The West African bloc Ecowas has agreed to deploy troops to free Mali’s north from militants.

The regional leaders agreed at a summit that 3,300 soldiers, mainly from Nigeria, Niger and Burkina Faso, would be sent to Mali to retake the northern regions from Tuareg and Islamist militants.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Barack Obama on Sunday to congratulate him on the recent Presidential election and told him that he will press ahead with presenting a resolution to the United Nation’s General Assembly to become a non-member state.

"The Chinese government should investigate the cause (of the incidents). China does not look into it seriously and tries to end (the incidents) only by criticising me".

"The Dalai Lama clique and overseas Tibetan separatists have been sacrificing other people's lives for their own secret political aims".

In a historic moment, the Irish prime minister Enda Kenny, laid a wreath in honour of fallen British soldiers, during British Remembrance Sunday.

Taking part in a commemorative service in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, marking the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a Remembrance Sunday service, Kenny stood head bowed before laying a wreath at the spot of the explosion.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have fired warning shots at Syria for the first time since 1973, responding to an incident on Thursday when a mortar shell fired from Syria hit an Israeli military post in the Golan Heights.

The various splinters of Syria’s opposition have reached an agreement to form a Western and Arab-backed government-in-exile and rally behind a new leader.

Representatives of Syria’s various opposition groups, including rebel fighters, veteran dissidents and religious and ethnic minorities, agreed on Sunday to join a new assembly and unanimously elected Mouaz al-Khatib, a reformist Damascus cleric, as its president.

The decision came after days of fierce arguments in Qatar, under the watch of frustrated US, Arab and other foreign officials.

Khatib, a former imam who advocates a liberal and tolerant Islam, called on all factions to unite and for soldiers to renounce the Syrian army, telling reporters:

"We demand freedom for every Sunni, Alawi, Ismaili (Shi'ite), Christian, Druze, Assyrian ... and rights for all parts of the harmonious Syrian people."

“Electing genocidal Sudan to a global human rights body is like choosing Jack the Ripper to guard a women’s shelter. This diminishes the credibility of the United Nations human rights system and casts a shadow upon the reputation of the organization as a whole.”

“Sudan, whose leader was indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity, will now help choose the members of the Commission on the Status of Women, the executive of UN Women, and UNICEF, which protects children’s rights,”

In an interview to Russia Today, besieged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has denied that war crimes have been committed by his government forces and instead said he is fighting against “terrorism”.

Bahraini authorities deployed the paramilitary National Guard on Saturday in a move to further clamp down on public protest, reports AP.

Last month, the authorities banned all protests and public gatherings.

The UK will end giving financial aid to India by 2015, announced the International Development Secretary, Justine Greening.

She announced that no new grants will be made from immediate effect and the ongoing programme will be restructured and phased out by 2015.

The Iraqi government has cancelled an arms deal with Russia worth £2.6 billion due to concerns over “corruption” within the Iraqi government.

The spokesman of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told the BBC that the prime minister had suspicions over his own team.

The deal would have made Russia Iraq’s second largest arms supplier after the US.

The Iranian Defence Minister has confirmed that shots were fired at  US military drone last week, which they claimed had invaded their airspace.

The confirmation of the incident comes within 24 hours of the Pentagon revealing it to the public, even though the attack happened on the 1st of November, just days before the US Presidential election.

India and Canada came to an agreement on Tuesday, to allow the exportation of Canadian uranium and other nuclear supplies for energy production in India. Almost four decades since India used Canadian nuclear technology to develop its first atomic bomb in 1974, the agreement finally came during an official visit by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper who hopes it will “play a greater role in meeting India’s growing energy needs.”