Editor tells Leveson inquiry he sorely regrets the hacking of emails at the Times in 2009

Ninth circuit court of appeals rules Proposition 8 unconstitutional and says it 'lessens human dignity of gay and lesbian people'

Gay marriage campaigners were celebrating a major victory on Tuesday after a federal appeals court ruled California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. The long-awaited ruling paves the way for a US supreme court decision on the voter-approved measure known as Proposition 8.

In a two-to-one decision, a three-judge panel of the ninth US circuit court of appeals in San Francisco agreed with a lower court judge who in 2010 declared the ban to be a violation of the civil rights of gay and lesbian people.

"Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California," judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in Tuesday's ruling.

"Although the constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently," the ruling states.

"There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted."

The ruling is limited to California, which allowed gay marriage but then passed Proposition 8 in 2008.

Campaigners described the ruling as monumental, and said that it added California to the growing list of states that have ended barriers to marriage for gay and lesbian couples.

Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry said: "Today's powerful court ruling striking down the infamous Prop 8 affirms basic American values, and helps tear down a discriminatory barrier to marriage that benefits no one while making it harder for people to take care of their loved ones.

"The ninth circuit rightly held that a state simply may not take a group of people and shove them outside the law, least of all when it comes to something as important as the commitment and security of marriage."

California voters passed Proposition 8 in 2008, but it was ruled unconstitutional by federal judge Vaughn Walker in 2010. But the ban has remained in place since then, because the ninth circuit court put a stay on the Walker ruling pending appeals.

However, even after today's ruling same-sex marriages are unlikely to go ahead any time soon.

Backers of Proposition 8 have said they plan to appeal to a larger 9th circuit panel and then to the US supreme court if they lose.

As a result, same sex couples in California, who enjoyed a brief, four-month legal right to marry in 2008, are likely to have to wait longer to find out if it will be restored.

John Eastman, chairman of the National Organisation for Marriage, which supported the ban, said in statement: "The ninth circuit court of appeals is the most overturned circuit in the country, and Stephen Reinhardt, the author of today's absurd ruling, is the most overturned federal judge in America.

"Today's ruling is a perfect set-up for this case to be taken by the US supreme court, where I am confident it will be reversed."

The case has already been subjected to lengthy delays. Arguments about the constitutional implications of the case were heard by the panel more than a year ago.

But it put off a decision in order to seek guidance from the California supreme court on whether the ban's sponsors had the legal authority to challenge the ruling. The state's attorney general and governor had decided not to appeal it.

In November, the California court gave the ballot measure backers the go-ahead, ruling that the state's citizens' initiative process grants sponsors the right to defend such measures in court even if state officials refuse to do so.

The case was further complicated when lawyers for the coalition of conservative religious groups behind the ballot measure tried to have the trial ruling struck down after it emerged that Walker was in a long-term relationship with another man.

They argued he should have revealed his relation before he declared the measure unconstitutional in August 2010.

Walker disclosed he was gay and had a partner of 10 years after he retired from the bench last year.

However, Walker's successor as the chief federal judge in northern California, James Ware, rejected claims that Walker was unqualified to preside over the 13-day trial.

An estimated 18,000 same-sex couples in California wed during the four-month hiatus before Proposition 8 took effect, according to the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and the Law, a thinktank based at the University of California, Los Angeles.

• California
• Gay rights
• United States
• Human rights

Florence Green was briefly a mess steward with the Women's Royal Air Force at airbases in Norfolk at the end of the war

The last surviving person in the world known to have served in uniform during the first world war has died in a care home a fortnight short of her 111th birthday.

Florence Green, of King's Lynn, was briefly a mess steward serving with the Women's Royal Air Force at airbases in Norfolk at the very end of the war. She joined up at the age of 17 in September 1918, two months before the war ended, and left the service the following July.

Her death follows that of Claude Choules, who saw active service in the Royal Navy, who died aged 110 in Australia last May. Harry Patch, the last veteran known to have served in the trenches on the western front, died aged 111 in 2009.

Mrs Green had lived with her 90 year-old daughter May until late last year. Her youngest daughter, June Evetts, 76, who lives in Oundle, near Peterborough, told the Eastern Daily Press: "She led an amazing and extraordinary life. She must have seen a lot of changes in her time.

"I never heard anyone say a bad word about her. She would never blow her own trumpet and certainly wouldn't shout about the fact she was the last veteran. She was very proud of what she did and we are all very proud of her. Her death does close the book on the first world war as there are no veterans left now."

