2A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 11, 2004 NATION/WORLD 4 Afghan, KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan election officials agreed yesterday to create an independent com- mission to probe opposition charges of fraud in this nation's first-ever presi- dential poll, while ballot-boxes stuffed with the aspirations of the people of this war-ravaged land started to stack up in counting centers. International officials met privately in an effort to end a boycott of the bal- lot by opponents of U.S.-backed interim President Hamid Karzai, a heavy favor- ite to win. Tallying of the votes had initially been expected to start yesterday, but with ballot boxes coming in from some remote areas on mules, U.N. officials said the process wouldn't start for three to four days. Final results are not expected until about Oct. 30. A day after 15 challengers announced they would boycott the election's out- come, two backed off, saying they wanted a commission to rule whether the voting was fair and indicating they would accept its decision. A few hours later, their demand appeared to have been met. "There is going to be an independent commission made to investigate it," electoral director Farooq Wardak said. "There could be mistakes; we are just human beings. My colleagues might have made a mistake." There was no immediate reaction from the challengers, but a senior West- ern official said many of the 15 had decided to back down and support the investigative team, which would consist of about three foreign election experts. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and other officials spent much of yester- day meeting with the candidates. voting f In Washington, U.S. national securi- ty adviser Condoleezza Rice predicted that "this election is going to be judged legitimate." "I'm just certain of it," she said. The opposition complaint is focused on allegations that the supposedly indel- ible ink used to mark voters' thumbs in some polling stations could be rubbed off, allowing some people to vote more than once. International election observers said the complaint did not justify calling for the vote to be nullified. The U.S. Inter- national Republican Institute accused the challengers of making up excuses for why they were likely to lose. Electoral officials said turnout looked extremely high - a victory in itself in a nation with no experience at direct elections. Karzai said he was "very disappoint- ed" with his challengers' complaint. "They should have respected the vote of the people," he said. Yesterday, ballots were carried to eight centers around the country, where they were readied for counting. In Mazar-e-Sharif, election officials said they had not received ballots that were supposed to be flowing in from five northern provinces. They said it could take until tomorrow or Wednes- day for ballots to arrive from remote villages. Widespread attacks threatened by the Taliban to disrupt the vote never mate- rialized. The rebels managed a smat- tering of deadly assaults around the country, but they took the biggest hit, losing 25 men in a clash with U.S. and Afghan forces in the south. Lt. Gen. David Barno, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told The aud investigated F - Ammom- - -- NEWS IN BRIEF WASHINGTON Lawmakers to pass corporate tax cuts 4 The Senate late yesterday resolved a dispute delaying passage of a sweeping corporate tax bill and two spending bills for disaster relief and homeland security. clearing the way for senators to adjourn today to hit the campaign trail. The agreement removed parliamentary roadblocks thrown up by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) to express her unhappiness that the tax measure did not include pay support for members of the Reserves and National Guard, and by Sen. Tom Harkin, who was blocking passage of two spending bills. The agreement, announced by Majority Leader Bill Frist, will allow the Senate to vote today on a bill that will provide $136 billion in new tax breaks for busi- nesses and other groups and $10.1 billion separately to buy out tobacco farmers' government quotas. It will also allow votes on a bill helping hurricane victims and farmers suTfer- ing from drought, flood and other emergencies and a bill to fund the homeland security. AP PHOTO An Afghan election staff prepares to count ballots at a U.N office at Herat airport yesterday, a day after Afghanistan's first direct presidential election. Landrieu was seeking to get approval for another bill that would give employers a tax credit if they made up the pay their employees lose when they are called to active duty in the Reserves or National Guard. Landrieu's proposal would provide a 50 percent tax credit to employers for'up to $30,000 in salary payments a year and was estimated to have a $2.5 billion cost over 10 years. WASHINGTON Voting system could cause election glitch Call it the law of unintended consequences. A new national backup system meant to ensure that millions of eligible voters are not mistakenly turned away