1. German intelligence ‘spied on allies’

    New snooping* targets by the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) have been revealed by Der Spiegel — this time it’s the U.S. State Department and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in the crosshairs*.

    The list of the German foreign intelligence agency’s targets published by the German magazine on Sunday also lists the U.K. Ministry of Defense, NASA and the U.S. Air Force.

    German espionage* programs reportedly targeted some departments of Austria and Belgium’s interior ministries, as well as at least two subdivisions of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. and Eurocopter.

    2. 30 killed in Azerbaijan, Armenia clash

    Fierce clashes left at least 30 Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers dead on Saturday, prompting Russia and the West to call for an immediate cease-fire after a bloody escalation* over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.

    Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian said 18 Armenian troops were killed and some 35 wounded in the “largest-scale hostilities” since a 1994 truce ended a war in which Armenian-backed fighters seized the territory from Azerbaijan.

    Sarkisian did not specify if the troops were from the forces of unrecognized Karabakh — which claims independence but is backed by Yerevan — or Armenia’s army.

    3. Zuma urged to resign

    An anti-apartheid* ac-tivist jailed alongside Nelson Mandela called on Jacob Zuma to step down, adding pressure on South Africa’s president to quit after a court ruled he acted dishonestly over improper state spending at his private home.

    “Dear Comrade President, don’t you think your continued stay as president will only serve to deepen the crisis of confidence in the government of the country?” anti-apartheid veteran, Ahmed Kathrada, said in a letter published on Saturday.

    4. India overpass collapse kills at least 14

    An overpass under construction in the bustling Indian city of Kolkata collapsed onto moving traffic below, killing at least 14 people with as many as 150 people feared trapped*, police said on Thursday.

    Residents were using their bare hands to try to rescue people pinned* under a 100-meter length of metal and cement that snapped off at one end and came crashing down in a teeming* commercial district near Girish Park.

    “Monumental* tragedy. Rescue ops on. Many feared dead,” Derek O’Brien, spokesman for the left-wing party that governs the state of West Bengal of which Kolkata is the capital, said in a tweet.

    5. Qatar accused of abusing workers

    Workers in Qatar renovating a 2022 World Cup stadium have suffered human rights abuses two years after the tournament’s organizers drafted worker welfare standards in the wake of criticism, Amnesty International said.

    Dozens of construction workers from Nepal and India were charged recruitment fees by agents in their home countries, housed in squalid* accommodation and barred* from leaving the country by employers in Qatar who confiscated their passports, Amnesty said in a report released on Thursday.

    6. Brazil’s biggest party abandons president

    BRAZIL’S largest party abandoned President Dilma Rousseff’s governing coalition* on March 22, making it tougher for her to survive mounting pressure in Congress for her impeachment*.

    The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, known as the PMDB, said after a meeting that six Cabinet ministers belonging to the party as well as some 600 federal government employees who are members must step down. The announcement was made after more than 100 lawmakers approved the decision, according to the press office of Romero Juca, an influential senator.(SD-Agencies)