491-By ALKMAN GRANITSAS ATHENS-Greece's new caretaker government was sworn in Thursday at a ceremony at the presidential palace, putting in place a technocratic cabinet that will lead the country to fresh polls in mid-June. The swearing-in follows the appointment of senior judge Panagiotis Pikrammenos as prime minister a day earlier after Greek party leaders failed to agree on a compromise candidate in the wake of inconclusive elections earlier this month that resulted in a hung parliament.

480-By Paul Carrel FRANKFURT | Thu May 17, 2012 5:56am EDT FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A Greek exit from the euro zone could expose the European Central Bank and the currency bloc it seeks to protect to hundreds of billions of euros in losses, landing Germany and its partners with a crippling bill. A Greek departure would take Europe into uncharted legal waters. The size of the burden other euro zone states could bear gives them a powerful incentive to keep Greece in the currency club.

374-MEMO/12/359 Brussels, 17 May 2012 Positive EU-Turkey agenda launched in Ankara The new positive agenda intended to bring fresh dynamics into the EU-Turkey relations was launched by Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Å tefan Füle and the Turkish Minister for European Affairs and Chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış in Ankara on Thursday.

451-Guangcheng wil gaan studeren in de Verenigde Staten, maar heeft daarvoor wel een paspoort nodig. De dissident werd onlangs wereldnieuws, omdat hij ontsnapte aan zijn huisarrest en een veilig heenkomen zocht in de Amerikaanse ambassade. De vlucht van Guangcheng leidde tot een diplomatieke rel tussen de VS en China. Als compromis sprak de Amerikaanse minister Hillary Clinton (Buitenlandse Zaken) met Peking af de dissident in de VS te laten studeren.

137-Chen Guangcheng heeft de aanvraag voor een paspoort afgerond en te horen gekregen dat het waarschijnlijk binnen 15 dagen wordt afgegeven.

427-Dissident Chen Guangcheng says he and his family have completed passport applications and officials say they should be ready within 15 days. The blind activist told the BBC officials had helped him fill in the forms on Wednesday at the Beijing hospital where he is staying. Mr Chen spent six days in the US embassy last month after escaping house arrest. He wants to leave China and has been offered a place at a US university.

436-The fate of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng remains unresolved as he waits in a hospital bed for news from the Chinese authorities. The 40-year-old has been told he can apply to leave the country but the Chinese officials who now control him have not told him when that process will begin. He lies in bed worrying about his relatives who remain in the village in Shandong that he fled in dramatic fashion more than two weeks ago.

455-The Olympic flame is due to be handed over to organisers of the London Games at a ceremony in Athens. Since it was lit in Athens on 10 May the flame has been carried in a week-long relay across Greece. After receiving the flame in the Panathenaic Stadium, a British delegation including David Beckham will fly with the torch to the UK on Friday. It will then be carried 8,000 miles (12,875km) by 8,000 bearers in a 70-day relay ending at the Olympic Park.

247-De blinde Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng en zijn gezin krijgt van de Chinese autoriteiten binnen vijftien dagen een paspoort, zo is hem verteld. Chen laat weten dat nog niet zeker is of hij hierop snel het land kan verlaten, meldt persbureau AP.

423-By Andy Sullivan and Peter Apps NAVARRE, Ohio/WASHINGTON | Thu May 17, 2012 1:05am EDT NAVARRE, Ohio/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The busy shop floor at Miller Weldmaster Corp could make a great location for an Obama campaign ad. As workers assemble the family-owned company's hot-air fabric welders, used to manufacture everything from inflatable rafts to truck tarps, it's hard to know the recession of 2007-2009 ever happened.

488-By JOSH CHIN BEIJING-Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng filled out an application for a Chinese passport Wednesday in a small but important step that brings him and his family closer to being allowed to leave for the U.S. Speaking by phone with The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Mr. Chen said public security officials from his home province of Shandong had visited him the previous day in the Beijing hospital where he and his family have been staying since he left the U.S.

297-By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA | Wed May 16, 2012 11:07pm EDT VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is installing more centrifuges in an underground plant but does not yet appear to be using them to expand higher-grade uranium enrichment that could take it closer to producing atom bomb material, Western diplomats say.

348-President issues warning on Russian state TV against those fighting his regime and denounces governments who interfere Syria's president Bashar al-Assad has promised to display captured foreign "mercenaries" who have been fighting his regime and denounced western governments for failing to protest at the violence being perpetrated by his enemies.

352-By SHIBANI MAHTANI SINGAPORE-Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's recent decision to give up his U.S. citizenship in favor of long-term residence in Singapore has drawn fresh attention to the appeal of residing and investing in the wealthy city-state and other parts of Asia, where tax burdens are significantly lighter than in many Western countries.

473-By Jeff Franks HAVANA | Wed May 16, 2012 7:48pm EDT HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro's daughter is scheduled to visit California next week to speak at a conference of experts on Latin America during a rare U.S. trip by a member of Cuba's ruling family. Sexologist Mariela Castro, 50, will discuss Cuba's policies on sexual issues on May 24 at a Latin American Studies Association (LASA) conference in San Francisco, an association spokesman said on Wednesday.

352-By SHIBANI MAHTANI SINGAPORE-Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's recent decision to give up his U.S. citizenship in favor of long-term residence in Singapore has drawn fresh attention to the appeal of residing and investing in the wealthy city-state and other parts of Asia, where tax burdens are significantly lighter than in many Western countries.

337-By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA | Wed May 16, 2012 3:01pm EDT VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran may be narrowing their differences on how to tackle concerns over Tehran's atomic ambitions, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday, suggesting a previously unexpected agreement was now not ruled out. They spoke a day after the U.N.