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NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc priced its initial public offering at the top of its target range to raise more than $16 billion, as strong demand, particularly from retail investors, fuels anticipation of a big pop in the stock when it begins trading Friday on the Nasdaq. Predictions of how much the stock will rise on its first day of trade vary greatly -- some experts said the high IPO price and increased float could limit gains to 10 percent to 20 percent, while others said anything short of a 50 percent jump would be disappointing given the hype. ...

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A rocket has lifted off in Japan in the country's first commercial launch of a foreign satellite — one from South Korea designed to monitor the environment.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia, the world's largest oil producer, faces domestic fuel shortages after authorities restricted the transport of crude oil by rail, forcing several refiners to cut production, industry and market sources said. Analysts estimate that output of a quarter or more of refined oil products could be lost, threatening a repeat of last year's fuel shortages following Russian leader Vladimir Putin's order to oil companies to curb pump prices. However, it is unlikely to dent crude exports, as Russia uses pipelines as its main method of transporting oil abroad. ...

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Iran rejects Western pressures over its nuclear activities and will never give up its rights, Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator said Thursday ahead of crunch talks with world powers in Baghdad next week.

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Two Russians and an American joined three colleagues aboard the International Space Station Thursday for a mission that should include receiving the orbiter's first visit from a private spacecraft.

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When leaders from eight of the world's biggest economies meet this weekend outside Washington, the focus will be on how to prevent Europe's debt crisis from spiraling out of control.

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Syrian National Council chief Burhan Ghalioun said on Thursday he will step down to avert divisions within the opposition bloc, after activists on the ground accused him of monopolising power.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned on Thursday that military action against sovereign states could lead to a regional nuclear war, starkly voicing Moscow's opposition to Western intervention ahead of a G8 summit at which Syria and Iran will be discussed. "Hasty military operations in foreign states usually bring radicals to power," Medvedev, president for four years until Vladimir Putin's inauguration on May 7, told a conference in St. Petersburg in remarks posted on the government's website. ...

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The United States has a military option "ready" if diplomacy fails to halt Iran's controversial nuclear programme, the US envoy to Israel has said, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian riot police detained a prominent protest leader and five other demonstrators on Thursday as authorities extended a crackdown on Occupy-style protests in central Moscow against newly-inaugurated President Vladimir Putin. In a Moscow square where hundreds of people had gathered, police pulled environmental activist-turned-protest leader Yevgeniya Chirikova into a waiting police van as fellow demonstrators tried to protect her. "What a coward Putin is," wrote Chirikova in one of several frantic Twitter messages on her way to a police station. ...

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