U.S. regulators Wednesday denied a request to change the name of high-fructose corn syrup to merely "corn sugar," in a high-profile dispute between two industries.

The effort to change the name comes amid controversy over the sweetener, which is at the epicenter of a dispute over a possible link to obesity.

The euro plumbed two-year lows in Asia on Thursday as nervous traders ditched the single currency for safer units, including the yen and dollar, amid worries over Spain's faltering bank sector.

The euro changed hands at $1.2363 in Tokyo morning trade, against $1.2366 in New York late Wednesday, while it bought 97.54 yen, down from 97.76 yen.

Astronomers around the world will be using advanced telescopes to watch Venus cross in front of the Sun on June 5 and 6 in the hopes of finding clues in the hunt for other planets where life may exist.

By studying the atmosphere of a well-known planet in this once-in-a-lifetime event, scientists say they will learn more about how to decipher the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system as they cross in front of their own stars.

Armed rebels have given the Damascus regime until noon (0900 GMT) Friday to stick to Kofi Annan's peace plan to end violence in Syria, warning they themselves will quit the truce unless the ultimatum is met.

"If the Syrian regime does not meet the deadline by Friday midday, the command of the Free Syrian Army announces that it will no longer be tied by any commitment to the Annan plan ... and our duty will be ... to defend civilians," a FSA statement said.

Silicon Valley stars on Wednesday argued that the mobile-focused Internet startups will shine despite the dim stock market debut by leading social network Facebook.

Facebook, which ended the trading day almost $10 below its Nasdaq debut price of $38 a share, has sparked worry that technology startups are overprice in risky scenario reminiscent of the dot-com bubble burst some 12 years ago.

Iraq will hold the second and final day of an auction for a dozen oil and gas exploration blocks on Thursday, after hopes for the sale were dampened when just one deal was made on the first day.

The bid round, the fourth such auction to be organized by Iraq since mid-2009, comes amid progress in ramping up oil exports, which account for the vast majority of government income, and as Baghdad eyes higher gas production to increase woefully inadequate power supplies.

Senior U.S. senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman said Thursday it was time to arm Syria's opposition as they expressed disgust over a massacre last week blamed on government forces.

"It's time to act. It's time to give the Syrian opposition the weapons in order to defend themselves. It's not a fair fight," the Republican McCain told reporters in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Colombian rebels on Wednesday freed a French journalist kidnapped 33 days ago, releasing him in a remote jungle village in a move the French president hailed as a "happy end."

"Apart from the fact that I was held for a month, everything went very well. I cannot complain," France 24 correspondent Romeo Langlois told reporters after arriving in the hamlet of San Isidro with a group of rebels.

The renaming of a small town square after Hungary's wartime leader and Adolf Hitler ally is stirring emotions, with critics denouncing it as evidence of the country's drift to the far right.

Fifty-five years after his death, Miklos Horthy will once again have a park in his name when part of leafy Freedom Square in Gyomro, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of Budapest, is renamed on Friday.

One-year-old Katakane laughs and coos in the arms of her HIV-positive mother as a doctor tries to examine her at South Africa's largest public hospital, in Soweto township.

But it is only a routine check-up. The little girl is healthy thanks to a treatment that has saved thousands of babies born to mothers with the virus that causes AIDS.