Mrs Green married her husband, Walter, a porter at King's Lynn station, two years after the war. He died in 1970. The couple had three children and there are four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Mrs Green's story emerged in 2010 after a researcher uncovered her records. On her 109th birthday, Wing Commander Adrian Burns and mess steward Hannah Shaw, from RAF Marham, visited her to present a birthday card.

• First world war
• Military

Home secretary tells MPs she finds it unacceptable that bailed Islamist cleric cannot be deported to Jordan

The home secretary, Theresa May, has tried to assuage cross-party anger over the decision to grant bail to the radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, telling MPs it "simply wasn't acceptable" that such dangerous foreign criminals could not be deported.

Labour MPs, including two former home secretaries, voiced strong concern on Tuesday over a judge's warning that in three months' time he will relax the stringent bail conditions imposed on Qatada if a fresh diplomatic attempt to secure a fair trial for him in Jordan proves unsuccessful.

May told MPs she wanted to deport Qatada "so he is not in this country when the Olympics come". But this may prove a forlorn hope as his lawyers have already warned the special immigration appeals commission (Siac) – which made the decision to bail Qatada on Monday – that they will start a fresh round of litigation in the British courts if negotiations with Jordan clear the way for deportation.

Mr Justice Mitting made the decision to release Qatada in the wake of a judgment at the European court of human rights last month that sending Qatada back to Jordan to face a terrorist trial based on "torture-tainted evidence" would be a flagrant denial of justice. Qatada is expected to be released from Long Lartin maximum security jail within days.

May faced strong criticism from her own backbenchers, with several demanding immediate legislation be introduced to repeal the Human Rights Act and suspend Britain's membership of the European convention on human rights.

May assured them she shared their anger by telling them that she "disagreed vehemently" with the original European court of human rights ruling that blocked Qatada's deportation.

"I continue to believe Qatada should remain behind bars," she said. "The right place for a terrorist is a prison cell. The right place for a foreign terrorist is a foreign prison cell far away from Britain."

She told MPs Britain was "working very actively" to ensure the Strasbourg judges could not override the decisions of the British courts.

She said Qatada would only be released next week on the "most stringent bail conditions", including a 22-hour curfew, and would not be able to claim benefits. She implied that an original move to allow him to take his children to school during the remaining two hours of the day would not now go ahead: "The exact details have yet to be decided by Siac," she said.

Qatada's solicitor, Gareth Peirce, dismissed MPs' fears as a small storm: "He has been on bail before and somehow there wasn't a kerfuffle then. He has been under a control order before and there wasn't a kerfuffle then. I think one has to get a grip on reality here," she told the BBC.

Peirce said British judges had rejected sending people back to their home countries to face trial based on evidence extracted by torture: "That is something we say – our judges in this country say repeatedly – we will not stomach. So it isn't a European opinion superimposed on what the courts of this country would reject. It is the same message."

In the Commons, the home secretary was forced to answer an urgent question by Labour on the case. She confirmed that the Home Office strategy was to seek new diplomatic assurances that Qatada would not face a trial in Jordan based on evidence obtained by torture – the issue that led the Strasbourg court to block his deportation.

Home Office lawyers are considering whether to refer that decision to the Grand Chamber of the European court of human rights, but that move could add a further 18-24 months to the process.

Qatada, whose real name is Omar Othman, was granted bail on Monday by Mr Justice Mitting after hearing that he had spent almost nine years in detention without charge on the grounds of national security – the last six and half years under immigration powers, pending his deportation to Jordan.

May told MPs the Home Office had vigorously opposed efforts to grant Qatada bail: "However strict the bail conditions, I continue to believe that Qatada should remain behind bars. It simply isn't acceptable that after guarantees from the Jordanians about his treatment, after the British courts have found that he is dangerous, and after his removal has been approved by the highest courts in our land, we still cannot deport dangerous foreign nationals."

But two former Labour home secretaries, Jack Straw and David Blunkett, raised the prospect that Qatada will face much lighter bail conditions from April if the talks with Jordan fail.

Blunkett said that when Qatada went into hiding before he was first detained in October 2002 he had been found in a flat full of sophisticated communications equipment just 400m from MI5's headquarters. He said he feared for the situation when the 22-hour curfew on him was lifted.

Straw urged May to negotiate directly with the Jordanians, as he had tried before her, and warned that the coalition government's weaker form of control orders – terrorism prevention and investigation orders – would not provide the same level of public protection.

The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, pressed ministers to get directly involved in the negotiations with Jordan and suggested that May go back to Siac and ask that Qatada be kept in Long Lartin maximum security prison in Worcestershire while those discussions took place.

