News Headlines - 31 October 2013

▽Phone hacking trial: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson 'had six-year affair' - Telegraph

The two former editors of the News of the World were involved in a relationship between 1998 and 2004 at least, the jury was told. The affair was uncovered when police searched Mrs Brooks's house after reopening their phone hacking investigation in 2011 and found on a computer a letter she had written to Mr Coulson in February 2004 after he broke off the romance.

▽BBC News - Ex-NSA man Edward Snowden gets web job in Russia

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has found a new job, his lawyer says. The former US spy agency contractor will work for a major private website in Russia, where he was granted asylum after fleeing the United States.

▽Iraqi Leader Calls on U.S. to Help Fight Terrorist Threat - NYTimes.com

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said on Thursday that Iraq once again faces a terrorist threat and that additional American weapons and intelligence are needed to roll it back.

▽BBC News - Northern Ireland universities staff strike over pay

Lecturers and support staff are on a one-day strike at Queen's University and the University of Ulster in a dispute over pay and work loads. Academic and support staff who belong to the University and College Union and the UK's biggest union, UNITE, will strike for one day over pay.

▽BBC News - Scientists decipher dog-tail wags

Scientists have shed more light on how the movements of a dog's tail are linked to its mood. Earlier research had revealed that happy dogs wag their tails more to the right (from the dog's point of view), while nervous dogs have a left-dominated swish.