Reuters World News Highlights at 1400 GMT, Feb 07

TEHRAN - Iran's president gave instructions on Sunday for the production of higher-grade nuclear reactor fuel despite an offer by world powers to provide it to the Islamic Republic to allay fears Tehran is making an atomic bomb.

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KIEV - Ukrainians voted on Sunday for a new president in a run-off between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich which could bring a fresh bout of instability to the country.

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MUNICH, Germany - The United States is not in direct talks with the Afghan Taliban, and any eventual discussions would have to go hand in hand with military success, U.S. Special Representative Richard Holbrooke said on Sunday.

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ATHENS - Greece will stick to its deficit-cutting plan and the first three months of the year will be crucial for regaining investors and EU confidence, the country's finance minister said in an interview on Sunday.

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AWKA, Nigeria - The incumbent governor of Nigeria's southeastern Anambra state was on Sunday declared the winner of an election which voters and candidates said had been marred by widespread irregularities.

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BERLIN - German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere warned on Sunday that a high public sector wage settlement as demanded by the unions would lead to higher taxes, more state debt and a reduction in services.

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BAGHDAD - Iraq's Shi'ite parties held emotional demonstrations on Sunday and vowed to purge loyalists of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party as tensions over a list of candidates banned from a March election soared.

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MUNICH, Germany - NATO should develop closer ties with China, India, Pakistan and Russia and become the forum for consultation on global security, the alliance's head said on Sunday, but a senior Russian politician reacted with scepticism.

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TOKYO - More Japanese voters are unhappy with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's administration than support it, media surveys show, a sign that a funding scandal is damaging the government's chances in a key mid-year upper house election.

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CANBERRA - Australia will end its bank deposit and bank funding guarantees from the end of March, because they were no longer needed with the world recovering from the global downturn, Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Sunday,