Skeptical voters head to the polls

ROME - Italians, wary of the governing class and weary of a stagnant economy, voted yesterday in early parliamentary elections that could return conservative billionaire Silvio Berlusconi to power. The media mogul's main opponent is Walter Veltroni, a center-left former mayor of Rome who has promised deep reforms and an ideology-free approach to tackling the country's problems. A sense of malaise hung over the elections, with Italians pessimistic that the ruling class - dominated for years by the same figures - can offer much chance of change. "I'm not sure if I am going to vote," said Carlo Brunetti, 47. "I have little faith this time." The election comes three years early due to the collapse of Romano Prodi's left-wing government. Italy has had about 60 governments since World War II. (AP)

VIENNA - A top Iranian official yesterday abruptly canceled a meeting with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, dealing a blow to the UN monitor's efforts to investigate allegations that Iran has tried to make nuclear arms, an agency official said. The IAEA official, confirming Iranian media reports that today's meeting was off, said no reason had been given. But a senior diplomat said IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei probably planned to use the meeting with Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's nuclear program, to renew a request for more information on allegations Tehran had tried to make atomic arms. (AP)

TEHRAN - Iranian officials raised the death toll from an explosion in a packed mosque in southern Iran to 12 yesterday, with about 200 injured. Iranian media initially quoted local officials as saying the explosion Saturday in the city of Shiraz was caused by a homemade bomb, but national officials gave a different account yesterday. "It was not because of bombing," said Abbas Mohtaj, deputy interior minister in charge of security. The "explosion was due to an accident which is under investigation." The blast ripped through a mosque as a cleric was delivering a speech against the fundamentalist Wahabi strain of Islam, the semiofficial Fars news agency said. (AP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Aid organizations said yesterday they feared the nutritional crisis could deepen in impoverished Haiti, where skyrocketing food prices have already led to deadly protests and the ouster of the nation's No. 2 politician. With anger over food prices threatening the stability of this Caribbean nation already haunted by chronic hunger, the UN World Food Program appealed for donations to meet its $96 million aid goal for Haiti. It has collected less than 15 percent of the annual budget goal. (AP)

QUITO - A truck slammed into a bus carrying tourists to an Ecuadoran coastal town, killing five young British women and injuring 15 other people, officials said yesterday. The victims were participating in a four-month language and volunteer program. The crash took place Saturday night near the town of Jipijapa. The truck driver fled the scene. (AP)