British man who took sick selfie at scene of tourists' slaughter was LABOUR candidate!

• Labour parliamentary candidate Amran Hussain, 29, posed for a selfie where gunman slaughtered 38 tourists
• Army reservist and former NHS England officer defended his actions saying selfies are not 'banned'
• Dozens of people gathered at Marhaba beach in Tunisia to lay tributes 48 hours after crazed gunman opened fire 
• British death toll is expected to rise to 30 and 12 Brits have been identified so far after terror attack on Friday

by Jenny Awford

Labour parliamentary candidate Amran Hussain, 29, (centre) has sparked outrage by posing for a selfie at the exact spot where a crazed gunman massacred 38 holidaymakers

Mr Hussain told MailOnline: 'Selfies are not banned. I don’t see anything wrong with it. We were not capturing a happy moment, we were very distressed after what happened and we went down to the beach for 30 minutes to show solidarity.

‘We laid flowers and wrote a tribute and prayed to those who lost 

their lives in the horrific massacre.

‘We would have asked someone else to take a picture of us, but we were in the moment and we wanted to take a picture with the tribute and flowers we had put down.

'It has been taken completely out of context. It was all very upsetting and we just wanted to have a reminder of what happened. I just happened to be using a selfie stick as that is what I always use.' 

Hundreds have taken to Twitter to condemn the 'disgusting' picture, saying it sums up the 'selfie or selfish generation'. 

Alice Simmonds said: 'Absolutely shameless for a Labour candidate. He should know better.' 

Michael Wilton tweeted: 'This is a disgrace. The families haven't event started grieving.' 

Mr Hussain was on a week-long holiday with four friends, who are also pictured in the selfie, and they were all staying at the nearby Hotel Palmarina.

He said he did not witness the tragedy, but one of his friends heard shots from their hotel balcony.

The politician has now arrived back in the UK and wrote on Facebook, saying: 'We left Tunisia with a very heavy heart, but we will not allow terror to dictate our lives. Tunisia is a beautiful place with kind and peaceful people.

‘We went out onto our hotel beach today and paid our respects to those who lost their lives.

‘My thoughts shall remain for years with all those lives that were lost there, and also for the millions of struggling Tunisian families whose household income would be affected due to the negative effect on their tourism industry.

‘This is what the terrorists wanted and we must not give in I shall of course return back to Tunisia.’

The Labour candidate, who was brought up in the East-End of London in council housing, was defeated in the May election by a staggering majority and received just 5,290 votes compared to victorious Conservative candidate Ranil Jayawardena's 35,573 votes.

Mr Hussain is also a serving soldier in the British Army Reserves and sits on an independent monitoring board member for prisons and a school governor.

His actions on the memorial site have been slammed by hundreds on social media. 

Jerome Taylor ‏tweeted: 'This sums up the selfie generation. Tourist takes a pic next to site of the massacre in Sousse, Tunisia.' 

Davide Manfrin said: 'Selfie of the massacre on the beach in Tunisia. Idiots, don't they understand our fate is hanging by a thread.'

Rabeb Othmani tweeted: 'There is a fine line between freedom of expression & hurting others feelings: Stop posting the beach selfies #Tunisia'

Mark Olrog ‏said: 'A bad 21st century trait. People turning up and taking selfies of #Tunisia terror beach, apparently.'

Dozens of people gathered at the beach 48 hours after ISIS militant Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire on helpless tourists.

Defiant, the group carried flags across the sand that was splattered with blood on Friday before placing flowers and tribute letters near the sunbeds where the attack happened. 

Others bowed their heads in silence as they placed books and signs at the scene, including a poignant one that simply read: 'Why they die?'

Is this right what he did? 

For more on the article follow this link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3142087/Thousands-defiant-Tunisians-light-candles-march-streets-protest-massacre-brought-blood-beaches-leaving-39-dead.html

Tory Government's £12bn Welfare Cuts Agreed

By Sophy Ridge, Political Correspondent

Welfare cuts worth £12bn a year will be announced in next month's Budget, after the Government agreed "significant" spending reductions in the last few days.

