• Oscar Pistorius in court: Defense exposes cracks in police evidence

    In the second day of Oscar Pistorius' bond hearing regarding the death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, the Olympian described in detail what happened the night of her shooting. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports and former prosecutor Star Jones discusses the case.

    Rohit Kachroo, Michelle Kosinski and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News writes

    PRETORIA, South Africa -- Defense lawyers exposed apparent weaknesses in the police evidence against Oscar Pistorius Wednesday as a court heard more dramatic details of the night he fatally shot his girlfriend.

    The Olympic and Paralympic athlete stared fixedly at the floor, sobbing occasionally, as a senior investigator described the scene when officers arrived at his home in Pretoria in the early hours of Valentine's Day.

    Pistorius wore a black suit and blue tie on the second day of a hearing that will decide whether he would be bailed over charges that the shooting of 29-year-old law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp was premeditated.

    Dubbed the "Blade Runner," Pistorius maintains he fired into his locked bathroom in a panic over a possible prowler. However, prosecutors say he put on his artificial legs and stalked Steenkamp to the bathroom to kill her.

    Warrant Officer Hilton Botha, an experienced detective, testified that a witness heard shouting for an hour coming from the house shortly before the shooting.

    Another witness heard gunshots, saw lights on in the house, heard a woman screaming two or three times, then heard another few shots, Botha said.

    But under cross-examination, Botha admitted one of the witnesses was 1,000 feet away from the house at the time.

    Botha told the court that needles and testosterone were found in the athlete's bedroom.

    The double-amputee's defense lawyer Barry Roux disputed that claim, saying the substance was in fact a herbal remedy and that police had misread the label. State prosecutor Gerrie Nel also had to correct Botha when he initially called the substance "steroids." 

    Botha said Steenkamp's body was clothed and covered in towels, and that one bullet cartridge was discovered in the hallway of Pistorius' home, with three more found in the bathroom. A firearm was found on the shower mat.

    The investigator said he wanted to charge Pistorius with possession of unlicensed ammunition, according to Reuters.

    None of the phones found at Pistorius' house had been used to call police, Botha said.

    Stephane De Sakutin / AFP - Getty Images

    The floorplan of Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius' house, shown at a court hearing on Wednesday.

    The court heard a discussion about the layout inside of the detached house, in an upmarket, gated compound north of Pretoria.

    Botha said the angle at which shots were fired through the door of a locked toilet within Pistorius' en suite bathroom suggested the shooter had aimed specifically to hit somebody on the toilet.

    "I believe he knew she was in the bathroom," Botha said.

    The downward trajectory of the shots suggests Pistorius was wearing his artificial legs when he pulled the trigger, he added.

    However, there were gasps from Pistorius' family as Botha struggled to answer questions under cross-examination. Two female relatives glanced at each other and smiled.

    The defense said Steenkamp’s bladder was empty, consistent with having gone to the toilet, as claimed by Pistorius.

    It also emerged that Botha had prior dealings with Pistorius, having attended a 2009 incident at the house at which the athlete was arrested but not charged.

    There was laughter in the courtroom as Botha insisted there was a risk Pistorius would flee if given bail, despite skepticism from magistrate, Desmond Nair.

    As Wednesday's session closed, Pistorius seemed composed. The hearing resumes Thursday, but is expected to conclude by the end of the week.

    On the first day of the hearing, prosecutors and the defense presented clashing accounts of how and why Pistorius shot Steenkamp.

    A court statement from Pistorius denied "in the strongest terms" that he had deliberately killed Steenkamp, adding that the athlete was "deeply in love'' with her, according to Reuters.

    "I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," the statement said.

    Pistorius has hired his own high-profile forensic expert to analyze the police reports and post-mortem exam, South Africa news station ENCA reported.

    His defense team includes lawyer Kenny Oldwage, who previously won an acquittal for a driver accused of killing Nelson Mandela's great-grandchild in a 2010 accident.

    NBC News' Tracy Connor and Reuters contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Pistorius: I felt 'sense of terror' on night I mistakenly shot girlfriend

    Sportscaster: Pistorius was 'jumpy' about safety

    Mother of Pistorius' slain girlfriend: 'Why my little girl?'

