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World News Highlights at 0600 GMT, Dec 02

Published: 01 Dec 2008 23:03:46 PST

WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy slipped into recession in December 2007, the nation's business cycle arbiter declared on Monday, and the downturn could be the worst since World War Two.

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BANGKOK - A grenade killed an anti-government protester at Bangkok's blockaded Don Muang airport on Tuesday, hours before a vote fraud case that could force the prime minister and much of his cabinet to resign.

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NEW DELHI - India demanded Pakistan take decisive action over deadly attacks in Mumbai it said were carried out by militants from its nuclear-armed rival, while the West urged cooperation to ease tension.

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CHICAGO - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama named former rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state on Monday and said Robert Gates would remain defense secretary in a national security team charged with recasting America's leadership role in the world.

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OTTAWA - The leaders of Canada's three opposition parties on Monday signed a historic deal to bring down the minority Conservative government and then form a coalition government of their own.

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BAGHDAD - Blasts at Baghdad's police academy and in the northern city of Mosul killed 30 people and wounded dozens more on Monday, hours after a roadside bomb wounded a senior Iraqi official, police said.

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CARACAS - President Hugo Chavez launched a new campaign on Monday to change Venezuela's constitution so he can stay in power for as long as he keeps winning elections, almost exactly a year after voters rejected the proposal.

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HARARE - Hundreds of angry Zimbabweans attacked soldiers carrying out a crackdown on illegal foreign currency trading in the capital Harare on Monday in a further sign of the country's collapse.

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JOS, Nigeria - A few market stalls opened and motorcycle taxis returned tentatively to the streets of Jos on Monday after the Nigerian army quelled clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs which killed hundreds of people.

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BRASILIA - Brazil pledged on Monday to cut the rate at which it was destroying its Amazon forest in half over the next decade to help combat global warming.