SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc pulled a listing on Wednesday for a Nike Inc t-shirt displaying the phrase "Boston Massacre," citing the online marketplace's policy against "offensive materials."

The t-shirt was listed for sale earlier this week on eBay and received bids of more than $150,000, according to bid history on the company's website.

The t-shirt refers to the rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox baseball teams and has images of red blood spattered on the word Boston.

In the wake of the Boston Marathon attack, Nike pulled all the shirts from stores, but a used one turned up on eBay.

An eBay spokeswoman said the shirt was removed because it violated a company policy that bans listings of items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance, or promote organizations with such views.

EBay will also remove listings that graphically portray graphic violence or victims of violence, unless they have substantial social, artistic, or political value, according to the policy.

A check on Wednesday afternoon by Reuters confirmed that the listing was taken down.

(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday that it will make five original TV series, having used viewer feedback to pick the shows from a group of 14 pilots filmed by the world's largest Internet retailer earlier this year.

The chosen series are: "Alpha House", a political comedy starring John Goodman; "Betas", a comedy about start-up culture in Silicon Valley; "Annebots", a kids' show about robots; "Creative Galaxy", an animated art adventure series; and "Tumbleaf", another kids' show about a small blue fox named Fig.

These are the first TV series ever made by Amazon and represent a major foray into original programming delivered over the Internet, stepping up competition with Netflix Inc and Hulu.

The new series will be shown exclusively on Amazon's Prime Instant Video service later this year and in early 2014, the company said. Prime Instant Video is free for members of Amazon's Prime service, which offers two-day shipping and other benefits in the United States for $79 a year.

Amazon posted all 14 TV pilots online for anyone to watch in April and encouraged viewer feedback. The company analyzed the reviews and other data, such as how long people watched, to try to pick shows that are more likely to do well as full series.

A pilot is an initial trial show designed to test interest in a new TV series.

"We're thrilled to have emerged safely from this harrowing exercise in online democracy," said Garry Trudeau, the Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist who created and wrote "Alpha House," a live-action show starring John Goodman about a group of U.S. senators who live together.

Amazon will shoot 10 more episodes of "Alpha House" to complete the first season, which will air starting in November.

"Betas" will also get another 10 episodes, while the kids shows, "Annebots," "Creative Galaxy" and "Tumbleaf," will get 26 episodes each, Amazon said.

Pilots that were not picked up as full series included "Zombieland," a comedy based on the successful movie of the same name, and "Browsers," a musical comedy starring Bebe Neuwirth.

Rhett Reese, the writer and producer of "Zombieland," blamed viewer feedback for the TV show's demise.

"I'll never understand the vehement hate the pilot received from die-hard "Zombieland" fans. You guys successfully hated it out of existence," he wrote on Twitter.

The pilots that did not make it were: "Dark Minions," "Onion News Network," "Supanatural," "Those Who Can't," "Positively Ozitively," "Sara Solves It" and "Teeny Tiny Dogs."

(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Matt Driskill and Nick Zieminski)

The apparent mass abduction purportedly happened sometime between 10 a.m. and noon on Sunday morning just off the Paseo de la Reforma, the city's main boulevard, near the Angel of Independence monument and only about 1 blocks from the U.S. Embassy.

The incident was the second recent high-publicity blemish for the city's largely unregulated entertainment scene, coming 20 days after the grandson of American civil rights activist Malcolm X was beaten to death at another tough bar in the downtown area.

Calling for authorities to find their loved ones, family members marched Thursday morning from the Interior Department building to the Zocalo, the city's main square. Later they protested outside the bar, which bears a sign that reads Bicentenario Restaurante-Bar, and demanded to see the bar's surveillance video.

"How could so many people have disappeared, just like that, in broad daylight?" said Josefina Garcia, mother of Said Sanchez Garcia, 19, her only son. "The police say they don't have them, so what, the earth just opened up and swallowed them?"

She said her son wasn't involved in any criminal activity, and worked at a market stall selling beauty products.

City prosecutors said they had received 11 missing-person reports, but Garcia said residents of the tough downtown neighborhood of Tepito where the victims live thought as many as 15 or 16 people could have been abducted.

The known missing include six men, most in their 20s, a 16-year-old boy and four young women.

