US charges Snowden with espionage: reports

US officials charge Edward Snowden with espionage and call for his detainment in Hong Kong. Julie Noce reports.

US officials have asked Hong Kong authorities to detain Edward Snowden, a US newspaper reports. Source: AAP

US authorities have filed espionage charges against rogue intelligence technician Edward Snowden and asked Hong Kong to detain him, a US official says.

Confirming a report in the Washington Post, the official said a sealed criminal complaint has been lodged with a federal court in the US state of Virginia and a provisional arrest warrant has been issued.

Snowden was charged with espionage, theft and "conversion of government property".

A report on NBC News said he was accused of sharing classified documents with individuals who were not cleared to received them.

The one-page criminal complaint was filed under seal on June 14 in US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, and made public on Friday evening by government officials.

An accompanying affidavit in support of the charges, prepared and signed by FBI Special Agent John A Kralik Jr, remained under seal.

The criminal complaint said Snowden engaged in unauthorised communication of national defence information, wilful communication of classified communications intelligence information - both charges under the Espionage Act - and the theft of government property.

All three crimes carry a maximum 10-year prison penalty.

The 30-year-old technician fled Hawaii on May 20 and flew to Hong Kong, an autonomous Chinese territory, from where he proceeded to leak details of secret US intelligence programs to international media outlets.

The leaks embarrassed US President Barack Obama's administration, which was forced to defend US intelligence agencies' practice of gathering huge amounts of telephone and internet data from private users around the world.

Following reports of the sealed complaint, all eyes will turn to Hong Kong and Beijing to see whether China will agree to help the United States by complying with the provisional warrant and holding Snowden.

Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous territory with its own legal system and a provision for granting political asylum, but it is subordinate to China in foreign policy matters and has an extradition treaty with the US.

A US government official, speaking anonymously because the case is still under investigation, told McClatchy newspapers that officials hope the charges will be enough to satisfy authorities in Hong Kong to begin the extradition process.

That process could become bogged down if Snowden fights extradition and argues that he is being singled out and prosecuted for political reasons.

The official added that a more formal, federal grand jury indictment against Snowden likely will follow later in the northern summer.

"We're just getting under way," the US official said.

The US and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives.

However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding.

The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under US law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty.

In order for Hong Kong officials to honour the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of US law.

Snowden has told Britain's Guardian newspaper that he might seek asylum in Iceland, which has strong internet freedom laws, but he is thought to still be in Hong Kong and might now find it difficult to travel.

Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Justice Department move confirmed his view that the leak was "a treasonous act".

"I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the US," Nelson said.

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Boy drowns off Tas coast, father missing

THE body of a little boy has been pulled from the waters off Tasmania's northeastern coast after he was swept into the sea with his father.

Police are still searching for the six-year-old boy's father, but pulled the child's body out of the ocean near Bicheno on Saturday evening.

The pair had been standing on rocks near a boat ramp when a wave pulled them into the water, police said.

A major search with aircraft and rescue boats began after witnesses called triple-zero around 5pm (AEST).

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Hamas executes two Israel 'collaborators'

HAMAS has hanged two men accused of collaborating with Israel, a statement from the interior ministry of the Islamist movement's government in the Gaza Strip said.

The ministry said on Saturday that it had executed the two men in accordance "with what Palestinian law stipulates", identifying them as "the collaborator with the occupation A.G., 49, and the collaborator H.K., 43."

A military court in Gaza had sentenced the two to "death by hanging after the tribunal convicted them 10 years ago of charges ranging from collaborating with a hostile foreign entity", to involvement in "killing and espionage".

A number of representatives from civil organisations attended the execution, the statement said.

The Hamas government executed three men in April 2012 after they were accused of "collaborating" with Israel.

On Thursday, a Palestinian man found guilty of the same charge was sentenced to death by a military court in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.

It was the fifth such sentence handed down by the authorities in the coastal enclave since the beginning of the year.

Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel, murder and drug trafficking are all punishable by death.

All execution orders must be approved by the Palestinian president before they can be carried out, but Hamas no longer recognises the legitimacy of Mahmud Abbas, whose four-year term ended in 2009.

Israeli security forces use Palestinian informers to thwart militant attacks and assist in the assassination of top militants.

Since the September 2000 outbreak of the Palestinian uprising, dozens of Palestinians accused of collaborating have been condemned by Palestinian martial courts or killed by militants in both Gaza and the West Bank, which is governed by Abbas's Palestinian Authority.

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Armed gang kills 48 in Nigerian raid

AN armed gang has raided a northern Nigerian village and killed 48 people in an apparent reprisal attack targeting a local vigilante group, a state official says.

"There was an attack by armed bandits early Tuesday on Kizara village where 48 residents were killed in apparent targeted killings by cattle rustlers that have been terrorising the state for some time now," said Ibrahim Birnin-Magaji, commissioner for information in Zamfara state, where the village is located.

Dozens of gunmen arrived in the village before dawn on motorbikes, he told AFP.

"Some of them climbed up the hill overlooking the village and opened fire indiscriminately," he said.

"They later moved house to house, telling residents that they were looking for members of local vigilante whom they said had been disturbing them."

He said those killed included the local chief, the chief imam and the head of the vigilante group in the village.

Many villages in Nigeria form local vigilante groups to defend themselves against violent cattle rustlers or other criminal gangs, sometimes leading to a cycle of clashes and reprisal attacks.

Zamfara state, located in Nigeria's northwest, has seen a number of such incidents.

There was so far no sign of any link to Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, which has been waging a deadly insurgency mainly in Nigeria's northeast.

Nigeria's military is currently engaged in an offensive seeking to end Boko Haram's four-year insurgency.

However, the raid is the latest sign of insecurity in Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, where authorities have been largely unable to stop such violence.