• Abu Qatada
• Theresa May
• Terrorism policy
• Global terrorism
• UK security and terrorism
• Jordan
• Middle East and North Africa

James Harding tells Leveson inquiry he 'sorely regrets' paper did not reveal that reporter hacked police blogger's email

The editor of the Times has apologised to a high court judge over the paper's failure to declare that a reporter had hacked into the email of an anonymous police blogger when it fought an injunction sought by the officer.

James Harding told the Leveson inquiry on Tuesday he "sorely regrets" that the newspaper did not disclose this information and said he has written to Mr Justice Eady, the high court judge who presided over the 2009 injunction application, to apologise.

Harding gave the fullest account yet to the inquiry of the circumstances surrounding the incident in 2009, when a reporter hacked into the email account of Richard Horton, a Lancashire police detective constable who blogged under the name NightJack.

He confirmed to the inquiry that the reporter responsible was Patrick Foster, who was subsequently dismissed from the Times following an unrelated incident. Since leaving the Times, Foster has written as a freelance for the Guardian and Daily Telegraph.

Horton lost his bid to remain anonymous in June 2009 after the Times successfully argued against his high court application for an injunction on the grounds that it was in the public interest to identify him. However, the Times did not disclose to the court that the reporter had told his managers before publication that he had hacked into Horton's emails.

Harding, returning to make his second witness appearance at the inquiry on Tuesday, also apologised to the officer, saying he "sorely regrets the intrusion into Richard Horton's account by a journalist then in our newsroom".

"I am sure Mr Horton and many other people expect better of the Times and so do I. So, on behalf of the paper, I apologise," he told Lord Justice Leveson.

Harding said he regretted that the paper did not launch a full investigation into exactly what happened in 2009, blaming the paper's legal manager for the decision to fight the blogger's bid to keep his identity secret.

Harding said the lawyer, Alastair Brett, knew when the paper began to contest the injunction application that Foster had hacked into the policeman's email, but decided not to disclose it to the court.

The inquiry was shown a series of internal emails which showed that several senior Times editorial managers were aware that Foster had hacked Horton's email in early June 2009. The paper published its story revealing that Horton was the police officer behind the NightJack blog on 17 June.

In one email Foster asked for more time on the story, to put a "little space between the dirty deed and publishing" the article that unmasked the blogger.

Harding said he was kept in the dark by Brett and accused him of making the decision to fight the blogger's bid for an injunction without discussing it beforehand with him, the deputy editor or the managing editor. "I had no idea the case had been brought to court," Harding told Leveson.

He added that Brett still does not think he misled the court and had good legal reason for not disclosing the email hacking.

"I hope you realise that that it is very unusual. I've never heard of a case where the legal manager takes the case to a high court without informing the editor, the deputy editor or managing editor," Harding told the inquiry.

He said he was not aware at the time of the exact nature of the hacking but felt the intrusion was inappropriate and Foster was disciplined immediately.

Harding said he first came to hear about Times managers' concerns about the email hacking on 5 June 2009, when the paper's then managing editor David Chappell raised the matter with him at a meeting.

He had been copied in on an email from Brett to Chappell the night before but it was lengthy email and he did not read it. At the time, there was an attempt to oust prime minister Gordon Brown and his mind was elsewhere, he told Leveson.

"Mr Brett was a very experienced legal manager. I was deeply frustrated that he had not consulted with me on the decision to take legal action," said Harding.

He added that he was not informed of the "instruction to counsel", any communication with Horton's lawyers or the decision as to what material was put before the high court. "Mr Brett took the decision to resist the injunction," he said.

Harding said he understood that Brett told Foster "that if he wanted to publish a story about NightJack's identity" he would have to identify him through legal means" which he proceeded to do.

He also said that in the last week Brett, who left the Times in July 2010 over an unrelated matter, has been in touch with News International's law firm Linklaters. Harding added that he understood Brett told Linklaters he decided not to inform the Times counsel at the time or the court about the issue "because he took the view that the information provided to him" was "confidential and privileged" and that it would "incriminate" Foster.

"I understand that Mr Brett told Linklaters that he did not believe at the time, and still does not believe, that the decision he took resulted in the court being misled," he said.

The counsel for the inquiry, Robert Jay QC, branded the explanation from the Times lawyers as "wholly misleading". "Statements of fact were being put before the court which were incorrect, weren't they?" he asked Harding.

Harding agreed when Jay put it to him that it was "not correct" when counsel for the Times argued at the high court that Foster had identified the blogger by "self-starting journalistic endeavour", or that he had pieced his name together through a combination of "publicly available materials, patience and simple deduction" .

