Reuters World News Highlights at 1800 GMT, Sep 04
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Saturday September 04, 2010 12:12:18 PM GMT
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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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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PARIS - Tens of thousands protested across France on Saturday against a clampdown on immigrants,launching a week of action over security policy and pension reform 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 - Earl has slowed to a tropical storm, with wind speeds of some 60 knots, or just below 70 mph (113 kph), the Canadian Hurricane Centre said on Saturday.
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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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MEXICO CITY - A Mexican judge ordered Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez, believed to be one of the country's top drug bosses, held for 40 more days of investigation, the federal prosecutor's office said on Saturday.
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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 - Armed men shot dead seven people and injured 20 in clashes at a refugee camp in Sudan's Darfur region on Saturday, peacekeepers said, in a sign of mounting violence in and around the area's displacement centres.
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