from the polls Nov. 2, as happened in 2000, could wind up causing Election Day problems as infamous as Florida's hanging chads. For the first time, Congress is requiring all states to offer a backup ballot to any voter whose name does not appear on the rolls when the voter comes to the polling place on Nov. 2. If the voter is later found eligible, the vote counts. Like Florida's punch cards, provisional ballots are pieces of paper that must be evaluated individually and counted by hand. The task is time-consuming, and most states have short deadlines to get the job done, said Doug Lewis, director of the Election Center, a nonpartisan research and training organization for statend local election administrators. Post-election suits could resemble the Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore case that settled the 2000 election. The justices said it was unfair for Florida counties to apply different standards during punch card recounts, and there was not time to fix the problem. I Associated Press the election could sound the rebels' death knell. "The Taliban basically didn't show. They had very limited attacks," he said. "Yesterday was a huge defeat for the Taliban." He predicted Taliban leaders would "eventually look for ways to reconcile with the government that comes in." Even though Western officials gave the thumbs up to the decision, a suc- cessful democracy needs an oppo- sition that accepts election results. Karzai's ability to unite the nation, fight warlords and crush the Taliban's insurgency might be undermimed if his opponents refuse to recognize the vote's legitimacy. Car bombs kill BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Car bombers struck twice in rapid succession in the capital yesterday, killing at least 11 people including an American soldier, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that violence may increase before the January election. Iraq's most feared terror group - Tawhid and Jihad - claimed responsibility for the near-simultaneous car bomb- ings, one near an east Baghdad police academy and the other outside an east Baghdad market as an American military convoy was passing by. At least 16 people were wounded. An American soldier was fatally injured in the convoy attack, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. One Iraqi was wounded in that attack. The Kindi Hospital said it received 10 bod- ies from the police academy blast, and police said 15 others were injured there. The dead at Kindi hospital included three police academy istudents and a female officer. In a statement posted on the Web, Tawhid and Jihad, led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said the car bombings were carried out by its military wing and were 'martyrdom" operations, meaning suicide attacks. Improvised bombs - some left by the side of the road, others rigged in vehicles - have become insurgents' weap- on of choice in turbulent Iraq and have accounted for about 11 in Baghdad half the American battle deaths in recent months. U.S. offi- cials are struggling to build up Iraq's own security to cope with the threat. Al-Zarqawi's group also warned it would continue "to slaughter infidels" until the Americans and their Iraqi allies release all women detained in Iraq. The warning was part of a message contained in a videotape posted yesterday on the Web depicting the brutal decapitation of British hostage Kenneth Bigley. Bigley, whose death was announced by his family Friday, was shown pleading for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to save his life moments before assailants severed his head with a knife. His body has not been found. "Here I am again, Mr. Blair, very, very close to the end of my life," Bigley said in a calm voice. "You do not appear to have done anything at all to help me." One of the hooded men then spoke, saying the British gov- ernment "pretended to care'about its people" but "they are lying." He accused the British of lying when Foreign Sec- retary Jack Straw said the government did not know how to contact Tawhid and Jihad. "Britain is not serious," the speaker said. "So this mali- cious Britons has nothing except the sword." The speaker then drew a knife and cut off Bigley's head while three others held him down. PHONES Continued from page 1A Another charity is Secure the Call, which teamed up this month with Albertsons, one of the world's larg- est food and drug retailers, to collect and donate phones. "We anticipate a successful drive while creating awareness of domestic violence," Secure the Call President Volante Williams said in a written statement. "In addition to providing a needed service to those without a cell phone, Secure the Call's pro- gram keeps phones out of the local landfills." Many of the programs serve dual purposes. Some also raise money for various charities by accepting phones and then selling them in addition to redistributing phones for emergency calls. Others recycle phones to pro- tect the environment. A new website, recyclewireless phones.com, can help those inter- ested to