Syria peace talks due to begin in Geneva this week look set to struggle, with the sides showing no sign of compromise over the issue at the heart of the five-year-long conflict: the future of President Bashar al-Assad.

Gunmen from al Qaeda's North African branch killed 16 people, including four Europeans, at a beach resort town in Ivory Coast on March 13, the latest in a string of deadly attacks that have confirmed the Islamists' growing reach in West Africa.

A car bomb tore through a crowded transport hub in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on March 13, killing at least 34 people and wounding 125 in the second such attack in the administrative heart of the city in under a month.

Germans vote in three regional state elections on March 13, with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives at risk of setbacks that would weaken her just as she tries to push through a deal to resolve Europe's migrant crisis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 12 called for world powers to take "immediate punitive steps" against Iran, following its ballistic missile tests last week.

Syria's main opposition group said it would attend peace talks on March 14 but accused the government of President Bashar al-Assad of preparing to escalate the war to strengthen its negotiating position.

The United States will raise during UN Security Council consultations next week the issue of Iran's recent ballistic missile launches and is urging countries to cooperate on undermining Tehran's missile program, the US envoy to the United Nations said on March 11.

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s leader Kim Jong Un watched a ballistic missile launch test and ordered the country to improve nuclear attack capability by continuing to conduct more tests, the official KCNA news agency reported on March 11.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has reacted to Iran's recent ballistic missile tests by urging Tehran to act with moderation and restraint and to avoid increasing regional tensions, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said March 10.

President Barack Obama and new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 10 ended a frosty period in bilateral ties by agreeing to tackle climate change and strive to settle a long-lasting trade dispute over Canadian softwood lumber exports.