WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States, responding to a surge in Haitian immigrants, will end special protections for them dating back to a 2010 earthquake that devastated that nation, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Thursday.

GENEVA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The United Nations hopes countries backing the Syria peace process will agree on Thursday to salvage the ceasefire, enabling a return to peace talks within weeks, U.N. Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy said.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. class-action lawsuit over corruption at Brazil's Petrobras will not overshadow the state oil company's $74 billion, five-year plan to slash its crippling debt and refocus on its core business, chief executive officer Pedro Parente said on Wednesday.

WARSAW (Reuters) - The Polish government's tightened hold on public media, its conflict with the highest court and recent anti-terrorism legislation have jeopardized free expression in the country, according to Europe's main rights and democracy watchdog.

DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesian authorities on the resort island of Bali on Thursday detained a ship from Malaysia carrying around 30 tonnes of fertilizer which police believe may have been intended for making bombs.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's veteran finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, jumped to the defense of her conservatives' Bavarian sister party in the latest twist in a row over migrants that is damaging her re-election prospects.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - After a slow start, Indonesia's tax amnesty program has picked up pace with 100,000 Indonesians taking part and declaring more than $110 billion of assets, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is to make a renewed drive to overhaul labor laws, hoping to create millions of new jobs by making it easier to hire and fire, the labor ministry's top bureaucrat said on Thursday.

GUERNICA, Spain (Reuters) - At the back of a council building in the Spanish town of Guernica, people take photos of each other in front of an oak sapling, a direct descendent of sacred trees under whose branches village elders held assemblies in medieval times.