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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 2005)
Today Thursday Friday High: 62 High: 54 High: 56 Low: 47 Low: 43 Low: 45 Precip: 20% Precip: 60% Precip: 20% IN BRIEF Supreme Court sidesteps Guantanamo Bay trials WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court prolonged the legal limbo of hundreds of terror suspects in a U.S. military prison in Cuba, re fusing on Tuesday to consider whether the government’s plan for military trials unfairly denies them basic legal rights. So far, only a handful of the 550 detainees from about 40 countries have been charged with war crimes. More are expected once courts sort out how they may be tried. The legal uncertainty surrounding the men, many of whom were cap tured during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan in 2001, has prompted international criticism and spawned multiple court fights. The Supreme Court had been asked to use an appeal by Osama bin Laden’s former driver to decide whether the Bush administration is trying to shortcut defendants’ rights by holding a type of military trial last used during World War II. U.N. conference struggles to form warning system KOBE, Japan — The warning sys tem worked perfectly. From sensors far offshore, Japanese meteorologists detected a tsunami headed toward the southern island of Ishigaki in March 2002 and quickly warned residents of the possible danger. That’s when things went wrong. Instead of heading to safety in the hills, islanders went to the beach to watch. Fortunately, no one was hurt. But the incident recounted Hiesday by a Japanese expert at the opening of a United Nations conference illustrated the complexities of the meeting’s most urgent task: laying the groundwork for a warning system that might have saved countless lives in southern Asia’s tsunami disaster. The Dec. 26 catastrophe was ex pected to dominate the five-day World Conference on Disaster Reduc tion, with experts and diplomats de bating relief aid, the threat of disease and reconstruction in the vast zone of destruction. — The Associated Press As election nears, 3 candidates slain in separate attacks BY SAMEER N. YACOUB THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq — A suicide bomber struck the Baghdad head quarters of Iraq’s biggest Shiite po litical party Thesday, killing three people, as the government an nounced plans to close borders and restrict movements to bolster security in the national election. Three candidates were slain as in surgents intensified their campaign to subvert the ballot. The Cabinet member responsi ble for internal security urged fel low Sunni Arabs to disregard threats by Sunni extremists and vote in the Jan. 30 election, in which Iraqis will choose a 275 member National Assembly and regional legislatures. Otherwise, the minister warned, the country will slide into civil war. In a positive development, a Catholic archbishop kidnapped in northern Iraq was released Tuesday without payment of ran som, the Vatican said. Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, an Iraqi, said he believes he was kid napped by mistake. But an American soldier was killed TUesday in a roadside bomb ing in Baghdad, and more foreign ers were reported kidnapped, in cluding Lebanese businessman Jebrail Adeeb Azar and eight Chinese construction workers. The Chinese were shown held hostage by gunmen claiming the captives worked for a company that deals with Americans. Chi na’s official Xinhua News Agency said diplomats were “making all efforts to rescue” the hostages, who disappeared last week while traveling to Jordan. The suicide driver detonated his vehicle after security guards stopped it at a checkpoint in front of offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Republic in Iraq, one of the major groups contesting the election. The Shiite party, known as SCIRI, has close ties to Iran and is strongly opposed by Sunni Muslim militants. Iraqi police said the bomber and two others died and nine people were wounded, including three police. The blast gouged a crater in the pavement, left several vehicles in flames and spread shredded debris on the street in the Jadriyah district. “SCIRI will not be frightened by such an act,” party spokesman Ridha Jawad said. “SCIRI will continue the march toward build ing Iraq, establishing justice and holding the elections.” Sunni Muslim militants, who make up the bulk of Iraq’s insur gents, have stepped up attacks on Shiites to frighten them into stay ing home on election day. Al though many Sunni clerics and others oppose the election, Shiite leaders have told their followers that voting is their religious duty. Shiites comprise about 60 per cent of Iraq’s 26 million people and are expected to gain the politi cal power long denied them by the Sunni Arab community, estimated at about 20 percent. Large turnouts are expected in the Shiite heartland south of Baghdad and in Kurdish controlled regions of the north. Insurgents have warned people to stay away from the polls and have threatened candidates. Gun men shot and killed three candi dates, officials said Thesday. Two of them belonged to Prime Minis ter Ayad Allawi’s political coali tion, the Iraqi National Accord. Alaa Hamid, who was running for the National Assembly, was killed Monday in Iraq’s second largest city, Basra, an official said. Hamid was also the deputy chair man of the Iraqi Olympic Commit tee in Basra, which had been relatively quiet. Riad Radi, who was contesting the local race for Basra’s provincial council, died Sunday when masked gunmen fired on his car as he was driving with his family, the official said. The third candidate, Shaker Jab bar Sahla, was shot dead in Bagh dad on Monday. He was a Shiite running for the National Assembly on the Constitutional Monarchy Movement ticket, headed by a cousin of Iraq’s last king. U.S. and Iraqi officials fear that a Sunni boycott could cast doubt on the legitimacy of a new govern ment, heighten tensions between Shiites and Sunnis and fuel the Sunni-led insurgency. SUMMER 1 JOBS Now accepting applications tor Conference Assistants Applications due by 12:00 p.m. Monday • February 7, 2005 $22'5/week + Room and Board (live-in requiredi for more information call 346-431) > or email: oaloringC’uoregon.edu. I p/AA/Al >A i'nsliuilion <ommilti'il lo (ullur.il diversilv. 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