WASHINGTON/LIMA - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama moved to
reassure an anxious world over the weekend even before he takes
office, picking two respected policymakers to lead the fight
against the global financial crisis and setting out his battle
plan.
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DHAKA - Bangladesh said on Sunday it had delayed by 11 days
until Dec. 29 a parliamentary election which is expected to
return the country to democracy after a long spell of emergency
rule by an interim government.
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RAMALLAH - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on
Sunday he would call for elections in 2009 if his secular Fatah
movement and its Islamist rivals Hamas do not reconcile by the
end of this year.
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LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday
defended his plan to inject billions of pounds of borrowed money
into the economy to try to stave off a deep recession, saying
failure to act could cause permanent damage.
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BANGKOK - Thousands of anti-government protesters rallied in
central Bangkok on Sunday, the start of what they call the
"final battle" in a five-month street campaign to oust the
administration.
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LIMA - Leaders from Asia and the Americas promised on
Saturday to push for a global free trade deal and reform
international lenders in an effort to keep the world from
sliding into a deep recession.
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BISSAU - Guinea-Bissau's President Joao Bernardo "Nino"
Vieira survived an attack by renegade soldiers on his home early
on Sunday, one week after parliamentary elections were held in
the poor, volatile West African state.
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DHARAMSALA, India - The Dalai Lama ruled out retirement on
Sunday and reaffirmed the support of Tibetan exiles for his
"Middle Way" approach to China.
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TBILISI - Georgia marked the fifth anniversary of its "Rose
Revolution" in sombre mood on Sunday, with President Mikheil
Saakashvili urging unity after a disastrous war with Russia in
August.
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HARARE - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) could boycott a meeting to discuss a constitutional
bill that would allow President Robert Mugabe to form a unity
government, an opposition official said on Sunday.