Afghanistan
KABUL — A bomb exploded outside a house used by United Nations staff in the capital Thursday, demolishing part of a wall around the property and shattering nearby windows but causing no injuries, police said.
Antigua
ST. JOHN'S — A legislator was charged Wednesday with murder in the shooting death of a woman, his lawyer said. Sherfield Bowen, 44, was charged in St. John's Magistrate Court with the murder of Tessa Barthley, his attorney Dane Hamilton said. Bowen was not required to enter a plea. Barthley, 22, showed up at Bowen's law office last week and the two argued. In the midst of a struggle, Bowen's gun went off, police said.
China
SHANGHAI — After years of breakneck growth, China announced steps Thursday to reduce a feared overexpansion in some industries that is causing energy shortages and could lead to financial problems. The Cabinet issued orders to curb spending on construction, factories and equipment by slowing down approvals for projects, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Costa Rica
SAN JOSE — A strong earthquake shook the border of Costa Rica and Panama early Thursday, killing an infant and leaving dozens of others with mainly minor injuries, authorities said. A two-week-old girl died when part of her home collapsed in Puerto Armuelles, an official said.
Guinea
CONAKRY — Guinea's ailing President Lansana Conte was declared the victor in presidential elections boycotted by this West African nation's opposition, securing a landslide victory with over 95 percent of the vote, according to provisional results released Thursday. The lone challenger, Mamadou Bhoye Barry, won just over four percent of the vote in Sunday's poll, Territorial Administration Minister Moussa Solano announced over state radio and television.
Iran
TEHRAN — Iran's best-known female dancer and 24 of her students have been detained on charges of dancing in public — for an all-female audience, her husband said Thursday.
Japan
TOKYO — Japan's first military unit left today for a humanitarian mission to Iraq, spearheading the country's biggest overseas deployment since World War II, a media report said.
TOKYO — Japan's unemployment rate held steady at 5.2 percent in November, unchanged from the previous month, amid recent signs of a gradual economic recovery powered by expanding exports and rebounding corporate profits.
Netherlands
THE HAGUE — Dutch anti-terror forces briefly sealed off the U.S. Embassy in The Hague Thursday in response to a phone call authorities said they "had to take seriously." For around three hours Thursday evening, the downtown building was closed to all traffic while security forces searched the area as a helicopter circled overhead.
Serbia-Montenegro
BELGRADE — The alleged assassin of Serb Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic told police days after the slaying that he killed the reformist leader to stop the extradition of Serbs to the U.N. war crimes tribunal, according to a confession read out Thursday at his trial. Zvezdan Jovanovic, a former commander of an elite police unit, is charged with firing the fatal shots that killed Djindjic on March 12 as he stepped out of his car in front of the government headquarters in central Belgrade.
Spain
MADRID — Two suspected Basque militants arrested for plotting to bomb a Madrid train station on Christmas Eve had also intended to attack a railway line in northeast Spain, part of a plot to spread panic during the holiday, media reported Thursday. Police arrested the two men Wednesday, uncovering a 44-pound bomb already set on a train heading from San Sebastian to Madrid, set to explode in the capital's bustling Chamartin station.
Thailand
RAYONG — A Vietnamese-American pilot was sentenced Thursday to seven years and four months in jail for hijacking a small plane in Thailand and flying illegally over Vietnam to scatter anti-communist leaflets. Ly Tong, a former bomber pilot in South Vietnam's air force, was arrested in November 2000 after he returned from his audacious mission to drop the leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City, just before then-President Clinton's visit to Vietnam.