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• Leveson inquiry
• James Harding
• The Times
• Newspapers & magazines
• National newspapers
• Newspapers
• Press intrusion
• Privacy & the media
• Hacking
• Police
• Blogging
• Digital media
• Internet

People in the city describe snipers, bombings and their fear that the regime is preparing to make a lethal final assault

Residents inside the besieged city of Homs claim they are under "genocidal attack" from a Syrian regime apparently deaf to international opinion and determined to "bomb, starve and shoot" them into submission.

On Tuesday night the city was under massive continuous bombardment, witnesses told the Guardian, with rockets raining down from the sky every few minutes, and helicopters and fighter planes circling overhead. They said Syrian army tanks had encircled opposition-held suburbs, in preparation for what they feared was a final, deadly ground assault.

"The regime didn't expect us to continue our struggle against them," activist Karam Abu Rabea said via Skype. "They didn't think we would persist. So now it is using its last card. It is the genocide card."

Rabea described the humanitarian situation as appalling. He said the regime was deliberately attempting to starve families trapped in rebel-controlled districts. Army snipers had been positioned on the main roads, he added, and were able to mow down anyone who moved on smaller, intersecting side roads. No one could escape, he said. Two journalists – Salah Murjan and Khalid Abu Salah, documenting the horrors of Homs – were shot by snipers.

Rabea said: "There is no food allowed to get inside neighbourhoods opposing the regime. Especially bread. We don't have any bread. They are targeting the vital installations of the city: bakeries, the hospital, mosques. Some of the bakeries were shut by force. The regime cut off internet and phones on Monday. I have a satellite set, which is why I can speak to you. The Assad regime is trying to destroy Homs completely."

His comments came as Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, held talks in Damascus on Tuesday with Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, after Russia and China vetoed a UN security council resolution on Saturday that was designed to stop the bloodshed. The vetoes prompted global condemnation, with the US closing its embassy on Damascus on Monday, and Britain recalling its ambassador for consultations. On Tuesday the diplomatic exodus from Damascus continued, with France and Italy withdrawing their ambassadors. Six Gulf states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – also pulled their envoys out and expelled Syrian ambassadors from their own countries.

Speaking on Tuesday, Lavrov said Assad had assured him he was "completely committed to the task of stopping violence regardless of where it may come from".

But the claim bore little resemblance to the bloody reality inside Homs.

Rabea described how government forces began a pincer movement against the city 10 days ago. He said soldiers slaughtered three families living on the edge of the Karm al-Zayton district, apparently to send a message to opposition forces who have been holding out against the regime since last year.

"It started with a massacre. Trucks of soldiers pulled up. They executed the women and men inside the house and stabbed the children with knives. They killed four members of the Bahader family, 11 from the A'kra family and six from the al-Muhammad family on 26 January," Rabea – who lives in the district – said.

Days later, the bombardment began. First, the army forcibly evacuated students from Homs's university. It transformed the university's compound into a makeshift military base, bringing in truck-mounted missile launchers. The army also moved rocket launchers into the nearby town of Meskana, Rabea said.

"The regime changed its tactics. Instead of doing a ground incursion they are bombarding us from outside," he explained. "They are using artillery and land-to-air missiles." He added: "Many houses have been demolished. People were still inside them."

Other witnesses inside the city said there were ominous signs of preparations for a definitive final assault. Some 11 months after Syria's uprising began, with Homs its epicentre, Russian-made T-72 tanks had penetrated as far as Tripoli Street, south-east of Bab al-Amr, witnesses said. They counted 13 of them. Some 10-12 tanks surrounded al-Khaldiyeh. The Syrian army had entered via areas loyal to the regime, they added.

"We've heard continuous bombing since Monday. It hasn't stopped. Now there is firing as well," Waleed Fares, an activist speaking by satellite phone from inside al-Khaldiyeh said. "I've seen fighter planes and helicopters. We had 11 people killed here on Monday. Five people killed so far in my neighbourhood today. About 40-50 wounded. Women and children among the dead and injured."

Video footage filmed from a Homs rooftop, which emerged on Tuesday, apparently showed an apocalyptic scene: with missiles slamming every few seconds into residential areas, sending plumes of grey and black smoke into the skyline. The whine of a fighter jet could be heard. Against the sound of machine gun fire, a voice cries: "God is great." Other videos from Monday showed corpses lying in the corridor of a makeshift field hospital.

Another activist, Sufian, also speaking by satellite phone, said security forces had captured one hospital in al-Halemei. The injured were taken away to prison. The last field hospital in Bab al-Amr was bombed on Monday, he said. "We lost 10 people when we tried to evacuate it," he said. "This morning five people were killed. Since Friday more than 400 have died, and many more are under rubble."

