Venezuelan electoral authorities are due to meet Monday to rule on the opposition's bid for a referendum on removing President Nicolas Maduro from power amid an economic implosion.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) left the opposition hanging last Tuesday, its original deadline to rule on whether Maduro's opponents had successfully gathered 200,000 signatures on a petition to make the leftist leader face a recall vote.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's key ally in Bavaria distanced himself again on Saturday from her welcoming policy towards migrants in the wake of a series of brutal attacks in the country.

Al-Nusra Front, whose leader on Thursday announced its break from al-Qaida, is a well-organized, battle-hardened jihadist group allied with rebels fighting the Syrian regime.

On the subject of women in politics, Hillary Clinton is fond of quoting the words of another illustrious first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, who once said: "You need to grow a skin as thick as a rhinoceros."

When out on the stump, in cafes, and rallies across the country, Clinton talks of the adversity she has faced down over the course of four decades in public life.

On a recent Sunday in southern Egypt, dozens of Coptic Christians gathered for mass next to the charred remains of a wooden structure they once used as a chapel.

The failed coup of July 15 left the Turkish army humiliated and weakened at a time when it must tackle the twin challenges of fighting guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group.

Venezuelans seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro expect a crucial ruling Tuesday on whether their efforts to remove him in a referendum can proceed.

Here is a quick guide to the process:

More than his security forces, what saved Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the night of the coup attempt was the extraordinary devotion the charismatic strongman inspires among his followers.

In the tense hours when rebel troops attacked with fighter jets and tanks, and commandos were closing in on him, Erdogan called directly on the Turkish people to resist the mutineers.

For most people in Turkey, July 15, 2016 was just another brilliant summer day heading into a balmy night. Until around 10:30 pm.

Then came the F-16s roaring over Ankara, dropping bombs on targets including parliament. Tanks and heavily armed soldiers appeared on the Bosphorus bridges in Istanbul, where they were soon confronted by angry citizens.

The Islamic State group has claimed several high-profile attacks in the West that it appears to have inspired rather than planned, sowing fear and boosting its profile at low cost.

Such attacks require far less effort than planning and financing an operation in Europe or the United States and dispatching IS jihadists to carry it out, and also leave fewer signs for authorities trying to foil them.