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Show DAILY HEIAID A4 Wefresdy, Septembers. 2004 FAST FACT Morning Briefing , v Sumatra Indonesia, which s 171,060 square miles, is the watt's largest island with an active volcano. Compiled rom Dairy Herald wire services The Nation ITieWoiUJ) o KEHCM SATONtshi Nihon Shimbun surges toward an anchored ship in Kitakyushu as typhoon Songda pounds Japan's southern island of Kyushu on Tuesday. Songda was the record seventh typhoon to hit Japan this year, the Meteorological Agency said. A big wave VtKlt -- if V'; If P al hours by Steven Kay, one of two British lawyers assigned last week against Milosevic's win to contest the 66 war crimes counts in his indict- Powerful typhoon pounds Japan DANIEL TOKYO A typhoon pounded western Japan, killing 10 people, leaving sev-- . eral others missing and knocking out power to more than a million households. The storm weakened today as it moved across northern Japan. Across the country 650 people were injured, public broadcaster NHK reported. Typhoon Songda had lost some of its devastating force, and was downgraded to a tropical storm by early today. It was packing winds of up to 67 mites per hour and centered west of Otaru city, in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, some 525 miles northwest of Tokyo. About 8 inches of rain was forecast for Hokkaido, the Meteorological Agency said. Songda was the record seventh typhoon to hit Japan this exceeding the six year storms that lashed the country in 1990, the agency said. HULSHIZER Associated Press Preparing for Miss America Workmen move about center stage set as they prepare it for the Miss America Competition at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., on Tuesday. The competition final is Sept. 18. Carter calls Miller's speech disloyal Hospital: Clinton doing well WASHINGTON Former President Jimmy Carter is accusing fellow Georgia Democrat Zell Miller of "unprecedented disloyalty" for the senator's speech at the Republican convention. In a letter sent over the weekend, Carter also called Miller's speech "rabid and NEW YORK Former President Clinton was talking and taking liquids on Tuesday, a day after undergoing an operation to relieve four severely clogged arteries, a hospital source told The Associated Press. Clinton remained in intensive care at New York Presbyterian HospitalColumbia, and his spirits were "fine," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The source described the scene at the Manhattan hospital as swarming with Secret Service and hospital security personnel The former president was taken off his respirator Monday night, a crucial step in his recovery, said Dr. Bob Kelly, a member of Clinton's surgery team. "Everything is going very well," Kelly told NBC's "Today" mean-spirited- ." "By now, there are many of us loyal Democrats who feel un- -' comfortable in seeing that you have chosen the rich over the poor, unilateral war over a strong nation united with others for peace, lies and obfuscation over the truth and the political technique of character assassination as a way to win elections or to garner a few moments of applause," Carter's office declined to release the letter Tuesday, but Miller's office confirmed the contents. Miller responded Tuesday by repeating his contention, made in the convention speech last week, that the security of his family outweighed any loyalty to the party where he has spent a lifetime. show. Clinton's doctors will decide when he can be moved out of the intensive care unit. It was possible he would go to the hospital's McKeen Pavilion, where patients are treated to a piano player at a daily complementary high tea. Other perks include meals prepared by a gourmet chef and concierge service. Clinton was expected to leave the hospital in four or five days. "John F. Kennedy warned about the dangers of extreme party loyalty and once said, 'What sins have been committed in its name,' " said Miller, who plans to retire in January as a Democrat. "My first loyalty is and always will be my family." Most ground zero volunteers still waiting for workers' comp -- WASHINGTON More than half the injury claims from Ground Zero volunteers have yet to be resolved, according to a review by congressional investigators. A study of workers' compensation claims from the cleanup at the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11 attacks found that about 90 percent of the 10,182 claims for workers' comp have been resolved. In contrast, less than a third, or 31 percentrof the 588 volun-- teer claims were resolved as of June 30, 2004, the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found. A second draft report prepared by the GAO found New York hospitals received 6,232 emergency room visits and nearly 500 hospitalizations related to the attack between Sept. 11 and Sept. 28, 2001 but officials still cannot determine the total number of people injured in the attacks. The GACs findings are contained in testimony prepared to be delivered today to a House committee. An advance copy of the draft testimony was ob-tained by The Associated Press Tuesday. Study: Manufacturers already marketing assault weapons With the federal ban on assault weapons set to expire next Monday, gun manufacturers ate marketing firearms and are military-styl- e ready to sell them as soon as WASHINGTON ; Sept. 14, a consumer group said Tuesday. "The gun industry is champing at the bit for the ban to expire," said Susan Peschin, firearms project director at the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit association of 300 consumer groups that released the study. The consumer group inter- - , viewed gun industry experts and marketing representatives and surveyed manufacturers' catalogs and Web sites. The 1994 law, signed by President Clinton, banned 19 types of assault weapons but included a "sunset" clause that said it would automatically expire in 10 years if Congress did not re- new it. President Bush has said he supports the ban, but a number of attempts to extend it in Congress have failed day, traffic on parts of Interstate 95, the major highway along the Atlantic coast, was double the usual levels. Federal Emergency Management Agency workers trying to reach Martin County on the southeast coast got stuck in traffic. About 3 million Floridians were told it could take up to a week to restore power to all of them, with the longest wait for Daytona Beach- - That was bad news with high humidity and temperatures hovering around 90 degrees. The storm's remnants dumped heavy fain Tuesday in .Georgia and Alabama, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands and closing schools, while FORT PIERCE, Fla. Thou- sands of residents desperate to return home after fleeing Hurricane Frances ignored Florida's plea to stay put Tuesday, jamming highways, delaying emergency workers and causing tempers to flare in the sticky heat. One man was so desperate for ice that he shot the lock off a freezer. Fights broke out in some places. Drivers waited for hours to fill up their gas tanks. More than 1,000 cars coiled around several blocks in Stuart as a distribution center watched over by National Guardsmen offered water, ice meals. and ready-tc-ea- t While many began removing debris, clearing downed trees and mopping up the water in their homes, weary Floridians looked over their shoulder at another hurricane several days away in the Atlantic Ivan could become the third hurricane to hit the state this year, though it was too soon to determine the storm's exact path. "It almost seems like we've got a Itick me' sign on the state here," said Max Mayfield, di- - . rector of the National Hurri- - . cane Center in Miami As many Floridians went home for the first time since Frances battered the state Sun Washington state judge rules gay marriage ban unconstitutional OLYMPIA, Wash. -E- choing the ruling of another local court, a Thurston County judge ruled Tuesday that Washington marstate's ban on same-se-x riage is unconstitutional. A King County judge had ruled in favor of gay marriage rights in a separate case last month. Both cases will now go to the state Supreme Court, where they will likely be consolidated. "For the government this is not a moral issue. It is a legal issue," wrote Thurston County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks in his ruling, posted Tuesday on the court's Web site. Hicks acknowledged that the intent of the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act was very clear: Legislators wanted to limit marriage to a union between one man and one . woman. But, Hicks said, that law directly conflicts with the state constitution. "What fails strict scrutiny here is government-approvecivil contract for one class of the community not given to another class of the community," i Hicks wrote. "Democracy means people with different values living together as one people. What can reconcile our j differences is the feeling that with these differences we are still one people. This is the , democracy of conscience. ; Serbian nationalist defends Milosevic ii . . CRAM RUBADOU! KjFtartda Today Greg Turk works to salvage his father's belongings after! iurricane Frances destroyed his father's condo in Indialantic, Fla, Tuesday. The condo sustained heavy damage, and residents were' removing their belongings before the buSding was condemned. ' '5 Thousands of Palestinian mourners in Gaza clamored for