European stock markets slid Thursday as disappointing eurozone data and the Cyprus bailout impasse overshadowed strong Chinese economic performance.

Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo's party announced Thursday it would boycott the regional and local elections scheduled for April 21, saying the vote would not be fair.

Cases of tuberculosis reached an all-time low in the United States last year, but the disease continued to affect minorities at much higher rates than whites, health authorities said Thursday.

Ireland's bailed-out economy grew by 0.9 percent in 2012 but stagnated in the final quarter of the year, official data for the troubled eurozone nation showed on Thursday.

The EU will put its controversial carbon tax on intercontinental airline flights on hold for a year to give time for international talks to reach a compromise on the issue, a European source said Thursday.

Spain's borrowing costs dipped in a bond auction Thursday, easing concerns that a feared banking meltdown in Cyprus could scare investors away from other troubled eurozone states.

Credit ratings agency Moody's said on Thursday it has downgraded Egypt's government bond ratings by one notch to Caa1 from B3, saying political instability had "significantly weakened" the economy.

Taiwan and China have agreed to consider exchanging liaison offices in yet another sign of warming ties between the former rivals, officials said Thursday.

Thailand plans to distribute about 1.7 million tablet computers to students and teachers this year in the world's largest handout of the devices for education, officials said Thursday.

Fiji's military leader on Thursday scrapped plans to hold an assembly to review a proposed new constitution, saying he wanted opinions directly from the people since opposition parties could not be trusted.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said on Thursday that Scots will vote on September 18, 2014 in a referendum on whether the country should be independent.

Congress approved a funding stopgap Thursday to keep the US government operating through September, while the House backed a Republican blueprint that lays out budget austerity for the next decade.

Russian state oil giant Rosneft announced Thursday the creation of the world's top listed oil firm as it sealed a $56-billion acquisition of the British and local stakes in the lucrative but strife-torn joint venture TNK-BP .

Celebrated Romanian novelist Mircea Cartarescu has told AFP, in an exclusive interview, of a "war" against intellectuals in his country.

US President Barack Obama used a major speech in Israel on Thursday to issue a new call on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down so his country's "future can begin."

Iran will "annihilate" the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa if it comes under attack by the Jewish state, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Thursday.

An Islamist activist on Thursday hacked the Facebook page of feminist group Femen's Tunisian branch and posted religious messages after images of two members of the group posing topless were published on the Internet.

Top Russian artist, Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe, who painstakingly transformed himself to resemble Adolf Hitler, Marilyn Monroe and Vladimir Putin for avant-garde photo performances, has died at 43, Russian news agencies reported Thursday.

The European Central Bank warned Thursday it was ready to pull the plug on emergency funding for Cyprus banks as the island's politicians scrambled to raise billions of euros to head off financial meltdown.

US President Barack Obama insisted on Thursday a two-state solution was still viable, but disappointed his Palestinian hosts by failing to take a clear stance on freezing settlement activity.