     

     

     

     

    This story was originally published on Wed Feb 20, 2013 3:34 AM EST

  • Pistorius: I felt 'sense of terror' on night I mistakenly shot 'deeply' loved girlfriend

    The Olympic superstar appeared in a South African court Tuesday where he explained that he had accidentally shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, because he mistakenly suspected she was an intruder. Prosecutors, however, aren't buying it. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.

    Rohit Kachroo, Michelle Kosinski and Tracy Connor, NBC News writes

    “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius said Tuesday that he had heard a noise in the bathroom and felt “a sense of terror” on the night he fatally shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, insisting he thought someone had broken into his South Africa home.

    In a statement read to a court hearing, the double-amputee Olympic and Paralympic star wrote that he loved Steenkamp "deeply." He also said he had received death threats in the past and kept a firearm beside his bed.

    Earlier Tuesday, Prosecutor Gerrie Nel insisted there was nothing to support Pistorius’ claim that he feared there was an intruder in the house when he killed Steenkamp. She was shot dead through the door of a small bathroom in Pistorius’ home in a suburb of Pretoria early on Valentine’s Day.

    Nel said she had "nowhere" to go and her death must have been "horrific," insisting Pistorius was guilty of premeditated murder.

    The NBC Olympic and "Rock Center" correspondent spent a week over the summer with Oscar Pistorius and tells NBC's David Gregory that he was a "gun guy" who was worried about his safety and security.

    The claims were made at a bail hearing -- described as a “little trial” by one expert -- that is being held to determine whether Pistorius should be freed pending trial.

    Magistrate Desmond Nair ruled that Pistorius would face a charge of premeditated murder, but the hearing was adjourned until Wednesday morning.

    As the defense and prosecution lawyers argued, the family and friends of the slain model and law-school graduate Steenkamp held a tearful funeral in her hometown.

    As his statement was read to the court, Pistorius sobbed uncontrollably at times, prompting Nair to say, "I know it's difficult. ... I'm going to find it difficult to concentrate. ... Maintain your composure."

    'She died in my arms'
    The statement denied "in the strongest terms" that Pistorius had deliberately killed Steenkamp, adding that the athlete was "deeply in love'' with her, according to Reuters.

    "I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," the statement said.

    According to Pistorius' account, he and Steenkamp had decided to "have a quiet dinner together at home" and by about 10 p.m. they had retired to his bedroom, where she was doing yoga as he was lying down and watching television. After finishing her yoga, she got into bed with him and the two fell asleep, Pistorius' statement said.

    During the early morning hours, it said, Pistorius woke up and went to his bedroom balcony to bring a fan inside and close the sliding glass doors and blinds.

    "I heard a noise in my bathroom. ... I felt a sense of terror. ... I believed that someone had entered my house. ... I grabbed my 9mm pistol," it said.

    Pistorius' statement said contractors had been working at his house and had left ladders outside, and there were no security bars on the bathroom window. The bathroom contained a separate toilet area with its own door.

    “As I did not have my prosthetic legs on I felt extremely vulnerable. I had to protect Reeva and myself. ... I felt trapped as my bedroom door was locked and I have limited mobility on my stumps,” it said.

    The statement then described Pistorius hearing movement inside the bathroom. "I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted at Reeva to phone the police," it said. "She did not respond and I moved backwards out of the bathroom, keeping my eyes on the bathroom entrance. Everything was pitch dark in the bedroom and I was still too scared to switch on a light. Reeva was not responding.

    "When I reached the bed, I realized that Reeva was not in bed. That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet."

    The statement also described Pistorius trying to open the locked bathroom door but failing, then grabbing a cricket bat to smash open the door. "Reeva was slumped over but alive. I battled to get her out of the toilet and pulled her into the bathroom."

    Pistorius’ statement said that moments after the shooting he “picked Reeva up as I'd been told not to wait for the paramedics. ... She died in my arms.”

    Earlier in the hearing, Nel said Steenkamp had arrived in Pistorius' home sometime between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on the night before she died.

    There was "no possible explanation to support" Pistorius' claim that he thought Steenkamp was an intruder, Nel said.

    And he added that even if Steenkamp had been an intruder, the shooting would still have been the murder of a burglar.

