CARACAS (Reuters) - Foes of President Nicolas Maduro vowed to protest and accused Venezuela's election authority on Thursday of ignoring popular will by quashing their push for a referendum this year on recalling the unpopular socialist leader.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Financial services are shifting away from banks in the euro zone to the so-called 'shadow banking' sector, requiring fresh rules across a range of areas to mitigate risk, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - One of Vladimir Putin's closest friends said on Thursday he believed Donald Trump would be the next president of the United States and that Western leaders were no match for the Russian president.

SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, Bosnia, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Bosnia's autonomous Serb region is set to defy its highest court with a referendum on a national holiday on Sunday that may stoke separatist sentiment lingering since the 1990s war.

LONDON (Reuters) - A.P. Moller-Maersk is in talks to buy a portfolio of North Sea assets from Royal Dutch Shell as the Danish group considers adding scale to its oil and gas business ahead of a planned spin off, banking sources said.

SANAA (Reuters) - The death toll from an Arab coalition air strike which hit a house in a residential area in western Yemen has risen to 26 people, medics and residents in the Houthi-held area said on Thursday, and the alliance said it was looking into the report.

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin came under renewed fire on Thursday as she hosted a "Fertility Day" conference aimed at persuading couples to have more children.

GENEVA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The United Nations said it was possible that countries backing the Syria peace process would agree on Thursday to salvage a collapsed ceasefire, and that it was still working to restart peace talks within weeks.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Commerzbank is planning to cut thousands of jobs as it revamps its strategy to contend with the drag on earnings from ultra low interest rates and lackluster demand for loans, sources familiar with the bank's thinking said.