the
presidential election, prompting a
three-hour battle that killed seven
insurgents, officials said Tuesday.
Seven police officers were report
ed killed Tliesday when their vehicle
struck a land mine close to the Pak
istani border, and police said gun
men shot at a U.N. vehicle, wound
ing three Afghan election workers.
The Taliban, which was driven
from power by a U.S.-led coalition
in late 2001, has staged a string of at
tacks on election workers, made fre
quent rocket assaults on U.S. bases
and sprung occasional ambushes.
But the rebels have not launched
the major assault that many people
had feared in the days leading up to
the vote. Officials said they were
confident the rebels would not be
able to mount attacks capable of
stopping the vote.
“The elections will be secure, not
so much because the remnants of the
Taliban or the terrorist forces are sav
ing their energies to launch attacks on
the day of the election,” said Jawed
Ludin, a spokesman for Karzai. “Our
intelligence is that in fact there is not
much energy left there. ”
In neighboring Pakistan, the In
ternational Organization for Migra
tion, which organized a four-day
voter registration drive among
Afghan refugees, said about 740,000
had signed up to vote in the elec
tion. It said about 28 percent were
women, who had been pressured in
Pakistan’s conservative tribal areas
not to register.
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