UKRAINE

MINSK, Belarus - Guns will fall silent and heavy weapons will pull back from the front under a peace deal hammered out Thursday in all-night negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany. The deal was full of potential pitfalls, however, that could derail its implementation. By Yuras Karmanau and Vladimir Isachenkov.

UKRAINE-IMF

BRUSSELS - The International Monetary Fund has agreed with Ukraine on a new bailout deal worth 15.5 billion euro ($17.5 billion) that could climb to around $40 billion over the next four years with help from other lenders like Europe and the U.S. Ukraine has so far received $4.6 billion as part of a $17 billion aid package from the IMF agreed on last year, but that program has run into trouble as the war ravaging the country's eastern region has weighed on its economic prospects. 

EUROPE-TERROR

BRUSSELS - Galvanized by the recent terror attacks in France, European Union leaders on Thursday debate a range of ambitious steps to better protect their 28 nations, including exchanging airliner passenger manifests, tightening controls at the border and combating extremism on the Internet.

GREECE-BAILOUT

BRUSSELS - Talks between Greece and its eurozone creditors broke down early Thursday without even a plan of action on how to move forward on the country's debts and bailout, but markets were buoyant on hopes that a deal will be reached in time for Greece to avoid a potential exit from the euro. Following an emergency meeting of the eurozone's 19 finance ministers in Brussels, the two sides failed to even issue a statement, a sign they will need to yield some ground if a compromise deal is to be reached at a follow-up meeting on Monday. 

SPAIN-TOXIC CLOUD

MADRID - Spanish authorities ordered the residents of five northeastern towns to stay indoors for some two hours Thursday after a chemical explosion at a warehouse spread a large, orange toxic cloud over the area. A spokeswoman for Catalonia's regional firefighting department said the blast occurred when products being delivered to a warehouse in the city of Igualada became mixed, exploded and set a truck on fire. She said two people were slightly injured. 

VATICAN-REFORM

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Thursday urged his cardinals to cooperate in reforming the outdated and dysfunctional Vatican bureaucracy, saying the overhaul will help him govern the Catholic Church better and spread the faith more effectively. Francis summoned cardinals from around the world to hear proposals for revamping the central government of the 1.2-billion-strong church. The proposals include merging offices and reducing waste. 

EUROPE-PRESS FREEDOM

PARIS - Reporters Without Borders says Russia, the United States, Japan and many parts of Europe lost ground last year in its barometer and ranking of global press freedoms.The Paris-based media watchdog said two-thirds of the 180 countries in its World Press Freedom index fared worse than in 2014. It cited a context of war, the rise of non-state groups and economic crisis. 

SWEDEN-RATE CUT

STOCKHOLM - Sweden's central bank has cut its key interest rate to a record low -0.1 percent and launched a program of government bond purchases worth 10 billion kronor ($1.2 billion) to stimulate the economy. The Riksbank on Thursday lowered the key interest from 0 percent, in the first change since October, saying there is a risk that inflation, which it believes has reached its lowest point, will not rise fast enough.