On a weekend during which tens of thousands of protesters marched against austerity, Chancellor George Osborne and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith signalled they would press ahead with cuts.

The welfare changes will include capping benefits at £23,000 a year for each family. Cuts to housing benefit and tax credits are also expected, defying speculation the promised cuts to the welfare budget would be watered down.

In an article in the Sunday Times, the joint letter from Mr Osborne and Mr Duncan Smith wrote: "This government was elected with a mandate to implement further savings from the £220bn welfare budget.

"For a start, we will reduce the benefit cap, and have made clear that we believe we need to make significant savings from other working-age

Political Message Behind March
"We will set out in detail all the steps we will take to bring about savings totalling £12bn a year in next month's Budget and at the spending review in the autumn.

"It took many years for welfare spending to spiral so far out of control, and it's a project of a decade or more to return the system to sanity.

"Reforming the damaging culture of welfare dependency and ensuring that work pays has been central to our mission to make Britain fit for the future."

The planned cuts emerged as anti-austerity protesters demanded an end to government cuts.

Organisers estimated that 250,000 people took part in the demonstrations in London, Glasgow, Liverpool and Bristol, including celebrities Russell Brand and Charlotte Church.

The decision to write the article on the same weekend as the protests will be seen as deliberately provocative.

The two ministers wrote: "All our reforms will have these central aims: to ensure the welfare system promotes work and personal responsibility, while putting expenditure on a sustainable footing.

"Welfare reform is fundamentally about opportunity and changing lives, supporting families to move from dependence to independence - a vital point, because without social mobility there can be no social justice."

Andy Burnham, Labour leadership candidate and shadow health secretary, said: "I think this is pretty disgraceful, what is going on today.

"Here we have a chancellor that is frightening people basically ... just waving around this idea of huge cuts drastic cuts, without spelling out where they are going to come from.

"He did not spell it out before the election, and he is still not spelling it out now. This is just not acceptable.

"He is trying to play politics by challenging us, but actually in doing that he is frightening vulnerable people. And that is wrong."

For more about the story: http://news.sky.com/story/1505715/tory-governments-12bn-welfare-cuts-agreed

British spies 'moved after Snowden files read'

UK intelligence agents have been moved because Russia and China have access to classified information which reveals how they operate, a senior government source has told the BBC.

According to the Sunday Times, Moscow and Beijing have deciphered documents stolen by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The government source told the BBC the countries "have information" that led to agents being moved but added there was "no evidence" any had been harmed.
Mr Snowden leaked data two years ago.
The former CIA contractor, now living in Russia, left the US in 2013 after leaking details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by American intelligence to the media.

His information made international headlines in June 2013 when the Guardian newspaper reported that the US National Security Agency was collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans.
Mr Snowden is believed to have downloaded 1.7 million secret documents before he left the US.

'Hostile countries'

The government source said the information obtained by Russia and China meant that "knowledge of how we operate" had stopped the UK getting "vital information".

BBC political correspondent Chris Mason said the problem for UK authorities was not only the direct consequence that agents had been moved, but also the opportunity cost of those agents no longer being in locations where they were doing useful work. Grey line

Analysis: By Gordon Corera - BBC security correspondent
The phrases "neither confirm nor deny" and "no comment on intelligence matters" is being used by government to respond to Sunday Times' story.

But my understanding from conversations over an extended period is that since he fled two years ago, British intelligence have worked on the assumption that Russian and Chinese spies might have access to his full cache of secrets.

Snowden has always maintained that there is no way that other states could do this but the spies are likely to have thought it too risky to take the chance. In turn, this may have led to undercover agents being moved as a precaution.
Snowden himself would not have had access though to any kind of database of MI6 agents but the fear might have been that by piecing together any secrets on how such agents communicate that were in the files, the Russians and Chinese might have been able to identify them.

However, no one in government today is confirming that they are sure that the Russians and Chinese have got full access - that remains in the realm of "no comment". Grey line

Intelligence officials have long warned of what they see as the dangers of the information leaked by Mr Snowden and its potential impact on keeping people in the UK safe - a concern Prime Minister David Cameron has said he shares.
According to the Sunday Times, Western intelligence agencies have been forced to pull agents out of "hostile countries" after "Moscow gained access to more than one million classified files" held by Mr Snowden.

