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COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - The former chief financial officer of Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S is being investigated by the country's fraud squad over two agreements he made with an Indian firm, Vestas said. Vestas said it had contacted Denmark's State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime in December, but only made that public on Friday. The company said it approached the prosecutor on the advice of its lawyers after external auditors examined deals Henrik Norremark made with RRB Energy Ltd and its related company RBB. ...

By Timothy Heritage MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's oldest rights group began a legal battle on Friday to avoid being branded a "foreign agent" under a new law it sees as a tool of repression by President Vladimir Putin. Memorial, which has fought to preserve the memory of Josef Stalin's victims for a quarter of a century, has faced problems ever since Mikhail Gorbachev gave it his blessing in the Soviet Union's dying days. Its employees have faced harassment and bureaucratic obstacles at almost every turn. ...

By Rhys Jones and Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - British fighter jets escorted a Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane to Stansted Airport near London on Friday, where police went on board and arrested two men on suspicion of endangering an aircraft. Passengers were leaving the plane and no one was hurt in the incident, a spokesman for the airport said. Flight PK709 from Lahore in Pakistan had been due to land at Manchester in northern England with 297 passengers on board, but was diverted shortly before arrival. ...

By Jan Harvey LONDON (Reuters) - Gold prices are looking even more vulnerable after April's price crash, as rampant inflation expected from successive rounds of monetary easing fails to materialise. The idea that record-low interest rates would damage paper currencies and boost inflation was a key factor pushing gold to record highs in the wake of the financial crisis. Ultra-loose monetary policies are still in vogue, but gold prices have slid nearly 20 percent since the start of the year and are on track for their biggest quarterly drop in more than 15 years. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - A passenger aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane flying from Lahore to Manchester that was diverted under military jet escort to Stansted, northeast of London on Friday said someone had made threats against its crew. "We landed safely and then he (the pilot) announced that they had had some kind of threat from someone and that's why he landed the plane," the passenger, identified only as Munsif, told BBC television. He said he was sitting in the front of the plane but that the incident had happened at the back. ...

By Amie Ferris-Rotman and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants launched a coordinated attack on a U.N. compound in the centre of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday setting off explosions and battling the security forces. A plume of smoke hung over the city centre after the attack was launched, eight days after six Americans, soldiers and civilians, and nine Afghans were killed in a suicide car bombing in Kabul. The Taliban, fighting to expel Western forces and establish Islamist rule, claimed responsibility, saying a compound used by the U.S. ...

By Herbert Lash NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity markets drifted lower on Friday as investors were beset by worries that central bank stimulus may be curtailed, but the dollar recovered against the euro to trade almost flat after better-than-expected U.S. durable goods data for April. Wall Street opened lower, heading toward its first weekly decline since mid-April, and European stocks also fell after testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke earlier this week sparked speculation the Fed will soon trim its bond buying. ...

By Patrick Johnston SINGAPORE (Reuters) - British boy band One Direction has swept the inaugural awards recognising the most popular people in social media globally, coming top in four out of 10 categories at a star-studded ceremony in Singapore. One Direction was named most popular music group, most popular UK musicians, most popular in the UK, and most popular in west Europe, at the Social Star Awards, but did not show up to collect their prizes, sending their thanks by videolink. ...

By Steve Slater and Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC's Chairman Douglas Flint called for an acceleration in the speed of reform within the industry as the bank was criticised by shareholders for compliance failings and accusations it aided tax avoidance. Flint told around 400 shareholders at the bank's annual meeting that the fallout from recent scandals had created a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity to reform banking and the broader financial industry. "As a first priority we need to speed up the reform process. ...

By Belinda Goldsmith CANNES (Reuters) - Actors and directors gathered for the world's leading movie showcase in Cannes this week said television was increasingly luring top talent and should no longer be seen as artistically inferior to the big screen. TV series like "The Wire," "Homeland", "Mad Men," "The Sopranos" and "Game of Thrones", which have won critical and commercial success, were cited for breaking down the division between movies and TV, giving audiences innovative viewing. ...

By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - A tweet by a British parliamentarian's wife that pointed her 56,000 followers to online traffic wrongly naming a retired politician as a paedophile was defamatory, even though it did not spell out the false allegation. That was the judgment of the High Court in London on Friday in Britain's mostly closely watched Twitter libel case, brought by Alistair McAlpine, an elderly ally of late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, against Sally Bercow, the flamboyant wife of the speaker of parliament. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - British police arrested two men on a Pakistan International Airlines flight on Friday on suspicion of "endangerment of an aircraft" after it was escorted to a different airport by fighter jets. The plane had been flying from Lahore in Pakistan to Manchester, before it was diverted to Stansted, in Essex, southern England. (Reporting by Kate Holton and Brenda Goh; Editing by Peter Griffiths)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell at the open on Friday, putting Wall Street on track for its first weekly decline since mid April, amid concern the U.S. central bank may scale back its support to the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 61.13 points, or 0.40 percent, to 15,233.37. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 8.19 points, or 0.50 percent, to 1,642.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 18.98 points, or 0.55 percent, to 3,440.44. (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Moscow, May 24 (IANS/RIA Novosti) President Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama will meet at the G8 summit in June and during the US president's visit to Russia in September, a Kremlin aide said Friday.

London, May 24 (IANS) Nick Robinson, the BBC's political editor, Friday apologised for directly quoting a Whitehall source who described the Woolwich killers as being "of Muslim appearance".

Tokyo, May 24 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The Japanese government has denied rumours which said the prime minister's official residence was haunted.

London, May 24 (IANS) Britain had to scramble fighter jets Friday for escorting a Pakistani International Airlines (PIA) plane after it was diverted from Manchester.

Mumbai, May 24 (IANS) Jet Airways Friday said its shareholders have approved the company's plans to offload 24 percent stake to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways for around $379 million (Rs.2,058 crore).

Mumbai, May 24 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday asked the capital market regulator SEBI to root out the "pernicious disease" of insider trading, saying the future effectiveness of the institution would depend on this.

Mumbai, May 24 (IANS) A court Friday granted police the custody of Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh Randhawa and two others, allegedly involved in the IPL spot-fixing scam, till May 28.

New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) In a report with recommendations for Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) and the Indian government, Human Rights Watch said the Mozambique government and foreign companies' work in resettling communities displaced by coal mining has "serious shortcomings".

Kolkata, May 24 (IANS) CCTV cameras prying all-around, strict vigil on movement around players' dressing rooms and heightened security -- the Eden Gardens stood fortified as it hosted the playoff match of the IPL Friday amid the raging spot fixing scam.

Shimla, May 24 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Friday submitted a memorandum to visiting President Pranab Mukherjee, seeking additional central financial assistance to overcome a shortfall of Rs.10,725 crore.

New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) A Delhi court sent five spot fixing scam accused, including two former cricketers, to judicial custody till June 4.

Mumbai, May 24 (IANS) Undeveloped corporate debt market is a weakness in India's financial system and high fiscal deficit is further complicating the problem, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday.

New York, May 24 (IANS) Actress Amanda Bynes was arrested at her apartment here for possession of marijuana. She even threw the evidence out of the window, reports tmz.com.