LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's bid to exploit shale-gas deposits was boosted on Thursday as utility Centrica Plc bought a quarter stake in a major gas-bearing formation in northern England, ahead of expanded drilling next year.

Shale gas has helped transform the U.S. energy market, lowering gas and coal prices, and offers Britain, Europe's biggest gas user, a means of bolstering its falling natural gas production.

Centrica, parent of British Gas, paid 40 million pounds ($62.8 million) for 25 percent of the Bowland Shale in Lancashire, owned by license operator Cuadrilla Resources and its Australian private-equity backer A.J. Lucas.

Britain's biggest energy provider will invest 60 million pounds in developing Cuadrilla's Bowland licenses and a further 60 million depending on production and exploration tests.

"This is a big step forward for shale in Great Britain and starts to move it beyond the speculative," said Richard Sarsfield-Hall, principal consultant at energy consultancy Poyry.

The deal marks Centrica's first-ever shale gas exploration project after it recently branched out into liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from the United States and Qatar to offset rapidly declining North Sea production.

"This gives us an option of going into shale at a good price to establish what's down there," a Centrica spokesman said.

"A lot of people are saying that sounds quite cheap, but that's because we're buying into an exploration licence rather than buying gas in place," the spokesman said.

Cuadrilla previously said its Lancashire licences could contain as much as 200 trillion cubic feet of gas-in-place, although recoverable volumes are expected to be significantly smaller.

MAJOR UPGRADE

Britain's energy ministry expects to update domestic shale gas recovery estimates by the end of July, in what is widely expected to be a major upgrade. But experts say only exploration drilling can determine the extent of recoverable deposits.

Although shale gas is ordinary natural gas trapped in dense rocks, it is retrieved through a controversial process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, whereby water and chemicals are blasted deep underground to prop open rocks.

Some environmental groups say the process is unsafe and could contaminate drinking water supplies.

Last year Britain lifted a ban on fracking imposed after Cuadrilla triggered two small earthquakes near Blackpool, northwest England, during exploration drilling.

Britain's growing dependence on foreign gas comes at a time when the government's plan to build a fleet of nuclear plants is delayed due to disputes over high construction costs with French developer EDF Energy.

"If you're asking me would I rather Centrica put money into that type of exploration, or into building new nuclear plants, this is a very sensible allocation of capital," said Harold Hutchinson, utilities analyst at Investec.

"It's a boost for UK shale gas," Hutchinson said. "For (Centrica) to throw their hat in the ring is a net positive."

Cuadrilla also announced an accelerated exploration drilling program in the Bowland formation, with at least six additional wells planned from next year, chief executive Francis Egan said in an interview.

Egan said Cuadrilla was not holding talks with any other investors, ending months of speculation concerning other buyout partners.

(Additional reporting by John McGarrity; Editing by Jane Baird and David Holmes)

Notably, the healthcare sector continued to add jobs with the majority of them in the home health field. Of the 11,000 plus healthcare jobs added in the month of May, 7,000 were home healthcare jobs. The remaining 4,000 jobs were added in the outpatient care field. Conversely, other healthcare sectors lost jobs in May, according to the BLS report.

As the economy continues to recover, home health remains a reliable and stable form of employment for nurses, aides, therapists and caregivers. The report demonstrates the rapidly increasing need for home healthcare services as the Baby Boom generation turns 65 at a rate of approximately 10,000 people per day.

In reviewing the new BLS report, home health leaders expressed concern that policy threats on the horizon including Medicare rebasing could jeopardize these gains and cause many providers to incur net operating losses, leading to potentially significant job losses. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is directed to rebase home health payments between 2014 and 2017. Analyses indicate that the current trajectory of Medicare home health reimbursement is on track to produce negativemargins by 2017 in 10 states, even if home health payments are not subjected to further legislative and regulatory reductions.

"As the ACA implementation process continues, we urge CMS to carefully consider the important role home health has in the nation's ongoing employment recovery and the economic state of our sector under current law," stated Eric Berger, CEO of the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare. "Home healthcare not only provides vital and cost-effective services to nearly 3.5 million Medicare beneficiaries, it is creating thousands of quality jobs for healthcare professionals."

Home health is widely recognized as clinically advanced, cost-effective and patient preferred. Patients are now able to receive complex care and therapies, once only available in a hospital or institutional setting, in the comfort of their own homes. Furthermore, recent surveys indicate that 90 percent of seniors prefer to age in place.

