THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2008
NEWS
9A
INTERNATIONAL
Western ties strengthen for Serbia
BY DUSAN STOJANOVIC
ASSOCIATED PRESS
An elderly Slovak minority woman casts her ballot at a polling station in the village of Kovacica, some 50 km (35 miles) north of Belgrade, yesterday. Serbians were voting Sunday in a runoff presidential election that may bring ultra-nationalist Tomislav Nikolic, an ally of late hardline President Slobodan Milošević back to power, before a potentially explosive split by the Serbian province of Kosovo. The closely contested race pits pro-Western incumbent Boris ladic against rightwing extremist Tomislav Nikolic, who rulled with Milošević during his bloody Balkan wars of the 1990s.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia's pro-Western president won a closely contested election Sunday, edging an ally of late autocrat Slobodan Milosevic days before an expected declaration of independence by the breakaway Kosovo province.
President Boris Tadic won 51 percent of the vote, when Tomislav Nikolic, who ruled with Milosevic during the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s, had 47 percent, according to the state electoral commission.
"Serbia has shown its great democratic potential," Tadic said in his victory speech, praising Nikolic for "the number of votes he has won."
Nikolic congratulated Tadic but added, "I will remain to be his tough opposition."
Tadic's supporters celebrated in downtown Belgrade, waving Serbian, EU and Democratic Party flags and honking car horns.
The outcome indicated that a majority of Serbsians want the country to stay on its path of pro-Western reform and closer ties with the European Union, instead of heading back to the nationalism and isolation that characterized the Milosevic era.
Nikolic's defeat will also likely alleviate fears in the West that Serbia would react violently to Kosovo's expected declaration of independence later this month.
Both Tadic and Nikolic oppose the province's independence, but Tadic has ruled out the use of force and will likely seek to preserve close ties with the EU and the US even if they recognize Kosovo statehood.
The province, dominated by pro-independence ethnic Albanians, has been run by the United Nations and NATO since the 1998-99 war, when NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days to stop his brutal crackdown against Kosovo separatists.
Kosovo's Albanian leaders said they would declare independence days after the Serbian runoff, no
matter who wins, and they expect the U.S. and most EU countries to follow up with quick recognition.
While pledging never to recognize Kosovo independence, Tadic has said there is "no alternative" to EU membership for Serbia.
Nikolic has insisted that Serbia
must aban-
its EU member-
ship bid if the bloc upholds Kosovo's independence and should turn to its ally Russia instead. He has advocated measures including armed intervention to protect minority Serbs in the province.
lead the country toward the EU.
"There is no chance any more for anyone to put any obstacles on that road because the citizens gave it the legitimacy", Dinkic said.
Mladian Dinkic, the leader of the pro-Western G17 Plus party allied with Tadic, said the president's re-election gave him the legitimacy to
"There is no chance any more for anyone to put any obstacles on that road because the citizens gave it the legitimacy."
The European Union was quick to congratulate Tadic.
The EU "welcomes the fact that
MLADJAN DINKIC
Leader of the G17 Plus party
the serbian people seem to have confirmed their support to the democratic and European course of their country," the bloc said in a statement.
Voters in Belgrade said the balloting was crucial.
"We have just recovered a little, we must not stop now," says Dusan Andjic, a 40-year-old lawyer who voted for Tadic. "This is really a matter of life and death."
Nikolic's supporters said Serbia's
pro-Western leaders were going to sell out the country.
"If we don't stop them, they will give away Kosovo," said Marko Stipcev, a clerk.
Serbia's presidency is formally a ceremonial post, though it gained in importance and influence under Milosevic's virtually unruled rule in the 1990s.
A victory for Nikolic — whose party boss Vojislav Seseli is now on trial for alleged war crimes at the U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia — would have dashed Western hopes that Serbia will arrest two Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitives, Gen. Ratko Mladic and his wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic, any time soon.
Tadic's Democratic Party played a key role in Milosevic's ouster from power in 2000. The soft-spoken party leader first became the president in 2004, by beating Nikolic in a runoff election.
