"When the US invaded Iraq in March 2003, the Bush administration estimated that it would cost $50-60bn to overthrow Saddam Hussein and establish a functioning government. This estimate was catastrophically wrong: the war in Iraq has cost $823.2bn between 2003 and 2011. Some estimates suggesting that it may eventually cost as much as $3.7tn when factoring in the long-term costs of caring for the wounded and the families of those killed."

A suicide bomber has struck a meeting of top Syrian officials in Damascus, killing Syria’s defense minister and the brother-in-law of President Bashar-al-Assad and dealing a major blow to the Assad regime. The defense minister, General Daoud Rajha, is the most senior government official to be killed since the Syrian uprising began 17 months ago. The bombing comes as the United Nations Security Council is set to vote today on a new measure responding to the crisis in Syria.

Israel admitted Sunday that it uses cyberspace to attack its enemies. The confession came in a statement on the Israeli military's website. The website said it was "for the first time" revealing a document recently written by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Operations Department, detailing the goals and methods of its cyberwarfare. "The IDF has been engaged in cyberactivity consistently and relentlessly," said the statement.

A bomb planted by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan has destroyed 22 Nato fuel tankers carrying supplies to coalition forces, local officials say. The vehicles were hit by a pre-dawn explosion which triggered a huge fire that engulfed them in flames, they say. At the time, the trucks were parked overnight in Samangan province, as they headed from Uzbekistan towards Nato forces in the south. Police told the BBC that the fire caused by the bomb is still burning. An intelligence official said the device was attached under one of the trucks, which were parked close together.