World briefs 9/17/05

Taliban wants boycott of crucial Afghan elections

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Taliban rebels urged Afghans on Friday to boycott weekend legislative elections many hope will marginalize the insurgents, while a candidate was shot dead and four other people were killed in bombings near polling stations. With some 100,000 Afghan police and soldiers and 30,000 foreign troops on alert, election workers used donkeys, dilapidated trucks and helicopters to haul millions of paper ballots to more than 6,000 polling centers ahead of Sunday's vote. Hopes are high the vote will end a quarter-century of violence and entrench a fragile democracy by demonstrating public support for an elected government.

Germany may get first female chancellor

BERLIN -- Undecided voters may tip Sunday's German election, a contest between competing visions over how to re-energize the stagnant economy and repair Berlin's battered ties with Washington. Analysts still predict the country will get its first female chancellor in Angela Merkel, the leader of the conservative Christian Democrats. If she gets that majority, the former physicist can proceed with proposals to streamline the tax system and tackle a 11.4 percent unemployment rate and troublingly low rates of economic growth.

President says Iran may share nuclear technology

UNITED NATIONS -- Iran is willing to provide nuclear technology to other Muslim states, Iran's hard-line president said Thursday. Hours later, European nations renewed an offer of economic incentives if the Mideast nation would halt its uranium enrichment. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the comment after talking with Turkey's prime minister during a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said. Ahmadinejad said: "Iran is ready to transfer nuclear know-how to the Islamic countries due to their need."

Christian area of Beirut bombed, at least one dead

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- A powerful bomb exploded in a Christian neighborhood of eastern Beirut late Friday, killing at least one person and wounding 23, officials said. It was the latest in a series of bomb attacks to rock Lebanon's capital. The bomb detonated just before midnight and heavily damaged the balconies and facades of several buildings and destroyed at least two cars. Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, commander of the Internal Security Forces, said the explosive had been placed in a bag that was hidden between two cars, and detonated with a timing device.

-- From wire reports