"Senior government sources confirmed that China had also cracked the encrypted documents, which contain details of secret intelligence techniques and information that could allow British and American spies to be identified," the newspaper added.

Security expert Professor Anthony Glees said Mr Snowden's actions had been "very very damaging"

Tim Shipman, who co-wrote the Sunday Times story, told the BBC: "Snowden said 'nobody bad has got hold of my information'.

"Well, we are told authoritatively by people in Downing Street, in the Home Office, in the intelligence services that the Russians and the Chinese have all this information and as a result of that our spies are having to pull people out of the field because their lives are in danger.

"People in government are deeply frustrated that this guy has been able to put all this information out there."
The newspaper quoted Sir David Omand, former director of UK intelligence agency GCHQ, saying the fact Russia and China had the information was a "huge strategic setback" that was "harming" to Britain, the US and their Nato allies.

Mass surveillance

The former head of the Navy and current Labour peer Admiral Lord West called Mr Snowden a "traitor", saying it was now much harder to monitor terrorists and criminals.

Professor Anthony Glees, of the University of Buckingham's Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, said the leaking of the documents had been "very, very damaging".

Protesters supporting Snowden hold a photo of him during a demonstration outside the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong
He told the BBC: "From the documents that Snowden has, it will be possible to identify those very brave people in countries where if you spy for Britain you get killed.

"There may even be names inadvertently included... Edward Snowden is not only a villain, he's a villain of the first order."
But, the director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said that if Mr Snowden had been pardoned in the US "for doing what many in the United States (consider) to be a public service in revealing the sheer extent of mass surveillance, he wouldn't have needed to go to Russia".

'Pinch of salt'

It comes two days after the UK's terrorism watchdog David Anderson QC published a review into terrorism legislation, which was set up amid public concerns about surveillance sparked by Mr Snowden's revelations.

He said the country needed clear new laws about the powers of security services to monitor online activity and concluded that the current situation was "undemocratic, unnecessary and - in the long run - intolerable".

Former Conservative cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics that the timing of the story was "no accident".

"This debate in Britain between individual liberty and collective security comes into very sharp focus as a result of the Anderson report, and that is why [The Sunday Times' Tim Shipman] has got his very good exclusive today."
Asked if it was part of a propaganda drive by the government, he replied: "Well, there is a big debate going on, you know," adding: "Anderson is going to be a very important part of that".

Andrew Mitchell

Mr Mitchell suggested the timing of the story was linked to the Anderson report
Like it or not, he said, Snowden had directly engendered "a massive change of view about the debate" in the US.
Meanwhile, civil liberties campaigner David Davis - also a Conservative MP - told the Guardian the story should be treated with "a pinch of salt".

"You can see they have been made nervous by Anderson. We have not been given any facts, just assertions," he said of the government.

The government is preparing new legislation to give police and agencies more tools to monitor online communications data, saying this is necessary to fight terrorism.

Previous attempts were blocked by the Lib Dems in coalition, and critics say the plans amount to a "snoopers' charter".

By the BBC

For more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33125068

US hacking: Military and intelligence data 'accessed'

Hackers with suspected links to China appear to have accessed sensitive data on US intelligence and military personnel, American officials say.

Details of a major hack emerged last week, but officials have now given details of a potential second breach.

It is feared that the attack could leave US security personnel or their families open to blackmail.

The agency involved, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), is yet to comment on the reports.

Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press (AP) news agency, believe the attackers have targeted the forms submitted by intelligence and military personnel for security clearances.

The document includes personal information - everything from eye colour, to financial history, to past substance abuse, as well as contact details for the individual's friends and relatives.

Loans and drug use

A 127-page vetting document called Standard Form 86 may have been accessed. Among the questions potential employees are asked:

• In the past seven years, have you defaulted on any loans?
• Have you ever voluntarily sought counselling or treatment as a result of your use of alcohol?
• In the last seven years, have you illegally used any drugs or controlled substance?

A White House statement said investigators had a "high degree of confidence" that background information on government employees had been accessed.

