Reuters World News Highlights at 0230 GMT, Sept 5
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Sunday September 05, 2010 02:30:02 AM GMT
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ISLAMABAD - Pro-Taliban Pakistani militants are trying to create a sectarian rift, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday, as a new wave of violence piled pressure on a government already struggling with a flood crisis.
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KABUL - An Afghan peace council to pursue talks with the Taliban has been set up, President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday, the latest step in a gradual move towards reconciliation with the Islamist insurgents.
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PARIS - Tens of thousands protested across France on Saturday against a clampdown on immigrants, launching a week of action over policies on which President Nicolas Sarkozy has staked his political reputation.
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WELLINGTON - Authorities declared an overnight curfew for Saturday after a major earthquake hit New Zealand's second biggest city, Christchurch, bringing down power lines and bridges and wrecking roads and building facades.
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WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama, previewing a big push on the U.S. economy next week, on Saturday defended policies that he said "have stopped the bleeding" and put the middle class on the road to recovery.
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RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's ruling party candidate Dilma Rousseff maintained her lead in the race for the October presidential election and appeared on track to win without a runoff vote, a poll showed on Saturday.
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YEREVAN/BAKU - Two Azeri soldiers were killed in fighting on Saturday near rebel Nagorno-Karabakh, in the second clash in days on the front lines of the enclave's conflict with Azerbaijan.
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HALIFAX, Canada - Hurricane Earl made landfall in Canada on Saturday and fizzled after a series of scares along the U.S. East Coast, flooding roads, felling trees and cutting power to tens of thousands in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia.
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BRUSSELS - Belgium plunged back into political crisis on Saturday as the politician trying to broker formation of a government quit, almost three months after an election.
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ROME - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday he was confident his government would survive a crucial vote in parliament due in the coming weeks and Italy would not have to hold early elections.
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SEOUL - South Korea's foreign minister has resigned over accusations of nepotism involving his daughter, sources at the president's office and ministry said on Saturday, the latest senior official to step down because of scandal.
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KHARTOUM - Gunmen shot dead six people and injured 33 in clashes at a refugee camp in Sudan's Darfur region on Saturday, peacekeepers said.
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