By Claire Davenport and Luke Baker BRUSSELS | Thu May 24, 2012 6:40am EDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders, advised by senior officials to prepare contingency plans in case Greece decides to quit the single currency, urged the country to stay the course on austerity and complete the reforms demanded under its bailout program. After nearly six hours of talks held during an informal dinner, leaders said they were committed to Greece remaining in the euro zone, but it had to stick to its side of the bargain too, a commitment that will mean a heavy cost for Greeks."We want Greece to stay in the euro, but we insist that Greece sticks to commitments that it has agreed to," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told ... Continue reading →

FRANKFURT | Thu May 24, 2012 4:35am EDT FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Banks took almost 4 billion euros of overnight ECB loans on Thursday, the highest since a Greek debt restructuring-fuelled jump in mid-March and dovetailing with Greek banks being cut off from mainstream ECB funding. Banks are usually reluctant to use the ECB's instant access facility - also known as its emergency window - because it charges 0.75 percentage points more interest than normal ECB funding.Thursday's uptake of 3.9 billion euros added to a steady rise in use of the facility in recent days, after the central bank cut four Greek banks off from its mainstream funding last week.The ECB does not disclose which banks use the emergency funding.The central bank's action against the Greek ... Continue reading →

By Andrew Quinn and Justyna Pawlak BAGHDAD | Thu May 24, 2012 6:32am EDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iran accused world powers on Thursday of creating "a difficult atmosphere" hindering talks on its atomic energy program, signaling a snag in diplomacy to ease a stand-off over fears of a covert Iranian effort to develop nuclear bombs. The nub of the dispute was not immediately clear as the high-stakes negotiations in pursuit of a framework deal to stop a feared drift towards a new Middle East war went into a second day in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.But Iran had served notice that it wanted immediate relief from economic sanctions as part of any deal to stop higher-grade uranium enrichment, a pathway to nuclear arms, whereas Western powers ... Continue reading →

By Mark Felsenthal ST. LOUIS | Wed May 23, 2012 8:49pm EDT ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Greece could exit the euro zone without doing deep damage to the U.S. and European economies if the transition is handled properly, a top U.S. Federal Reserve official said on Wednesday. Concerns about a Greek exit have kept global financial markets under pressure in recent days."I'm one that thinks that Greece could exit, and it could be handled in an appropriate way without causing too much damage, either in Europe or in the U.S.," St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard told Reuters.Bullard's remarks came as senior European officials advised leaders to prepare contingency plans in case Greece quits the single currency area. European Union leaders are meeting ... Continue reading →

By Daniel Bases NEW YORK | Wed May 23, 2012 1:02am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - If any other European countries were to follow Greece into a debt default, Athens can recommend a lawyer. Lee Buchheit crafted the restructuring deal that cut Greek debt by 100 billion euros and inflicted huge losses on bondholders in March.Over the last 30 years, presidents and finance ministers have turned to Buchheit, 61, more than any other lawyer to help call off creditors when their governments run out of money.His clients love him because he can help wipe away billions of dollars of debt. His legal opponents - bond investors, some of them so-called vulture funds - hate him for the same reason.In addition to Greece, the folders stacked ... Continue reading →

By Douglas Busvine and Melissa Akin MOSCOW | Tue May 22, 2012 4:13pm EDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Igor Sechin, one of President Vladimir Putin's closest confidants, was named CEO of Rosneft on Tuesday, putting the informal leader of a political clan drawn from the Soviet secret services in direct charge of Russia's biggest oil company. His move from the corridors of power to the executive suite at Rosneft - just across the Moscow River from the Kremlin - marks the culmination of Sechin's evolving role as energy 'tsar' in the world's largest oil-producing nation.Rosneft's shares gained by as much at 3.5 percent as industry analysts welcomed the appointment, praising the unparalleled lobbying power and proven ability to cut deals of a man who had until ... Continue reading →

By Sebastian Moffett BRUSSELS | Tue May 22, 2012 5:33pm EDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - For an insight into the world of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, consider the tale of a humble asterisk. In late February, EU chief negotiator Robert Cooper was nearing a compromise that would bring Serbia and breakaway province Kosovo closer to EU membership and get around their disputes over Kosovo's right to exist.The scheme would allow Kosovo to sign regional agreements, but only with an asterisk next to its name to indicate its lack of U.N. recognition. Without the asterisk Serbia, which does not recognize Kosovo's independence, said it would refuse to co-manage their mutual border, the scene of violent clashes.Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci objected to the symbol, seeing ... Continue reading →

By Tabassum Zakaria FORT MEADE, Maryland | Tue May 22, 2012 2:39pm EDT FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - The National Security Agency is trying to expand U.S. cyber expertise needed for secret intelligence operations against adversaries on computer networks through a new cyber-ops program at selected universities. The cyber-ops curriculum is geared to providing the basic education for jobs in intelligence, military and law enforcement that are so secret they will only be revealed to some students and faculty, who need to pass security clearance requirements, during special summer seminars offered by NSA.It is not easy to find the right people for cyber operations because the slice of the hacker community that would make a quality cyber operator inside the government is only a sliver.The ... Continue reading →

By Anna Yukhananov WASHINGTON | Mon May 21, 2012 3:30pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. drug reviewers had mixed opinions about whether Johnson & Johnson blood thinner Xarelto reduced the risk of new heart attacks and strokes in people with heart problems, setting the stage for heated debate by outside experts later this week. Some U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff members raised doubts about how well the drug worked, given the high number of people who dropped out of studies on the pill. But the FDA's clinical reviewer recommended approval.The staff appeared united in the view that the data did not prove Xarelto reduced the risk of death in patients with acute coronary syndrome, which analysts had seen as the drug's most important advantage ... Continue reading →

By Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES | Tue May 22, 2012 12:06am EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Medical drama "House" bowed out on Monday after eight years on television with a funeral, a friendship and multiple devious plot twists. As the curtain fell on one of the most popular TV series in the world, the misanthropic but brilliant diagnostician Dr. Gregory House, played by Hugh Laurie, solved the most perplexing puzzle of them all - himself.The series finale, called "Everybody Dies", began with a suicidal House trapped in a burning building, confronting his own demons and hallucinating.Returning characters, including the dead Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn) and "frenemy" Amber Volakis (Anne Dudek), ex- girlfriend Stacy Warner (Sela Ward) and Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) appeared as figments of ... Continue reading →