revenge, and Hamas vowed to avenge the attack. Qureia said, "No crime goes unpunished. For sure there will be retaliation, and the retaliation will be justified if it happens." , Ivan tears off roofs in Caribbean . . ST. GEORGE'S, ' Hurricane Ivan's raging winds tore up roofs, trees and utility poles m Barbados and other islands Tuesday then thundered on a collision course with Grenada. Ivan's winds strengthened to 120 mph Tuesday as it raced through the Windward Islands and forecasters said it could reach Category 4 strength, with winds of more than 131 mph by late Tuesday. At 2 p.m. EDT, the hurricane's center was about 35 miles east southeast of Grenada. It was moving west at 18 mph and expected to hit Jamaica by Thursday. At least 176 homes in Barbados were damaged by the storm, mostly in ' the south, said emergency refief director Judy Thomas. The Hotel and Ocean ; Spray Hotel, just outside Bridgetown, the capital, also lost part of their ' , roofs. -- ,v THE HAGUE, Netherlands' Slobodan Milosevic angrily refused to work with two lawyers Tuesday as they called the first witness in his war crimes defense case an elderly Serbian nationalist who taught the ex- -, ; Yugoslav leader law and advised the wartime Serbian government. Smilja Avramov, a former professor at Belgrade University, Was questioned for sever court-appointe- d r tinian 16 people. U.S.-backe- d 1 Strip-Pales- Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia condemned an Israeli airstrike that killed 14 Hamas militants in unusually harsh terms Tuesday, warning the attack will invite a tough response from the militant group and saying retaliation will be "justified." Palestinian officials said Qureia's comments reflected his people's outrage as well as his impatience with the political paralysis within the Palestinian Authority. They said Qureia told Cabinet ministers he was so frustrated he wants to resign. The Israeli attack, which struck a Hamas training camp in Gaza City shortly after midnight, came a week after Hamas suicide bombers blew up two Israeli buses in the Israeli city of Beersheba, killing Campaigning begins for Afghan election ;. : ! GAZA CITY, Gaza Uranium enriched to high levels can be used to make nuclear warheads. At bwer levels, enriched uranium can gen- -' erate power, the only activity Iran asserts it is interested in. Iran last year agreed to freeze enrichment activities but has since resumed testing, assembling and malting centrifuges. . t Palestinian official: Retaliation is 'justified' um. KABUL, Afghanistan Afghanistan's historic election campaign got under way Tuesday, pitting 17 hopefuls against interim leader Hamid Karzai in the. race to become the impoverished country's first popularly elected president. incumbent The inaugurated a rare new factory and promised to help Afghans out of poverty, while the lone female challenger wowed widows with a tirade against warlords. But the danger that violence could mar & contest supposed to cement the country's recovery since the ouster of the ruling Taliban militia in 2001 was underlined by fresh battles with militants in the south that killed at least seven people. Karzai and his challengers have 30 days to try to impress the roughly 10.6 mfllion Afghans registered to vote. But the start of the campaign was low key. to me." e Iran VIENNA, Austria has offered to stop some activities linked to uranium enrichment, diplomats said Tuesday. The United States said the move would not stop it from trying to have Tehran hauled before the UN. Security Council for allegedly trying to make nuclear arms. The diplomats, who spoke , to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said Iran tentatively agreed to a freeze on making, testing and assembling centrifuges used to enrich urani- "f" I rs ; ;?'r;n5 I? Avramov, like Milosevic a vocal opponent of the UN. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, praised Bosnian Serb hard-lineRadovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, both indicted on genocide charges for the 1995 massacre cf 7,500 Muslims near Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia. Milosevic, who insists on representing himself in court, has rejected any form of cooperation with Kay or his deputy, Gillian Higgins. "These defense lawyers are not my lawyers. They are your lawyers," he toW Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson. "I ask you to return my right of Iran said ready to suspend some activities d '':"S Floridians head home despite warnings the Carolinas were bracing for a series of tornadoes as a result of the storm. The storm was blamed for at least 18 deaths in Georgia and Florida, in addition to two earlier in the Bahamas. ment. is . , |