INDIA: A separatist militia which has fought for Assamese independence since 1979 signed a peace treaty with Indian government in New Delhi today.

The United Liberation Front of Asom’s leader Arabinda Rajkhowa has been negotiating peace terms for 12 years, but since he was handed to Indian authorities by Bangladesh in 2011 a faction broke away and is not part of the deal. 

Dozens of armed insurgencies have simmered for decades in India’s north-east championing various political, religious or ethnic causes.

TURKEY: Thirty-two people have been arrested as suspected Islamic State (Isis) agents intent on bombing churches and synagogues, authorities said today.

The arrests come a week after 304 suspected Isis militants were seized in a wave of arrests. The terrorist group has a record of atrocities in Turkey.

LIBERIA: More than 40 people were killed when a leaking oil tanker lorry exploded as they tried to collect petrol from it, the government says.

Vice-President Jewel Howard-Taylor attended a mass funeral for the dead on Thursday. Most were buried in a mass grave, their bodies too badly burnt to be identified.

A doctor at a local hospital treating the injured said the government needed to establish a disaster management team in each county to better respond to such accidents.

SERBIA: University students blocked a major road in Belgrade today, causing traffic jams across the city.

They plan a sit-in until an opposition protest today against what they say was a flawed election.

President Aleksandar Vucic has arrested opposition leaders since the election, saying they are seeking to overthrow the government on foreign instructions.