News Digest
J
Race comes down to court battle
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
George W. Bush and AlGore marshaled their legal forces
Sunday for a climactic state Supreme Court showdown.
GOP lawyers said it would be unjust “to keep the state
and the nation on hold” during interminable recounts.
Democrats said die truth cant be rushed, as jangled nerves
and protests punctuated another painstaking day of south
Florida vote-counting.
With the long-count election stretching into a third ago
nizing week, the court strategy of both camps reached criti
cal mass: Republicans hope to stop manual recounts that
threaten Bush’s 930-vote lead out of 6 million cast; Gore
wants die work to grind away under rules most favorable to
Democrats.
The candidates kept a low profile as their lawyers pre
pared for a momentous two-hour court hearing today. Each
went for a jog and to church.
Calling these days “extraordinary times,” Bush’s lawyers
argued in court papers that Republican Secretary of State
Katherine Harris has the authority to certify election results
without accepting hand counts. They said allowing the
recounts to continue in selected Democratic-leaning coun
ties would violate the constitutional rights of voters.
MThe selective manual recounts authorize county
ooards to engage in arbitrary and unequal counting of votes,
fold result in die disparate treatment of Florida voters based
solely on where within the state they happen to reside,” Bush
argued.
In a separate brief, Harris tried to distance herself from
both Bush and Gore, even as Democrats pointed to her GOP
presidential campaigning as a sign of bias. All seven
Supreme Court justices were appointed by Democratic gov
ernors.
“It is clear that for the Democrats and the Republicans,
the object is to win, and that is understandable,” Harris’ brief
said “The stakes are very high.”
In its paper reply, the Gore team asked the court to set a
generous standard for officials to “ascertain die electorate’s
will” when they punched ballots in the disputed presidential
election. They said local election officials in dose cases can
“determine the voter’s intent”
Twelve days after America voted, the weekend tally of
overseas absentee ballots lengthened Bush’s tiny 300-vote
lead to a still-minuscule 930.
With recounts under way in two Democratic-leaning
counties and a third set to begin, Gore had a net gain of 76
votes, which, if allowed, would cut Bush’s lead to 854.
Gore narrowly won the national popular vote and holds
a slight edge over Bush in the all-important Electoral College
tally, though neither man can reach the required total of 270
electoral votes without Florida’s 25. /
The Texas governor spent the day with his family in
Austin, Tfexas.
It is clear that for the Democrats and
the Republicans, the object is to win,
and that is understandable. The stakes
are very high.n
Katherine Harris
Florida Secretary of State
Gore canceled plans to attend a long-scheduled confer
ence in Tennessee, the home state that deserted him for
Bush on Election Day. About 100 pro-Bush protesters
packed the sidewalks across from his official residence in
Washington.
"We want Bush!” they shouted.
The identity of America’s 43rd president rests with the
courts and in the ballot-counting rooms of Palm Beach,
Broward and Miami-Dade counties, where more than 1.5
million ballots were cast, a majority from Democrats.
“It seems to be that they're doing everything they can to
stop the recounting of votes because they're slightly ahead
and they fear that after the recounting they won’t be,” said
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Iieberman,
who conducted a rare tour.of all five major news shows
Sunday.
Clinton
stresses
shared
interests
■The US. President urged
Vietnam's government to open
itseconomyforthegoodof
both countries.
THE A890CWED PRESS
HO CHI MINH CITY,
Vietnam—Returning ffomahis
v* tone trip to Vietnam, President
Clinton said Sunday that “a big
welcome” awaits Americans in
this struggling communist
nation as it looks with hope to the
future without bitterness about
the wartime past
“The years of animosity are
past,” Clinton said a quarter cen
tury after the Vietnam War ended
with a communist takeover of
U.S.-backed South Vietnam.
“TOday we have a shared interest
in your well-being and your pros
perity."
Clinton urged Vietnam to
open its economy and allow
greater individual freedoms.
