There were conflicting reports early on Thursday that the leaders of Russia and Ukraine were about to sign a joint document on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine after lengthy talks in Minsk, also including the leaders of France and Germany.

(image: Reuters)

As yet, no details of the contents of the document have been made public.

Ukraine’s President Poroshenko had warned earlier that the conflict was close to spiraling out of control if a ceasefire cannot be reached.

Meanwhile,  the IMF said it was “very close” to finalizing a economic bailout agreement for Ukraine. The IMF’s managing director Christine Lagarde  is set to give further details at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday morning. The Ukrainian central bank said it would also hold a briefing in Kiev.

* WORLD * A large, sombre crowd gathered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for a candlelight vigil to mourn three young Muslims who were shot to death on Tuesday night at an apartment complex near the UNC campus. A 46-year-old man surrendered to authorities and has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Uncertainty remains, however, over a motive for the killings.

(Image: MSNBC)

Despite “constructive” late-night talks in Brussels, there was no agreement between Eurozone officials and the Greek government over the country’s bailout arrangements. Talks will resume on Monday, with Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis “hopeful” on the conclusion of a “healing deal.”

Opposition politicians in South Africa have threatened to disrupt President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation speech on Thursday over questions about the use of taxpayer money in the renovation of Zuma’s private residence.

A court in Seoul found a former Korean Air executive guilty in South Korea‘s infamous “nut rage” case. Heather Cho faces a jail sentence for “obstructing aviation safety.”

* POLITICS * President Obama asked Congress for a three-year authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against ISIS and its “associated forces”, but ruling out “sustained large-scale ground combat” such as the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Josh Rogin at Bloomberg View writes:

The president has crafted the bill so it can engender bipartisan support on Capitol Hill while still preserving an enormous amount of flexibility on the battlefield without micromanagement from Congress, one senior Republican Senate aide said. More Republicans are likely to support an AUMF now that the president has requested it formally, the aide added, warning that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and other hawks will still object to the ground-force limitations.

With what could be months of hearings on the legislation to begin soon, John Cassidy at the New Yorker writes why the politics of the debate “aren’t entirely clear-cut.” Some in the President’s own party attacked “broad and vague” language in what they called a “carte blanche” expansion of military authority,” while Republican House Speaker John Boehner said: “I’m not sure the strategy that has been outlined will accomplish the mission the President says he wants to accomplish.”

President Obama will on Thursday sign the long-awaited Veteran Suicide Prevention bill  – known as the Clay Hunt bill. The president will be introduced by one of Clay Hunt’s close military friends.

The House passed the Keystone XL pipeline bill on Wednesday, setting up a showdown with President Obama, who has indicated he would veto it.

Jeb Bush’s campaign staff is trying to clean up the effects of its email dump this week, which made public the personal information of constituents who had contacted him, or as Gizmodo put it, Jeb Bush Just Basically Doxxed Thousands of Floridians.

While apparently not wanting to talk foreign policy while overseas, Wisconsin Gov Scott Walker also chose to “punt” on the question of evolution Wednesday.

In ‘not really getting it,’ someone at the DSCC thought it might be a good idea to try to fundraise off Jon Stewart’s announcement that he was leaving The Daily Show. Fox News, meanwhile, used Brian Williams’ suspension to attack Hillary Clinton, and so it goes.

Which brings us to…

* MEDIA *  As the NBC Nightly News began the process of scrubbing Brian Williams’ presence, David Carr at the New York Times writes about the similarities between Williams and Jon Stewart – “real news that became too fake; fake news that became too real.”

Still, it was not enough for him [Williams] to be the No. 1 anchor of the No. 1 news program in America. Perhaps he sensed that he was king of an entropic kingdom imprisoned by incontinence and cholesterol ads. As the ever more manic news cycle whirred around his evening newscast, it would be hard not to feel a little beside the point.

Meanwhile, John Oliver might think twice before taking aim at another Ecuadorean clown…

Two Al Jazeera journalists who were jailed in Egypt last year along with the recently-released Peter Greste will appear in a Cairo court for a retrial on Thursday.

Netflix briefly “released” season three of House of Cards, successfully getting everyone to talk about it, before pulling it, tweeting:

This is a nicely constructed piece by Reeves Wiedeman in Popular Mechanics on How The New York Times Works.

Finally, longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon died on Wednesday night following a car accident in New York City. Simon, a veteran war correspondent, was 73.