Reuters World News Highlights at 0845 GMT, Jan 21
TOP STORIES
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ALGIERS, Algeria - The hostage death toll from a four-day siege at an Algerian gas plant deep in the Sahara has risen to almost 60, with at least nine Japanese nationals also reported killed in an attack claimed by a veteran Islamist fighter on behalf of al Qaeda.
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JAIPUR, India - Rahul Gandhi embraced his role as a leading contender for India's next prime minister in a speech on Sunday that spoke of his family's tragic history but yielded few clues about his views on politics and the economy.
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WASHINGTON - Four years after making history by becoming the first African-American president, Barack Obama will kick off his second term on Monday with a scaled-back inauguration that reflects the tempered expectations for his next four years in office.
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PARIS - Syrian opposition leaders will meet in Paris this month, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday, decrying an "abominable" situation in which he said 100 people a day were being killed in an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
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NEW DELHI - A DNA investigation of bloodstained clothes and body swabs has linked all five men and a juvenile accused of the gang rape and murder of a woman in New Delhi to the crime, providing evidence that the prosecution says will be enough to convict them.
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KABUL - Suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the headquarters of the Kabul traffic police on Monday, local officials said, in the second coordinated attack on a government building in less than a week.
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NIONO, Mali - French troops in armoured vehicles on Monday entered a central Malian town abandoned by Islamist rebels after days of air strikes.
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KYOTO, Japan - U.S. and Japanese aviation safety officials took their investigations into problems with Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner to the headquarters of the plane's battery maker on Monday, seeking clues into why one of the technologically advanced aircraft made an emergency landing last week.