Sudan opposition claims video shows election fraud

 

Advertisement Video posted on YouTube claiming to show polling officers stuffing ballot boxes with fraudulent voting slips Sudanese opposition activists have said a video which apparently shows election officials stuffing ballot boxes proves their claims of poll rigging. The clip, which has not been independently verified, has been posted on the internet and is being circulated by a coalition of campaign groups. The National Elections Commission (NEC), however, dismissed it as a fake and is not even investigating it. The elections were held under a deal to end a 21-year north-south civil war. The presidential, parliamentary and regional polls were the first multi-party elections since 1986. We will not investigate anything that appears on the internet al-Hadi Mohamed Ahmed National Elections Commission Results are expected this week, after the elections were extended by two days due to organisational problems. Several opposition parties withdrew in the north, saying President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party was trying to rig the voting. On Tuesday, the US said the elections were plagued by "serious irregularities" and more should have been done to prevent them. An election monitoring group earlier told the BBC it suspected that one of its observers had been kidnapped and beaten in the semi-autonomous south. 'No complaint' The video, which was posted on the video sharing website YouTube and which is impossible to verify independently, was apparently filmed in the eastern Red Sea state. It's forgery, of course, done by the ruling party. They changed the boxes with already filled boxes. They brought them by cars from outside Abdallah Deng Nhial Popular Congress Party It shows people wearing the distinctive orange bibs of election officials and traditional white gowns seemingly stuffing ballot boxes. It has been circulated by the Sudan Democracy First Group - a coalition of trade unions and activists. "This video is proving everything we said that the elections are rigged and they rigged the boxes," opposition Communist Party official Siddig Youssef told the Reuters news agency. The presidential candidate of the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP), Abdallah Deng Nhial, described the video as "scandalous". "It's forgery, of course, done by the ruling party. They changed the boxes with already filled boxes. They brought them by cars from outside." However, National Elections Commission member al-Hadi Mohamed Ahmed told reporters that no complaint had been received. "We will not investigate anything that appears on the internet." A senior advisor to President Bashir, Ghazi Saleheddine, also cast doubt on the video. "It could be made up, I have seen people wearing orange tunics which could be anywhere and boxes can be also found so it's just a video, they only have their word for it," he said. At the weekend, the EU and the Carter Center, led by former US President Jimmy Carter, said the polls had fallen short of international standards. However, both concluded the 11-15 April vote was a significant step towards democracy. President Bashir is expected to be re-elected, after his two main challengers withdrew, alleging fraud. The former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) is equally expected to retain power in the south. The complicated ballot in Africa's largest country was beset by problems and heavily criticised by the Sudanese opposition and local observers. Observers said the ruling parties in both the south and the north also used their huge advantage in resources to influence the vote. The EU's team was withdrawn from Darfur, where low-level civil war continues, because of fears about safety and whether the monitors could observe freely.

IPhone demand boosts Apple profit

 

The figures did not include sales of the new iPad Strong sales of its iPhone and Macintosh computers helped Apple profits to leap by 90% in the first quarter of 2010. It made a net profit of $3.1bn (£2bn) while revenue rose 49% to $13.5bn in the three months to 27 March. Apple said it sold about nine million of its popular smart phone - more than double the figure from a year earlier. And it shipped almost three million Macs and about ten million iPods. The period did not include the iPad launch. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said the results were "our best non-holiday quarter ever". The profits were well ahead of market expectations, and sent its shares about 6% higher. Apple sold more than 300,000 of its iPad tablet computer, on its launch day in the US. The device goes on sale in Europe next month. "We have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year," Mr Jobs added.

IMF proposes two big new bank taxes to fund bail-outs

 

The London G20 summit agreed banks must pay for bail-outs Banks and other financial institutions face paying two new taxes to fund future bail-outs, the BBC has learned. Business editor Robert Peston said the global proposals by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were "more radical" than most had anticipated. All institutions would pay a bank levy - initially at a flat-rate - and also face a further tax on profits and pay. The measures are designed to make banks pay for the costs of future financial and economic rescue packages. The proposals are likely to horrify banks, especially the proposed tax on pay Robert Peston BBC Business Editor   The IMF documents were made available to governments of the G20 group of nations on Tuesday afternoon and seen by the BBC soon afterwards. The plans will be discussed by finance ministers this weekend. "The proposals are likely to horrify banks, especially the proposed tax on pay," our business editor said. "They will also be politically explosive both domestically and internationally." Insurers, hedge funds and other financial institutions must also pay the taxes, the IMF argues, despite them being less implicated in the recent crisis. If they were not included, activities currently carried out by banks would be reclassified as, for example, insurance or hedge-fund services to escape the levies. While the general levy, or "financial stability contribution", would initially be at a flat rate, this would eventually be refined so that riskier businesses paid more. British chancellor Alistair Darling said the IMF's proposals were "important" and should be welcomed. "The recognition that banks should make a contribution to the society in which they operate is right," he said. Global impact It was agreed at the G20 summit in London last year that financial institutions and not tax-payers should pay for future bank rescue packages. Since then several proposals have been put forward by various governments including the so-called "Tobin Tax" on financial transactions. Some nations, including Canada, oppose any new bank taxes. However no country has yet introduced taxes to pay for future bailouts - arguing that unless the rules were brought in on a coordinated basis, institutions would simply "cherry pick" where they operated, moving to jurisdictions with less tough financial regulation. The body which represents banks in the UK, the British Banking Association said it was concerned about any move which would place the UK industry "at a competitive disadvantage internationally". "We also need to see all the detail of what is proposed - and how any new levy and tax would apply - to determine the effect it would have", it said. Party claims In the light of the UK's looming general election, the IMF proposals were likely to be used for some political point-scoring, our business editor said. "Labour is bound to claim that the IMF is implicitly criticising the Tories' plan to impose a new tax on banks irrespective of what other countries do - because the IMF paper says that 'international co-operation would be beneficial'. "I would also start to question my sanity if Gordon Brown doesn't claim credit for putting pressure on the IMF to launch its review of possible bank taxes." But he added that the Conservatives would say that their bank tax proposals resembled the financial stability contribution. And the Liberal Democrats would claim that their proposed tax on banks' profits was similar to the second tranche of the IMF proposal.

