10/ 1/04 Friday
Supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide took to the
streets of Haiti's capital for a second day, shooting wildly,
smashing cars and blocking roads with burning tires. Authorities
recovered the decapitated bodies of three policemen, among at least
seven people killed in the violence. Tensions have erupted in
Port-au-Prince as Haiti struggles to recover from catastrophic
flooding caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne two weeks ago.
Mount St. Helens, the volcano that blew its top with cataclysmic
force in 1980, erupted for the first time in 18 years, belching a
huge column of white steam and ash after days of rumblings under
the mountain. Small earthquakes resumed within hours of the blast,
suggesting pressure inside the mountain was rebuilding. Scientists
said there could be more steam eruptions soon. The noontime
eruption cast a haze across the horizon as the roiling plume rose
from the cone.
Twenty years after releasing "Born in the U.S.A.," Bruce
Springsteen returned to the anti-war anthem as he and other artists
kicked off a multistate tour aimed at helping oust President Bush..
Springsteen and R.E.M., both vocal critics of Bush and the war in
Iraq, are the headliners for the "Vote for Change" tour, a 10-day
series of shows in battleground states. This night's performance
at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia is one of six across
Pennsylvania.
NASA decided to delay the spring 2005 launch date for the first
shuttle flight since the Columbia tragedy, citing hurricane damage
and more work needed to meet a panel's safety recommendations..
NASA's spaceflight leadership council said a shuttle launch in
March or April is "no longer achievable." The group asked shuttle
program officials to analyze whether a May or July date is more
feasible for a shuttle launch, and to report back to the council
later this month.
More than 350 people who have committed crimes or are suspected of
terrorist links have been arrested in a federal crackdown on
foreigners with visa violations, part of a broader effort to
prevent al-Qaida from disrupting U.S. elections. Agents with U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a Homeland Security Department
component known as ICE, are matching identities of visa violators
nationwide with names on secret government terrorism databases in
hopes of finding al-Qaida suspects.
10/ 2/04 Saturday
Government scientists raised the alert level for Mount St. Helens
after its second steam eruption in two days was followed by a
powerful tremor. They said the next eruption was imminent or in
progress, and could threaten life and property in the remote area
near the volcano. Hundreds of visitors at the building closest to
the volcano - Johnston Ridge Observatory five miles away - were
asked to leave. They went quickly to their cars and drove away,
with some relocating several miles north to Coldwater Ridge
Visitors Center, which officials said was safe.
In Samarra, afraid to stray from home, residents buried the dead in
their gardens as U.S. and Iraqi forces battled pockets of
resistance in this former insurgent stronghold, where the American
military said 125 rebels were killed and 88 captured in two days of
fierce fighting. The American commander declared the operation a
successful first step in a major push to wrest key areas from
insurgent control before January elections. In Fallujah, another
rebel-held city west of Baghdad, an airstrike badly damaged a
building where U.S.-led forces said insurgents had stockpiled
weapons.
In Columbus, Ohio, President Bush ridiculed what he called the
"Kerry doctrine" as a dangerous outsourcing of America's security,
seeking to poke a hole in Sen. John Kerry's debate performance with
what advisers see as his rival's biggest miscue. The first poll
taken after the presidential debate showed Kerry running even with
Bush. The Democrat had the support of 47 percent and Bush 45
percent in the Newsweek poll. Independent candidate Ralph Nader
had the backing of 2 percent.
10/ 3/04 Sunday
Two car bombs ripped through Baghdad streets, with one blast
killing at least 15 people and wounding 81 at an entrance to the
Green Zone, the seat of the U.S. Embassy and key Iraqi government
offices, officials said. In the first explosion, a four-wheel-
drive vehicle packed with explosives detonated outside the heavily
fortified complex, Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan
Abdul-Rahman said.
In Gonaives, officials involved in the search for victims of the
devastating floods unleashed by Tropical Storm Jeanne said they
have found hundreds more bodies, raising the death toll in Haiti to
nearly 2,000 people. Almost 900 others were listed as missing and
presumed dead - washed out to sea or buried in debris.
Americans Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck have won the 2004 Nobel
Prize in physiology or medicine for their work in studying the
biology of the sense of smell. They discovered a family of about
1,000 genes that give rise to a huge variety of proteins that sense
particular smells. These proteins are found are found in cells in
the nose, which communicate with the brain.
The eyes of geologists, disaster officials and just regular folks
out in lawn chairs were focused on Mount St. Helens, where a mix of
volcanic gases and low-level earthquakes raised fears that the
mountain might blow at any moment. Some volcano experts had said
that an explosion would probably happen within 24 hours. But as
the hours passed, others cautioned that the timing is difficult to
predict.
Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen has sunk more than $20 million
into developing a manned rocket that reaches space. Now he's
hoping half that sum can be recouped - along with some bragging
rights. Allen's SpaceShipOne is scheduled to be launched Monday in
an attempt to reach an altitude of at least 328,000 feet, or just
over 62 miles, for the second time since Sept. 29.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice defended her
characterization of Saddam Hussein's nuclear capabilities in the
months before the Iraq invasion, even as a published report said
government experts had cast doubt at the time. In the run-up to
the March 2003 war, Rice said in a television interview in 2002
that the Iraqi president was trying to obtain high-strength
aluminum tubes to rebuild his nuclear weapons program. The tubes,
she said, were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs."
10/ 4/04 Monday
On the campaign trail, Vice President Dick Cheney often jabs at
Democrat John Edwards for his past as a trial lawyer, blaming his
sort for "frivolous lawsuits" that raise health care costs. In
turn, Edwards rails against Cheney's ties to the company he once
headed, accusing the Republican of favoring his "friends" at
Halliburton. After lashing out at each other for months from a
distance, the two vice presidential candidates are to meet face to
face Tuesday night at Case Western Reserve University for their
only debate before the Nov. 2 election.
U.S. warplanes pounded the vast Baghdad slum of Sadr City overnight
after an American patrol came under gunfire, the military said. In
the Sunni Triangle city of Ramadi, a car bomb explosion was
followed by clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents. An
Associated Press photographer saw two dead bodies and four wounded
Iraqis at the scene of the clashes in the al-Ziyout area of Ramadi,
a rebel stronghold 70 miles west of Baghdad.
