Reuters World News Highlights at 1400 GMT, Sep 2
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Thursday September 02, 2010 01:00:14 PM GMT
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WASHINGTON - With a diplomatic push from U.S. President Barack Obama, Israeli and Palestinian leaders start direct peace talks on Thursday overshadowed by scepticism on all sides and violence in the volatile West Bank.
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ATHENS - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is likely to reshuffle his cabinet in coming days to free up candidates for local elections but he won't risk making major changes to his team in the midst of a debt crisis.
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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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LAHORE, Pakistan - Pakistan tightened security in the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday after three bomb attacks killed 33 people and wounded 171 and pressured the U.S.-backed government already overwhelmed by floods.
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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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BEIJING - The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday she had pressed China to ensure that Chinese companies did not fill the void left by other firms leaving Iran due to U.N. sanctions.
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BERLIN - German President Christian Wulff has increased pressure on the Bundesbank to dismiss its contentious board member Thilo Sarrazin, arguing that the central bank needed to limit damage to Germany's reputation.
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HATTERAS ISLAND - North Carolina officials expanded mandatory evacuation orders across new areas of the state's low-lying barrier islands on Thursday ahead of rapidly approaching Hurricane Earl.
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CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard came within grasp of a return to power on Thursday after one of four "kingmaker" MPs backed her Labor Party's bid to form a minority government following last month's dead-heat elections.
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RIO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULO - Dilma Rousseff's apparent procession to Brazil's presidency has calmed fears of a volatile election campaign but is raising new concerns as conflicting signals emerge over how she sees the state's role in the economy.
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