The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare was established in 2010 to assist government officials in ensuring access to skilled home healthcare services for seniors and disabled Americans. Representing nearly 2,000 community- and hospital-based home healthcare agencies across the United States, the Partnership is dedicated to developing innovative reforms to improve the quality, efficiency and integrity of home healthcare. To learn more, visit. To join the home healthcare policy conversation, connect with us onand our.

SOURCE Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare

Remy Briand, managing director and global head of index research at MSCI, was speaking on a conference call after MSCI said earlier that it was upgrading Qatar and the UAE to emerging market from frontier market status, effective next May.

Greece, which was downgraded to emerging market status, will have a weighting of 0.3 percent, he said.

"The threshold will be lower for the EM index so it is likely a number of (Greek) companies will enter the EM index. It will become a broader, more representative index.

"By developed market standards, only two Greek companies qualify for the MSCI index so there should be a broader list for inclusion into the index."

Morocco is being downgraded to frontier market status, and Briand said it would have a 6.7 percent weight in that index.

"The investment pool in frontier markets is smaller than in EM so in terms of represention, it will be much better in the frontier index," he said of Morocco.

"The number of companies will be larger and liquidity requirements will be lower. So it should be more representative of the Moroccan index."

While the UAE's upgrade had been expected by many analysts, Qatar had been seen as less likely because of its limits on foreign ownership and relatively small free floats of shares.

However, Briand noted there was a programme by Qatari authorities to increase foreign ownership limits.

"It started with a number of companies requesting the change and while this programme is not commplete, there is a clear commitment to increase this level and a number of companies have initiated the process," he said. (Reporting by Sujata Rao in London and Nadia Saleem in Dubai; Editing by Andrew Torchia)

Global warming is , releasing carbon dioxide and methane both greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. An airborne NASA mission called CARVE (Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment) is tracking the gas emissions to better estimate their impact on climate change.

"Permafrost soils are warming even faster than Arctic air temperatures, as much as 2.7 to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit [1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius] in just the past 30 years," Charles Miller, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. "As heat from Earth's surface penetrates into permafrost, it threatens to mobilize these organic carbon reservoirs and release them into the atmosphere as , upsetting the Arctic's carbon balance and greatly exacerbating global warming," said Miller, principal investigator for the five-year mission.

Skimming just 500 feet (150 meters) above the Alaskan tundra in a C-23 Sherpa plane, researchers will use radar and gas sensors on the aircraft to measure soil moisture, surface temperature and gas emissions while the .

Results from the first year of experiments, collected in 2012, revealed very different patterns of methane and carbon dioxide release than expected based on models, Miller said. On the eastern Yukon River, in the Innoko Wildnerness, methane levels over swamps were 650 parts per billion (ppb) higher than normal background levels. "That's similar to what you might find in a large city," he said. (Parts per billion means that for every billion molecules in the atmosphere, 650 of them are methane, in this particular case.)

Figuring out how much methane and carbon will be released by melting permafrost will help climate modelers predict the Arctic soil's contribution to global warming. If thegets warmer and drier, it will likely release mostly carbon dioxide, models predict. But if the region gets warmer and wetter, more methane will be released instead of carbon dioxide.

Which gas is getting emitted makes a difference in the effects on global warming. Methane gas doesn't linger in the atmosphere for as long as carbon dioxide, but it's better at trapping energy. As a greenhouse gas, methane is 22 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

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Tyson, who recently toured his one-man autobiographical stage show, "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth," will give voice to his cartoon character on the "Mike Tyson Mysteries" crime-solving series.

Tyson, 46, will be aided by a magical tattoo on his character's face and a foul-mouthed pigeon as a partner on the 15-minute show, Adult Swim said. Tyson in real life owns racing pigeons.

The network, which is known for its zany youth-oriented programs, did not say when the show would premiere.

Some plot lines include attempting to defeat a super computer at chess and why an author/werewolf cannot finish a novel, Adult Swim said.

Tyson, who became better known for his erratic behavior and 1992 rape conviction than for his skill in the ring, has seen his reputation rise following a cameo in the 2009 hit comedy "The Hangover."

Tyson retired from boxing in 2006 and began a second career in entertainment, including a 2011 television documentary series about his flock of racing pigeons.

Adult Swim is owned by Turner Broadcasting System Inc, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Philip Barbara)

OVERALL COST: Both five-year bills would cost almost $100 billion annually, with almost $80 billion of that annual total going to domestic food aid. The Senate bill would save about $2.4 billion yearly from current spending, and the House bill would save $4 billion, including across-the-board spending cuts that kicked in earlier this year.