Machete-wielding supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide are turning their wrath on Haiti's demoralized police
force, beheading some of their victims in a campaign imitative of
the insurgency in Iraq. Seven of at least 18 people killed in the
turmoil in Port-au-Prince have been police officers, judicial
police chief Michael Lucius said. He said an eighth officer
remains hospitalized in serious condition with a gunshot wound to
the head.
Hoping to build on the momentum sparked by SpaceShipOne's dash into
space, supporters of opening the heavens to civilians are turning
the winner-take-all race into an annual competition that might
further fuel imaginations. The privately owned SpaceShipOne won
the $10 million Ansari X Prize today by blasting into space for the
second time in five days, a feat considered the first stepping-
stone in the direction of public spaceflight.
10/ 5/04 Tuesday
Seven Afghan policemen died when their vehicle drove over a
landmine in the southern province of Kandahar. Provincial police
chief Khan Mohammad said the mine appeared to have been activated
by remote control. He said the policemen were travelling in the
eastern Maruf district where insurgents headed by remnants of the
former Taleban regime are active. Security in Afghanistan remains
a big concern in the run-up to landmark presidential elections on 9
October.
In Cleveland, Vice President Dick Cheney and his Democratic
opponent, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, clashed sharply over
the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq in a
remarkably contentious vice presidential debate, the only time they
will face each other head to head. Cheney was immediately asked
about statements by the former U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul
Bremer, that the United States had "paid a big price" for
insufficient troop levels after the war. But he chose not to
respond to Bremer's comments directly, saying only that the U.S.
policy was correct and using his answer to return to the Bush
campaign's favored theme that Iraq was better off without Saddam
Hussein in power. Edwards pounced, opening his rebuttal by
accusing Cheney of "not being straight with the American people."
He recounted the history of rising U.S. casualties in Iraq after
President Bush declared the end of "major hostilities" last year
and said Bush's policies were misguided. Edwards said that the
military had been "heroic" but that the United States needed a
"fresh start" to put more troops on the ground, speed up
reconstruction and create a new international coalition. Most
agreed that the debate ended in pretty much of a tie.
Nearly half the USA's expected supply of flu vaccine won't be
delivered because British health authorities suspended Chiron
Corp.'s (CHIR) license to make it, company officials said. The
announcement, which caught U.S. health officials by surprise and
came roughly a month before flu season starts, raises concern about
whether there will be enough vaccine to protect children, older
Americans and others who are at greatest risk. Healthy people
should "forgo vaccination at this time" to allow people at high
risk of flu complications and death to be immunized first, said
Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Gerberding said Aventis Pasteur, the only other major
maker of flu shots, expects to meet its production goal of 54
million doses, and health officials are working to assure that it
is evenly distributed.
The price of crude oil went up to some sort of a record - it is now
pennys in excess of $51 a barrel.
10/ 6/04 Wednesday
Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs had
deteriorated into only hopes and dreams by the time of the U.S.-led
invasion last year, a decline wrought by the first Gulf War and
years of international sanctions, the chief U.S. weapons hunter
found. And what ambitions Saddam harbored for such weapons were
secondary to his goal of evading those sanctions, and he wanted
them primarily not to attack the United States or to provide them
to terrorists, but to oppose his older enemies, Iran and Israel.
The House ethics committee rebuked Majority Leader Tom DeLay for
the second time in a week for questionable conduct, sternly warning
the Texas Republican to temper his behavior. The committee
admonished DeLay for creating an appearance of giving donors
special access on pending energy legislation and using the Federal
Aviation Administration to intervene in a Texas political dispute.
Josh Duignan got his first flu shot last year when his wife was
pregnant with their first child. While son Ethan will get a shot
this year, Duignan isn't sure whether he'll also get a chance to
roll up his sleeve. Health officials nationwide are urging healthy
adults and schoolchildren to skip the shot because British
regulators have shut down a major flu-shot supplier. The news
carries particular concern in Colorado, which was the epicenter of
last year's flu season with 12,885 reported cases and the deaths of
12 children.
Howard Stern has long had two words for the Federal Communications
Commission - and in 15 months, he can finally utter them on the
air. The self-proclaimed "King of All Media," perhaps the most
influential radio voice of the last 20 years, is shifting his
salacious act to satellite radio and freeing himself from the
increasingly harsh glare of federal regulators. Stern's new
employer, Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., is gambling its new star can
rescue a company that's lost $1 billion over the last five years.
High-tech changes in the banking industry will soon be affecting
the most mundane of financial products, the checking account. On
Oct. 28, banks will begin implementing the Check Clearing for the
21st Century Act - better known as Check 21 - aimed at updating the
processing of checks from the equivalent of the Pony Express era to
the Computer Age.
10/ 7/04 Thursday
A string of bombs hit resorts popular with Israelis in Egypt's
Sinai Peninsula, collapsing a 10-story wing of a luxury hotel and
sending thousands of terrified people streaming back into Israel on
Friday. At least 27 people were killed, and the death toll
appeared likely to rise as rescuers searched through the rubble.
Suspicion fell quickly on al-Qaida-inspired militants because the
car and suicide bomb attacks were clearly coordinated, a hallmark
of Osama bin Lader's terrorist network.
In St. Louis, democratic candidate John Kerry will likely try to
shed any appearance of aloofness and President Bush will probably
avoid the grimacing that marked their previous face-to-face
encounter when they answer questions from undecided voters Friday
night. The second debate of the presidential campaign comes as
polls show a shift toward the Democratic challenger, more troubling
news in Iraq, and a report raising even more questions about the
president's central reason for going to war there. Only the
debate's moderator and the 15 to 20 people chosen to ask questions
know what topics will be raised during the 90-minute session at
Washington University.
Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace
Prize for her work as leader of the Green Belt Movement, which has
sought to empower women, improve the environment and fight
corruption in Africa for almost 30 years. Maathai, Kenya's deputy
environment minister, is the first African woman to win the prize,
first awarded in 1901. She gained recent acclaim for a campaign
planting 30 million tress to stave off deforestation.
Crude oil went up to a new record high price of $52.67 a barrel.