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SA premier's Twitter feed cut

SA Premier Jay Weatherill has had his Twitter feed to his own department blocked. Source: AAP

THE tweets of South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill have been blocked from an internal feed to public servants in his own department.

The South Australian opposition said a number of public servants had contacted the party concerned over the use of the taxpayer-funded intranet for party political purposes.

Opposition frontbencher Rob Lucas emailed the premier's department chief executive Jim Hallion over the issue.

Mr Hallion responded by blocking the tweets appearing on the internal website from Mr Weatherill, all the other SA ministers and the government's media unit.

Mr Lucas said it was contrary to every principle of an independent public service to feature party political advertising on a taxpayer-funded internal government website.

"Public servants should be able to work and do their jobs without having partisan political messages appearing on their computers," he said.

A spokesperson for the premier said the Twitter feed had been put up without reference to the premier's office.

"We do not think it is appropriate for political tweets to be displayed on a departmental website," the spokesperson said.

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Somali insurgent attack repelled: police

SOMALI and African Union soldiers have regained control of a United Nations compound in Mogadishu ending an hour and an half attack by al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents, police and witnesses say.

"The situation is under control now... Somali soldiers along with African Union forces stormed the compound and killed the attackers," said Somali police official Abdulahi Osman.

He said that at least three civilians were killed outside the compound in Wednesday's attack but that there were no initial reports of UN casualties.

The compound under attack lies just across the street from the secure airport complex, where African Union forces are based.

The UN compound is used by agencies like UNICEF, WHO and UNDP.

The top UN official on Somalia, Nicholas Kay, also works out of the building. He was not inside the compound when it was attacked and is safe inside the airport compound, one of the UN officials said.

Mogadishu fell into anarchy in 1991 and is just beginning to move past years of sustained conflict.

The UN and foreign embassies were absent from Mogadishu for close to two decades.

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Gaddafi's son to stand trial in August

Muammar Gaddafi's son is set to stand trial for crimes committed during the 2011 uprising in Libya. Source: AAP

SEIF al-Islam, the son of slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and other former top regime officials will stand trial in August for crimes committed during the 2011 uprising, an aide to the prosecutor says.

Former spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi will be among those whose trial will begin in the first half of August, said Al-Seddik Al-Sur, a member of the prosecutor's office, on Monday.

They are accused of "crimes committed against the Libyan people during the revolution" of 2011 that toppled Gaddafi's regime, he said.

Baghdadi al-Mahmudi, the last prime minister to serve under Gaddafi, and Mansur Daw who headed the People's Guard will also be among those to stand trial, he added.

Asked if they will all be in the dock at the same time, Sur said: "This case will not be divided."

"These (former) officials met together to drum up a policy of repression and a common criminal plan, putting them on trial separately would perturbate the proceedings," he said.

Seif al-Islam, 40, is being held by a brigade of former rebel fighters in Zintan, 180 kilometres south-west of Tripoli, since his capture in November 2011.

The International Criminal Court based in The Hague, mandated by the UN security council to investigate the Libyan conflict, has clashed with Libya's new authorities for the right to prosecute Seif al-Islam.

It has issued arrest warrants for Kadhafi's son and his spy chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity.

Earlier this month Libya said it will appeal to the ICC to reverse its decision to prosecute Seif al-Islam.

Last week the ICC suspended an order requiring Tripoli to hand over Senussi.

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Malala denounces cowardly Pakistan attack

Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai denounced a deadly attack on a bus carrying female students. Source: AAP

MALALA Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban for promoting girls' education, has denounced an attack on a bus carrying female students in Quetta as "cowardly".

At least 25 people were killed on Saturday when militants blew up the bus in the capital of restive Baluchistan province and then stormed a hospital where survivors had been taken for treatment.

"This was a cowardly and desperate attempt to deny girls their right to education," Malala, 15, said in a statement on Monday.

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, the United Nations special envoy for global education, said it was the "bloodiest atrocity yet in escalating violence against female students".

Malala was shot at point-blank range by a Taliban gunman as her school bus travelled through northwest Pakistan's Swat Valley on October 9 last year, in an attack that drew worldwide condemnation.

She was flown to Britain for surgery on her head injuries and returned to school in Birmingham, central England, in March.

Malala has become a global symbol of the campaign for the right of girls to an education and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Nelson Mandela 'doing very well', daughter

Nelson Mandela's daughter says he is doing "very well", despite having serious lung infection. Source: AAP

NELSON Mandela, who has been in hospital for 10 days suffering a lung infection, is "doing very well", one of his daughters says.

"He is doing very well," Zenani Mandela-Dlamini, South Africa's ambassador to Argentina, on Monday told reporters gathered outside the Pretoria hospital treating the 94-year-old Mandela.

Earlier on Monday the anti-apartheid hero's wife Graca Machel thanked the world for its messages of support which she said had eased "the burden of anxiety".

"Our gratitude is difficult to express. But the love and peace we feel give yet more life to the simple 'Thank you!'," Machel, 67, said in a message.

South Africa's first black president was rushed to a Pretoria hospital on June 8 with a recurrent lung infection and remains in a serious condition although he is said to be improving.

Mandela, who is due to celebrate his 95th birthday on July 18, has been hospitalised four times since December.

South African President Jacob Zuma said on Sunday that Mandela was showing a "sustained" improvement after more than a week in hospital although his condition remained serious.

The Nobel peace laureate had appeared frail and distant in the last images broadcast of him at the end of April during a visit by Zuma and other ANC leaders.

Although he has retired from public life, Mandela is still venerated by an entire people who see him as the incarnation of the end of three centuries of white-minority rule in South Africa.

Black South Africans were able to vote for the first time in 1994.

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