LONDON (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued an informal invitation to President Barack Obama to visit Damascus for talks, in a sign that relations between the two countries may gradually be thawing. "We would like to welcome him to Syria, definitely," Assad told Sky News in an interview broadcast on Friday. "I am very clear about this." Asked whether a meeting could take place any time soon, Assad replied: "That depends on him." Smiling, he added: "I will ask you to convey the invitation to him." His comments came ...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Derivatives pose risks on financial markets that central clearing of contracts would mitigate, the European Commission said on Friday, outlining plans that fall short of more radical U.S. steps. EU Internal Market Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, opened an investigation into the sector last October, a month after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a bank heavily involved in the global $600 trillion off-exchange derivatives market. McCreevy published his findings and policy proposals on Friday which said standardization of contracts -- a process already underway -- is also needed, as well as ...

Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev will likely sign a stack of agreements during their Moscow summit, but their chief goal may be for the United States and Russia to stop acting like adversaries — even if they can't be friends. Over the past year, already tense ties have been strained to the breaking point over Russia's war with Georgia and U.S. plans to build a missile defense shield in Moscow's backyard. With ...