LUXEMBOURG, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The European Union's top court took a step toward confirming the removal of Hamas, as well as the Tamil Tigers, from an EU terrorism blacklist despite protestations from Israel and the Sri Lankan government.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Britain lost 40 percent more money through fraud in its overseas aid programs in 2015/16 compared to the previous year, data shows, with the rise attributed to better reporting of its misappropriated funds, according to government officials.

HANOI (Reuters) - A well-known Vietnamese political blogger and his assistant lost their appeal on Thursday when a higher court upheld their jail terms and reaffirmed they had abused their freedom and hurt the state's interests.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's inflation rate eased more than expected in mid-September as food prices fell, underscoring bets on an imminent interest rate cut by the central bank.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Within one week in July the Sydney suburb of Rhodes was transformed from a quiet neighborhood to what resident Joyce Wong described as a "place of carnage" with hundreds of people wandering around like "zombies".

ANKARA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Turkey's army returned fire at Islamic State targets in Syria after a rocket hit the Turkish border town of Kilis, the military said in a statement on Thursday.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German governing parties have agreed to tighten up tax breaks for people who inherit firms in a reform to a law that also aims to protect jobs, officials said on Thursday, ending a bitter dispute that has lasted nearly two years.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Thursday it was looking into whether to take action against former EU commissioner Neelie Kroes for failing to declare a directorship of an offshore firm in the Bahamas.

OXFORD, England, Sept 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The planet could pass a key target on world temperature rise in about a decade, prompting accelerating loss of glaciers, steep declines in water availability, worsening land conflicts and deepening poverty, scientists said this week.