The USA and Russia announced plans for a cessation of Syrian hostilities to take effect tomorrow. It excludes IS and Nusra Front. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon welcomed the announcement, which followed a failed attempt to restart peace talks by Staffan de Mistura in Geneva. De Mistura said, ‘We can now relaunch, very soon, the political process needed to end this conflict.’ Under the cessation terms, parties would indicate their agreement to the United States and Russia by noon Damascus time today, and the truce would take effect at midnight. To succeed, the deal will require both countries to persuade their allies on the ground to comply. Fighting and airstrikes s continued this week, according to a British-based monitoring group. Meanwhile, the Turkish government has said it doesn't think a deal will be respected by all.

A car bomb which destroyed a convoy of military vehicles last Wednesday during Ankara's evening rush hour killed 28 and wounded over sixty. This act of terrorism was blamed on three assailants but claimed by none. Complicating the situation is the Russian attempt to draw Turkey further into the Syrian military conflict; some see it as payback for the Turkish downing of a Russian bomber several months ago. Russia's bombing of rebel groups fighting the Assad regime has angered and frustrated the Western allies; they feel that Daesh is the target, and consider the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria (which Turkey and Russia are attacking) an important partner in the war. The many separate rebel and militia groups appear to be controlled by more powerful regimes, such as Russia and Iran. The recent attack in Ankara only complicates what is already a clandestine proxy war.

A popular early learning TV programme, Play School, plans to feature a child with two fathers in a segment which profiles different types of blended families. Executive producer of the beloved preschool show, Jan Stradling, confirmed that the programme will feature an adopted family, an extended family, a blended family, an indigenous nuclear family and a family with two dads in its ‘Through the Windows’ segment to be screened later this year. A similar segment in 2004 featuring two gay mothers was attacked by the conservative press and the then Prime Minister John Howard, who described the ABC's decision to broadcast as foolish. But since then public support for same-sex marriage has grown, and the Turnbull government plans to develop a plebiscite on same-sex marriage after the next federal election.

The world’s deadliest terrorist group is not in the Middle East, but in Nigeria, where the Islamist insurgency Boko Haram and other forces killed more than 4,000 Christians in 2015 - a 62% increase from 2014. In response, Nigeria's largest confederation of Christian churches is, for the first time, jointly endorsing a commitment to revive the Church in the country's north, before it collapses from a decade of violence that has killed thousands of Christians and driven away more than a million. Christians in the northern region have for long been abandoned to their own fate by the Nigerian authorities. ‘This is the first time we’re going public to sign a declaration which gives the true picture of the persecution Christians are going through in this country,’ said Rev Musa Asake.