2A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS IN BRIEF
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2004
NEWS AFFILIATES
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Letters may be sent by e-mail to editor@kansan.com or opinion@kansan.com or by mail to Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer Flint.
WEATHER Today
Clouds stick around
FOUR-DAY FORECAST Tomorrow Friday 8153 7760
A big warm up T-storm chance
Sunday
Saturday
68 47
Looks great!
70 48
Still mild
— Nathan Dame, KUJH—TV
Joshua Kendall/KANSAN
Question of the Day
KU info exerts to answer all your questions about KU and life as a student. Check out KU Info's web site at kinfo.lib.ku.edu. call it at 864-3058 or visit it in person at Anno Library.
How can I find out about Fraternies and
Sorceries on campus?
How can I find out about Fraternities and Sororities on campus?
You can get all kinds of information about Greek Life here at KU by checking with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. They have an office in the Center for Campus Life in the Kansas Union. Give them a call at (785) 864-4861. Or check out the Web site at www.kugreek.org
You can get info about how to join the Greek system at www.ku.edu/~greek/gogreek.html.
Working hard or hardly working
Jessica Schumaker, Liberal junior, Joel Eriksen, Aurora, Colo., senior, and Steven Hood, Topeka junior, spend some of their down time at Anschutz Library between classes. Eriksen checked football scores on a laptop he checked out from the library. "It's a good place to waste time," he said.
Karzai leads in Afghan election
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, Afghanistan — With one-third of the votes counted in Afghanistan's landmark presidential election, Hamid Karzai was leading with 64 percent, and his campaign team said yesterday 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, 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.
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.
The four election workers and two police officers had been stuck in freezing conditions in northeastern Badakshan province since Oct. 12. On that day, a U.N. helicopter sent to collect them crash-landed in the towering Pamir range, an illustration of the difficulties facing election organizers. Donkeys have also been used to bring ballots from remote valleys in other parts of Badakhshan.
NATO helicopters on yesterday rescued a team of Afghan election workers from snowbound mountains in the country's remotest corner, and retrieved the last four ballot boxes containing ballots from the Oct. 9 election.
The election was a milestone in Afghanistan's modern history. Although the country is still dogged by Taliban-led rebels, factional fighting and a burgeoning drug trade, Afghans turned out in force to vote, seeing the event as a chance for peace and democracy after a quarter-century of conflict.
The official election Web site, which keeps a rolling tally of results, said that 36 percent of the estimated 8 million votes cast have been counted, including at least partial returns from all 34 provinces.
"We think we are secure now," Karzai's campaign spokesman, Hamed Elmi, told The Associated Press. "When they announce it formally, then we will celebrate." He said the president's campaign staff was "100 percent" sure they would win in the first round of voting.
Karzai has captured 1,857,476 votes, or 64.4 percent. His closest challenger, former Education Minister Yunus Qanoooni, trails with 16.6 percent. Dostum is third with 7.4 percent.
Chafiga Habibi, vice presidential candidate on Dostum's ticket, told AP on yesterday, "I think Karzai is going to win because he's a long way ahead in the results, and we can't ignore this
Karzai is seen by many Afghans as untainted by the country's bloody past and the best chance for bridging its ethnic divisions, although signs are that voting has largely followed tribal lines.
reality."
In 13 Pashtun-dominated provinces in the south and east, Karzai is winning with more than 80 percent of the vote. Yet in many of the 12 provinces where he is trailing, he has less than 20 percent — most notably in Qanooni's stronghold in the Panjshir Valley, where Karzai currently polls less than 1 percent of the vote.
Qanooni, an ethnic Tajik, has refused to concede defeat and claimed on Monday that ballot boxes had been stuffed with votes in favor of Karzai in at least four provinces. Election officials say there is no evidence of this.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said yesterday that it had arrested a Taliban suspect in connection with a blast that killed five people traveling in an election commission vehicle in southeastern Paktika province the previous day. They also seized explosives and "other evidence linking this attack to the Taliban," a statement issued in Kabul said.
Although the Oct. 9 polling day was largely peaceful, Taliban rebels have killed at least 13 election workers this year.
ON THE RECORD
"We know they are the enemy of our country and they were not able to do anything on polling day, but still they are trying to disrupt the process." Afghan presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin said of the rebels.
A 55-year-old computer operator at the University of Kansas reported that someone stole the license plate off her car sometime between Wednesday night and Monday night. Her loss is estimated at about $10.
CAMPUS
Award touts University's blood drive participation
American Red Cross Central Plains Region presented the University of Kansas with the University of the Year award Oct. 7 during its annual meeting in Wichita. The University had higher blood drive numbers than 40 other Kansas universities and colleges that host blood drives, said Kimberly Patrick, marketing director for the Community Blood Center.
"KU does an awesome job of getting people out to donate," Patrick said.
The University drives provide more than 1,800 pints of blood to the American Red Cross Central Plains Region Blood Services and the Community Blood Center. The two blood services provide blood to 179 hospitals in Kansas, Missouri and Northern Oklahoma.
Nick Lawler, Kansas City, Mo., senior and vice president of the KU Blood Drive, said he hoped that the award would be displayed in the Union.
"We're really excited that everyone came out," Lawer said. "We are trying to have the award displayed so students can see all the hard work that they do for the community."
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New banners, more advertising and the KU Blood Drive Web site aided in the drive's success, Lawler said.
— Nikola Rowe
NATION
CHICAGO — A federal appeals court on Tuesday scuttled a proposed settlement under which Sprint Corp. and three other phone companies would have paid an estimated $142 million to owners of land where they have placed fiber-optic cables.
Federal appeals court throws Sprint settlement plan out
In its split decision, a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the interests of dissenting landowners in Tennessee and Kansas who had already been certified for class-action suits in their states were not adequately represented under the settlement.
ET CETERA
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at the Kansan business office, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045.
The University Daily Kansan (ISSN 0746-4962) is published daily during the school year except Saturday, Sunday, fall break, spring break and exams. Weekly during the summer session excluding holidays. Periodical postage is paid in Lawrence, KS 66044. Annual subscriptions by mail are $120. Student subscriptions of $2.11 are paid through the student activity fee.
Postmaster: Send address changes to The University Daily Kansan, 119 Stuffer-Flint Hall, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045
Make Microsoft Word work for you. KU Information Services offers FREE workshops on using Microsoft Word. Visit www.ku.edu/acs/workshops to register or find out more.
Word: Everyday Tasks Tue., Oct. 26 9 a.m. Budig Computer Lab
* learn time-saving tricks and how to make professional-looking documents
Word: Document Enhancement Features Tue., Nov. 2 9 a.m. Budig Computer Lab learn to insert tables and images, track and review changes,and customize toolbars
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