BBC News with David Austin
The German news magazine Der Spiegel says it’s seen a secret document showing that United States intelligence bugged European Union offices in Washington. Der Spiegel said it was showing the material by the fugitive former CIA analyst Edward Snowden. Rajini Vaidyanathan reports from Washington.
The report claims U.S. officials spied on their European counterparts installing bugs in their offices in Washington and accessing their computer networks as well as monitoring phone calls at an office in Brussels. The publication says it’s seen a top secret paper from September 2010 in which the EU was expressly named as a target. Der Spiegel says it was shown the documents by Edward Snowden, the former CIA analyst at the center of an international manhunt.
The US President Barack Obama has spoken of the inspiration that Nelson Mandela has given to people around the world after meeting relatives of the former South African president in Johannesburg. Mr. Mandela remains critically ill in hospital with a lung infection. Mike Wooldridge in Pretoria has more details.
The health of the man President Obama today described as his personal inspiration, Nelson Mandela is framing this visit. Mr. Zuma acknowledged it as much at the news conference that followed their talks saying that Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela were bond by history as the first black presidents of their respective countries and both carry the dreams of millions of people who were previously oppressed. Mr. Obama paid his tribute to the man who led South Africa’s transition to a non-racial democracy.
“The outpouring of love that we’ve seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and this nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit.”
A senior leader of the Somali militant group Al-Shabab, Hasan Dahir Aweys has been transferred to the capital Mogadishu. There’s still confusion on whether he surrendered or defected. Abdullah Abudishak reports.
Hours after his arrival in Mogadishu Aweys was still at the airport. He was negotiating with government officials led by Somalia’s interior minister. The spokesman of the Somali president says the government is ready to give him amnesty provided he denounces violence. Aweys is seen by many as the father of Jihadists in East Somalia since early 1990s after the collapse of Somalia’s last functioning government. He is considered a terrorist by both the UN and the United States.
A hunger strike by asylum seekers camped out in the centre of Munich in southern Germany is reaching a critical phase. About 50 people from countries including Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan have eaten nothing for more than a week and refused water since Thursday. The German authorities say they won’t be blackmailed into giving them asylum without going through the required legal procedures.
World News from the BBC
A Christian girl who was falsely accused of blasphemy in Pakistan has fled to Canada with her family to start a new life. Rimsha Masih was 14 when she was arrested last August accused of burning pages of the Koran. Orla Guerin reports from Islamabad.
When the young Christian girl was arrested and sent to a maximum security prison there was an international outcry. Doctors here said Rimsha was just 14 and had a mental age of less than that. After her release, campaigners warn she would not be safe in Pakistan where mobs have killed others suspected of blasphemy. She and her family are now settled in Canada according to a Christian activist there. He told the BBC Rimsha is learning English and enjoying school.
Thousands of Egyptians have been gathering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on the eve of protests planned by the opposition to demand that President Mohammed Morsi stepped down. Activists say that more than 22 million people have signed a petition seeking a snap election. They’ve urged the signatories to protest in Tahrir Square on Sunday, the first anniversary of President Morsi coming to power.
The veteran British rock band, the Rolling Stones are preparing to take to the stage at Glastonbury in southwest England for the first time since the music festival began 43 years ago. The organizers expect the Stones whose lead singer Mick Jagger is 69 to attract the biggest audience in the festival’s history. These fans explained what it meant to make it to see the group.
“I think it’s like a one in a lifetime kind of opportunity, isn’t it? It’s like When you ever gonna get the chance to see the Stones again at Glastonbury. It’s a rare thing, isn’t it?”
“I came all the way from Warta. The singer I like most is him and they are like the greatest band in the whole time. You know I just really want to see Mick Jagger to once play the guitar live.”
130,000 people are attending the three-day event at Glastonbury.