BBC News with Illy McKew.

Thousands of Iraqi government forces have advanced into a handful of villages on the opening day of an offensive to recapture the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group. A BBC correspondent saw weapons and ammunition abandoned by the Jihadist. The first target appears to be Mosul's airport. IS militants are fighting back.

Rebel factions in Syria that have supported recent peace moves say that an intensification of Syrian government bombing and shelling has put the current fragile ceasefire in jeopardy. Rebel groups say they reserve the right to respond the attacks denouncing them as a bloody message from what they called a criminal regime.

Sweden has asked the US State Department to explain what President Trump meant when he referred to an apparent attack in the Nordic country on Friday. The comments met with ridicule on Twitter with people listing imaginary situations including the former pop group Aba and the furniture giant IKEA.

Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has defended the president's use of the phrase, enemy of the people, to describe the US press. Mr. Priebus said too many news outlets were putting out fake news and not broadcasting the achievements of the administration.

At least 34 people are now thought to have died in a car bomb attack in the Somalia capital Mogadishu. The new President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed blamed the Islamist group Al-Shabab.

There's been an explosion near the bull ring in the Colombian capital Bogota.Many police officers were injured in the blast and one is reported to have been gravely wounded. They had been deployed ahead of expected protests against the latest Sunday bull fight.

And unauthorized protests against an unpopular tax on people who are seen asunder employed have spread from the Belarusian capital Minsk to other cities.They are seeking the repeal of the tax instigated by Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. BBC News.