Reuters World News Highlights 1800 GMT Nov 23

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.