Reuters World News Highlights

SINGAPORE – A naval skirmish between the two Koreas will not  derail the Obama administration’s plans to send its first envoy  to Pyongyang to revive dormant nuclear talks, U.S. Secretary of  State Hillary Clinton said yesterday.
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TOKYO – The United States and Japan will agree this week to  review their decades-old security alliance to tighten ties long  term, a Japanese newspaper said yesterday, as the two countries  struggled to keep a feud over a U.S. military base from spoiling  their leaders’ summit.
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VIENNA – Iran has effectively stopped expanding active  uranium enrichment since September, diplomats said, while  considering a big power offer to fuel a medical reactor if it  turns over enriched material seen as an atomic bomb risk.
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MOSCOW – Russia cannot afford cutting gas to Ukraine for a  second year in a row as it would have too much to lose,  including Europe’s support for its key gas projects at a time  when its European gas market share is shrinking.
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RAMALLAH – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says he does not  want to run for a second term as president in a January  election, though many observers doubt the poll will even happen.
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PHNOM PENH – Cambodia refused a request from Thailand yesterday to extradite fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin  Shinawatra, adding fuel to a widening diplomatic row that  threatens to worsen Thailand’s political crisis.
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SINGAPORE – Asia-Pacific finance ministers were set to call  for flexible exchange rates among measures to try to reduce  global economic imbalances that were at the heart of the  financial crisis.
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MOGADISHU – Somali pirates seized a Greek cargo ship and a  Yemeni fishing boat in the latest attacks demonstrating their  ability to evade international naval forces, gunmen and  officials said yesterday.
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DUBAI – Saudi Arabia has imposed a naval blockade on  northern Yemen’s Red Sea coast to stop weapons from reaching  Yemeni Shi’ite Muslim rebels it is fighting in the area, a Saudi  government adviser said yesterday.