GCHQ report due after US spy claims
By Anonymous on Jun 07, 2013 07:32 pm 7 June 2013 Last updated at 18:16 ET 
US internet giants at the centre of the spying row deny giving agents access to their servers
Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee has requested an urgent report from listening agency GCHQ on its links to a secret US spy programme.
Committee chairman Sir Malcolm Rifkind expects the report by Monday.
This follows claims, in the Guardian, that GCHQ has been covertly gathering data from leading internet firms in the US via America's Prism programme.
Sir Malcolm said he was "encouraged" by GCHQ's statement that it operated to a "strict legal and policy framework".
The Guardian says it has obtained documents showing that Britain's secret listening post had access to the Prism system, set up by America's National Security Agency (NSA), since at least June 2010.
The newspaper said that the Prism programme appeared to allow the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to circumvent the formal legal process required to obtain personal material, such as emails, photographs and videos, from internet companies based outside the UK.
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Obama defends mass surveillance
By Anonymous on Jun 07, 2013 10:16 pm 7 June 2013 Last updated at 12:46 ET 
President Barack Obama has defended newly revealed US government phone and internet surveillance programmes, saying they are closely overseen by Congress and the courts.
Mr Obama said his administration had struck "the right balance" between security and privacy.
He also stressed that the surveillance of internet and email information did not target US citizens or residents.
And he said government agencies were not listening to telephone calls.
The US has seen two major news media revelations on the scope of its security agencies' collection of information in the past two days.
Read in browser » Cameron hosts world hunger meeting
By Anonymous on Jun 07, 2013 09:33 pm 7 June 2013 Last updated at 21:33 ET 
More than 100 aid agencies are involved in this year's campaign against hunger
Prime Minister David Cameron will host an international meeting with charities and companies later, aimed at combating malnutrition in the developing world.
As part of the UK's G8 presidency, the meeting aims to get more funding from nations, companies and charities toward African countries' own nutrition plans.
Meanwhile, UK church leaders will call on the G8 to tackle tax avoidance by firms working in developing countries.
They will link the issue to hunger among the world's poorest people.
The leaders of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales have joined international charities in a campaign called "If...", warning that displacement of small farmers from their land, unfair terms of trade and tax avoidance all contribute to hunger among the poor.
The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, will lead a service at Methodist Central Hall, in central London, to show solidarity with the one in eight of the world's people whom he says goes to bed hungry each night.
In a recorded message, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "The G8 is the centre of financial resource and power in many ways... it's important that we put before them the needs of the global community in which we live.
"The issues of tax transparency are at the top of the agenda and are really important."
Countering avoidance Charity Action Aid has published data showing that at least three of the companies attending the meeting with the prime minister, all of which have extensive operations in the developing world - Unilever, Glaxo Smith Kline and Vodafone - have subsidiaries in numerous tax havens.
Action Aid campaigns for countries to pay more tax in developing countries.
The charity stressed that the use of tax havens did not in itself prove tax avoidance, but did highlight the extent to which multinational companies operated in places that provide tax advantages.
The three named companies all told the BBC they paid the taxes due in the countries in which they operate. Vodafone said the Action Aid research was flawed and misleading.
Mr Cameron has said countering tax avoidance is a priority during this year's British presidency of the G8 group of leading industrialised nations.
As well as claiming the lives of three million children each year in the developing world, malnutrition stunts the growth and affects the brain development of others - impacting on the economic prospects of whole nations.
Also on Saturday, the "If..." campaign hopes to attract thousands of people to a rally in London's Hyde Park in the afternoon.
Speakers will include Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
G8 leaders gather on 17-18 June in Lough Erne, where world hunger is expected to be a prominent issue.
Read in browser » Five dead in California gun rampage
By Anonymous on Jun 07, 2013 11:42 pm 7 June 2013 Last updated at 16:16 ET 
Santa Monica College is on lockdown
Several people have been injured after a gunman opened fire on the campus of a college in Santa Monica, California, police say.
One person, believed to be the gunman, was taken to hospital, police said.
The college is located streets away from a fundraising event to be attended by President Barack Obama.
Police Sgt Rudy Flores said witnesses reported a man shooting at cars and a bus from a street corner. The college remains on lockdown.
The Secret Service, which protects the US president, said they were aware of the incident, but it would not affect Mr Obama's schedule.
He was due to speak at a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee.
Santa Monica College offers a two-year programme and has about 34,000 students.
Read in browser » Nelson Mandela back in hospital
By Anonymous on Jun 08, 2013 02:59 am 8 June 2013 Last updated at 01:51 ET
Nelson Mandela has been admitted to hospital with a lung infection, the office of South African President Jacob Zuma says.
In a statement on its website, it said the former president had had a lung infection for several days.
It deteriorated on Saturday morning and he was transferred to a hospital in Pretoria. He is said to be in a "serious but stable condition".
Mr Mandela, 94, has recently suffered a series of health problems.
Read in browser » Ohio 'abductor' faces 329 charges
By Anonymous on Jun 07, 2013 07:09 pm 7 June 2013 Last updated at 18:12 ET
The Ohio man accused of imprisoning three women for about a decade in his home has been indicted by a grand jury for rape and kidnapping.
Ariel Castro faces 329 charges, with 139 counts of rape, 177 of kidnapping, seven of gross sexual imposition, three of assault, and owning criminal tools.
The grand jury also indicted him for one count of aggravated murder for the calculated termination of a pregnancy.
The women were Michelle Knight, 32, Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23.
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