FOOD STAMPS: Food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, have for decades been part of the farm bill in an effort to garner urban lawmakers' votes for rural programs. The Senate farm bill would cut about $400 million from the $80 billion annual total by targeting states that give people who don't have heating bills very small amounts of heating assistance so they can automatically qualify for higher food stamp benefits. The House bill would cut $2 billion yearly by making similar changes and also eliminating what is called "broad-based categorical eligibility," or granting automatic food stamp benefits when people are signed up for certain other programs.

DIRECT PAYMENTS: Direct payments, which cost the government around $5 billion annually, would be phased out in both bills, with the savings split between other subsidy programs and deficit reduction. Those subsidies have been controversial because they are paid out every year regardless of crop prices or crop yield. The Senate bill would eliminate the program immediately while the House bill would phase it out over the next two years for cotton farmers who rely on the program.

CROP INSURANCE: Both bills would increase subsidies for federally subsidized crop insurance and create a new crop insurance program that covers smaller revenue losses on planted crops before crop insurance kicks in. This revenue protection program favors Midwestern corn and soybean farmers and would be more generous in the Senate bill.

PRICE PROTECTION: Both bills would raise what are called "target prices" for some crops. Certain subsidies kick in if prices drop to those targets, meaning farmers will only receive them if prices are low. While many of these programs haven't been used for the last several years because crop prices have been at unprecedented highs, these subsidies exist as a safety net. Both the House and Senate bills would raise these target prices for rice and peanuts, since farmers of those crops also often depend on direct payments that would be eliminated. The House bill would raise those target prices higher than the Senate bill would, meaning it would be easier for the subsidies to kick in.

FOOD AID: Neither bill includes an Obama administration food aid proposal to shift the way food aid is sent abroad. The United States now donates much of its food aid by shipping homegrown food overseas, but the Obama budget last month proposed shifting the aid money to more flexible accounts that allow for cash purchases of locally grown food abroad or from U.S. farmers, saying such a move would be more efficient. Both House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., have sided with farm groups against the proposal. An amendment adopted to the Senate bill would make some modest changes to the way the food aid is distributed, allocating a small increase in dollars to cash purchases of locally grown food abroad.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. trade deficit widened in April, as demand for foreign cars, cell phones and other imported goods outpaced growth in U.S. exports.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the trade gap rose 8.5 percent in April from March to $40.3 billion.

Exports increased 1.2 percent to $187.4 billion, the second-highest level on record. Companies sold more telecommunications equipment, industrial machinery and airplane parts, while U.S.-made autos and auto parts also rose to an all-time high of $12.8 billion.

But imports grew an even faster 2.4 percent to $227.7 billion. Sales of foreign cars increased to $25.5 billion. Americans also bought more consumer goods, led by big gain in foreign-made cell phones.

A wider trade gap can restrain growth because it means U.S. consumers and businesses are spending more on foreign goods than U.S. companies are taking in from overseas sales.

But Joel Naroff, chief economists at Naroff Economic Advisors, said the wider deficit does show growth in the U.S. remains stronger than most others nations. And that growth has helped fuel more spending by consumers on imported goods.

"The U.S. economy may not be robust but with growth continuing, the demand for foreign goods is picking up," Naroff.

Most economists said trade will likely be neutral in the April-June quarter after subtracting slightly from growth in the January-March quarter. They expect economic growth has slowed to an annual rate of around 2 percent, down from a 2.4 percent rate in the first quarter.

Still, a weaker global economy is reducing demand for U.S. exports and that could weigh on growth this year.

Europe's recession continues to be a problem for U.S. companies. The deficit with the 27-nation European Union grew 25.6 percent to $12.4 billion. U.S. exports to the region declined 7.9 percent, while imports from the region rose slightly.

The politically sensitive deficit with China surged to $24.1 billion, the highest level since January and the largest with any single nation. Imports jumped 21 percent, while exports fell 4.7 percent. The March deficit had been artificially lowered by shipping disruptions caused by the Chinese New Year holiday.

The April deficit with South Korea climbed to a record $2.4 billion. Imports from that country rose to an all-time high of $5.6 billion.

Fewer exports have slowed activity at American factories, according to a measure of U.S. manufacturing released Monday.

The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its index of manufacturing activity fell to 49 last month from 50.7 in April. It was the lowest reading since June 2009 and the first time the index had slipped below 50 since November. A reading under 50 indicates contraction in manufacturing.

