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.
Applications are available at any Area
Desk, the Catering and Conferences
oil ice, and online at http://housing.
11 o rego n. eck i/A BO/j o bs. h t m I.
ASUO WOW HIRING!
POSITIONS:
Senate Seat 17 - Grad/Law Position
Senate Seat 14 - Social Science
Executive Programs Administrator
Senate Seat #3 - PFC
Senate Seat #4 - EMU
Senate Seat #18 - Graduate/Law
Administrative Assistant
Accounting Coordinator Assistant
EMU Board at large position
Applications Available in ASUO Suite 4
Applications Due by 5pm January 21 st
Contact ASUO at 346-3724 (AA/EOE/ADA)
13th & Lawrence • Eugene • 683-1300
www.bergsskishop.com
|/hop
Ski &
Snowboard
Clothing
20%
OFF
Oregon Daily Emerald.
A campus tradition-over 100 years of publication.
.021207
dine
Subs with Substance
Hump Day
$5 OFF any 16" pizza
one topping or more with 2 free drinks
exp 1/19/06 • not valid with any other offer
valid for carryout or delivery
Si 9B m
686-5808
824 Ckamelton
Sun-Wed: 11 am-1 am
Thur-Sat: 11 am - 2 am