Reuters World News Highlights 1400 GMT Jan 27

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.27.03, 9:01 AM ET

UNITED NATIONS - As U.N. arms inspectors prepared to give the Security Council a crucial report on Iraq, U.S. and British officials said they had the proof Baghdad was hiding banned weapons, laying it open to attack. Hours before the Council session in New York, due to start at 10:30 a.m. (1530 GMT), the United States made clear it would go into battle alone against Baghdad if it could not muster support among a deeply divided international community. BAGHDAD - Iraq said it was up to Washington and London to avoid a military showdown and accused U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell of lying when he charged Baghdad with developing banned weapons. DAMASCUS - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in some Arab capitals to protest against a possible U.S. war on Iraq, labelling U.S. President George W. Bush a "butcher" and his administration "arrogant".

SEOUL - A South Korean presidential envoy held talks with North Korean officials in Pyongyang in an attempt to ease the crisis over the Stalinist state's nuclear ambitions.

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing Likud party kept its commanding lead in final opinion polls published on the eve of Israel's general election, but looked set to struggle to form a stable coalition.

ABIDJAN - Gangs of youths, some swinging machetes, blocked streets in Ivory Coast's main city and pulled foreigners from cars in a third day of protests at a peace deal they say was imposed by former colonial power France.

LONDON - War fears sent stocks and the dollar tumbling and propelled gold to its highest level in six years as markets across the world fretted ahead of a key U.N weapons report on Iraq.

TEHRAN - Iran's top security body has decided to free the country's foremost clerical dissident from house arrest following fears over his health, a government source said.

BRUSSELS - Sweden said France should not invite Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to a summit in Paris next month because it would contravene the European Union's sanctions against his regime.

LONDON/SEOUL - A resilient two-day-old computer worm continued to hobble the Internet, infesting computer networks in Europe, Asia and America and stoking fears it will slow data transmissions for a few more days.

CARACAS, Venezuela/PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - Foes of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez clamored for early elections to vote him out of office, while the former coup plotter hinted he might be forced to take up arms again if his leftist "revolution" was defeated.