Abdullah ‘may quit Afghan poll’

Abdullah Abdullah, President Hamid Karzai’s rival in the second round of Afghanistan’s presidential election, is reportedly close to quitting the poll.

Mr Abdullah called for the resignation of key election officials, cabinet ministers and provincial governors as a way to mitigate fraud and corruption.

The deadline for those conditions to be met expires on Saturday.

A senior adviser said that in talks on Friday, Mr Abdullah’s team decided he should not take part in the poll.

The BBC’s Ian Pannell, in Kabul, says this does not mean he is officially withdrawing, although Mr Abdullah is expected to decide on his next step this weekend.

The former foreign minister may simply tell his supporters that he will not take part and that they should do likewise, our correspondent says.

In a meeting with President Karzai earlier this week, Mr Abdullah’s demands for resignations were turned down.

But this election has been a protracted and murky affair, our correspondent says, and until an official announcement is made, the details of any final decision on whether he is standing won’t be known.
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African women look within for change

(CNN) — Grammy-winning singer Angelique Kidjo joined human rights activists to demand courts martial for troops who publicly gang raped women in the streets of the West African country of Guinea last month.

It’s part of a strong message against rape that Kidjo, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, and activist Leymah Gbowee are spreading to the women of Africa, the governments of Africa and the rest of the world.

“I refuse any man to stand here and justify rape to me, because every girl, every woman that is raped is their mother, their grandmother that they are raping, their sister and their daughter,” Beninese singer Kidjo told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Friday.

“And we cannot sit back — I can’t just accept it, and I’m never going to accept it in my life’s breath.”

Governments, international and regional groups “have failed the women of this world,” said Gbowee, founder and executive director of Women Peace and Security Network Africa.
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Microsoft’s seventh seal

Windows 7 is all its hapless precedessor should have been

NOT since the launch of Windows 95 more than a decade ago has your correspondent seen such a fuss over a new piece of software. In some cities, people lined up all night outside computer stores for Windows 7, the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system, which went on sale to the public on October 22nd. Orders taken before that date for Windows 7 by Amazon were the biggest in the online retailer’s history, grossing more than even the latest Harry Potter book.

Customers will not be disappointed. Windows 7 is all its unlamented predecessor, Windows Vista, should have been. It does not hog resources anything like as much as Vista did, making it a far sprightlier performer. It will even run on diminutive netbooks that currently have to use leaner Linux or Windows XP operating systems because of Vista’s girth and weight.
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Breaking up

A dramatic restructuring for ING. Which big European bank is next?

IF ICELAND is the place that has suffered most from the banking crisis, the Benelux countries can make a justifiable claim to second place. After the calamitous sale of ABN AMRO and the subsequent dismemberment of Fortis, ING, the biggest bank in the Netherlands, announced on Monday October 26th that it was splitting itself up. The bank will sell its insurance businesses, divest the American arm of its ING Direct online-banking unit and carve out some bits of its Dutch retail activities. By the time the restructuring is done, in 2013, the bank’s balance sheet will be 45% smaller than it was in September 2008.

That isn’t all. The bank also announced plans for a €7.5 billion ($11.2 billion) rights issue to help repay half the money that the Dutch government injected into ING in October last year. Investors reacted with dismay to the prospect of dilution and the uncertainty of the planned restructuring, sending the bank’s shares down sharply on Monday.

Other equity investors were spooked, too, as they digested the wider implications of the announcement. For shareholders in other banks that have received state aid, the biggest concerns surrounded the European Commission’s role in ING’s break-up. The Dutch bank has its own reasons to act. The rights issue can largely be explained by ING’s desire to start escaping government investment. The break-up is consistent with a “back to basics” plan announced in April by Jan Hommen, ING’s chief executive, that promised to simplify and shrink the institution. Splitting banking and insurance should rid ING of a conglomerate discount. Its shares have historically traded at a 30% discount to bank and insurance indices.
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Murder in Kabul

The Taliban kill several UN staff in Afghanistan, ahead of a presidential election

THE murder of at least five foreign, civilian, UN staff in a private guest house in Kabul, and a near-simultaneous rocket attack on the city’s most prestigious hotel, on Wednesday October 28th, are reminders of the apparently expanding reach of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. At least three suicide attackers, wearing explosives and carrying grenades and automatic weapons, made their way into the Bekhtar guest house, reportedly by posing as policemen. Frequented by foreigners, the guest house is in a central area of Kabul that had previously been considered relatively secure. Guards and the intruders exchanged gunfire, guests were killed (and nine more were injured), as well as four Afghans. Three attackers were eventually shot dead.

