Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin wanted Syria to prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections, as Moscow intensified its drive to convert its increased clout with Damascus into a political settlement.

Stone-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip during "Day of Rage" protests on October 23 while diplomats tried to end more than three weeks of bloodshed.

At least 41 people on a bus carrying elderly day-trippers were killed early on October 23 when the bus hit a truck head-on and caught fire, in France's worst road crash in more than 30 years.

Hurricane Patricia, one of the most powerful storms on record, struck Mexico's Pacific coast on October 23 with destructive winds that tore down trees, moved cars and forced thousands of people to flee homes and beachfront resorts.

US Secretary of State John Kerry on October 22 voiced cautious hope there may be a way to defuse Israeli-Palestinian violence that has killed nearly 60 people this month.

President Barack Obama vetoed a sweeping US$612 billion defense policy bill on October 22, returning the measure to the Republican-controlled Congress because of the way it uses money meant for war spending to avoid automatic budget cuts to military programs.

OPEC members Iran and Saudi Arabia, the top greenhouse gas emitters yet to submit national strategies for tackling climate change, say they will do so before a UN summit in December in a sign of widening participation even by oil producers.

More than 12,000 migrants have crossed into Slovenia in the past 24 hours and thousands more are expected, prompting authorities to ask the rest of the European Union (EU) -for help dealing with the flood of people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had told him he was ready to talk to armed opposition groups if they are genuinely committed to dialogue and to combating Islamic State.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council's Iran sanctions committee on October 21 notifying it of Tehran's recent missile test and demanded action in response to what they said was a violation.