Moscow (AFP) – Russia has pulled out of a long-running US-funded student exchange programme, accusing the organisers of letting a teenager stay behind in the United States in the care of a gay couple. http://news.yahoo.com/russia-scraps-us-exchange-scheme-says-teen-put-145334948.html
British jets have again attacked Islamic State forces in support of a Kurdish advance in northwest Iraq as a former aide to Tony Blair has called for talks http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/defence/article4224385.ece
The outgoing director of GCHQ has used his farewell speech to praise the UK surveillance agency’s practices. In the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations, Sir Iain Lobban called the agency’s work a “mission of liberty, not erosion of it.” http://rt.com/uk/197924-gchq-director-defends-surveillance/