KABUL - A suicide car bombing tore through a U.S. convoy in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 15 people including six Americans in a blast so powerful it rattled the other side of the Afghan capital. U.S. soldiers rushed to help, some wearing only T-shirts or shorts under their body armour.

BILLINGS, Mont. - The three-decade fight for freedom by a Montana man convicted of the 1979 slaying of a teenage classmate entered what could be its final stage this week, when the Montana Supreme Court ordered him back to prison and took away his brief taste of normal life.

But from the time he confessed to out-of-state police four years after the notorious killing of Kim Nees, almost nothing about the Barry Beach case has been routine — and advocates promised they will find other ways to prove his innocence.

BAGHDAD - Car bombs hit Shiite neighbourhoods of the Iraqi capital for the second day in a row on Thursday, part of a series of attacks across the country that left 21 people dead and raised concerns over a return to sectarian bloodshed.

Baghdad police said the first blast hit a bus and taxi stop during the morning rush hour in the city's eastern Sadr City neighbourhood. Nine people were killed, including a 7-year old child, and 16 were wounded in that attack, two officers said.

Portraying himself as a "global" candidate with a world view, Ng Ser Miang of Singapore is hoping to break the European stranglehold on the top Olympic job.

The 64-year-old diplomat and businessman entered the IOC presidential race Thursday, pitching his credentials as a consensus-builder who can lead the Olympics through challenging times and bring more young people into the fold.

MANILA, Philippines - What do you do when two candidates running for mayor in the Philippines get exactly the same number of votes? You get them to toss a coin.

Marvic Feraren and Boyet Py both received 3,236 votes for mayor of San Teodoro town in Mindoro Oriental province in Monday's elections.

The Elections Commissions suggested the two men flip a coin five times each, which is allowed under the country's Election Code to break a tie.

Feraren won Tuesday, but not before a second round of coin flipping.

They tied in the first round too.

WASHINGTON - Don't look for the outcry over the Internal Revenue Service's improper targeting of tea party groups to subside with the ouster of the agency's acting commissioner.

Three congressional committees are investigating and the FBI is looking into potential civil rights violations at the IRS, Attorney General Eric Holder said.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama ousted the acting commissioner of the federal tax agency Wednesday, moving forcefully to quell a growing uproar over revelations that conservative political groups were improperly targeted for scrutiny when they filed for tax-exempt status.

The U.N. General Assembly approved an Arab-backed resolution Wednesday calling for a political transition in Syria, but more than 70 countries refused to vote "yes" because of its support for the main opposition group and fears the resolution could torpedo a new U.S.-Russia effort to end the escalating conflict.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced the resignation of the top official at the Internal Revenue Service following a controversy over the agency's targeting of conservative political groups.

Obama, who has been criticized for appearing passive in his response to the matter, declared, "I am angry about it" and said the American people had a right to be angry as well.

MOSCOW - A Russian security services operative — his features bathed in shadows — went on state television Wednesday to claim that the U.S. diplomat who was ordered out of the country was the second American expelled this year over spying allegations.

The anonymous operative said the CIA had failed to halt this "disturbing activity" despite Moscow asking it to do so.