BEIRUT (AP) — An explosion at a military depot outside Syria's coastal city of Latakia left six people lightly injured on Wednesday, state television said.

LONDON (AP) — Markets were fairly flat-footed ahead of a keenly awaited policy statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

LONDON (Reuters) - Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group said it would spend $1.6 billion (1 billion pounds) to buy British yacht maker Sunseeker and develop an upmarket London hotel, the latest example of a trend for Chinese companies to acquire top luxury global brands. The company said on Wednesday it had agreed to buy a 91.8 percent stake in privately-held Sunseeker for 320 million pounds and would invest 700 million pounds to build a 160-room luxury hotel and apartment complex overlooking London's River Thames. ...

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Troops from the African Union force AMISOM said they had secured a United Nations compound in the Somali capital Mogadishu after it was attacked by Islamist militants. "AMISOM was at the UNDP compound within minutes and has it currently secured," the force said on its official Twitter account. A U.N. spokesman and the Islamist militants said fighting and gunfire was heard more than an hour after the initial blast.

LONDON (Reuters) - The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined a property agent nearly a million pounds for defrauding vulnerable people, the largest-ever fine for a sole trader in the consumer sector. The FCA also banned Gurpreet Singh Chadda from working in the financial services industry for the way he conducted sale and rent back agreements that netted him 695,277 pounds from seven transactions. The agreements refer to where a homeowner, often in financial difficulties, sells and then rents the property back from the agent so they can still live there. ...

MILAN (AP) — The former head of Italian aerospace and defense giant Finmeccanica , accused by prosecutors of making bribery part of the company culture, went on trial Wednesday for his alleged role in the payment of bribes to secure a crucial 560 million euro ($670 million) helicopter contract in India.

EASTBOURNE, England (AP) — Marion Bartoli of France has withdrawn from the Eastbourne grass-court tournament with a viral infection, giving No. 2-seeded Li Na of China a walkover into the quarterfinals.

By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suicide bomber and several gunmen attacked a United Nations compound in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday, police and witnesses said, in a strike that bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda-linked militants. The bomber set off his explosives outside the gate of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) base before attackers ran inside and opened fire on security guards, a senior police official told Reuters. Gunfire could still be heard more than 30 minutes after the initial explosion. It was not immediately clear whether any U.N. ...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan president on Wednesday suspended talks with the United States on a new security deal to protest the way his government was being left out of initial peace negotiations with the Taliban meant to find a way to end the nearly 12-year war.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain should introduce laws making it possible to jail "reckless" bankers and consider breaking up Royal Bank of Scotland as part of a range of measures proposed by a panel of parliamentarians. ...

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Al-Qaida-linked militants detonated multiple bomb blasts and engaged in ongoing battles with security forces in an attempt to breach the main U.N. compound in Mogadishu, officials said Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Ofcom said on Wednesday that it would launch an investigation into satellite TV firm BSkyB over the wholesale supply of its sports channels after a complaint by Sky's increasingly bitter rival BT. Ofcom said the probe would centre on BT's claims that the terms on which Sky offered its sports channels, Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2, to BT's YouView platform amounted to an abuse of Sky's market dominance. BT has complained to Ofcom that Sky is making the supply of the two channels conditional on BT making its own sports channels available to Sky for retail on Sky's platform. ...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United Nations and Washington have separately asked the Philippines not to withdraw its more than 300 Filipino peacekeepers from the Golan Heights, warning of "maximum volatility" in the region after a number of countries decided to pull out their peacekeeping forces amid escalating violence, the Philippines' top diplomat said Wednesday.

By Daren Butler and Parisa Hafezi ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - A lone, silent vigil by a man in Istanbul inspired copycat protests on Tuesday, as police detained dozens of people across Turkey in an operation linked to three weeks of often violent demonstrations against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Overnight in Ankara, riot police used teargas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of people who had gathered in and around the government quarter of Kizilay. ...

BERLIN (AP) — President Barack Obama will renew his call Wednesday to reduce the world's nuclear stockpiles, including a proposed one-third reduction in U.S. and Russian arsenals, the White House said.

By Oliver Holmes and Alexander Dziadosz SALQIN, Syria (Reuters) - The moment the young fighter walks in, it's clear he's different. He has a grey robe, a scraggly beard and a gun holster - hallmarks of the rebels who control this part of the northwest. But he wears Adidas trainers. And his accent and swagger are pure London. The young man sits at a small table, accepts the tea offered by his hosts, and asks to be called by his war name, Abu Khaled. ...

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab said on Wednesday its fighters were behind an attack on a United Nations compound in Mogadishu and said a battle between their gunmen and security forces continued more than an hour after an initial blast. "Mujahideen units from the Martyrdom Brigade have stormed the UNDP compound near the airport in Mogadishu," the group said on its official Twitter feed @HSMPRESS1. A U.N. spokesman in Mogadishu said the attackers had entered the compound. (Editing by Richard Lough and Edmund Blair)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — IOC inspectors have concluded their second visit to Pyeongchang by praising organizers for making good progress on preparations for the 2018 Winter Games.

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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Al-Qaida-linked militants detonated at least one bomb blast and engaged in ongoing battles with security forces in an attempt to breach the main U.N. compound in Mogadishu, officials said Wednesday.