09/06/2013 BBC Weekend News

allegations about the extent of a US surveillance programme goes public.

Amid concerns about a transatlantic network of data, former CIA

employee, Edward Snowden, says he fears for the privacy of law abiding

people. You don't have to have done anything wrong. You simply have to

eventually fall under suspicion by somebody, even from a wrong call.

The Government denies GCHQ has been using the data to circumvent the

law. A statement is due in Parliament tomorrow. The idea that

in GCHQ people are sitting, working how to circumvent a UK law with

another agency is fanciful. It is nonsense. We will assess what this

means for intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. Also

tonight - after a second fire at an Islamic site in London, the

Metropolitan Police boosts its uniformed presence at high-risk

locations. The acclaimed writer Banks dies two months after

revealing he was losing his battle French Open and a place in the

Good evening. The whistle-blower behind allegations that data

gathered in the US has been used to spy on British citizens has come

forward tonight, saying he believes monitoring powers are a grave threat

to civil liberties. The identity of Edward Snowden, who used to work for

the CIA has been revealed in collaboration with The Guardian

newspaper. Earlier, the Government dismissed allegations that the

surveillance of organisation, GCHQ, has been breaking UK law as

nonsense. Revelations about a top-secret US

spy programme have drawn not just America's eavesdroppers - the nags

national National Security Agency into controversy but also their

British counterparts. At issue is whether GCHQ used the American

programme to collect information it should not have done. That was

denied today by the Foreign Secretary. To me, as somebody who

knows GCHQ well and I authorise operations most days of the week by

GCHQ, so I know how they work. The idea that in GCHQ, people are

sitting, working how to circumvent the UK law is fanciful. It is

nonsense. I can give people that assurance. Leaked documents and

information from US officials suggest that the Prism spy programme

has been used to gather information on non-US citizens. It is said to be

able to directly access personal data, like e-mails and photos held

by companies including Google, Facebook and Microsoft. Those firms

say they only comply with requests made under existing law. The Foreign

Secretary will be making a statement to Parliament tomorrow about the

programme. What worries some MPs is the idea it might have been used by

the Americans to spy on brons and that British intelligence might have

had intelligence to that information, getting around the

legal restrictions and what it is supposed to do. Tonight the

29-year-old behind the leaks, now in Hong Kong, unmasked himself in a

video on The Guardian website. targets the communications of

everyone. It ingests them by default. It filters them and

analyses them and measures and stores them for periods of time,

simply because that is the easiest, most efficient and most valuable way

to achieve these ends. Edward Snowden, who worked at a contract at

the NSA, said he was outraged by what he saw and wanted to open up

the issues to public debate. He says he knows the consequences for him

will be serious. You cannot come up against these intelligence agencies

and be free from risk, because they are such powerful adversaries.

Nobody can. All Governments dislike talking about who they spy on and

how. In this case the actions of Edward Snowden will force not only

his own Government, but that of Britain to answer new questions

about their spy's work. How much difference do you think it will make

now we have a face and a name to the whistle-blower? These revelations

sent shock waves in the last few days through the most secret part of

our states. Now we have the emotional impact of having someone

explain why he did it. Privacy is his primary concern. It is

interesting though, he has placed himself in Hong Kong - a part of the

republic of China, which knows a thing or two about surveillance of

the internet. How people will react to his story will be different. Some

will share his concern about this huge scale of surveillance. Others

will say this is what is needed to prevent terrorist attacks and worry

that his revelations might compromise that ability. Certainly,

it has shown a light. It will increase public debate, including

here in the UK, when we hear from the Foreign Secretary tomorrow about

what GCHQ has been up to and whether it has been within the law.

Thank you. The Metropolitan Police

Commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, has increased the uniformed presence

at Islamic sites across London, saying a fire at a Muslim boarding

school and an earlier blaze at a Somali centre are being treated as

suspicion. It is more than two weeks after the death of Drummer Lee Rigby

in Woolwich. Let's join our correspondent, who is

at New Scotland Yard. This is a significant announcement

by the head of the UK's largest police force. It shows concern at

the highest levels about the backlash from the murder of Drummer

Lee Rigby. And the deployment of police officers to high-risk

locations suggest they expect more may follow.

The Darul Uloom School in Chislehurst, south-east London. A

fire here on Saturday night prompted the evacuation of 130 pupils and

staff. Police are treating it as suspicious. The parents should rest

assure that these students are safe and have been well looked after.

A department was set alight by intruders. Tonight, the head of the

Metropolitan Police, Sir Bernard The Met has announced it is posting

uniformed officers at targets considered most at risk. Police are

guard selective Islamic sites around the clock. At the school in

Chislehurst, two pupils were treated for the effects of snok inhalation.

People in the area have appealed for calm. It does worry you. I would

hope this being on the news and happening will hopefully show a lot

of people that, you know, this cannot go on and something needs to

be done to stop it. I was not surprised because of everything that

has gone around. There are lots of stories around. I didn't think it

would come to here because it is an affluent area. Since Lee Rigby was

murdered a fortnight ago there have been a string of similar incidents.

His family say they don't want his death to be used for political

purposes. A fire in Muswell Hill is being

investigated. The signature of the far right English Defence League was

spray painted on the wall of the centre before the blaze. A spokesman

for the EDL said it did not approve of any religious buildings being

attacked. Before that a smoke bomb was allegedly thrown through the

window of a mosque in Essex. A man has been charged. In Grimsby two

people were charged in connection with another attack on a mosque.

Tonight, police urged all communities totion violence.