    Nel said Pistorius had armed himself, put on his prosthetic legs, walked to the bathroom and shot Steenkamp several times through the locked door as she sat on the toilet. "She locked that door for a purpose," Nel said.

    "If I arm myself, walk a distance and murder a person, that is premeditated," he said, according to Reuters. "The door is closed. There is no doubt. I walk seven meters (just over 22 feet) and I kill."

    "The motive is 'I want to kill.' That's it," he added. "This deceased was in a 1.4- (4.5 feet) by 1.14-meter little room. She could go nowhere. It must have been horrific."

    The prosecutor also asked why a burglar would have locked himself inside the bathroom.

    After the shooting, Pistorius carried Steenkamp downstairs, where he met a security guard and a friend, according to the prosecution, and told them that he had thought she had been an intruder.

    Pistorius' defense argued the sports star was not guilty of murder for that reason.

    The defense lawyer claimed other husbands had shot their wives thinking they were intruders and asked, "Where's the premeditation?"

    Following the defense's statements, Nel said he was now "more convinced" about what happened.


    Karyn Maughan, legal correspondent for South Africa news channel ENCA, told NBC's TODAY that if a premeditated murder charge stands, there would be dire consequences for Pistorius.

    “If he can’t prove that her death was unintentional, then it is unlikely he will get bail and he also faces a life sentence in jail,” she said. “He must try to convince the court he shot her in confusion, thinking she was an intruder."

    Pistorius has hired his own high-profile forensic expert to analyze the police reports and post-mortem exam, ENCA reported. His defense team includes lawyer Kenny Oldwage, who previously won an acquittal for a driver accused of killing Nelson Mandela's great-grandchild in a 2010 accident.

    'Why my little girl?'
    Model and law-school graduate Steenkamp's relatives are hoping for answers.

    "Why my little girl?" her mother, June Steenkamp, said in an interview with The Times of Johannesburg, calling her bubbly, blond daughter "the most beautiful person who ever lived."

    "All we have is this horrendous death to deal with ... to get to grips with," she said. "All we want are answers ... answers as to why this had to happen, why our beautiful daughter had to die like this."

    Steenkamp's family and friends gathered at a 90-seat chapel in Port Elizabeth, where Steenkamp grew up, for her funeral.

    "She's my little sister and she's gone," her brother, Adam, told ENCA. "There is a big hole there that cannot be filled by anything else."

    Steenkamp and Pistorius had been dating for about three months, and she tweeted a Valentine's Day message hours before her death.

    The track star, who captivated the world when he became the first double-amputee to run in the Olympics at last summer's London Games, was a gun enthusiast who once took a reporter writing a profile of him to a firing range.

    A South African newspaper reported Monday that he nearly shot a friend by accident while handling another friend's gun at a Johannesburg restaurant.

    "I had quite a fright because the bullet hit the ground centimeters from my foot," boxer Kevin Lerena told the Beeld newspaper, according to Agence France-Presse.

    "For some reason it got caught on his trousers, flipped the safety pin and a shot went off. I wouldn't say he was negligent. Days afterwards he was still apologizing."

    NBC News Staff Writers Ian Johnston and John Newland and Reuters contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Mother of Pistorius' slain girlfriend: 'Why my little girl?'

    Agent: Sponsors sticking by Oscar Pistorius

    Oscar Pistorius' agent cancels races

     

     

    This story was originally published on Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:01 AM EST

  • Syria's embattled Assad appears on TV for first time in two weeks

    SANA via AFP - Getty Images

    A handout picture released Tuesday by the official Syrian Arab News Agency shows Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, meeting with Saeed Jalili, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Damascus.

    NBC News and wire reports writes

    Updated at 8:31 p.m. ET: As Syrian President Bashar Assad appeared on television for the first time in two weeks on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the high-profile defection of the Syrian prime minister increased the urgency of planning for the ouster of Assad's regime.

    In South Africa's capital, Pretoria, Clinton said the United States and other countries needed to make sure that Syrian state institutions remain intact once Assad loses his grip on power.

    "The intensity of the fighting in Aleppo, the defections, really point out how imperative it is that we come together and work toward a good transition plan," Clinton said.

    "I do think we can begin talking about planning for what happens next: the day after the regime does fall. I am not going to put a timeline on it, I can't possibly predict it, but I know it's going to happen as do most observers around the world," Clinton said.


