EU observers say 1.5 mln Afghan votes 'suspicious'

(KABUL) - European Union election observers said Wednesday that around 1.5 million votes cast in Afghanistan's troubled elections last month could be fraudulent.

"We have calculated 1.5 million suspicious votes," said Dimitra Ioannou, the deputy head of the EU Election Observation Mission to Afghanistan.

She told reporters 1.1 million votes cast for the incumbent Hamid Karzai were suspicious and 300,000 for his main rival Abdullah Abdullah. The remainder of the suspicious votes were cast for other candidates.

The August 20 election has been overshadowed by allegations of widespread fraud that are threatening to undermine the final result.

Preliminary results are due to be released Wednesday, although the final declaration of a winner is not likely for some weeks yet, officials say.

Hatoyama Japan's prime minister, names Cabinet

By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO – Longtime opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama was elected prime minister and installed his new Cabinet Wednesday, promising to reinvigorate Japan's economy and shake up government with his left-of-center party after more than 50 years of nearly unbroken rule by conservatives.

Hatoyama's victory marks a major turning point for Japan, which is facing its worst economic slowdown since World War II, with unemployment at record highs and deflation intensifying. But concerns ran deep over whether the largely untested government would be able to deliver.

Hatoyama has vowed to cut government waste, rein in the national bureaucracy and restart the economy by putting a freeze on planned tax hikes, removing tolls on highways and focusing policies on consumers, not big business.

He has also pledged to improve Tokyo's often bumpy ties with its Asian neighbors and forge a foreign policy that is more independent from Washington.

"I am excited by the prospect of changing history," Hatoyama said early Wednesday. "The battle starts now."

Parliament convened in a special session to formally select Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide in parliamentary elections last month to take control of the body's lower house, which chooses the prime minister.

Hatoyama's party won 308 of the 480 seats in the lower chamber to oust Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party, which is conservative and staunchly pro-U.S.

In Wednesday's parliamentary vote to choose the prime minister, Hatoyama won 327 of the 480 votes in the lower house. He needed a simple majority of 241 votes.

Quickly after his election, Hatoyama named Katsuya Okada as his foreign minister and Hirohisa Fujii as his finance minister. Though Okada has never held a Cabinet post, Fujii was finance minister under a coalition government in 1993-94, the only time in its 55-year history that the Liberal Democrats had previously been ousted from power.

Hatoyama, who has a Ph.D from Stanford University and is the grandson of a conservative prime minister, had a limited pool of seasoned politicians to choose from. His party, created a decade ago, has never held power, and nearly half of the Democrats' members of the lower house will be serving in their first terms in parliament.

But Hatoyama and his party, a mix of defectors from the conservative party and social progressives, face huge tasks that they must deal with quickly.

Although it has recently shown some signs of improvement, Japan's economy remains deeply shaken by the global financial crisis and unemployment is at a record high of 5.7 percent. The rapid aging of its population also threatens to be a drag on public coffers as the number of taxpayers decreases and pension responsibilities swell.

"The economy is in very difficult shape, so we must work hard to improve it," said Mieko Tanaka, one of the Democratic Party's new lawmakers.

Voters expressed hope for change and an upturn for the economy.

"I think it is good that now we are trying something new to change the stagnation," said Osamu Yamamoto, a 49-year-old company employee.

Experts said they had doubts about how effective the new government will be.

"People and employment problems — these are urgent needs," said Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a professor of international relations at Tokyo's private Aoyama Gakuin University. "The new government needs to decide on its priorities."

Hatoyama will also be tested quickly on the diplomatic front. He has said he wants to attend the General Assembly in the United Nations in New York next week and possibly meet with President Barack Obama.

Hatoyama has said he wants to build a foreign policy that will put Tokyo on a more equal footing with Washington, while keeping the U.S. as the "cornerstone" of Japan's diplomacy. He is also seeking closer ties with Japan's Asian neighbors, particularly China.

Some members of Hatoyama's party have said they want to overhaul the U.S.-Japan security alliance under which 50,000 troops are deployed throughout Japan. That idea has met with strong opposition from Washington, although plans are already under way for 8,000 Marines to be relocated from the southern island of Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam.

Venezuela seeking to join N-club

CARACAS, Venezuela — Hugo Chavez wants to join the nuclear-energy club and is looking to Russia for help in getting started.

The Venezuelan leader is already dismissing critics' concerns over his nuclear ambitions, offering assurances his aims are peaceful and that Venezuela will simply be following in the footsteps of other South American nations using atomic energy.

Yet his project remains in its planning stages and still faces a host of practical hurdles, likely requiring billions of dollars, as well as technology and expertise that Venezuela lacks.

Russia has offered to help bridge that gap, and Chavez has announced that the two countries have created an atomic energy commission.

"I say it before the world: Venezuela is going to start the process of developing nuclear energy, but we're not going to make an atomic bomb, so don't be bothering us afterward . . . (with) something like what they have against Iran," Chavez said Sunday.

The socialist president is closely allied with Iran and defends its nuclear program while the U.S. and other countries accuse Tehran of having a secret nuclear-weapons program.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly on Monday expressed misgivings about Venezuela's nuclear ambitions.

Responding to a reporter's question about whether the United States would be worried about nuclear transfers between Iran and Venezuela, Kelly said: "The short answer is, to that, yes, we do have concerns."

Some of Chavez's critics among American lawmakers are alarmed. U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla., urged the U.S. and allies to "unite to prevent Chavez from gaining access to new nuclear technology."

Foundation's effort a 'jihad'

KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has paid tribute to the Al-Bukhary Foundation for helping poor students attain education up to the highest level and called on other bodies to emulate the good deed.

