A suicide bomber killed six Afghan soldiers in an attack on a military minibus on Thursday, officials said, in the first attack in the capital Kabul for more than a week.

Another 10 people were wounded, said Farid Afzali, the chief of criminal investigation for Kabul police. He said the wounded included civilians but could give no further details.

China's government is likely to raise cigarette taxes in order to boost prices and deter smoking, an official said Wednesday, amid a push by the nation of 300 million smokers to crack down on the habit.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission is joining with other government agencies to lobby for an increase in tobacco taxes, commission spokesman Yao Hongwen was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. Reforms to China's tax and fiscal controls provide a "rare chance to take advantage to raise tobacco taxes and prices for tobacco control," Yao said.

Katy Perry and a dog dressed like a spider are among 2014's top online video subjects.

Perry's "Dark Horse" reigned supreme on YouTube's top 10 most popular music videos, while a prank featuring a dog done up as a spider chasing unsuspecting pedestrians led the site's top 10 trending videos.

A man who stole part of the Porsche that "Fast and the Furious" actor Paul Walker died in has been sentenced to six months in jail.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office says 26-year-old Anthony Janow was sentenced Tuesday in Southern California.

A sheep wearing a festive red-and-green sweater who was found wandering around Omaha has been reunited with his owner.

Owner Margaret Vazquez tells KMTV she initially panicked when the sheep named Gage went missing. She says the sheep "follows me everywhere."

Juventus progressed to the knockout stage of the Champions League as it drew 0-0 at home to already qualified Atletico Madrid, which went through as group winner.

Juventus, which was eliminated in the final group match last season by Galatasaray, needed just a point to qualify although victory by two goals or more would have seen it leapfrog Atletico into top spot.

Goals by Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale helped Real Madrid to a 4-0 victory over 10-man Ludogorets Razgrad on Tuesday and a clean sweep of six wins in Group C of the Champions League.

The defending champion, which had already won the group, stretched its winning streak to 19 matches — a Spanish record — scoring 71 goals in the process. The previous record of 18 consecutive wins was set by Barcelona between October 2005 and January 2006.

Steven Gerrard's latest moment of inspiration failed to prevent Liverpool from dropping out of the Champions League on Tuesday, with Basel securing a 1-1 draw to advance to the knockout stage at the expense of the five-time champions.

The Swiss visitors secured the point they required at Anfield to advance alongside Group B winner Real Madrid — but only after hanging on against 10 men in the face of a late Reds onslaught instigated by their captain's 81st-minute equalizer.

Memphis withstood 18 3-pointers by Dallas to beat the Mavericks 114-105 on Tuesday, with Marc Gasol's 30 points helping the Grizzlies to a victory that moved them back to the top of the NBA's Southwest Division.

The Grizzlies moved above idle Houston, while elsewhere, LeBron James led Cleveland to an eighth-straight win, his former team Miami ended a four-game skid by beating Phoenix and Utah ended a longer run of defeats.

Scientists in a lab used a powerful laser to re-create what might have been the original spark of life on Earth.

The researchers zapped clay and a chemical soup with the laser to simulate the energy of a speeding asteroid smashing into the planet. They ended up creating what can be considered crucial pieces of the building blocks of life.