10/ 8/04 Friday
In St. Louis, President Bush and John Kerry sprinted back to the
campaign trail, trying to build on their performances in an
argumentative second debate that saw the presidential candidates
colliding over war, jobs, education, health care, abortion, the
environment and prescription drugs. The 90 minutes included more
testy exchanges on Iraq that reflected back on the first
face-to-face meeting between the candidates. Bush said that if
Kerry were president, Saddam Hussein "would still be in power."
The senator replied: "Not necessarily be in power ..." Most said
Bush was improved over the last debate and that the two had mostly
a tie score for the match-up.
The evening's rematch between President Bush and John Kerry proved
to be a livelier affair, and a more revealing show, than their
first debate. The big difference, of course, was the town-hall
format that surrounded the two candidates with 140 voters, some of
whom got to ask the questions they had brought.
Afghanistan's first direct presidential election was thrust into
turmoil hours after it began, when the 15 candidates challenging
interim leader Hamid Karzai said they would boycott the results,
alleging fraud over the ink meant to ensure people voted only
once. The boycott undermined hopes of Afghan voters who had braved
threats of Taliban violence and crammed polling stations throughout
this ethnically diverse nation. The election is seen as a crucial
step toward bringing peace and prosperity to a country of 25
million nearly ruined by more than two decades of war.
Martha Stewart exchanged her clothes for prison-issue khaki
trousers and black steel-toed boots, and for the next five months
she will be sleeping not on luxurious Egyptian cotton linens, but
on plain, military-grade sheets. Slipping all-but-unnoticed past
supporters and TV crews in the darkness, Stewart reported to the
Alderson Federal Prison Camp in rural West Virginia to begin
serving her sentence for lying about a stock sale. Driven by a
security company, she arrived in a dark-colored Ford Expedition
that passed through the gates shortly before sunrise.
Kidnappers beheaded British hostage Kenneth Bigley after twice
releasing videos in which he wept and pleaded with Prime Minister
Tony Blair for his life. A U.S. official said there was credible
information that Bigley had tried to escape with the aid of one of
his captors. The attempt failed and Bigley was killed a short time
later as was shown on a video of his beheading, the Washington
official said on condition of anonymity. There was no word on the
fate of his captor. A Western official in Baghdad refused to talk
about the escape attempt report.
10/ 9/04 Saturday
President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, their animosity stirred by a
contentious second debate, lit into each other over Iraq, jobs and
debate performance in critical battleground states. Kerry "doesn't
pass the credibility test," Bush asserted, while the Massachusetts
senator claimed that the nation's choice "could really not have
been more clear than it was last night." Instant polls did not
give either Bush or Kerry a clear edge in Friday's wide-ranging
debate in St. Louis before an audience of uncommitted voters,
depicting either a tie or a slight edge for Kerry.
Thousands of election workers began the long process of tallying
the results of Afghanistan's first-ever presidential election, even
as controversy swirled over the vote's legitimacy. What was
supposed to be a historic day in the war-ravaged nation turned sour
when all 15 challengers to interim President Hamid Karzai withdrew
in the middle of voting, accusing the government and the United
Nations of fraud and incompetence because of faulty ink used to
mark voters' thumbs.
In Iraq, two car bombs shook the capital in quick succession,
killing at least 10 people and wounding 17, including an American
soldier, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. The attack came as Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met with American troops in a surprise
trip to Iraq's western desert, telling them it was unlikely the
United States would pull out any troops before next year's
elections. He said the violence was expected to increase in the
run-up to the elections.
The lone bus belonging to a mom-and-pop tour operator careened off
an interstate and overturned, killing 15 Chicago-area travelers on
their way to a Mississippi casino. Witnesses told police the bus,
which carried family and friends of the tour company owner, was
drifting. The bus was about 30 miles short of its destination in
Tunica, Miss., when the crash happened about 5 a.m. on Interstate
55 in northeastern Arkansas, near Memphis, Tenn.
Tropical Storm Matthew, the 13th named storm of the 2004 hurricane
season, flooded roads and homes across southeastern Louisiana as it
blew toward the Gulf of Mexico with high tides and torrential
rainfall. The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm
warning for residents from Intracoastal City to the Alabama-Florida
border. The center of the storm was expected to hit the coast
early Sunday.
10/10/04 Sunday
Christopher Reeve, the star of the "Superman" movies whose
near-fatal riding accident nine years ago turned him into a
worldwide advocate for spinal cord research, died of heart failure,
his publicist said. He was 52. Reeve fell into a coma Saturday
after going into cardiac arrest while at his New York home, his
publicist, Wesley Combs told The Associated Press by phone from
Washington, D.C. His family was at his side at the time of death.
The U.S. Senate, after a weekend of behind-the-scenes negotiations,
struck a deal to allow passage of a sweeping corporate tax bill and
spending measures for disaster relief and homeland security. The
agreement clears the way for the Senate to adjourn on Monday and
hit the campaign trail following the lead of the House, which left
town on Saturday until after the Nov. 2 elections.
President Bush isn't the only world leader facing doubts about his
handling of the war on terror. People in Australia, Italy and
Britain also harbor reservations about how well their nation's
leaders are holding terrorists at bay. Prime ministers Tony Blair
of Britain and John Howard of Australia and Premier Silvio
Berlusconi of Italy all get low marks from their people for their
handling of the war on terrorism, according to Associated
Press-Ipsos polling in their countries.
Ballot boxes poured into vote counting centers across Afghanistan,
while an independent panel will probe allegations the landmark
election was marred by fraud. Organizers of the vote are hoping
the establishment of the panel - made up of about three foreign
election experts - will end an opposition boycott that could
seriously undermine the winner's ability to rule this war-ravaged
nation.
More steam gushed out of Mount St. Helens following an increase in
earthquake activity, keeping scientists guessing as to what is
happening deep within the volcano and perhaps showing that the
mountain's seismic activity may not be over yet. From an airplane,
a crooked plume of steam could be seen drifting at least 500 feet
above the rim, dissipating a mile south of the 8,364-foot volcano.
