Reuters World News Highlights at 1400 GMT, Nov 18

TOKYO/LONDON - Major world banks showed the strain of economic crisis on Tuesday, with Britain's Barclays altering its fund-raising plans to quell shareholder anger and profits in Japan's largest bank tumbling.

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BOSASSO, Somalia - A Saudi supertanker hijacked by pirates with a $100 million oil cargo was thought to have anchored off Somalia on Tuesday, the shipping arm of state oil giant Saudi Aramco said.

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DAMASCUS - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged Syria and Israel on Tuesday to forge ahead with peace talks and said the Syrian-backed Palestinian group Hamas was hurting efforts to end Middle East conflict.

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GAZA - Israel resealed border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday citing continued rocket fire at its towns, despite warnings from world aid groups of looming shortages of food and fuel supplies in the coastal territory.

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LUOFU, Congo - Demoralised Congolese government troops, retreating before eastern rebels, clashed on Tuesday with their own local militia allies who tried to make them stand and fight after the armed forces chief was replaced.

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TOKYO - Japan's opposition stepped up efforts on Tuesday to force an early election by stalling key bills including help for struggling banks, a strategy that threatens to further paralyse an economy in recession.

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SRINAGAR, India - A good turnout at the start of Indian Kashmir state elections may mean separatists misread a desire for development and democracy, analysts and voters said on Tuesday, but is not necessarily a vote for Indian rule.

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DHARAMSALA, India - Tibetans could push for independence from China if exile groups meeting this week in India decide that is their only option, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile said on Tuesday.

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MANILA - The Philippines is seeking peace talks with both Muslim and communist rebels in an effort to bring stability and security to the country at a time of economic crisis, a top presidential advisor said on Tuesday.

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NEW DELHI - India's finance minister said the Group of 20 nations will be the top economic forum for the future but he is concerned that no mechanism exists to oversee an economic action plan agreed by world leaders last weekend.