Telangana will be declared the 29th state of India at midnight on Sunday, after decades of struggle for separation from Andhra Pradesh.

The leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan has hailed the release of 5 Taliban members from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for a captured US soldier as a “big victory”, reported the BBC, after the swap took place on Saturday.

Mullah Mohammad Omar, the head of the Taliban, issued a rare statement praising the transfer and extending his “heartfelt congratulations to the entire Afghan Muslim nation”.

The United States warned China over "destabilising, unilateral actions" regarding territorial claims in the South China Sea on Saturday, reports Reuters.

Lawmakers from the Basque region in the north of Spain, this week, adopted a declaration of self-determination, reports Reuters.

The Syrian government's use of 'barrel bombs' has killed almost 2,000 people this year, in the opposition-held city of Aleppo alone, stated the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The organisation, based in the UK, went on to add that the death toll included 283 women and 567 people under the age of 18.

Australia placed a travel ban on Junta leaders responsible for the recent coup and pledged to cut defence co-operation with Thailand today, reports The Guardian.

At least two people died in a clash between protesters and African Union peacekeepers from the Burundian military during a second day of demonstrations against an attack on a Church in the capital of the Central African Republic, reports

Two Rwandan government officials are to face charges over the alleged roles in the 1994 genocide in France, reported Radio France Internationale on Saturday.

The genocide trial would be only France's second over the genocide in Rwanda, after 54-year-old Pascal Simbikangwa was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment over his involvement, by a French court earlier this year.

Egypt’s former army chief, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, was elected as the head of state today, after receiving over 90% of the vote in highly disputed presidential elections, reports The Guardian.

Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine shot down a military helicopter near Sloviansk, reports the BBC.

The shooting comes as the Russia urged Ukraine to stop the military campaign against the separatists and start serious negotiations.

The Russian foreign ministry further urged the United States and European Union to influence ‘Kiev to stop Ukraine’s slide into national catastrophe.’

The US President, Barack Obama, in a speech on US foreign policy, pledged to continue supporting the Syrian opposition whilst using international institutions to tackle problems such as border disputes and climate change, reports The Guardian.

The Chinese government, sentenced 55 people with charges of terrorism and separatism, reports Reuters.

Over 48 non-governmental organisations called for a prominent human rights defender and her colleagues, who had been abducted in December 2013, to be freed, reports Human Rights Watch.

Razan Zeitouneh, a lawyer who cofounded the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), a network of civilian groups that organises and reports on protests, had received threats from the government and opposition groups over her human rights advocacy work.

A Palestinian printing press was raided by Israeli forces and warned not to publish papers aligned with Hamas, reports Reuters.