BBC News with Jerry Smit.

Germany is sending its intelligence chiefs to Washington next week to address allegations that the United States has been spying on its allies. The government said it wanted to make sure an investigation into the monitoring of Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone was going forward. EU leaders say growing distrust to the US could harm the fighter against terrorism. From Berlin, Steve Evans.

There is no doubt in the anger in Germany over the spying allegations. The country's head of state President Gauck, said President Obama should now explain clearly what had happened and also how lost trust can be regained. Till that end, senior officials in the German security services will travel to Washington next week to talk to their American counterparts. What may be sought are assurances that new tighter rules are in place to govern who is seen as a legitimate target for surveillance and who is not.

A military curfew remains in force in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu after an attack by suspected militants from the Islamist group known as Boko Haram. Here is Will Ross.

The city of Damaturu was rocked by gun fire for about 7 hours. By the time it ended around midnight, police, CID and army buildings have been burnt down. It's not clear how many people were killed, but a police ambulance took dead bodies to a mortuary. The streets of the main city in Yobe state are now deserted after the military impose a 24-hour curfew. One resident of the city said he saw 19 gunmen, some in military uniform, raid the hospital. Meanwhile, the Nigerian army says it's killed 74 suspected Boko Haram militants during ground and air strikes on camps in Bono state.