find a place to donate a phone. NEW YORK Researchers: U.S. must attract vaccine makers If the United States wants to avoid future shortages of flu vaccine it must take steps to draw drug companies back into the business of making the inoculations, flu experts say. In a bad year, the stakes could be higher than just saving people from fever, headaches and a runny nose. "What if you had 20 or 30 percent of your population not able to go to work orto school? It would affect the economy. It would affect, in a sense, our security," said Gregory Poland of the Mayo Clinic, who sits on a federal vaccine advisory board.; Health officials warned of shortages Tuesday after one of the two companies that supply most of the nation's flu inoculations said it couldn't provide any. Brit- ish authorities had suspended the license of Chiron Corp. because of problems at its vaccine plant in Liverpool. That chopped the nation's supply of flu vaccine in half. WASHINGTON . f k II I ! I Pollen Revolution Akira Kasai WEDNESDAY, OCTO Power Center 5'Imm I_ 0 Co 04 0 r3 CO $10 Rush Tickets on sale 9 am - 5 pm the day of the performance or the Friday before a weekend event at the UMS Ticket Office, located in the Michigan League. 50% Rush Tickets on sale begin- ning 90 minutes before the event at the performance hall Ticket Office. SIGMA KAPPA SORORITY Bringing Sisterhood To Life Bush education ads mimic TV news program The Bush administration has promoted its education law with a video that comes across as a news story but fails to make clear the reporter involved was paidiwith taxpayer money. The government used a similar approach this year in promoting the new Medi- care law and drew a rebuke from the investigative arm of Congress, which foupd the videos amounted to propaganda in violation of federal law. The Education Department also has paid for rankings of newspaper coverage of the No Child Left Behind law, a centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda. Points are awarded for stories that say President Bush and the Republican Party are strong on education, among other factors. The news ratings also rank individual reporters on how they cover the law, based on the points system set up by Ketchum, a public relations firm hired by the gov- ernment. - Compiled from Daily wire reports www.michigandaily.com The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Mondays during the spring and summer terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. Yearlong on-campus subscriptions are $40. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press.. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109- 1327. E-mail letters to the editor to tothedaily@michigandaly.com. NEWS Tomislav Ladika, Managing Editor 763-2459, news@michigandally.com EDITORS: Alison Go, Carmen Johnson, Andrew Kaplan, Emily Kraack STAFF Farayha Arrine. Melssa Benton, Adrian Chen, Mary DeYoe, Ashley Dinges, Adhiraj Dutt, Victoria Edwards, Chiloe Foster, Donn M. Fresard, Rosie Goldensorn, Michael Gurovitsch, Tina Hildreth. Aymar Jean, Anne Jong. Genevieve Lampinen, Melton Lee, Michael Kan, Justin Miller, Naia Moreira, Jameel Naqvi. Kristin Ostby. Koustubh Patwardhan, Kristin Przybylski, Mona Rafee, Leslie Rott. Ekjyot Saini. Karl Stampfl, Lucille Vaughan OPINION Jason Z. Pesick, Editor 763-0379, opinion@mlchigandally.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Daniel Adams, Jennifer Misthal, Suhael Momin, Sam Singer STAFF: Katherine Cantor, Jasmine Clair. Sara Eber, Daniel Faichney. Jared Goldberg, Emily Hanan, Dan Skowronski, Chris Zbrozek CARTOONISTS: Sam Butler. Colin Daly COLUMNISTS:Sravya Chrumamiha. 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Dewr:Low, Even Mcdarvey, Vanessa Miller, Jared Newman, Ctristopher Pitoun, Arc~rne Rei<, un, R ,,y n , Ja uSon. g Editor 4 4, ..., \NwJyv The outstanding pianist Mikhail Pletnev joins conduc- tor Herbert Blomstedt and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for this performance of Brahms' Piano Con- certo No. 1 in d minor, Op. 15 and Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73. PHOTO Tony Ding, Ma 764-2459, photoOmichigandally.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Elise Bergman, Ryan Weiner ASSISTANT EDITORS: Trevor Campo: Forest Cass,Jas-n Cooper SFF: A, evunder Dziadovi, Je reonDr e e , maso GCi>_2.HAn:Hape. ,ii elevs ef nert, - bura Ottr,, Al: Olsen. Ege'e Ronerrso. Peter Scnttnfl- Orir;SeIur a il Toses. Dand'L.man GRAPHIC DESIGN STAFF:a Bates, Asnley Diries. egnGreyen.s. .. e r'art ie .ito ONLINE Janna Hutz, Ma 763-2459, onine@michigandai y com STAFF: Estri Bon, Anigela Cesare, Yung-Hsuan Chiu, Bethany Dykstre, Diana Krankurs, Mira eitatn. Laura Wong 4 anaging Editor anaging Editor Marcel Khalife and the Al Mayadine Ensemble SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 8:30 PM [NOTE TIME] Hill Auditorium . Study-related assessments, albuterol inhalers, t 3 i S t DISPLAY SALES Christine Hua, M 74-0554, displaymichigandaPly.com ASSOCIATE SALES MANAGER: Erin Ott SPECIAL SECTIONS MANAGER: Lindsay Pudavick Manager II f J