Joel Brenner, a former US counterintelligence official, called the data a "gold mine" for hackers.

It is also believed the breach of personal data of US government workers announced last week may be far larger than previously reported.

Initial estimates put the number of people potentially affected at four million, but officials close to the investigation told AP that as many as 14 million might be involved.

Previous hack attacks on US government

• In November 2014 a hack compromised files belonging to 25,000 employees of the Department of Homeland Security, as well as thousands of other federal workers
• In March 2014 hackers breached OPM networks, targeting government staff with security clearance, but the attempt was blocked before any data was stolen. The intrusion was traced to China
• In 2006, hackers believed to be based in China breached the system of a sensitive bureau in the US Department of Commerce. Hundreds of workstations had to be replaced

The US has said the hackers, thought to be behind both attacks, are believed to be based in China. Beijing called the claims "irresponsible".

The Obama administration meanwhile announced further measures to beef up cybersecurity on Friday.

"Recent events underscore the need to accelerate the administration's cyber strategy and confront aggressive, persistent malicious actors that continue to target our nation's cyber infrastructure," a White House statement said.

From the BBC

U.S. Embracing a New Approach on Battling ISIS in Iraq

By MICHAEL R. GORDON and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

United States Army trainers instructed Iraqi Army recruits at a military base in Taji, Iraq, in April. The United States now has about 3,000 troops in Iraq. Credit John Moore/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — President Obama has authorized the deployment of up to 450 more American troops to Iraq to train and assist the Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State, the White House announced on Wednesday, signalling a major shift of focus in the fight against the Sunni militant group.

The United States forces will use Al Taqqadum, an Iraqi base near the town of Habbaniya in eastern Anbar Province, as their training hub, the White House said. Mr. Obama opted to send them at the request of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq, and after consultation with Ashton B. Carter, the secretary of defence, and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“These new advisers will work to build capacity of Iraqi forces, including local tribal fighters, to improve their ability to plan, lead and conduct operations against ISIL in eastern Anbar under the command of the prime minister,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said in a statement, referring to the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL. “This train, advise and assist mission builds on lessons learned during the past several months and is just one aspect of our commitment to support the Iraqi Security Forces.”

Mr. Obama will also speed up the delivery of weapons and equipment to Iraqi forces, including pesh merga and tribal fighters who are under Iraqi command.

The new plan follows months of behind-the-scenes debate about how prominently plans to retake Mosul, another Iraqi city that fell to the Islamic State last year, should figure in the early phase of the military campaign against the group.

The Obama administration took pains to assert that the steps did not constitute a change in strategy.

“This decision does not represent a change in mission, but rather adds another location for D.O.D. to conduct similar activities in more areas in Iraq,” the Department of Defence said in a statement. “This effort is in keeping with our overarching strategy to work with partners on the ground to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL.”

It said the new location would bring American troop levels in Iraq up to 3,550.

The fall of Ramadi last month effectively settled the administration debate, at least for the time being. American officials said Ramadi was now expected to become the focus of a lengthy campaign to regain Mosul at a later stage, possibly not until 2016.

The additional American troops will arrive as early as this summer, a United States official said, and will focus on training Sunni fighters with the Iraqi Army. The official called the coming announcement “an adjustment to try to get the right training to the right folks.”

The troops will set up the training centre primarily to advise and assist Iraqi security forces and to engage and reach out to Sunni tribes in Anbar, a senior United States official said. The focus for the Americans will be to try to accelerate the integration of Sunni fighters into the Iraqi Army, which is dominated by Shiites. That will be an uphill task as many of the Sunni fighters in the area do not trust the Iraqi Army.

But the Obama administration hopes that the outreach will reduce the Iraqi military’s reliance on Shiite militias to take back territory from the Islamic State. “The Sunnis want to be part of the fight,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “This will help empower them, creating more recruits and more units to fight ISIL,” he added, using another acronym for the Islamic State.

He said the arms and equipment sent will go to the Iraqi government forces in Anbar, not directly to the Sunni tribes, adding that the new strategy was not a change in policy to directly arm Sunnis, but rather a faster way to get equipment and arms to the battlefield, which the Iraqi government had requested.