He added: "We are using kitchen knives for surgery. All the field hospitals have been targeted. We are relying on domestic medicine cabinets to treat the injured. We don't have any blood for donations, or oxygen. We are calling on help from the whole world. We need urgent help opening the blockade of Homs."

Activists said the opposition fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) were no match for their well-armed government adversaries, equipped with tanks, fighter planes, and Russian heavy weapons. "The soldiers who defected from the army only have Kalashnikovs. How can you face a battalion with a Kalashnikov?" Sufian asked. "Tanks have been captured, but they were very exposed, and the regime could easily target them. It's a target you cannot hide."

Amid the horror, some activists expressed – remarkably – optimism. They said that despite the ongoing massacre – with Homs becoming Syria's bloody counterpart to the Libyan town of Misrata – they still expected Assad's regime to crumble. Rabea said that in the wake of this weekend's failure to find a diplomatic settlement the only way the world could stop the slaughter in Syria was to arm the FSA.

"The international community needs to give the FSA money. And weapons. We need the Red Cross here. We need a no-fly zone. And we need safe havens so that people can flee." Who did he blame for the situation in Homs? "We blame Russia and China mainly for all the killing happening in the city now." He added: "Our crime is that we wanted freedom. But what we got from the regime was this increase of killing that started a year ago."

For the moment, the existential hell that is Homs continues. Waleed said that families who had survived four days of bombardment were sitting on the ground floor of their houses, hoping and praying the attacks would stop. Children were asking their parents if they would survive, he said, and the parents were unable to answer. "We're waiting," Waleed said. "Waiting to see if we live or die."

• Syria
• Arab and Middle East unrest
• Middle East and North Africa

Exclusive: Nashi runs web of online trolls and bloggers paid to praise Vladimir Putin and denigrate enemies, group claims

A pro-Kremlin group runs a network of internet trolls, seeks to buy flattering coverage of Vladimir Putin and hatches plans to discredit opposition activists and media, according to private emails allegedly hacked by a group calling itself the Russian arm of Anonymous.

The group has uploaded hundreds of emails it says are to, from and between Vasily Yakemenko, the first leader of the youth group Nashi – now head of the Kremlin's Federal Youth Agency – its spokeswoman, Kristina Potupchik, and other activists. The emails detail payments to journalists and bloggers, the group alleges.

Potupchik declined to confirm or deny the veracity of the emails, but appeared to acknowledge that her email had been hacked. "I will not comment on illegal actions," she told the Guardian.

Nikita Borovikov, the current leader of Nashi, said: "For several years, I've got used to the fact that our email is periodically hacked. When I heard the rumours that it had been hacked, I wasn't shocked, and have paid no attention to this problem. I'm a law-abiding person, and have nothing to fear of hiding, so I pay no attention."

Apparently sent between November 2010 and December 2011, the emails appear to confirm critics' longstanding suspicions that the group uses sinister methods, funded by the Kremlin, to attack perceived enemies and pay for favourable reports while claiming that Putin's popularity is unassailable.

They provide particular insight into the group's strategy to boost pro-Putin coverage on the internet, which in contrast to television is seen as being ruled by the opposition. Several emails sent from activists to Potupchik include price lists for pro-Putin bloggers and commenters, indicating that some are paid as much as 600,000 roubles (£12,555) for leaving hundreds of comments on negative press articles on the internet. One email, sent to Potupchik on 23 June 2011, suggests that the group planned to spend more than R10m to buy a series of articles about its annual Seliger summer camp in two popular Russian tabloids, Moskovsky Komsomolets and Komsomolskaya Pravda, and the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Arkady Khantsevich, deputy editor of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, denied that his journalists accepted money for articles, a widespread practice in post-Soviet Russia.

"Yes, we wrote about Seliger, and will continue to," he said. "But the paper has never entered into a financial contract, including with political parties." He added that the journalist who covered the summer camp had written under a pseudonym, and the newspaper would not be investigating the claim.

A spokesman for Moskovsky Komsomolets's press service declined to comment: "I don't read what they write on the internet about MK being paid for stories about Seliger. It doesn't interest us." Komsomolskaya Pravda has not responded publicly and could not be reached for comment.

The leak comes as Putin faces the greatest challenge to his rule since first coming to power 12 years ago, with mass street demonstrations building momentum before a presidential vote on 4 March that is expected to return him to the presidency after a four-year interlude as prime minister.

Nashi was created precisely to stand up to any such challenge to Putin's rule. It was formed in 2005 after pro-democracy revolutions in neighbouring Ukraine and Georgia. Thousands of Nashi activists, mostly bussed into the Russian capital from neighbouring provinces, took to the streets in December as Russia's protest movement took hold after a contested parliamentary vote.

