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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign has bought $5 million worth of advertising time from NBC Universal to run TV spots during the Olympic Games, a source familiar with the deal said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama has a 6-point lead over Republican John McCain in the presidential race as a growing percentage of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday.

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.

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama urged Europe to stand by the United States in stabilizing Afghanistan in a speech to over 200,000 in Berlin that stressed the need for unity in the face of new threats.

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.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Presidential candidate Barack Obama travels to Berlin on Thursday to give the only public speech of a week-long foreign tour, an outdoor address on transatlantic ties that is likely to draw tens of thousands.

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.

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish and U.S. negotiators have made progress on technical details of installing a controversial missile shield in Poland, the PAP state news agency quoted Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Wednesday as saying.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday sought to play down the seriousness of growing violence in Afghanistan but declined to say the United States and NATO were winning their fight against Taliban insurgents.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission will propose forcing U.S. diplomats to get visas to travel to the European Union from January 2009 unless Washington moves toward granting citizens of all EU states visa-free entry.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police detained a motorist on Wednesday who crashed through barricades set up at monument where Barack Obama will hold a speech on Thursday and dumped red paint from his speeding car.

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.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Wednesday canceled plans to meet three Syrians making a private visit to Washington and gave no detailed explanation of its abrupt reversal.

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.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After months of secrecy and intrigue, presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain are almost ready to unveil the winners in the vice presidential sweepstakes.