An overpass under construction in the bustling Indian city of Kolkata collapsed on March 31 on to vehicles and street vendors below, killing at least 14 people with more than 100 people feared trapped.

Greece and Turkey are rushing through changes to their asylum rules in a race to implement a EU-Turkey agreement on the return of refugees and migrants from Greek islands to Turkey from April 4, EU officials and diplomats said.

The United States has told China it will not recognize an exclusion zone in the East Sea and would view such a move as "destabilizing," US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work said on March 30.

President Bashar al-Assad said it would not be difficult to agree on a new Syrian government including opposition figures, but his opponents responded on March 30 that no administration would be legitimate while he remained in office.

President Barack Obama will have the chance to decide on whether to increase the number of US forces in Iraq in the "coming weeks," the top US general said on March 30.

Five days before Turkey is due to begin taking back illegal migrants from Greece under a deal with the European Union, neither side is fully ready, with officials scrambling to be able to make at least a symbolic start as new arrivals rise.

The Obama administration ordered the families of US military and diplomatic personnel to leave parts of southern Turkey on March 29 and warned US citizens against travel to the region amid mounting security concerns.

An EgyptAir plane flying from Alexandria to Cairo was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus on March 29 by a man with what authorities said was a fake suicide belt, who was arrested after giving himself up.

By launching nuclear-capable missiles Iran has defied a United Nations Security Council resolution that endorsed last year's historic nuclear deal, the United States and its European allies said in a joint letter seen by Reuters on March 29.

Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes battled Islamic State insurgents around Palmyra on March 28, trying to extend their gains after taking back control of a city whose ancient temples were dynamited by the ultra-radical militants.