WASHINGTON: Reports of fraud and intimidation in Afghanistan's presidential election continued to mount Saturday, with anecdotal, but widespread accounts of ballot-box stuffing, a lack of impartiality among election workers and voters casting ballots for others.Director Jandad Spinger, Foundation for free and transparent elections in Afghanistan said that over 7000 observers of his group told that the ballot boxes were already stuffed, while bogus voting and other irregularities continued.US newspaper said that European groups have also pointed out many discrepancies, while in several provinces the polling stations remained shut fearing violence. Karzai government has denied any sort of fraud committed in the elections.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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