The Kremlin has been looking beyond the youth movement lately. On Saturday, the day of the latest opposition protest, the Kremlin turned out thousands of people at a rally in support of Putin's candidacy. Despite the fact that Putin remains Russia's most popular politician, reports were widespread that many of those demonstrating in his support had been forced by employers or paid to take part, echoing the picture painted in the emails of a regime determined to keep up the appearance of his popularity.

"These strategies – what they do on the internet and how they gather protests – are very similar," said Alexey Navalny, the anti-corruption blogger who is helping to lead the protest movement. "Their main problem is that they don't have real people who are ready to say something in support of them. They don't have one person who supports them for free. So they pay."

According to the emails, Nashi manipulates YouTube viewcounts and ratings, calling on paid Nashi activists to "dislike" anti-regime videos.

The emails show the particular attention Nashi pays to Navalny, whose anti-corruption blog and Twitter account have been instrumental in organising anti-Putin sentiment. Activists are seen proposing various ideas to Yakemenko – from projects that came to fruition, such as a cartoon video comparing Navalny to Hitler – to others that were rejected, including a suggestion that someone dress up like the blogger to beg for alms in front of the US embassy. Putin and his supporters continue to insist that opposition protests have been funded and provoked by the west.

The correspondence goes some way towards explaining the apparent paranoia, showing how Nashi, curated by Yakemenko and his recently deposed boss, the Kremlin ideologue Vladislav Surkov, spends huge sums of money to create the illusion of Putin's unfailing popularity.

It appears to confirm that a host of pro-Putin stunts advertised as spontaneous acts by average citizens were in fact orchestrated by Nashi. Among these are a web-based group called I Really Do Like Putin and the all-female Putin's Army, which became notorious last summer after hosting a car wash in support of Putin and calling on women around the country to tear their shirts off for the leader.

Speculation that Nashi is behind pro-Putin stunts, pays internet commenters to troll anti-regime sites and orders DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks have long swirled around. But the emails, if confirmed, would provide an unprecedented look into the system's inner workings.

The Anonymous hackers told the online news portal Gazeta.ru, in an interview published late on Monday that they carried out the hack, planned since spring of last year, "as a sign of protest against the government's actions in the public internet sphere". "Our ultimate goal is to not allow bandits to bring the Russian internet to its knees," the group said.

The Russian government has so far avoided cracking down on internet freedoms, and both Putin and the current president, Dmitry Medvedev, have spoken out against internet censorship. Yet activists have long complained of co-ordinated attacks that have brought down websites or flooded commentary with pro-Putin spam. Several liberal websites, including those of the radio station Ekho Moskvy and the election monitoring group Golos, were brought down by DDoS attacks on the eve of the country's 4 December parliamentary vote.

"Everything that has been published, we already know," Navalny said. "[Nashi] undertake the organisation of provocative actions, both physically and on the internet."

Opposition leaders have also accused Nashi of being behind a series of attacks including repeated scuffles with the liberal youth leader Ilya Yashin and an incident in which ammonia-laced cola was thrown in the face of the former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov. Nashi denied being involved in the latter.

As British-Russian relations spiralled towards a low in 2006, the group launched a campaign of harassment against the former UK ambassador Tony Brenton after he met opposition groups. It has since turned its attention to the internet, analysts say.

The emails suggest a palpable concern within Nashi and the Kremlin after Russia's contested parliamentary vote on 4 December launched an unexpected protest movement that brought thousands on to the streets of Moscow for the first time. Activists write to Yakemenko proposing various "provocative actions" designed to discredit the quickly growing movement.

On 11 December, one day after up to 50,000 people gathered on Bolotnaya Square in an unprecedented show of discontent with Putin, Borovikov writes to Yakemenko to propose different means of dealing with the opposition. "If we don't do this all in time, these public opinion leaders will continue to protest on the streets and all this will turn into a Ukrainian Maidan," Borovikov writes, referring to the square in Kiev that hosted Ukraine's pro-democracy, "orange revolution".

Asked by the Guardian about the hack, Borovikov said: "I'm not ready to discuss any provocations. It's not correct to discuss this in principle. Unfortunately, it has become part of life to get into personal things, but it is not very nice to discuss it. It's amoral. To think Nashi, as a social youth organisation, has a lot of money is a delusion. The main resource of any social organisation is its people: people's time, people's efforts."

Yakemenko's office directed all queries to Potupchik, who did not answer subsequent requests for comment.

