2A - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 19, 2004 NATION/WORLD 4 tes to reCeve SCarce flu shots NEWS IN BRIEF HEADINE FMAUDHW The Associated Press Norman Cooper has been unable to find a flu shot for his wife who takes daily oxygen treatments for asthma, emphysema and bronchitis. So he was incensed to learn that some inmates in the state prison 30 miles down the road were getting flu shots. "This deal with the prisons has got me so upset," said Cooper, who also hoped to help an 80-year-old friend who was on oxygen for a chronic lung illness. "I don't think they should get flu shots over citizens who are at high risk. They're being treated like first-class citizens, and we are second-class citizens." Federal and state prison officials say the inmates getting the shots are also high-risk - either 65 and over or suf- fering from a chronic medical condi- tion. They say it's the surest way to fend off a flu epidemic inside the prisons that could be costly to taxpayers. But Cooper's distress over the situa- tion is just one example of the difficulty of fairly distributing the nation's short supply of flu vaccine. The government estimates there are 98 million people at high risk of flu complications, and expects to have a little more than half of that number of flu shots. The Missouri prison system's medical services contractor, Correctional Medi- cal Services, got 8,780 of the 9,460 doses it had requested, said spokesman Ken Fields. And he said all of those shots have already been given to high-risk inmates as well as some high-risk staffers who have direct contact with them. "By being proactive about this, we hope to keep inmates from having to be housed in outside hospitals," said John "By being proactive about this, we hope to keep inmates from having to be housed in outside hospitals." - Missouri corrections spokesman John Fougere _ .. ... .. Fougere, corrections spokesman. Meanwhile, Cooper and thousands of others have spent countless hours calling doctors and health departments seeking flu shots. Cooper, who lives in Scott City in southeast Missouri, says his 64-year-old wife was hospitalized in June and was warned that a cold or the flu could be fatal. But prison officials argue that inmates also need protection. Even though they are confined, they are susceptible to flu through contact with staff, visitors and turnover among inmates, said Joe Weedon, spokesman for American Cor- rectional Association, a trade group that accredits jails and prisons. A large num- ber of inmates also suffer from alcohol and drug addictions, which can compro- mise their immunity. "You've got an environment where inmates are living in close quarters, coming into contact with each other and not necessarily in the most sanitary conditions because they don't wash their hands," Weedon said. Chanty director kdnapped in Iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insur- gents abducted the local director of CARE International from her car in Baghdad yesterday, targeting a charity worker who has championed ordinary Iraqis for decades. In new violence, mortar attacks killed an American contractor and at least four Iraqi National Guard mem- bers and wounded 80 Iraqis, the U.S. military said. Margaret Hassan was kidnapped while being driven to work about 7:30 a.m. in a western neighborhood of the capital, a CARE employee who spoke on condition of anonymity said. The employee said CARE did not employ armed guards. Hours later, Al-Jazeera television aired a brief video of Hassan in cap- tivity. She sat on a couch in a room, speaking and no gunmen were vis- ible in the footage. Al-Jazeera said an "armed Iraqi group" claimed respon- sibility for the kidnapping but did not say whether any demands were made. South of Baghdad, Iraqi security forces and U.S. Marines carried out raids this week that arrested nearly 130 suspected insurgents, the U.S. military said yesterday. The sweep included areas where British media say Brit- ish forces might be redeployed at the request of the U.S. command to free up American forces to move against insurgent strongholds. The raids took place Sunday and Mon- day in and around the cities of Iskandari- yah, Yusufiyah and Latifiyah. Four of those detained Monday were suspected in an attack on the joint forces earlier the same day, the military said. Three car bombs exploded in the northern city of Mosul yesterday, kill- ing two Iraqi civilians and wounding three, the U.S. military said. One blast targeted a convoy belonging to the governor of Ninevah, though he was not in the convoy, she said. Just north of the capital, a barrage of six mortars hit the headquarters of the Iraqi National Guard early yesterday just as troops were lining up in forma- tion, said international officials and National Guard officers under condi- tion of anonymity. Four guardsmen were killed and 80 wounded, the U.S. military said, citing the Iraqi Defense Ministry. Iraqi offi- cers on the scene said five Guardsmen had been killed and more than 100 injured, some severely. A separate mortar and rocket attack on a U.S. military base in central Baghdad yesterday killed an Ameri- can working for KBR, a subsidiary of the Houston-based Halliburton's engi- neering and construction subsidiary, said Megan Mason, spokeswoman for the company in Baghdad. KABUL, Afghanistan Karzai projected winner of election With one-third of the votes counted in Afghanistan's landmark presidential elec- tion, Hamid Karzai was leading with 64 percent, and his campaign team said yes- terday it was certain the interim leader will win with the simple majority required to avoid a run-off. The camp of ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, currently third, also said yesterday that the race is over, but Karzai's main challenger accuses the U.S.