Reuters World News Highlights at 0230 GMT, Jan 29

TOP STORIES

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LONDON - The Afghan government on Thursday invited the Taliban to a peace council as its Western allies worked out plans to try to end the war in Afghanistan.

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LONDON - Iran hanged two men convicted in the wake of the unrest that erupted after last year's disputed election, as a top opposition figure predicted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be ousted before the end of his term.

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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate on Thursday backed Ben Bernanke for a second four-year term running the Federal Reserve, the world's most powerful central bank, despite deep misgivings over his perceived policy missteps.

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BEIRUT - An Iraqi panel that vetoed more than 500 election candidates was only doing its job of purging former Baathists from politics, not targeting Sunni Muslims or any other group, its chairman Ahmed Chalabi said on Thursday.

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BERLIN/DAVOS - Greece has asked no country for a bailout and is the victim of speculators intent on attacking a "weak link" in the euro zone, its leader said on Thursday as the premium on its debt hit a new high.

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PARIS - Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was cleared on Thursday of plotting to smear his old rival Nicolas Sarkozy, dealing a stinging blow to the president who never made a secret of their enmity.

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KIEV - Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovich sought to throw his rival for the presidency, Yulia Tymoshenko, off balance on Thursday, pushing through the sacking of a close ally in a bid for advantage before a Feb. 7 election run-off.

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WARSAW - Prime Minister Donald Tusk's decision not to run in this year's presidential election is a sign of his ruling party's self-confidence and paves the way for an acceleration of crucial market reforms.

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COLOMBO -- Re-elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa will dissolve parliament shortly and call a legislative election, his office said on Thursday, in a move that could enable him to reshape the unwieldly coalition now backing him.

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JAKARTA - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's re-election victory last year raised hopes of a renewed reform push, hopes that now look over-optimistic and could eventually result in investor disappointment.