Revealing rumours long taken as fact, the emails are unlikely to have an effect on the opposition's methods or goals. Borovikov's alleged words may turn out to be prescient. "Either the powers fulfil our legal demands or people will turn out and refuse to leave," Navalny said.

Most of the leaked emails are brief and discuss the practicality of orchestrating the pro-Putin work that Nashi feeds on. One email provides a rare glimpse into a top activist's thinking, as Potupchik emails several Nashi leaders, known, in the group's lingo as commisars, to speak highly of Yakemenko.

"If someone thinks that they can be on my team and not play by my rules, they can leave," Potupchik, well known for her colourful language, allegedly wrote on 26 October 2011.

"If you think that in this country another person can be found who would create such a structure, who would drag into this work all the dregs of the provincial towns, who would make provincial shits into princesses of the capital, then fuck off. Maybe you're not happy with something. Maybe you're not paid that much, you don't like how you're treated, don't like your office, or your work schedule."

"I ask you not to bother me and to leave this horrible work."

• Russia
• Vladimir Putin
• Europe
• Anonymous
• Hacking

Prime minister to meet heads of three largest parties to push through more austerity measures and secure €130bn of funds

Greece's political leaders are to meet on Tuesday night to consider a draft agreement that could finally pave the way to the country's second bailout, worth €130bn (£108bn).

Talks between Lucas Papademos, Greece's technocratic prime minister, and the heads of the three largest political parties are scheduled to begin at 9pm local time (7pm GMT). If agreement is reached, the full Greek cabinet could endorse the agreement on Wednesday.

News that a draft agreement was on the table sent the euro rallying to its highest level against the US dollar in eight weeks. On Monday, Greece disappointed the City by missing a deadline to tell the EU whether it accepted the austerity measures demanded by its international lenders in return for the €130bn package of aid.

Those austerity measures are deeply unpopular in Greece, where union leaders organised a general strike on Tuesday. Transport links, government offices and schools were all disrupted.

An estimated 10,000 people joined a march organised by Greece's two unions, with a similar number taking part in a march organised by the Greek communist party. A German flag was burned outside the Athens parliament, prompting riot police to break up the demonstrations.

Nikos Zeppos, a pensioner at the marches, claimed that opposition to fresh austerity was growing. "The battle is maturing … With these latest messages people will wake up," Zeppos said.

But Stathis Asimakopoulos, an Athens cobbler, argued that the Greek economy should have been reformed decades ago. "Papademos is a serious person and we should support him," Asimakopoulos said.

Papademos had held negotiations with the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund until the early hours of the morning. This troika have insisted that Greece would not get more assistance until the Pasok leader, George Papandreou; the New Democracy head, Antonis Samaras; and the Laos party leader, George Karantzaferis, are signed up to another raft of painful spending cuts, salary reductions and tax rises.

According to one senior government source, Tuesday's talks were delayed from 7pm to 9pm because the draft agreement needed to be translated into Greek, to allow Karantzaferis to read it.

Greece has yet to reach a deal with its creditors over the terms of its debt restructuring, another key hurdle on the path to financial support.

Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup, has warned that the risk of a Greek exit from the eurozone is greater than before. "With Greece currently struggling to secure reform pledges from its public sector and its wider population, willingness to help has diminished somewhat," Buiter wrote.

• Greece
• Europe
• Eurozone crisis
• European Union
• European monetary union
• Economics
• Banking
• European banks
• Financial crisis
• Financial sector
• Euro

Nasheed steps down after weeks of opposition-led protests at controversial order to arrest senior judge on corruption charges

The president of the Maldives has resigned after three weeks of opposition-led protests ended in a police mutiny.

Mohammed Nasheed, a 44-year-old former political prisoner widely credited with ushering in a new era of democratic reform in the island nation, was reported to be at home in the capital, Male, having left his office at noon on Tuesday.

Travel to and from the islands, which are home to a huge luxury tourist industry, was unaffected. "There are no problems. It's calm now. There's no effect on the tourists," said Ali Shamaan, vice-president of the Maldives Journalist Association.

The protests were led by supporters of the former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, whose 30-year rule ended in the country's first multiparty elections in 2008, which brought Nasheed to power. Gayoom's rule was widely seen as repressive.

Nasheed was jailed repeatedly by his political adversary, and claims to have been tortured. In a televised statement, the outgoing president said he was resigning to prevent violence, telling viewers his decision was "better for the country in the current situation".

"I am not a person who wishes to rule with the use of power. I believe that if the government were to remain in power it would require the use of force, which would harm many citizens," Nasheed said. The vice-president, Muhammad Waheed Hassan, was sworn in as head of state. He is the leader of a small party, and is seen as an independent. New presidential polls may now be called.

