10/06/2013 BBC World News

top stories: Facing a criminal investigation, is he whistleblower

or traitor? The man who leaked details of how the US is monitoring

phone calls and internet data goes public. I think the public is owed

an explanation of the motivations and the people who made these

disclosures from outside the democratic model.

The South African government says former President Nelson Mandela is

in intensive care, his condition is unchanged and remain serious but

stable. A special report on how Iran might

be planning to isolate its internet connections from the rest of the

world. And could it be the first signs of

life on Mars? We explore news of a significant discovery made by

Hello. As he served his country or betrayed it? Edward Snowden is

thought to be in Hong Kong, though he can't confirm that, after

confessing to one of the biggest breaches of security in the history

of US intelligence. The former CIA technician has revealed details of a

top-secret global surveillance system, code-named Prism, which

gathers information about millions of phonecalls and e-mails every

day. The US Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation.

Unmasked in a video on the Guardian's website, Edward Snowden,

the spy who came in from the cold. The NSA specifically targets the

communications of everyone, it in jest them by default, it collects

them in its system and filters and analyses and measures and stores

them for periods of time, Sibley because that is the easiest and most

efficient and most valuable way to achieve these ends -- simply

because. Snowden said he had becoming creasing the dismayed by

what he saw the growing power of the NSA, hence his decision to pass on

documents which are said to reveal not only that the organisation

monitored millions of phonecalls, but that it had direct access to

some of the biggest internet companies in the world. You can't

come forward against the world 's most powerful intelligence agencies

and be completely free from risk, because they are such powerful

adverse is, that no one can oppose them. President Obama denied that

the government was listening into private telephone conversations and

said that some surveillance was necessary in order to prevent

terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, the Director of National Intelligence

said in a statement that his office was reviewing the damaged caused by

the recent disclosures and warned anyone with security clearance that

he or she had an obligation to protect classified information and

abide by the law. Even though our president campaigned on a platform

of openness and transparency, he has been very tough on any information

that embarrasses the United States. If you expose illegal conduct by the

United States, you are really going to get nailed. As for Edward

Snowden, there is no word yet on whether the United States government

intends to try to extradite him to stand trial on American soil. He is

thought to be keen to seek political asylum in Iceland, a country that

has long championed internet freedom, but for now, as far as his

plight is concerned committee says he is satisfied with what he did and

that he has no regrets. Edward Snowden did apparently flee

to Hong Kong before going public. He was interviewed by the Guardian in

Hong Kong last week. I asked the reporter from the Guardian if his

newspaper should have published the story. There is a balance between

overarching state surveillance and which we could argue is about

security, and privacy. For me, the threat posed by al-Qaeda since 9/11

seems fairly minor, there have been no major attacks on the US mainland.

And yet there has been huge growth in this surveillance state. This is

what Edward Snowden was concerned about. Many people will pick you up

on that, because the number of terror attacks globally is still

pretty huge. What is Edward Snowden's plan now? Does he expect

to stay in Hong Kong or will he try to go to somewhere like Iceland?

doesn't know. As part of his courage, as soon as he went... He

opted not to remain anonymous, that took courage. He knows that his life

is effectively over, as it was. He knows that one of the likeliest

options is that he could be extradited to the United States and

face the rest of his life in prison. What sort of level of family and

friends does he have, is he worried about them? It is his biggest

concern, that they will be intimidated and face harassment as a

result of what he has done. His girlfriend was in Hawaii, she has

gone back to the US. His family is in the US. That is what is causing

the most concern. You have got more to come out? We have but whether we

reported or not, we will have to make a strategic decision. --

whether we report it or not. Ewen MacAskill of the Guardian saying

that there might be more information to come from his source, Edward

Snowden. It has emerged that his former --

the former South African president, Nelson Mandela, is being treated in

intensive care in hospital. A new statement was issued a little

earlier and the BBC's Andrew Harding told me the details. In a very brief

statement, the first we have had for almost 48 hours, in essence his

condition is unchanged. He remains in hospital. The South African

presidency has once again urged the nation to pray for Nelson Mandela.