While no clear motives had been revealed in the attack, residents of Tepito said there has been a wave of abductions of neighborhood young people in recent months that could be related to organized crime activities. Tepito is the center of black market activities in the city, where guns, drugs, stolen goods and contraband are widely sold.

Mass abductions have been rare in Mexico City, but are common in parts of the country where drug cartels operate and are fighting with rival gangs over territory.

Prosecutors slapped closure stickers on the front doors of the Mexico City bar Thursday, with inscriptions saying the city's anti-kidnapping unit was investigating abductions at the site.

Late Thursday night, dozens of members of a special police intervention unit, many carrying automatic weapons and wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests, blocked off the street in front of the bar and searched inside. Officers would not comment on what they were looking for.

Isabel Fonseca, whose brother is among those missing, said a man who escaped told her that masked men arrived in several white SUVs and took the group away. She said her brother, Eulogio Fonseca, is a street vendor who sells cellphone accessories.

"We want them alive," Fonseca said. "They went out to have fun; they are not criminals."

Mexico City's chief prosecutor, Rodolfo Rios, said investigators had been able to glean very little information on the disappearances.

Relatives believe the youths were at the club, which they said is called "Heaven," around midmorning Sunday, when waiters and bar employees herded them out to the street and armed men bundled them into waiting vehicles and spirited them away.

Rios said police had not located any employees of the bar and no other witnesses had presented themselves.

"We aren't sure what exactly occurred," he said. "No witness has come forward to say anything about any armed gang."

The bar is down a side street from two high-rise office buildings that look out on Reforma and sits across the narrow road from beauty salons and a sushi restaurant.

Guillermo Bustamante, owner of one the beauty parlors, said the street bustles every Saturday morning with people coming and going from the bar.

"Every time we arrived on Saturdays, we would see weird people coming out of that bar," Bustamante said. "There would be many Hummers parked outside and men walking out with a woman on each arm."

Bars of questionable character are often allowed to continue operating, even though drugs may be sold inside and the businesses frequently violate rules governing closing times, parking and serving alcohol to minors.

Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of the late Malcolm X, died May 9 in a fight that erupted after he and a friend were presented with a $1,200 bill at a seedy bar near Plaza Garibaldi, a gathering place for mariachi bands in a rough neighborhood in the downtown area. Two waiters at the bar have been arrested in connection with Shabazz's death.

In June 2008, police raided another Mexico City bar to investigate drug and alcohol sales to minors. A stampede ensued as panicked youths rushed for the exits and police tried to stop them. A dozen young people died in the stampede.

___

Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon contributed to this report.

Laurie Anderson told the Times of London that Reed "was dying" before the operation several weeks ago at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic.

She said 71-year-old Reed isn't back to full strength, but "he's already working and doing t'ai chi.

"I don't think he'll every totally recover from this, but he'll certainly be back to doing (things) in a few months," she said.

"I'm very happy. It's a new life for him."

Anderson, a musician and performance artist, praised the Cleveland facility one of the leading transplant centers in the U.S. and said hospitals in the couple's hometown of New York were "dysfunctional."

Reed, who has spoken of his past alcohol and drug use, co-founded influential 1960s group The Velvet Underground, whose songs included the addiction-themed "Heroin" and "I'm Waiting for the Man."

Solo works include "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Perfect Day."

Reed had earlier canceled a series of dates planned for April. His management didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Five hours and 40 minutes after afrom the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan earlier today (May 28), Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, NASA's Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano of the International Space Station docked their Soyuz spacecraft at the orbiting laboratory at 10:10 p.m. EDT (0210 May 29 GMT). The new crew will remain on the space station for the next six months.

"I've never felt better in my life," Yurchikhin said just after the Soyuz docked at the station in record time while sailing high above the South Pacific. []

You can watch livevia NASA TV starting at 11:30 p.m. EDT (0330 May 29 GMT), with hatch opening scheduled for 11:55 p.m. EDT (0355 May 29 GMT).

Fast track to space

Monday's same-day launch and docking was the second express flight to the International Space Station by an astronaut crew.

Unmanned cargo vessels have made this kind of trip many times before, but the one-day missions are a new method of flying for manned Soyuz capsules. Typically, it takes astronauts about two days to reach the space station, but this kind of flying only requires the capsule to orbit the Earth four times, shortening the amount of time the astronauts need to spend in the cramped spaceship.

