Syria's Kurdish-controlled northern regions voted to seek autonomy on March 17, drawing rebukes from the Damascus government, neighboring power Turkey and Washington over a move that could complicate UN-backed peace talks.

President Barack Obama imposed sweeping new sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on March 16 intended to further isolate the country's leadership after recent actions by Pyongyang that have been seen by Washington and its allies as provocative.

Leaders of the European Union meet in Brussels on March 17 to agree on a deal to offer Turkey the following day that would secure Ankara's commitment to a scheme intended to halt migrant flows to the Greek islands.

Canada will campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council in 2021-2022, new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on March 16, seeking to repair battered relations with the world body.

Russian warplanes flew home from Syria on March 15 as Moscow started to withdraw forces that have tipped the war President Bashar al-Assad's way, and the UN envoy said he hoped the move would help peace talks in Geneva.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un said his country would soon test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, DPRK's KCNA news agency reported on March 15. 

Hundreds of migrants marched out of a Greek transit camp, hiked for hours along muddy paths and forded a rain-swollen river to get around a border fence and cross into Macedonia, where they were detained on March 14, authorities said.

President Vladimir Putin announced out of the blue on March 14 that "the main part" of Russian armed forces in Syria would start to withdraw, telling his diplomats to step up the push for peace as UN-mediated talks resumed on ending the five-year-old war.

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un said his country would soon conduct a nuclear warhead test and test launch ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the official KCNA news agency reported on March 15.

President Barack Obama believes Congress will lift an embargo on Cuba under the next president, whether a Republican or a Democrat, he said in an interview with CNN Espanol that was broadcast on March 14.