The European Union weighed imposing targeted sanctions on Ukraine on Wednesday as the country’s Health Ministry reported that 25 people had been killed and hundreds injured in clashes between police and protesters in the capital Kiev.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that EU member countries were expected to agree on the sanctions.

“We have ... made it clear that the EU will respond to any deterioration on the ground. We therefore expect that targeted measures against those responsible for violence and use of excessive force can be agreed by our member states as a matter of urgency,” Barroso said in a statement.

“We call on all sides to immediately put an end to the violence and engage into a meaningful dialogue, responding to the democratic aspirations of the Ukrainian people,” he said.

An EU official later said that European Union foreign ministers had been called to Brussels for an emergency meeting Thursday on the situation in Ukraine.

At least 26 people have been killed during clashes in Kiev over the past day, while another 240 people have been reported injured. Ukraine’s Health Ministry initially announced that 25 people had died, nine of whom were officers, but the police later said that a tenth had died of his wounds.

It is the worst violence the country has seen since demonstrations against President Viktor Yanukovich first erupted in November, after he backed out of a trade deal with the EU to negotiate a $15 billion financial aid agreement with Russia instead.

Unrest continues in Kiev

Kiev’s Independence Square, which has been at the heart of the protest movement for the past three months, looked like a battle zone on Wednesday with thick black smoke rising up from fires and makeshift barricades erected to protect the demonstrators.

Thousands of people remained camped out on the square, which is also known as the Maidan, despite a heavy police presence.

“It does look as though low-level clashes have just started up again, I wouldn’t call it anything like a new wave of storming of the square by the police,” FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Kiev, Gulliver Cragg, reported. “Protesters are protecting the part of the square that has not been destroyed by the police with a line of actual fire.”

In a statement posted online earlier in the day, Yanukovich said he had refrained from using force since unrest began but was being pressed by “advisers” to take a harder line.

“Without any mandate from the people, illegally and in breach of the constitution of Ukraine, these politicians - if I may use that term - have resorted to pogroms, arson and murder to try to seize power,” the president said.

He also declared Thursday a day of mourning for those who had been killed in the violence.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, REUTERS)

Bosnian protesters set ablaze local government buildings in three Bosnian cities on Friday as fury over unemployment and rampant corruption spread across the country in a third day of unrest.

Anti-government protests that began earlier in the week in the northern city of Tuzla continued to spread, with anger over corruption and an unemployment rate near 40 percent sending demonstrators out into the streets of a dozen cities.

Crowds stormed the local government building in Tuzla, throwing furniture, files and papers out of the windows and then setting the building on fire.

Protesters also set local government buildings ablaze in Sarajevo and Zenica, and the building of the Bosnian presidency was also burning. Those fires were promptly put out but almost all the windows were broken.

At least 80 people were injured in Sarajevo and 10 in Zenica, authorities said. There were no immediate casualty figures from Tuzla, scene of the worst of the fighting.

In an unprecedented move, hundreds gathered in the capital of the Bosnian Serb part of the country, Banja Luka, to express support for protesters in the country’s other ministate, which is shared by Bosniaks and Croats.

Support for protests spreading

“We gathered to support the protests in Tuzla where people are fighting for their rights,” said Aleksandar Zolja, an activist from Banja Luka.

The protests began with clashes between police and the unpaid workers of four formerly state-owned companies, which left some some 130 hurt, mostly from teargas.

The four companies employed most of the population of Tuzla. When they were privatised, contracts obliged the new owners to invest in them and make them profitable but they sold the assets instead, stopped paying workers and filed for bankruptcy.

The privatisation that followed the end of communism and the 1992-1995 Bosnian war produced a handful of tycoons, but almost wiped out the middle class and sent the working class into poverty.

Corruption remains widespread and the high taxes that fund a bloated public sector continue to eat away at paychecks.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

Obama and Hollande say trust restored after NSA spying

Obama: France is "not only America's oldest ally but one of our closest allies"

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• In pictures: US-French relations
• America's oldest ally in from the cold
• Hollande arrives for US state visit

US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande have reaffirmed their nations' alliance after revelations of US snooping.

On day two of his trip to the US, the French leader said at the White House that mutual trust had been restored.

Mr Hollande, who was greeted by a military honour guard and a 21-gun salute, attends a state dinner later.

Relations broke down in 2003 between the countries when France opposed US President George W Bush's war in Iraq.

At Tuesday's press conference, Mr Obama said they had forged bilateral ties "unimaginable even a decade ago".

New special relationship?

Standing by his side, the French leader said they had resolved their issues over digital eavesdropping by the US National Security Agency.

Continue reading the main story

State dinner menu

At Tuesday's state dinner, the first at the White House since 2011, guests will be served:

First course: American Osetra Caviar, Fingerling Potato Veloute, Quail Eggs, Crisped Chive Potatoes

Second course: White House's Winter Garden Salad

Main course: Rib Eye Beef, Blue Cheese, Charred Shallots, Oyster Mushrooms, Braised Chard

Dessert: Hawaiian Chocolate-Malted Ganache, Vanilla Ice Cream and Tangerines

"We wanted to fight against terrorism, but we also wanted to meet a number of principles," said Mr Hollande, who will be the first French president to be celebrated with an official state dinner in 18 years.

"And we are making headway in this co-operation. Mutual trust has been restored."

Mr Obama announced he had accepted Mr Hollande's invitation to go to France in June to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy during World War Two.

He chuckled when asked if US-French ties were now warmer even than the so-called special relationship between America and Britain.

Mr Obama said that France and England were both outstanding European partners and, just like his two daughters, he would never choose between either country.

The two leaders also discussed the conflict in Syria, a former French colony whose civil war both the US and France have been working to end.

Mr Obama registered "enormous frustration" over faltering peace talks.

He also threatened to "come down like a tonne of bricks" on any firms in violation of sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear programme.

Scandal

The American president was responding to a reporter's question about last week's trip by more than 100 French executives to Tehran, a trip the US state department described as "not helpful".

Mr Hollande said he had reminded those business leaders that sanctions remain in effect and no commercial agreements could be signed without a comprehensive nuclear deal.

French President Francois Hollande (centre) was treated to a military review on the White House south lawn

Mr Obama, meanwhile, praised France's military role in helping quell extremist violence in Africa. The US has provided some help in French missions to Mali and the Central African Republic.

The French leader later had lunch with Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry.

But the main event is Tuesday night's black-tie state dinner on the White House lawn.

More than 300 dignitaries and celebrities will dine on caviar, quail eggs and rib-eye steak, while dancing to the music of singer Mary J Blige.

On Wednesday, Mr Hollande, 59, will travel to San Francisco and meet chiefs of Silicon Valley giants including Facebook, Twitter and Google.

His long-time partner Valerie Trierweiler did not travel with him, after they split last month following reports he had an affair with an actress.

Following Mr Hollande's arrival on Monday afternoon, he and Mr Obama flew to Monticello in the state of Virginia.

They visited the home of Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of the US, an envoy to France and the third US president.

Mr Hollande (centre) will attend a sumptuous state dinner at the White House, decorated with French touches, but he is without a date after splitting from his girlfriend amid reports he had an affair

Mr Hollande was greeted with a 21-gun salute at the White House, before both leaders met two American military veterans who served in France during World War II

Mr Hollande - currently facing the lowest approval ratings recorded for a modern French leader - is under pressure to boost France's economy