Pak raises 25,000-strong force to protect nukes
Islamabad, June 22
Pakistan has raised a 25,000-strong special force and put in place extensive measures to protect and manage its strategic assets, including its nuclear arsenal, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said today.

Washington, June 22
Edward Snowden, a former private contractor with the CIA who leaked details of America's controversial secret surveillance programme, has been charged with espionage and stealing government property.

According to a federal complaint filed last week in the US District Court of Virginia, but unsealed yesterday, Snowden has been charged with espionage, theft of government data and conveying classified information to unauthorised person.

Snowden (29), who has already been fired by his employer Booz Allen, has fled to Hong Kong, but his current whereabouts are not known.

The United States has asked the government of Hong Kong to arrest him, a media report said.

If extradited to the United States and convicted in the court of law, he faces 10 years of imprisonment on each of these charges.

The documents leaked by Snowden, first published in The Guardian and The Washington Post, revealed details of the secretive programme of the US' National Security Agency (NSA) about getting access to phone records of millions of Americans and getting Internet usage details of suspected foreign terrorists.

His leak of agency documents has set off a national debate over the proper limits of government surveillance. US intelligence officials have said his disclosures have done serious damage to national security by giving terrorists and others information on how to evade the intelligence net.

The Obama administration has defended the programme arguing that this has helped foil more than 50 terrorist plots in 20 countries, which is understood to include India.

However, this has created an outrage among a number of countries which have strongly raised the issue with the United States.

The charges against Snowden are the seventh case under President Barack Obama in which a government official has been criminally charged with leaking classified information to the news media. — PTI

Brasilia, June 22
Embattled president Dilma Rousseff has admitted in a televised address that Brazil can do better and pledged to do more to fight corruption, a day after more than a million people marched to demand better living conditions.

"We can do many things a lot better in Brazil," said Rousseff yesterday, the day after the protesters demanded cheaper transport and more investment in education and healthcare as well as a tougher fight against endemic corruption. "People have a right to criticise," Rousseff said, adding that she would staunchly defend that right.

Rousseff, who promised to meet with the leaders of peaceful demonstrations as well as workers and community leaders, said: "I am the president of all Brazil -- of those who support the demonstration and those who do not." Reaching out to those who feel the government should direct more money to public services rather than on hosting sporting events, she insisted that "football and sport are symbols of peace and peaceful coexistence". — AFP

Doha, June 22
Foreign ministers of countries supporting the Syrian opposition today agreed to provide it "urgently" with materiel to support rebels in their fight against regime forces, a final statement said.

The ministers agreed to "provide urgently all the necessary materiel and equipment to the opposition on the ground, each country in its own way in order to enable them to counter brutal attacks by the regime and its allies and protect the Syrian people," it said.

The ministers agreed "to channel all military support by the relevant countries through the Staff Chairmanship of the Syrian Supreme Military Council," the statement said.

They also agreed that the crossing into the Syrian territory of militia and fighters that support the regime, a clear reference to Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, "must be prevented".

Ministers from Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States attended the talks.

They agreed "to pursue all appropriate avenues in the UN to support and protect the Syrian people". — AFP

Islamabad, June 22
Pakistan has raised a 25,000-strong special force and put in place extensive measures to protect and manage its strategic assets, including its nuclear arsenal, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said today.

"A special security force of 25,000 personnel, who have been specially trained and provided sophisticated weapons, has been deployed to protect (the nuclear assets)," Dar said, while winding up the debate on the 2013-14 Budget in the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament.

Pakistan has raised a special response force, a special escort force and a marine force to protect and guard its strategic assets, he said without giving details.

Besides, there are also counter-intelligence teams and a "personnel reliability programme" to oversee the strategic programme, he said.

The 25,000-strong security force has been equipped with the latest equipment and the personnel are fully prepared for "mobility on the ground or in the air", he said.

The Strategic Plans Division, which manages the nuclear arsenal, has set up a training academy for the security force, Dar said.

The security force was always prepared and it trained for all conditions and eventualities on the basis of past experiences and potential scenarios involving the strategic assets, he said.

The system for identifying dangers is always at high alert and is constantly being reviewed, Dar said. —PTI

Calgary, June 22
At least three persons were killed by floodwaters that devastated much of southern Alberta, leading the authorities to evacuate the western Canadian city of Calgary's entire downtown. Inside the city's hockey arena, the waters reached as high as the 10th row.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday called the level of flooding "stunning" and said officials don't know yet if it will get worse, but said the water has peaked and stabilised.

Overflowing rivers washed out roads and bridges, soaked homes and turned streets into dirt-brown waterways around southern Alberta. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt Patricia Neely told reporters three persons were dead . Twenty-five neighbourhoods in the city, with an estimated 75,000 residents, were evacuated due to floodwaters in Calgary, a city of more than a million people. — AP

Mt Fuji gets Heritage tag
Phnom Penh: Japan's Mount Fuji, known for its perfectly cone-shaped volcano, was on Saturday granted World Heritage status, UNESCO said. Fujisan, the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 metres, is one of the country's most recognisable sights. — PTI

James Comey is FBI Director
Washington DC: James Comey, a former Bush administration official who once opposed illegal wiretapping, has been nominated by US President Barack Obama as the new head of the FBI amid a national debate over the government's secret surveillance programme. — PTI

Afghan peace talks
Washington DC: With President Hamid Karzai threatening to pull out Afghanistan from reconciliation process, the US has said the main dialogue in the peace talks would be between the han govt and the Taliban and it would have separate talks with the outfit only on some issues. — PTI

Mandela’s ambulance
Johannesburg: The military ambulance that rushed Nelson Mandela to hospital two weeks ago broke down, but the unforeseen incident did not endanger the 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon who remains in a serious but stable condition. — PTI