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Afghan vote count begins amid allegations of fraud
Nefertiti got world’s first successful facelift
Boat Dispute
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Car bombs kill 36 in Baghdad
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Afghan vote count begins amid allegations of fraud
Kabul, September 19 Western supporters praised the 3.6 million Afghans who, according to preliminary figures, took part in yesterday's election, compared with the 4.8 million valid votes cast in last year's presidential poll. NATO said that 18 Afghans were killed as the war-scarred country voted for only its second parliament since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban, making it nearly as violent as the fraud-stained presidential election. Election observers said polling day was rife with complaints of delayed poll station opening, intimidation, ineligible voters, misuse of registration cards, proxy voting, poor ink quality and shortages of ballot papers. Ahmad Zia Rafaat, spokesman for the Electoral Complaints Commission, said the body was still compiling reports of irregularities. "Since the beginning of voting yesterday up to now we keep receiving complaints... So far the main types of complaints are the bad quality of indelible ink and use of fake voting cards," he said. Among those who complained was monitoring group the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), which said that voting had been affected by insecurity, violence and irregularities including ballot stuffing. "Taking these problems into account, FEFA has serious concerns about the quality of the elections," the monitoring group said. Violence was expected after the Taliban announced it would attack polling centres, election workers and anyone who turned out to vote. Insurgents fired rockets in several cities and set off bombs at a polling station and beside a convoy carrying the governor of Kandahar, the Taliban's southern stronghold, but officials said several more attacks were foiled. More than 2,500 candidates contested 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga. Among them, 406 women were vying for 68 seats reserved for them under legislation designed to better their rights. —
AFP
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Nefertiti got world’s first successful facelift
Her name is synonymous with beauty and unlike history’s other renowned women, such as Helen of Troy, we don’t have to take the classical exquisite bust of the ancient Egyptian queen that survived for more than 3,000 years.
Now researchers have discovered that the bust, one of the world’s most famous objects, which is housed in the Neues Museum in Berlin, was given the ancient equivalent of a Photoshop airbrushing. The television historian Bettany Hughes told The Independent Woodstock Literary Festival yesterday that last week she was part of a team that carried out a CT scan on the bust, one of ancient Egypt’s best-known objects after the death mask of Tutenkhamen, who some believe to be her son. Inside the statue they discovered a second limestone likeness of the queen, who died around 1330BC aged between 29 and 38. “That statue is still very beautiful,” she said, “but not as beautiful. It showed her nose was bent, and that she had wrinkles around her eyes. It’s a real portrait of a real woman. We’re now going to a tomb in the Valley of the Kings where we think Nefertiti’s sister is to see if the dynasty has the same features.” Hughes, who flew out to Egypt immediately after yesterday’s event, said the Nefertiti scan was likely to reveal much more about the dynasty, of whom Tutenkhamen is the most famous member. Nefertiti, her name means “the beautiful one has come”, is renowned among Egyptian scholars as the Great Royal Wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten. Together the couple, who ruled more than 3,000 years ago, revolutionised the ancient Egyptian world by turning their backs on the traditional gods and worshipping only the sun. She is believed to have had equal status to the pharaoh, and may have even reigned after his death. Her tomb has never been discovered, but the new revelations of how she really looked raise the possibility that she could now be identified among several unknown mummies. Much of the ancient queen’s modern-day fame rests on the discovery of the bust by a German archaeological team in 1912 in the workshop of the ancient master Thutmose. The image is one of the most copied in the world. Hughes revealed the research while speaking about her biography of the Greek philosopher Socrates, whom she described as a hippy who would have opposed the recent war in Iraq. She also made an impassioned plea for classical history to be taught in schools. “All of life is in classical antiquity and articulated in the most beautiful, evocative and sensual way,” she said. “We are denuding society if we don’t allow young people to revel in that beautiful world.” — The Independent
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Boat Dispute
Beijing, September 19 China's state broadcaster CCTV said Japan's refusal to release 41-year-old Zhan Qixiong has "already caused serious damage to Sino-Japanese bilateral contacts." China had warned Japan that it will take "strong counter measures" as a Japanese court today extended the custody of the captain of a Chinese fishing vessel caught off disputed Diaoyu islands in East China Sea till September 29. — PTI
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Baghdad, September 19 The violence was the worst to strike Iraq since the number of American troops in the country dropped below 50,000 and the US declared a formal end to combat operations. It also underlines the challenges Iraqi security forces face trying to stabilise Baghdad as the US trims its military presence and Iraq's police and military assume responsibility for security. The deadliest attack today took place in north Baghdad's Kazimiyah neighbourhood when a car bomb detonated near a branch office of the National Security Ministry in Adan square, killing at least 21 people and wounding more than 70, the police and hospital officials said. “It was a big explosion and dust and smoke filled my house,” said Abu Shahad, who lives about 200m from the blast site. At least 10 people were killed in another car bombing in western Baghdad's affluent Mansour neighbourhood, said Army Brig. Gen. Ali Fadhal, who is responsible for the western half of the city. Another 10 people were wounded in the attack. He said security officials were investigating whether the blast was the work of a suicide attacker in a car targeting a crowded commercial area near an AsiaCell store, one of Iraq's biggest mobile phone providers. — AP
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Afghanistan began counting votes today in parliamentary elections tainted by allegations of fraud and a low voter turnout after widespread and deadly Taliban violence targeted the key poll.
Her name is synonymous with beauty and unlike history’s other renowned women, such as Helen of Troy, we don’t have to take the classical exquisite bust of the ancient Egyptian queen that survived for more than 3,000 years.
