Reuters World News Highlights 1700 GMT, Aug 11

YANGON - A court in army-ruled Myanmar on Tuesday sentenced opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to 18 months in detention, a verdict that drew condemnation abroad and will keep her off the political stage ahead of next year's elections.

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TEHRAN - Iranian opposition leaders say 69 people were killed in protests after a disputed election in June -- more than double the official toll of 26 -- and parliament has promised to investigate, pro-reform newspapers said on Tuesday.

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KUWAIT - Kuwait said on Tuesday it had foiled an al Qaeda-linked plan to bomb a U.S. Army camp and other "important facilities" in the OPEC oil exporting state.

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KABUL - The Taliban will not be able to derail this month's Afghan elections, President Hamid Karzai vowed on Tuesday, as military officials said at least seven Afghan and foreign troops had been killed in the latest violence.

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BETHLEHEM - The Palestinian party Fatah appeared to have strengthened President Mahmoud Abbas and reclaimed legitimacy with voters on Tuesday by unseating much of the "old guard" of the late Yasser Arafat.

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CISHAN, Taiwan - More than 700 people are trapped, possibly dead, in two southern Taiwan villages engulfed by mudslides after typhoon Morakot swamped the island, the military said on Tuesday.

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MOGADISHU - Somali kidnappers released on Tuesday six foreigners seized in November in central Somalia, an airport official said.

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan - At least 10 militants were killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in South Waziristan region, the same area where Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud is said to have been killed last week, officials and residents said on Tuesday.

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WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will seek to counter an onslaught of conservative opposition to his efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system by taking his message to a "town hall" meeting with the public on Tuesday at a New Hampshire high school.

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MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev waded into neighbouring Ukraine's presidential election campaign on Tuesday, attacking the incumbent as "anti-Russian" and urging the next leader to cooperate with Moscow.