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Reuters World News Highlights 0200 GMT Aug 31

Published: 30 Aug 2009 18:01:17 PST

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TOKYO - Japan's next leader Yukio Hatoyama, fresh from a historic election win, faced the task on Monday of forming a government to tackle challenges such as reviving the economy and steering a new course with close ally Washington.

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NANSAN, China - Refugees who fled to China from armed clashes in northeast Myanmar are weighing the prospects of returning, pulled between worry about the homes, farms and shops they left and fear of the Myanmar army.

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KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan - China denounced the Dalai Lama's trip to Taiwan, saying the visit by a man Beijing brands a separatist could have a "negative influence" on relations, Chinese state media said on Monday.

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TEHRAN - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proposed new cabinet came in for criticism from some lawmakers in a heated parliamentary debate on Sunday, but one senior MP signalled support for the surprise oil minister nominee.

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BRASILIA - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tried on Sunday to overcome opposition by three state governors to a legislative proposal he hopes will make the country a top oil producer and help fight poverty.

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KHOBAR - Saudi Arabia has tightened security at oil facilities after the country's anti-terror chief escaped a suicide attack, guards at Abqaiq, the world's biggest oil processing plant, said on Sunday.

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BERLIN - Chancellor Angela Merkel's party suffered losses in German regional elections on Sunday, a setback that could hurt her chances of forming the centre-right government she wants after next month's federal vote.

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LIBREVILLE - Gabon's voters waited on Monday for the first results of an election for a successor to long-time leader Omar Bongo, with the late president's son tipped for power in the central African oil-producing state.

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LONDON - Britain agreed to include Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi in a prisoner transfer deal with Libya in 2007 because of "overwhelming interests" just before an oil deal with Tripoli, a newspaper reported on Sunday.