World leaders pledged over $10 billion (9.0 billion euros) Thursday to help conflict-hit Syrians at a London conference overshadowed by the breakdown of peace talks in Geneva.

The European Union, Germany, Britain and the United States were among the biggest donors to provide food, education and job opportunities for Syrians in their homeland and neighboring countries where they have fled.

Germany on Wednesday called a set of EU proposals to keep Britain from leaving the bloc "ambitious" but said it was still reviewing the package ahead of a crunch summit this month.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters that the plan presented by EU president Donald Tusk Tuesday was "an ambitious package that addresses Prime Minister (David) Cameron's key demands".

Germany opened Monday its first shelter for gay and lesbian refugees, as fears grew over threats to sexual minorities in overcrowded accommodations.

The new housing in southern Germany's Nuremberg can host up to eight people, said Michael Glas, who runs an association called Fliederlich that started the initiative.

The German and Italian leaders Friday pledged to tackle Europe's migrant influx but failed to resolve discord on an EU deal with Turkey to limit arrivals, a day after Berlin moved to tighten asylum rules.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said that, with 2,000 new asylum seekers entering the Balkans every day, the European Union "urgently" needs to implement a deal that asks Turkey to better protect its borders in return for financial support.

Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Thursday criticized Franco-German dominance in EU decision-making, especially on the refugee crisis, speaking on the eve of a Berlin visit.

Renzi stressed that he holds German Chancellor Angela Merkel in high esteem, but also made the case for a bigger role for Italy and other European Union members in jointly tackling European crises.

An 11th German victim has died of her injuries from a suicide bombing this month in the heart of Istanbul blamed on the Islamic State group, authorities in Berlin told AFP Thursday.

"I can confirm that a woman wounded in the Istanbul attack died Tuesday in a Berlin hospital," a police spokesman in the German capital said.

Germany's domestic intelligence service warned Wednesday of a rise in the number of radical Islamists, as well as of far-right extremists furious over a mass influx of mostly Muslim refugees.

Around 790 Islamic extremists have now traveled from Germany to the battlefields of Syria and Iraq, and of these about one third had returned, the service said in a report.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet Wednesday agreed to make it easier to expel foreigners who have committed crimes, in the wake of a spate of sex assaults on New Year's Eve blamed on migrants.

Police investigating the crime spree in the western city of Cologne have said the suspects were mostly asylum seekers and illegal migrants from North Africa.

Germany's military is overstretched and underfunded as its troops are engaged in anti-jihadist missions from Syria and Afghanistan to Mali while also aiding refugees at home, the defense commissioner said Tuesday.

Plagued by a series of defense equipment failures, the military is "at a crossroads" and has reached "the limit of its capacity for interventions", said Hans-Peter Bartels.

While Germany is still taking in around 2,000 refugees a day, it is now denying entry to about 200 others daily at its borders, the interior minister said Sunday.

The tighter border controls come after the EU's top economy last year took in a record 1.1 million refugees and migrants, straining resources and sparking heated political debate.