Snowden, a former contractor at the agency, leaked top secret documents about NSA's surveillance programmes that tapped telephone conversations and spied on internet activities of citizens, prominent leaders, bureaucrats, businesses and government agencies across the globe.

Sissi denied allegations that he had betrayed Morsi and pledged to carry on with a political plan that includes constitutional reforms and new elections within six months.

SAFEGUARDS

Having done so, he returned to cabaret, touring extensively in New Zealand, Australia and the United States and devoting much of his time to visiting hospitals and hospices. He also raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for Aids charities, work for which he was appointed OBE in 2002.

Armstrong objects to the way Islam is portrayedArmstrong went ballistic. She is herself the author of a sanitised life of "the Prophet" (as she calls him, despite not being a believer) that she grandly offered as "a gift to the Muslim people". She accused Spencer of "writing in hatred" and said he "deliberately manipulates the evidence". By the end of the day, Spencer had hit back online. Very hard. We have the beginnings of a mighty feud here, and I know whose side I am on.According to Armstrong, "When discussing Mohammed's war with Mecca, Spencer never cites the Koran's condemnation of all warfare as an 'awesome evil'." There's a reason for that, replies Spencer: the Koran doesn't quite say that.Writing on his website ,??Spencer challenged his readers to find the relevant verse. Someone did. It's 2:217, and it refers specifically to warfare in the "sacred month", and then only to say that the prohibition can be set aside. So who is manipulating evidence here?Armstrong reckons that descriptions of Islam that focus on its warlike origins are like "a description of Christianity based on the bellicose Book of Revelation that failed to mention the Sermon on the Mount." That is an unbelievably fatuous and sloppy analogy. The violence of Revelation springs from the imagination: it's a literary apocalypse. It doesn't describe any real events. Mohammed was a general whose army beheaded its captives: that's a fact. The Muslim scriptures urge warfare against unbelievers and apostates; the Christian scriptures preach non-violence.I really think it's time someone challenged Karen Armstrong's credentials as an expert on Islam. How good is her classical Arabic, I wonder? If I was a Muslim, I'd be sick to death of this preachy autodidact constantly representing Islam as a touchy-feely encounter group.But perhaps the Muslims like her. In which case, please persuade her to convert to Islam, as "a gift to the Christian people". It would be good to see Karen back in the veil only, this time, one that covers her mouth.Heartbroken parishioners of the West Yorkshire churches closed by Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds, are contuing to mow the lawns and tend the grounds of their padlocked churches as a gesture of defiance. One parish - I won't say which - is continuing to hold Masses at another venue.