Britain is looking to sell the Royal Bank of Scotland as quickly as possible, Chancellor George Osborne told the Financial Times on Thursday.

Osborne told the newspaper he hoped to sell the bank "as quickly as we can get rid of it" after the May general election, and that the public "want to see they get their money back" but that it could take years.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish prohibition on agricultural work every seventh year could be a boon to struggling farmers in the Gaza Strip, Israel's defense ministry announced Thursday.

Israel will import produce from the besieged Palestinian territory for the first time in seven years, the body responsible for coordinating Israeli government activity in the Palestinian territories (COGAT) said.

The euro slumped to an 11-year-low against the dollar and stocks finished up on Thursday after the European Central Bank said it will begin a 1.1-trillion-euro bond buying program next week.

The euro sank to $1.0988 -- Its weakest level since September 2003 -- after trading at $1.1080 late in New York on Wednesday.

Turkish lira struck to a new record low for a third consecutive day on Thursday as the government stepped up pressure on the central bank to lower interest rates, damaging investor confidence. 

The lira briefly broke through the psychological barrier of 2.6 to the dollar, before recovering back to 2.5943 in afternoon trade. 

Britain's Serious Fraud Office is investigating money-market auctions launched by the Bank of England during the financial crisis, the central bank has said, dealing another blow to the City's reputation.

The bank said that it had commissioned an inquiry into "liquidity auctions during the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008," and had referred the results to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in November.

China unveiled a fresh double-digit spending boost for its military -- the world's largest -- on Thursday with a 10.1 percent increase in 2015, as it pursues a series of territorial disputes with its neighbours.

Beijing plans to raise its military spending to 886.9 billion yuan ($141.4 billion), according to a budget report to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the communist-controlled legislature.

The European Central Bank, meeting in Cyprus on Thursday, is set to update its economic forecasts and reveal details of its new bond purchase program, analysts said.

Greece will also be high on the agenda of the ECB's decision-making governing council, following the recent eurozone deal to extend aid to the debt-wracked country, the experts said.

The IMF on Wednesday ruled out a fresh bail-out for Sri Lanka, which had hoped to secure loans of more than $4.0 billion to restructure expensive debt taken on by the previous regime.

Much of the country's post-war infrastructure under the administration of former president Mahinda Rajapakse was funded with Chinese debt and the new government had hoped to retire some of those loans.

French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday his government would find 4 billion euros in "new savings" this year to meet demands from Brussels. 

"If Brussels asks for 4 billion more to respect our obligations in reducing the public deficit, they will be found with new savings," said Hollande in an interview with daily Le Parisien.

South Korea's Finance Minister Choi Kyung-Hwan voiced deflation concerns Wednesday after inflation last month hit its lowest level in more than 15 years, despite record low interest rates.

"Concerns about deflation are worrying due to a prolonged period of low inflation," Choi was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as telling a forum in Seoul.