A measure of export orders in the ISM report fell to its lowest level since January.

The weakness abroad has coincided with less investment by U.S. businesses, possibly out of concern that government spending cuts could hobble economic growth.

The deficit so far this year is running at an annual rate of $491.9 billion, down 8 percent from the revised annual deficit of $534.7 billion for 2012.

The high court accepted the appeal by the company and one of its subsidiaries against the November ruling by Argentine judge Adrian Elkuj freezing the assets.

"The appealing parties have not participated in the case against Chevron Corporation (in Ecuador) and are legally distinct units," the court said in its ruling.

An Ecuadorean court ordered Chevron Corp. to pay $19 billion for oil contamination caused by Texaco Corp. in the Amazon rainforest between 1972 and 1990. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001 and inherited the problem.

The U.S.-based Chevron says it won't pay because Texaco dealt with the problem before it was bought. Both sides have accused each other of fraud in the legal process.

The decision by Argentina's top court is another blow to efforts to get Chevron to pay by appealing to courts outside of Ecuador.

Chevron has no assets in Ecuador, so the plaintiffs have filed suits in Canada, Brazil and Argentina seeking to force the company to pay there.

On May 1, a Canadian court dismissed the bid by Ecuadorean villagers to enforce the judgment in that country, ruling that it did not have jurisdiction.

Tuesday's ruling is a relief not only for Chevron, but for the Argentine state energy company YPF since the two companies are working out a deal to jointly develop the vast Vaca Muerta shale oil and natural gas reserves in southwestern Argentina..

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday ruled for utility PPL Corpin its dispute with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service over credits the company claimed to offset overseas tax payments.

The court ruled on a unanimous vote that Pennsylvania-based PPL can claim $39 million in U.S. foreign tax credits against a 1997 British windfall tax.

Writing on behalf of the court, Justice Clarence Thomas said the "predominant character of the windfall tax is that of an excess profits tax, a category of income tax in the U.S. sense."

At least two other U.S. utilities - Entergy Corp ETR.N and American Electric Power Co AEP.N - are in the same position, having been hit by the windfall tax after they acquired British utility companies that were privatized in the 1980s and 1990s.

The IRS had rejected the companies' foreign tax credit claims, arguing that the windfall tax did not meet the definition of a tax for which credits can be claimed.

Foreign tax credits are normally available to U.S. companies so they do not pay the same tax twice at home and abroad.

Two appellate courts had offered different opinions in the dispute, leading the nine-member Supreme Court to intervene to settle the matter.

PPL, backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the conservative Cato Institute and Goldwater Institute, argued that the windfall tax should be eligible for a foreign tax credit.

U.S. multinational companies claimed $93.5 billion in foreign tax credits in 2009, the most recent IRS figure.

The case is PPL Corp v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-43.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Patrick Temple-West; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Grant McCool)

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Insurgents attacked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, killing an Afghan guard in the second major assault on a humanitarian organization in less than a week.

Seven staff members, believed to be the total number of foreign workers at the ICRC in Jalalabad, were rescued by Afghan police during the attack, which involved a suicide bomber and three gunmen, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

Police carried away the blood-soaked body of the guard who was shot dead at the beginning of the assault, which started when the suicide bomber detonated explosives at the ICRC gate at 5:30 p.m. (1300 GMT).

The attack was the first of its kind on the strictly neutral ICRC in Afghanistan since it started operations in the country in 1987. ICRC water engineer Ricardo Munguia was shot dead in Afghanistan in 2003.

The ICRC's $90 million-a-year operations in Afghanistan are the group's biggest in the world. Some 1,800 ICRC staff work on projects ranging from providing orthopedic limbs to the war wounded to visiting militants in Afghan jails.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but concerns are mounting over how the 352,000-strong Afghan security forces will cope with an intensifying insurgency once most foreign troops leave by the end of next year.

The attack came less than a week after Taliban insurgents attacked the office of the International Organization for Migration in Kabul, killing at least three civilians and injuring four foreign aid workers.

The ICRC maintains strict neutrality in protecting civilians in armed conflict and has contact with both sides. The ICRC's medical facility across the border in Peshawar in Pakistan has treated wounded insurgents.

ICRC's Afghanistan chief Gherardo Pontrandolfi was quoted by Indian media last week as saying he believed the Taliban respected the ICRC in Afghanistan.

(Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Alison Williams)