2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 NATION/WORLD Vote NESIN ABIEF~ I unseats DENVER Snow strands travelers across Plains AP PHOO A masked Palestinian gunman looks on after armed militants closed a polling station during the Fatah movement primaries in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday. G. . Gun men rompt lose of prim rie i Gz Ruling Fatah Party cancels its elections after violence disrupts polling places HAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) - The ruling Fatah Party canceled its pri- mary in Gaza at the end of a full day of voting yesterday after gunmen disrupted at least a dozen polling places, firing in the air and stealing some ballot boxes. The violence underscored Palestin- ian leader Mahmoud Abbas' inability to maintain order in the Gaza Strip, or even in his own party, as Fatah tries to fight off a strong challenge from the Islamic Hamas group in the Jan. 25 parliamen- tary elections. The vote yesterday was part of the first-ever primary held by Fatah, a democratic reform considered crucial to removing the taint of corruption from the party. Many young Fatah activists, long frozen out of power by entrenched party leaders, have insisted that trans- parent primaries - rather than secret back-room negotiations - determine the party's legislative slate. Even before the voting began yester- day, problems emerged. Technical glitch- es forced voting in the southern Gaza town of Rafah and areas of central Gaza to be postponed until tomorrow, Fatah officials said. At some of the roughly 190 Fatah poll- ing stations that did open across Gaza, many voters found their names were not on registration lists or that they had been mistakenly registered at the wrong sta- tion. Fatah officials said it was their first experience holding a primary and that they had only a short amount of time to compile lists of the 200,000 eligible vot- ers in Gaza. Some militants lost patience. In one station in a village in eastern Khan Younis, a group of about 15 Fatah gunmen, angry at not finding their names on the list, began shooting in the air, wit- nesses said. Officials then closed the polling place for about 45 minutes. Poll- ing stations in the towns of Beit Hanoun and Deir el-Balah were also closed after similar incidents. Elsewhere, Fatah gunmen barged into a polling station in the Sheik Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, took its 16 ballot boxes into a yard, poured gasoline over several of them and set them on fire, witnesses said. At least a dozen polling stations were closed because of problems with gunmen. Fatah officials held an emergency meeting yesterday afternoon and decided to cancel the primary, nullify- ing the votes already cast, according to a party statement. The primary would have to be rescheduled, possibly for Friday, Fatah spokesman Deab Allouh said, adding that the party's candidates would have to be chosen by Dec. 3. It was unclear how officials could ensure that a new round of voting would go any smoother. Abbas has had trouble bringing order to the Gaza Strip since Israel withdrew from the territory in September. A longtime Fatah leader in Gaza, Abdel Aziz Shahin, called on the Fatah Central Committee to take responsi- bility for the voting chaos and resign. "Fatah is like a dinosaur, and the head of this dinosaur is not aware of the rest of the body," he said. Hassan al-Kashef, a political colum- nist with the Palestinian Al Hayat Jedideh newspaper, blamed Fatah for yesterday's violence, which he described as "a shock and a wake-up call" that could have dam- aging consequences for the party. Libeal No-confidence vote forces election for all 308 House of Commons seats TORONTO (AP) - A corruption scandal forced a vote of no-confidence yesterday that toppled Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority government, triggering an unusual election campaign during the Christmas holidays. Canada's three opposition parties, which control a majority in Parliament, voted against Martin's government, claiming his Liberal Party no longer has the moral authority to lead the nation. The loss means an election for all 308 seats in the lower House of Commons, likely on Jan. 23. Martin and his Cabi- net would continue to govern until then. Opposition leaders last week called for the no-confidence vote after Mar- tin rejected their demands to dissolve Parliament in January and hold early elections in February. Yesterday's vote follows a flurry of spending announce- ments in Ottawa last week, with the government trying to advance its agen- da ahead of its demise. Martin is expected to dissolve the House of Commons today. The Conservative Party leader Ste- phen Harper joined with the New Democratic and Bloc Quebecois par- ties to bring down the government - prompting the first Christmas and winter campaign in mostly Christian Canada in 26 years. Recent polls have given the Liberals a slight lead over the Conservatives, with the New Demo- crats in third place. The same surveys suggest the Bloc Quebecois would sweep the French- speaking province of Quebec, making a majority government unlikely no matter which party wins the most seats. Harper would become prime min- ister if the Conservatives receive the most seats in Parliament. He favors tax cuts and opposed Martin's success- ful bill to legalize same-sex marriage throughout Canada. The opposition is banking on the pub- lic's disgust with a corruption scandal involving the misuse of funds targeted for a national unity program in Quebec. An initial investigation absolved Martin of wrongdoing, but accused senior Liberal members of taking kick- backs and misspending tens of millions of dollars in public funds. The government ran into peril this month when it lost the