A large asteroid that flies in nearly the same orbit as Earth will make a close pass by the planet, but there's no chance of an impact – at least for hundreds of years, astronomers said on Wednesday. The asteroid, named Toutatis, flies by Earth every four years. During its closest approach on Wednesday, the

European Union finance ministers agreed on Thursday to make the European Central Bank the chief supervisor for banks in the euro zone, a move designed to underpin the currency and its financial system. Here are the main elements as well as what must come next: * The Frankfurt-based European Central Bank will directly supervise banks

Asian shares extended gains for a seventh day on Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve took new stimulus steps to bolster the economy, pressuring the yen with expectations the Japanese central bank will follow suit with more easing next week. While stocks gained, oil and gold fell from post-Fed rallies, as investors took profits ahead

    Facebook Inc began rolling out a variety of new privacy controls on Wednesday, the company's latest effort to address user concerns about who can see their personal information on the world's largest social network. New tools introduced on Wednesday will make it easier for Facebook's members to quickly determine who can view the

Germany signalled on Wednesday it was ready to back plans to give the European Central Bank new powers to supervise banks across the bloc, raising the prospect of a breakthrough on the European Union's most ambitious financial reform. Last week France and Germany had clashed openly over parts of the plan, but with little time

Greece's foreign lenders hailed a bond buyback as a success even though it narrowly fell short of a target to cut the country's debt, paving the way for Athens to get long-delayed aid to avoid bankruptcy. The scheme was intended to put Greece's debt mountain on a more sustainable footing but is now expected to

– EU ministers meet in Brussels in bid to break impasse  – ECB supervision first step towards closer integration  – Cyprus proposes compromise to end logjam on ECB supervision An impasse over plans for the European Central Bank to supervise banks, the European Union's most ambitious financial reform, takes centre stage at a finance ministers' meeting

easyJet, the UK's largest airline, is this week launching its latest recruitment drive seeking up to 20 recent graduates or students graduating summer 2013 to join its European Graduate Programme. The airline is looking for highly motivated individuals, who are keen to gain varied and invaluable experience working for one of Europe's leading airlines which