    Clinton also warned against "proxies or terrorist fighters" being sent in to join the 17-month-old conflict.

    The escalating war in Syria has increasingly divided the region along its sectarian faultline, pitting the mainly-Sunni rebels, who are backed by regional Sunni-led powers Turkey and the Gulf Arab states, against Assad's government that is backed by Shiite Iran.

    In a possible sign of increasing American pressure on Assad’s government, Clinton's remarks come a day after three U.S. senators warned about the risks of American failure to provide assistance to Syrian opposition fighters.

    Clinton also spoke a day after the defection of Prime Minister Riyad Hijab, the latest in a string of high-level departures from the Assad regime.

    US makes plans to keep post-Assad Syria intact

    TV appearance
    Assad appeared on Syrian state TV on Tuesday meeting with Iran's Supreme National Security Council in Damascus.

    Assad's absence had fueled rumors about his health, including a hoax Twitter message Monday that quoted Russia's ambassador to Damascus as saying Assad might have been killed.

    Russian officials quickly denied the report.

    Three US senators warn about risks of inaction in Syria

    In the week after a July 18 bombing that killed four members of his inner circle, Assad was shown twice in silent footage on television, swearing in a new defense minister and meeting military officials.

    Slideshow: The lives of Syrian rebels

    NBC News

    People resisting the army of President Bashar Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.

    Launch slideshow

    During Tuesday's Damascus meeting, Saeed Jalili, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Iran would not let its close partnership with the Syrian leadership to be shaken by the uprising or external foes.

    "Iran will not allow the axis of resistance, of which it considers Syria to be an essential part, to be broken in any way," Syrian television quoted Jalili as saying.

    The "axis of resistance" refers to Shiite Iran's anti-Israel alliance with Syria's rulers - from the Alawite faith which is an offshoot of Shiite Islam - and the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which fought a month-long war with Israel in 2006, with Iranian and Syrian support. 

    Damascus and Tehran have held Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab states and Turkey, all allies of the United States and European powers, responsible for the bloodshed in Syria by supporting the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim rebels. Western powers sympathetic to the rebels are concerned that anti-Western Sunni Islamists could benefit from a victory for the anti-Assad forces. 

    Iran's Fars news agency said Jalili told Assad that Iran was prepared to provide humanitarian aid to Syria. 

    As estimated 18,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, as rebels battle government forces in an attempt to wrest control from the Assad family's four-decade grip on power.

    Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com

    On a fence-mending visit to Turkey, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he wanted to work with Ankara to resolve the crisis. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan described as "worrying" a comment on Monday by Tehran's top general, who blamed Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar for bloodshed in Syria. 

    Iran has expressed fears for more than 40 Iranians it says are religious pilgrims kidnapped by rebels from a bus in Damascus while visiting Shiite shrines. Salehi wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon seeking his help to free them. 

    Rebels say they suspect the captives were troops sent to help Assad. A rebel spokesman in the Damascus area said on Monday three of the Iranians had been killed by government shelling. He initially said the rest would be executed if the shelling did not stop but later said they were being questioned. 

    At least 262 al-Qaida militants are now operating in the border area between Turkey and Syria and rebels say another group of fighters are living in a tented camp just outside Aleppo, Syria's largest city. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    Fighting rages in Aleppo
    On Tuesday, rebels trying to fight off an army offensive in Aleppo said they were running low on ammunition as government forces encircled their stronghold at the southern entrance to the country's biggest city.

    Assad has reinforced his troops in preparation for an assault to recapture rebel-held districts of Aleppo after repelling fighters from most of Damascus.

    Related: Official: Syria PM defects to anti-Assad opposition

    "The Syrian army is trying to encircle us from two sides of Salaheddine," said Sheikh Tawfiq, one of the rebel commanders, referring to the southwestern neighborhood which has seen heavy fighting over the last week.

    Mortar fire and tank shells exploded across the district early Tuesday, forcing rebel fighters to take cover in crumbling buildings and rubble-strewn alleyways.

    Complete international coverage on NBCNews.com

    Tanks have entered parts of Salaheddine and army snipers, using the cover of heavy bombardment, deployed on rooftops, hindering rebel movements.

