Head of NSA defends monitoring as legal, closely supervised and crucial to defending Americans, adding it was not “some rogue operation”

Troops to be deployed to protect Confederations Cup matches

The award-winning American war correspondent Michael Hastings, 33, died in a car crash in Los Angeles. Described as a "fearless journalist", the news of his death was announced by his employer Buzzfeed.

President will seek cuts in US and Russian nuclear arsenals of one-third from the levels agreed in the New Start treaty in 2010

Cities across Brazil were rocked by another day of protests against public services, police violence and government corruption. There were clashes between police and demonstrators.

The Afghan Taliban have claimed responsibility for an attack that killed four US troops on the same day that peace talks between America and the group were announced.

Google has asked the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court to allow it to publish details of the number of data requests made by a secretive body, invoking the first amendment in a legal challenge that is aimed at easing concern among users following recent revelations regarding the activities of the National Security Agency.

The consulting and accounting giant Deloitte received a sharp slap on the wrists from officials in New York state yesterday, with one of its arms agreeing to pay a $10m fine and accepting a one-year ban from providing consulting work to financial institutions overseen by state regulators after its work for Standard Chartered on money-laundering issues was found wanting.

Freedom of Information request forces authorities to name terror suspects held for the last 12 years

The former US Secretary of State, and potential presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, said that, whether it’s law, finance, medicine, academia or running a small business, “people rely on confidential communications to do their job”.

What began as a backlash against bus price rises has ignited thanks to the cost of staging next year’s event

Thousands of inmates at two California prisons may be transferred to other facilities, to avoid the threat of a condition known as valley fever.

Exclusive: claim is one of six cases being brought in California

Over 200,000 demonstrators march through the streets of Rio, in a growing wave of protests that have spread across the country.

In some of the biggest protests since the end of Brazil's 1964-85 dictatorship, demonstrations have spread across the country and united people from all walks of life behind frustrations over poor transportation, health services, education and security despite a heavy tax burden.