The United States Central Command’s emphasis on retaking Mosul depended critically on efforts to retrain the Iraqi Army, which appear to have gotten off to a slow start. Some Iraqi officials also thought the schedule for taking Mosul was unrealistic, and some bridled when an official from the Central Command told reporters in February that an assault to capture the city was planned for this spring.

Now, pending approval by the White House, plans are being made to use Al Taqqadum, an Iraqi base near the town of Habbaniya, as another training hub for the American-led coalition.

Alistair Baskey, a National Security Council spokesman, said that the administration hoped to accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces, and that “those options include sending additional trainers.”

The United States now has about 3,000 troops, including trainers and advisers, in Iraq. But the steps envisioned by the White House are likely to be called half-measures by critics because they do not call for an expansion of the role of American troops, such as the use of spotters to call in airstrikes.

There has long been debate within the administration about what the first steps in the campaign should be.

Led by Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the Central Command has long emphasized the need to strike a blow against the Islamic State by recapturing Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which was taken by the group in June 2014. Mosul is the capital of Nineveh Province in northern Iraq and was the site of a sermon that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, defiantly delivered in July. The Baiji refinery, a major oil complex, is on a main road to Mosul.

While General Austin was looking north, State Department officials have highlighted the strategic importance of Anbar Province in western Iraq.

Anbar is home to many of Iraq’s Sunni tribes, whose support American officials hope to enlist in the struggle against the Islamic State. Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, is less than 70 miles from Baghdad, and the province borders Saudi Arabia and Jordan, two important members of the coalition against the Islamic State.

The differing perspectives within the administration came to the fore in April when Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asserted that Ramadi was not central to the future of Iraq.

The Islamic State’s capture of Ramadi last month also punctured the administration’s description that the group was on the defensive.

Suddenly, it appeared that the Islamic State, not the American-led coalition, was on the march. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq scrambled to assemble a plan to regain the city.

The Islamic State now controls two provincial capitals, as well as the city of Falluja. With the help of American air power, the Iraqis have retaken Tikrit, northwest of Baghdad, but so many buildings there are still rigged with explosives that many of its residents have been unable to return.

To assemble a force to retake Ramadi, the number of Iraqi tribal fighters in Anbar who are trained and equipped is expected to increase to as many as 10,000 from about 5,500.

More than 3,000 new Iraqi soldiers are to be recruited to fill the ranks of the Seventh Iraqi Army division in Anbar and the Eighth Iraqi Army division, which is in Habbaniya, where the Iraqi military operations centre for the province is also based.

But to the frustration of critics like Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who say that the United States is losing the initiative to the Islamic State, the Obama administration has yet to approve the use of American spotters on the battlefield to call in airstrikes in and around Ramadi. Nor has it approved the use of Apache helicopter gunships to help Iraqi troops retake the city.

General Dempsey alluded to the plan to expand the military footprint in Iraq during a visit to Israel on Tuesday, saying that he had asked war commanders to look into expanding the number of training sites for Iraqi forces.

The United States is not the only country that is expanding its effort.

Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, said this week that his country would send up to 125 additional troops to train Iraqi forces, including in how to clear improvised bombs. Italy is also expected to play an important role in training the Iraqi police.

President Obama to boost army trainers in Iraq

The US is to send up to 450 military trainers to Iraq to help "train and advise" local forces fighting Islamic State, the White House says.

President Obama made the decision following a request from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, it said.

The troops will be deployed to the Taqaddum military base in Anbar province. IS seized Ramadi - the capital of Anbar - in May.

It has made gains across the region despite US-led coalition air strikes.

The move is aimed at enabling more Iraqis - mostly Sunni tribal volunteers - to integrate into the Iraq army and reclaim territory from Islamic State.

"These new advisers will work to build capacity of Iraqi forces, including local tribal fighters, to improve their ability to plan, lead, and conduct operations" against IS in Anbar, the White House statement added.

Iraq has become increasingly reliant on Shia militias to help government troops battle IS

Islamic State took control of Iraq's second city Mosul a year ago. It has also captured the Syrian town of Tadmur and the neighbouring ancient ruins of Palmyra.

