Reuters World News Highlights at 0200 GMT, Sept 3

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Friday September 03, 2010 09:00:02 AM GMT

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WASHINGTON - Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to a series of direct talks on Thursday, seeking to forge the framework for a U.S.-backed peace deal within a year and end a conflict that has boiled for six decades.

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LAHORE, Pakistan - The International Monetary Fund will give Pakistan $450 million in emergency flood aid, providing some relief for a government overwhelmed by the disaster and facing renewed militant violence.

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WASHINGTON - The White House stressed on Thursday that no second economic stimulus package is being considered as part of new measures under review by President Barack Obama's team.

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KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned on Thursday an air strike by NATO-led forces which he said killed 10 election campaign workers, although U.S. officials maintained it was aimed at an Islamist leader.

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TOKYO - Ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa pledged bold steps on Thursday to fix Japan's flagging economy if he becomes premier, floating tax cuts and threatening to intervene in currency markets to curb the yen's rapid rise.

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PARIS - Two unions intent on paralysing France with a strike over pension reform rounded on the minister leading the overhaul on Thursday, questioning how he can do his job properly while he is surrounded by a political scandal.

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JOHANNESBURG - Striking South African state workers staged a protest march on Thursday after rejecting a revised wage offer aimed at ending their three-week strike that has the government and the labour movement at loggerheads.

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BERLIN - Germany's Bundesbank said on Thursday it had voted to dimiss board member Thilo Sarrazin, whose remarks about Muslim immigrants and Jews have divided the country and provoked outrage among Holocaust survivors.

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