Millions expected to vote in Iraq election

TIKRIT, Iraq

Stuffing ballots into boxes by the fistful, citizens in Saddam Hussein's hometown of massive compounds and narrow lanes joined millions of other Iraqis yesterday for a vote choreographed as a show of support for their leader.

"All Iraq is for Saddam. He is our leader and our father," said one voter, showing off a ballot stamped "yes" in a thumbprint of blood.

Surface-to-air missile batteries and artillery outside Saddam's hometown, Tikrit, underscored the other message in Iraq's one-candidate presidential referendum: defiance of the United States in the face of possible war over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

"I came to put my paper in the box and to say I don't want America to come here, and to say I hate Bush, because he wants to attack me," Ahmed Jawad, a parasitologist, said in a village outside Tikrit.

Iraq projected more than 11 million of Saddam's 22 million people would turn out for the referendum. The vote was a "yes" or "no" on Saddam's staying president for another seven years and on continuing the coup-installed, three-decade reign of his party. The White House dismissed the one-man race. "Obviously, it's not a very serious day, not a very serious vote and nobody places any credibility on it," press secretary Ari Fleischer said in Washington.

Sharon stands rm against Arafat, visits U.S.

JERUSALEM

In advance of a White House visit, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon urged Palestinians on Monday to overthrow their leadership, calling it a "despotic regime that is leading you from failure to failure."

Sharon's unyielding stance with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has won the broad endorsement of President Bush, who has also called for Arafat to be replaced. But Sharon, making his seventh White House visit in 18 months, could face hard questions from a U.S. administration that has chastised him for failing to follow through with pledges to ease blockades and curfews imposed on many Palestinian cities.

In the West Bank after nightfall Monday, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, Palestinian security officials said. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two were members of the violent Islamic Jihad. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Sharon, who left Israel early yesterday and meets Bush in Washington today, has defended the security measures as essential to prevent, or at least limit, Palestinian suicide bombings and shooting attacks.

Indonesian extremist group will disband

aBALI, Indonesia

Indonesia's most violent Muslim extremist group announced yesterday that it was disbanding in what appeared to be the first sign that the government is getting serious about cracking down on Islamic extremism in the wake of the deadly bombing of a Bali nightclub.

The announcement by the group, Laskar Jihad, came as Indonesian officials interrogated a security guard and another man about the nightclub bombing, and said traces of C-4 plastic explosive were found at the scene. Also, the accused ringleader of a separate extremist network, linked to al-Qaida, said he would submit to police questioning.

The blast killed nearly 200 people, mostly foreign tourists, and has led to mounting international pressure on Indonesia to crack down on al-Qaida terrorists and local allies blamed for the bombing.

ImClone founder says he is guilty of charges

NEW YORK

ImClone Systems founder Sam Waksal pleaded guilty yesterday to bank fraud and conspiracy in an insider trading scandal that threatens Martha Stewart and her home decorating empire.

In an unusual move, prosecutors also said they are investigating a previously undisclosed sale of $30 million in ImClone stock by a Waksal associate that may result in new insider trading charges.

Waksal's guilty plea in U.S. District Court was the second in the investigation of insider trading on ImClone stock. An assistant to Stewart's stock broker pleaded guilty this month to a misdemeanor charge and agreed to testify against people charged in the case.

Waksal did not implicate Stewart, and his plea was not part of an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors.

Florida coalition aims to up smoking rules

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

Each year since his mother died of cancer in 1992, Martin Larsen pressed state lawmakers to toughen Florida's anti-smoking laws. Rebuffed repeatedly, he and his allies decided to go straight to the voters, and victory is now within sight. Like anti-smoking activists in three other states, Larsen's coalition tried a previously uncommon strategy this year - launching a petition drive to put a tobacco-related proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot.