In brief: U.N. to stay longer in Ivory Coast

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – The U.N. Security Council extended its peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast on Monday, hours after the United Nations’ top envoy in the West African country said armed men had been threatening staff in their homes.

Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to concede defeat in last month’s election and his demand that peacekeepers leave have raised fears that U.N. personnel and other foreigners could be targeted in violence. Over the weekend, masked gunmen opened fire on the U.N. base there, though no one from the global body was harmed in the attack. Two military observers were wounded in another attack.

Gbagbo has ordered the U.N. peacekeeping force to leave Ivory Coast, claiming it is biased in favor of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara. The U.N. and the international community recognize Ouattara as the victor of last month’s presidential runoff vote.

The Security Council resolution adopted unanimously Monday extended the mandate of the 8,650-strong force until June 30, 2011.

Explosion kills one at Kenya station

NAIROBI, Kenya – A bomb exploded at a downtown bus station in Kenya’s capital late Monday as passengers boarded a bus, killing at least one person and wounding up to 39 others, police said. Suspicions centered on a Somali militant group.

The person who was killed was carrying a piece of luggage that contained the bomb, police commissioner Mathew K. Iteere said. It was not immediately clear if it was a suicide attack, Iteere said.

Most of the wounded were Ugandans traveling home for Christmas, Red Cross official Nelly Muluka said.

Mexican candidate leaves captivity

MEXICO CITY – A former Mexican presidential candidate was freed Monday more than seven months after his kidnapping, telling reporters outside his Mexico City home that he is well and forgives his captors.

Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, a top Mexican political power broker who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1994, gave no details about his abductors in what was the highest-profile and most brazen kidnapping in Mexico’s recent history.

“As far as the kidnappers are concerned, as a man of faith I have forgiven (them),” he said, looking fit as he stood in a gray sweat shirt and pants outside his luxurious Mexico City home. “As a citizen, I think that the authorities have some work to do.”

Actress’s brother pleads guilty

LONDON – The brother of an actress who appeared in the Harry Potter movies has pleaded guilty to assaulting her, allegedly after she met a man who was not Muslim.

The 22-year-old Afshan Azad plays Padma Patil, a classmate of the teenage wizard, in the movie series.

Prosecutor Richard Vardon told Manchester Crown Court that Azad’s elder brother, 28-year-old Ashraf, assaulted her over her association with a Hindu man.