U.S.-led strikes against Islamic State group officials in Iraq and Syria are robbing the jihadists of one of their most valuable resources: experienced mid-level commanders.

Ten of the group's higher-ups, including one with "direct" ties to the alleged mastermind of the Paris attacks, were killed in air strikes in December alone, the U.S. military said.

President Francois Hollande's call for convicted terrorists to lose their French citizenship if they have a second nationality has triggered uproar among those who see him adopting right-wing ideas that recall dark moments in France's history.

Ever since the French Revolution in the late 1700s, "le droit du sol" ("the right of the soil") has been a fundamental principle, giving everyone born in the country the right to citizenship.

Here is a snapshot of events since a March 2013 coup in Central African Republic, which holds presidential and parliamentary elections Wednesday.

- March 2013: The fall of Bozize -

The Islamic State group's self-proclaimed "caliphate" is far from dead but back-to-back losses in Syria and Iraq have turned a series of setbacks for the jihadists into a losing streak.

IS's seizure of Ramadi in Iraq in May along with Palmyra in Syria sent the alarming signal that it could still expand a year after seizing swathes of the two countries.

Following the Iraqi forces' victory in Ramadi, here is a recap of key cities and towns in Iraq and Syria seized by the Islamic State group or recaptured from them.

- IRAQ -RAMADI: This Sunni Arab city 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Baghdad is the capital of Anbar, the country's largest province, which stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to just west of the capital.

In a year of crises for Europe, from the Ukraine war to Greece's debt turmoil to the historic refugee influx, Germany's Angela Merkel emerged as the continent's de facto leader, drawing more praise and fire than ever.

Whether spearheading EU diplomacy with Moscow, bargaining with Athens over tough bail-out terms or responding to the world's biggest refugee wave since World War II -- Merkel was in the middle, again and again.

The killing of Syrian rebel chief Zahran Alloush, fiercely opposed to both the regime and the Islamic State group, has eliminated a key bulwark against the jihadists and could derail U.N.-brokered peace talks, analysts say.

The head of Jaish al-Islam, the foremost rebel group in Damascus province, was killed on Friday in an air strike claimed by Syria's government.

It is a bitter Christmas for Elias Manna, who will celebrate alone for the first time because his five sons have left the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory hit by three wars since 2008.

"At first, they left to study there," Manna, 62, said as he stood before the large wooden cross in front of a church for Latin rite Catholics in Gaza City, explaining that his sons moved to Europe.

It was an irresistible promise: elect me, I'll bring back Japan's once-soaring economy and restore its battered national pride.

Three years later, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is facing the enormity of his grand ambitions, and the clock is ticking.

After years of tense relations with President Bashar Assad, Saudi Arabia has adopted a bolder approach towards Syria, prompted by rival Iran's growing regional influence.

The kingdom recently brought Syrian political and armed opposition factions together for unprecedented talks in Riyadh, the culmination of months of manoeuvring by the Sunni Muslim power.