The UN has declared a famine in two areas of southern Somalia as the region experiences the worst drought in more than half a century. During Wednesday's House of Commons debate on the phone-hacking scandal, MPs called on News International to publish the full exchanges about e-mails examined by the legal firm. News International's parent…

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 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…

But US aid officials say assurances must be given that the insurgents will not interfere with its distribution. Mr Cameron said the public inquiry would be widened to examine broadcasters and social media and named the panel UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said new funds to help the country were desperately needed. BBC Africa analyst…

In other developments in the phone-hacking saga: 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. Those conditions include more than 30% of children being…

Mr Cameron said the public inquiry would be widened to examine broadcasters and social media and named the panel '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 her back - only to realise, when she arrived, that he was dead.42553 4903 37021…

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. An estimated 10 million people have been affected in East Africa by the worst drought in more than half a century.…

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 company. "I was talking to mothers with children, the children looked maybe nine months to one year old - the…

An estimated 10 million people have been affected in East Africa by the worst drought in more than half a century. More than 166,000 desperate Somalis are estimated to have fled their country to neighbouring Kenya or Ethiopia. The UN has declared a famine in two areas of southern Somalia as the region experiences the…

'Dangerously inadequate' Nearly half the Somali population - 3.7 million people - were in crisis, he said, with most of them in the south. She said the US had already provided $431m this year in emergency aid to the Horn of Africa, but that was "not enough". Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers said…

"I was talking to mothers with children, the children looked maybe nine months to one year old - the mothers were telling the children were three and four years old, so they are absolutely tiny." She said some of the mothers had walked up to six days with no food to try to find help.…