The American soldier accused of passing thousands of secret US documents to the WikiLeaks website, Bradley Manning, is giving testimony for the first time before a US military judge in Maryland. General Bryan reports from Washington.
The pretrial military hearing at Fort Meade in Maryland has been held out of the sight of television cameras, but reporters in the court say 24-year-old Bradley Manning looked nervous and startled as he tried to answer questions from his defense lawyer. He claims he has already been punished enough for his part in the WikiLeak's scandal, which caused intense embarrassment to the US government. Earlier in the day, the judge accepted terms under which he will plead guilty to 8 lesser charges, which include leaking of video of US troops shooting at Iraqis from a helicopter.
A yearlong inquiry into press standards in Britain has issued a damning conclusion on the role played by some of the countries newspapers which hacked people’s phones. In his report, Lord Justice Leveson said tougher self-regulation of the industry was needed because newspapers have wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people.
World News from the BBC
The body drafting Egypt’s new constitution has been voting on the contents of a final draft and made a growing confrontation between the Islamist President Mohammed Mursi and his secular and liberal opponents. The panel, which is dominated by President Mursi’s supporters, has kept the principles of Islamic law as the main source of legislation. Liberals and Christian members of the panel boycotted it, saying that they’ve been marginalized. The President’s decree last week to grant himself extensive new powers has sparked protest across the country.