Taliban militants stormed an Afghan court on Wednesday, killing at least 44 people in a bid to free insurgents standing trial, officials said, in the deadliest attack for more than a year.

It was not immediately clear whether the accused men had escaped the court complex in the western town of Farah, although a hospital doctor said one prisoner was among those being treated for injuries.

Ukraine's high court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by former interior minister Yuriy Lutsenko, a close ally of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, against his four-year jail term for abuse of office and embezzlement.

The High Specialized Court of Ukraine confirmed the sentence, meaning that Lutsenko, who has complained of health problems, will stay in prison until the end of December 2014, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

French President Francois Hollande vowed Wednesday that a new law on the "publication and control" of ministers' wealth would be presented within weeks, after his ex-budget minister was charged in a tax evasion probe.

Hollande said the former minister, Jerome Cahuzac, "did not benefit from any protection" from top officials and that his actions were an "insult to the Republic".

A Spanish judge named King Juan Carlos's daughter Princess Cristina as a suspect in a corruption case on Wednesday, dealing a spectacular blow to the prestige of the royal family.

It is first time a member of the Spanish royal family has been called to appear in a court of law on suspicion of wrongdoing.

Turkey said Wednesday it has set up a consultative body of "wise people" to help shape public opinion on the latest peace process with Kurdish rebels.

The initiative -- which involves an array of figures including popular actors and singers -- follows a ceasefire call last month by jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Nelson Mandela is "much better" and responding satisfactorily to treatment after a week in hospital suffering from pneumonia, the South African presidency said Wednesday.

The frail 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero is steadily improving and doctors are happy with his progress, President Jacob Zuma's office said in a statement.

The discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb unearthed near Berlin's main train station snarled rail and road traffic in the German capital Wednesday, authorities said.

"The bomb was found yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon on property belonging to the rail company," a police spokesman told AFP, adding that sappers planned to defuse it Wednesday.

There is no consensus on an international arms trade treaty, major weapons exporter China said Wednesday, after it abstained as the U.N. General Assembly passed the measure by 154 votes to three.

The only votes against the first treaty on the conventional arms trade were from Syria, North Korea and Iran.

A Thai marine has been abducted and killed in Thailand's deep south in a revenge attack by militants who carried out a botched raid on a military base, police said Wednesday.

Maela Tolu, a 24-year-old Muslim private at the base, was snatched from his home by eight gunmen on Monday evening, his wife told police in Narathiwat, one of several insurgency-plagued provinces near the Malaysian border.

Four sisters in north India have suffered burn injuries after two men threw acid on them as they were returning from school, police said on Wednesday, with one victim admitted to hospital.

The incident took place in the Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital, on Tuesday evening when the sisters, three of whom are teachers, were returning home from a government school.