SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc pulled a listing on Wednesday for a Nike Inc t-shirt displaying the phrase "Boston Massacre," citing the online marketplace's policy against "offensive materials."

The t-shirt was listed for sale earlier this week on eBay and received bids of more than $150,000, according to bid history on the company's website.

The t-shirt refers to the rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox baseball teams and has images of red blood spattered on the word Boston.

In the wake of the Boston Marathon attack, Nike pulled all the shirts from stores, but a used one turned up on eBay.

An eBay spokeswoman said the shirt was removed because it violated a company policy that bans listings of items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance, or promote organizations with such views.

EBay will also remove listings that graphically portray graphic violence or victims of violence, unless they have substantial social, artistic, or political value, according to the policy.

A check on Wednesday afternoon by Reuters confirmed that the listing was taken down.

(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

(Reuters) - Business software maker BMC Software Inc, whose anemic growth has been a source of frustration for its largest shareholder, said it would be taken private by a group led by Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital for about $6.9 billion.

Elliott Management, which owns 9.6 percent of BMC and had been pushing for a sale for more than a year, had argued that BMC's management was neglecting the huge opportunity to expand into the fast-growing cloud computing market.

"Going private will be very positive for them because it will enable them to make the changes that were necessary, that were much difficult when you are a public company," Lazard Capital Markets analyst Joel Fishbein said.

BMC has some catching up to do in a market now dominated by Salesforce.com Inc and where Oracle Corp, SAP AG and Microsoft Corp are investing heavily.

BMC's revenue is expected to have grown just 3 percent in the year ended March 31 to $2.23 billion, after growth of just 5 percent the previous year. BMC reports fourth-quarter results on Tuesday.

The deal represents this year's largest "pure" leveraged buyout so far.

Michael Dell has teamed up with private equity firm Silver Lake to take Dell Inc private for $24.4 billion, yet that buyout firm accounts for only a quarter of the equity in the deal. Earlier this year, Warren Buffett agreed to buy ketchup maker Heinz for $23 billion with private equity firm 3G Capital being a minority investor.

In BMC, private equity saw a company with stable cash flows and a lot of potential to leverage. The company has net debt of just $151 million, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Elliott, Paul Singer's activist hedge fund, succeeded in adding two directors to BMC's board last year after a proxy battle.

The hedge fund firm, founded by the billionaire Singer in 1977, had also criticized BMC's "ineffective" merger and acquisition strategy, arguing the company took too long to make acquisitions and paid too much.

The offer price of $46.25 per share represents a premium of less than 2 percent to BMC's Friday close of $45.42.

Elliott will make about a 20 percent return on its initial investments in BMC. It first bought shares of the company in early 2012 in the high $30s, and started agitating for a sale of the company in May of that year.

The stock has risen 4.5 percent since March 21, when Reuters reported that private equity groups were looking to buy the company.

BMC shares were trading at $45.50, up 8 cents, by midday on the Nasdaq.

STREAMLINING

BMC has two main divisions. The enterprise services management business manages networks, databases and storage and brings in nearly two-thirds of total revenue, but has stagnated over the years.

The mainframe services management unit, which helps automate data center operations, has grown slowly but is a cash cow that could help the new owners maximize profits.

The private equity group also includes GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd, part of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, and Insight Venture Partners, a New York investment firm that focuses on software and internet businesses.

"I think they will streamline the business, focus on the higher growth areas, either divest or spin off some of the unproductive businesses," Fishbein said, adding that he expects it will take 12-18 months to "right-size" the business.

Under the sale agreement, Houston-based BMC has a "go-shop" provision that allows it to seek alternative proposals within 30 days. Analysts said it was unlikely BMC would get better offers.

BMC, which also competes with CA Inc and Compuware Corp, said the deal is expected to close later this year. Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets and Barclays have agreed to provide debt financing for the deal.

Morgan Stanley & Co LLC and BofA Merrill Lynch were financial advisers to BMC, while Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was legal counsel.

Qatalyst Partners, Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets and Barclays served as financial advisers to the buyers, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel.

Sidley Austin LLP was legal adviser to GIC and Willkie Farr & Gallager LLP was legal adviser for Insight Venture Partners. Moelis & Co advised Elliott Management.

(This version of the story corrects paragraph 23 to show Moelis advised Elliott, not BMC.)

