Jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan called Thursday for a new ceasefire, telling his fighters to lay down their arms and withdraw from Turkish soil, raising hopes for an end to a three-decade conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives.

The United Nations will investigate whether chemical weapons have been used in the Syria conflict, UN leader Ban Ki-Moon announced Thursday.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was unexpectedly hauled back before a judge Thursday over claims he accepted envelopes stuffed with cash from France's richest woman to illegally finance his 2007 election campaign.

Washington is still hoping for better ties with Venezuela even as the South American nation ratcheted up tensions by cutting off a channel of communications, a US official said Thursday.

Sri Lanka must launch an in-depth probe into claims that government troops killed 40,000 civilians during a 2009 offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels that ended its three-decade civil war, the UN Human Rights Council said Thursday.

The head of the International Olympic Committee's Evaluation Commission Craig Reedie said he is happy with the guarantees given by the Madrid 2020 bid team that the Spanish economy could support hosting the Olympics.

The United Nations on Thursday said it will for the first time establish a commission of inquiry into grave human rights violations in North Korea that may amount to crimes against humanity.

Myanmar must launch an independent investigation into reports of widespread human rights violations, the United Nations' top human rights body said Thursday.

Iran's supreme leader on Thursday signalled openness for the first time to US offers to hold direct talks on his country's disputed nuclear drive, but voiced pessimism over the chances of a breakthrough.

London shares closed lower on Thursday as traders looked past positive economic data to focus on bleak eurozone news, notably fallout from the Cyprus bailout impasse.

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.

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.