DERA ISMAIL KHAN/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Deepening the mystery in a case that is straining Islamabad's relations with Washington, a Pakistani militant group said on Thursday it never had ties to a doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden, even though he was jailed for aiding them. Last week, after Dr Shakil Afridi was convicted by a court in the Khyber tribal region near the Afghan border, Pakistani officials said the decision was based on treason charges for helping the CIA and conspiring against the state. After that announcement rankled U.S. ...

Aung San Suu Kyi was the star attraction at Thursday's opening of the World Economic Forum, where the Myanmar opposition leader signed autographs and smiled politely for pictures with delegates from around the world.

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear inspectors displayed new satellite imagery on Wednesday indicating that some small buildings had been dismantled and other possible clean-up work undertaken at an Iranian military site they want to visit. One image from May 25 showed signs that "ground-scraping activities" had taken place at the Parchin facility, as well as the presence of a bulldozer, according to diplomats who attended a closed-door briefing by U.N. nuclear agency officials. ...

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear inspectors displayed new satellite imagery on Wednesday indicating that some small buildings had been dismantled and other possible clean-up work undertaken at an Iranian military site they want to visit. One image from May 25 showed signs that "ground-scraping activities" had taken place at the Parchin facility, as well as the presence of a bulldozer, according to diplomats who attended a closed-door briefing by U.N. nuclear agency officials. ...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Working conditions at Foxconn's gargantuan Chinese factories that assemble Apple Inc's slick gadgets have barely improved despite pledges this year to halt labor violations, workers' rights activists and employees said on Thursday. Foxconn Technology Group, Apple's main global contract manufacturer run by Taiwanese tycoon Terry Gou and employing 1.2 million workers in China, has come under fire in recent years for running massive "sweatshops" to mass produce high-end iPads and iPhones. ...

European Central Bank head Mario Draghi has urged Europe to set up a more centralized authority to oversee its troubled banks, criticizing national regulators for choosing "the worst possible way" to help their banking sectors by delaying tough decisions.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's leaders must clarify their vision for the euro quickly to dispel doubts about the currency's future, ECB President Mario Draghi said on Thursday, warning that the Central Bank could not fill the policy vacuum. Adding to growing pressure for dramatic policy action at next month's EU leaders' summit, Draghi said the bloc should break away from the incremental approach that has failed to get ahead of the euro zone debt crisis for more than two years. ...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's leaders must clarify their vision for the euro quickly to dispel doubts about the currency's future, ECB President Mario Draghi said on Thursday, warning that the Central Bank could not fill the policy vacuum. Adding to growing pressure for dramatic policy action at next month's EU leaders' summit, Draghi said the bloc should break away from the incremental approach that has failed to get ahead of the euro zone debt crisis for more than two years. ...

Keep your friends close, and your former presidents closer.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A gunman killed four people at a popular Seattle cafe on Wednesday then fled to a downtown parking lot where he killed a fifth person and stole her car before shooting himself in the head as police closed in, authorities said. The suspect, identified as Ian Lee Stawicki, 40, and described as mentally disturbed, died at a hospital hours after the late-morning slayings, which police initially treated as two separate incidents. ...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A gunman killed four people at a popular Seattle cafe on Wednesday then fled to a downtown parking lot where he killed a fifth person and stole her car before shooting himself in the head as police closed in, authorities said. The suspect, identified as Ian Lee Stawicki, 40, and described as mentally disturbed, died at a hospital hours after the late-morning slayings, which police initially treated as two separate incidents. ...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A gunman killed four people at a popular Seattle cafe on Wednesday then fled to a downtown parking lot where he killed a fifth person and stole her car before shooting himself in the head as police closed in, authorities said. The suspect, identified as Ian Lee Stawicki, 40, and described as mentally disturbed, died at a hospital hours after the late-morning slayings, which police initially treated as two separate incidents. ...

Syrian troops on Thursday shelled the country's central region of Houla where more than 100 people were massacred last week, activists said. At least one person was killed in the latest violence and scores fled in fear of more government attacks.

Malaysian palm oil giant Felda said Thursday its initial public offering in June could raise up to 10.5 billion ringgit ($3.3 billion), making it the world's second-biggest IPO this year after Facebook.

President Barack Obama's campaign is ramping up criticism of Republican Mitt Romney's record in Massachusetts, while the Republican nominee is contrasting his record in the private sector with the Obama administration's support for green energy companies.

President Barack Obama's campaign is ramping up criticism of Republican Mitt Romney's record in Massachusetts, while the Republican nominee is contrasting his record in the private sector with the Obama administration's support for green energy companies.

PARIS (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, with the S&P 500 indicated up 0.57 percent, the Dow Jones up 0.46 percent and the Nasdaq 100 up 0.41 percent at 4.52 a.m. EDT. Strong demand for safe-haven assets kept German bond futures near record highs on Thursday, while European shares and the euro regained some poise though persistent worries over Spain and its troubled banks are weighing on market sentiment. On the macro front, investors awaited the ADP employment report, a harbinger for Friday's all-important monthly non-farm payrolls. ...

Poland's economy grew 3.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, a slowdown compared with last year but still one of the strongest in the European Union, according to government data released Thursday.

Irish voters were deciding Thursday whether their government can ratify the European Union's fiscal treaty, a deficit-fighting pact designed to bind Ireland and other debt-hit eurozone members to much tighter spending limits.

Irish voters were deciding Thursday whether their government can ratify the European Union's fiscal treaty, a deficit-fighting pact designed to bind Ireland and other debt-hit eurozone members to much tighter spending limits.

HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - German car maker Volkswagen agreed with the IG Metall union to raise wages for western German workers by 4.3 percent over 13 months, echoing a pay contract signed by the union for the country's industry-wide engineering staff. The pay rise for 97,000 VW production workers and 5,000 employees at the company's financial services division will take effect June 1, VW said in a statement. The new pay accord also includes provisions to hire 3,000 temporary workers. ...