Reuters World News Highlights at 0345 GMT, Jan 29

Jan 29 (Reuters) - TOP STORIES

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WASHINGTON - Reflecting the growing influence of Hispanics in American politics, a group of Republican and Democratic U.S. senators on Monday said they will move quickly with legislation giving 11 million illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens.

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GAO, Mali - French and Malian troops retook control of Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site, on Monday after Islamist rebel occupiers fled the ancient Sahara trading town and torched several buildings, including a library holding priceless manuscripts.

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SANTA MARIA, Brazil - Brazilian police investigating a nightclub fire that killed 231 people detained on Monday the owners of the club and two band members whose pyrotechnics show authorities say triggered the blaze.

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DUBAI - Iran said on Monday it had launched a live monkey into space, seeking to show off missile systems that have alarmed the West because the technology could potentially be used to deliver a nuclear warhead.

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NEW YORK - Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, fresh from a record-setting sale of Israeli bonds to investors in Florida, said on Monday that balancing the government budget will require "moderate but still significant" cuts to the defense sector.

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CAIRO/ISMAILIA, Egypt - Egyptian protesters defied a nighttime curfew in restive towns along the Suez Canal, attacking police stations and ignoring emergency rule imposed by Islamist President Mohamed Mursi to end days of clashes that have killed at least 52 people.

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WASHINGTON - A long-delayed $50.5 billion aid package for victims of Superstorm Sandy cleared the Senate on Monday, three months after the storm destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in coastal New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

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TOKYO - Japan's government stepped in to give Boeing Co's now-grounded 787 Dreamliner and its made-in-Japan technology a boost in 2008 by easing safety regulations, fast-tracking the rollout of the groundbreaking jet for Japan's biggest airlines, according to records and participants in the process.

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NEW DELHI - An Indian teenager accused of taking part in the Dec. 16 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in New Delhi will be tried as a juvenile, facing a maximum of three years in prison if convicted, a special panel ruled on Monday.

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DALLAS - Boy Scouts of America is considering ending a longstanding national ban on gay youth and adult members and leaving policies on sexual orientation to its local organizations, a spokesman said on Monday.

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AMSTERDAM - Dutch Queen Beatrix, who turns 75 on Thursday, announced she was abdicating in favour of her son, Prince Willem-Alexander, telling her country it was time to hand the crown to the next generation after more than three decades on the throne.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130129/reuters-world-news-highlights-at-0345-gmt-jan-29