- backed incumbent of cheating and refuses to concede defeat. Karzai's rivals have lodged dozens of complaints with a panel of foreign experts, though it is unclear if the panel will report before the expected release of the official election result at the end of October. Karzai needs at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. Election officials have said the tallies are unlikely to change much once 20 percent of the votes have been counted. Karzai, who has served as president since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime in late 2001, has mixed results in the returns from northern and central provinces where his ethnic Tajik and Uzbek rivals are strongest. However, he appears set to sweep southern and eastern regions dominated by his fellow Pashtun tribesmen. WASHINGTON Social Security benefits, premiums rise More than 47 million Americans will get a 2.7 percent increase in their Social Security checks starting in January, meaning an additional $25 per month for the typical retiree. But almost half of that gain will be gobbled up by a record increase in Medicare premiums. The cost of living adjustment, or COLA, announced yesterday by the Social Security Administration will be the largest percentage gain since a 3.5 percent increase in 2001. The increase last January was 2.1 percent. The inflation adjustment is based on the amount prices - as measured by the Con- sumer Price Index - have risen in the July-September quarter compared with the same period a year ago. Rising energy costs have driven inflation higher this year. The average Social Security retiree will see his benefit check increase from $930 this year to $955 next year. However, the average retiree will also realize just over half of that increase because the government announced in September that monthly Medicare premiums for doctor visits will rise by $11.60 a month next year, a record in dollar terms. TORONTO Group seeks ban on export of Canadian drugs Canadians must stop Americans from using Internet pharmacies to raid its med- icine chest or face a drug shortage, a coalition of Canadian groups representing seniors, pharmacies and patients has warned. The groups, claiming to represent 10 million Canadians, or about one-third the pop- ulation, called on the Canadian government Monday to ban prescription drug exports. They argue that Canada cannot afford to address U.S. drug shortages and soar- ing prescription costs with its own stock, which are often considerably cheaper for Americans because of government price controls. An estimated 65 million Americans, most elderly, don't have drug coverage or can't afford drugs. Internet pharmacies and Canadian doctors willing to write prescriptions for Americans send about $1 billion a year in Canadian drugs south of the border. BANGKOK, Thailand Leader's ouster may dim democratic prospects Myanmar's tough but pragmatic prime minister was sacked yesterday by his hardline army colleagues, clouding prospects for the freedom of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and for democracy in the military-led Southeast Asian nation. The ouster of Gen. Khin Nyunt, 65, who was also military intelligence chief, seemed to spell an end to a power struggle between so-called moderates in the junta and a faction uninterested in negotiating reconciliation with democracy activ- ists or with nations critical of the regime. Khin Nyunt was taken into custody late Monday and charged with corruption, according to officials in neighboring Thailand, who were the first to publicly break the news. - Compiled from Daily wire reports TUE. CLOSE ANGE Dw JON-S 9,897.62 NASDAQ 1,922.90 - .62 S&P 500 1,103.23 - 10.79 t~AA .. :...,f www.rmichigandaily.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. AP PHOTO An Iraqi National Guard member guards weapons at a collection place in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, yesterday. Followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr con- tinued to trickle into police stations to hand in weapons. Insubordination worries Israeli army chief JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's army chief of staff yesterday condemned a call from scores of rab- bis who urged observant soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate Jewish settlements under next year's planned Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip. The statement by Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, broad- cast on local media, reflected army officials' growing concern that a significant number of soldiers would heed the rabbis' call, causing a crisis in the army. "Insubordination is dangerous to us as an army, as a society and as a nation. This is not legitimate and inappropriate," Yaalon said. "Don't put us in impos- sible situations." "I call upon all those involved, from across the political spectrum, to show responsibility and not to undermine the (military)," he said at a navy memo- rial ceremony. Under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "disengage- ment plan," Israel would withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements next year, removing 8,600 settlers from their homes. Yesterday evening, an Israeli soldier was slain in a drive-by shooting at an isolated settlement between the Palestinian towns of Tulkarem and Jenin, near the West Bank settlements slated for evacuation, the military said. The soldier was the 1,000th person to die on the Israeli side in four years of violence, according to Associated Press records. During the same period, 3,265 people were killed on the Palestinian side. The slain soldier was identified as Staff Sgt. Yair Turgeman, 22, from the settlement of Kiryat Arba next to the West Bank city of Hebron. Army Radio said he was sitting in a tent when he was hit by Pal- estinian gunfire. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a Group tied to Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the soldier's death. In a sign of internal unrest among the Palestin- ians, members of the same group briefly took over two government buildings in the West Bank town of Jenin yesterday, demanding more assistance for the families of Palestinians killed in the fighting and new laws that would give the families more rights. No injuries were reported. 4 I 763-2459, nows@michigandally.com EDITORS: Alison Go, Carmen Johnson, Andrew Kaplan, Emily Kraack STAFF: Farayha Arrine, Melissa Benton, Adrian Chen, Amber Colvin, Mary DeYoe, Ashley Dinges, Adhiraj Dutt, Victoria Edwards, Chloe Foster, Donn M. 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