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                        Afghanistan Chooses a New Leader

   Afghan voters are going to the polls Saturday to choose a new
   president.
   Security is tight across the nation because insurgents have promised to
   disrupt Saturday`s vote. The lead up to the vote has been fraught with
   violence.
   Neighboring Pakistan says it has closed all border crossings with
   Afghanistan and deployed additional troops to help Afghanistan conduct
   Saturday`s presidential polls peacefully. Pakistan said the border
   security arrangements were stepped up in close coordination with Afghan
   security forces.
   On the eve of the vote, two Associated Press journalists were shot by a
   policeman as they reported on election preparations in Afghanistan.
   Anja Niedringhaus, a 48-year-old German photographer, was killed and AP
   reporter Kathy Gannon is in stable condition after being wounded twice.
   Authorities say the police officer was arrested following the incident
   inside a heavily-guarded district compound in a remote part of the
   eastern province of Khost.
   It was the third deadly attack against journalists in the past three
   weeks.
   The Taliban has vowed to interfere with Saturday`s presidential and
   provincial council vote.
   Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he was grieved by the shooting of
   the journalists and ordered a full investigation.
   The United Nations, Reporters Without Borders, and the Committee to
   Protect Journalists all condemned the attack and expressed their
   condolences. Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders
   said the shooting highlights the "permanent and ubiquitous danger" for
   reporters in some regions of Afghanistan and called on authorities "to
   do everything possible to guarantee the safety of journalists, whose
   role is crucial at the height of the electoral process."
   On March 11, British-Swedish radio journalist Nils Horner was shot and
   killed at point-blank range on the streets of Kabul. Nine days later,
   gunmen shot and killed Afghan reporter for the French News agency
   Sardar Ahmad, as well as his wife and two of his three young children
   in Kabul`s heavily protected Serena Hotel.
   On Thursday, Jan Kubis, the United Nations Special Representative for
   Afghanistan, urged Afghan citizens not to let anyone deprive them of
   their right to vote.
   Kubis said there might be difficulties and security problems, but
   Afghanistan is much better prepared for Saturday`s election than it was
   in 2009.
   The Taliban has claimed responsibility for recent election-related
   violence, including Tuesday`s suicide bombing outside the Afghan
   Interior Ministry, killing at least six police officers
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/afghanistan-chooses-a-new-leader/1886910.html