The deployment of military advisers to Taqaddum brings the number of US training camps in Iraq to five.

Some 9,000 Iraqi troops have already been trained at Al-Asad, Besmaya, Irbil, and Taji, the White House said.

President Obama continues to resist demands for combat troops.

Analysis - Jon Sopel, BBC North America editor

After the fall of Ramadi and then the suggestion by the US defence secretary that the Iraqis didn't have the will to fight, this announcement is an admission that the strategy isn't working.

What is striking is that these additional troops will be operating from a military base in Anbar province, where Islamic State has made major gains.

The aim is to bring Sunni tribes into the fight against IS - they have so far refused to get involved out of their mistrust of the Shia dominated government in Baghdad.

Involving them is now a key component of Pentagon strategy.

But it will mean the US trainers will be operating close to IS front lines, and that will present its own security concerns for the US, and an opportunity for Islamic State.

The decision to send more military advisors follows months of behind-the-scenes debate within the White House on how to retake Mosul and Ramadi, the New York Times reports.

US officials believe a major factor in the fall of Ramadi was a lack of training of Iraqi forces.
President Obama also ordered "the expedited delivery of essential equipment and material" to Iraqi forces, including Kurdish Peshmerga troops and Sunni tribal fighters.

However, former Iraqi national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, told the BBC the new plans were not enough.

"This is too little too late. I call for the American administration to get their act together." he added.
"They don't have any unified strategy. We don't understand their policy in Iraq and in Syria, in the region. They are giving conflicting signs."

There are currently around 3,000 US military personnel, including trainers and advisers, in Iraq.
The United Kingdom said earlier this week it will send an extra 125 troops, taking the number of UK personnel training Iraqi security forces to 275.

Conservative MPs demand school funding reform

By Ross Hawkins Political correspondent

Conservative backbenchers are demanding radical changes to school funding in England within months.

They say ministers face a campaign from dozens of their own MPs unless they commit to swift reform.

Teachers will be made redundant and class sizes will increase without action, they say.
One backbencher, Daniel Kawczynski, said that "huge numbers" of Conservatives in the Commons were demanding change.

He told BBC Radio 4's the World at One: "I think you would be fascinated how strong the feelings are on this issue and the sort of campaign that is going to be pursued in the course of this year"

Conservative former chairman of the education select committee Graham Stuart said he believed dozens of Tories would want the "earliest possible" announcement, ideally in July's Budget.

'Funding pressures'

He said: "You are seeing schools facing up to prospects of deficits unless they don't take significant action to reduce headcount.

"We will you know potentially be looking at redundancies in order to cope with the funding pressures."

Backbenchers say the way government money is earmarked for local authorities to fund schools must change from next April.

There are sharp variations across the country, with the best funded areas receiving as much as £7,000 per pupil and the worst off getting just over £4,000.

Ministers said they intended to change the system since 2010, promised reform in 2013, and made a fresh commitment in the Conservative manifesto.

They provided an extra £390m to the worst funded authorities at the end of the last Parliament, but have not rewritten the funding formula.

The move would almost certainly see well funded inner city authorities lose money, while some rural areas would be winners.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "The last government made considerable progress in reforming the school funding system.

"In 2014 an additional £390 million was allocated to boost 69 of the least fairly funded areas in the country in 2015 -16 - the biggest step toward fairer schools funding in 10 years.

"But we recognise there is still work to which is why we have committed to looking at what more needs to be done to ensure that all local areas are funded justly."

Cutting Through Diplomacy Fog: The Two Camerons

The PM has vowed a tough renegotiation with Europe - but at G7 he was slightly self-conscious about a possible exit.

By Faisal Islam - Political Editor

The fog of diplomacy clouded the Bavarian Alps around the G7 summit.

US President Obama had to deny comments on the "strong dollar".
The G7 communique itself made some extraordinary promises. World leaders promising decarbonisaton of the global economy by the end of the century
.
A promise to change things in 85 years, when the longest average life expectancy in the G7 is 83. And yet that claim was not even the source of the most incredulity at the summit.
That honour was reserved for Prime Minister David Cameron.