The first Soyuz crew to fly to the station using this expedited technique will greet Nyberg, Parmitano and Yurchikhin once the capsule's hatch is opened tonight. The three newest space station residents will join NASA's Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Pavel Vinogradov to round out the Expedition 36 crew.

"[Your trip was] even faster than Pavel," a member of Mission Control in Russia joked with Yurchikhin after docking. The Russian Soyuz commander beat Vinogradov's time to the station by six minutes.

A special group

Parmitano, Nyberg and Yurchikhin are a diverse crew. Nyberg and Yurchikhin are veteran spaceflyers. In total, Yurchikhin has spent more than a year in orbit while Nyberg flew for two weeks in 2008 on the space shuttle Discovery.

Parmitano, meanwhile, is making his first trip into space. His expedition has been dubbed the "Volare" mission by ESA officials.

"Time to go! Thanks for your support and best wishes, see you from Cupola," Parmitano wrote on Twitter (@astro_luca) before launch, referring to the largest window on the space station.

Both Parmitano and Nyberg lead active lives via social media. Before launching into orbit Nyberg started tagging her posts with the hashtag #simplejoysonearth to bring the experiences she had with her family to the world before leaving for the space station.

"Sun, birds, smell of grass & fresh air; nice walk w/ family along 'Ave of Cosmonauts' #simplejoysonearth," Nyberg wrote on Twitter (@AstroKarenN) before launch. She plans to continue to use social media to share her life in orbit.

The new space station crew has a jam-packed mission ahead. Parmitano and Cassidy are scheduled to perform two spacewalks in July, and Misurkin and Yurchikhin will conduct three spacewalks during the course of their mission. It's also possible that the astronauts will get a chance tothe orbiting laboratory.

Vinogradov, Misurkin and Cassidy are scheduled to fly back to Earth in September. Parmitano, Nyberg and Yurchikhin will remain on the station until November.

Follow Miriam Kramer onand . Follow us on ,  and . Original article on .

Bashar Assad's comment on the arrival of the long-range S-300 air defense missiles in Syria could further ratchet up tensions in the region and undermine efforts to hold U.N.-sponsored talks with Syria's warring sides.

Israel's defense chief, Moshe Yaalon, said earlier this week that Russia's plan to supply Syria with the weapons was a threat and that Israel was prepared to use force to stop the delivery.

The Al-Manar TV, owned by the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, released Assad's comments on the Russian missiles in print, through its breaking news service Thursday morning.

"Syria has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets," the TV quoted Assad as saying. The Syrian leader added: "All our agreements with Russia will be implemented and parts of them have already been implemented."

An official at the station confirmed to The Associated Press that the remarks were from the exclusive interview the TV was to air in full later Thursday.

The shipment of the missiles, if confirmed, comes just days after the European Union lifted an arms embargo on Syria, paving way for individual countries of the 27-member bloc to send weapons to rebels fighting to topple Assad's regime.

The developments raise fears of an arms race not just between Assad's forces and the opposition fighters battling to topple his regime, but also in the wider Middle East.

Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria in recent months that are believed to have destroyed weapon shipments bound for Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group that along with Iran and Russia is a staunch Assad ally. It is not clear whether Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace in these attacks.

With the Russian missiles in Syria's possession, the Israeli air force's ability to strike inside the Arab country could be limited since the S-300s would expand Syria's capabilities, allowing it to counter airstrikes launched from foreign airspace as well.

The S-300s have a range of up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) and the capability to track and strike multiple targets simultaneously. Syria already possesses Russian-made air defenses, and Israel is believed to have used long-distance bombs fired from Israeli or Lebanese airspace.

When Israeli warplanes struck near the capital of Damascus, targeting purported Iranian missiles intended for Hezbollah earlier this month, Syria did not respond.

But on Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told Lebanon's Al-Mayadeen TV that Damascus "will retaliate immediately" if Israel strikes Syrian soil again.

It was the regime's most serious warning to Israel since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011 but it was not clear if there was a link between al-Moallem's remark and the Russian shipment.

Israel has long lobbied Moscow over the planned sale of S-300 air-defense missiles to Syria. However, on Tuesday, Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said his government remained committed to the deal.

Monday's decision by the EU to lift the arms embargo opened the possibility for individual countries to send weapons to Assad's outgunned opponents, though there was no indication any single European country would send lethal weapons to the rebels anytime soon.