(Additional reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Aditya Kondalamahanty in Bangalore, Nicola Leske, Nadia Damouni and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Marguerita Choy)

With the exception of Broadway debutant Tom Hanks, the acting categories were mostly filled by established theater creatures such as Laurie Metcalf, Amy Morton, Laura Osnes, Nathan Lane, Tracy Letts, David Hyde Pierce and Kristine Nielsen.

Hanks, who earned a best actor nod playing gutsy New York City newspaper columnist Mike McAlary in the late Nora Ephron's "Lucky Guy," joked that he was out of his league and that to win he'd have to beat Lane and Pierce.

"Olivier and Gielgud!" Hanks exclaimed. "It's such a thrill and a delight to be included with these guys." He added: "This makes me both giddy and nervous, and it could not be more special."

The awards will be broadcast on CBS from Radio City Music Hall on June 9. The snubs of big-name actors may mean a less starry telecast.

Stage veterans littered the play and musical categories, including the tight race to be crowned best musical. The leading contenders "Kinky Boots" and "Matilda: The Musical" are both stories that celebrate the little guy.

"Kinky Boots" is based on the 2005 British movie about a real-life shoe factory that struggles until it finds new life making fetish footwear. Cyndi Lauper's songs and a story by Harvey Fierstein both nominated have made it a crowd-pleaser.

"When we were writing this, I kept thinking 'I don't know if this show is going to be any good, but at the very least I think I've discovered a new Broadway composer,'" Fierstein said of Lauper, who was writing songs for the stage for the first time. "I could hear it. My feeling is Cyndi's going to be around for a while."

The show earned a leading 13 nominations, including sets by David Rockwell, directing and choreography by Jerry Mitchell, and nominations for its two leading men, Billy Porter and Stark Sands. Annaleigh Ashford earned a featured role nomination.

Close behind with 12 nominations is "Matilda: The Musical," the witty, dark musical adaptation of the novel by Roald Dahl that is still running in London.

"Matilda" earned nominations for Peter Darling's choreography, Matthew Warchus' directing, Chris Nightingale's orchestrations, Dennis Kelly's book, Tim Minchin's lyrics and songs, and Bertie Carvel for best leading role in a musical.

Carvel, who also played the evil headmistress Miss Trunchbull in London, said he is enjoying his time in New York, although he did admit to being nervous about how Americans would react. "I feel like I've landed on happy shores," he said. "The show is in great shape. People are loving it."

"Matilda" was one nomination shy of "Kinky Boots" and could have caught up if the four girls who rotate as the lead Sophia Gennusa, Oona Laurence, Bailey Ryon and Milly Shapiro landed a best actress nod. But they were deemed ineligible.

Both "Kinky Boots" and "Matilda" will duke it out for the best musical prize with the acrobatic "Bring It On: The Musical" and "A Christmas Story, The Musical," adapted from the beloved holiday movie.

The nominations Tuesday proved that recognition for theater work is not easy for stars. Midler, appearing on Broadway for the first time in 30 years, got nothing despite being in a one-woman show. And Johansson and Chastain, Hollywood princesses, were greeted with a Broadway shrug.

The best play nominees are Richard Greenberg's "The Assembled Parties," Ephron's "Lucky Guy," Colm Toibin's "The Testament of Mary" and Christopher Durang's "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike."

In addition to Hanks, nominees for leading actor in a play are Lane for "The Nance," Pierce from "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike," Tom Sturridge from "Orphans," and Letts from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

"Lucky Guy" got six nominations, including a best featured actor nod for Courtney B. Vance. He and Hanks were among the few actors in the production to work with Ephron before her death last year. "She'd be ecstatic. She'd be grinning ear to ear," Vance said. "And she is, right now."

The best musical revival candidates are "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella," ''Annie," ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood" and "Pippin," which nabbed 10 nominations.

Patina Miller, last on Broadway as the heroine of "Sister Act," stepped into the Ben Vereen role of Leading Player in "Pippin" and earned her second straight nomination.

The first time, she said, "I was so nervous about saying and doing the right things. This time, I've enjoyed it, I've been given a great opportunity and I want to keep enjoying it. Not a lot of people get to experience something like this."

The producers of "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" saw both their Cinderella Laura Osnes and her prince Santino Fontana nominated for leading roles in a musical.

"I'm floating on air! I think I am over the tears now," said Osnes. "I started crying when Santino's name was called. So I was already crying when they called mine. I am just so thrilled, so excited."

