Colombia to pardon 30 FARC members
Colombia's government has announced it is granting pardons to 30 jailed members of the FARC as a confidence-building measure in its peace talks with the leftist rebel group.
The Colombian presidency said none of those being pardoned were in prison for serious crimes, and added that they will be aided in finding jobs and receiving social support once they leave prison.
The measures come as government and rebel negotiators close in on a peace agreement after three years of talks in Havana aimed at ending the 50-year-old conflict.
Eight people killed by suicide bomber in Nigeria
Eight people were killed when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives among women and children in Nigeria's north-eastern city of Maiduguri.
A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency said the blast happened this morning as the group of women and children arrived in Maiduguri from Dikwa, 90kms to the northeast.
Maiduguri has repeatedly been attacked by Boko Haram and the latest bloodshed again underlines the threat posed by the Islamist group, which has been launching guerrilla-style attacks since being pushed out of its captured territory and camps by a Nigerian army offensive.
Russia kills 14 fighters linked to Islamic State
Russia said its security forces had killed 14 fighters linked to the so-called Islamic State group in two special anti-terror operations in the North Caucasus region.
Russia's national anti-terrorism committee said in a statement quoted by TASS news agency that 11 "bandits" were killed in a first raid near the city of Nalchik.
Three others died in a second operation in the same area later in the day.
"All of them were participants in an armed gang whose members swore loyalty to IS," it said.
