At least 240 migrants have drowned off the coast of Libya within the last 48 hours, possibly as an unintended consequence of European efforts to stop people-smugglers and to train Libyan coastguards, the UN's migration agency said.

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump attacked one another's character as they pushed their closing arguments six days before the US presidential election, while the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Clinton's lead over Trump rising back to the margin she held last week.

Russia and the Syrian army on November 2 told anti-government rebels in Aleppo to leave by November 4 evening, signaling an extended moratorium on air strikes in the city.

US-backed Iraqi forces moved closer on November 2 to a town south of Mosul where aid groups and regional officials say Islamic State has executed dozens of prisoners.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on November 1 a Western failure to rein in violent Islamists in Syria had indefinitely delayed the resumption of peace talks.

Iraqi forces battled Islamic State fighters on the eastern edge of Mosul on November 1 as the two-week campaign to recapture the jihadists' last main bastion in Iraq entered a new phase of urban warfare.

At least 12 Pakistani workers were killed and more than 50 injured on November 1 after a huge blast ripped through an oil tanker at a ship-breaking yard, trapping others inside the vessel.

French authorities will on November 2 begin transferring about 1,500 unaccompanied migrant minors to reception centers across the country, officials said on November 1, as a standoff with Britain over who takes care of the youths drags on.

Advancing Iraqi troops broke through Islamic State defenses in an eastern suburb of Mosul on October 31, taking the battle for the insurgents' stronghold into the city limits for the first time, a force commander said.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called Democratic rival Hillary Clinton a threat to the country on October 31, saying that if she is elected a probe into her emails could shadow her entire term in office, as the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Clinton's lead narrowing slightly.