Candidates for best leading actress in a play include Metcalf of "The Other Place," Morton in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Nielsen of "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike," Holland Taylor in her one-woman show, "Ann," and Cicely Tyson in "The Trip to Bountiful." With such talent on show, notably squeezed out were Fiona Shaw of "The Testament of Mary" and Jessica Hecht in "The Assembled Parties."

Durang, the playwright of "Vanya and Sonia," wrote parts in it for both Nielsen and Weaver.

"We're both really lucky to have someone of his caliber that would even think of putting words in our mouth," Nielsen said. "I wish he were here to put words in my mouth today!"

The revival of Clifford Odets' "Golden Boy," a play about a young man torn between his natural talent as a violinist and the fast money and fame of being a boxer, earned eight nominations, the most for any play.

Richard Greenberg's "The Assembled Parties," a New York City drama concerning the power of familial bonds, earned three nominations, including ones for Judith Light, scenic design and best play.

"It's been so luxuriously treated by this production," the playwright said. "It was given such care and attention. I think you only get something that unblemished once. And so I'm relishing it."

Kenneth Posner had a great morning. The lighting designer got three of four slots for "Kinky Boots," ''Pippin" and "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella." He will face off against Hugh Vanstone, the lighting designer for "Matilda: The Musical."

Playwright Douglas Carter Beane earned a best book nomination for the lush, big musical "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella," but not for his more intimate play "The Nance," although it earned five nods. A veteran, he rolled with it Tuesday morning.

"You just have to really enjoy it when you get nominated and you have to just not care when you're not," he said. "It's one of those little rules you learn. Like, only read the reviews that they put outside the theater."

The hit-stuffed "Motown: The Musical," about Motown Records under founder Berry Gordy, earned four nominations, including Valisia LeKae as Diana Ross and Charl Brown as Smokey Robinson.

LeKae, who was an understudy or swing in four other Broadway shows, is making her Broadway debut as a leading lady and said everything in her life has prepared her for the role. She grew up listening to Ross and performing her songs.

"It's very interesting the way life works out. I left 'The Book of Mormon' last year in March and I was a swing for the show," she said. "It's amazing how life can change in a matter of a year's time. You can be swinging one year and be nominated the next."

Shalita Grant, who plays a housekeeper convinced she can see the future in "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike," was woken by her publicist with the news that she's landed a features actress nomination. Unlike her character, she never expected it.

"I did not think this was going to happen with all of the people, with all of the shows, with all of the names. I've only been on Broadway for like two months. I'm like, 'I don't see this in my future,'" she said, laughing. "You know what? We'll just hope for the best. There's a quote that I love, which is, 'If you shoot for the moon, you can usually clear the trees.'"

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AP Entertainment Writer Frazier Moore and AP National Writer Jocelyn Noveck contributed to this report.

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Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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Online: http://www.TonyAwards.com

NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) - For years, Apple Inc was a stock investor's dream regardless of the market environment. But now concern about the iPhone maker's growth has made many investors wary about a big share swing after its earnings are released on Tuesday.

Options pricing on Friday suggested a post-earnings move of about 7.5 percent by April 26. That is far more than in the past and reflects the fact that Apple stock has become more volatile.

The company, once the world's largest by market value, saw its shares close below $400 on Thursday for the first time since December 2011. It has shed nearly $300 billion in market value since peaking at $705.07 a share in September.

"Being a bear on Apple used to be a lonely position. The tables have turned," said Enis Taner, global macro editor at options research firm RiskReversal.com in New York.

A 7.5 percent swing for Apple would be the fourth largest one-day post-earnings move in the last five years, according to research firm Birinyi Associates. That could take shares as high as $419.20 or as low as $360.80, based on the weekly $390 "straddle" expiring on April 26, which cost $29.20 on Friday.

Traders use prices on the straddle to estimate the market's view of the potential range of a stock going into an event such as earnings. A straddle combines the purchase of a call option and put option with the same strike price and expiration date.

A move of 7.5 percent would exceed the average move in Apple after its earnings, which in the last eight quarters has been 5.4 percent. Apple's biggest post-earnings swing was a 12.4 percent drop on January 23 of this year.

Apple is expected to report an 8 percent increase in quarterly revenue, among the weakest displays of quarterly growth in years, according to estimates. Earnings per share are expected to fall 18 percent as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and other rivals erode market share for phones and tablets and put downward pressure on margins.

