Afghanistan
KABUL — Two bomb explosions rocked this capital city today, damaging buildings but causing no casualties, witnesses said.
Brazil
BRASILIA — The beleaguered head of the Senate, Jader Barbalho, said he would leave the top Congress job for 60 days to defend himself against a growing list of corruption accusations.
England
LONDON — As many as 10 people were trapped when an apartment building collapsed in north London, police and rescue workers said. The three-story building is in the working-class district of Tottenham.
Fiji
NADI — The government ordered troops to reopen Fiji's international airport after a staff strike disrupted schedules, stranded passengers and dealt a new blow to the island nation's struggling tourism industry.
Iceland
REYKJAVIK — The nation intends to defy international objections and resume commercial whale hunting, the country's whaling commissioner said. Stefan Asmundsson said he would tell the International Whaling Commission's annual meeting in London next week that stocks of minke and fin whales in Iceland's coastal waters are robust enough to permit the resumption of whaling.
India
NEW DELHI — A teenager driving an empty passenger train ran over a man and maimed another before the train was forced off the tracks, newspapers said. The 17-year-old got into the unlocked engine of the nine-coach train in a railway yard near Varanasi and drove it in reverse for 70 miles at high speed, the Times of India said. One railway employee was killed and another lost his hands.
Iraq
BAGHDAD — The first Iraqi passenger train to Turkey in two decades left here today. During the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Syria sided with Iran and closed the railway between Iraq and Turkey that goes through northern parts of its territory. An accord was reached in June to restart rail services between Iraq, Turkey and Syria.
Mexico
MEXICO CITY — Soldiers in Tijuana have arrested a woman accused of laundering billions of dollars in drug profits for Mexico's most powerful drug cartel, prosecutors said. Ivonne Soto Vega was described by authorities as the chief money launderer and top financier for the ruthless Arellano Felix drug smuggling organization.
Netherlands
THE HAGUE — Slobodan Milosevic's wife today paid a second visit to the ousted Yugoslav leader at the United Nations detention center where he is awaiting trial on war crimes charges.
Nicaragua
MANAGUA — Former President Daniel Ortega, who led the Sandinista revolution that deposed a dictator 22 years ago, vowed he would return to power in November after two failed presidential bids. Sandinista chief Ortega told thousands of countrymen celebrating the 1979 fall of the Somoza family dictatorship that he would win the presidential election.
North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea vowed to take countermeasures in response to last week's test by the U.S. Defense Department aimed at intercepting long-range missiles launched against the United States.
Northern Ireland
BELFAST — Two gunmen opened fire on a community center in a Roman Catholic district here, but caused no injuries even after firing into a children's afterschool project, police and witnesses said.
Pakistan
KARACHI — Bombs ripped through two passenger buses in Pakistan's volatile southern port city of Karachi, killing one person and wounding several others, many of them seriously.
Russia
MOSCOW — Nine Russian soldiers died and five more were injured in the crash of a military helicopter in rebel Chechnya, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
MOSCOW — Russia's Space Forces launched a rocket carrying a military satellite into orbit, news reports said.
Sicily
CATANIA — Mount Etna put on a spectacular display today, spewing glowing red lava and plumes of smoke. Civil defense officials said lava was creeping toward a town on the slopes, but its advance had slowed.
Thailand
BANGKOK — Police said they had seized 164 pounds of heroin — the largest haul this year — and millions of baht in cash and assets after breaking up a major drug ring.