A ceasefire in Syria appeared to be holding on Thursday, as the Syrian government and its foes traded charges of trying to wreck U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan.

Renewed bloodshed on Thursday killed at least 23 people, putting to the test the hard-won ceasefire plan.

Poor Instagram users.

First, their beloved photo-sharing application moves from iPhone-only exclusivity to the Android phone masses. A week later, Facebook swallows up the tiny startup behind the app for $1 billion. The purchase sparked worries that Facebook might shutter Instagram or change it for the worse by harvesting their personal information or shoving ads into their carefully curated photo streams.

Luxury automaker BMW AG says its worldwide sales rose to a new record for the first quarter, fueled by rising deliveries in China and the United States.

The company said Wednesday that January-March deliveries by the BMW Group — which also includes the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands — were 11.2 percent higher than a year earlier at 425,528 vehicles.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will play an exhibition match at Real Madrid's football stadium, hoping for a crowd of 80,000 to watch tennis' top two players.

Madrid says on its website that the top-ranked Djokovic and local favorite Nadal will meet on July 14 at the Santiago Bernabeu, with proceeds going to the club's and Nadal's charity foundations.

It's a game that every Ukrainian knows about: The "Death Match" of 1942, when top Kiev football players trounced a team of Nazi occupiers and reportedly paid for it with their lives.

But Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday froze the release of a movie depicting that Soviet defiance of Nazi Germany because of concerns it could ignite explosive emotions just weeks before Ukraine co-hosts the 2012 European Championship.

Barcelona defender Eric Abidal underwent his scheduled liver transplant on Tuesday, as more than 70,000 Camp Nou fans paid tribute to the France defender during a 4-0 win over Getafe in the Spanish league.

Sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta told Canal Plus TV that Abidal was in hospital, undergoing surgery during the game.

A Korean Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Vancouver to Seoul was diverted to a nearby Canadian Forces base after the airline's U.S. call center received a bomb threat.

Korean Airlines said in a news release that the call center received the threat Tuesday about 25 minutes after take-off from Vancouver International Airport. Airline officials said they decided to turn the aircraft around.

Strangers donated the beautifully embroidered wedding dress, the two rings, the honeymoon time-share in Aruba. They acted quickly, too, because the bride was dying of cancer. Or so she said.

The state attorney general's office announced Tuesday that Jessica Vega, 25, has been indicted on charges of fraud and grand larceny for getting her "dream wedding" by falsely claiming she was dying of leukemia.

What about growing marijuana to pay off crushing municipal debt? One Spanish village put the idea to the vote Tuesday, and a majority of its citizens approved — but not the 75 percent needed.

The referendum in Rasquera, population 960, in the northeastern Catalonia region represented a quirky and legally touchy illustration of Spain's deep financial woes.

One of the best-kept secrets in television history has been revealed, with "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening pointing to Springfield, Ore., as the inspiration for the animated hometown of Homer and his dysfunctional family.

Groening told Smithsonian magazine, published online Tuesday, that he was inspired by the television show "Father Knows Best," which took place in a place called Springfield. Springfield, Ore., is 100 miles south of Groening's hometown of Portland.