Argentina ex-dictator Gen Bignone jailed for 25 years

Mr Bignone denied the charges Argentina's former military ruler Reynaldo Bignone has been sentenced to 25 years for human rights abuses committed almost three decades ago. Gen Bignone, 82, ordered abductions and torture while second in command of the country's largest torture centre between 1978 and 1979. Relatives of victims held up photos of their loved ones and cheered at the end of the trial in Buenos Aires. Six officials from the same era were also handed jail terms. Gen Bignone, who served as de facto president between 1982-83, was found guilty of involvement in 56 cases of murder, torture and kidnappings. His charges were for crimes committed before becoming leader, when he was in charge of the notorious Campo de Mayo military base. Campo de Mayo, outside Buenos Aires, is said to have been the largest in operation during the country's seven-year Dirty War, which ended in 1983. "Justice was slow in coming but it has finally arrived," said Estela de Carlotto, head of the human rights group Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Human rights groups say some 30,000 people died or "disappeared" during the period, which saw the military target left-wing opponents. The trial comes after amnesty laws, which had shielded perpetrators from charges, were overturned in 2005 by the country's Supreme Court.

China holds national day of mourning for quake dead

 

Tens of thousands of troops are involved in the relief effort China is holding a national day of mourning for victims of the powerful earthquake in Qinghai province. Flags are flying at half mast across the country and public entertainment curtailed as a mark of respect, one week after the quake hit. The official death toll has now reached 2,039. Tens of thousands of people have been left homeless by the earthquake but relief supplies are now pouring into worst hit area, the town of Jiegu. Another 195 people are still missing after the 6.9-magnitude quake and 12,135 have been injured, state news agency Xinhua reported. Rescue workers are continuing to dig through the rubble in and around Jiegu in Yushu County. Hopes were raised by the rescue of three people on Monday who had survived nearly a week under the ruins of buildings. A four-year-old girl and an elderly woman were rescued from a house near Jiegu and later in the day, a woman in her 30s was pulled alive from her home. Schools open Tens of thousands are now living in temporary shelters or tents in freezing overnight temperatures. The officials have warned that temperatures in the Himalayan plateau region are expected to fall further. Two survivors rescued in China five days after quake "We estimate that in the next few days, the rain, snow and low temperatures will harm relief work," the National Meteorological Centre said. It warned that those working in transport, medicine and health should "strengthen their guard". Aid has been arriving in large amounts in the region, with convoys of trucks reportedly backed up for miles along the highway from the provincial capital, Xining. Some schools have also reopened, although where school buildings have collapsed lessons have had to be held in tents. Danzeng Jiangcuo, a maths teacher at Yushu No.3 Elementary School, said students were receiving psychological care as well as their usual lessons. "We are trying to help them forget the disaster and not feel scared anymore," he told Xinhua. Ninety-seven percent of Yushu's population is ethnic Tibetan, and there were reports that language difficulties were affecting relief work. China's President Hu Jintao, who visited Jiegu at the weekend, has promised an all-out effort to rebuild the region. 'Hostile forces' Tibetan Buddhist monks have been heavily involved in the emergency operation, digging through the rubble for survivors and distributing aid. Many people are living in temporary shelters in freezing conditions They have also been collecting bodies and holding funerals. The Dalai Lama has appealed to the Chinese authorities to allow him to visit the quake zone. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was born in Qinghai province but has not set foot in China since a failed Tibetan uprising more than 50 years ago. Correspondents say it is highly unlikely that the Chinese government - who see the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist - will agree to his request. At a government meeting on Monday, China's top parliamentary advisor, Jia Qinglin, warned of "hostile forces from abroad working to cause disruptions and sabotage" in the quake's aftermath, the Associated Press reports. He did not specifically mention the Dalai Lama but he and his supporters are often referred to as "hostile forces" by the Communist government.