UKRAINE
PARIS — In a new push for peace in eastern Ukraine, the leaders of France and Germany announced they were heading to Kiev and Moscow with a proposal to end the fighting. The surprise move Thursday came as the U.S. edged toward offering Ukraine lethal military aid.
SOCHI-COSTLY LEGACY
SOCHI, Russia — The ski jump sits shrouded in mist, its coat of snow undisturbed by any athletes hurtling down the ramp to take off into the air. A year ago, the jump bustled with activity at the Sochi Olympics as the world's best ski jumpers — including women, for the first time — competed for gold. But it made some unwanted history as well, becoming a stark symbol of how some of the plans for President Vladimir Putin's $51 billion Winter Games went terribly wrong. By Nataliya Vasilyeva.
GREECE-BAILOUT
ATHENS, Greece — Jittery investors dumped Greek shares Thursday after the European Central Bank tightened the screws on the country's banking system, in a move that piles pressure on the new anti-austerity government to swiftly conclude a compromise deal with bailout creditors.
EUROPE-ECONOMY
BRUSSELS — The European Union has grown a little bit more positive about the 19-country eurozone following the recent sharp declines in the price of oil and the euro. In its winter forecast published Thursday, the EU's executive Commission is predicting that the eurozone will grow by 1.3 percent in 2015, up from the 1.1 percent estimate in November.
EBOLA
LONDON — The number of Ebola cases in West Africa has gone up for the first time this year, the World Health Organization says, warning that the coming rainy season could complicate efforts to contain the disease. In an update published online Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said there were 124 confirmed cases last week, up from 99 the week before.
FRANCE-TERROR FILMING BAN
PARIS — Fearing that actors could be mistaken for police — and chase scenes confused for the real thing — Paris is sharply restricting filming of action movies in the city that been the stage for some of film's most memorable high-octane sequences. Filming outside scenes with police, army or security services was quietly banned after the attacks in the French capital that left 20 dead, including three gunmen.