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UK intelligence agencies say they are recruiting more female staff – and are targeting middle-age and « mid-career » women for jobs.

MI6 and and GCHQ advertised on the Mumsnet website for the first time this year, and MI5 has raised its target for women employees to 45% by 2021. Flexible working and the importance of « high emotional intelligence » are also being stressed in recruitment. The agencies were responding to calls from MPs to recruit more women.

Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee reported in March 2015 that 37% of intelligence agency staff were women and women only make up 19% of senior civil servants in the agencies.

Diversity Champions

One year on, the government says that it and the agencies – internal security service MI5, external spy agency MI6 and the government listening post GCHQ – « agree wholeheartedly » with the need for « diversity » in agency staff.

It says action has been taken since the report was published to « increase their focus » on « all aspects of diversity », including recruiting more women. Recruitment targets, « diversity champions », events such as a recent « Women in Cyber » event and more career support for female officers are part of efforts to employ more women and encourage talented existing women to apply for promotion.

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A data breach involving the personal details of hundreds of Northern Ireland Prison Service employees has been described as « a major embarrassment ».

However, it is not being treated as a major security breach.

A junior employee at the Department of Justice sent a spreadsheet with names and dates of birth of prison officers and civilian staff.
It was mistakenly sent to an outside contractor.

The person who received the information is employed by a company that carries out work for the prison service, and they have been security vetted.

It is understood that the recipient contacted the Department of Justice to make them aware of the mistake, and deleted the information they had been sent.

Prison officers who contacted the BBC after the department informed them about the data breach expressed concern about their personal security. The sources told the BBC that the lives of prison officers and civilian staff had not been put at risk, because the information had been quickly deleted.

In a statement, the Department of Justice confirmed that an incident occurred and said it takes its obligations under data protection legislation very seriously. It added: « A full investigation is under way and the incident has been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office. »

While the department has played down the significance of the incident, it is clearly not the kind of issue new justice minister Claire Sugden would have wanted to land in her in-tray on her first day in the job.

A woman has been found guilty of the manslaughter of a student with learning difficulties.

Julie Beards blamed her husband for the murder of Susan Whiting, 20, who was drugged, raped and killed in August, Leicester Crown Court heard.

Steven Beards, 34, had already been convicted of rape and murder of the Walsall student and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 33 years.

Julie Beards, 36, who also has learning difficulties, denied murder.

Her husband, whom the judge described as « a sexually motivated violent killer » denied the charges.

Miss Whiting went to stay the night with the Beards on 16 August, which she had done before. She had become friends with Julie Beards through a local adult community centre. The following day she was reported missing to the police.

The couple from Bloxwich in Walsall told the student’s mother she had left their home safe and well, but the next day police found her body wrapped in a shower curtain under a bed in their house. Miss Whiting was raped after her food had been laced with a ‘sedating hypnotic drug’ Zoplicone, and died of a fractured skull when she had been struck on the head at least three times, the jury heard.

Steven Beards, who has also been convicted of rape, told the court he had « no idea » how evidence of his sperm had been found on Miss Whiting. Miss Whiting’s mother, Maureen, paid tribute to her daughter saying: « She was just 20 years old, an easy-going, loving young lady, enjoying her life. I know she was loved and will be missed by so many people ».

The Afghan Taliban have announced a new leader to replace Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was killed in a US drone strike.

In a statement, the Taliban acknowledged Mansour’s death for the first time and named his successor as Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada. Analysts say it is unlikely the group will change direction under Akhundzada, a religious scholar seen as hardline.

Last year the Taliban were plunged into turmoil when Mansour replaced the group’s founder Mullah Mohammad Omar. Mansour was killed in a strike on his car in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Saturday. Under his stewardship the Taliban refused to take part in peace talks: instead, militant attacks escalated and became more daring. Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, a former head of the Taliban courts, was a deputy leader to Mansour.

It doesn’t look as if there will be a major shift in the Taliban’s approach to peace talks under the new leadership. Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada was deputy to Mullah Mansour and held senior positions under the movement’s founder Mullah Omar.

He comes from Kandahar in the Taliban heartlands of southern Afghanistan and seems to have been an acceptable choice for a significant number of Taliban shura (council) members. The new leader is not as controversial as his predecessor, who led the militants for two years before news emerged that Mullah Omar was actually dead.

A Taliban statement said the new appointment had been unanimous, the same word the Taliban used when Mullah Mansour took over. Splits soon emerged after that – this time there could still be some disagreements, but probably not enough to challenge the new leader’s authority. « Haibatullah Akhundzada has been appointed as the new leader of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) after a unanimous agreement in the shura (supreme council), and all the members of shura pledged allegiance to him, » the Taliban said in a statement. It also said that Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Mullah Omar, would become a joint deputy head of the movement, alongside current deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani.

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The US justice department is seeking the death penalty in the case of the Charleston church shooting which claimed nine lives last year.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the « nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm » were factors in choosing the death penalty.

Dylann Roof is charged with the murders of nine worshippers at an African-American church in South Carolina. Police said he spent an hour sitting with parishioners before opening fire.

The 22-year-old was attending a Bible study meeting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June when he attacked, say prosecutors. He faces 33 federal charges, including hate crimes, obstruction of religion and firearms offences.

Police say he targeted the victims because of their race and he holds white supremacist views. Thousands attended the funeral of one of the victims, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney.

President Barack Obama was among them, and he ended his eulogy for Mr Pinckney by singing Amazing Grace. The tragedy reignited debate about race relations and sparked a backlash against the Confederate battle flag, after a picture emerged of the suspect carrying one.