Britain and France, the main military powers in the EU, had pushed for the lifting of the embargo, arguing that Europe's threat of arming the rebels would force Assad to negotiate in good faith.

Russia harshly criticized Europe's decision, saying it undercuts international efforts to bring the opposing sides in Syrian conflict together for a peace conference.

There was no immediate reaction from Israel on the Russian shipment but Silvan Shalom, a Cabinet minister from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party, told Israel Radio that the Jewish state will "take actions" to make sure advanced weapons don't reach rogue groups.

Prospects for convening a peace conference on Syria were further thrown in doubt after al-Moallem said Wednesday that Assad intends to remain Syria's president at least until elections in 2014 and might run for another term.

The Syrian foreign minister also said any deal reached in eventual talks with the opposition would have to be put to a referendum, introducing a new condition that could complicate efforts by the U.S. and Russia to bring the two sides together in Geneva, possibly next month.

While Syria has said that it will "in principle" attend the conference, the fractured political opposition has not yet announced whether it will attend or not, despite more than a week of meetings in Turkey to devise a strategy for the Geneva talks.

Leading opposition members have said they would only attend the conference if Assad's departure from power tops the agenda, a demand on which sponsors Russia and the U.S. appear to disagree.

In Syria, Assad's forces backed by Hezbollah fighters fought pockets of resistance in the strategic town of Qusair near the border with Lebanon. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government controls most of Qusair following a fierce, 12-day battle with opposition forces.

Thursday's sporadic clashed came as government troops were mopping up in northern and western parts of Qusair, said the Observatory, which relies on information from a network of activists on the ground.

The Syrian army on Wednesday took control of nearby Dabaa air base, dealing a major blow to the rebels in Qusair, an overwhelmingly Sunni town in western part of the country that has been controlled by the opposition since early last year.

The government launched an offensive on Qusair on May 19 and Hezbollah militants joined the battle, drawing the Lebanese Shiite group deep into the civil war next door.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the 26-months-old Syrian conflict that has had increasingly sectarian overtones. Members of Syria's Sunni Muslim majority dominate the rebel ranks and Assad's regime is mostly made up of Alawites, an offshoot sect of Shiite Islam.

Both sides in the conflict value Qusair, which lies along a land corridor linking two Assad's strongholds, the capital of Damascus and an area along the Mediterranean coast that is the Alawite heartland. For the rebels, holding the town means protecting their supply line to Lebanon, just 10 kilometers (six miles) away.

Also Thursday, the opposition coalition said more than 1,000 wounded in the government offensive in Qusair need to be evacuated for medical treatment.

The opposition said the town hospitals lack doctors and medical supplies to treat those injured and trapped there.

___

Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equities markets and the dollar fell on Wednesday, reviving a bid for battered safe-haven U.S. debt as signs of strength in the U.S. economy fanned fears the Federal Reserve may soon begin tapering its massive stimulus program.

On Wall Street, cyclical shares led stocks lower as investors continued to question the longevity of the stimulus and worried that less stimulus could lead to less growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 93.66 points, or 0.61 percent, at 15,315.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 10.44 points, or 0.63 percent, at 1,649.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 18.57 points, or 0.53 percent, at 3,470.32.

Fear that the Fed would start to curb the amount of its purchases of Treasuries have cut prices of U.S. Treasuries and propelled yields sharply higher. Benchmark Treasury note yields hit a peak of 2.235 percent, its highest since April 2012, before easing to 2.17 percent early Wednesday.

In Europe, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of top shares has dropped 1.67 percent, giving back all of the previous day's 1.3 percent gain and then some.

Financial markets have seen a rise in volatility since Fed chairman Ben Bernanke last week suggested the central bank could begin to roll back its $85 billion-a-month fund injection.

Some investors are avoiding taking big positions as they weigh the strength of a nascent recovery in the global economy against the withdrawal of stimulus.

In fixed income markets, yields on both safer German and U.S. bonds have risen along with those from riskier sovereign issuers, as nervous investors cut back positions.

Traders said the weakness in equity markets had encouraged investors to buy the yen, which is seen as a safe haven, sending the dollar down 1.4 percent to a low of 100.96 yen.

The fall pushed the greenback 0.5 percent lower against a basket of other major currencies as it slipped further away from a 3-year high of 84.50 hit on May 23.

Japan's Nikkei index also bucked the trend in world equity market, ending 0.1 percent higher. The MSCI's world equity index, which tracks shares in 45 countries, posted a 0.55 percent decline on the day.

