Three Russian satellites crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday after a failed launch, in a setback to a Kremlin project designed as a rival to the widely used U.S. GPS navigation technology. Russian news agencies said the satellites veered off course and crashed near Hawaii after blasting off from Russia's Baikonur space centre in

Iceland is within days of reaching a deal with Britain and the Netherlands on repaying the more than $5 bln paid to Landsbanki Icesave accounts holders after the bank collapsed, according to a report late on Saturday. Britain and the Netherlands covered the losses of British and Dutch account holders in the Icesave accounts after

Senior U.S. lawmakers said on Sunday they were optimistic about striking a deal to extend Bush-era tax cuts for all taxpayers and continue emergency jobless aid for millions of long-term unemployed Americans. President Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders want to extend the cuts only for low- and middle-income Americans, arguing that the tax breaks

Some offer serenity, some counter culture, and others are just a good old-fashioned get-away from the city. Regardless, there's something incredibly appealing about an island in the middle of an urban setting. Online travel firm VirtualTourist (www.virtualtourist.com) offers its top 10 islands within cities destinations. Reuters has not endorsed this list: 1. Ile Saint-Louis; Paris,

German strength propelled the recovery of the euro zone's dominant services economy in November, surveys showed on Friday, after China declared a new prudent monetary stance to help regulate its fervent growth. With U.S. jobs and industry data due later on Friday expected to confirm a sense the economic recovery there has become self-sustaining, the

Germany said on Friday there were "no plans and no desire" for joint fiscal policy in the euro zone, pointing out that reforms under way already provide for closer cooperation between member states on economic policy. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero this week called for the euro zone to develop a much more

ANALYSIS – May take aid before year-end despite govt protestations  – Market overestimating scale of aid needed    Portugal is likely to need a rescue package of 45-60 billion euros from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund and may not get through the year without seeking a bailout. Investors believe Portugal will be the

Financial markets steadied on Friday after the European Central Bank said it was continuing to buy euro zone government bonds to counter a destabilising rise in peripheral countries' borrowing costs. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet insisted on French radio RTL that "there is no crisis of the euro as a currency" and said he did not

Gatwick, Britain's second busiest airport, reopened on Friday after deep snow forced its closure as the country battled to function in the cold snap, but an airport official said flights would still be severely disrupted. Commuters struggled to get to work and retailers fretted over delayed deliveries in the crucial pre-Christmas trading period. Up and