Chatter: Meet Edward Snowden, the world’s latest whistleblower

NEED TO KNOW

Move over, Bradley Manning, there's a new whistleblower in town. The name on everyone's lips – and possibly the Justice Department's most-wanted list — is Edward Snowden. He's the guy who, by his own admission, leaked details of the National Security Agency's large-scale surveillance programs to international media and reignited the debate over who the US government should and shouldn't have the power to spy on.

Snowdon has since fled to Hong Kong, hoping that the Chinese territory's government – and ultimately, Beijing — will allow him to go on to somewhere nice and liberal and pro-internet-y, like Iceland. He might be foolish; he might just be very, very shrewd.

WANT TO KNOW

"Serious but stable." That's the South Africa government's latest word on the health of Nelson Mandela, who has spent his third night in hospital with recurring lung problems. The former president's family have flown in from all corners of the world to be by his side – along with the usual gaggle of press that gathers whenever the 94-year-old is hospitalized.

This time, however, South Africans seem ready to resign themselves to the inevitable. As one front-page headline advised: "It's time to let him go."

The Godfather, part 4. Was Silvio Berlusconi's rise to power founded a secret deal with the Mafia? That explosive question is at the center of a trial under way in Italy that will investigate judge whether leading politicians and police officials negotiated with Sicilian Mafia bosses to end a wave of bombings in the early 1990s in return for favors.

Although Berlusconi isn't on trial, some believe the billionaire benefited from the actions of his associates by taking power after the attacks and a series of corruption scandals brought down the old political establishment. GlobalPost reports on the "original sin" that some claim underpinned the ex-prime minister's rule.

STRANGE BUT TRUE

Thanks heavens for little moose (meese?). Today's moment of awww comes courtesy of fisherwoman Karen Sciascia, who sucessfully rescued a baby moose from a Montana river when it was swept into a powerful current. Sciascia ferried the calf to the opposite bank, where it was rejoined by its mother.

And that's it. No politics, no metadata mining, just your classic tale of fisherwoman-saves-drowning-moose-baby. Enjoy.