Many analysts still believe the growth momentum implied by Tuesday's strong figures for U.S. home prices and consumer confidence should ultimately be good for markets but fear the current volatility could continue for some time.

"We've got the (U.S.) payroll figures next week and then all the way though June the market is going to be very sensitive leading up until to the next FOMC (Fed policy) meeting," Michael Gallagher, managing director at IDEAglobal, said.

GLOBAL GROWTH TRIMMED

The concerns over the Fed easing its stimulus effort came as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) underlined the risks still facing the world economy by cutting its 2013 global forecast to 3.1 percent, from 3.4 percent.

The United States and Japan were seen driving growth, due to their massive monetary easing efforts, but the ongoing recession in the euro zone and a slowdown in China are weighing on the global economy, the OECD said.

However, data out of the euro zone on Wednesday did bolster hopes the European Central Bank could extend its loose monetary policy at its rate-setting meeting next week.

The ECB said loans to the euro area's private sector contracted for the 12th month in a row in April, while separate data showed German unemployment rose unexpectedly in May.

In the commodity market these global growth concerns and the weaker dollar dragged on copper and platinum, while Brent oil slipped under $104 per barrel.

"The market expected a pick up of the global economy this year, but it looks like there will only be a gradual restart to acceleration in the second half, so it seems the tipping point is moving further into the future," said Andy Sommer, analyst at EGL in Switzerland.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Puerto Rican banker Richard Carrion launched his bid for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday, with his long financial experience a powerful pitch in his quest for the world's top sports job.

The 60-year-old Carrion, who is chairman of Puerto Rican lender Popular Inc, heads the IOC's finance commission and is a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, becomes the third official candidate in the race to be decided on September 10.

"We have a lot at stake in this election," Carrion, an IOC member since 1990, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"Our place in the world is not guaranteed. We must have a leader that knows how not just to manage the coming change but also make it work for the IOC and the movement," said the soft-spoken Carrion.

IOC Vice Presidents Thomas Bach from Germany and Singapore's Ng Ser Miang have already launched their campaigns while the head of the International Boxing Federation (AIBA) C.K. Wu is set to announce his bid on Thursday.

Several more could decide to run, with Swiss sports administrator Denis Oswald and former pole vault champion Sergei Bubka seen as likely candidates.

As head of the IOC's finance commission since 2002, Carrion, who is also responsible for negotiating broadcasting rights for the IOC, has overseen major revenue growth over the past decade despite the global economic downturn.

He also helped to negotiate a four-Games deal to 2020 with U.S. broadcaster NBC worth $4.38 billion.

Sponsorship revenues for the IOC through its TOP program for the 2013-16 period are set to exceed $1 billion for the first time, compared with $663 million for 2001-4.

"(IOC) President (Jacques) Rogge has entrusted me with a lot of responsibility, financial and television. It was his vision that we should grow the foundation to have enough money at hand in case Games were cancelled," said Carrion.

MOUNTING REVENUES

Broadcasting revenues, the biggest source of income for the IOC, are seen topping $4 billion until 2016, with revenues for the 2002-4 period at almost half that.

"If you look at the IOC, it has a great standing but by nature when things are going well I think about what could go wrong. This is a great standing but it is not something that is guaranteed," said Carrion.

He said he wanted to see the IOC branching out to other organizations to become stronger.

"We cannot do everything on our own. We have tremendous resources in the work our members do. We can create associations with other organizations around the world, learn from best practices."

In turn, Carrion said he wanted to see Olympic Games expertise brought back into the IOC as the Games became more complex.

"We developed an expertise and need to bring this core of people in-house. There are areas in staging Olympics where we would benefit if we had a core of people permanently engaged in host cities," he said.

The IOC will elect the winning candidate at their session in Buenos Aires, with all 100-plus IOC members voting. Rogge is stepping down after his two-term presidency comes to a mandatory end.

Asked to comment on how he viewed campaigning against close colleagues for one of the most powerful sports jobs in the world that has come up only twice since 1980, Carrion said he thought there would be at least two more candidates appearing before the June 10 deadline.

"I think there will probably six candidates and this is a good thing. The more candidates, the more opportunity for members to make the decision who is the most capable person.

"Every IOC member is responsible for that legacy and I am convinced the number of candidates is a good thing. We should all have opportunity to share our ideas."

