World in brief

Afghan ambush kills U.S. soldier, wounds 2

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Suspected Taliban fighters ambushed a U.S. patrol in southern Afghanistan, killing one soldier, the military said Sunday.

U.S. troops defused a bomb targeting a bridge, not far from where the patrol was attacked Saturday in Helmand province, a district police chief said.

Lt. Col. Michele DeWerth, U.S. military spokeswoman in the capital, Kabul, said one American soldier was killed and two wounded in the attack on the patrol near Girishk in Helmand. The two wounded returned to duty after medical treatment.

At least 122 U.S. troops have died, including 53 killed in action, since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001 to topple the Taliban regime for harboring al-Qaida. About one-third of the fatalities have occurred during counterterrorism operations in countries other than Afghanistan.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Dominicans desperate for relief from a severe economic crisis turned out in huge numbers Sunday to choose their next president in a vote marred by a polling station shooting that left three dead.

The violence broke out in a line of voters outside a school in the southwestern town of Barahona, when a supporter of President Hipolito Mejia and a backer of his leading rival pulled guns and opened fire during an argument, observers said.

The two men were killed, as was another Mejia supporter who tried to intervene, said Moises Benamor, an observer from the Organization of American States. Two were hospitalized with wounds, and three were detained for questioning, police said.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, journalists saw armed men in a vehicle fire into the air and unsuccessfully try to steal ballot boxes in a clash that left one man with a stab wound in the thigh.

CHINA-TAIWAN: The Chinese government warned Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian today to pull back from a "dangerous lurch toward independence" or face "destruction." But it also offered economic, diplomatic and other benefits if he acknowledges Taiwan is part of "one China." Chen, who narrowly won re-election in March, says Taiwan is independent.

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