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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 2004)
| Global update | Today Saturday Sunday High: 56 High: 57 High: 57 Low: 47 Low: 42 Low: 45 Precip: 80% Precip: 30% Precip: 20% IN BRIEF U.S. soldier sentenced in Iraq prison abuse case BAGHDAD, Iraq — The highest ranking U.S. soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison case was sentenced Thursday to eight years in prison, the severest punishment so far in the scan dal that broke in April with the publi cation of photos and video showing Americans humiliating and abusing naked Iraqis. Staff Sgt. Ivan “Chip” Frederick’s civilian attorney, Gary My ers, called the sentence “excessive” and argued that the military command was at fault for failing to train his client — a veteran military policeman and a corrections officer in civilian life — and for failing to address the horrid condi tions at the prison on the western out skirts of Baghdad. Missile strike in Gaza Strip kills senior Hamas leader GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a car trav eling in the Gaza Strip late Thursday, killing a senior Hamas commander who was among the government’s most-wanted fugitives for years, the latest in a series of Israeli assassina tions that have weakened the militant group. Adnan al-Ghoul, a founder and the No. 2 figure of Hamas’ military wing, was killed along with a lower ranking militant. The air strike dealt another heavy blow to Hamas’ mili tary wing, Izzedine al Qassam, which is responsible for attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis during four years of fighting. Poll security strengthened in watch for terrorism WASHINGTON — Election offi cials are beefing up security and taking other precautions at many of the nation’s 200,000 polling places amid continuing concern that al Qaida terrorists are intent on dis rupting the U.S. political process. Some officials are increasing police patrols and assigning plainclothes officers to monitor voting sites on Election Day. Others are taking steps to secure ballot boxes, set up emergency communications sys tems and locate backup polling places in the event of an attack. Typhoon wreaks havoc on Japan, kills dozens TOKYO — Rescue workers and Japanese troops waded through sludge Thursday to search for victims of mudslides in Japan's deadliest ty phoon in over a decade . Typhoon Tokage, the record eighth typhoon to hit Japan this year, un leashed towering waves and rapid mudslides that demolished homes and flooded dozens of communities when the storm slammed into west ern Japan Wednesday. Tokage, which means lizard in Japanese, headed east into the Pacific Ocean Thursday after losing power, leaving clear blue skies in its wake and rescue workers combing the sea for victims feared washed away in the typhoon. Powerful gusts uprooted huge trees, flash floods submerged cars to their windows and entire hillsides crumbled in landslides across south ern and central Japan. Delivery trucks, tipped over by winds, lay on their sides. By Thursday evening, the death toll had risen to 63 and 25 others were still unaccounted for, the Na tional Police Agency said. Injuries to taled 273. Castro stands stong after fall at public event HAVANA — Cuban President Fidel Castro’s advancing age — and ulti mately his mortality — were brought home Thursday after he fractured a knee and an arm when he tripped and fell at a public event. In a communist society where the 78-year-old leader has played a larg er-than-life role for more than four decades, the tumble was the latest re minder that Cuba’s commander in chief is an aging man who will not live forever, with an elderly brother as his designated successor. “I’m all in one piece,” Castro de clared on state television Wednesday night after tripping on a concrete step while returning to his seat after an hour-long speech in the central city of Santa Clara. A medical examination early Thursday confirmed Castro suffered a broken left knee and a hairline fracture in his upper right arm, ac cording to an official notice carried by state media. — The Associated Press Nigerian insurgents might face death penalty for coup Five Nigerians were charged with two counts of treason each for trying to topple the government BY DULUE MBACHU THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LAGOS, Nigeria — The Nigerian government for the first time Thurs day publicly disclosed a foiled coup plot, charging four military officers and a civilian with conspiring to topple the government by shooting down a helicopter carrying Presi dent Olusegun Obasanjo. Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha, former chief of personal security to late mil itary dictator Gen. Sani Abacha, and four others were each charged with two counts of treason in a federal high court in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos. If convicted, they could face the death penalty. Abacha was the last in a line of military dictators that have repeat edly seized power in Nigeria, which has known only 15 years of democ racy since its independence from Britain in 1960. The years of often corrupt and dictatorial rule have left Nigeria destitute, despite the fact it is Africa’s most populous country with 126 million people and the continent’s largest oil producer. According to court documents re leased Thursday, the military offi cers engaged in a conspiracy “for the purpose of overthrowing the fed eral government of Nigeria by force of arms” and had sought to buy a “Stinger surface-to-air missile to be used in shooting down the presi dent’s helicopter with the president on board.” The documents did not say when the attack was to take place, but three of the five charged Thursday were among dozens of military offi cers arrested and interrogated by Nigeria’s security agencies in April over what the government de scribed at the time as “a security breach.” Al-Mustapha, who has been in detention since 1999 for a series of assassinations of political opponents during Abacha’s years in power, was questioned in April by military intelligence officials in connection with the security breach. Al-Mustapha, Lt. Col. Mo hammed ibn Umar Adeka and civil ian Onwuchekwa Okorie pleaded not guilty Thursday. Two other suspects — navy Cmdr. Yakubu Kudambo, who es caped following his April arrest, and Lt. Tijani Abdallah — remain at large and were charged in absentia. Justice Dan Abutu set the next hear ing date for Oct. 28 and ordered the ac cused to remain in military custody. Faulty tape recorder poses conflict in grave-looting case A Medford man is accused of paying off a hit man with $10,000 of opals to cover an Indian grave raid BY JEFF BARNARD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MEDFORD — The jury deciding whether artifacts collector Jack Harelson paid $10,000 in opals to have four people murdered in retali ation for his Indian grave-looting conviction will have to decide whether or not to believe a paid in formant facing federal drug charges. Defense attorney Robert Abel and prosecutor Clay Johnson both told the Jackson County Circuit Court jury that a tape recorder that inform ant Brian Doland carried in his pocket didn’t capture a key piece of the case against Harelson — his re sponse to a staged photo showing a man lying dead in a shallow grave in the woods. “That’s the primary issue. That’s what we ask you to zero in on,” Abel said Thursday in his opening statement. “Where is Doland’s testi mony verified?” Harelson, 64, a former insurance agent and amateur archaeologist, has pleaded innocent to charges alleging that after his 1996 conviction for rob bing Indian graves in the Nevada desert, he gave Doland $10,000 in opals to pay a hit man to kill four peo ple responsible for sending him to jail. They are retired Josephine County Circuit Judge Loyd O’Neal, who sen tenced Harelson in 1996; state police Lt. Walt Markee, who led the investi gation in that case; and two partners in a Nevada opal mine, Lloyd Olds and the late Richard Ledger. On Tliesday, Harelson pleaded guilty to abusing the ancient remains of two Indian children he dug up in Elephant Mountain Cave in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in the 1980s. The prosecution is seeking a sen tence of 10 to 12 years in prison if Harelson is convicted on all the charges against him, including two counts of being a felon in possession of firearms. Johnson told the jury in his open ing statement Wednesday that the tape recorder didn’t work, but Doland reported afterwards that Harelson had chuckled at seeing a staged photo of Olds pretending to be dead, then tossed the photo into a fire and said, “One down, three to go.” But the key piece of evidence they needed to prove an intent to commit a crime — Harelson accepting the phony photo as proof the first victim had been murdered — has no tape to back it up, Abel said. State police Detective Stephanie In graham, who oversaw the investiga tion, testified that the tape recorder had failed several times before the key meeting, when it shifted in Doland’s pocket, depressing the stop button. the first ever YOU NEED TO GO TO EUROPE! sale Fans are roundtrip from Portland. The** price* are subject to change and avaitabiity and is only valid for students and youth under 26. Fare* are valid for travel from January Hth through April 10th, 2006. Taxes and other applicable fees are not included. f UNITED 877 1/2 Easd 13Ch SC. (541)344.2263 P) Lufthansa STA TRAVEL www.statravel.com STUDENT TRAVEL & BEYOND Oil ilv =it 340-&S33 Oiytn Iiton-S itl CK> 3131 Wtvt llfli. At*. 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