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By Alan Wheatley, Global Economics Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - Half-way towards a lost decade for Europe's economy, pessimism persists about the political will to halt a worrying slide in the region's potential growth. Without sweeping reforms to boost productivity, Europe's output will remain sub-par, making it harder for governments to reduce debt burdens that are unsustainable financially and unemployment rates that are unsustainable socially. Leaders of the 27-nation bloc will have another chance to cut this Gordian knot at a summit in Brussels next week. ...

By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dipped modestly at the open on Wednesday, but held on to most of their gains over the last two days, ahead of a highly anticipated Federal Reserve statement and news conference. The Fed will release a policy statement at 2:00 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), which will be followed soon after by a news briefing with Chairman Ben Bernanke. "The early morning action is not surprising given the fact that we've had two days of position jockeying ahead of the (Fed)announcement," said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lek Securities in New York. ...

By Nina Chestney LONDON (Reuters) - The world should stop arguing about whether humans are causing climate change and start taking action to stop dangerous temperature rises, the president of the World Bank said on Wednesday. Jim Yong Kim said there was 97 to 98 percent agreement among scientists that global warming was real and caused by human activity. "If you disagree with the science of human-caused climate change you are not disagreeing that there is anthropogenic climate change. What you are disagreeing with is science itself," Kim told a Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event in London. ...

By Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - A top North Korean diplomat repeated an offer for international talks over his country's disputed nuclear programme during a meeting in China on Wednesday, saying the denuclearisation of the peninsula was the "dying wish" of North Korea's founder. The Beijing trip by First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan comes just days after North Korea offered talks with the United States to ease tension that spiked this year when the North threatened the United States and South Korea with nuclear war. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal could face world number one Novak Djokovic, defending champion Roger Federer or home favourite Andy Murray as early as the Wimbledon quarter-finals after he was seeded fifth for the grasscourt major on Wednesday. Friday's draw for the tournament, which begins at the All England Club on Monday, could now produce a nightmare scenario for top three seeds Djokovic, Murray and Federer if any of them end up being in the same quarter as 2008 and 2010 winner Nadal. ...

By Jeff Mason and Noah Barkin BERLIN (Reuters) - President Barack Obama defended U.S. intelligence methods on a visit to Berlin on Wednesday, telling Chancellor Angela Merkel and wary Germans that Washington was not monitoring the emails of ordinary citizens or damaging civil liberties. Obama is popular in Germany but revelations before the trip that the United States has a covert Internet surveillance programme, codenamed Prism, have caused outrage in a country where memories of the eavesdropping East German Stasi secret police are still fresh. ...

REUTERS - London Olympics hammer throw medallist Koji Murofushi was the victim of an "overzealous" Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) who were to blame for him being banned from election to the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) athletes' commission, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Wednesday. Murofushi's own reputation was not tarnished by the ban, the CAS said in an explanation of its decision to reject the athlete's appeal against the ban. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - List of men's seeds for the Wimbledon tennis championships which begin on Monday: 1. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 2. Andy Murray (Britain) 3. Roger Federer (Switzerland) 4. David Ferrer (Spain) 5. Rafael Nadal (Spain) 6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 7. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 8. Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 9. Richard Gasquet (France) 10. Marin Cilic (Croatia) 11. Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 12. Kei Nishikori (Japan) 13. Tommy Haas (Germany) 14. Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 15. Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 16. Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 17. Milos Raonic (Canada) 18. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - List of women's seeds for the Wimbledon tennis championships which begin on Monday: 1. Serena Williams (U.S.) 2. Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 3. Maria Sharapova (Russia) 4. Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 5. Sara Errani (Italy) 6. Li Na (China) 7. Angelique Kerber (Germany) 8. Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 9. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 10. Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 11. Roberta Vinci (Italy) 12. Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 13. Nadia Petrova (Russia) 14. Samantha Stosur (Australia) 15. Marion Bartoli (France) 16. Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 17. Sloane Stephens (U.S.) 18. ...

REUTERS - Indian Grand Prix organisers on Wednesday dismissed media speculation that they may not host a Formula One race next year as "totally baseless and malicious". "Our agreement with Formula One Management is to hold F1 races at Buddh International Circuit (BIC) till 2015, and we are fully committed to do that," Askari Zaidi, spokesman for Jaypee Sports International, said in a statement. "There is no reason for us to give up hosting F1 races," he added, reacting to reports on some international websites that suggested the race could be dropped after this year. ...

By Richard Hubbard LONDON (Reuters) - World shares edged higher while major currencies and commodities stayed within recent ranges on Wednesday as investors nervously awaited a decision on the U.S. Federal Reserve's next move. The Fed's rate setters are expected to leave policy ultra-loose following the central bank's monthly meeting but may hint they will start scaling back its bond buying later this year if the U.S. labour market continues to improve. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's comment last month that the U.S. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - British ballet dancer David Wall, known for becoming the youngest male principal at the Royal Ballet at the age of 21, has died of cancer aged 67 at his home in London. Director of the Royal Ballet, Kevin O'Hare, paid tribute to Wall who died on Tuesday, describing him as a "truly exceptional artist" and one of the company's greatest dance actors. ...

By Mari Saito TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp's top investor Daniel Loeb will miss its shareholder meeting on Thursday and those attending will not be considering his proposal to partially spin off the lucrative entertainment business, sources familiar with the matter said. But his suggestion, which strikes at the heart of whether Sony remains both a consumer electronics maker and a provider of music, movies and TV programmes, will be the elephant in the room at the annual gathering - and for months to come. ...

Islamabad, June 19 (IANS) Pakistan's Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan has said that people like former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director-general Ahmed Shuja Pasha should be kept out of the country's army.

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday granted Rs.1,000 crore for disaster relief in Uttarakhand and said the death toll in the state due to heavy rains and floods could be higher than the current estimate of 102.

London, June 19 (IANS) Indian tennis pair Purav Raja and Divij Sharan qualified for the men's doubles main draw of Wimbledon here Wednesday.

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) Stressing that the Ishrat Jahan shootout was not "fake", the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday said the Congress-led government at the centre was manipulating the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to frame BJP leaders.

Patna, June 19 (IANS) Three days after he dumped the BJP, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Wednesday proved his majority in the legislature and said his former ally won't win the next Lok Sabha battle.

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) Jaypee Sports International, promoters of Indian Grand Prix, Wednesday rubbished European media reports that the race might be dropped by the Formula One organisers in 2014 and assured that the event is on.

Washington, June 19 (IANS) American women will be fully integrated into frontline and special combat roles, including elite forces such as Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, by January 2016, the Pentagon has said.

Washington, June 19 (IANS) US President Barack Obama, currently on a visit to Berlin, Wednesday refused to specify what military support America was providing rebels in Syria.

Bangalore, June 19 (IANS) IT infrastructure major Emerson Network Power Wednesday entered into a strategic alliance with NxtGen Data Centre and Cloud Service Ltd to offer its integrated smart solutions to Indian enterprises.

Washington, June 19 (IANS) US President Barack Obama, currently on a trip to Berlin, Wednesday defended the country's internet surveillance programmes, saying that lives have been saved and threats averted thanks to the monitored information.

London, June 19 (IANS) Veteran Indian tennis player Leander Paes, who turned 40 on June 17, has been seeded fourth with Czech partner Radek Stepanek in the men's doubles competition at Wimbledon which starts Monday.

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) Jaypee Sports International, promoters of Indian Grand Prix, Wednesday rubbished European media reports that the race might be dropped by the Formula One organisers in 2014.

Hyderabad, June 19 (IANS) Legislators of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) were Wednesday suspended from the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly for one day for stalling proceedings.