Cyprus politicians Thursday agreed to set up an investment fund as part of a Plan B to secure a bailout deal with eurozone lenders, while ruling out a tax on bank deposits that sank an earlier deal.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard faced down a leadership challenge Thursday, emerging victorious from a party vote after former leader Kevin Rudd made a last-minute decision not to run.

US President Barack Obama arrived in the West Bank on Thursday to a more prickly welcome from Palestinian leaders than the warm embrace he won in Israel the day before.

Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan called Thursday for a ceasefire in the 29-year-conflict with Turkey and for rebel fighters to withdraw.

President Bashar al-Assad called the more than two-year deadly conflict in Syria a "battle of will and resistance," in remarks published in newspapers on Thursday.

Asian markets were mixed Thursday as Chinese data showing manufacturing activity in the world's number two economy picked up in March, while Tokyo was lifted by renewed weakness in the yen.

Syrian opposition leader Soheir Atassi of the Syrian National Coalition grouping said on Thursday she was rejoining the body a day after abruptly "freezing" her membership.

African Union forces battling Islamist insurgents in Somalia are preparing troops to take over should Ethiopia withdraw more soldiers from the region, their commander said Thursday.

Cyprus was on Thursday fine-tuning a "Plan B" aimed at securing a eurozone bailout that the European Central Bank warned should be adopted by the weekend to avoid a banking meltdown on the debt-hit island.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday slammed violence against civilians, including Gaza rocket fire after two projectiles hit Israel as US President Barack Obama visits.

A Nigerian Islamist group warned against the use of force to free a French man and six members of his family kidnapped in Cameroon in a video aired on Thursday.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame said Thursday all support would be given to ensure the swift extradition of Democratic Republic of Congo warlord Bosco Ntaganda to the International Criminal Court.

Zimbabwe will hold elections by June 29 to end a shaky unity government formed four years ago between President Robert Mugabe and his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, state media reported on Thursday.

North Korea on Thursday threatened strikes on US military bases in Japan and Guam, escalating tensions as suspicion deepened that Pyongyang was behind a cyber attack on South Korean broadcasters and banks.

Two rockets fired by militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Thursday hit southern Israel as US President Barack Obama was visiting the Jewish state, police said.

Zimbabwe will hold elections by June 29 to end a shaky unity government formed four years ago between President Robert Mugabe and his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, state media reported on Thursday.

Jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan was set to call a "historic" ceasefire on Thursday, raising expectations for an end to a three-decade conflict with Turkey that has cost tens of thousands of lives.

Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Thursday that the Cyprus debt crisis poses a "systemic risk" that threatens to ricochet right through the eurozone.

President Barack Obama travels to the West Bank on Thursday to meet Palestinian leaders dismayed by his failure to meet expectations that he could help deliver them a state.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto urged his countrymen to give his anti-crime strategy one year to bear fruit as the wave of violence persisted, with gunfights, police killings and terrorized parents pulling kids from school.