Around The World

Taiwan court orders ballot boxes sealed\nTAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's High Court ordered all ballot boxes sealed Sunday as thousands of protesters demanded a recount of President Chen Shui-bian's re-election, saying it was marred by voting irregularities and an apparent assassination attempt wounding the incumbent.\nThe court said it was sealing the boxes to preserve evidence, but it did not order a re-count of Saturday's vote as requested by challenger Lien Chan. The opposition also said it would seek to nullify Chen's narrow victory Saturday, arguing he unfairly received sympathy votes because of the election-eve shooting, which remained unexplained.\nChen, who campaigned on a China-bashing platform, and Vice President Annette Lu were shot and slightly wounded while riding in an open Jeep Friday in Chen's hometown of Tainan, Taiwan.\nFar right, left make gains in elections\nPARIS -- Voters dealt a solid blow to France's governing conservatives in the first round of Sunday's regional elections, which gave the opposition left a distinct lead with some 40 percent of the vote and boosted the extreme right, exit polls showed.\nThe governing party of President Jacques Chirac had some 34 percent of the vote, according to the polls. That low score, should it hold in next Sunday's final round, was sure to translate into a shakeup of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's government.\nIn a personal blow to Raffarin, the hand-picked candidate in his home region of Poitou-Charentes, in western France, took a beating from a high-profile Socialist candidate, according to the exit polls.\nOfficial results were not immediately available.\nSharon's withdrawl plan faces opposition\nJERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon presented his proposal for a Gaza Strip withdrawal to Cabinet ministers from his Likud Party Sunday, which met significant opposition but apparently not enough to sink the plan, participants said.\nMeanwhile, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told a cabinet meeting he has prepared a plan to strike hard at Hamas ahead of any pullout, branding the Islamic militant group a strategic threat. The plan includes intensifying targeted killings of militants and stepping up army raids.\nIn new fighting, four Hamas militants and a Palestinian woman were killed in an army raid in Gaza Sunday, day six of a new Israeli offensive triggered by a double-suicide bombing last week.\nSince Sharon said last month he is considering withdrawing from much of Gaza if peace efforts remain frozen, fighting has intensified in the strip, with both sides trying to claim victory.