NSA winds down phone record collecting

The US National Security Agency has begun winding down its collection and storage of US phone records.

The move came after the Senate failed to agree on a way forward to change or extend the once-secret program ahead of its expiration at the end of the month.

Barring an eleventh-hour compromise when the Senate returned to session on Sunday, a much-debated provision of the counterterrorism Patriot Act - and some other lesser known surveillance tools - were due to end.