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Reuters World News Highlights at 1115 GMT, Aug 29

Published: 30 Aug 2009 16:34:05 PST

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TOKYO - Candidates across Japan made their final pitch to voters on Saturday on the eve of an election the opposition looks poised to win, giving the untested Democrats the job of tackling record unemployment and a fast-ageing society.

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SHIRQAT, Iraq - Two bomb attacks in volatile parts of northern Iraq killed at least 15 people on Saturday and wounded 37, police said, interrupting a relatively peaceful start to the Ramadan fast.

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TEHRAN - Iran said on Saturday the U.N. atomic watchdog had confirmed its nuclear programme was peaceful and vowed to resist political pressure to change it, a news agency reported.

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TAIPEI - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will not be meeting the Dalai Lama when the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader visits next week, the president's office said on Saturday, a move aimed at avoiding renewed tensions with China.

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NANSAN, China - Fresh fighting in northeast Myanmar erupted on Saturday after days of clashes that killed at least one person on Chinese territory and sent dozens of wounded to hospitals along the Chinese border.

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UNITED NATIONS - The United Arab Emirates has seized a cargo of North Korean weapons being shipped to Iran, which would have violated a U.N. embargo on arms exports from the communist state, Western diplomats said on Friday.

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest attacked a patrol of Western and Afghan troops in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least two civilians and wounding 21, district officials said.

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YALA, Thailand - An elderly man was killed and 17 people wounded when a grenade was thrown at a group of Muslims playing boules in Thailand's troubled deep south, police said on Saturday.

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WASHINGTON - Two Syrians held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay have been sent to Portugal, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday, the latest move as President Barack Obama tries to close the facility in five months.

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JEDDAH - A suicide bomber failed in his attempt to kill the prince who heads Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism campaign, the first attack on a member of the royal family since the start of a wave of violence by al Qaeda six years ago.