DUBLIN, Jan 17 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in Ireland's newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy:

THE IRISH TIMES

- DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley will retire as a Westminster MP at the British general election now widely expected in the summer of next year, The Irish Times has learned.

- The Fine Gael front bench has decided to lodge a formal complaint with the Standards in Public Office Commission about the Taoiseach's tax compliance, following the disclosure that he does not have a tax clearance certificate.

- Facebook, the rapidly growing social networking website, is considering Ireland as the location for its European hub. Executives from the company have met providers of business and technology services in Ireland in recent weeks.

IRISH INDEPENDENT

- Dublin has been named alongside London as the "cleanest" of 26 cities examined for pollution linked to premature death.

- Taoiseach Bertie Ahern met political leaders in Tanzania yesterday and then pledged 170 million euros in direct aid for the country.

- The pension funds of Irish private sector workers have shed 4 billion euros of their value in the first two weeks of the year alone, it emerged last night. The losses this year so far match the damage done to private pensions for all of 2007.

IRISH EXAMINER

- Up to 23,000 vehicles classified as "write-offs" in Britain have been imported into Ireland and issued with Irish registrations in recent years.

- Carlow actress Saoirse Ronan's dizzying rise in the film world continued yesterday when she was nominated for a BAFTA gong for her role in the acclaimed film Atonement.

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