Because the stock was such a stalwart, investors for years knew it was difficult to go against the crowd. Between July 2009 and November 2012, short interest - the percentage of shares borrowed by investors who "short," or bet against, the stock - on Apple never exceeded two percent of the company's shares outstanding. At the current 2.1 percent, Apple's short interest is still lower than 55 percent of U.S. companies, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine.

Expectations of how much the stock is likely to move in coming weeks have also increased. Apple options show implied volatility for the next 30 days was 43.5 percent on Friday, according to data from options analytics firm Livevol.

That implies about a 4 percent move in the stock in either direction in the next month, said Livevol managing director Ophir Gottlieb.

Historic volatility for Apple for the 30-day period over the past year was about 34 percent. It has been rising over the past several months.

Many analysts still expect the stock to rebound because of still-strong demand for Apple's products. But there are many institutions that own shares bought at higher prices and they might remain a source of selling pressure if buyers surface, said Phil Erlanger, president of institutional research firm Phil Erlanger Research in Acton, Massachusetts.

"The problem for Apple is that those that have hung onto their shares after September will represent significant supply, which tends to squash any short-term advance," Erlanger said.

Apple is currently trading at nine times trailing earnings and 45 of 58 analysts polled by Reuters give the stock a "strong buy" or "buy" rating. According to Thomson Reuters Starmine, Apple's intrinsic value - a price target based on expected growth rates over the next decade - was about $565 a share.

The stock closed 0.4 percent lower on Friday at $390.53.

(Reporting By Angela Moon and Doris Frankel; Editing by David Gaffen and Andre Grenon)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - States and casinos racing to legalize online gaming may find some unwelcome visitors on their websites: product liability lawyers.

A group of 10 lawyers and academics with experience in prior liability cases met in Indianapolis in mid-April to discuss whether a lawsuit claiming online gaming further promotes gambling addiction has a shot at winning.

The legal strategy under consideration would be modeled on the class action lawsuits that forced cigarette companies to agree to pay $206 billion over 25 years to compensate for medical costs, caring for people with smoking-related illnesses, and to fund anti-smoking advocacy groups.

Boston-based lawyer Scott Harshbarger told Reuters that more than 20 attorneys from high-profile law firms were among those invited to the meeting in Indianapolis and who have been communicating for the past few months. The meeting was billed as a "gambling litigation study group," according to emails reviewed by Reuters.

Harshbarger, a former Massachusetts attorney general who led states' efforts against Big Tobacco, said he could not attend the Indianapolis meeting but is working with the group in studying the parallels with the gambling industry.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Fagan, who prosecuted 30 cases against offshore sports betting operations from 1997 to 2008, helped put together the Indianapolis meeting, according to one email. He declined comment.

The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that gambling addictions account for $7 billion a year in added health care and criminal justice system costs. Gambling industry critics argue that casino companies use deceptive practices to lure consumers, depend on addiction for profits and should be held liable for the billions of dollars in costs to society.

Gambling company representatives reject the charges, saying their industry has a history of acting responsibly and helps to identify customers who may need treatment.

"It's a government-approved, regulated product," said David Stewart, a Washington-based lawyer with Ropes & Gray and general counsel to the American Gaming Association (AGA). "Nobody's made Nordstrom reimburse somebody who is a shopaholic."

Previous lawsuits targeting traditional gambling have been thrown out by the courts, Stewart said.

"The legal arguments are flawed," he said. "It's gambling. And when you gamble, you lose."

ONLINE EXPANSION

Nevada became the first state to go live with online poker this week as Ultimate Gaming, a subsidiary of Station Casinos LLC, launched its Internet poker site Ultimate Poker in the state and began taking bets.

Ultimate Gaming CEO Tobin Prior said his company offers safeguards against problem gambling. "We offer an extensive array of limits that players can place on themselves as well as the option to opt out of betting entirely," he said.

But critics think betting and time limits should be mandated rather than options, and also have found fault with the enforcement of so-called "opt out" or self-exclusion programs.

New Jersey is expected to release regulations for online gaming in coming weeks. Massachusetts, California, Hawaii, Illinois and Mississippi are among states also considering online gambling.

MGM Resorts, Caesars and Wynn Resorts have all applied for Web operating licenses. All three companies deferred their comments to the American Gaming Association.

CRAPS AND CIGARETTES?

