The military strategy of trying to win ‘hearts and minds’ in Afghanistan by building schools and health clinics is failing to address the root causes of violence in the country, a report by a group of European and Canadian aid agencies says.

The UK government has not made a convincing case for extending the time suspected terrorists can be detained without charge, according to the Church of England. The government's paper was published at the end of July 2007.

The church-backed US National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is speaking out against a new executive order from President George W. Bush that broadly outlines the limits of how suspects may be questioned in the CIA's terror interrogation programme.

New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be walking a political tightrope over the coming hours, by seeking to cement positive relations with the USA, while staking out his own international policy platform.