Russian military planes were discovered flying past the west coast of Ireland recently before being intercepted by British Fighter jets, it has emerged.

A group of core al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria is planning “mass casualty attacks” against the West, the head of MI5 has warned.

Britain stands ready to take "whatever steps are necessary" to help an international push to destroy the "evil" extremist group who murdered a British aid worker, David Cameron said.

The European Union will today unveil a fresh raft of economic sanctions against Russia in a show of support by Western leaders for the beleaguered government of Ukraine.

Hundreds of people are feared dead after a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane was apparently shot down over eastern Ukraine.

David Cameron will today hold talks on Libya with Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, amid growing signs of concern at the international community’s failure to make a breakthrough in the conflict.

Paul Taylor reports from Paris on the problem with NATO taking the lead on Libya

Protesters in London attacked a police van today as crowds swelled during angry demonstrations against rising university tuition fees.

The identity of the terrorists behind the Mumbai atrocities remained a mystery today, but experts agreed they appeared to combine local grievances and international inspiration.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today that the UK Government was in “full support of the territorial integrity” of Georgia.

Iran probably released the 15 British Navy personnel because it realised it could make no further political capital from holding them, a military expert said.

BRITAIN’S Defence Secretary Des Browne warned yesterday that the credibility of the NATO alliance in Afghanistan was on the line as he admitted that the operation had proved harder than expected.

The mother of a Belfast teenager killed by two Scots Guards now serving in Iraq was today hoping to confront their former commanding officer about the decision to allow them back into the British army.

Details of a letter written by Dr David Kelly just three weeks before his death were revealed for the first time today as the inquiry into his suicide was opened.

A BIOLOGICAL, chemical or nuclear terrorist attack on a western city is “only a matter of time”, the head of the British home security service, MI5, said yesterday.

THE suicide bombings in Riyadh sent a harsh message to Saudi rulers that an American troop withdrawal from Islam’s birthplace has not mollified militants bent on destabilising the world’s biggest oil exporter.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s attempt to indict Iraq over weapons of mass destruction and links to the terrorist group al-Qaida will comfort the converted, but may not persuade doubters that Washington has a cast-iron case for war.

Disclosures about alleged links between Iraq and the al-Qaida terror group have so far been viewed with some scepticism, and been seen as part of an attempt to win over public opinion in the build-up to military action.

America should have an effective system of missile defence in place within the next five years, the US general heading the programme says.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon today insisted that no 'political' decisions had been taken on a United States-led operation to overthrow Saddam Hussein.