It was not clear how the Indianapolis group might deal with past precedents working against them, including a 2004 federal appellate ruling that millions of gamblers could not be declared a single class because each gambles for different reasons.

That ruling derailed a decade-old legal effort to prove slot machines were inherently deceptive devices.

The recent gathering, though, examined possible similarities between gambling addiction and addiction to cigarettes.

"Big product liability litigators are comparing Big Tobacco cases in depth with gambling cases involving casinos and addiction," said University of Illinois professor and author John Kindt, who attended the meeting in Indianapolis.

Critics claim that in addition to depending on addiction for profits, gaming companies pulled a page from Big Tobacco by running ads that glamorize their offerings and target youth.

Attorney Lori Stoltz of Canadian law firm Adair Morse LLP represents 10,000 problem gamblers in a suit against Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp, who claim they were exploited and suffered losses because government-owned OLGC did not prevent them from gambling despite their signing self-exclusion forms.

Stoltz was not at the meeting, but believes similar lawsuits are likely. "Self-exclusion and where there isn't appropriate follow through is one area that has come under challenge," Stoltz said, adding, "There's bound to be more litigation in this area."

Gambling proponents say it is impossible to measure the social costs of gambling addiction.

"We don't dispute but don't confirm the $7 billion (in estimated costs) because pathological gambling often occurs in individuals with other addiction issues and to specifically attribute the costs to one disorder is a leap," said American Gaming Association spokeswoman Holly Wetzel.

(Reporting By Susan Zeidler; Edited by Ronald Grover and Claudia Parsons)

Time Warner Inc., Viacom Inc. and Comcast Corp. all saw growth in their cable network businesses, thanks to distribution fees they charge cable and satellite TV service providers for rights to carry their channels on subscribers' lineups. Those fees get passed on to customers of cable and satellite service.

The boost in television helped make up for weakness at two of the three movie studios that reported results Wednesday.

The trends show how important such fees have become to the television industry. Revenue at Time Warner's television business grew, even with a decrease in ad revenue. Even broadcast networks such as CBS are increasingly relying on distribution fees to ride out fluctuations in the ad market.

The fees have become so vital that broadcasters are worried about the threat posed by a Barry Diller-backed startup called Aereo. The company sends over-the-air broadcasts over the Internet and bypasses traditional cable and satellite operators. Disputes over the fees have also led to high-profile blackouts of channels on cable and satellite lineups.

Time Warner, which owns channels such as TBS, TNT and HBO, credited the television division for a 24 percent growth in first-quarter net income to $720 million, despite a tiny drop in revenue to $6.9 billion that resulted from declines at the Warner Bros. studio and Time Inc. magazine businesses.

Revenue at Time Warner's television networks grew 3 percent to $3.7 billion. Network subscription revenue which includes the distribution fees grew 5 percent. Advertising revenue at the networks fell 1 percent despite higher ad rates, in part because of weakness at CNN and the shutdown of channels in India and Turkey.

Viacom's media networks unit, which includes MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, had a 2 percent increase in revenue to $2.2 billion. Digital licensing revenue fell because of the timing of available shows. Excluding that, domestic affiliate revenue primarily distribution fees saw percentage growth in the low double digits. Advertising rebounded as worldwide revenue grew 2 percent, compared with a 6 percent decline in the previous quarter.

The increases in television didn't fully offset weakness at the Paramount Pictures movie studio, though. Viacom's net income fell 18 percent to $478 million in the fiscal second quarter, as revenue fell 6 percent to $3.1 billion. Still, the earnings beat expectations. Viacom's main class of stock briefly hit an all-time high after the results came out.

At Comcast's cable networks, which include CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo and SyFy, revenue grew nearly 5 percent to $2.2 billion, largely because distribution fees went up nearly 9 percent. Ad revenue also went up, by 2.5 percent, because of higher rates, though that was offset by lower ratings and reductions in content licensing revenue.

Although Comcast's cable networks business benefits from higher distribution fees, those fees mean higher costs for Comcast because the company is also the nation's largest provider of cable-TV services to homes. But companies such as Comcast make up for that by charging consumers more on monthly bills. Comcast's cable TV subscribers paid an average of $3.40 more per month in the first quarter compared with the same period last year. Some of that increase is from upgrades to more expensive packages. Overall, net income rose 17 percent to $1.4 billion.

The quarter was mixed for studio production.