Also interesting, local media has been reporting yesterday and today

that nonsense and other's family have been trying to restrict access

to notes and Mandela -- that Nelson Mandela's family have been trying to

restrict access to Nelson Mandela. It was said that there is no

blockage on family members visiting Nelson Mandela and in that denial,

he mentioned that Nelson Mandela is in intensive care. That had not been

spelt out before but I don't think it will come as any particular

surprise and doesn't change what we already knew about the seriousness

of Nelson Mandela's health troubles. Police in Afghanistan say seven

Taliban fighters have been killed after they attacked the main airport

in Kabul. Civilian airports -- civilian flights were cancelled

during the battle. Once again, Coble was woken by the

sound of explosions and the rumble of gunfire -- Campbell was woken.

This time the attack came from a building near the airport, next to a

large Afghan army base. American troops have come only to keep an eye

on what is going on with Afghan forces on the ground. This is an

Afghan operation. US lack walks circled in the sky above on the

ground, the fighting was all done by Afghan police and army units who

have become far better at combating the insurgency -- US Blackhawks.

proved we can foil any kind of attack, especially those conflicts

and difficult terrorist attacks like today. Norwegian special forces

soldiers who have been training and mentoring the crisis response kept

watch. Exchanges of fire went on for three hours, with the Taliban firing

rocket propelled grenades, setting light to vehicles in the streets

around. The Taliban say they carried out this attack, the third to hit

Kabul in a month. Within two months, lease entered the two buildings,

moving floor to floor as they retook control.

A series of bombings in a market in central Iraq has killed at least 13

people and wounded many more. Officials say a suicide attack and

two car bombs were detonated in a wholesale market close to the mainly

Shi'ite town of Baquba, just north of Baghdad. It was packed with

grocery stall owners buying goods for trading. No group has admitted

carrying out the attack. It was a case that stirred simmering

racial tensions in the US and later today it will finally come to

court. A neighbourhood watch volunteers accused of murdering an

unarmed 17-year-old as he walked through a gated estate for top

Georgian and said he was acting in self defence -- George Zimmerman's

family say he was acting in self defence. The 17-year-old was shot

dead last year, in a case which has stirred passions and opened up deep

divisions in America. He was walking through this gated community in

Orlando. He was on arms, carrying a bag of sweets and iced tea. He had

been spotted by George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch volunteer.

Believing the teenager was acting the pair got into a scuffle, which

ended with George Zimmerman pulling the trigger in what he says was an

act of self defence. Trayvon Martin's family and supporters say

it was in racially motivated attack. Across America there were

protests, after it took six weeks for an arrest to be made. Over the

coming weeks, witnesses will appear before the courts to prevent --

present their version of what happened that fateful night. This is

a case which will be closely watched across the United States. For what

it has come to represent. The highly charged issue of race in today's

America. We have been hearing about how the US is collecting details of

phone and internet traffic across the world. In Iran it is feared the

government there may be preparing to cut off access completely to

international websites. Iran has been developing its own network,

running in parallel with the World Wide Web. The fear is that

ultimately it will be used to block access to sites like Google,

Facebook and Twitter, which are hugely popular in Iran.

Iran is a nation in love with the World Wide Web. It has the highest

number of internet users in the middle east, but some people believe

all that is about to change. This is one of the few official documents

published about basic writ of government project known as the

National internet. It doesn't give much away but I have discovered that

it gives the authorities the option to cut the Iranians from the rest of

cyberspace. At the moment when Iranians log onto other sites like

Google, they do so via the World Wide Web. But when they access sites

like banks and government departments, they do so through a

new network that has been created inside the country. It means the

government can now do something it has never done before. TRANSLATION:

If Iran gets into a situation of unrest and political unrest -- risk,

the government can push the off button and tell people, for now you

can just use domestic websites. government says the National

internet will be faster and will help to improve data security, by

encouraging Iranians to use domestic rather than foreign sites. Critics

believe there is a more sinister motive. The National internet, in

essence, is the next step of the Iranian government to try to filter

and disrupt the Iranian's public access to free information.

