The former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has denied allegations that he took bribes to facilitate the building of a controversial residential complex while he was mayor of Jerusalem. He's been named by Israeli investigators as a prime suspect in a multimillion-dollar corruption scandal. Appearing on national television, Mr Olmert, who is already on trial in another corruption case, urged people not to jump to conclusions and said he would cooperate with the police investigation.
President Obama has announced plans for new space exploration, saying they could lead to landings on an asteroid and the planet Mars within 25 years. Speaking at Cape Canaveral, Mr Obama said he was fully committed to the American space agency NASA despite the coming end of its space shuttle program. President Obama also said he wanted to see a successor developed to the Hubble Telescope.
"NASA from the start, several months ago when I issued my budget was one of the areas where we didn't just maintain a freeze but we actually increased funding by six billion dollars. By doing that, we'll ramp up robotic exploration of the solar system, including a probe of the sun's atmosphere, new scouting missions to Mars and other destinations and an advanced telescope to follow Hubble, allowing us to peer deeper into the universe than ever before."
Teachers in a town in Somalia say Islamist militants have told schools to stop ringing bells to summon children because they sound like those used in Christian churches. A teacher said the militant group al-Shabab had told schools in the town of Jowhar that if they failed to comply, they would be taken before an Islamic court.