Despite Clinton’s optimism,
Vietnam’s powerful Communist
Party chief, Le Kha Phieu,
expressed wariness about eco
nomic reforms and America’s
involvement in Vietnam
Phieu emphatically stated
that while the former Soviet
Union has crumbled, die social
ist system in Vietnam still stands,
Clinton’s economic adviser Gene
Sperling said, recounting the
Paula Bronstein/Newsmakers
President Clinton speaks Sunday during a visit to the International Container Teminal in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Clinton is the first American president to visit Vietnam since
the war ended in 1975.
talks Saturday in Hanoi
“What was the cause of our
resistance against foreign aggres
sion?” the Communist Party
newspaper Nhan Dan quoted
Phieu asking Clinton. “The root
cause was because imperialism
colonized other countries.”
In an interview with CNN,
Clinton said he had “a nice little
debate” with Phieu about the
United States and “stoutly dis
puted that we were an imperialist
country.”
“We had never had any impe
rialist designs here,” Clinton said.
Clinton said the trend toward
freedom in Vietnam “is virtually
irreversible... And as you can see
in the streets, there is a lot of
goodwill toward America here.”
Departing Ho Chi Minh City
on Sunday, Air Force One was
loaded with silks, purses, paint
ings, lacquer ware and other gifts
purchased by the presidential
entourage on a 22,192-mile,
week-long trip to an Asian sum
mit in Brunei and the ground
breaking stop in Vietnam.
Clinton’s plane was stopping in
Alaska to refuel, with a scheduled
arrival in Washington before
dawn today.
“I am going home deter
mined to continue the partner
ship we have for a better future
for the people of Vietnam, the
people of the United States and
all those whom we can reach
together,” Clinton told a group of
business leaders just before his
departure.
Clinton was the first presi
dent to visit this country since
1969 and the first ever to stop in
Hanoi While he spoke hopefully
of the future, there were
reminders of the painful past
During his stay, he visited an
excavation site near Hanoi,
where searchers probed the mud
for the remains of a U.S. pilot
shot down 33 years ago. He met
with children disfigured by for
gotten land mines. And he
watched silently as the remains
of three MIAs began the journey
home.
In a gesture for religious free
dom, Clinton met Sunday with
Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man,
the Roman Catholic archbishop
of Ho Chi Minh City.
White House officials said
they spoke of problems the arch
bishop faces in a country where
international human rights
groups and the State Department
cite a pattern of harassment and
imprisonment of Buddhist and
other religious leaders.
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1 DAILY NEBRASKAN
Israel scales back
retaliation efforts
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM - After
seven weeks of Mideast
bloodshed, Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak and
Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat aren’t on speaking
terms, but both are speak
ing of restraint
Barak said Sunday that
Israel didn’t want to escalate
the conflict, and therefore
was not planning to retali
ate for the shooting death of
an Israeli soldier.
Palestinian leaders said
they were working to imple
ment Arafat’s recent call for
an end to shooting from ter
ritory under his control.
Unrest on Sunday was
scarce, though still deadly. A
14-year-old Palestinian boy
was killed and six
Palestinians injured in a
brief clash in the Gaza Strip,
doctors said. Also, an Israeli
diplomat suffered minor
wounds in a shooting attack
in the capital of neighbor
ing Jordan.
Previous lulls have last
ed only briefly, followed by
renewed spasms of unrest.
Still, both sides said Sunday
there were hopeful signs
that calm could be restored.
Israeli army chief Lt.
Gen. Shaul Mofaz said the
Palestinians have not
issued a cease-fire order,
but the Palestinian leader
ship was “on the road to
reducing its (hostile) activi-i
ties.” \
TODAY TOMORROW
Partly cloudy Mostly sunny
high 30, low 19 high 43, low 24
Democrats debate
ballots in high court
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Democrats asked Florida’s
Supreme Court on Sunday to set a generous standard for
deciding what voters really meant when they punched ballots
in the disputed presiden
tial election.