    Slideshow: Behind Syrian rebel lines

    Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.

    Launch slideshow

    Another rebel commander, Abu Ali, said snipers at the main Saleheddine roundabout were preventing the rebels from bringing in reinforcements and supplies. He said five of his fighters were killed on Monday and 20 wounded.

    But rebels said they were still holding the main streets of Salaheddine which have been the frontline of their clashes with Assad's forces.

    Journalist: British militants took me hostage in Syria

    A fighter jet pounded targets in the eastern districts of Aleppo and artillery shelling could be heard in the early morning, an activist in Aleppo said.

    "Two families, about 14 people in total, were believed killed when a shell hit their home and it collapsed this morning," the activist said. The house was one street away from a school being used by rebels, he said.

    Reuters, The Associated Press and NBC News' staff contributed to this report.

    More world stories from NBC News:

  • Mandela's 'Rainbow Nation' determined to succeed

    On Wednesday, Nelson Mandela celebrated his 94th birthday, another remarkable accomplishment after enduring so much in the name of freedom. Two decades after the end of apartheid in South Africa the divide between the rich and poor is still strikingly visible, but today's young adults have great hopes for the future. NBC's Ron Allen reports.

    By Ron Allen, NBC News  

    The anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela has pretty much completely withdrawn from public life. His health is a matter of constant speculation, rumor and mostly worry. There have been a couple of scares in recent years.  But on Wednesday, he celebrated his 94th birthday, in a country where life expectancy is just 52: the latest remarkable accomplishment in one of the most remarkable lives of our times.

    We traveled to South Africa in late February for NBC News. There was word Mandela had been taken to the hospital, but not much detail beyond that.  Turned out it was what doctors described as a minimally invasive procedure for an enduring stomach ailment. You could almost feel the world let out a big sigh of relief.

     

    The trip gave me a chance to explore a place I rarely visit.  It’s long been one of my favorite countries to explore: inspiring, intriguing, and one of the most beautiful places you’ll ever see. 

    South Africa's transformation

    My first trip was almost 20 years ago, back in 1993. Apartheid was ending and soon segregation would no longer be mandated by law. I wanted to witness for myself what was left of such an incredible and notorious system of oppression.  Mandela was about to complete the journey from prisoner to president.  Fully democratic elections were about to happen. I’ll never forget that first morning when all South Africans were allowed to vote. The lines stretched for what seemed like miles into the morning haze. The “Rainbow Nation” was being born.

    South Africa has come a very long way during the past couple of decades. But it certainly still has a long way to go. It is the largest economy in Africa, but not among the fastest growing on a continent talked about by economists as the next Asia, with many of the world’s top 10 fastest economies. About a third of South Africa’s 50 million people still live in poverty. Unemployment is about 25 percent, and double that for the black population, especially young people.   

    We were especially curious about the so-called “Born Free” generation. Young people born since the early 1990s and the end of apartheid. Those born since Mandela became president are now young adults.  And they’re testing Mandela’s dream of equal opportunity for all against their own dreams. 

    “The world is my stage. I can express myself the way I want to and have no limits,” said Tiisetso Lepelle, 17, a student from Wordsworth High School. She and her classmates were visiting Constitution Hill, near Johannesburg: a museum, court, and cultural center located in what used to be a prison notorious for its treatment of political prisoners.

    'It's about me, and what I want'

    Constitution Hill tells the story of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. But the next chapter of that story is all about Tiisetso and her classmates' generation. Many of them have expectations and a sense of optimism their parents, or even their older siblings, never dreamed of.

    We asked what matters most in her country.  “It’s not about color. It’s about me, and what I want,” she said with confidence.

    Over at Wits University in Johannesburg, we found a different take on things.

    “I think there’s still a lot of racial tension,” said Alex Willis, an 18-year-old woman from a mixed race family. “I think that our children’s children, or our children’s children’s children might kind of get to see the day where that’s not an issue,” she added.  Alex, who is Caucasian and Indian, told us she doesn’t see a lot of mixing of people of various backgrounds and she sometimes feels like the odd person out.

    NBC's Ron Allen asked three students from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg for their impressions of South Africa's past  -- and if they feel  positive about their own futures.  

    Interestingly, her 20-year-old white classmate Michael Jordan, who she’s dating, saw things differently. 