Describing the foundation's effort as a jihad (holy war) in Islam, Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, said the aid helped to bridge the gap in education between those in urban and rural areas besides providing access to quality education.

"I wish to congratulate the Al-Bukhary Foundation for improving Muslims' standard of education," he said at a breaking of fast with 312 students of the International Islamic University at the Islamic Arts Museum here on Monday.

Muhyiddin's wife, Puan Sri Norainee Abd Rahman, and foundation chairman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary were present at the function sponsored by the foundation.

Jordan Requests Rocket System From U.S.

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Jordan has requested an advanced tactical rocket systems from the United States.

The administration of President Barack Obama has notified Congress of Jordan's request for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, produced by Lockheed Martin. Jordan has sought to acquire 12 M-142 HIMARS launchers as well as multiple-rocket launch systems in a $220 million deal.

Fadlallah voices fears of delays in cabinet formation

BEIRUT: Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah voiced fears Tuesday that the cabinet formation process would drag on. “The formation of a government is not impossible but will take some time,” Fadlallah said, adding that foreign and Arab intelligence apparatuses have always been present in Lebanon and that foreign interference in Lebanese political issues “has always been the trend.”

Saudi education lags behind new high-tech university as result of clerical influence

Ulf Laessing

Reuters

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia is launching its first co-educational high-tech university, but unless clerical influence is removed the state education system will not move into the modern age, analysts say.

Saudi King Abdullah has invited heads of state, business leaders and Nobel laureates next week to the opening of a technology university which has attracted top scientists and is meant to produce Saudi scientists and engineers.

Faced with a rapidly growing young population the university is part of plans to better qualify Saudis for the private-sector job market and lower the conservative Gulf Arab state’s dependence on millions of expatriate workers and oil revenue.

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is the first institute in one of the world’s biggest oil exporters outside the reach of the Education Ministry, where clerics opposing cutting religious content have a strong say.

And men and women will be able to mingle, a stark contrast to otherwise strict gender segregation in the Islamic kingdom.

Analysts and diplomats say the KAUST launch is a step in the right direction, but state education will remain inefficient unless the government starts a radical overhaul.

“We need to change the mindset of the teaching concept. We need to review all our educational practices … We also need to be consistent with the needs of modern education and market requirements,” said Saudi columnist Abdullah al-Alami.

Ghanem Nuseibeh, a senior analyst at Political Capital in Dubai, agreed: “The bigger problem remains primary education.”

Despite its immense financial resources, the parameters of Saudi school and university education are governed by religious strictures and many academic subjects are off-limits for women to study.

The US ally is a monarchy without a parliament where the Al-Saud family rules in alliance with clerics who apply an austere version of Sunni Islam through mosques, the judiciary and parts of education. They even have their own police force.

While KAUST enjoys almost unlimited funds, sophisticated equipment and is run by an independent board, most Saudi schools and universities have curriculums still dominated by religion, despite reform efforts begun after the September 11 attacks of 2001.

Saudi Arabia faced international pressure to reduce the influence of its puritanical religious establishment since 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi, acting in the name of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who is also a Saudi.

Foreign and Saudi critics said that Saudi Arabia’s educational material encouraged the killing of non-Muslims and promoted the idea of cleansing Muslim countries from Western cultural influences.

“Part of the problem lies in the lack of emphasis on scientific subjects,” said James Reeve, senior economist at Saudi bank Samba Financial Group.

At secondary level, 24 percent of courses are about maths or science, less than 32 percent in Jordan or 28 percent in Iran, he said, citing figures by Booz Allen Hamilton for a 2002 study.

Education is at the heart of reform King Abdullah has promoted since taking office in 2005 as the country needs to absorb a mostly young native population of 18 million.

“Some estimates suggest Saudi Arabia will need to double its current employment level over the next decade just to satisfy the requirements of new job market entrants,” Reeve said.

But despite launching a $2.4 billion education program in 2005, results are minimal: Saudi Arabia ranked 93rd of 129 behind Albania, the Philippines, Peru and Tajikistan in UNESCO global index assessing quality of education in 2008.

In February, King Abdullah removed two hardline clerics in a Cabinet reshuffle and named the first female deputy education minister, but diplomats say he has to balance power by accommodating clerics and conservatives opposing big changes.

“Saudi Arabia has vowed to remove religious hatred passages from textbooks but they need to do a grassroot reform against the religious people which seems unlikely,” said a Western diplomat.

The KAUST inauguration comes at a time when liberals’ hopes for reforms have been repeatedly dashed: The only film festival was canceled in July after clerics voiced opposition while other cultural events were also stopped or pared down.

Interior Minister Prince Nayef, a key royal conservative who was this year promoted to second deputy prime minister, raising his chances of becoming king, backs the religious police who have been under pressure since some Saudis died in their custody or in car accidents as the morality squad pursued them.

“The [KAUST] project has caused nervousness among clerics who view this as a step toward Westernization,” said Rochdi Younsi at Eurasia Group.

“For the scientists it will be important to get the academic freedom they are used to,” added Younsi.

Some fear KAUST is destined to become an oasis of academic freedom, away from the prying eyes of the clerics in a remote area north of Jeddah, with little impact on society at large.

“While the KAUST will provide long-term prospects and greater incentives … to move into applied higher education, the KAUST may become another institution that is isolated from the rest of the Saudi educational system and society,” said Nuseibeh, a political risk analyst.

Source: Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/Sep/16/Saudi-education-lags-behind-new-high-tech-university-as-result-of-clerical-influence.ashx.