The United States said it is “deeply disturbed” by Azerbaijan's raid and closure of a US-funded radio station in Baku.

Radio Azadliq, the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was raided by armed police on Friday morning. The Azerbaijan prosecutor general’s office said the search was conducted to investigate a “grave crime”, but no further details were offered.

Kenan Aliyev, director of the radio station, told AFP,

"Our equipment and computers are being confiscated... Journalists are being forced out of the office."

The Syrian government launched airstrikes in Islamic State held territory this week, killing at least 40 people.

Raids from Syrian jets and helicopters took place on the cities of Al Bab and Qaabaseen, with over 150 people also left wounded. Barrel bombs – steel drums packed with explosives and shrapnel – were reportedly used in the raids, as the Syrian government stepped up air raids in recent days.

Hundreds of prisoners being held by Ukrainian authorities and separatists have been exchanged in a swap agreement near Donetsk on Friday.

The deal to swap 150 Ukrainian soldiers for 225 militants is the largest prisoner exchange to take place so far and comes following peace talks between envoys of Ukraine, Russia, the separatists and European security watchdog Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) earlier this week. The talks were reported to have been inconclusive, but the move is part of a 12-point plan aimed at reaching a peaceful settlement to the conflict.

At least 62 people have died in attacks in India's restive northeastern state of Assam.

According to police, separatist Bodo militants from the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) carried out the attacks in villages mainly inhabited by non-Bodos in Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts on Tuesday.

Extensive fighting between armed militant groups in Libya could lead to prosecution for war crimes a UN official said this week.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, said that there had been hundreds of civilian deaths in the conflict between the split governments, noting that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had been investigating the situation.

The Islamic State (IS) has captured a Jordanian pilot from a plane that crashed in Syria, claiming the jet was shot down with a heat-seeking missile.

The United States disputed the claim stating that “evidence clearly indicates that ISIL did not down the aircraft” and that the plane had crashed in Syria on Wednesday. A statement from US Central Command said it would “not tolerate ISIL's attempts to misrepresent or exploit this unfortunate aircraft crash for their own purposes”.

Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Momani, however, told al-Arabiya TV that a “missile fired from the ground” had hit the plane, adding that “efforts to rescue the pilot were unsuccessful.”

Images of the pilot of the F-16 aircraft have been released on social media, alongside photographs of IS militants hauling wreckage of the aircraft.

A former Bangladeshi government minister has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, rape and genocide committed during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

The French government has decided to deploy up to 300 soldiers and increase police patrols in public areas, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced, after three seemingly unrelated attacks left around 20 people injured.

Mr Valls told Europe 1 radio there was "no link" between the attackers and that the police were dealing with individuals who acted alone.

“The number of patrols will be increased during this period. Between 200 and 300 soldiers will be deployed in the coming hours,” Valls said.

“Patrols by police and gendarmes will concentrate on areas where there are a lot of people: shopping areas, city and town centres, stations and transport networks.”