    "I think apartheid was terrible and I think we’re going to have the scars of those wounds for a long time," he speculated. "I think the majority of our attitude is, 'Let’s not dwell on the past because by doing that you can only stumble, you know, if you keep looking backward.'"   

    South Africa is still a complicated and evolving society where race plays an enduring role in who gets what. For the most part, black South Africans control the government while whites control the country’s wealth and business.  It’s a stark divide that’s still so strikingly visible.  Whites live in the suburbs lined with high walls protesting their homes. Blacks live with much less. But there’s a small emerging black middle class: we saw one bustling shopping mall in the township of Soweto that could have been a small urban center with a large minority community in the U.S.  

    And that’s what so many of the “Born Free” generation who we met aspired to, and more importantly expected, in their lives: success and self-determination. As they become adults and set out to make their mark on their country and the world, they’re determined not to let South Africa’s history hold them back.

     

  • 'We love you father': South Africans celebrate Nelson Mandela's 94th birthday

    Stephane De Sakutin / AFP - Getty Images

    School children sing happy birthday to former South African President Nelson Mandela as he turned 94 on July 18, 2012, at Batsogile Primary School in Soweto.

    Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

    Lutho Makhalima, right, reads a book to Nobantu Mbhokodi as part of a 'Mandela Day' campaign asking people to volunteer their time for good causes, in Qunu on July 18, 2012.

    Stephane De Sakutin / AFP - Getty Images

    Schoolchildren sing happy birthday to Mandela -- popularly known as Madiba -- at Batsogile Primary School in Soweto.

    South Africa's 12 million schoolchildren began their day with a special 94th birthday song for former president Nelson Mandela, ringing with the line: "We love you father".

    Special events are being held across the country in what has become known as "Mandela Day". The former leader's birthday is used for a campaign that aims to inspire individuals to take action to help change the world for the better by asking people to give 67 minutes of their time painting schools, planting trees, visiting orphanages and old age homes to honour Mandela's 67 years of political activism.

    The Sowetan newspaper reported that Mandela would be celebrating his birthday over lunch with his family, with the menu likely to include his favorite meal of samp and tripe.

    -- Agence France Presse and Reuters contributed to this post

    Mandela's rainbow nation determined to succeed

    Video: 'Born free' generation carves new path in South Africa

    Video: Nelson Mandela's journey to freedom

    Schalk Van Zuydam / AP

    Nelson Mandela is pictured on his birthday in his home village of Qunu on July 18, 2012.

    Schalk Van Zuydam / AP

    A woman carrying oranges on her head walks to a party in honor of Nelson Mandela in Mvezo, South Africa, on July 18, 2012.

    Schalk Van Zuydam / AP

    Children put on clothes that were given to them during a celebration for Mandela's birthday in Mvezo on July 18, 2012. Across the country, and even abroad, people are doing good deeds to honor the country's most famous statesman on his 94th birthday.

    Peter Morey / Reuters

    Former U.S. President Bill Clinton visits Mandela at his home in Qunu on July 17, 2012, the day before Mandela's 94th birthday.

    Slideshow: Nelson Mandela: A revolutionary's life

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    View images of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who went from anti-apartheid activist to prisoner to South Africa's first black president.

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  • 'Spies? Why? Tell me in 20 seconds'

    Kate Snow writes: "Spies?"

    "Spies? Why? Tell me in 20 seconds."

    That's the conversation I just walked in on at the Nightly News desk.

    It's just a piece of the ongoing conversation we have on a day like this.

    This happens to be a particularly busy holiday Friday for us. Meaning, we have way too many stories to fit in our half hour broadcast.

    And so the conversation about spies...and the jobs numbers...and the oil spill...and the mea culpa from Apple about the iPhone 4...and LeBron James...and this great moment we heard about in Afghanistan...and Brazil's loss in the World Cup.

    Somehow we'll fit most of it in for you.

    And we'll preserve some time too for my favorite story of the day. It's about a bunch of kids who live and breathe soccer in South Africa, and how a new pair of cleats can change their world. I promise you'll want to see it.

    I thank Brian for letting me sit at his desk again and I thank you for tuning in tonight.

    Have a wonderful Independence Day weekend!