Drone strikes: activists seek to lift lid on open secret of targeted killings
Court deadline arrives in freedom of information campaign to make Obama administration provide details of programme
The CIA's covert targeted killing programme will come under fresh scrutiny on Wednesday, the deadline for Barack Obama's administration to respond to a lawsuit over the agency's refusal to confirm or deny its existence.
The federal lawsuit is part of a three-year battle by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union for details of the drone programme, one of the US government's most important security operations in the war against al-Qaida.
Under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in 2010, ACLU seeks the legal memo underlying the killing programme, the basis for drone strikes that have killed American citizens and the process by which individuals are placed on a kill list.
Angela Merkel ready to relent on bailout deal to give Spain and Italy a lifeline
G20 communique hints at new approach to helping weaker European economies, report David Usborne in Los Cabos, and Ben Chu
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Under intense pressure at the G20 summit in Mexico to take more decisive action to contain the European sovereign debt crisis, eurozone leaders were reported last night to be preparing to allow the Continent's bailout funds to intervene directly in the capital markets to ease the pressure on Spain and Italy.
G20 sources suggested that Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, was preparing to allow eurozone institutions to begin buying bonds issued by member state's governments.
Egypt's Mubarak 'not clinically dead' after stroke
Egypt's Hosni Mubarak is in a coma on life support in Cairo after suffering a stroke in prison, but officials deny reports that he is clinically dead.
The uncertainty over the health of the ousted leader came against the backdrop of new tension in the country, with both candidates in a presidential vote claiming victory and the ruling military claiming sweeping new powers.
Mubarak “is not clinically dead,” a medical source said on Wednesday. “He is in a coma and the doctors are trying to revive him.”
“He has been placed on an artificial respirator,” the source added, in an account that was confirmed by a member of Egypt’s ruling military council, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei 'barred' from tax hearing
Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei says police have prevented him from leaving his Beijing studio to attend a court hearing on his tax evasion case
He said that a number of police cars arrived at his studio and an employee filming the vehicles was roughed up.
Tax authorities imposed a $2.4m (£1.59m) fine on Mr Ai's firm for tax evasion in 2011.
Supporters say the fine is politically motivated.
The Chinese authorities maintain that the firm, called Fake Cultural Development, owes them money and it must be paid back.
WikiLeaks' Assange seeks asylum in Ecuador, an anti-press regime
Assange defends the publishing of classified diplomatic cables as a right to freedom of expression, but turned to a country that has been accused of limiting press freedom in recent years.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy – and in doing so, chosen an unlikely ally.
The man who defends the publishing of classified diplomatic cables as the ultimate right of freedom of expression is turning to a government that has been accused of major declines in press freedom in recent years, according to experts.
“There has been a serious, serious deterioration of freedom of the press in the last five years in Ecuador,” says Carlos Lauria, the Americas director for theCommittee to Protect Journalists in New York.
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