[02:56.23]World News from the BBC

[02:59.45]A series of attacks including a wave of car bombings in Iraq has killed at least 65 people and wounded many others.

[03:07.52]Most of the victims died in a series of coordinated blasts in predominantly Shia districts of the capital Baghdad.

[03:14.17]A busy market and a bus station were among the targets.

[03:17.12]The single deadliest attack took place in the northern city of Mosul when a car bomb exploded outside a bank where soldiers were queuing to collect their wages.

[03:26.00]The Israeli government says it will release another 26 Palestinian prisoners as a part of a deal brokered by the United States earlier this year for the resumption of peace talks.

[03:36.68]It will be the second batch of prisoners to be freed under the agreement.

[03:40.25]A statement from the office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says those to be released had all been jailed for violence committed before a 1993 interim accord.

[03:50.37]The US National Security Agency has denied German press reports that President Obama was told in 2010 that Chancellor Angela Merkel's phones were being tapped.

[04:01.13]Katy Watson reports from Washington.

[04:03.83]“The leaks in German newspapers have continued over the weekend and with them the outrage over the scope of US spy agencies has grown.

[04:12.27]But the National Security Agency has hit back,