India and China will sign a Border Defence Cooperation Agreement during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit next week under which no tailing of each other’s patrols and no shooting at each other under any conditions by troops have been provided.

Syrian air force jets bombarded the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Friday after heavy overnight clashes and the killing of one of President Bashar Assad’s top military intelligence officers, activists said. General Jama’a Jama’a was shot dead on Thursday by snipers in the midst of a

France will maintain around 2 000 troops in Mali to help secure the December legislative polls before further scaling down its military presence, the defence minister said  . “We’re going keep a little more than 2 000 men until the end of the year,” Jean-Yves Le Drian said.