PARIS/CAIRO Sept 17 (Reuters) - French investigators who found trace levels of the explosive material TNT on debris of an EgyptAir plane that crashed in May were prevented from further examining it, Le Figaro reported on Friday, a charge Egyptian officials denied.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamist militant group al Shabaab attacked a town in a region near Kenya's border, killing at least seven Somali soldiers, the group and Somali officials said.

JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's government said it was deeply concerned by the release of a report by U.S. group Sentry alleging corruption among top officials, saying such allegations would damage peace efforts in a nation which has been riven by war.

Reuters sports schedule at 0600 GMT on Saturday (times GMT):

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The spotlight will be on Syria when world leaders gather at the United Nations next week as the United States and Russia try to shore up a fragile truce deal and President Barack Obama pushes for a boost in global refugee aid.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior adviser to Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila said on Friday he was on a "pleading mission" to Washington to press U.S. officials to support talks between the government and opposition on setting up new elections and not to impose sanctions that could hurt the process.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari plagiarized quotes from U.S. President Barack Obama in a speech promising change in the West African country, his office said on Friday.

DAKAR (Reuters) - Protesters calling for Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to resign and hold elections burned tires on Friday in the streets of the opposition stronghold of Lubumbashi, and police fired tear gas to disperse them, U.N.-backed Radio Okapi reported.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday removed a defunct charity with links to Saudi Arabia from its sanctions blacklist as part of a settlement with the charity that ends a lengthy dispute arising from claims that it funneled money to terrorists, the Treasury Department said.