Reuters World News Highlights at 1400 GMT, Nov 08

GEORGE TOWN - Paloma strengthened into an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 hurricane on Saturday as it pounded the wealthy British Caribbean territory of the Cayman Islands and headed toward storm-battered Cuba.

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CHICAGO - Barack Obama said on Saturday that now with the long presidential election season behind the nation, it is time for Americans to put aside political differences and work together to solve the economic crisis.

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PORT-AU-PRINCE - A ramshackle church school collapsed in a shanty town on the outskirts of Haiti's capital on Friday, burying dozens in rubble and killing at least 75, many of them children, rescue workers said.

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WELLINGTON - National Party leder John Key swept to power in New Zealand's election on Saturday, toppling a nine-year-old Labour government that was dogged by economic recession and political scandal. Prime Minister Helen Clark said she would stand down as leader of the Labour Party.

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RAMALLAH - Egypt decided to delay Palestinian reconciliation talks it planned to host next week in Cairo after a new dispute arose between Hamas and Fatah, an Egyptian source said.

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SAO PAULO - Finance officials from around the world will discuss on Saturday a bigger role for emerging economies in the way global finance is managed but there is no need for new institutions, Canada's finance minister said.

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BANGKOK - Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, facing a two-year jail sentence at home for breaking a conflict of interest law, has been barred from Britain where he was living in exile, a Thai official said on Saturday.

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COPENHAGEN - Somali pirates have hijacked a ship with 13 crew members on board in the Gulf of Aden, the ship's Danish operator said on Saturday.

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MARDIN, Turkey - A new loan deal between Turkey and the International Monetary Fund is in doubt because of a disagreement over the level of spending by municipalities, Deputy Prime Minister Nazim Ekren said on Saturday.

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LONDON - Hamas is ready to talk to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama but he must respect the Palestinian Islamist group's "rights and options", its leader Khaled Meshaal said in an interview on Saturday.