Urumqi, China
Syringe attacks? Chinese officials appealed for calm in Urumqi after rumors spread that ethnic Uighurs were stabbing ethnic Han people with AIDS-infected needles. Hundreds of people have showed up at clinics in the past few weeks claiming to have been stabbed, and last week thousands took to the streets to demand a crackdown on needle-wielding Uighurs. But doctors said most of the alleged victims showed no signs of puncture wounds. “Some could have been bitten by insects such as mosquitoes,” said Wang Hanbin, an army doctor. Tension has been high between Han Chinese and Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority, since ethnic riots broke out in July.
Kabul, Afghanistan
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Karzai ahead as fraud alleged: President Hamid Karzai took 54.1 percent of the vote in last month’s election, enough to avoid a runoff, Afghan election officials said this week. The election commission said Karzai had about 2.9 million votes compared with 1.5 million votes for his chief rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. But the commission also ordered a recount of votes at hundreds of polling stations where fraud was suspected. And a separate international body that must certify the final tally also said it had evidence of massive fraud, including entire fake polling places being set up and stuffed with votes for Karzai. “At this point, nobody is a winner,” a U.N. official told The Washington Post. “It is too soon for anyone to start having parties.” The fraud investigations could take weeks.
Tehran
Nuclear stalemate: The International Atomic Energy Agency said this week it had reached a “stalemate” with Iran, which has been refusing to answer its questions. The agency urged Iran to accept the Obama administration’s offer of negotiations. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he was willing to talk with the U.S.—but not about ending his country’s nuclear programs. “We will never negotiate on the Iranian nation’s obvious rights,” he said. Instead, Ahmadinejad said he would welcome a discussion on peaceful uses of nuclear energy and “global disarmament.” He said Iran would continue to enrich uranium, a process that can lead to weapons-grade fuel.
The West Bank
Israel expands settlements: The Israeli government has okayed the construction of 455 new apartments in Jewish settlements on the West Bank, angering many Israelis as well as Palestinians. The government had hoped to appease the settlers before it agrees to a construction freeze, as it is expected to do soon as part of peace negotiations. But the right-wing settlers complained about what they called a “meager” amount of additional housing, while more liberal Israeli groups said the construction was a pointless provocation that could derail peace talks. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the approval of new Jewish housing “further undermines the belief that Israel is a credible partner for peace.”
Khartoum, Sudan
Pants-wearing woman spared: A Sudanese woman who was convicted of violating decency laws for wearing a pair of pants in public was released from jail this week, unflogged. Lubna Hussein, a journalist and former U.N. official, had been arrested with dozens of other women in a random sweep. The others were released after paying a fine, but Hussein refused to do so, saying she wanted to call attention to the repressive law. She faced up to 40 lashings and a month in prison. But the Sudanese government, apparently cowed by the international attention the case attracted, released her after a single day. Hussein dared the police to arrest her again. “I will keep wearing the trousers,” she said.
Nairobi, Kenya
Hated cop fired: After resisting for months, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has fired the country’s police chief. A U.N. report last February blamed Commissioner Hussein Ali for much of the killing that took place during violence after the disputed 2007 elections, as well as for a culture of corruption. Kibaki protected the unpopular Ali for months and did not say why he chose this week to fire him. Human-rights activists were cautiously optimistic. “What we need to see is comprehensive reform of the police force,” said human-rights official Hassan Omar Hassan. Transparency International, an international anti-corruption watchdog, ranks the Kenyan police force as the most corrupt group in all of eastern Africa
Johannesburg
Sex-test runner was tricked: The coach of a South African runner being tested to confirm her gender resigned this week over the way the case has been handled. Coach Wilfred Daniels said South African officials surreptitiously carried out a sex test on runner Caster Semenya before she competed in the track-and-field world championships in Berlin last month. Semenya’s masculine physique and phenomenal gold-medal performance in the 800-meter event sparked widespread doubt that she is female. Daniels said that Semenya believed the sex test was actually a drug test and that he is resigning for not having better protected the athlete. The International Association of Athletics Federations is expected to release the results of its own test soon.
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