Drones steered by military personnel in Nevada, in the US, routinely and anonymously kill people on target lists half a world away, in places like Yemen and Afghanistan, careless of who else dies in the attacks, says Des Breen.

CIA researchers have worked for nearly a decade to break the security protecting Apple phones and tablets, investigative news site The Intercept reported, citing documents obtained from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Gemalto, the world’s largest maker of mobile SIM cards, said a preliminary company probe of sophisticated attacks against it in 2010 and 2011 showed British and US intelligence services “probably” hacked into its office networks.

Britain’s electronic spying agency, in co-operation with the US National Security Agency, hacked into the networks of a Dutch company to steal codes that allow both governments to seamlessly eavesdrop on mobile phones worldwide, according to documents given to journalists by Edward Snowden.