(Editing by Clare Fallon)

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors seized on clear signs of policy support from Japanese and European central banks on Tuesday to drive world shares higher, denting appetite for safe-haven German bonds.

The better sentiment also put Wall Street on course for a higher open when trading resumes after Monday's holidays in the major centres. All three major stock indexes ended last week in negative territory for the first time since mid-April.

Heightened expectations the U.S. central bank could soon taper its stimulus programme unleashed turbulence across the markets last week, leaving it to central banks in Japan and Europe to reassure investors their liquidity taps remain open.

"I expect the major markets to test resistance levels of last week as investors are still seeking higher highs and new record levels in the near term, whilst the central banks are continuing their quantitative easing operations," said Tom Robertson, senior trader at Accendo Markets.

Equity markets around the world have traded at their highest levels in years encouraged by cheap funding from the Fed and other central banks. But comments last week by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke suggesting a U.S. recovery could bring a shift in policy have made investors question prospects for further gains.

"We have had a significant move higher and now it's time for taking stock and deciding whether we continue to go higher or we are due a correction," Michael Hewson, Senior Market Analyst at CMC Markets said.

The question is being asked most about the Japanese market, where the Nikkei stock index had reached a 5-1/2-year high before dropping 7.3 percent last Thursday - its largest one-day loss since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The Nikkei steadied on Tuesday, ending 1.2 percent higher after long-serving board member Ryuzo Miyao said the Bank of Japan would fine-tune market operations to ensure its unprecedented easing campaign is not derailed.

Central bank officials lifted sentiment in Europe, where the broad FTSE Eurofirst 300 index rose over 1.3 percent by mid-morning, adding to Monday's 0.3 percent rise. European Central Bank Executive Board member Peter Praet said the ECB could still cut interest rates further to stimulate the economy if needed.

Tuesday's rebound took Germany's DAX up 1.1 percent to near recent record highs. In London, the FTSE 100 index was up 1.67 percent, led by banking stocks.

MSCI's world equity index had risen 0.3 percent by mid-morning, reversing four days of losses.

SAFETY ABANDONED

Assets seen as safe havens fell, leaving the dollar up 0.7 percent against the Swiss franc at 0.9697 francs. "The yen and Swiss franc have dropped noticeably this morning, essentially because risk assets seem to be stabilising," said Societe Generale currency strategist Alvin Tan.

The euro was down 0.2 percent at $1.2910 against the dollar, trading well within its recent range of $1.28-1.32.

Investors also deserted German government bonds although the talk of an ECB rate cut lent support. The yield on the 10-year bond was down 1 basis point at 1.43 percent.

Commodity markets remain pressured by an uncertain demand outlook after U.S. and Chinese data last week.

The rising dollar also makes some dollar-based commodities more expensive for non-dollar holders. Spot gold was down 1 percent to $1,380.50 an ounce.

However the better tone on equity markets and signs of rising Middle East tension support oil. U.S. crude futures gained 0.7 percent to $94.78 a barrel and Brent rose 1.4 percent to $104 a barrel.

(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash and Anooja Debnath. Editing by Catherine Evans)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators have given some of Google's rivals more time to study its proposals to settle anti-competitive complaints, which could provide more leverage to pry further concessions from the Internet search giant.

The European Commission last month told interested parties they had until May 26 to say if they are satisfied with the offer by the world's most popular search engine to mark out its services from rival products in Internet search results.

The EU antitrust authority has given some rivals until June 27 to complete their technical analysis of Google's proposals, said one person familiar with the matter.

The regulator is able to grant extensions if there are strong grounds for doing so. A Commission competition spokesman, Antoine Colombani, declined to comment on the Google case.

Several Google competitors and complainants about the company's practices have been critical of the proposed settlement, which includes providing links to at least three competing search engines, and allowing rivals to stop Google from using specific information.

According to British price comparison site Foundem, Google's offer would only reinforce its dominance. Google has more than 80 percent share of the market in Europe, according to research firm comScore.

Other critics said the proposal would force rivals to compete among themselves, raising their costs and increasing merchants' dependency on Google.

If Google clinches a deal with the Commission, it would avoid a finding of infringement of competition rules and a possible fine that could be as much as $5 billion or 10 percent of its global revenue.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Luke Baker and Mark Potter)