THAILAND: Protesters marched on an army base yesterday to highlight royal control of the military.
Demonstrators removed barbed wire and decrepit buses that had blocked the base entrance, facing off against riot police.

Activist Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, who has previously served seven years in prison for insulting the monarchy, said: “People should be able to criticise the king. People should be able to inspect what he does.”

AFGHANISTAN: At least 34 people were killed on Sunday in two separate suicide bombings that targeted a military base and a provincial chief.

Thirty-one soldiers were killed in an attack in Ghazni province and three in Zabul province.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks, which took place as Afghan government representatives and the Taliban hold face-to-face talks in Qatar for the first time to end the country’s decades-long war.

NIGERIA: At least 40 farmers have been killed in a suspected attack by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram.

The attack was staged Saturday in a rice field in Garin Kwashebe, a Borno community known for rice farming, on the day residents of the state were casting votes for the first time in 13 years to elect local government councils. The farmers and fishermen were rounded up and summarily killed, reports said.

IRAQ: Five people were shot dead on Saturday by supporters of Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, medical official said.

Followers of the cleric clashed with anti-government protesters in Nasiriyah who tried to block their path. A further 40 people were injured.