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11 1: ii a INTERNATIONAL i i a li -M 2005 A5 Iranians go to polls in close election Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran Iranians voted Friday in their first presidential runoff, torn between 9 mi a well-known political moderate and his hard-line rival who says the nation must reclaim the values of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The election was consid just 21 percent of the vote, well short of predictions. Right behind was Ahmadinejad with about 19.5 percent, forcing Iran's'first presidential runoff as no candidate got a majority. The Interior Ministry's election supervisor, Mojtaba Rashad, called on the judiciary Thursday to ban members of the Revolutionary Guards and paramilitary Basij forces fromactingasobserversatpollingstations.lt was not immediately clear if authorities would comply. At least 26 people, including a military figure, have been arrested for suspected electoral violations in last week's vote, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency opposed to relaxing the Islamic regime.

Election overseers warned the elite Revolutionary Guards and its vigilante wings, both key Ahmadinejad followers, to stay-clear of polling sites following accusations of intimidation and other abuses in last Friday's balloting. The two rivals represent a distinct vision and voice for a nation struggling to find its priorities. The race also exposed the estrangement between those who feel empowered and those who feel embittered by Western-friendly reforms that began in the late 1990s. The 70-year-old Rafsanjani became the default choice for reformists after their main hopeful finished the first round back in the pack. Rafsanjani stumbled to first place with MINI VAULT Bring your key found in our sale flyer from ered too close to predict.

First results were expected early Saturday. The first round winner, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, had strong support from progressive and business groups. His surprise opponent, Tehran's ultraconservative mayor Mahoud Ahmadinejad, was backed by Iran's impoverished classes and powerful forces last weeks Manhattan Mercury or pick one up at our store, and if your key opens our Floods, landslides kill hundreds in China Mini Vault you will win a valuable prize. The Mini Vault contains Gift Certificates From $10.00 to $300.00 each. There are 375 winning keys.

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$400.00 day news Friday. So far, most damage in Guangdong appears to be to farms, with export-oriented factories largely unaffected, said Ruby Zhu, China economist for the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. "It doesn't seem serious now," she said. "But if it gets more serious, we're not sure what will happen in Guangdong province." Nationwide, a total of 137 people are missing, Xinhua said. Authorities in Macau, the former Portuguese colony west of Hong Kong at the mouth of the Pearl River, issued a flood warn-' ing, saying the rain-swollen river could rise to as much as three feet above normal, Xinhua said.

The death toll was higher than most of the rainy seasons of the past decade, though still below that of 1998, when 4,150 people were killed in summer flooding in central and northeastern China, Xinhua said. BEIJING Flooding and mudslides have killed at least 536 people across China in the past two weeks, with more heavy rain forecast in the southern province whose factories are the heart of the country's booming export industries, the government said Friday. There was no immediate offi-cial word on the economic injpact of storms forecast for Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong and is China's most populous region with more than 100 million people. But state media said road and railway traffic in some areas was cut, including the main Beijing-Hong Kmg railroad. Some 1.4 million people have been evacuated from a five-province swath of the densely crowded south, while total economic losses were estimated at billion, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

$199.95 A- 5 Associated Press Resident walks on the debris of a house destroyed by a landslide in Heyuan, China. 13 Princess Cut Diamond Stud Earnngs In White or Yellow Gold REG. $200.00 $99.95 In Guangdong, at least 48 people have been killed and 120,000 forced to flee their homes, state television reported on its mid Nationwide, rain-related deaths were reported in 22 of China's 31 provinces and regions, it said. Man detained in missing teen-ager case PFEIFLEY'S Associated Press FINE JEWELRY SINCE 1972 1348 West Loop lar access to Paul van der Sloot, saying they believed contact between the two could damage the investigation. Anita van der Sloot said she and her husband received a call from neighbors saying police were waiting for them at their home in Noord, northwest of the capital, Oranjestad.

Lay-a-ways Manhattan 539-1751 STORE HOURS Mon-Fri Sat E3 the (United) States and the media," she said. Authorities did not immediately respond to van der Sloot's allegation. The elder van der Sloot "is a suspect in the disappearance" of Holloway, said Mariaine Croes, spokeswoman for the Aruban Attorney General's office. Authorities have described all five men currently in custody as "suspects." But it was not clear if each was suspected in the woman's disappearance or if some were suspected only of a lesser crime in connection with the case, such as withholding evidence. Contacted by the AP hours before his arrest, Paul van der loot declined to comment on the case.

While Anita van der Sloot had been allowed to visit her son occasionally at the San Nicolas prison, authorities denied simi shortly after he and his wife left the San Nicolas prison where Joran isbeing held, Anita vander Sloot told theAP. Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, said she was pleased with the development. "We are very pleased that the investigation is progressing," she feel like this will lead to more information to give us the answers we need for finding Nalalee." But Anita van der Sloot insisted her husband had done nothing wrong and said Aruban authorities arrested him because they were under pressure. "My husband is a man of integrity who has been working in the justice system 15 years and was taken without evidence," she said, describing him as "the most honest, beautiful man." "How can this happen? This is not about Natalee anymore. It's about enormous pressure from V7 Country Stampede ORANJESTAD, Aruba Aruban police arrested the father of a young Dutch teen already in custody in connec- tion with the dis- tjSSffo appearance of a young Alabama woman, and said -issucV-Thursday that he was considered a suspect in the 3-week-old case.

The teen's mother, meanwhile, told The Associated Press that her son had changed his story, admitting to her that he was alone with 18-year-old Nalalee Holloway on a beach the night she vanished and that he left her there, not at a Holiday Inn as he earlier stated. But Joran van der Sloot, 17, insisted that he did not hurt her, Anita van der Sloot said. Paul van der Sloot, 52, a justice official on this Dutch Caribbean istand, was arrested Thursday I I I OlWiAJiivi. 1 1 kmart MANHATTAN STORE ONLY-THURS. JUNE 23 THRU SUN.

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