Reuters World News Highlights

WASHINGTON – As the U.S. government prepares for years of austerity, a bipartisan group of senators is aiming to give the agency that maintains ports and waterways extraordinary protection from budget cuts.
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JERUSALEM – Israel apologised to Turkey on Friday for killing nine Turkish citizens in a 2010 naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla and both feuding U.S. allies agreed to normalise relations in a surprise breakthrough announced by U.S. President Barack Obama.
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WASHINGTON – When the U.S. Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of marriage for gay men and lesbians in the coming week, the justices will be taking a major step toward defining their own legacy.
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WASHINGTON – U.S. lawmakers are reconsidering a 1990 law that makes the State Department accept the lowest bids for contracts to provide private security at most U.S. diplomatic posts, a requirement that can lead to the hiring of thousands of guards based on how cheap they are rather than their quality.
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PARIS – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy came out fighting on Friday after being placed under investigation for exploiting the mental frailty of the country’s richest woman to raise election funds, with his lawyer rejecting the case as flawed.
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MOSCOW – “It will be a surprise – you’ll like it,” President Vladimir Putin said with a smile when asked whether he had decided who should be next head of Russia’s central bank.
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MOSCOW – Chinese leader Xi Jinping demonstrated the importance of Beijing’s growing ties with Russia on Friday by going to Moscow on his first foreign trip as president and telling Vladimir Putin he was a good friend.
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ROME – Italian President Giorgio Napolitano called centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani to a meeting on Friday, suggesting he may ask the former industry minister to seek support from other parties to form a government and end political deadlock.