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LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron gave the job of ruling on a multi-billion dollar takeover by News Corp to a minister he knew supported the deal, an inquiry heard on Thursday, reigniting accusations he was in hock to Rupert Murdoch. Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary who was handed the task of deciding whether to support Murdoch's $12 billion bid for BSkyB, had previously sent a memo to Cameron detailing his view that the takeover would be good for Britain. ...

The Dow Jones industrial average and other stock indexes drifted lower Thursday after a meeting of European leaders failed to deliver any new steps to ease the region's debt crisis.

Tough negotiations between Iran and world powers over Tehran's nuclear program ended Thursday with a plan to meet next month for another round of talks but agreement on little else.

Struggling but deserving designers got a chance to show work inspired by the creativity and history of South Africa's most famous township as Soweto's first fashion week opened Thursday.

(Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc is eyeing more newspapers, according to a memo posted on Jim Romenesko's media website. http://tinyurl.com/7odreje The Oracle of Omaha wrote in a memo to Berkshire Hathaway's publishers and editors that "Berkshire will probably purchase more papers in the next few years," according to the website. Buffett's company announced on May 17 that it would buy the majority of Media General Inc's papers for $142 million in cash and that it would form a new subsidiary called BH Media Group. ...

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. ...

A former Bosnian Serb police commander accused of playing a role in the 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica has been deported to his native country, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Mitt Romney struggled to find support for his education proposals while campaigning at an inner-city school Thursday, one day after declaring education the "civil rights issue of our era."

Officials hoped to begin venting smoke and noxious fumes from a nuclear-powered submarine on Thursday so they could get inside to assess damage from an intense blaze that swept through the forward compartments.

A law enforcement official said Thursday that a man has told police that he suffocated Etan Patz, the 6-year-old boy whose disappearance on his way to school in 1979 helped give rise to the missing-children's movement that put youngsters' faces on milk cartons.

After a prolonged chill, security ties between Israel and China are warming up.

A British minister in the hot seat for his alleged close ties to Rupert Murdoch's media empire did lobby Prime Minister David Cameron to back the tycoon's bid for satellite broadcaster BSkyB, according to a memo made public Thursday.

A tropical storm warning has been issued for the coast of Mexico as Hurricane Bud gains strength in the Pacific.

HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp has put 504,000 acres in the DJ Basin in Wyoming and Colorado up for sale, as the U.S. energy company scrambles to raise cash to close a $9 billion to $10 billion funding shortfall. Chesapeake, which earlier this month arranged a pricey $4 billion loan from its investment bankers to tide it over, has said it will sell as much as $11 billion in assets this year. The DJ Basin deal includes oil and gas production from 29 wells that the company operates and Chesapeake's interest in 24 non-operated wells, according to a prospectus on the assets. ...

Elton John has canceled shows in Las Vegas this week after being hospitalized for a "serious respiratory infection" in Los Angeles, his publicists said Thursday.

GENEVA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - A U.N. investigation on Thursday said both sides in the Syrian conflict had committed serious human rights abuses, with government forces executing entire families in their homes and rebels torturing and killing soldiers and government supporters. The United Nations report into the 14-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad said government forces routinely drew up lists of wanted people and their families before blockading then attacking a village or neighborhood. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, who flew to the United States last week, said on Thursday China's handling of the local officials who harassed and abused him and his family will determine whether the country can begin to achieve rule of law. "If authorities can promptly investigate and prosecute those lawless officials who broke China's laws, then possibly China can rather quickly move onto the road of rule of law," Chen told Reuters in an interview. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron gave the job of ruling on a multi-billion dollar takeover by News Corp to a minister he knew supported the deal, an inquiry heard on Thursday, reigniting accusations he was in hock to Rupert Murdoch. Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary who was handed the task of deciding whether to support Murdoch's $12 billion bid for BSkyB, had previously sent a memo to Cameron detailing his view that the takeover would be good for Britain. ...

The president of the Vatican bank was effectively ousted Thursday after receiving a unanimous vote of no-confidence from bank overseers for having leaked documents and failed to do his job at a critical time in the Holy See's efforts to show transparency in its finances, the Vatican and officials said.

Attorneys were set to deliver their closing arguments Thursday in the trial of a Muslim soldier accused of planning to bomb a Texas restaurant filled with Fort Hood troops.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Millions of Egyptians, choosing their leader freely for the first time in their history, voted on Thursday in a fraught contest between Islamists and former officials of President Hosni Mubarak who was toppled in a popular uprising last year. After six decades under authoritarian, military-backed rule, Egypt's 50 million eligible voters may entrust the most populous Arab nation to an Islamist president for the next four years, alongside the Islamist-led parliament they elected earlier. ...

(Reuters) - The repercussions from Facebook's botched initial public offering deepened on Thursday as Fidelity Investments found itself dealing with "thousands" of customers with order problems and Knight Capital demanded tens of millions of dollars in compensation from Nasdaq for trading-related losses. ...

The Iowa magic that launched Barack Obama to the presidency four years ago has all but faded.

Food stamp recipients are ripping off the government for millions of dollars by illegally selling their benefit cards for cash — sometimes even in the open, on eBay or Craigslist — and then asking the government for replacement cards.

A violent scuffle has erupted in Ukraine's parliament over a bill that would allow the use of the Russian language in courts, hospitals and other institutions in the Russian-speaking regions of the country.

A law enforcement official said Thursday that a man has told police that he suffocated Etan Patz, the 6-year-old boy whose disappearance on his way to school in 1979 helped give rise to the missing-children's movement that put youngsters' faces on milk cartons.

International and U.S. Olympic leaders finalized a new revenue-sharing agreement on Thursday that ends years of acrimony between the powerful bodies and clears the way for future American bids for the games.

As one diplomatic effort after another fails to end more than a year of brutal violence in Syria, the Obama administration is preparing a plan that would essentially give U.S. nods of approval to arms transfers from Arab nations to some Syrian opposition fighters.