Iranian public's access. After the controversial 2009 presidential

elections, international websites prove to be a valuable weapon for

opposition supporters in Iran. Protesters used social networks like

YouTube to make the world aware of the widespread unrest. The

introduction of the National internet could have stopped this

happening again. The people of Iran have already had access to blogging

and Twitter. Take that away, it is like taking away a necessity such as

food or water. The question remains whether having set up the systems,

the Iranian government would really take the drastic next step of making

Iranian citizens disappear from the World Wide Web.

Stay with us on BBC world News. Still to come, is there life on

Mars? We will explore news of a significant discovery made by

NASA's robot. And kinky boots, an American

Broadway show based on a British film, is a runaway success at the

stage equivalent of the Oscars. Heavy rain and flooding continues

across much of central Europe. Thousands have been evacuated after

a damn burst on the River Elbe. After a very wet spring, there is

concern over two major European river system, where levels are

higher than usual, they are the Danube and the Elbe. The water is

five metres higher than it should be. The floods affecting central

Europe have seen at least 21 people killed. Thousands evacuated from

their homes and roads and rail services disrupted. Now the floods

are moving east. In East Germany, the River Elbe, which runs through

this city, is threatening to burst its banks. 23,000 people have had to

be evacuated, after streets and buildings were flooded. Make-shift

centres have been set up to provide beds and meales for those affected.

The fire -- meals for those affected. Volunteers have used

sandbags to try and keep the river at bay. In Warsaw, in Poland, the

motorway looked more like a water way than a key route into the city.

The city's subway station remains closed because of the floodwater. In

Budapest, in Hungary, people held their breath, hoping the re-enforced

defences would save the city from flooding. 16,000 emergency workers

have been frantically shoring up the banks with sandbags. Authorities

believe the floodwater has peaked here, but say it will be days before

the river recedes to a safe level. In eastern Germany, more rain is

forecast and with it the possibility of more flooding to come.

The latest lines on this whole which has developed over security and the

leak of the prison system. Number Ten have been playing down concerns

that GCHQ, our security system here, have been using the US Security

Services to gather intelligence on British citizens. Number Ten says

GCHQ operates within a strong legal framework and with strong

ministerial oversight. Mr Hague is criminal investigation, the

whistle-blower who leaked details of how the US's monitoring day ta and

phone calls goes public. The former President, Nelson Mandela, is in

Intensive Care. His condition remains unchanged and he remains

serious, but stable. In Pakistan, at least four people have been killed

in an attack on lorries shipping NATO supplies to Afghanistan. The

attack happened in the north-western region on a route used by NATO to

carry supplies from Karachi. Over the past few months more than ten

people have been killed and dozens of trucks damaged in similar

attacks. Boss any ya remains as divided as ever, since the end of

the war in 1995, it has been split into two entities.

Within the federation, the day-to-day divisions are stark. Our

Europe correspondent reports now from Mostar.

In the corridors of the only ethnically-mixed school in Mostar.

The only school where students study under the same roof. They hang out

together, but even here their classes are divided. This is a

geography class for Muslim students, all born after the war which tore

this country apart. We should all go to same schools, that is what I

think. I don't think it will change, at least for now.

Many people still have bad memories of the war, so while they are still

here nothing will change. Everything is just...

TRANSLATION: It will stay that way so long as our current politicians

are in charge. The school is right next to this road, which marked the

front line during the war. Now, 18 years on, there are not just

separate education systems, there are separate hospitals, separate

phone companies, separate power companies. The problem with the

peace treaty which ended the war is it entrenched Bosnia's divisions.

And there is a growing sense of frustration.

These protestors in Sarajevo are complaining of lack of economic

opportunity and a sense of deadlock which has blighted the country.

There is an air of unreality about a complex political system. I live

here. I am born in Sarajevo. So many things I cannot understand - maybe

because I am an artist, but my imagination and creation will never

create such a stage as we have here now.

Too many Bosnian politicians are too comfortable with the status quo.