10/11/04 Monday
Iraqi forces backed by U.S. soldiers and Marines raided mosques in
the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi and detained a prominent cleric
following fierce clashes that hospital officials said killed at
least four people. U.S. aircraft also rocketed a mosque northwest
of Ramadi after insurgents opened fire from there on U.S. Marines,
the command said.
In a last-minute flurry of accusations before their final debate,
John Kerry tried to tie President Bush to record oil prices while
the president charged that his Democratic opponent has totally
misunderstood the war on terror. On the way to the debate that
will range over domestic issues from the economy to health care,
Bush is reaching out to military supporters in Colorado Springs,
where the war in Iraq is the chief concern.
Chances for a conclusive result to Afghanistan's landmark election
were on firmer ground after President Hamid Karzai's main
challenger backed away from a boycott, indicating he'd accept an
independent commission to probe vote-fraud charges. Although no
ballots from Saturday's election have been counted yet, the
U.S.-backed interim leader is the clear favorite to win. But his
ability to consolidate his rule over the fractious, war-ravaged
nation would be undermined if the opposition refuses to acknowledge
the vote results.
The 108th Congress soon will be history, a tumultuous two years
that, depending on party affiliation, was the best of times or the
worst of times. Of course Republicans, who control both the House
and the Senate, expressed pride in a Congress that passed a major
Medicare prescription drug bill, gave President Bush the money he
needed for Iraq and substantially increased spending for defense
and homeland security.
10/12/04 Tuesday
Running even just 20 days before the election, President Bush and
Sen. John Kerry are looking for any edge in their third and final
debate Wednesday night. The face-to-face meeting, scheduled for 9
p.m. EDT at Arizona State University, is limited to economic and
domestic policy, but there may be questions that allow Bush to
discuss foreign policy, the war in Iraq and his campaign against
terrorism - all issues the Republican's campaign thinks he does
well on.
A roadside bomb attack killed three American soldiers in a convoy
as American troops and Iraqi soldiers stepped up pressure on Sunni
insurgents before the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan
this week. Last year, insurgents sharply increased their attacks
against U.S. and coalition forces at the start of the holy month.
The government moved to direct scarce remaining flu shots straight
to pediatricians, nursing homes and other places that care for the
patients who need them most. But only a fraction of the 22.4
million doses that maker Aventis Pasteur has yet to ship can be
diverted to areas with the biggest shortages. And officials
acknowledged that even if planned rationing goes well, there will
be high-risk patients who struggle to get shots but can't find
them.
Federal regulators proposed a record indecency fine of nearly $1.2
million Tuesday against Fox Broadcasting Co. for an episode of its
reality series "Married by America" that included graphic scenes
from bachelor and bachelorette parties. The Federal Communications
Commission said the material, which featured male and female Las
Vegas strippers in a variety of sexual situations, was indecent and
patently offensive, intended to "pander to and titillate the
audience."
10/13/04 Wednesday
In Tempe, Ariz., President Bush and rival John Kerry vaulted into
the home stretch of the race for the White House by trading blows
on taxes, gun control, abortion and jobs, striving in their final
debate to cement impressions in voters' minds. The Democrat cast
himself as champion of the little guy and Bush the guardian of the
wealthy, branding the president as reckless with the federal budget
and with the use of American force. Bush labeled Kerry a carping
liberal with questionable credibility, a do-nothing senator with an
insatiable appetite for tax dollars. Some said Kerry was the
winner of the contest by a slim margin.
In Iraq, stepping up raids before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan,
U.S. forces traded fire with insurgents in the Sunni stronghold of
Ramadi, officials said, while troops detained 10 people, including
two suspected insurgent leaders, in a sweep of Baqouba. Later, two
explosions rocked Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. A large
plume of thick, black smoke rose from the compound, which is home
to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices. It wasn't
immediately clear what caused the blasts, and there were no
immediate reports of casualties
Vote counting in Afghanistan's presidential election got under way,
days after a landmark vote meant to cement a new era of stability
after more than two decades of strife. The tallying began in many
of the eight counting centers across the country, but was delayed
in the capital, said Farooq Wardak, a senior election official.
"In the rest of the regions, counting has already started," he
said.
In Fla., a computer crash that forced a pre-election test of
electronic voting machines to be postponed was trumpeted by critics
as proof of the balloting technology's unreliability. The incident
in Palm Beach County - which is infamous for its hanging and
pregnant chads during the 2000 presidential election - did not
directly involve the touch-screen terminals on which nearly one in
three U.S. voters will cast ballots on Election Day.
10/14/04 Thursday
U.S. warplanes pounded the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, a day
after the city's leaders suspended peace talks and rejected the
Iraqi government's demands to turn over terror mastermind Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed
responsibility for twin bombings inside Baghdad's heavily guarded
Green Zone - home to U.S. officials and the Iraqi leadership -
which killed six people, including three American civilians. A
fourth American was missing and presumed dead.
Democrats are blaming President Bush for the record 2004 federal
deficit of $413 billion, but Republicans say the figure shows that
the economic and budget pictures are brightening. The Treasury
Department announced the figure today, two weeks after the
government's 2004 budget year ended and just 19 days from an
Election Day in which Bush's economic and fiscal performance are
pivotal issues.
Mary Cheney typically works quietly behind the scenes on her
father's vice presidential campaign, but she was dragged
front-and-center after John Kerry noted that she is a lesbian
during his debate with President Bush. Her parents were furious at
Kerry. But others who have publicly navigated the waters of
politics and homosexuality say Vice President Dick Cheney and his
wife may have overreacted to what Kerry called an attempt to
compliment them on how they have dealt with having a lesbian
daughter.
Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly made a TV talk show appearance on
what he said was "the worst day of my life", vowing to fight sexual
harassment charges by one of his producers. Accuser Andrea Mackris
spoke publicly for the first time, saying she felt threatened by
her former boss, who filed a lawsuit charging the woman and her
lawyer with extortion.
New record cost of $54.76 goes for a barrel of crude oil.
10/15/04 Friday
Relatives of soldiers who refused to deliver supplies in Iraq say
the troops considered the mission too dangerous, in part because
their vehicles were in poor shape. The Army is investigating up to
19 reservist members of a platoon that is part of the 343rd
Quartermaster Company, based in Rock Hill, S.C. The unit delivers
food, water and fuel on trucks in combat zones.
