American and British intelligence has been spying on gamers across the world, media outlets have reported, saying that the world’s most powerful espionage agencies packed virtual universes with undercover agents and surreptitiously monitored online fantasy games such as World of Warcraft.

America’s National Security Agency, working with the British government, has secretly been unravelling encryption technology that billions of internet users rely upon to keep their electronic messages and confidential data safe from prying eyes, according to reports based on internal US government documents.

Two wives of a businessman convicted over the Mumbai terrorist attacks in India spoke to the FBI about their husband three years before, it has emerged.

Iran's new proposal for talks with the West promises wide-ranging negotiations but does not provide details of the country's disputed nuclear programme, according to a copy of the document published by an investigative group.