The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has its roots in the late 19th century when Jews fleeing anti-Semitism in Russia and central Europe began emigrating to Palestine.

Islamic State militants, routed from one urban stronghold after another in Syria, have recently been moving deeper into Syria's remote desert, where experts say they are regrouping and preparing their next incarnation.

The Sunni militants' self-proclaimed "caliphate" with its contiguous stretch of land — linking major cities such as Syria's Raqqa and Iraq's Mosul — may have been vanquished, but many agree this territorial defeat will not mark the end of IS.

Spain's Senate is due Friday to approve drastic measures allowing the central government to seize direct control of Catalonia as it tries to stop regional leaders from pressing ahead with independence.

Spain's Senate is set Friday to approve a series of measures to take over Catalonia's regional powers, as the central government takes drastic action to halt moves towards independence.

The measures have been drafted by Madrid under the never-before-used Article 155 of the constitution, devised to rein in rebel regions.

The Islamic State group's empire has shrunk fast this year but the rump of its "caliphate" on the Iraq-Syria border is a hostile jihadist heartland where competing regional interests converge.

The desert towns of al-Qaim and Rawa near Syria's border in the Euphrates Valley, where Iraqi forces launched operations Thursday, constitute the final Islamic State group bastion in the country.

The battle between Spain's central government and the separatist leaders of Catalonia escalates day after day, forcing Catalan society to take a stand.

A century ago, on October 25, 1917, Lenin's Marxist Bolsheviks took control of Russia's imperial capital, launching the October Revolution that led to the creation of the Soviet Union.

The Islamic State group's former Syrian stronghold Raqa has been captured, but it lies ruined, littered with explosives, and lacking electricity or running water for residents desperate to return.

Aid groups and the United Nations say clearing and rebuilding what was once the jihadist group's de facto Syrian capital will be a massive, expensive effort, and it could be months before life resumes.

Catalonia's government has until 0800 GMT on Thursday to tell Madrid whether or not he is declaring independence from Spain.