Snowden's father gets visa to visit Russia

US National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden's father says he has secured a visa to visit his son in Russia.

Lon Snowden and family lawyer Bruce Fein aren't saying when they'll visit Russia.

They also say they haven't spoken directly with Edward Snowden since he fled the US for Russia, which has given him asylum.

Lon Snowden says he wants his son to return to the US at some point.

But he says he thinks it's unlikely his son could have a fair trial, given public statements from government officials calling the younger Snowden a traitor.

Edward Snowden has been charged in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, with violations of the Espionage Act.

Lon Snowden and Fein spoke on Sunday with ABC's TV program This Week.

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Somali rebels seized $A824,800 in aid: UK

AL-SHABAB rebels in Somalia have seized STG480,000 ($A824,800) of UK-funded humanitarian aid supplies, the British government says.

The supplies were seized between November 2011 and February 2012, when the militants raided warehouses and offices of organisations partnered with the UK's Department for International Development, which spent STG102.9 million in Somalia that year.

While the incidents occurred between 2011 and 2012, the write-off was listed in the agency's annual report for 2012 and 2013 - once an investigation into the theft was completed.

The report said the agency's partners did not have any prior warning of the attacks and did not have time to move the supplies.

The Department for International Development is working with partner organisations to ensure such risks are identified, the report added.

The agency stressed on Sunday that working in some of the most dangerous countries in the world carries "inherent risk".

It also said in a statement that it "does all it can to mitigate against this but, on occasion, losses will occur" and that when theft is suspected it will investigate and act quickly.

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Mandela 'making slow but steady' progress

NELSON Mandela is making "slow but steady" progress back to health, although he remains critically ill, the office of the South African president says.

The 95-year-old former president and anti-apartheid icon has been in hospital for more than two months with a recurring lung infection.

"Former President Nelson Mandela continues to receive treatment in hospital in Pretoria and doctors have indicated to President Jacob Zuma that the former president is making a slow but steady improvement," a statement from the presidency said.

"The medical team also reiterated that although his health was improving steadily, Madiba still remained in a critical condition," it added, referring to Mandela by his clan name.

Zuma asked South Africans to pray for Mandela's recovery and good health, the statement said.

The South African president is technically the only person authorised to give public updates about Mandela's health, and had not issued a statement since July 31.

Mandela's youngest daughter Zindzi Mandela said on Friday that the anti-apartheid hero was "not going anywhere anytime soon" and was now able to sit up unaccompanied.

He was "more alert, more responsive," she said.

And his former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela told Sky News on Thursday that he was "now breathing normally".

Doctors had managed to contain his lung infection but kept "draining fluid from the lungs," she said.

Both stressed that he was not about to die.

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Morocco crash leaves 16 royal guards dead

SIXTEEN members of Morocco's royal guards have died in a road accident as they were headed north on a bus to prepare for a visit by King Mohammed VI, medics say.

The pre-dawn accident took place near Al-Hoceima in northern Morocco and wounded 42 other guards, a hospital source said.

They were on board a bus which plunged into a ravine, the source and a local official said, without giving a cause for the accident.

The king sent a messages of condolences to the families of the victims and decided to take on all the costs for the burials as well as the medical fees of those injured in the accident.

Mohammed VI, Morocco's ruler since 1999, was on Saturday also to chair a traditional annual ceremony in Rabat marking the anniversary of his accession to the throne.

Known as "Celebration of loyalty and allegiance", the ceremony is an elaborate event during which senior government officials and representatives from across the North African country pay allegiance to the king.

But opposition activists are opposed to the event and have called for its cancellation in statements posted on Facebook.

Opposition activists have said the annual event perpetuates a "backwardness" and "servitude" in Morocco that is out of touch with the times.

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Israel drone killed Sinai militants: group

AN Egyptian militant group says a strike that killed four of its members in the Sinai peninsula was Israeli.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis said four of its members belonging to Sinai Bedouin tribes had been killed by Israeli drones on Friday.

Egypt's military denied on Friday that there had been any Israeli strikes inside Egyptian territory.

The group accused the Egyptian army of co-ordinating the attack with Israel, and threatened more strikes against the Jewish state.

"How can the Egyptian army allow the Zionist unmanned planes to cross into Egyptian territory," the statement said.

A funeral was held for the militants on Saturday, with the bodies of the four driven through several border towns in north Sinai.

Dozens of men on pick-up trucks flying the jihadist black flag paraded through the towns, in an act of defiance to the army, witnesses said.

Militants based mainly in north Sinai near Israel's border have escalated attacks on security forces and other targets since July 3, when the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and installed a new government in Cairo.

But the army has been reluctant to confront the militants inside towns in order not to provoke the tight-knit tribes, military sources say.

There have been conflicting reports about the source of Friday's attack.

Officials said the strike came from the Egyptian military, as part of their campaign to curtail a surge in violence and rein in militant activity in the lawless Sinai.

The state owned al-Ahram newspaper and the official news agency MENA reported on Saturday that Egyptian military aircraft conducted the strike, quoting anonymous security officials.

Witnesses said Egyptian military helicopters hovered above the site after the blasts.

On Friday, the Egyptian military said two explosions were heard in the Sinai Peninsula, close to the border with Israel, and that it would investigate their cause.

"There is no truth whatsoever to any Israeli strikes inside Egyptian territory and the claim that there is Egyptian and Israeli co-ordination on the matter is utterly baseless," military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Aly said in a statement on Friday.

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US stocks mostly lower despite China data

US stocks have opened mostly lower despite Chinese industrial production data that showed strength in the world's second-largest economy.

Five minutes into trade on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 25.40 (0.16 per cent) at 15,472.92.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 1.72 (0.10 per cent) to 1,695.76, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was essentially flat at 3,669.16, up 0.04 of a point.

The US economic calendar remained devoid of major releases, leaving the spotlight on Chinese data that showed industrial production rose 9.7 per cent, well above analyst expectations of 9.0 per cent.

Still, Briefing.com cautioned that "a couple of monthly releases aren't sufficient to conclude that a major shift in the slowing Chinese growth trend has occurred".

US stocks have fallen three of the last four days.

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Obama met US IT, telecoms chiefs: report

US President Barack Obama met with leaders of IT and telecoms giants, including Apple, Google and AT&T, to discuss controversial electronic surveillance programs, a media report says.

According to a report on the Politico website, Obama met on Thursday at the White House with Apple CEO Tim Cook, AT&T chief Randall Stephenson, and with Vinton Cerf, a renowned technologist considered one of the "fathers" of the internet and currently a Google employee.

The subject of the meeting, which also included representatives of privacy rights groups, was the secret National Security Agency programs revealed by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Wanted on espionage charges, Snowden has taken refuge in Russia, which last week granted him temporary asylum, infuriating the US.

Asked about the meeting, the White House declined to confirm it took place and it did not appear on Obama's official agenda.

According to Politico, the White House had previously invited business leaders and interest groups to a meeting on Tuesday with senior administration officials to discuss the issue.

Since Snowden's revelations, Obama has insisted that the surveillance programs are legal and have helped to save lives by preventing attacks.

He also has assured the public that no one is listening in on their telephone calls.

The programs routinely scoop up the phone records of millions of US citizens and monitor internet and social media exchanges for foreign intelligence purposes.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said on June 11 that Obama welcomed a debate on the surveillance but that it was necessary to strike a balance between security and privacy.

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