The Guardian and The Washington Post won a prestigious Pulitzer Prize

• The Guardian and The Washington Post won a prestigious Pulitzer Prize

The Guardian and The Washington Post won a prestigious Pulitzer Prize on Monday for reporting on secret US surveillance programs revealed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. The

British and American newspapers shared the award for public service journalism handed out by the Pulitzer committee at Columbia University in New York.

The US unit of the British newspaper was honored for "helping through aggressivereporting to spark a debate about the relationship between the government and the public over issues of security and privacy," the committee said. It recognized The Post for its "authoritative and insightful reports that helped the public understand how the (NSA) disclosures fit into the larger framework of national security."

The shared award went to the two newspapers credited with breaking the news about NSA surveillance programs, without specifically citing the journalists involved.

• HDFC Bank sets Guinness record in blood collection

The blood donation camp organised by HDFC Bank on December 6, 2013 involving 61,902 participants has found a place in Guinness Book of Records as the largest such drive on a single day. "The largest blood donation (multiple venues) involved 61,902 participants and was achieved by HDFC Bank, with 1,115 blood donation camps held across 709 locations in the country on December 6, 2013," the official citation from the Guinness Records said, adding this is the only such recognition by it for any corporate in this regard.