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KAUKAUNA, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Thursday accused Republican John McCain of mischaracterizing his tax plan and said most Americans would not see taxes go up.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel edged closer on Thursday to an early election over corruption allegations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after a key coalition partner voiced support for legislation that would force a ballot.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police arrested opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai twice more on Thursday in what his spokesman said was harassment aimed at disrupting his campaign for a June 27 run-off election.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told Kosovo's leaders he intends to reshape the U.N. mission there to allow the European Union to take on key tasks, according to a letter obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An apparently doomed bid to impeach President George W. Bush, largely on charges of misleading the U.S. into the Iraq war, was referred on Wednesday to the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

PARIS (Reuters) - Donors led by the United States pledged about $20 billion in aid to Afghanistan on Thursday but said Kabul must do far more to fight corruption.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama hopes postponed talks between China and his envoys will resume next month, he said on Thursday, adding he supported China's desire for stability but that it must come "from the heart not the gun".

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Western donors have failed to condemn war crimes by Ethiopian forces during a year-old campaign against separatist fighters in the country's eastern Ogaden region, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Prime Minister Raila Odinga's party won three parliamentary seats on Thursday after by-elections that went peacefully despite fears of a repeat of violence seen in the crisis after Kenya's presidential poll.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it would look into and explain an embarrassing revelation that a senior intelligence official had left a file with top secret documents about Iraq and al Qaeda on a train.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Two Japanese companies are being investigated by police on suspicion of illegally exporting vacuum pumps to North Korea, where they were used in nuclear facilities, police and domestic media said on Thursday.

DJIBOUTI/ASMARA (Reuters) - Border clashes between Eritrea and Djibouti killed nine Djiboutian soldiers and wounded 60 others in the first fighting in a decade between the Horn of Africa nations, a defense official said on Thursday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's trade minister said on Thursday he will go to Washington to try to rework a beef import deal that has sparked massive street protests in Seoul and caused a sharp drop in support for new President Lee Myung-bak.

TOKYO (Reuters) - In a stark reflection of Japan's political stalemate, parliament's lower house approved a motion of confidence in Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Thursday, a day after the upper chamber adopted an unprecedented, but non-binding, censure of the unpopular leader.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Long-time political rivals Taiwan and China, in their first formal talks in almost a decade, agreed on Thursday to launch direct weekend passenger flights starting from July 4, the first in nearly 60 years, Taiwan TV reported.

DHAKA (Reuters) - Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, released from jail on parole, left Dhaka on Thursday for the United States for medical treatment.

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico's Manuel Uribe, once the world's most obese man, celebrated his 43rd birthday on Wednesday with a very short trip outside his house.

BEICHUAN, China (Reuters) - Grieving and angry parents on Thursday marked one month since China's devastating earthquake toppled schools, demanding an explanation and apologizing to their loved ones buried under the rubble.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats accused John McCain on Wednesday of being confused and unsympathetic for saying it's "not too important" when U.S. troops leave Iraq, attacking the Republican presidential candidate on an issue he has made key in the November election.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has opened the general election campaign with a six-point lead over Republican John McCain, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday.