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BBC News with Marion Marshall
The head of the US Senate Intelligence Committee has accused the CIA of spying on Congress. Dianne Feinstein said the CIA had inappropriately searched the computers of congressional stuff who were investigating allegations that it had tortured suspects during the Bush administration. Senator Feinstein said the agency had obstructed the investigation, lied about its activities and electronically removed files from the Committee's computers. She said it was a serious matter.
“I have grave concerns that the CIA search may well have violated the separation of powers principles, embodied in the United States constitution. It may have undermined the constitutional framework, essential to effective congressional oversight.”
The CIA director John Brennan dismissed the allegations, saying they were completely untrue.
“As far as the allegations of, you know, CIA hacked into you know, senators' computers,nothing can be further from the truth, and we wouldn't do that. I mean, that's just beyond the scope of reason.”
The BBC Washington correspondent says it's following the revelations by the former CIA employee Edward Snowden. The affair will do nothing to reassure Americans about the reach of their intelligence services.
The Malaysian air force says radar information suggests that a passenger airliner that went missing on Saturday changed course and headed west. The last surveillance contact put the Malaysian Airlines plane somewhere between Malaysia and Vietnam. But military sources say their radar records show that the plane started to turn around and may have flown right across the Malay Peninsula. The aircraft disappeared less than an hour into its flight to Beijing, and an international search effort has so far failed to find any wreckage.
The Turkish President Abdullah Gul has appealed for calm after police clashed with protesters angered by the death of a teenage boy, who was hurt during anti-government demonstrations last year. Berkin Elvan had been in a coma since he was hit by a teargas canister as he went to buy bread. Selin Girit reports from Istanbul.
The news of the 15-year-old Berkin Elvan's death was announced earlier this morning. We lost our son, may he rest in peace, wrote his family on Twitter. As the news spread, people started gathering in front of the hospital where he spent 269 days in a coma. The police showed up, the crowd got angrier, and police intervened with pepper gas. Berkin's story had become a symbol for Gezi Park protesters. He was walking to buy bread when he got hit in the head by a teargas canister.
The Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been ousted by parliament after MPs said a tanker laden with oil from a rebel-held port broke through a naval blockade and escaped to sea. A vote of confidence in Mr. Zeidan was called following reports that the tanker had reached international waters.
World News from the BBC.
Michelle Bachelet has been sworn in as the president of Chile for the second time. In an emotional ceremony, she received the red, white and blue presidential sash from the head of the Senate, Isabel Allende, the daughter of the socialist president Salvador Allende, deposed in 1973. Our correspondent in Santiago Gideon Long watched the ceremony.
Mrs. Bechelet becomes the first democratically elected Chilean head of state in over half a century to return to the presidential palace for a second term in office. She'd already made a history in 2006, as Chile's first female president. Many Latin American heads of state were at the ceremony, but there was one notable absentee, Nicholas Maduro, the President of Venezuela, he'd been due to attend, but cancelled at the last minute. Several of the region's foreign ministers will take the opportunity to meet in Santiago to discuss Venezuela which had been racked by violence in recent weeks.
Two South African policemen have been arrested after online video footage showed officers stripping and beating an Nigerian man in the street. The film shows police and the security guards in Cape Town repeatedly punching and kicking the man.
A collection of masks dating back to the dawn of civilization has gone on display in Jerusalem. The stone masks which appear to be modeled on skulls have round holes for eyes, tiny noses and prominent displays of teeth. The director of the Israel Museum is James Snyder.
“These are indeed the oldest masks in the world. And they are 9,000 years old. And in a way what makes them remarkable is that they are all from within about 20 mile radius, not far from Jerusalem actually where the Judean hills meet the Judean Dessert. ”
BBC News
