Russia launched a campaign of air strikes in Syria in support of President Bashar Assad on September 30, providing air cover for government offensives in several provinces.

One month into the campaign, here are answers to some key questions:

Major international backers of Syria's warring rivals are holding intense talks in Vienna in a renewed push to seek a political solution to the four-year conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people and forced millions to flee.

The talks will for the first time gather all the major foreign players in the war -- the United States, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey -- in the same room.

A power struggle is emerging between Saudi Arabia's two most powerful princes, analysts and diplomats say, as the secretive kingdom confronts some of its biggest challenges in years.

The Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, falling oil prices and rising jihadist violence are putting the country's leadership to the test, nine months after King Salman assumed the throne following the death of king Abdullah.

France, which has taken a tough line on Syrian President Bashar Assad, is struggling to make itself heard as the diplomatic ground shifts towards a compromise with the regime.

Trying to keep France at the heart of negotiations on Syria, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius scrambled to gather key powers in Paris on Tuesday.

Millions of Turks go to the polls next Sunday for what could be one of the most crucial elections in the country's modern history.

The vote was called after the Justice and Development Party (AKP), indomitable for 13 years, lost its majority in a June election and then failed to form a power-sharing government.

Another meeting in another luxury hotel in another European city oozing with diplomatic history.

Such is the state of the international effort to revive a peace plan for Syria.

Jeb Bush appeared destined to waltz to the 2016 Republican nomination, but his presidential bid has been upended to the point that even his cherished family pedigree might not be enough to salvage his flagging campaign.

Trailing badly in the polls, reportedly slashing campaign payroll by 40 percent and scaling back on travel costs, Bush is now one of many middle-of-the-pack candidates in a wide GOP field, rather than the man Republicans would naturally gravitate to as they seek to win back the White House.

A meeting in Vienna Friday of foreign ministers from Russia, the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to discuss Syria's war highlights the conflict's international dimension.

Several foreign countries with different aims have become embroiled in the conflict.

This week's surprise Moscow summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian leader Bashar Assad was perhaps one of the most sensitive meetings the Kremlin walls have seen in recent times.

At stake was the future of the Syrian conflict -- and also Russia's place on the world stage as Putin seeks to muscle his way back to global influence after months of Western isolation over Ukraine.

A palpable sense of security is returning to Pakistan as a crackdown on militancy bears fruit, but critics warn the government has not taken long-term steps to tackle the underlying scourge of extremist Islam.

Peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan will be top of the agenda in Washington on Thursday when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif meets U.S. President Barack Obama.