BBC news 2009-09-09 加文本

BBC 2009-09-09


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BBC News with Gano Howards.

The Election Commission in Afghanistan says President Karzai now has 54% of the votes in the presidential poll. His nearest rival Abdullah Abdullah has 28%. But the results have been dogged by allegations of cheating. As the United Nations publicly expressed its concerns for the first time, Afghan election officials said they had clear and convincing evidence of fraud. The BBC’s Chris Morris is in Kabul.

Even though President Karzai has passed across the 50% threshold for the first time which will allow him to claim victory in the first round without a second round run-off, we now have various complaints processes underway which could strip him over certain number of votes. We're now told that the results from 600 polling stations have been annulled, we’ve heard there from the Complaints Commission that they want to recount in many places, and there are other allegations of fraud which the Complaints Commission are still investigating.

Iraq’s President and two Vice Presidents have tried to ease tension with Syria, saying that a diplomatic growl between the two countries should be resolved through dialogue. In a statement, the Presidency Council is implicitly critical of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki who has repeatedly accused Syria of training and sheltering insurgents. He's called for a UN inquiry into recent attacks in Iraq. The Council said it had written to Nuri Al-Maliki to remind him that it should be consulted on all major political decisions.

The Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has replaced almost all of the country’s most senior police officers, following allegations of widespread human rights violations. No official reason has been given for the decision. From Nairobi, here is Peter Greste.

Of all the Kenyan institutions needing reform, the police have been at the top of the list. In the wave of reflection that followed last year's rioting over disputed elections, the police were blamed for killing hundreds. A UN report published earlier this year described the killings as systematic and carried out with total impunity. Human rights groups have consistently argued that there can be no justice in Kenya without complete reform of the police service.

The BBC has learned that the South African runner Caster Semenya will be allowed to keep the gold medal she won in the 800 meters World Championships last month, regardless of the results of gender tests. The governing body of World Athletics the IAAF now accepts she’s done nothing wrong. Our sports correspondent James Pearce has more.

After weeks of fury in South Africa about the way that the case has been handled, this is an important olive branch that's been handed out by the IAAF. It is accepted that whatever the results of the gender tests, Caster Semenya has done nothing wrong and shouldn’t be punished retrospectively. The spokesman for the IAAF told me that it will be legally very difficult to make her hand back the gold medal. The IAAF has already had to apologize for allowing the fact that Semenya’s gender was being scrutinized to be made public.

World News from the BBC.

The party of one of the defeated opposition candidates in Iran’s disputed presidential election, Mehdi Karroubi, says the authorities have closed down his office in Tehran. A spokesman for the party said the officials had a warrant from the Teheran prosecutor and confiscated documents, computers and films.

In a speech that attracted a storm of criticism from Republicans, President Obama has urged American children to work hard to get a good education. Speaking at a high school in Virginia, he told children that each one of them had something to offer and they should be committed to whatever they did.

At the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

The address broadcast to schools across the country has been accused of bringing politics into the classroom and trying to indoctrinate students with what's been described as socialist ideas.

A law to annul the wartime convictions of thousands of people whom the Nazi regime had designated war traitors has been overwhelmingly approved by the German Parliament. In 2002, the convictions of conscientious objectors and deserters from Hitler’s forces were lifted, but war traitors, soldiers accused of political resistance or assisting Jews were excluded.

The Indian airliner Jet Airways has gone to court in an attempt to get its pilots back to work. More than 300 of them called in sick to protest against the sacking last month of two colleagues after they formed a Trade Union. The mass sick leave on Tuesday left 13,000 passengers stranded.

BBC World News.