DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian authorities have barred two prominent politicians from running for president, Iranian media reported on Tuesday, leaving the June 14 election to be contested between mostly hardline conservatives loyal to the country's supreme leader. Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close aide to president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, failed to make it onto a list of candidates approved by the Guardian Council, Fars news agency reported. …

Read more here: Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad ally barred from Iran election: report

By Ethan Bilby BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union is willing to deepen trade ties with China but wants to see concessions from Beijing first, documents seen by Reuters on Tuesday showed. At the same time as EU regulators are ramping up trade pressure on Beijing by threatening duties on solar panels and telecoms equipment, Brussels is dangling the carrot of trade agreements before the Chinese. …

Read more here: Exclusive: EU says Chinese FTA possible, but wants market opening

By Deepa Seetharaman DETROIT (Reuters) – A boutique carmaker led by former General Motors Co executive Bob Lutz and China's largest auto parts supplier made an offer to buy cash-strapped “green” car company Fisker Automotive this month, people familiar with the matter said. VL Automotive and China's Wanxiang Group are looking to gain control of Fisker through a prepackaged bankruptcy, the sources said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the discussions are private. …

Read more here: Exclusive: Wanxiang, VL Auto bid on Fisker; others eye DOE buyout

By Larry Fine (Reuters) – Golf club makers Ping and Cobra Puma Golf hit back on Tuesday at a rules change that will ban the anchoring of putters. The ban, announced on Tuesday, will take effect on January 1, 2016. It does not apply to equipment and golfers will be able to use belly and broomstick putters. They will not, however, be allowed to anchor the club against their body for their putting stroke. Ping chairman John Solheim and Bob Philion, head of Cobra Golf, had lined up with the U.S. …

Read more here: Club makers hit back at rule banning anchored putters

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 organizations, 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. …

Read more here: Britain asks EU to put Hezbollah armed wing on terror list

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. …

Read more here: EU leaders look to end Apple-style tax avoidance schemes

A father died after a trip to Saudi Arabia, his two children were sickened.        

Read more here: SARS-Like Virus Spreads to Tunisia

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are trying to block Obama administration overtures to Russia on missile defense, creating a potential obstacle to arms control talks.

Read more here: US lawmakers seek limits on Russia cooperation

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. …

Read more here: U.S. court studies wiretaps in ex-Goldman director's insider case

By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – PayPal, the online payment operation owned by eBay Inc, announced a new partnership on Tuesday with RadioShack Corp that will introduce PayPal into all of the electronics retailer's stores starting this month. PayPal has been testing a way for customers of smoothy store Jamba Juice to order ahead using PayPal's smartphone application and pick up their drinks at a separate line. PayPal has been testing this at seven Jamba stores in the San Francisco Bay area, but will roll it out at more Jamba stores across the United States. …

Read more here: PayPal to be in all RadioShack stores starting in May