A bomb attack in southern Afghanistan killed two American soldiers
and wounded three others, the U.S. military said. The attack in
Uruzgan province, northwest of Deh Rawood, where a U.S. military
base is located, occurred less than a week after Afghanistan held
land mark elections which passed off largely peacefully despite
threats of attacks by Taliban-led rebels who had vowed to sabotage
the vote.
National security issues such as the war in Iraq and terrorism are
dominating voters' attention in the final weeks before Election
Day, polling found. Along with security issues like war and
terrorism, the economy and health care were near the top of the
list of the nation's most important problems in an AP-Ipsos poll.
The Food and Drug Administration ordered that all antidepressants
carry "black box" warnings that they "increase the risk of suicidal
thinking and behavior" in children who take them. Patients and
their parents will be given medication guides that include the
warning with each new prescription or refill.
Thinking of trying to wheedle a flu shot from your doctor even
though you're not at high-risk for flu complications? Forget about
it in Michigan. Or Washington, D.C. Or Massachusetts. As the
vaccine shortage hits home and long lines queue around the
supermarket, a handful of states and the nation's capital are
threatening doctors and nurses with fines or even jail if they give
flu shots to healthy, low-risk people.
10/16/04 Saturday
President Bush turned the tables on Sen. John Kerry, declaring "the
best way to avoid the draft is to vote for me," and pledged to
oppose mandatory military service. The Democrat stuck to domestic
issues, blaming Bush for a shortage of flu vaccines. Kerry also
opposes a draft and has suggested that re-electing Bush would
greatly increase the prospects for one. The president, fearing
that young voters will be swayed by the charge, fired back, "The
person talking about a draft is my opponent."
U.S. forces battled insurgents around the rebel stronghold of
Fallujah after two American soldiers died when their helicopters
crashed south of Baghdad. Many Iraqi Christians skipped Mass
following bombings at churches in the capital. Fierce clashes
between U.S. troops and insurgents broke out on a highway east of
Fallujah and in the southern part of the city, witnesses said.
Residents reported fresh aerial and artillery bombardment as
explosions boomed across the city.
Eight states worth just 99 electoral votes are up for grabs in the
closely fought presidential race, with the White House going to
whoever conquers this shrinking battlefield. While another dozen
states could come into play if either candidate breaks open the
race, President Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry entered the
campaign homestretch assuming that wouldn't happen. Their
strategies focused heavily - but not exclusively - on essentially
tied races in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada,
New Hampshire and New Mexico.
10/17/04 Sunday
Election Day is still two weeks away, but voters across the state
have the option Monday of beginning to cast their ballots early in
this pivotal battleground state. Early voting also occurs Monday
in Texas, Colorado and Arkansas. Other key states this year have
already begun in-person voting, including Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada,
Ohio, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The Iraqi government released the chief negotiator for the city of
Fallujah in a gesture apparently aimed at reviving peace talks to
end the standoff in Iraq's major insurgent bastion. In Baghdad, a
car bomb exploded near a police patrol fashionable Jadiriyah
district, killing at six people, including three police officers,
and wounding 26 others.
Facing unrelenting criticism from Jewish settlers, Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon said that nothing would deter him from
pushing forward with his plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and
parts of the West Bank. Also, scattered fighting in the Gaza Strip
killed at least five Palestinian militants.
The chief rival of interim President Hamid Karzai said he has
evidence of organized fraud in Afghanistan's election and accused
the U.N.-Afghan electoral commission of ignoring his complaints.
Karzai, Afghanistan's stopgap president since the fall of the
Taliban in 2001, had captured 62.6 percent of the 1.04 million
ballots counted so far - about 13 percent of the vote. That put
him on course for the simple majority needed to avoid a run-off.
10/18/04 Monday
A mortar attack on an Iraqi National Guard headquarters north of
Baghdad killed or wounded at least 100 Iraqis, officials said,
while U.S. troops battled insurgents in a major city west of the
capital. Six mortar rounds fell on National Guard offices in an
early morning attack in Mashahidan, 25 miles north of Baghdad, said
Iraqi police and National Guard officers under condition of
anonymity.
John Kerry says re-electing President Bush would create "the great
potential of a draft." Not so, responds the incumbent: "The best
way to avoid the draft is to vote for me." The fact that both Bush
and Kerry are on record opposing mandatory military service speaks
volumes about the audience they're targeting with their dueling
draft scares - young voters.
President Bush says he doesn't envision a longtime presence of U.S.
troops in Iraq similar to post-World War II deployments in Europe
and South Korea that continue today. "I think the Iraqi people
want us to leave once we've helped them get on the path of
stability and democracy and once we have trained their troops to do
their own hard work," Bush said in a wide-ranging interview with
The Associated Press.
10/19/04 Tuesday
As public health officials scramble to find more flu vaccine and
experts debate how to increase the U.S. supply, John Kerry hopes
voters will come to one conclusion: The severe shortage the United
States now faces is President Bush's fault. Over the last several
days, the vaccine shortage has been injected squarely into the
presidential race, as Bush defends his administration and Kerry
tries to hold him responsible for the loss of nearly 50 million
doses of vaccine - half this season's expected supply.
In Bismarck, N.D., with a shortage of flu vaccine across the
country, Margaret Holmen and others from the Powers Lake Senior
Citizens Center have been talking about going to Canada for their
shots. Clinics and pharmacies across the border are offering to
inoculate U.S. residents, and Holmen said she planned to call
clinics in Estevan, Saskatchewan, if she cannot get a flu shot in
North Dakota this week.
CARE International suspended operations in Iraq after gunmen seized
the woman who ran the humanitarian organization's work in the
country. The victim's Iraqi husband appealed to the kidnappers to
free her "in the name of humanity, Islam and brotherhood."
Margaret Hassan, who holds British, Irish and Iraqi citizenship,
was seized on her way to work in western Baghdad after gunmen
blocked her route and dragged the driver and a companion from the
car, her husband said.
