BBC News with Jerry Smit.
The Afghan government has reacted angrily to a US deal in which five senior Taliban militants from Guantanamo Bay were handed over to Qatar in exchange for the release of an American soldier held captive by the Taliban. Sergeant Bergdahl is now recovering in a hospital in Germany. At a news conference in the United States, his parents said they had not spoken to their son yet and that his recovery would be a long process. His mother Jani Bergdahl said she looked forward to seeing his son soon.
Five years is a seemingly endless long time, but you've made it. I imagine you're more patient and compassionate that ever, you are free. Freedom is yours. I will see you soon, my beloved son. I love you, boy.
Police in northeast Nigeria say a bomb attack has killed at least 14 people and injured several more. Reports say the target of the explosion in the town of Mubi was a bar where people were watching football on TV. The town close to the border with Cameroon is in Adamawa state, one of three where a state of emergency has been declared due to ongoing attacks by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.
Qatar has denied new allegations of wrongdoing in connection with its successful bid to host the 2022 football World Cup. The Sunday Times alleged that a Qatari former member of FIFA executive committee Mohamed Bin Hammam paid several million dollars to football officials to back his country's bid. Mark Mardell reports from Qatar.
If proven, these new allegations could change the fortunes not just of a sports tournament but of a country, Qatar. It's been built up to accommodate double the number of passengers through its brand-new 15-billion-dollar international airport, and also planning 20 new hotels of four or five-star quality. The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy strongly denies all the wrongdoings alleged by the Sunday Times. In fact, they say that Mohamed Bin Hammam played no official or unofficial role in securing the bid for Qatar in 2022.
The former Prime Minister of Luxemburg Jean-Claude Junker says he's confident of becoming the next president of the European Commission, despite opposition from Britain. Mr. Junker has the backing of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Steve Evins reports from Berlin.
After the European elections, Mr.Junker emerged as a chosen candidate of the center right parties which have the most seats in the newly elected European parliament. The difficulty is that some EU leaders, with Mr. Cameron at the forefront, are opposing him. The German magazine Der Spiegel said that Mr. Cameron told Chancellor Merkel that if Mr. Junker got the job, Britain would be much more likely to leave the EU. Mr. Junker's now said that attempts to block him are blackmail. Steve Evins.
World News from the BBC.
A video tape of a speech by the senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards appears to back claims that the presidential elections five years ago were rigged to prevent the return to power of reformists. On the tape, the commander Mohammad Ali Jafari is seen telling a gathering of Iranian officials that the return of the reformers was a red line for the Guards. The tape was posted on the Internet by a well-known dissident in Tehran Mohammed Nourizad who says it's evidence of the rigging of the elections in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry has denied that a woman sentenced to death for renouncing Islam is about to be released. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said comments attributed to a senior Sudanese official Abdullahi al-Azureg implying that the release was imminent were taken out of context, and the case was a matter of the courts. Meriam Ibrahim's lawyer Mohaned Mustafa said they had heard nothing from the courts.
We went today to the Omdurman prison and even went to the Court of Appeal to find out about this news, and that we have found nothing yet, still the Court of Appeal did not issue any court order.
A former left-wing rebel leader Salvador Sanchez Ceren has been sworn in as president of Al Salvador. Mr Sanchez of the governing FMLN party became the first former guerrilla commander to be elected to lead the central American country. In his inauguration speech, he promised to govern for everybody, to fight corruption, and to promote social justice.
Police in Turkey have once again fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of demonstrators in Ankara a day after violent clashes on the first anniversary of anti-government protest. Around five hundreds people had gathered to remember a 26-year-old protester who was one of eight people killed in last year's clashes.