He spent some precious political capital blaming the travelling British media pack for collectively misinterpreting his own off-camera briefing on Sunday as a "back me or resign" message to eurosceptic ministers.

Such misinterpretations are possible of course. Mr Cameron said he only became aware of the problem when he saw the morning papers. He suggested that journalists should "ask him" next time to avoid such misunderstandings.

The less-than-clear position of the PM is that ministerial collective responsibility (ie. "back me or be sacked") applies to the renegotiation, and he is yet to decide whether it applies to the referendum.
Cutting through the alpine fog, what is clear is that there are two David Camerons to reconcile during this renegotiation.

Leaders from the Group of Seven industrial nations at a summit in Germany

Firstly there is the one that appeared at the election and in Monday morning's press conference, who sticks to the script of a tough renegotiation with European partners followed by a once-in-a-generation in-out choice for the British people.

And then there is PM Cameron who turns out at world leaders' summits like the G7, slightly self-conscious about critiques of a less-than-Great "shrinking Britain" withdrawing from the world stage.

Video:Obama Wants Britain To Stay In EU

In fact that was one of the main takeaways from this G7 Summit. The PM arguing that "Britain is back" and "we are not shrinking".

The EU referendum in such diplomatic circles is seen as a symbol of an inward-looking UK. In this context Mr Cameron sounds like a committed European.
His place at the G7 table is not dependent on EU membership, but everyone at it clearly thinks it does.

The G7 communique contained numerous references to the EU in combating Russian aggression over Ukraine. President Obama chose to mention he was "very much looking forward to" the UK staying in the EU.

It wasn't even on the agenda here... but the prime ministerial climbdown, or clarification, is a clear a sign of the sensitivities back home in his own party.

If you want a measure of his true views: consider this, at Chancellor Angela Merkel's invitation, the PM chaired the G7 trade session on connecting the US economy to the European Union - not the actions of a man planning on quitting the EU.

This initiative was launched at the G8 chaired by Mr Cameron himself. He calculates failure to sign a deal costs £700m a day. The G7 communique agreed with Mr Cameron's push to sign an outline US-EU trade deal by the end of the year.

This is going to become a big political issue over the next few months, particularly as regards the NHS. It is a wildcard, particularly in relation to the left-wing anti-EU vote.

A poll by Comres for the Daily Mail tested the actual EU Referendum Bill question to be debated in the House of Commons on Tuesday. A stonking 58% saying Yes to stay in the EU. Would Mr Cameron see that as good or bad news? Whilst the negotiation is on he has to pretend he is neutral.

The reality is that the "misinterpretation" was more reflective of what the PM actually thinks. Indeed with polling that strong for Yes, how much of a renegotiation does he actually need? And does it actually matter if Cabinet ministers with one referendum vote resign?

US facing 'dedicated' hacking enemy





The Office of Personnel Management was the target

The US says it faces a "dedicated adversary" and an "ever evolving threat" to the nation's cyber security, after a major data breach.

 

The hacking of federal government computers may have compromised the records of four million employees. US officials have blamed China for the attack, but the Chinese have denied any involvement. Four million current and former US government employees are being told to take precautions. They have been told to monitor or close bank accounts, freeze credit reports, and change online passwords. Some have spoken to the BBC expressing fears over how their personal information will be used.

 

"Identity theft is one thing I'm concerned about," said Bryan Sivak, a former technology officer with the Department of Health and Human Services.

"But depending on what information was accessed, I'm more worried about this information being used to illegally access various networks or against individuals directly." At a White House briefing on Friday, a spokesman said the US faced a "dedicated adversary", and the question of who carried out the attack was the focus of an ongoing FBI investigation.



The US says some Chinese hackers work in this Shanghai building

J David Cox Sr, president of the largest union representing federal employees, says he "will demand accountability" and push for the information to be secured. Steve Hodge, a former employee of the Food and Drug Administration told the BBC that "if anyone had possession of this information, they could impersonate me". The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said it became aware of the breach in April during an "aggressive effort" to update its cyber security systems. It said it would be offering those affected 18 months of free credit monitoring and identity theft insurance. OPM serves as the human resource department for the federal government. The agency issues security clearances and compiles records of all federal government employees.