10/20/04 Wednesday
President Bush and challenger John Kerry accused each other of
misjudging the stakes and lacking the leadership to deal with Iraq
and terrorism as they campaigned 60 miles apart in Iowa, a state
Bush narrowly lost four years ago. "The next commander in chief
must lead us to victory in this war and you cannot win a war when
you don't believe you're fighting one," Bush said in Mason City, a
northern Iowa farming community. "My opponent also misunderstands
our battle against insurgents and terrorists in Iraq, calling Iraq
a `a diversion from the war on terrorism.'"
The company commander of a U.S. Army Reserve unit whose soldiers
refused to deliver fuel along a dangerous route in Iraq has been
relieved of her duties, the U.S. military said. The decision to
relieve the commander of the 343rd Quartermaster Company came at
her request and is effective immediately, according to a statement
from the 13th Corps Support Command. It was authorized by Brig.
Gen. James E. Chambers.
Two poles resulted in two even match-ups for the pres contest; one
gave Kerry and Bush 47 percent each and another gave 48 percent to
each one. Bush is still the one expected to win on Nov 2nd, though.
10/21/04 Thursday
Many voters are dissatisfied with President Bush's job performance
but uneasy about Democrat John Kerry's ability to protect the
nation, according to an Associated Press poll that found the two
presidential candidates locked in a tie. "The country is looking
for a real leader - an FDR or a Kennedy," said Warren Hutchinson,
an independent from Massachusetts who leans toward Kerry. "There
don't seem to be any on the horizon."
Sen. John Kerry accused President Bush of slowing scientific
advancement after earning a special endorsement from the widow of
actor Christopher Reeve, while Bush criticized his rival on health
care and medical liability reform in Pennsylvania. "The American
people deserve a president who understands that when America
invests in science and technology, we can build a stronger economy
and create jobs for the 21st century," Kerry said during a campaign
rally. "But George Bush has literally --- turned his back on the
spirit of exploration and discovery."
A Maryland manufacturer will provide an additional 1 million doses
of its FluMist vaccine, making a total of 3 million doses of the
nasal spray available, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G.
Thompson said, as officials tried to deal with a shortage of flu
shots. However, FluMist, which contains weakened live virus,
cannot be used by those at highest risk for flu complications. It
is only approved for healthy people aged 5 to 49.
10/22/04 Friday
A car bomb exploded outside a U.S. Marine base in western Iraq,
killing 10 people and wounding 48, witnesses and hospital officials
said. The blast hit outside the gates of Marine Camp Al Asad in
Baghdadi, 142 miles west of Baghdad. The U.S. military confirmed
it was a car bomb and said 10 Iraqi policemen were killed.
In Wilkes-Barre, Pa., President Bush said the choice facing voters
amounts to who can keep Americans safer from terrorists, and his
opponent does not measure up. John Kerry shot back that if he were
president, Osama bin Laden would have been killed or captured by
now, and Bush let him get away. "All progress on every other issue
depends on the safety of our citizens," Bush told supporters in a
sports arena, delivering a retooled stump speech that portrays
Kerry as naive on terrorism and eager to raise taxes.
The flu vaccine shortage is causing widespread worries among a
substantial group of Americans - the four in 10 who are in families
with a member at high risk of getting the flu, an Associated Press
poll found. The U.S. flu vaccine shortage became public two weeks
ago when British regulators cited contamination problems in closing
one of the two companies that make vaccine for the U.S. market.
That nearly cut in half the 100 million doses U.S. officials were
expecting.
President Bush showered $136 billion in new tax breaks on
businesses, farmers and other groups, quietly signing the most
sweeping rewrite of corporate tax law in nearly two decades..
Announcing the action without fanfare aboard Air Force One, the
White House said the new law is good for America's workers because
it will help create jobs here at home.
10/23/04 Saturday
The bodies of about 50 Iraqi soldiers were found on a remote road
in eastern Iraq, apparently the victims of an ambush as they were
heading home on leave, Iraqi authorities said. Interior Ministry
spokesman Adnan Abdul-Rahman said the victims were believed to have
been killed about sundown on a road about 95 miles east of Baghdad
near the Iranian border.
Democrat John Kerry sought to undercut President Bush on national
security by charging that he was trying to scare voters with talk
of terrorism. Bush portrayed his opponent as indecisive and
suffering from "election amnesia" with conflicting stands on Iraq.
Racing toward a finish line 10 days away in an election too close
to call, Bush hopscotched by Marine helicopter to rallies in
Republican-friendly areas of Florida, the state that put him in the
White House four years ago. His chopper landings on baseball
fields, before thousands of cheering supporters, underscored Bush's
ability to use the powers of the presidency for his campaign.
Tens of thousands of Japanese huddled in emergency shelters after a
series of earthquakes in northern Japan flattened homes, toppled
bridges and derailed trains, killing at least 18 people and
reportedly injuring some 1,500. A 6.8-magnitude quake rocked the
largely rural Niigata prefecture in the evening, rattling buildings
as far away as the Japanese capital. Several strong quakes
followed through the night, and aftershocks continued to jolt the
area.
10/24/04 Sunday
Several hundred tons of conventional explosives are missing from a
former Iraqi military facility that once played a key role in
Saddam Hussein's efforts to build a nuclear bomb, the U.N. nuclear
agency confirmed. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed
ElBaradei will report the materials' disappearance to the U.N.
Security Council later Monday, spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told The
Associated Press.
Iraqi officials suspect that about 50 U.S.-trained Iraqi soldiers
slain by insurgents - many of them execution-style - may have been
set up by rebel infiltrators in their ranks. Jordanian terrorist
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for the weekend
attack, the deadliest ambush of the 18-month insurgency. The claim
was posted on an Islamist Web site but its authenticity could not
be confirmed.
One of auto racing's most successful dynasties was in mourning
after a plane owned by Hendrick Motorsports crashed in thick fog en
route to a NASCAR race, killing all 10 people aboard, including the
son, brother and two nieces of owner Rick Hendrick. The Beech 200
King Air took off from Concord, N.C., and crashed in the Bull
Mountain area seven miles from the Blue Ridge Regional Airport in
Spencer, near the Martinsville Speedway, said Arlene Murray,
spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
President Bush and Sen. John Kerry stayed on the offensive in swing
states as the presidential race entered its final full week. In a
television interview, Bush said it is "up in the air" whether the
nation can ever be fully safe from another terror attack and
suggested terrorists may still be contemplating ways to disrupt the
election. Kerry ridiculed Bush's statement, suggesting it echoed
an earlier assertion - later withdrawn - by the president that the
war on terror could not be won.
