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People in Afghanistan are voting in crucial parliamentary elections amid threats from the Taliban, who have vowed to disrupt the vote. Besides, observers expressed apprehension of forgery & rigging in the election which to be cause for instability in near future in the war ravaged South Asian country.   The Taliban has already claimed responsibility for kidnapping two parliamentary candidates, 18 poll officials and campaign workers in the run-up to the elections. Hours before the polls opened, central Kabul was hit by a rocket attack. No casualties have been reported. More than 2,500 candidates are vying for 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, or Wolesi Jirga. The poll is seen as a test of credibility for President Hamid Karzai, after fraud marred elections last year. On Friday US special envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said the vote was likely to be flawed, but it was significant that it was taking place at all. "We have had experience in our country with...

KARACHI- Pakistan has ordered the evacuation of a southern town after the swollen Indus river broke its banks, nearly a month after devastating floods first struck, an official said on Friday. Floodwaters are beginning to recede across most of the country as the water flows down the Indus, but because of high tides in the Arabian Sea, they still pose a threat to towns such as Thatta, 70 km (45 miles) east of Karachi, in the river delta. The floods have killed almost 1,600 people, forced about six million from their homes and raised the danger of epidemics with the lack of fresh food and clean water. "There was another breach last night which is very close to Thatta and the evacuation has been ordered for the whole city," Riaz Ahmed Soomro, relief commissioner in the southern province of Sindh, told Reuters. Many people from outlying areas had taken refuge in Thatta, which normally has a population of about 300,000, and now had to move again, he said. There is no threat to the...