The offensive to recapture Mosul from Islamic State jihadists has so far progressed faster than planners anticipated, but military experts fear the fighting could get tougher as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces enter the city.

Iraq's Christian community is one of the oldest in the world and the loss of what was once its largest town, Qaraqosh, to the Islamic State group two years ago was a major blow.

News that the town was poised to be recaptured from the jihadists sparked jubilation among Christians who had fled, with many dancing and singing in the city of Arbil.

Just three months after seeing off a failed coup, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has put right back at the top of the agenda a plan to increase his powers through constitutional change.

The plan to create a presidential system means Turkey is likely to be heading to a referendum in the first half of next year, analysts say.

The battle for Mosul is a chance for President Barack Obama to claim an election-year victory over the Islamic State group in Iraq and offset failures in Syria.

Ask the White House about the slow motion catastrophe in Syria and, more likely than not, officials will talk about the different -- if related -- problem of the Islamic State group.

A multitude of rival authorities and factions are contesting power amid the anarchy that has gripped Libya since its 2011 revolution which ousted longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Below is list of the main warring forces.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov meet on Saturday in Lausanne in the latest bid to ease the bloodshed in Syria.

UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura will also attend, along with the chief diplomats from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces.

State television threatens the West with nuclear weapons, the Kremlin halts a disarmament treaty, the army warns of shooting down US jets. As ties between Russia and the West have once again slumped, rhetoric in Moscow has peaked.

Whoever occupies the White House next, he or she will inherit one of the most complex and brutal crises in the world: the war in Syria.

With Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies Russia and Iran dug in, neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump has articulated a comprehensive or realistic proposal that would address the multiple strands of the conflict.

For the second US presidential debate, Sunday night in St Louis, the pressure is squarely on Donald Trump, who needs a moment of political magic to reverse his slide in polls barely four weeks from Election Day.

- Donald Trump -Even though the Republican candidate trails Hillary Clinton in the polls, he wasted opportunities to regain the advantage over his Democratic rival in their September 26 showdown. 

The Nobel Peace Prize, awarded Friday to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos despite a popular rejection of the terms of his deal with FARC rebels, has highlighted fragile peace processes several times in the past.