A Taliban spokesman promptly claimed responsibility for the murders, saying that they were “just a start” of an assault on “anyone engaged” in the process of preparing for a run-off presidential election that is scheduled for November 7th. The head of the UN mission, Kai Eide, responded to the worst single attack on his staff in the country by vowing to remain “committed to Afghanistan”. But the Taliban may hope that a bloody enough assault on UN workers might yet provoke the organisation either to reduce its activities in the country or to consider withdrawal, as happened in Iraq in 2003 after 22 staff were killed by bombers at its headquarters in Baghdad.
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Karadzic boycotts start of war crimes trial

The Hague, Netherlands (CNN) — U.N. judges adjourned the long-awaited war-crimes trial of Radovan Karadzic on Monday after the former Bosnian Serb leader refused to appear on the opening day.

Karadzic, who is accused of masterminding the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, claimed he did not have enough time to prepare his defense. He is representing himself.

Prosecutors opened the trial by urging judges to impose a lawyer on Karadzic if he continued to refuse to cooperate.

The judges adjourned the case after the prosecutor’s comments.

The break prompted an angry reaction in the public gallery from about a dozen women from Srebrenica, the Bosnian town where more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb troops in July 1995.

The women say they spent a lot of money to come to trial by bus and want to see it begin. They say they have no money for a hotel and are threatening to sleep outside the court building until the trial begins.
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Obama’s fury at Baghdad bloodbath

US President Barack Obama has led international condemnation of Sunday’s double suicide bomb attack in Baghdad that killed at least 132 people.

Mr Obama branded the attacks – the worst in more than two years in Iraq – “hateful and destructive”.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said they were a “terrible reminder of the threat from violent extremism”.

The blasts hit the ministry of justice and a provincial government office near the heavily fortified Green Zone.

More than 520 people were also injured when the two car bombs exploded in quick succession at 1030 (0730 GMT) as people headed to work during the rush hour.

The White House said President Obama had spoken to Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki and President Jalal Talabani to pledge his support.
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‘Lipstick Killer’ behind bars since 1946

Dixon, Illinois (CNN) — William Heirens, the “Lipstick Killer,” is believed to be the longest-serving inmate in the United States. He turns 81 on November 15.

Diabetes has ravaged his body, but his mind is sharp.

“Bill’s never allowed himself to be institutionalized,” said Dolores Kennedy, his long-time friend and advocate. “He’s kept himself focused on the positives.”

The days are spent mostly watching television and reading magazines. Using a wheelchair and sharing a cell with a roommate in the health unit of Dixon Correctional Center, he still yearns for a chance at freedom. It is something he has not tasted since 1946.

Heirens has been locked behind bars and walls for 63 years, making inmate C06103 the longest-serving prisoner in Illinois history, state officials say.
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Trains collide in Egypt, killing up to 20

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) — Between 15 and 20 people died when two trains collided outside of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday night, and officials expect the death toll to rise, the country’s Health Ministry said.

Another 40 to 50 people were injured when one train traveling from Cairo to Asyut crashed into a train en route from Giza to Fayyoum, Deputy to the Health Ministry Mohammed Sarhan told state-run Nile News TV. The Fayyoum-bound train was stationary when it was struck in Al-Ayyat district, he said.

The collision occured in Kafr Girza, a village in Al-Ayyat district of October 6th province, Nile News TV reported. Al-Ayyat is about 70 km (40 miles) south of Cairo.

The wreck’s location posed a problem for emergency personnel, Sarhan said, because the site is next to a canal. Security forces used tree trunks and branches to create a bridge to the dead and injured. Some bodies were recovered from beneath the trains, he said.
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US declares swine flu ‘emergency’

US President Barack Obama has declared swine flu a national emergency.

The White House said the president signed the proclamation concerning the 2009 H1N1 outbreak on Friday evening.

It increases the ability of treatment facilities to handle a surge in H1N1 patients by easing the implementation of emergency plans.

Last week US officials said swine flu activity was widespread in 46 states. More than 1,000 US deaths have been linked to the virus.

Health officials say the infections are already comparable to peak season flu levels.
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