
The Obama administration on Monday accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of making wild assertions about US persecution to deflect attention from sex allegations he faces questioning for in Sweden.

Several groups allied to Argentine president Cristina Fernandez are actively promoting a constitutional review that would allow re-election for a third consecutive four year mandate. The last Argentine constitutional review was in 1994 when the four-year mandate was introduced with the possibility of an only immediate re-election, thus modifying the six year mandate but with no re-election.

With droughts parching farms in the United States and near the Black Sea, weak monsoon rains in India and persistent hunger in Africa's Sahel region, the world could be headed towards another food crisis, experts say.

Speaking on Sunday in front of the condor of the Ecuadorean coat of arms on the white balcony railing of the embassy in London, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange thanked President Rafael Correa and Ecuador's diplomats, whom he praised for standing up against oppression, but also revealed the police tried to break in last Wednesday.

Scientists in the United States said they had devised a rubbery robot, inspired by the squid and octopus, which can crawl, camouflage itself and hide from infrared cameras. The Pentagon-backed gadget is the latest type of a so-called soft machine, meaning silicone-based robots that are made from squidgy, translucent polymers.

The city of Dallas in Texas is joining other municipalities declaring a state of disaster during what has become the worst outbreak of West Nile virus in the United States in 2012.

A US start-up company has a solution for people who want to eat meat, but don't want to harm animals either: 3D printed meat. The 3D printing technique is already being used to create things from bike parts to chocolate to dental crowns and bridges. And scientists are working towards using 3D printing to make organs for transplant.

Ecuador has granted asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange two months after he took refuge in its London embassy while fighting extradition from the UK, but Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UK would not allow Assange safe passage out of the country.

US consumer prices were flat in July for a second straight month and the year-over-year increase was the smallest since November 2010. In the 12 months to July the CPI rose 1.4%, slowing from June's 1.7% rise, the US Labour Department said on Wednesday.

Standard Chartered has agreed a 340 million dollars settlement with New York regulators that accused it of hiding 250bn of transactions with Iran. The hearing that had been scheduled for Wednesday has now been adjourned.