Reuters World News Highlights

MOSCOW – Russia rejected yesterday criticism by the West of  a ruling to keep jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in prison  until late 2017, saying foreign states had no right to try to  influence Russian courts.
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KIEV – Ukraine has sent a “significant portion” of its  highly enriched uranium stock to Russia under a deal with the  United States aimed at preventing nuclear terrorism, the  Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
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SEOUL – South Korean President Lee Myung-bak named yesterday  a retired general to head a newly created office for national  crisis management as two attacks from North Korea this year  raised tension on the peninsula.
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NEW DELHI/TEHRAN – India and Iran failed to find a quick way  yesterday to enable New Dehli to continue imports of Iranian oil  worth $12 billion while boosting the transparency of deals as  sought by the United States.
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ISLAMABAD – Business centres shut down in Pakistan yesterday  in a strike called by Islamists to pressure the ruling party  which is scrambling to stop its main coalition partner from  pulling out of the governing coalition.
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RAMALLAH – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on  Middle East power brokers yesterday to draft a new peace plan  for the region that could help revive failed U.S.-backed  negotiations with Israel.
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CARACAS – Venezuelans worried yesterday that a second  devaluation of their currency in 12 months would make life even  harder as the socialist government of President Hugo Chavez  struggled to turn the economy around.
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SYDNEY – Floodwater rose across a vast area in Australia’s  northeast yesterday, inundating 22 towns, forcing 200,000  residents out of their homes, and closing a major sugar export  port.