World datelines

KABUL — A bomb hidden in a cart exploded Tuesday in a crowded intersection of downtown Kabul, injuring 10 people, and five Afghan laborers were ambushed and fatally shot on their way to a U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan.

Britain

LONDON — Helene Hayman, a baroness from Britain's governing Labour Party, was confirmed Tuesday as the first elected lord speaker of the House of Lords.

Cambodia

PHNOM PENH — Judges and prosecutors for a U.N.-backed tribunal in Cambodia began drawing up plans Tuesday to try former Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity, an official said.

Canada

TORONTO — Canada confirmed on Tuesday its sixth case of mad cow disease and said it would investigate where the cow was born and what other animals may have eaten the same feed.

China

BEIJING — A medium-size earthquake shook a populous region of northern China on Tuesday, but no deaths or injuries were immediately reported, state television said.

France

STRASBOURG — The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that eight years of solitary confinement for Carlos the Jackal did not violate the jailed terrorist's rights or amount to inhumane treatment.

Iran

TEHRAN — Iran rejected Russia's and China's calls for a quick response to incentives to suspend its nuclear program, indicating Tuesday that it wanted to negotiate the terms of the offer.

Japan

TOKYO — A court Tuesday sentenced a Peruvian man to life in prison for sexually assaulting and murdering a 7-year-old girl last year and dumping her body in a cardboard box.

Kazakhstan

ASTANA — The parties of Kazakhstan's leader and his eldest daughter announced a merger Tuesday, a move that tightens President Nursultan Nazarbayev's grip on power.

Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR — A Japanese cargo ship on Tuesday foiled a pirate attack in the Strait of Malacca off Indonesia's coast, days after pirates raided two U.N.-chartered vessels in the same area.

Poland

KIELCE — Sirens wailed and a rabbi led prayers in a Jewish cemetery Tuesday while Poland unveiled a monument to dozens killed by angry mobs in a rampage 60 years ago known as Europe's last pogrom.

Russia

ROSTOV-ON-DON — Gunmen attacked a Russian military convoy in the Chechnya region Tuesday, killing at least five troops and wounding as many as 25 others, officials said. Pro-rebel Web sites claimed more than 20 Russian soldiers were killed.

South Korea

SEOUL — A visually impaired man who had jumped onto subway tracks in an apparent suicide attempt was rescued just seconds before a train passed, officials said Tuesday.

Spain