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TOKYO (Reuters) - A strong earthquake jolted northern Japan early on Thursday, injuring at least 76 people, trapping hundreds in halted trains and temporarily cutting off electric power to thousands of homes.

EL NARANJO, Guatemala (Reuters) - Tighter border security and a broken-down rail line on Mexico's southern frontier are prompting thousands of U.S.-bound illegal immigrants to head north through thick jungles controlled by violent drug gangs.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The African Union said on Wednesday it was incapable of stabilizing the situation in Somalia and urged the United Nations take over peacekeeping operations in the lawless Horn of Africa country.

DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegal lifted the last constitutional obstacle to its courts trying former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre for human rights crimes, the Senegalese Minister of Justice said on Wednesday.

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's driver overheard the al Qaeda leader saying he was happy about the death toll in the September 11 attacks and thought the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was shot down, according to one of the driver's interrogators.

SDEROT, Israel (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama assured Israel and its U.S. Jewish supporters on Wednesday he was a friend who would not press for peace concessions that would compromise its security.

MINSK (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez vowed on Wednesday to work with Belarus, an ex-Soviet state long at odds with Washington, to defeat "hegemonistic" U.S. imperialism.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hit out on Wednesday at the corrupt sale of official jobs, saying it was an "outrageous" practice that discredited the state and held back Russia's development.

TOKYO (Reuters) - A strong earthquake jolted northern Japan early on Thursday, injuring several people, burying three cars under a landslide and cutting off electric power to at least 10,000 homes, media reports and officials said.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan said on Wednesday it would neither allow Islamist militants to plot attacks on its soil nor let foreign troops take military action on its territory.

GENEVA (Reuters) - India welcomed on Wednesday an offer by the United States to limit its disputed farm subsidies as part of efforts to save a global trade deal but immediately came under pressure from Washington to make concessions itself.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Ministers from six nations involved in nuclear talks with North Korea, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, held a rare meeting on Wednesday that China said showed a "political will" to move the disarmament process forward.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police detained 20 people on Wednesday in connection with an investigation into an alleged plot to overthrow the government, state-run Anatolian news agency said.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government won a vote of confidence in parliament on Tuesday, ensuring the survival of the ruling coalition and a civilian nuclear deal with the United States.

LONDON (Reuters) - Five Britons who were jailed for life for plotting al Qaeda-inspired bomb attacks across Britain lost appeals against their convictions on Wednesday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition MDC and President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF will begin negotiations on a power-sharing deal in earnest on Thursday, officials said on Wednesday.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in a show of defiance, made his first visit to Darfur on Wednesday since the International Criminal Court prosecutor accused him of genocide and war crimes and sought his arrest.

KHAO PRA VIHARN, Thailand (Reuters) - Thais living along the border with Cambodia began evacuation and weapon drills on Wednesday, fearing a land dispute might escalate into violence after talks failed this week.

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Radovan Karadzic will conduct his own defence at the Hague tribunal and is convinced he will be cleared of charges of genocide, relatives and associates of the war crimes suspect said on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's security forces made a rare arrest of a senior Afghan Taliban commander near the southwestern city of Quetta on Saturday, Pakistani security officials and coalition forces in Afghanistan told Reuters.