Thursday, September 17, 2009 KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai denied Thursday that major electoral fraud took place last month and urged foreign allies not to interfere over investigations into mounting allegations of vote-rigging. Afghans went to the polls on August 20 in only their second direct presidential election, but the vote has been overshadowed by massive claims of irregularities and threats of violence by Taliban rebels. "Media has reported major fraud. It wasn't that big. If there was fraud, it was small -- it happens all over the world," Karzai told reporters a day after preliminary results gave him 54.6 percent of the vote. But hundreds of thousands of ballots are being recounted because of fears of electoral fraud, and EU monitors have branded a quarter of the ballots cast as "suspicious" -- most of them for Karzai. "If there is fraud, it has to be investigated, but investigated fairly and without prejudice," Karzai said. "I hope our foreign friends respect the people of Afghanistan and let the IEC (Independent Election Commission) and the ECC (Electoral Complaints Commission) fulfil their work without interference." The European Union Election Observation Mission to Afghanistan on Wednesday said that they had identified 1.5 million votes which could be fraudulent, with 1.1 of those cast for Karzai. His campaign office responded furiously, accusing the EU of meddling and damning the announcement as "partial, irresponsible and in contradiction with Afghanistan's constitution." Karzai said Thursday he would respect the results of investigations by the electoral bodies, but there is no timescale yet for the audits and recounts at about 2,500 polling stations, raising fears of protracted political turmoil. "I rely on it (the IEC) and respect its work," Karzai said. The fracas comes as Taliban insurgents are waging a bloody insurgency to topple the government, with threats of militant violence believed to be behind the meagre election turnout of 38.7 percent. Karzai said, "we had a successful election", but admitted that threats of violence by the Taliban did impact the polls. "We promised them security, but we failed to provide them security on election day... but people even then came out to vote," he said.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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