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By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock markets around the world edged higher on Tuesday amid signs of improving growth, even as uncertainties concerning monetary policy limited gains. The Dow and S&P 500 were at all-time highs while the dollar rose and gold fell. The euro was slightly higher, though a slowdown in British inflation sent sterling to a 7-week low on the view it could give the Bank of England more leeway to support the economy. The yen lost ground after a Japanese minister rowed back on remarks suggesting the currency had weakened enough. ...

By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp's new chief executive, Brian Krzanich, has launched a sweeping company reorganization and created a unit aimed at growing its market share in mobile technology. The shakeup, announced internally just days after the 30-year veteran took the helm, places most of the main product groups of the world's top chipmaker directly under the CEO's supervision and hands its sprawling global manufacturing operation to new president Renee James, said a source close to the company, who declined to be identified. ...

By Lucien Libert PARIS (Reuters) - An 78-year-old French far-right activist committed suicide at the altar of the Notre Dame cathedral on Tuesday by shooting himself in the mouth, three days after a law legalising same-sex marriage came into effect. Police evacuated the cathedral, one of Paris' biggest tourist draws, after Dominique Venner - a historian known for his hard-right political essays and a fierce opponent of gay marriage - shot himself, sending tourists fleeing in panic. Venner made no declaration as he shot himself around mid-afternoon, a police source said. ...

GROZNY, Russia (Reuters) - French actor Gerard Depardieu said on Tuesday the ethnic Chechen brothers accused of the Boston marathon bombing had been raised American and that residents of the volatile Russian region of Chechnya were not to blame. The actor, who accepted Russian citizenship after quitting France to avoid a planned 75 percent tax on millionaires, was echoing comments from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, with whom he has been filmed socialising. "I was in the United States when the terrorist act was carried out in Boston. ...

By Bernard Vaughan NEW YORK (Reuters) - The son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and former spokesman for al Qaeda, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to kill Americans, was warned on Tuesday that his three chosen lawyers may not get clearance to review classified evidence in the case. A federal judge in New York told Suleiman Abu Ghaith, one of the highest-ranking al Qaeda figures to face trial in the United States for crimes related to the September 11, 2001, attacks, that legal issues and, for one lawyer, a disability, could prevent them from getting the needed clearance. U.S. ...

By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain said on Tuesday it had asked the European Union to put Hezbollah's military arm on its list of terrorist organisations, urging Europe to respond robustly to evidence of the Islamist group's involvement in an attack that killed five Israelis. Britain's request came after Bulgaria accused the Lebanese militant movement in February of carrying out a bomb attack on a bus in the Black Sea city of Burgas that killed the Israelis and their Bulgarian driver in July last year. ...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded near a Sunni mosque in the west of Baghdad killing 11 people on Tuesday, police and medics said. The blast, which took place in Abu Ghraib, also wounded 21 people. Earlier on Tuesday, several bomb blasts killed at least 12 people in Iraq, where Sunni-Shi'ite tensions are running high. (Reporting by Kareem Raheem; editing by Mike Collett-White)

By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's opposition and the government of President Bashar al-Assad seem to be preparing to take part in an international peace conference against a background of some of the worst fighting this year. On Tuesday, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Syrian soldiers, backed by air strikes and artillery, renewed an offensive aimed at driving Syrian rebels from the town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, opposition activists said. ...

GENEVA (Reuters) - The H7N9 bird flu outbreak in China has caused economic losses of more than $6.5 billion so far, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's chief veterinary officer said on Tuesday. "The economic impacts of H7N9 have been astounding," Juan Lubroth said during a presentation at the World Health Assembly in Geneva. "Over $6.5 billion has been lost in the agriculture sector because of prices, consumer confidence and trade. So poultry industry losses in China have been high," he said. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Michael Roddy)

By Carey Gillam and Ian Simpson MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Emergency workers pulled more than 100 survivors from the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital in an Oklahoma town hit by a powerful tornado, and officials lowered the death toll from the storm to 24, including nine children. The 2-mile (3-km) wide tornado tore through Moore outside Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, trapping victims beneath the rubble, wiping out entire neighborhoods and tossing vehicles about as if they were toys. ...

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for former Goldman Sachs Group Inc board member Rajat Gupta sought to reverse his insider-trading conviction on Tuesday, arguing that wiretap evidence used by the prosecution should not have been introduced at trial. Defense lawyer Seth Waxman told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that wiretaps played for the jury were inadmissible because they amounted to hearsay evidence. ...

By Luke Baker and Mark John BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) - Growing concern in European capitals about aggressive tax avoidance by high-profile corporations such as Amazon, Google and Apple looks set to steal the agenda of a European Union summit in Brussels on Wednesday. The summit was originally called to discuss energy policy and tax coordination, but press reports in Britain, France and the United States exposing how little tax major international companies have been paying by carefully structuring their European operations has forced the issue up the agenda. ...

By Tony Jimenez VIRGINIA WATER, England (Reuters) - Martin Kaymer's popularity has gone down a notch on the other side of the Atlantic after he holed the winning putt for Europe in last year's Ryder Cup against the United States, he said on Tuesday. The 28-year-old German, who spends a lot of his time on the U.S. PGA Tour, explained that some Americans had turned against him following his exploits in Illinois in September. ...

Los Angeles, May 21 (IANS) Supermodel Miranda Kerr likes to wear her husband Orlando Bloom's clothes because it makes her feel closer to him.

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) Scoreboard of qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians at the Ferozeshah Kotla here Tuesday.

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) Chennai Super Kings secured yet another final berth after a convincing 48-run win over Mumbai Indians in qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Ferozeshah Kotla here Tuesday.

Washington, May 21 (IANS) As rescuers searched for survivors of Monday's devastating tornado that pulverized a vast swath of the Oklahoma City suburbs, authorities revised the death toll down to 24 from 91. Nine of the fatalities are children.

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Tuesday criticized the appointment of former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma as the new Comptroller and Auditor General, accusing the United Progressive Alliance government of accusing of weakening constitutional institutions.

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) On the eve of the fourth anniversary of UPA-II, opinion polls have not brought any cheer to the government, predicting slide in the ruling alliance's tally amid rising dissatisfaction among large sections of urban voters over its performance.

Mumbai, May 21 (IANS) Actor Ranbir Kapoor Tuesday said he was not aware of any plans for his father Rishi Kapoor and him to reprise his great-grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor and grandfather Raj Kapoor's roles in "Awara", saying one will have to get them and Nargis back to this world to make the film again.

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday is likely to pronounce its verdict whether to prosecute Bollywood actor Shyan Munshi and 18 others on charges of perjury for turning hostile during their deposition in model Jessica Lall's murder trial.

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) A 40-year-old Delhi Traffic Police constable was killed by a speeding truck here Tuesday morning, police said. The errant truck driver was arrested.

Kolkata, May 21 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced Tuesday that the government would ban online lottery "Online lotto".

Srinagar, May 21 (IANS) A self-styled "religious preacher" was arrested from Jammu and Kashmir's Badgam district for repeated sexual exploitation of four minor girls at an institute he ran, police said Tuesday.

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) On the eve of the fourth anniversary of UPA-II, opinion polls have not brought any cheer to the government, predicting slide in the ruling alliance's tally amid dissatisfaction among large sections of urban voters over its performance.

Chennai, May 21 (IANS) India's atomic regulator and city based Anna University Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to promote research in academic institutions in the areas of atomic energy regulation and safety.