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.

In a statement on Saturday, the government said the National Guard would patrol "strategic locations" where arson attacks and violent clashes have taken place.

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.

Brig Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s Defence Minister said,

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.”

Newly re-elected US President Barack Obama has announced that he will visit Burma later this month, as part of a tour of South East Asia, making him the first American President to visit the country.

Obama is set to visit both  opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi  and Burmese President  Thein Sein, when he visits the country from the 17 to 20 November as part of a trip that will see him visit Thailand and Cambodia.

The Bahraini government has revoked the citizenships of 31 human rights activists.

A statement, published by the interoior ministry, said that the activists have “undermined state security” and under Article 10 of Citizenship Law, the “re-evaluation of nationality” was permitted.

The UN criticised the move, saying it "could aggravate the situation in the country" and urged the government "to lift them without delay".

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The UN Security Council extended the non-African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia for another four months, following Uganda’s threats to pull out its peacekeeping troops.

The peacekeeping mission was expected to be prolonged for another 12 months, but a shorter term as been allocated to allow for a review of the necessity of a peacekeeping mandate. The move follows an appeal by the African Union (AU) to repeal the current arms embargo.

Published 06:21 GMT Barack Obama has won another four years at the White House, after securing 303 votes to Mitt Romney's 203, in an election that was till the last moment too close to call. Although the margin of victory is unclear as results are still coming through, as soon as Democrats won the key state of Ohio Obama proclaimed victory, having safely secured the needed 270 majority. Seconds after Ohio was called he tweeted to his followers, “This has happened because of you. Thank you. Four more years.” His victory message was retweeted over 300,000 times within minutes, making it the most retweeted post in history.