US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that Washington would provide an extra $28m in emergency aid to counter the famine. "If we don't act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks," said the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for…

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. 'Dangerously inadequate' Save the Children's Sonia Zambakides told the BBC the situation in Somalia was shocking.6086 5611 40471 25437 16470 5926 7452 39658 55 42395…

Downing Street confirms that the prime minister received and responded to a letter from Labour MP Tom Watson last October, in which he had raised concerns about Mr Coulson She said some of the mothers had walked up to six days with no food to try to find help. The law firm had said it…

Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs that "with hindsight" he would not have hired ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his communications chief, in the closest he has come to an apology. Meanwhile, News of the World owner News International said it had authorised law firm Harbottle & Lewis to answer any questions…

Earlier, the Met was accused by MPs of a "catalogue of failures" in the News of the World phone-hacking inquiry. Labour MP Nick Raynsford said that, when Mr Coulson was at Downing Street, the cabinet secretary was alerted to evidence of illegal phone hacking, covert surveillance and hostile media briefing against a senior government official…

In Somalia's war-ravaged capital, Mogadishu, the BBC's Mohamed Mwalimu says more than 4,000 people are crammed into one camp, called Safety. The UN said the humanitarian situation in Somalia's southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle districts had deteriorated rapidly and declared them to be suffering a famine. "What we need is assurances from the World Food…

She said there had been a "surge of inquiries and requests for assistance from the public and solicitors". Mr Cameron said the public inquiry would be widened to examine broadcasters and social media and named the panel In April 2010 US President Barack Obama issued an executive order naming al-Shabab a terrorist organisation, meaning no…

"What we need is assurances from the World Food Programme and from other agencies, the United Nations or other agencies, both public and in the non-governmental sector, who are willing to go into Somalia who will tell us affirmatively that they are not being taxed by al-Shabab, they are not being subjected to bribes from…

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 not allow it breach its duty of client confidentiality. 'Dangerously inadequate' One woman he met arrived after a long trip, much of it on foot, carrying her one-and-a-half-year-old son on…

Downing Street and Buckingham Palace denied claims by Labour MP Chris Bryant that royal officials raised concerns about Mr Coulson's appointment But US aid officials say assurances must be given that the insurgents will not interfere with its distribution. The deputy administrator of the US Agency for International Development, Donald Steinberg, said the aid must…