-- to shun violence. An MP rejects allegations that he used his

position to help a private company influence Parliament. Undercover

journalists secretly filmed Tim Yeo. They accuse him of coaching a top

executive before his committee appearance. Our political

correspondent reports. An unsuspecting parliamentarian,

undercover reporters and a secret recording. Much was familiar about

the latest lobbying allegations. The Sunday Times said Tim Yeo coached a

witness due to appear before his own Select Committee. The witness worked

for a company in which the MP had a publicly declared financial

interest. Are you able to ask him suggest he coached the witness. The

pair had spoken briefly five days before the committee appearance, he

said and he declared his business connection and accused himself from

questioning on the day. He choose not to make his case in person

today. Tim Yeo agreed to do a live interview with us here on the Sunday

Politics, but within the last hour, All this follows separate claims

against Patrick Mercer, who has science resigned from the party and

three Lords. The Community Secretary rejected suggestions the lobbying

revelations were damaging relations between politicians and the press.

They are just doing a job. That is all they are doing. If you are

obeying the rules you have nothing to fear. Even before he entered

Downing Street, David Cameron predicted lobbying would be the next

big scandal to hit Parliament. He has promised a new law by the end of

July. The bigger question is whether a register will now be enough to

reassure the public after so many damage damaging paper headlines.

Prayers have been said in South Africa today for Nelson Mandela, who

remains in hospital, being treated for a reoccurring lung infection.

The former President is 94. His doctors have called his condition,

"Serious, but stable." Once again, South Africans are

praying for Nelson Mandela. Here at a church service near his old home

in Soweto. This country seems torn between a

desire to see the 94-year-old fight on and a more solemn recognition

that his health is clearly fading. You just feel sorry for someone that

old because he's going through a lot of pain. He has been loved by

everybody, so we all wish him a speedy recovery, that he recovers

well and gets out of pain. I don't believe that South Africa will

change if Mandela is gone, because now it is difficult now. It is very

difficult. It is very difficult. Nelson Mandela is battling a lung

infection. He was admitted to hospital early yesterday morning -

his third time this year. As far as we know, his condition is stable,

but serious. Nelson Mandela's family have made it

very clear they want to protect the privacy and dignity of an

increasingly frail man. As a result, it is not being confirmed which

hospital he is being treated at here in Petoria. Still, close relatives

have been seen at one private hospital today. No obvious sense of

a bedside vigil. The lack of any medical update is not reassuring. In

a Johannesburg museum Mandela's life is part of history.

His legacy will live forever. I hope he goes in peace and he knows that

he has fundamentally made the world a better place. For now, a nation

waits for news. The best-selling novelist Iain Banks

has died at the age of 59, two months after revealing he had

terminal cancer of the gallbladder. His books include the Wasp Factory,

He was a prolific writer. It was for this book that Iain Banks was best

known - dark, disturbing and disquieting - the Wasp Factory was

also funny. Last month he gave one of his final interviews to the BBC.

The things that I love and things I tend to read most are science

fiction and main-stream literature. Those are what I love to write as

well. It 's been a privilege to get away with it for an entire career.

His novel the Crow Road which opens with the memorable line, "It was the

day my grandmother exploded," was put on television. You never knew

what you would get - would it be a family saga, a bizarre book about a

young kid growing up in Scotland, would it be science fiction? You

never knew. Picking up one of his books was and is a thrilling

experience. In April Iain Banks announced on his website that he was

officially very poorly. What he thought was backache was terminal

cancer. His last book, The Quarry, will be on sale later this week.

Publication was brought forward from October. It is a cunning plan of the

mind, I pretend I have cancer - I am fine and dandy - that way I will

sell more books out of sympathy. If only that were true! Iain Banks, who

has died at the age of 59. Rafael Nadal made tennis history

today, becoming the first man to win the same Grand Slam tournament eight

times. Despite spending mosts of the last year from injury he took the

French Open tiltle with a straight sets victory -- title with a

straights set victory over David Ferrer.

For Rafael Nadal to make history he would have to over overcome David

Ferrer - a big underdog, who rose to the challenge. The problem for him

though was the quality of his opponent and while Ferrer had not

lost a single set in the tournament, that duly changed as Nadal made

speedy work of Ferrer in front of a speedy guest. Then a much more

serious distraction - a protestor with a flare came on court and was

quickly thrown off it. Nadal, while a little shaken still

won 6-2 and then broke straight away at the start of the third.

And he would hold that to serve for the title and needed only one match

point. The king reigned supreme, history is his and no-one can deny

on this surface he is number one. Finally, it has been an

extraordinary weekend in Londonderry, the UK's City of

Culture has hosted a 30-hour festival, created by Frank Cottrell

Boyce. It was his first major project since collaborating with

Danny Boyle on last year's opening Olympic ceremony w the intention of

telling the world a different story about the once troubled city of

A mysterious flotilla, shrouded in incense makes its way up the river.

On board is the patron saint of Derry, returning to the city for the

first time since he left for the Isle of Iona, 1500 years ago.

It is, thinks the man behind the event, an ancient story, which still

resonates today. It has all the elements. It has revenge, a monster,

incredible beauty. He was responsible for the book of kales. A

called the Peace Bridge, was opened two years ago. It connects the two

sides of the city It has transformed the city. You open a door and you

discover a brand new room in your house. It is that good. People are

discovering the other part of Derry. People who would not have walked

because it was difficult and because there was a political thing - people

are walking over here and they are discovering a new part of the city.

Around 1,000 volunteers took part in the people's parade, which was part

of the 30-hour extrave ganz sa. might not be as big and expensive as

last year's Olympic ceremony, but it shares the participation of

community celebration, of story telling and a sense of humour.

The officials talk about the financial legacy as the City of

Culture. As the Loch Ness Monster made its way up the river, those