The European Union's top trade official said he would move to lift
millions of euros (dollars) in punitive tariffs on U.S. goods
following the repeal in Washington of corporate tax breaks that
were ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization. "We shall be
putting an end to our sanctions," said EU Trade Commissioner Pascal
Lamy.
10/25/04 Monday
A U.S. airstrike in Fallujah killed an aide to Jordanian terrorist
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the military said, while Iraqi officials
investigated whether insurgents got inside information that helped
them kill about 50 U.S.-trained soldiers. The U.S. military said
the early morning raid struck a safehouse used by al-Zarqawi's
group. U.S. forces have stepped up aerial and artillery assaults on
Fallujah in recent weeks in an attempt to root out insurgents.
Memories of Florida's contested 2000 presidential election and a
growing number of pre-election lawsuits are making Americans
skeptical about a voting process they once took for granted. Six
in 10 of those surveyed in an Associated Press poll say it's likely
there will not be a clear winner in the presidential race by Nov. 3
- the day after the election - and fear the results will be
challenged in court. The poll was conducted for the AP by Ipsos
Public Affairs.
Democrat John Kerry appealed to voters to elect a president -
namely, him - who will "trust you with the truth," and quickened
the pace of a campaign now in its final week. President Bush
tailored an economic pitch to conservative Democrats in Wisconsin,
investing crucial hours in a state Republicans think they can nudge
their way. A three-stop western Wisconsin bus tour offered Bush a
chance to peel away soft supporters of the Democrat, the
president's aides said, citing Bill Clinton's star turn in the
campaign a day earlier as a sign Kerry lacks luster of his own with
his party's base.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist may be back on the job next
week, although some physicians questioned whether his treatment for
thyroid cancer would sideline him longer. Rehnquist announced his
cancer diagnosis through a terse statement at the Supreme Court.
The disclosure caught even the closest court observers off guard
and injected into the presidential campaign the issue of
appointments to the high court.
10/26/04 Tuesday
Nearly 800 British forces left their base in southern Iraq, heading
north toward Baghdad to replace U.S. troops who are expected to
take part in an offensive against insurgent strongholds. The
deployment came hours after Iraq's most feared militant group
released a video threatening to behead a Japanese captive within 48
hours unless Japan withdraws its troops from Iraq.
Sen. John Kerry says the United States is "in a bigger mess by the
day," citing the murky fate of missing explosives in Iraq to
sharpen the indictment of his opponent. President Bush has put
together an end game that includes persistent appeals for
Democratic votes and a rarely used weapon in this bruising campaign
- a positive commercial. In the mail, on the phone and in
courtrooms across the nation, activists, lawyers and partisans of
all kinds intensified their efforts to shape the outcome.
The rivals for an open seat in the U.S. Senate couldn't be more
vintage Colorado: Democrat Ken Salazar comes from a fifth
generation ranching family in the San Luis Valley; Republican Pete
Coors is an executive in a family brewing business synonymous with
the Rockies' snowcapped peaks. The similarities end there. One of
the most closely watched political races in the state's history has
turned into a dogfight between two men who insist they could not be
more different - on the war in Iraq, taxes, abortion, the death
penalty. They even squabbled on national television about who
started mudslinging first.
The international Cassini spacecraft began unveiling Saturn's
mysterious sidekick Titan with a stream of increasingly sharp
pictures of the surface taken during a flyby within 745 miles of
the hazy moon. Distinct dark and bright surface areas were
apparent in pictures arriving at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Scientists were thrilled, but admitted they could only speculate
about what they were seeing.
10/27/04 Wednesday
An ailing Yasser Arafat performed Muslim prayers before dawn and
ate a light breakfast, but his condition remained serious and a
team of doctors flying in from Arab countries will decide whether
he needs to be transferred from his compound to a hospital, aides
said. Arafat's condition appeared to improve overnight, and
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian
leader was stable. Arafat woke up at 3:30 a.m., prayed and chatted
with aides, Erekat said. The leader is said to have suffered from
the flu for the last couple of weeks.
They are now forever a part of New England lore, names such as
Pokey Reese right up there with Paul Revere and Plymouth Rock.
Because these Boston Red Sox - yes, the Boston Red Sox! - are World
Series champions at long, long last. No more curse and no doubt
about it. Pedro Martinez paraded the trophy down the left-field
line, hoisting it high over his head with both hands after Boston
won it for the first time since 1918, beating the St. Louis
Cardinals 3-0 for a four-game sweep.
There appear to be two periods of time when the 377 tons of high
explosives missing from a military facility in Iraq could have been
moved or stolen - in the weeks before the U.S. invasion began or
several weeks in April after U.S. troops overran the Al-Qaqaa base
and moved on to Baghdad. Iraqi officials told the International
Atomic Energy Agency two weeks ago that the explosives vanished as
a result of "theft and looting .. due to lack of security."
The Earth's last total lunar eclipse for nearly two and a half
years didn't disappoint. The event began about 9:15 p.m. EDT and
was expected to last around three hours and 20 minutes.
10/28/04 Thursday
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat traveled to Paris for urgent
treatment of a serious illness, breaking free from nearly three
years of Israeli-imposed confinement at his battered compound, but
leaving behind a people in disarray. Arafat's somber departure - a
few hundred loyalists gathered on a rain-slicked tarmac - stood in
marked contrast to his triumphant arrival in the Palestinian lands
a decade ago, when he held out the promise of statehood.
The FBI is investigating whether U.S. officials improperly awarded
Vice President Dick Cheney's former company lucrative contract work
without competition, a probe that was confirmed only days after a
top Army contract officer raised the issue of favoritism. The
investigation expands an existing probe of whether Halliburton Co.
overcharged for fuel deliveries in Iraq. The probe now includes
the no-bid work awarded the company in Iraq, including restoration
of the country's oil industry at a cost of $2.5 billion.
After days of making hay over lost Iraqi explosives, John Kerry's
campaign is seizing on an expanding FBI probe of Halliburton Co. as
evidence the administration gives "special favors" to special
interests. President Bush received affirmation of his wartime
leadership in a very public salute from his former war commander.
