America will need to scale back the size of its armed forces in the face of deep budget cuts and rely less on military power alone, Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel said Tuesday.

Fiscal pressures coupled with new strategic realities will require a reorganization of the force that enjoyed massive budgets in the years after the attacks September 11, 2001, the U.S. defense secretary said.

British lawmakers called Tuesday for an investigation into the tax paid by Prince Charles's estate, arguing that it may have an "unfair advantage" over commercial competitors because it is exempt from some taxes.

The heir to the throne's estate, the Duchy of Cornwall, owns more than 53,000 hectares (131,000 acres) of land and has a financial portfolio.

The severely weakened Syrian pound has surged against the dollar in recent days, a trader said Tuesday, with experts pointing to central bank intervention and developments favorable to the regime.

"The dollar was being exchanged on Tuesday at 115 to 123 Syrian pounds, while it was worth more than 160 pounds last week," the trader told Agence France Presse.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday urged European leaders not to allow a row over alleged U.S. spying to disrupt talks with the EU to create the world's largest free trade zone.

And he renewed calls for U.S. partners to voice their concerns with Washington in order to strengthen "intelligence relationships" in the future.

Hungary's parliament approved on Tuesday a new relief plan for homeowners in distress because of foreign currency loans, its latest effort to ease chronic household debt levels.

The bill tweaks an existing 'exchange rate cap' scheme allowing Hungarians to repay at preferential rates the foreign-currency mortgages they took out en masse before the forint crashed.

Renault-Nissan and Japanese firm Mitsubishi are to share the production of vehicles, technology and factory capacity, the two groups announced on Tuesday, highlighting the development of electric cars.

A statement on the terms of the deal said: "As a consequence, it has been agreed that the strategic cooperation between Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors could be expanded across the broader Renault-Nissan Alliance."

The Philippines said Tuesday it had deployed teams to check on reports of abuse in Saudi Arabia's crackdown on illegal workers, after one woman complained they were treated "like animals".

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Filipino diplomats were in touch with the oil-rich kingdom's human rights council to ensure the protection of Filipino workers there.

Irish no-frills airline Ryanair on Monday slashed its annual profits forecast for the second time since September owing to lower-priced fares, triggering a 14-percent slump in its share price.

The Dublin-based carrier expects annual profit after tax of not more than 520 million euros ($701 million), it said in a results statement, which compared with a forecast at the lower end of a 570-600 million euros range given just two months ago.

Iran's deputy oil minister, Ali Majedi, said Monday on that Pakistan must finance a controversial pipeline that would enable it to buy gas from the Islamic republic.

Majedi's remarks come after Pakistan's Oil Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi asked Iran to stump up $2 billion (1.45 billion euros) to finish the construction of the pipeline.

Austrian unemployment rose strongly in October due to weak export demand and seasonal factors, with the number of people out of work 11.8 percent higher year-on-year, government figures showed on Monday.

The unemployment rate in Austria, which has largely escaped the economic woes suffered by other eurozone members in recent years, rose 0.7 percentage points to 7.4 percent.