BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says this marks a considerable change in policy from Washington. Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers said the move came after a "significant increase in the workload" over the past fortnight. that they can operate unfettered," Mr Steinberg told the BBC.237843 63904 100268 74088 112348 151746 149904 153100 201885…

The UK Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, said the response by many European and developed countries to the crisis in the Horn of Africa had been "derisory and dangerously inadequate". He said the goal was to save lives, "not to play a game of 'gotcha' with a UN agency or any other…

In April 2010 US President Barack Obama issued an executive order naming al-Shabab a terrorist organisation, meaning no US aid could go to areas under its control, our analyst adds. The law firm had said it was being prevented from responding to "inaccurate" comments made by News International chairman James Murdoch because the company would…

She said some of the mothers had walked up to six days with no food to try to find help. Meanwhile, News of the World owner News International said it had authorised law firm Harbottle & Lewis to answer any questions from Scotland Yard and the Commons home affairs committee about its work for the…

He said discussions with al-Shabab about the safe distribution of food aid were taking place at a local level, and that responses were expected to differ depending on the locality. The deputy administrator of the US Agency for International Development, Donald Steinberg, said the aid must not benefit al-Shabab. Nearly half the Somali population -…

Nearly half the Somali population - 3.7 million people - were in crisis, he said, with most of them in the south. But US aid officials say assurances must be given that the insurgents will not interfere with its distribution. The law firm had said it was being prevented from responding to "inaccurate" comments made…

The UK Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, said the response by many European and developed countries to the crisis in the Horn of Africa had been "derisory and dangerously inadequate". "The overall requirement is $1.6bn (�990m) for Somalia, roughly $300m is needed in the next two months to provide an adequate response…

News International's parent company News Corporation has also confirmed it has stopped paying the legal fees of former private detective Glenn Mulcaire, who was convicted of phone hacking on behalf of the News of the World in 2007. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said new funds to help the country were desperately needed. "The overall…

"The overall requirement is $1.6bn (�990m) for Somalia, roughly $300m is needed in the next two months to provide an adequate response to famine-affected areas. Children and adults are dying at an appalling rate," Mr Ban said. News International's parent company News Corporation has also confirmed it has stopped paying the legal fees of former…

The UK Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, said the response by many European and developed countries to the crisis in the Horn of Africa had been "derisory and dangerously inadequate". The BBC's Africa correspondent Andrew Harding says the emotive word "famine" is used rarely and carefully by humanitarian organisations, and it is…