NATION
NATION Bush announces plan to revive weak economy
WASHINGTON — In the nations first-ever S3 trillion budget, President Bush seeks to seal his legacy of promoting a strong defense to fight terrorism and tax cuts to spur the economy. Democrats, who control Congress, are pledging fierce opposition to Bush's final spending plan — perhaps even until the next president takes office.
The 2009 spending plan sent to Congress on Monday will project huge budget deficits, around $400 billion for this year and next and more than double the 2007 deficit of $163 billion. But even those estimates could prove too low given the rapidly weakening economy and the total costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Bush does not include in his request for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.
Last year, when Democrats were newly in the majority, there were drawn-out veto struggles. This year's fights could be worse because it is an election year.
As in past years, Bush's biggest proposed increases are in national security. Defense spending is projected to rise by about 7 percent to $515 billion and homeland security money by almost 11 percent, with a big gain for border security. Details on the budget were obtained through interviews with administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity until the budget's release.
The bulk of government programs for which Congress sets annual spending levels would remain essentially frozen at current levels. The president does shower extra money on some favored programs in education and to bolster inspections of imported food.
Associated Press
Military offers condolences for deaths of civilians
IRAQ
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military said Monday that it accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians during an operation targeting al-Qaida in Iraq south of Baghdad.
The civilians were killed Saturday near Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of the Iraqi capital, U.S. Navy Lt. Patrick Evans told The Associated Press. Three more civilians were wounded and taken to U.S. military hospitals nearby, Evans said.
The killings occurred as U.S. forces pursued suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants in the area. Shortly after the incident, American officers met with a Muslim sheik representing citizens in the area, he said.
The incident and the events surrounding it are under investigation, Evans said.
"We offer our condolences to
the families of those who were killed in the incident, and we mourn the loss of innocent civilian life," Evans said in a statement e-mailed to the AP.
INTERNATIONAL Earthquakes in Rwanda, Congo kill at least 39
KIGALI, Rwanda — Two earthquakes struck hours apart in Rwanda and neighboring Congo on Sunday, killing at least 39 people and injuring hundreds of others, officials said. Some of the victims died when the church they were attending collapsed.
The first, 6.0-magnitude quake struck Congo early Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The second quake, which registered 5.0, hit a few hours later near the countries' border, in Rwanda's rural Rusizi district.
Associated Press
CELEBRATION
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A dancer from Salgueiro samba school performs on a float during a carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro on Feb. 3.
Rio de Janeiro hosts five-day carnival
BY ALAN CLENDENNING ASSOCIATED PRESS
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Brazilian beauties wearing only sequins led carnival parades lasting until dawn Sunday as second-division samba groups used a kaleidoscope of colorful dancers and floats to launch the biggest part of Rio's five-day bash.
Led by a two-story golden lion, the samba group Estacio de Sa kicked off the party in a hail-of fireworks and roars from crowds waving the flags of their favorite samba groups at the 85,000-seat Sambadrome stadium.
Argentine tourist Edgardo Levita, dressed up as pirate, marveled at the scene as he swilled beer and tried to hit on scantily dressed young Brazilian women swarming into the stands.
Backlit with a purple neon glow, the towering float was surrounded by scores of dancers in skinlight lion costumes and followed by an army of women spinning in gold and red hoop skirts and elaborate headresses fashioned from crystal globes and feathers.
"This is great, the best in the
world," said Levita, 23. "Alcohol, women, the floats: Everything is perfect."
Among the biggest carnival mysteries was the plan for the group Viradouro, forced by a judge last week to redo its carnival theme after Jewish group successfully sued and forced Viradouro to remove a float depicting naked holocaust victims with a dancing Adolf Hitler.
The parading that didn't end until daylight was only a warm up for bigger competition among the city's top 12 samba schools, which mount 80-minute parades on Sunday and Monday nights to impress a panel of judges and be declared the year's champion.
The group has said it would rework the float to celebrate freedom of expression, but hid the new float from public view, suspense surrounding how Viradouro will pull off its carnival theme: "It Give You Goosebumps."
Crowds topping the million mark turned out in the northeastern city of Recife for the traditional Galo de Madrugada, or Midnight Rooster party, on Saturday.
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