CAIRO - Many Egyptians were blocked by security forces and ruling party backers from voting in an election on Tuesday, particularly where the opposition Muslim Brotherhood was running, rights groups and the opposition said.
The vote for 88 of the 264 seats in the upper house, or Shura Council, is regarded as a litmus test for how much space the authorities will give opposition voices in a parliament vote this year and presidential election in 2011.
The official election body said voting for the council, dominated by President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party, was smooth and complaints were being dealt with swiftly.
They are preventing voters from going in to cast their vote, and only those backing the National Democratic Party have access,' said Mohamed Ibrahim, a Brotherhood backer in Helwan near Cairo, where the Brotherhood's Ali Fath el Bab was running.
A Reuters witness in Helwan saw about six uniformed police stopping voters, who said they backed the Brotherhood, from entering a polling station. An election official said the incident had been reported and voters were let in later.
They have forged it once again,' chanted a gathering of about Brotherhood supporters nearby. Plainclothes agents chased some Brotherhood and others away from the polling station.
The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, citing its monitors, said voters were barred from entering polling stations in districts of Giza, Sohag, Daqhiliya and Helwan even though their names were listed on the election roll. Maat For Peace, Development and Human Rights said opposition supporters in Sixth of October, Minya and Cairo were barred. Some were stopped by police and others by ruling party backers.
Similar complaints were raised in previous elections, including the 2005 vote for the lower house when the officially banned Brotherhood won an unprecedented fifth of the seats.
The Brotherhood, which is fielding 13 candidates running as independents to skirt the ban, has no seats in the Shura Council.
This was the first Shura vote overseen by the Supreme Electoral Committee, which is appointed by the president. Previously judges oversaw voting and some judges have said their absence from polling stations would allow more abuses.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Fidel Castro speculated Wednesday that a nuclear strike on Iran might help President Barack Obama win a second term in the White House and also suggested the United States could attack North Korea.
The former leader of Cuba, who has not been seen in public for nearly four years, also portrayed the U.S. president as a victim of fantasies planted in his mind by sinister advisers.
The column published by Cuban state media floated the idea that a nuclear attack on Iran - perhaps even without U.S. authorization - might help Obama win re-election in 2012.
"Could Obama enjoy the emotions of a second presidential election without having the Pentagon or the State of Israel, whose conduct does not in the least obey the decisions of the United States, use nuclear weapons against Iran?" he asked. "How would life on our planet be after that?"
It's a question he did not answer, nor did he elaborate.
Castro also referred to "the current danger North Korea could be attacked by the United States" because of "the recent incident that happened in that country's waters" - apparently a reference to allegations that North Korea attacked and sank a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors.
Castro, 83, said China might be able to block such an attack by using its veto in the U.N. Security Council, implying that Washington was likely to seek that body's authorization before a move against North Korea.
The government of North Korea has denied involvement in the torpedo attack near the countries' sea border in March. During a visit to Seoul last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the North should face international consequences for the sinking.
Castro often has praised Obama in recent years, but painted him as a pawn of the global capitalist machine on Wednesday.
"President Obama can give hundreds of speeches, trying to reconcile contradictions that are irreconcilable ... dreaming of the magic of his well-articulated phrases," he wrote.
But Castro said Obama "makes concessions to personalities and groups totally lacking in ethics and draws fantasy worlds that only fit in his head and that unscrupulous advisers, knowing his tendencies, plant in his mind."
#1
President Obama can give hundreds of speeches, trying to reconcile contradictions that are irreconcilable ... dreaming of the magic of his well-articulated phrases.
I'd hate to have to say I agree with Fidel Castro on much of anything, but . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
06/02/2010 14:33 Comments ||
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#2
Obama, and a hundred million or so other Americans.
#3
Proving Castro's faculties are still intact. Sad.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
06/02/2010 17:56 Comments ||
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#4
ION KORYE/COREA, TOPIX > VARIOUS > US CONSIDERS DEPLOYING AIRCRAFT CARRIER OFF KOREAN PENINSULA [NIMITZ-class CVN USS George Washington, which repor is suppos to also participate in an ASW NAVEX wid SOKOR].
#1
McSwine is cute but what I wanted to say is have you noticed things going badly in nearly every direction. This group wanted crises but they have only demonstrated gross incompetence. I have said before now is the time to watch him closely. The bunker mentality will emerge so he will want to take charge of everything as he is best able to deal with these complex issues (only in his own mind). He is not an original thinker but rather parrots what he has been taught.
..Gore was the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2000, ultimately losing a controversial election for former President George W. Bush.
Family friend Sally Quinn told CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson that Gore winning the popular vote for president but losing the electoral vote may have done the marriage irreparable harm.
"He's obviously suffered a lot," Quinn said. "He'll never get over that and neither will she."
#1
Nonsense, if he tried for the Presidential nom right after his Nobel prize he would have captured the heat before Obama even threw his hat in. He went for the carbon trading scam instead. You want to know what screwed up their marriage I would think that's the place to start.
#5
ION HOTAIR > EDWARDS SPLIT SOMEHOW IS TURNING EVEN UGLIER. Liz repor does not want John to have legal custody of their Kiddies iff she should pass on due to her struggle wid breast cancer.
#8
Keeping the myth alive instead of accepting the law laid down over 200 years ago brings hubris and fate to crush one's life. Then again, it's human free will to do so. Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
#13
The diabolical Dubya has been gone for 16 months and he can STILL wreck marriages and sabotage oil wells.
Given the delayed onset of this problem, Gores next move will be to hit up the VA for a PTSD settlement. It might pay his electric bill for a few hours.
Otoh, maybe he just found himself a hairy-pit greenie girl and Tipper found out about it. A bush could indeed be involved but not the ex-president.
#18
Look - Tipper is a bit strange too.
Saw a photo of her when she played in a rock band. She was into sort of a Pat Benatar in leather look while playing Wing type music.
Then she married a log with the personality of a dead fish.
Okay that's weird.
Then fast forward a few years and she's a fat lady attacking rock & roll...
Okay a 180 degree ... kind of understandable in light of a marriage to a rich solid wood dead fish.... rich as in occidental petroleum rich..
now... to become Occidental Carbon Trading rich...
but still a dead fish with a super ego greater than the anti-christ...
Okay... its getting more twisted and still more calories...
As some point "Girl you are getting Fat and Strange" impinges upon her brain... you only have one life and you are living it with this DORK.... "Divorce is a Good Option"....
Be gone Dork! Rock & Roll NEVER Forgets!
December 3, 2007 10:30 PM PST
Divorce pains the planet
by Elsa Wenzel Font sizePrintE-mailShare31 comments Yahoo! Buzz
.Share676 As if the burden of divorce weren't bad enough, people with failed marriages can be blamed for global warming, according to a study by Michigan State University.
Divorced couples use up more space in their respective homes, which amounts to to 38 million more rooms worldwide to light, heat and cool, noted the report.
And people who divorced used 73 billion kilowatt-hours more of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water than they would otherwise in 2005.
Dissolving a marriage also means doubling possessions, from the lowly can opener to the SUV. The report, however, did not estimate how many more natural resources the children of shared-custody parents consume by getting birthday and holiday gifts twice.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
CAIRO - Many Egyptians were blocked by security forces and ruling party backers from voting in an election on Tuesday, particularly where the opposition Muslim Brotherhood was running, rights groups and the opposition said.
