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GLASGOW (Reuters) - Voters in Scotland went to the polls on Thursday for a parliamentary by-election that Gordon Brown's party is expected to win, but which could dramatically dent the prime minister's standing if it is lost.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan soldiers killed "dozens" of militants, including foreigners, in a clash on a highway in southern Zabul province on Thursday, the defence ministry said.

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.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Ranks of Chinese paramilitary police swore to prevent terrorist attacks or "political incidents" disrupting the Beijing Olympics in a show of force at the Games' main stadium, a state newspaper reported on Thursday.

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.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Three Hong Kong children have jailed for more than three years for the armed hold-up of a jewelry shop, a newspaper said on Thursday, with the court saying the stiff sentence was in the public interest.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Marathon trade talks limped into another day on Friday but with little progress so far on the tortuous negotiations ministers said it would soon be time to decide whether a deal was at all possible.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Wednesday said Cuba does not have to explain or "ask forgiveness" about a report out of Russia this week that Russia might use its Cold War ally Cuba as a refueling base for nuclear-capable bombers.

HACHINOHE, Japan (Reuters) - A strong earthquake jolted northern Japan early on Thursday, injuring more than 100 people, trapping hundreds in halted trains and affecting production at some high-tech factories.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council will hold a special meeting on a border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand that has sparked fears of a military clash, France and Vietnam said on Wednesday.

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.