Time Warner said the studio division was successful with television productions, including hits such as "Revolution" on NBC and "The Following" on Fox. But revenue at the studio fell 4 percent to $2.7 billion. Time Warner said "Gangster Squad" and "Jack the Giant Slayer" fell short of expectations in theaters and the company had fewer TV shows available for licensing abroad. Time Warner did benefit from the home releases of "Argo" and "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" and from a new studio tour in London tied to the "Harry Potter" franchise.

Revenue at Viacom's Paramount Pictures studio business fell 20 percent to $941 million, largely because it's compared with a 2012 quarter that included proceeds from "Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol."

Comcast's movie unit did well. Revenue at the Universal Pictures studio increased 2 percent to $1.2 billion, thanks to "Les Miserables," ''Identity Thief" and "Mama."

In broadcast television, Comcast's revenue fell more than 18 percent to $1.5 billion because the quarter last year included the Super Bowl on NBC. Excluding the Super Bowl, which was on CBS this year, revenue fell 5 percent. Comcast blamed lower prime-time ratings at NBC and lower revenue from content licensing.

CBS Corp. was scheduled to report its results later Wednesday. ABC and ESPN owner Walt Disney Co. and Fox owner News Corp. are scheduled to report results next week.

Revenue at Time Warner's magazine business fell 5 percent to $737 million, as subscription revenue fell 11 percent. Time Warner plans to spin off the Time Inc. business into a separate publicly traded company by the end of the year.

During a conference call with analysts, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said the spin-off should leave the company stronger as "the leading pure-play video content company in the world." Without Time Inc., he said, the company will get about 90 percent of profits from television the cable networks and television production at Warner Bros.

With video consumption, subscriptions and rates all growing worldwide, Bewkes said, "we think that's a very good place to be."

Time Warner expects further growth in distribution revenue next year as the Turner channels including TBS, TNT and TruTV benefit from new deals with higher rates.

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AP Technology Writers Barbara Ortutay and Peter Svensson in New York contributed to this story.

PARIS (Reuters) - France's Francois Hollande said he was undeterred by a first year in power marked by economic slowdown and a record slump in his personal popularity, arguing his 5-year presidency would achieve results over time.

In comments to correspondents from Reuters and Agence France Presse a week before the anniversary of his May 2012 election win over Nicolas Sarkozy, Hollande shrugged off polls showing his popularity rating around 25 percent, after the sharpest fall for any president in over half a century.

"I'm aware how serious the situation is. It's a president's duty to stay the course and to look beyond today's squalls. It's called perseverance," Hollande said.

"People can criticize my decisions, think I am on the wrong track or have not taken the right route, but if there is one thing I am sure of it's that I have taken major decisions for France - many more in 10 months than were taken in 10 years."

Hollande, France's first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand, is squeezed between a business sector clamoring for lower taxes and labor costs, euro zone partners pressing for budget cuts and households hostile to austerity measures.

He said he would persevere with measures to restore growth like corporate tax credits aimed at easing headcount costs and a labor reform set to become law in May.

"It's the president who is held to account, and that's quite legitimate. It's up to me to weigh up what I need to do for the country today. To remain in control by being sure of my ideas."

RALLY THE NATION

After his campaign pledges to revive the flagging industrial sector, end a relentless rise in unemployment and meet deficit-cutting targets, Hollande has had to row back on almost all his economic targets, as factory layoffs continue apace.

While he stands by a goal to turn around unemployment by year-end, few believe he can achieve that. Jobless claims rose for the 23rd straight month in March to an all-time high.

Treading a delicate line as he attempts step-by-step reforms that were not part of his election campaign, Hollande said the country should have faith in him.

"The only thing that counts is the results. I have made promises and I will be judged on them," he said. "My hope is to rally the nation and restore confidence. That will take time, but it's my sole objective."

His economic woes aside, Hollande is also suffering from a perception that since he took power France is losing its voice on European policy. His prime minister said this month that France was losing its leadership role.

Foreign investors are watching closely since the government admitted it would need an extra year to reach a European Union budget deficit ceiling of 3 percent of output.

Inside France, where a scandal over an ex-budget minister's secret Swiss bank account has not helped, polls show a slim majority of people would prefer Sarkozy to be president today.

"I realized a long time ago that I would not go far if I let the commentary get to me," Hollande said. "According to what was said about me as a candidate, I had no chance of becoming president."

(Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

LONDON (Reuters) - "Know that we will not lay down our arms once Afghanistan is free." The fight must be pursued to liberate "the defenseless Muslims of the world" from Kashmir to Palestine to Samarkand, the speaker said.

It was 1988, a conference in Gujrat in Pakistan's Punjab province; a time when the enthusiasm of the anti-Soviet jihad fused with internationalist causes popular among Arab fighters and the Pakistani backers of the mujahedeen to forge the ideology of al Qaeda.

The speaker was Jalaluddin Haqqani, patriarch of one of the most formidable fighting forces in Afghanistan.

The story is told in an account of Haqqani's links with al Qaeda in a book published this month: "Fountainhead of Jihad: The Haqqani Nexus 1973-2012," by Vahid Brown and Don Rassler.

Based partly on new primary sources, the book highlights one of the big failures of the Afghan war. Meant to defeat al Qaeda, the war has failed to break the resilience of the group with which it has the closest ties - the so-called Haqqani network.

As a result, western hopes that talks with the Afghan Taliban might persuade them to break with al Qaeda in return for a share of power face a serious flaw.

Al Qaeda is, and always has been, based in Haqqani territory, and the Haqqani network is excluded from those talks after Washington designated it a terrorist organization last year.

Western officials have long said the ties between the Haqqanis and al Qaeda make it hard to include them in a political settlement - contradicting Pakistani assertions they could play a useful role in Afghanistan after most foreign combat troops withdraw at the end of 2014.

But "Fountainhead of Jihad" is unusual in detailing quite how close those ties are.

"I was surprised at how often Jalaluddin Haqqani appeared as playing a vital role in al Qaeda's history," Brown told Reuters. "The Haqqanis were everywhere."

Western officials have been holding intermittent talks with the Taliban that could lead to them opening a political office in Qatar, paving the way for more substantive negotiations.

But in a war where power is seeping out from Kabul to autonomous local actors, no one has worked out how to deal with the Haqqanis - beyond U.S. drone strikes - to ensure they do not provide a growing safe haven for al Qaeda on either side of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Based partly in North Waziristan but with business links running deep into Pakistan and the Gulf, the Haqqanis have managed to keep on the right side of the Pakistan army by focusing on Afghanistan, while retaining ties with the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), waging war on the Pakistani state.

Such is their position at the center of the Islamist network that Pakistan could face rising TTP attacks were it to push the Haqqanis too hard. "They can't go after them in a direct way without a serious backlash," said Brown.

Washington has also accused the Pakistan army of using the Haqqanis to promote Pakistan's interests in Afghanistan, a charge it denies.

PLATFORM FOR VIOLENCE, SANCTIONED BY ISLAM

The book characterizes the Haqqanis both as providers of safe haven and "a platform for the delivery of violence". This enabled them to amass wealth and power by providing services to a variety of players, from their alleged state sponsors in the Pakistan military, to al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

But as far back as the 1970s - when their secure base in southeastern Afghanistan made them useful allies for Pakistan to counter a hostile government in Kabul - the Haqqanis were always more than guns for hire.

"The Haqqanis' brand indicates a fountainhead of jihad', of violence specifically sanctioned by Islam," the book argues.

Crucially, the Haqqanis historically developed an outlook on global jihad which influenced al Qaeda as much as the Arab organization influenced the Afghan mujahideen.

During the anti-Soviet jihad, Jalaluddin Haqqani was the first Afghan Islamist known to have actively recruited Arab fighters into his ranks.

He was also the first to declare the Afghan jihad a duty for Muslims worldwide - preceding by at least four years the Palestinian scholar Abdullah Azzam whose 1984 writings are credited with being the foundation of modern global jihad.

In the mid-1980s, it was in Haqqani-dominated territory that Osama bin Laden established his first base in Afghanistan; it was through the Haqqanis that Arab fighters found their way to the battlefield; it was into this fervent atmosphere of jihad that al Qaeda would be born "in a form that was and remains to this day inextricably bound up with the Haqqani network."

When the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, came under pressure from the United States to curb al Qaeda in the 1990s, bin Laden was able to use his relationship with the Haqqanis to resist their attempts to restrict his activities.

It was from Haqqani-controlled territory that bin Laden declared a jihad against "the Jews and Crusaders" in 1998.

The book's authors make no definitive claims about whether the links between the Haqqanis and al Qaeda can be broken, but conclude "such change would mark a significant break with the group's trajectory over the last two and a half decades."

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)