Republicans argued ‘FOK fYlOVB than 80
it was unfair “to keep the years it has been
hold” any longer. settled Florida law
Lawyers for that a ballot must be
Democrat A1 Gore argued . , »
that previous state court COUmea ...
rulings have established
the rules for discerning
the will of the voter in A1 Gore’s lawyers
dose^tions.retary Qf filing with the Florida high court
State and Governor Bush
nonetheless urge this Court to construe Florida law to prevent
county canvassing boards - which are charged under Florida
law with primary responsibility for counting ballots - from uti
lizing the procedures long established in Florida law... to
ascertain dip electorate's will in close elections such as this
one,” Gore’s filing said. “This court should reject that
approach."
Democrats want the Florida Supreme Court to establish a
standard to approve or reject ballots in the three counties
where hand recounts are under way or scheduled.
“For more than 80 years, it has been settled Florida law that
a ballot must be counted if die voter's intent is apparent from
an examination of the ballot,” Gore’s lawyers wrote.
The Associated Press
■Yemen
Authorities detain suspects
in bombing of Ui. warship
ADEN — In one portrait
emerging from Yemen, the
plotters who attacked a U.S.
warship in the port of Aden
came from across the region,
inspired by hatred, hardened
by war and determined
enough to try again and again
until they were able to strike a
mighty target.
Yemeni sources close to
the investigation of the Oct. 12
bombing say authorities have
detained six Yemeni men they
believe were key accomplices.
Scores of people have been
held so far, but the sources
said these six are the first
described as central players -
including a main plotter.
The sources, who spoke
late last week on the condition
they not be named, said no
charges would be filed until
the investigation was com
plete.
■ United States
Electors'opinions divided
on fete of Electoral College
More than a third of this
year’s Democratic presiden
tial electors say they want to
re-examine or scrap the
Electoral College that takes
the final vote on the next per
son in the White House, while
fewer than one in 10
Republicans think the nation
should even consider tinker
ing with the system, an
Associated Press survey
found.
The partisan breakdown is
not surprising, given that the
Democratic candidate, A1
Gore, may lose the presidency
while winning the popular
vote. Republican George W.
Bush, if declared the victor in
Florida, would win the crucial
electoral vote.
The AP interviewed 342
electors, or nearly two-thirds
of the 538-member Electoral
College.
"It's silly,” said Gore elector
Lana Boldi, a political coordi
nator for United Auto Workers
in Michigan. “We’re 200 years
or more past when we really
need that safeguard. I think
the average voter is intelligent
enough to cast a popular
vote.”
■Austria
Increased development
may be destroying Alps
KAPRUN — After decades
of development as Europe’s
year-round playground, the
Alps may be suffering from
overload.
Mudslides, avalanches and
last weekend’s fire in the
Kitzsteinhorn mountain tun
nel that killed 155 people have
led some environmentalists to
question whether it’s time to
scale back on the construction
of resorts, hiking trails and ski
runs that expanded as
Europe's economy has grown.
“We cannot continue to
treat the mountains as we
have in the past and maintain
this pace into the future,” said
Daniela Grabher of the
Austrian Ecological Institute
in Bregrenz.
■ Russia
Officials offer new theories
on cause of Kursk's demise
MOSCOW—A top Russian
official claimed Sunday that
sounds initially called distress
signals from the crew of the
sunken submarine Kursk
instead came from a different
vessel in the area.
Deputy Prime Minister Ilya
Klebanov suggested the vessel
may have been making the
signals after colliding with the
Kursk, causing the explosions
that destroyed the submarine
and killed all 118 men aboard.
The cause of the disaster
remains unclear. Klebanov,
who leads the government
commission investigating the
Aug. 12 accident, has focused
on the theory that the Kursk
was hit by a foreign submarine
but has provided no proof.
The government also is
considering an explosion in
the Kursk’s torpedo compart
ment.
