German Chancellor Angela Merkel will try to soothe tensions over a deal meant to stem the flow of migrants to Europe when she visits Turkey this weekend.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria has vowed to take fragile peace talks into next week despite a walkout by the main armed opposition, a breakdown in a truce and signs that both sides are gearing up to escalate the five-year-old civil war.

Survivors of an earthquake that killed 570 people and shattered Ecuador's coast clamored for food, water and medicine on April 21 as aid eluded remote parts of the disaster zone.

Queen Elizabeth greeted thousands of well-wishers from across Britain and beyond as she celebrated her 90th birthday on April 21, demonstrating the world's oldest monarch's intent to keep doing the job she has performed for more than six decades.

US President Barack Obama made an impassioned appeal on April 22 for Britain to remain in the European Union, saying membership had magnified Britain's place in the world and made the bloc stronger and more outward looking.

Chad's incumbent president, Idriss Deby, an important ally of the West in the fight against Islamist militants, won a fifth term in office in a lopsided first-round victory, the Central African country's elections commission announced on April 21.

Talks aimed at ending Yemen's war opened in Kuwait on April 21, with Kuwait's top diplomat appealing to both sides to "turn war into peace" after more than a year of conflict which has killed more than 6,200 people and caused a humanitarian crisis.

US President Barack Obama met Saudi Arabia's King Salman on April 20 to seek joint action on security threats including Iran and Islamic State - and to talk through tensions between the two allies that have been laid bare in recent weeks.

The death toll from Ecuador's weekend earthquake surpassed 500 and rescue efforts ebbed on April 20 as the traumatized Andean nation braced itself for long and costly rebuilding.

Syria's fragile peace talks might not resume for at least a year if they are abandoned now, a senior Western diplomat warned on April 20, as the opposition urged more military support for rebels after declaring a truce was over.