support of the New Democratic Party, whose back- ing earlier this year helped Martin escape a previous no-confidence motion by a single vote. New Democrat leader Jack Layton said he hadn't received enough assurances the Liberal Party would fight the increased use of private health care in Canada. Martin made the deal for support from Layton's leftist party last spring by pledging $3.6 billion in social spending and promising to delay billions in corporate tax cuts. Martin appears prepared totake his chances with a holiday campaign and blamed his opponents for any incon- venience to the predominantly Chris- tian electorate. He had promised to call an election within 30 days of the release of a fol- low-up report on the corruption scandal. The document is expected Feb. 1, which would have meant elections in the first week of April, a time that suits Canadi- ans better than the bitterly cold and busy holiday season. Although no formal agreement is in place, all the parties are likely to agree to a pause in the campaign around the Christmas and New Year holidays. The campaign is expected to start today, after Parliament is dissolved. Grace Skogstad, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said she believes Canadians will pay little attention to the election until after the New Year, so Martin's opponents are unlikely to face a backlash for forc- ing a holiday campaign. "It's going to be those last three weeks after Jan. 1 that are going to matter," said Skogstad, who believes the Liberals will win another minority government. "For the Liberals, they are going to try to put all the focus on the economy which is doing phenomenally well." Unemployment in Canada is at a 30-year low and Canada runs a bud- get surplus. Andrew Stark, a political science pro- fessor at the Rotman School of Manage- ment at the University of Toronto, also Travelers trying to get home after Thanksgiving were stranded across the Plains yesterday as the region's first big snowstorm of the season closed hundreds of miles of highways, cutting visibility to zero and piling up drifts 6 feet high. Snow driven by wind up to 69 mph fell from North Dakota to the Texas Pan- handle, shutting down schools, post offices and South Dakota state government. Four deaths were blamed on slippery roads in South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, and a fifth person was killed when tornado picked up and hurled a car in Arkansas. "It's not safe for anybody," said Sharon Rouse, owner of a towing service at Kearney, Neb. Eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 were closed for nearly 350 miles from Denver across the Plains to Russell, Kan. Westbound lanes were reopened in some areas. "We're just waiting," said Corey Dagner, who was stuck in Limon, Colo., on his way home to Illinois after attending a wedding at the Breckenridge ski resort. "Nobody's sure what's going on and what time they're going to open the interstate." BAGHDAD Hussein berates judge as trial resumes A combative Saddam Hussein lashed out yesterday at his treatment by American "occupiers and invaders" and lectured the chief judge about leadership as his trial resumed in a rambling and unfocused session. Two of the seven other defendants also spoke out during the 2 1/2-hour hear- ing, complaining of their treatment in detention or dissatisfaction with their court- appointed counsel. The court's tolerance of such comments drew sharp complaints from Shiite politicians who contend the tribunal is trying too hard to accommodate an ousted dictator who should have already been convicted and executed. "The chief judge should be changed and replaced by someone who is strict and courageous," said Shiite legislator Ali al-Adeeb, a senior official in Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's party. The tribunal adjourned until next week to give the defense time to replace lawyers slain since the trial opened Oct. 19. Yesterday was only the second session of the trial. Saddam, immaculately groomed and the only defendant wearing Western clothes, moved quickly to try to seize control of the proceedings at the heavily guarded Baghdad court. QITAIHE, China Explosion kills 134 miners in northeast China Anxious relatives demanded to be allowed into a coal mine yesterday after an explosion killed at least 134 miners and left 15 others missing, adding to a soaring death toll in China's mines despite a safety crackdown. The blast in the Dongfeng Coal Mine prompted national leaders to demand stricter enforcement of safety rules in China's mining industry, by far the world's deadliest, with more than 5,000 fatalities a year in fires, floods and other accidents. The disaster late Sunday came as the nearby city of Harbin was struggling to recover from a toxic spill in a river that forced the government to cut off water supplies for five days. BAGH, Pakistan Frigid temperatures claim first quake survivor Subfreezing temperatures and the first snowfall in Kashmir claimed the life of an infant yesterday - the first reported victim of what officials fear will be a new disaster for millions of Pakistanis left homeless by an earthquake. A middle-aged man with terminal cancer also died after he was taken to a NATO hospital suffering from hypothermia. "This is exactly what we had feared. Our position here is we need to continue to do as much as possible to help mitigate this situation and prevent, insofar as that's possible, any such occurrences in the future," said Stephanie Bunker of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 6 S 0 - Compiled from Daily wire reports CORRECTIONS Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com. 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com JASON Z. 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