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PARIS (Reuters) - France will do everything to protect its interests in Niger after an attack on a uranium plant run by nuclear reactor maker Areva near the northern town of Arlit earlier on Thursday, French President Francois Hollande said. "We will have the same will to co-operate (with Niger) to fight against terrorism and will also protect our interests," he told reporters. "Everybody should know that we will let nothing pass and support Niger's authorities to end the hostage taking and annihilate the group that carried out these attacks. ...

PARIS (Reuters) - Areva said one person was killed in an attack at its Somair mine near Arlit in northern Niger earlier on Thursday. The French nuclear reactor maker said 14 other people had been injured and transferred to the local hospital. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by John Irish)

PARIS (Reuters) - A uranium mine in northern Niger run by French nuclear reactor maker Areva is "badly damaged" and has stopped production for the moment after it was attacked earlier in the day, Niger government spokesman Marou Amadou said on Thursday. Speaking on France Inter radio, Amadou said the crushing and grinding units at the Somair mine near Arlit had been particularly hit. "It's enough to stop the mine for now," he said. ...

By Martin Santa BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Bosnia is falling behind on commitments to human rights and the rule of law, making its chances of joining the European Union increasingly remote, according to EU officials and lawmakers. In a debate on Thursday, members of the European Parliament agreed that the former Yugoslav republic had not gone far enough in fighting corruption, implementing European rights law or carrying out constitutional reforms. ...

ANKARA (Reuters) - A prominent figure in the Chechen diaspora in Turkey was shot at his Ankara office late on Wednesday, a North Caucasus refugee association said, the latest in a series of killings of Chechens and their sympathisers in the country in recent years. Many refugees and separatists have settled in Turkey from Russia's North Caucasus, which fought two bloody wars with Moscow in the 1990s, including opponents of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ex-rebel turned Kremlin loyalist, and the brother of Moscow's most-wanted militant leader Doku Umarov. ...

By Jonny Hogg GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Troubled eastern Congo has the best chance in years to secure a lasting peace but the United Nations stands ready to pacify the region by force if need be, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday. Fighting that erupted on Monday near Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's largest city, has killed at least 20 people and ended an uneasy six-month calm between the army and fighters from the M23 rebel group. ...

David Cameron has insisted the UK will not be divided by the horrific murder of a serving British soldier on the streets of London.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday called on Europe to act decisively to boost its economy and counter the risk of a protracted stagnation that would undermine economic growth in America. "Decisive action is needed now to restart demand and avoid the risk of protracted stagnation," U.S. Treasury Under Secretary Lael Brainard told U.S. lawmakers. Speaking for the administration of President Barack Obama, Brainard said Europe should rethink a broad push toward fiscal austerity, saying some countries should be given more time to get their budgets in order. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund's executive directors retain confidence in the ability of IMF chief Christine Lagarde to do her job despite a court case in which she faces questioning over a payout to a businessman during her time as French finance minister, an IMF spokesman said on Thursday. ...

KIEV (Reuters) - A Kiev court on Thursday banned what would have Ukraine's first gay pride event after city authorities raised security concerns. There is little public acceptance of homosexuality in predominantly Orthodox Ukraine, as in other former Soviet republics; last week, large crowds of protesters broke up gay rights rallies in Georgia and Russia. A spokeswoman for the organisers of Saturday's Equality March, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals, said activists would find another way to express "our protest, our view on what is going on with human rights in Ukraine". ...

By Angel Krasimirov SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's largest party GERB declined on Thursday to try to form a new government, opening the way for the rival Socialists to put together a technocrat administration and end a political impasse. Seeking to break a deadlock that could undermine the European Union's poorest economy, President Rosen Plevneliev immediately passed the baton to the Socialists, whose proposed government could be voted on next week. ...

By Niklas Pollard and Philip O'Connor STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The scene of Sweden's worst riots in years, Husby is on the surface at least a typically neat suburb of colourful playgrounds, manicured parks and low rise apartment buildings. Conversations with residents of this immigrant neighbourhood soon bring tales of fruitless job hunts, police harassment, racial taunts and a feeling of living at the margins that are at odds with Sweden's reputation for openness and tolerance. ...

By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights investigator called on Thursday for all states to declare a moratorium to prevent so-called "killer robots" being deployed on the battlefield. Christof Heyns, U.N. special rapporteur on executions, said that unmanned robotic weapons systems with varying degrees of autonomy and deadliness were being tested or used by the United States, Britain and Israel without debate on moraI and legal issues. ...

PRISTINA (Reuters) - A close wartime ally of Kosovo's prime minister was among five people arrested by European Union police on Thursday on suspicion of war crimes during a 1998-99 insurgency against Serbian forces. The EU police and justice mission in Kosovo, EULEX, did not release the names of those arrested, but a lawyer for Sami Lushtaku, mayor of the town of Skenderaj, said his client was among them and would appear in court on Friday. ...

By Claire Davenport and Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union lawmakers voted on Thursday to limit the scope of a proposed free-trade deal between Europe and the United States, backing French demands to leave out culture and potentially irritating Washington. The European Parliament, which can veto EU trade accords, voted 460 in favour and 105 against with 28 abstentions to limit Brussels' room for manoeuvre in talks on a deal that would encompass almost half the world's economic output. ...

By Poornima Gupta and Padraic Halpin SAN FRANCISCO/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Apple has operated almost tax-free in Ireland since 1980, welcomed by a government keen to bring jobs to what was then one of Europe's poorest country, former company executives and Irish officials have said. Chief Executive Tim Cook faced criticism from a Senate subcommittee in Washington on Tuesday over the iPad and iPhone maker's tax practices, which had been shrouded from full view behind secretive tax-exempt Irish-based corporate entities. ...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Job cuts in the Dutch civil service will go deeper than initially planned, affecting up to one in eight employees over the next five years as the Netherlands pushes ahead with austerity measures. Prime Minister Mark Rutte, re-elected in September, has had to cut billions of euros from the budget to bring the deficit down, although it is still expected to exceed the European Union's target of 3 percent of economic output this year and possibly next. ...

MILAN (Reuters) - The prosecutor in former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's sex trial has received a series of anonymous letters of threats, including one with two bullets, Milan's chief prosecutor said on Thursday. The letters against Ilda Boccassini have become more frequent since she requested a six-year jail sentence and a lifetime ban on holding public office for Berlusconi, Edmondo Bruti Liberati said. ...

By Siva Sithraputhran and Stuart Grudgings KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police arrested three opposition politicians and activists on Thursday and charged another with sedition, launching a crackdown on dissent three weeks after an election exposed deep divisions in the country and sparked a series of opposition protest rallies. The arrests and the charging of a student activist under the country's Sedition Act signal a hardening stance by the government after the May 5 poll, which it won in unconvincing style that has highlighted electoral system problems. ...

By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Thursday it hoped an initiative could be agreed by the end of June to put the armed wing of Hezbollah on the EU's list of terrorist organisations on grounds the group is importing Syria's war into Lebanon. Paris has traditionally been cautious about backing steps to sanction Hezbollah, fearing it could destabilise Lebanon and put U.N. peacekeepers at risk, but in recent weeks has said it would consider all options. ...