The Muslim world on Thursday expressed hopes for better ties with the Vatican under new Pope Francis, after years of strained relations with Benedict XVI who was seen as hostile to Islam.

The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, came out with similar statements expressing this sentiment as they welcomed the Argentine's election.

Thousands of protesters rallied in Brussels on Thursday to vent their anger at austerity measures and press EU leaders gathered for a summit to focus on investing in jobs.

Organizers said 15,000 people took part in the rally in the Cinquantenaire park a short walk from European Union headquarters, where the bloc's 27 leaders began a two-day summit late Thursday.

At least six people, including two soldiers, were killed when an armed gang attacked a village in strife-prone western Ivory Coast, an officer of the Republican Army (FRCI) said Thursday.

"An attack against the village of Zilebly overnight on Tuesday led to the death of six people, including two members of the FRCI," the officer said, asking not to be be named.

Two senior officials at Iran's Press TV whom the EU has slapped with sanctions have criticized the bloc over the move, in comments published on the English-language channel's website on Thursday.

The European Union on Tuesday added Press TV's chief Mohammad Sarafraz and newsroom director Hamid Reza Emadi to its blacklist against Tehran for grave human rights violations, subjecting them to an EU travel ban and asset freeze.

Indian officials have freed 51 children kept in "pathetic conditions" in the city of Jaipur amid suspicions they were held as part of a human trafficking racket, officials said Thursday.

The state-funded Rajasthan Commission for Protection of Child Rights said 27 girls aged between seven and 17 years were among the children found on Tuesday in two homes.

China, which has long had strained ties with the Vatican in a dispute about authority over Catholics in the country, said Thursday it hoped newly elected Pope Francis would take a "practical and flexible" attitude.

"We hope that under the leadership of the new pope the Vatican will adopt a practical and flexible attitude and create conditions for the improvement of China-Vatican relations," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan has warned troops that they face an increased threat of attack after a series of inflammatory anti-U.S. comments by President Hamid Karzai.

NATO's International Assistance Security Force (ISAF) on Thursday confirmed the contents of a strongly-worded advisory sent by U.S. General Joseph Dunford to his senior commanders on Wednesday.

Pope Francis, Latin American's first pontiff, visited a Rome basilica on Thursday at the start of a papacy looking to bring the Catholic Church closer to ordinary people.

The 76-year-old former archbishop of Buenos Aires and railway man's son, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, prayed at Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore basilica to kick off his first full day as the head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

Thailand and one of several rebel groups in the country's Muslim south will open peace negotiations in Malaysia on March 28 to try to end a bloody insurgency, a Thai official said Thursday.

Thailand and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) rebel group signed an agreement in Kuala Lumpur two weeks ago, pledging to open talks on ending a nine-year revolt by a number of shadowy insurgent groups that has claimed more than 5,500 lives.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has overseen a live-fire artillery drill near the disputed sea border with South Korea, state media said Thursday as the South's prime minister visited the flashpoint area.

The Yellow Sea border has witnessed bloody North-South clashes in the past and, with military tensions at their highest level for years, is seen as the prime location for another confrontation.