Fresh off a World Series win with Kerry's hometown Red Sox, Boston
pitcher and Bush fan Curt Schilling was stumping for the president
in New Hampshire, with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the
wings for an appearance with Bush later in Ohio.
Citing a need to shield his loved ones, Fox News Channel's Bill
O'Reilly has settled a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by his
former producer. "This brutal ordeal is now officially over, and I
will never speak of it again," O'Reilly said on the p.m. edition of
his talk show, "The O'Reilly Factor."
The price of crude oil fell for a third straight day, sliding back
toward the $50 mark after a surprising midweek U.S. petroleum
stocks report and China's latest moves to cool its economy. Crude
on the benchmark New York Mercantile Exchange has retreated nearly
$5 since its Monday intraday record high of $55.67.
10/29/04 Friday
The Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera said that it received the
latest videotaped message from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden at
its offices in the Pakistani capital. The tape was dropped off at
the gate of the station's office in an envelope just hours before
it aired, said Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan, Al-Jazeera's bureau chief in
Pakistan.
U.S. forces launched airstrikes against suspected militant bases in
Fallujah and carried out probing attacks on the city's outskirts,
as they prepared for a major operation in the insurgent bastion
that has become the symbol of Iraqi resistance. U.S. planners
believe many of Fallujah's 300,000 residents have already fled the
city, where militants last spring ambushed and killed four American
contractors, mutilated their bodies and hung them from a bridge.
Physicians specializing in the treatment of leukemia were examining
ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Saturday to determine
whether he suffers from the blood disorder, Palestinian sources
said. The 75-year-old Arafat has been sick for the past two weeks
and blood tests have revealed he has a low platelet count - a
possible symptom of leukemia, other cancers or a number of other
maladies.
Osama bin Laden's sudden reappearance on videotape sent President
Bush and Democrat John Kerry into a sharp final round of argument
over which one can defeat terrorism and make Americans safe, the
transcendent questions of the campaign. The presidential
candidates responded with reflexive gestures of unity to the sight
of America's deadly foe on video, but those were swallowed up in
the lunge for advantage in the campaign's closing days.
10/30/04 Saturday
With the 2004 presidential race still a tossup, President Bush and
challenger Democrat John Kerry charged into the final two days of
the contest trying to turn to their advantage an October surprise
appearance by America's most hated enemy. "The terrorists who
killed thousands of innocent people are still dangerous and they
are determined," Bush told supporters at a campaign rally a day
after a new videotape message from terrorist mastermind Osama bin
Laden was broadcast.
President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are virtually tied in the
Electoral College count, fighting over eight to 10 states so close
and unpredictable that anything is possible Tuesday night. After
months campaigning and a half-billion dollars spent on attack ads,
Bush and Kerry are still at the whim of unexpected events such as
Osama bin Laden's sudden emergence on Friday, a videotape
appearance that sent both candidates scrambling to pledge victory
in the fight against terrorism.
A top government counterterrorist official says the new videotape
of Osama bin Laden appears to contain no specific threat but is
aimed instead at showing al-Qaeda remains active and effective..
John Brennan, director of the government's leading terror-threat
analysis unit, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, told
reporters that bin Laden was likely attempting to "demonstrate that
al-Qaeda, as an organization, is still effective, even though they
have not, in fact, been able to do something here in the states."
In Iraq, a car bomb killed eight U.S. Marines outside Fallujah, the
deadliest attack against the U.S. military in nearly six months.
Marines pounded guerrilla positions on the outskirts of Fallujah,
where American forces are gearing up for a major assault on the
insurgent stronghold. The Marines later reported a ninth combat
death but did not say whether it was in the car bombing or another
action. Efforts to contact the Marines for clarification were
unsuccessful.
Doctors in France were trying to determine if Yasser Arafat has a
viral infection or some form of cancer after ruling out leukemia as
the cause of the Palestinian leader's dramatic deterioration in
health, aides said. Results from additional medical tests on
Arafat are due on Wednesday, said his aide, Mohammed Rashid. But
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told Israel's Army Radio
that Arafat's doctors would be getting results on tests and issuing
a medical report in the next 48 hours.
10/31/04 Sunday
U.S. troops clashed with Sunni insurgents west of the capital, and
gunmen assassinated Baghdad's deputy governor as fresh American
soldiers arrived in the capital - reinforcements that will push
U.S. military strength in Iraq to its highest level since the
summer of 2003. American artillery pounded suspected insurgent
positions in Fallujah, witnesses said, where U.S. forces are
gearing up for an offensive if Iraqi mediation fails to win
agreement to hand over foreign Arab fighters and other militants.
Militants threatening to kill three foreign hostages in Afghanistan
said they would give officials until Friday to meet their demands
that the United Nations withdraw from the country and the U.S.
release Guantanamo Bay prisoners. They also warned that any rescue
attempt would end in bloodshed. One day after the three U.N.
workers were shown pleading for freedom in an Iraq-style video, the
Taliban splinter group claiming to hold them said it had split the
trio up to thwart any move by authorities to save them.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act threatens costly penalties for
schools deemed failing to meet academic standards. In response,
many educators have a threat of their own: a flood of lawsuits
aimed at avoiding the sanctions. Since President Bush signed the
sweeping education reforms in 2002, the law has drawn criticism
from educators debating its strict performance and test
requirements. The act requires all students to be proficient in
reading, writing and math by 2014.
An ailing Yasser Arafat entered a fourth day of emergency treatment
at a French military hospital specializing in blood disorders, but
the cause of his precipitous decline in health remained
unexplained. Palestinian officials say their leader's condition
has improved markedly since he was rushed from his battered
Ramallah headquarters in the West Bank to Paris on Friday - and
that he does not suffer from leukemia or cancer. But that has not
been publicly confirmed by French physicians involved in his
treatment.
Before 2000, the focus of television election night coverage was
pretty simple: count votes as fast as you can and explain why
people voted the way they did. Two trends in this year's plans
show the residual impact of hanging chads and blown calls.
Networks are intent on following potential voter irregularities and
laying bare their own decision-making processes as results flood
in.
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