Protests began in January after Nasheed ordered the military to arrest the top criminal court judge, thought to be close to Gayoom, on corruption charges.

The arrest aggravated a continuing constitutional crisis, but until Monday night, demonstrations had been calm. Witnesses described a confused situation in which two groups of protesters threw stones at each other and fought while police and soldiers stood by.

A large group of Gayoom supporters appears to have attacked the headquarters of Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic party (MDP). Gayoom's Progressive party of the Maldives accused the military, which remains broadly loyal to Nasheed, of firing rubber bullets at protesters.

A party spokesman told Reuters "loads of people" were injured but gave no details. There was no independent corroboration of his claim.

An official close to the president denied the government had used rubber bullets but confirmed that about three dozen police officers defied orders on Monday night and vandalised the main office of the MDP.

"This follows Gayoom's party calling for the overthrow of the Maldives' first democratically elected government and for citizens to launch jihad against the president," the official, who declined to be identified, said.

The mutinous officers are believed to have been from a special squad set up by Gayoom to intimidate political opponents. The squad was disbanded when Nasheed took power.

There were also reports that a group of officers had taken over the state-run television channel's studios, and had forced staff to broadcast messages of support for Gayoom. An opposition-linked channel was also attacked.

Some journalists were injured, some seriously, during the violence, said Shamaan, although calm had been rapidly restored.

In recent decades, hardline conservative strands of Islamic practice have established themselves in the Maldives, making inroads at the expense of the traditional style of local worship. Alcohol is now officially banned. Opposition parties have used a religious agenda to mobilise support, and have accused Nasheed of being anti-Islamic.

The Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to Male Island. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the 1,800 islands that comprise the Maldives every year. The vast majority do not leave their luxury resorts.

A spokesman for the Indian ministry of external affairs in Delhi said it hoped all issues would be "resolved in a peaceful and democratic manner".

• Mohamed Nasheed
• Maldives

Mother of Thusha Kamaleswaran cries as court watches footage of gang attack on convenience store

The mother of a five-year-old girl who was shot and paralysed in a gang attack broke down in court as the jury was shown footage of the moment her daughter was hit in the chest by a masked gunman.

Sharmila Kamaleswaran cried as clips of her daughter Thusha playing and then moments later lying slumped on the floor were shown at the Old Bailey on Tuesday.

Thusha was shot in March last year when three men chased people who they thought were members of a rival gang into a south London convenience store and fired through the open door.

The gun attack also left Roshan Selvakumar, 35, who had been buying groceries in the shop, with serious injuries. He was hit in the face by a bullet which remains lodged in his head.

Kazeem Kolawole, 19, Anthony McCalla, 19, and Nathaniel Grant, 21, all deny causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Thusha and to Selvakumar.

All three also deny the attempted murder of Roshaun Bryan – one of the two men who ran into the shop – and having a firearm with intent to endanger life.

CCTV footage played to the jury showed Thusha "playing happily" in the shop with her 12-year-old brother and three-year-old sister before the two intended victims rushed in. Along with a group of adults she is then shown moving towards the front of the store. But as the gunman opens fire the group bundle past Thusha, leaving her in the line of fire. Moments later she is shown slumped on the floor after being hit by a bullet that went through her chest and out of her back.

The court heard that after the shooting Thusha went into cardiac arrest on the shop floor. The prosecutor Edward Brown QC said that although she was initially responsive her breathing was laboured and she had "a blank or bewildered look on her face".

"She would squeeze the hand of the police officer who was tending to her," he added.

Thusha underwent emergency surgery in the street. Her condition deteriorated on the way to hospital where the jury heard she was "clinically dead" before being revived.

Brown told the jury the attack was the result of a feud between rival gangs in Brixton and nearby Stockwell. He said the defendants were closely associated with the OC or Gas gang in Brixton and had been on "a mission" into rival territory in Stockwell on the night of the shooting.

The jury was told the defendants had met earlier in the evening and tested the gun by firing it at a tree before donning masks and setting off. Witnesses said they were cycling fast, as if on "a mission" as they headed from Brixton into Stockwell.

As they arrived outside the shop Brown said there was widespread alarm and shouts of: "They're coming, they're coming."

Jurors were told that Selvakumar, who was hit by the first bullet, felt a "crunching sensation" in his head but did not at first realise he had been shot.

Brown said: "He remembers trying to shut the door on the gunman and then felt a blow to his face, and a crunching sensation inside his head. He didn't know he had been hit by a bullet. He thought perhaps it was a bottle."

• Gun crime
• Crime