The confetti has been swept away, the hangovers from the street parties have been slept off, and now that the Asian teams for the 2014 World Cup have been decided, observers are fretting over slipping standards and how the sides will be able to compete with powerful rivals in Brazil.

Australia, Iran and South Korea all sealed qualification for Brazil this week but in less than convincing fashion. They completed the four automatic qualifying berths from Asia. Japan had earlier sealed its place in much more impressive style and looks like the only realistic Asian threat to the big teams in Brazil.

On a hot and humid tropical evening, Italy sweated out a 4-3 victory over Japan.

And by their own account, the Azzurri were fortunate to come out on top.

The Afghan Taliban said Thursday they are ready to hand over a U.S. soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

A Taliban spokesman, Shaheen Suhail, said U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl "is as far as I know in good condition."

Liverpool took a huge financial hit on Andy Carroll on Wednesday by selling the towering England striker to fellow Premier League side West Ham, ending his disappointing two-and-a-half-year spell at Anfield.

Carroll joined Liverpool from Newcastle on deadline day in January 2011 for a staggering 35 million pounds (then $56 million), making him Britain's most expensive footballer, but he struggled under the weight of expectation and didn't fit into the club's style of play.

Former World Cup winner Gennaro Gattuso has been hired to coach Serie B club Palermo.

The Sicilian club announced Wednesday that it has hired the former midfielder to a one-year deal with the option of a two-year renewal.

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

State TV said a "technical error" caused the explosion at a base used by the army corps of engineers. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a number of activists on the ground, said it did not know the cause of the explosion in what it described as an ammunition warehouse. It said 13 people were injured, including some in critical condition.

Global stock markets were mostly lower Wednesday as investors waited for an update on the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve.

Investors were waiting to see if the Fed, which wraps up a two-day policy meeting later in the day in Washington, will make changes to its strategy of super-low interest rates and easy money that is helping to shore up the U.S. economy. Any change is likely to ripple through stock markets.

He was drying off his freshly washed car.

That's what the Canadian man told the Mounties when they stopped him doing 180 kilometers per hour (112 mph) south on Highway 22 south of Black Diamond, Alberta in Western Canada.

Russia's central bank has uncovered a network of shell companies that illegally funneled staggering sums of money abroad.

Outgoing central bank chief Sergei Ignatiev told lawmakers Wednesday that 173 "one-day firms" smuggled at least 760 billion rubles ($23.5 billion). So-called one-day firms are shell companies that have been a favored money-laundering technique in Russia.

The International Monetary Fund says recession-wracked Spain is making progress but is urging policymakers both within the country and in Europe to take "urgent action" to slash the country's crippling 27 percent unemployment rate.

An IMF report released Wednesday praised Spain's reforms for stabilizing the economy, particularly its public finances, but said unemployment was "unacceptably high and the outlook difficult."