Voting begins in historic Afghan presidential electionApril 5, 2014 - 11:58 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Voting began on Saturday, April 5 in Afghanistan's presidential election, which will mark the first democratic transfer of power since the country was tipped into chaos by the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, according to Reuters. Taliban insurgents launched a spate of attacks in the run-up to the vote, which they brand as a U.S.-backed sham, but there was no word of violence as voting got under way at 7 am (0230 GMT) local time. After 12 years in power, the incumbent Hamid Karzai is ineligible to run again due to the constitution, and there are eight candidates contesting the election. The favorites are former foreign ministers Abdullah Abdullah and Zalmay Rassoul, and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani. Related links: Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |