Afghan election concerns

Afghan election concerns

KABUL — Hundreds of polling stations could be closed in Afghanistan’s most violent regions, raising concerns that many ethnic Pashtuns will be unable to vote in next month’s presidential elections. That could undermine the legitimacy of the election, cause turmoil and possibly deprive President Hamid Karzai of a first-round victory.

Afghan authorities plan to establish about 7,000 polling centers across the country for the Aug. 20 balloting. But security officials are unsure whether voting can take place in about 700 of them, said Noor Mohammad Noor, a spokesman for the Independent Electoral Commission.

At least 500 will probably not open because of security fears, according to a Western official working on the elections. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to comment publicly on the process.

U.S.: China talks went well

WASHINGTON — The United States and China on Tuesday pledged closer cooperation to deal with global hot spots such as Iran and the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sought to portray the two days of high-level talks as a positive development in U.S.-China relations, the list of accomplishments on the economics side basically reaffirmed steps both nations have already taken to deal with the financial crisis.

On foreign policy, there were no apparent breakthroughs, although the countries pledged closer cooperation in dealing with the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran.

Cops get good, bad news

PHILADELPHIA — A $1 billion stimulus program to keep cops on the streets was praised Tuesday as a heavenly blessing in places such as tiny Anguilla, Miss. — while New York City and other places that got nothing cursed their luck.

Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder said the money from the Community Oriented Policing Services program, called COPS, was sent to places with the highest crime rates and the biggest budgetary problems.

The high demand for aid — from more than 7,000 agencies — is indicative of the tough economic times they are facing, Holder said.

That was little comfort to those who didn’t get COPS money, such as New York, Pittsburgh, Houston, Seattle and Phoenix. Those cities were among the roughly 6,000 applications rejected.

For every $1 to be delivered, an additional $7 in requests will go unanswered under the stimulus package grant program.

Innocent plea in shooting

WICHITA, Kan. — An anti- abortion activist pleaded innocent Tuesday to opening fire on late-term abortion provider George Tiller after a witness gave chilling testimony that he saw the alleged shooter point a gun at the Kansas doctor’s head before pulling the trigger.

Scott Roeder, 51, also is accused of threatening two ushers who tried to stop him at Tiller’s church during the May 31 shooting that reignited passions in one of the nation’s fiercest social debates.

Roeder, dressed in a jacket and tie but shackled at his ankles, pleaded innocent to first-degree murder and aggravated assault charges after witnesses described seeing him shoot Tiller and speed away from the Wichita church. Roeder’s public defender entered the plea on Roeder’s behalf, and the Kansas City, Mo., man did not speak during the hearing.

A judge ordered Roeder held on $20 million bond and set a trial date in Sedgwick County District Court for Sept. 21.

Microsoft-Yahoo deal

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft Corp. appears to have finally locked up rival Yahoo Inc. in a long-awaited Internet search partnership aimed at narrowing Google Inc.’s commanding lead in the most lucrative piece of the online advertising market.

The details of the Microsoft-Yahoo alliance are expected to be announced today, according to The Wall Street Journal and a technology blog affiliated with the newspaper, All Things D, which both cited undisclosed people familiar with the discussions.

Company sues over tweet

CHICAGO — A Chicago company ticked off over a former tenant’s moldy “tweet” is positioning itself for what could be a $50,000 Twitter tiff.

Horizon Group Management LLC filed a lawsuit Tuesday that accuses Amanda Bonnen of defaming the company in May when she “tweeted” about moldy apartments.

The lawsuit said she used Twitter, a microblogging service that allows users to give brief online status updates, to tell another user: “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.”

Associated Press