British foreign secretary William Hague warned of a regional ‘catastrophe’ as al-Qaeda and Hezbollah clash in battle for the Syrian town, Qusair.

As Mali emerges from two years of armed conflict in the north, an international donor conference is being held today in Brussels. The EU has announced a pledge more than half a billion euros over the next two years to help rebuild Mali.

A Defence Department report “2013 Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China” was released earlier this week. 

“Further cuts in defence spending by European nations risk reducing the continent’s defence and security to ‘hot air’, turning the alliance into a ‘global spectator’ rather than a real force on the world stage”, warned NATO Secretary General.

A global cyber-crime ring stole $45 million in one of the biggest ever bank heists. The crime was committed by hacking into credit card processing firms and withdrawing money from ATMs in 27 countries. 

US Secretary of State John Kerry is on an official visit to Russia, where he will meet with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to try to find a common ground with Washington over the Syria conflict.

China uses espionage to fuel its military modernization and build-up, the Pentagon said on Monday. It is not the first time that China is accused of trying to break into US defence computer networks.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said three military sites had been hit on Sunday - a research centre at Jamraya, a paragliding airport in the al-Dimas area of Damascus and a site in Maysaloun. 

Last weekend saw demonstrations outside RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire against the air base that has become the location for the control of the UK’s armed remotely-piloted Reaper aircraft (commonly known as drones).

France on Monday published its Defence budget. The paper recommends that 24,000 military posts be cut by 2019 in addition to the 54,000 cuts announced by former president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008.