Compare that to neighbouring Croatia, about to join the EU, after

pushing through wide-ranging refor. . You had politicians who had to

react to imperatives. Here you don't. You have a fake democracy. It

has beenal sci-fied. The milk industry is one which will

suffer, even state-of-the-art factories like this T exports to

Croatia will come to a grinding halt in a few weeks' time, because the

Government has not met EU standards. We are pushing previous Governments

and we are facing them with this problem, but they didn't do anything

until now. This situation is getting really, really serious. So, a city

accustomed to division will find itself behind a new dividing line.

It is a little off the radar for now, but continues to pose an

awkward challenge to the rest of Europe.

Now, it may not be a welcoming committee of little green men, but

scientists have made a significant discovery in their search for traces

of life on Mars. Soil samples from the Rover robot have been found to

contain clay minerals, which means water may have once flowed on the

planet of a similar PH as to water here. Just to explain all that, our

science correspondent is. We have known there is -- is here. We have

known there has been water on Mars. What else do we know now? It is

wetter. If you see it today it is not a pleasant place. Go back four

billion years ago, 3.5 billion years, it was different - there was

water flowing on the surface. What scientists have been looking for

with the Mars Rovers is to try and find water conditions which were

benign for life, where you could have got chemistry going which could

have led to life. For that, ideally, you want water with a neutral PH.

Currently, we are seeing now, in the last year or so, examples from the

Rovers of neutral PH water so, the water we could drink flowing throw

rocks on Mars. We have seen an opportunity now from the Opportunity

Rover, the oldest rover, which has been reported over the weekend and

by the Curiousty Rover, with I is halfway around the world of Mars,

looking at rocks. It has seen this neutral PH signature in the rocks.

It is a good sign. If we look at the picture behind me, it is the white

rock here. This is a rock which NASA has found. It is the white-coloured

veins you can see here. The old rover, it has been going for nine

years on Mars, has to drive backwards because it cannot go

forwards. It has looked at this rock and said, yes, there are probably

clay minerals in here which means water has flow through and altered

this rom. How old is this -- this rock. How old is this rock? Probably

from about the first billion years of Mars. You cannot find rocks like

that on Earth. So the oldest on Earth, you can get over three

billion or so. You can find fragments of rocks on Earth, but

whole rocks you cannot find on Earth. It is an interesting insight

into the early history of Mars. shows where we all might be heading.

Thank you. The awards that honour the achievements of Broadway Theatre

have been given out in New York. The big winner this year is theern

many-produced show -- the American -- American-produced show, Kinky

Boots. It is a tale of acceptance. It is a story of the relationship

between a shoe factory owner in Northampton and a drag Queen. It won

six tonies overall, including Best Actor in a musical and for the score

which came from pop Queen, Lauper laup, making her broad way -- Lauper

laup, making her Broadway debut. Your hard work inspires me.

British show mat till da had once been considered the front winner for

Best Musical. This tells the story of a very

clever young girl whole prevails in the face of abusive parents and a

vindictive headmistress. The show's producers are pleased by its

successful Broadway run. It is nice to think the show which opened in

Stratford-upon-Avon a few years ago is here on broad way and being

cherished by the home of musical theatre, which is fantastic.

Another American musical that did well, winning four trophies was a

revival of Pippin. Hollywood star Tom Hanks went home empty-handed. It

was a good night for black actors, several key top awards going to

African Americans. They are the top award and for those plays and

musicals which have won, the result of the publicity has brought about a

boost at the box office. That is good news for the New York theatre

world, in a season where admissions have fallen. At least the night's

winning musical, Kinky Boots, is bringing in the money, more than �1

million every week. Just to remind you of our top story

before we go - a former CIA competer expert, Edward Snowden, says he is

responsible for leaking information that the US authorities have been

collecting phone and data information around the world.

A criminal investigation has been launched. Mr Snowden has voluntarily

revealed his identity and is now believed to be in Hong Kong. That is

where he originally went to. And just to let you know as well, the

Government here, in London, Downing Street have, in the last hour or so,

sought to play down any concerns that GCHQ might have been using the