What was stolen?

• sensitive data has been taken from current and former employees
• security clearances and background checks dating back to 1985
• social security numbers
• performance reviews and testing
• birthdays, addresses, bank information, and other personal data

An unnamed US official told the Reuters news agency that some of the stolen information includes security clearances and background checks from as far back as 1985. Some of the sensitive personal information could be used to access critical weapons systems, according to the official. Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the hackers were believed to be based in China. But China denied there was any official involvement in the attack. A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington called the allegations "not responsible, and counterproductive". US Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the hack proved the "inadequacy" of cyber strategy. If China was to blame, then the US cannot "sit idly by", he added, and ways must be found to deter future attacks. The White House spokesman said President Barack Obama has frequently raised China's activities in cyber space as a significant source of concern.

From BBC News 

For the original article - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33028158

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MPs at risk of thier private data being leaked

'MPs And Judges' In Hacked Adult Database

A hacker is allegedly trying to sell details of four million adult network users, including nude photos.   

  

British MPs and judges are at risk of "manipulation by foreign governments and agencies" as a result of the Adult FriendFinder hack, security expert John McAfee has told Sky News.

Nearly four million users' details, including their sexual preferences, email addresses and in some cases nude photos, were leaked in late May.
Mr McAfee, the founder of McAfee, the anti-virus software manufacturer, said the hacker - known as ROR(OG) - who carried out the attack had shown him the complete database.
He told Sky News that three MPs and four judges are included in the database, and the hacker is trying to sell the information for $20m (£13m).

Mr McAfee says he has seen the hacked database

"Imagine the repercussions for the UK," Mr McAfee said. "I think someone's gonna pay the $20m and just take the whole thing.
"It not only opens up four million lives to devastation, it opens up the citizens of countries of those involved."

Mr McAfee said it was possible for passengers to hack into a passenger plane from their seat.

"It is extremely possible and it did in fact happen," he said.
Referring to his "close personal friend" Chris Roberts, who claimed he had gained access to the engine controls of a United flight via its in-flight entertainment system, Mr McAfee said "he endangered no lives whatsoever. He showed a massive hole in our understanding."
Aviation experts and plane manufacturers have disputed whether the hack is possible.
Speaking to Sky News ahead of a speech at Infosecurity 2015, a cybersecurity event in London, Mr McAfee attacked mooted plans for the Government to force companies to use weakened encryption, as part of the new Investigatory Powers Bill - the so-called snooper's charter.
Mr McAfee argued that any weakening of encryption would ultimately help criminals.
"All you're doing is formalising and facilitating the hacker community," he said.
"State surveillance is the greatest threat to our privacy. Hackers are not looking into our lives to make sure that we're living proper lives.
"They're into our lives to make money. The Government is into our lives to make sure we're behaving. There's a major difference. I don't want to be made to behave. Good god, I'm 70 years old, I no longer need a mother."
Mr McAfee said his company Future Tense Central would be partnering with Demonsaw, a social encryption company started by a programmer at Rockstar Games, the maker of the Grand Theft Auto series.
He said if the Government compelled his company to weaken their encryption, he would refuse.
"We would take it elsewhere. I have been in this business long enough to know that I would be doing no one a service by submitting to that demand. I'm not helping the British people, I'm hurting them in the long run."
After selling his stake in McAfee Inc in 1996 (the company was subsequently bought by Intel), Mr McAfee founded several other ventures, before moving to Belize.
In April 2012, he was arrested there for drug manufacturing and possession of an unlicensed weapon, but released without charge.
In November, he fled the country after police named him as a person of interest in a murder investigation.
Today, he lives in the US and travels with a bodyguard, who was present at the interview with Sky News.
"In Belize, I exposed corruption at the highest level within the government, which resulted in an attempt on the life of my wife and I, on 12 September 2013, and there have been numerous other attempts since then," he said.
"I have threats. And at the same time, I'm out talking my mind. I'm nearly 70 years old, I'm not going to shut up."

By Tom Cheshire

For more information visit
http://news.sky.com/story/1495658/mps-and-judges-in-hacked-adult-database