Two U.S. journalists claimed North Korean guards arrested them on the Chinese side of the border.
The Democratic Party of Japan has begun a transition to power after trouncing the long-ruling LDP.
Reclusive North Korea has recently made a series of gestures seen as an attempt to reengage with the outside world.
Investors welcomed the end to a political deadlock, as Japan struggled with its worst recession since World War Two.
Chinese residents near the Chinese border told of intense bombing, with bombs also falling on the Chinese side.
Partial Afghan election returns showed President Hamid Karzai extending his lead in last week's vote.
The rival Koreas reached a deal to resume from September reunions of families torn apart by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Fresh fighting has erupted between Myanmar government forces and an armed ethnic group in the remote northeast.
Afghan officials said they had delayed releasing further results from the nation's disputed presidential poll.
One out of four elderly shoplifters in the capital blamed their crime on loneliness, Japanese media quoted a police survey.