US has special crack squad in place to secure Pak nukes at short notice

October 10th, 2009 MELBOURNE - The New South Wales Police has set up a special strike force to investigate the death of Indian businessman Pradeep Kumar who disappeared from Mildura three weeks ago. Police declared on Friday that the death of Kumar, whose body was found four days ago over the border in NSW, was suspicious.

October 5th, 2009 PHNOM PENH - A police officer, who was less than a week into his post in Cambodia's anti-drugs squad, has been arrested after police found 10 kg of heroin stashed at his home in the capital, national media reported Monday. The raid on the house of Bun Pov, a first lieutenant in t he anti-drugs squad, also uncovered two kilogrammes of methamphetamines as well as large quantities of chemicals used to process and make drugs.

July 30th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan chief selector Iqbal Qasim has asked Shoaib Akhtar to prove his match fitness to regain his place in the national squad. Talking to media persons at the Gaddafi Stadium here, Qasim said: "A fit Shoaib was an asset for Pakistan team." Commenting on former captain Wasim Akram's statements in which he had described Akhtar as a 'spent force', Qasim said Akram's views were his personal thinking and that there is still a lot of cricket left in the Rawalpindi Express.

July 11th, 2009 JERUSALEM - The Israeli Defence Force is considering allowing the Palestinians to establish a specially trained counter-terror squad, qualified to carry out pinpoint operations against Hamas terrorist cells in the West Bank. Such a force would be able to carry out special operations against Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank more effectively than the existing Palestinian security forces.

May 30th, 2009 LAHORE - Dismissing America's fears about Pakistan nukes falling into the Taliban's hands, the Pakistan Army has asked the United States to focus more on the weapons that the allied forces have lost in the war against terror in Afghanistan. In an interview to a private television channel, the ISPR spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said that a large quantity of the arms and ammunition being used by the Taliban in the country are coming from Afghanistan, and the United States should pay attention to this rather than expressing concerns over the safety of Pakistan's nuclear assets.

May 29th, 2009 LAHORE - Dismissing global fears about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into the Taliban's hand's, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the nuclear command and control system is in safe custody. Asserting that the country's nukes are far more secure than that of any other country in the world,Sharif told participants at a Yaum-e-Takbeer function, that successive dictatorial regimes were to blame for the present chaos in the country.

May 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan has said that it is ready to phase out its nuclear weapons if India too agrees to do the same. Terming Pakistan's nuclear arsenal as a 'deterrent' against India, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, Hussain Haqqani said Islamabad is willing to ink an accord with New Delhi in order to destroy the nukes possessed by the two neighboring countries.

May 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States is ready to take emergency action to prevent Pakistan's nuclear arsenals falling into the hands of the Taliban. he United States said that while it is comfortable with the protocols that the Pakistani military has in place to ensure nuclear arsenal security, it also has a contingency plan to thwart challenges from the Taliban.

May 19th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's military establishment and the Foreign Ministry have rule out the possibility of a capture of the country's nuclear arsenal by US forces. The US media recently claimed that a US special squad, specifically trained to secure Pakistan's nuclear assets, is in Afghanistan and waiting a green signal from President Barack Obama to launch its operation inside Pakistan to complete the mission.

May 19th, 2009 LOS ANGELES - CIA Director Leon Panetta has said the United States does not know the location of all of Pakistan's nuclear weapons, but is confident the country has them secure. Panetta spoke days after the top US military officer told Congress that there is evidence of Pakistan adding to its nuclear weapons systems and warheads.

May 19th, 2009 LAHORE - US journalist Seymour Hersh has contradicted news reports being published in South Asia that quote him as saying a "special death squad" created by former US vice president Dick Cheney had killed Benazir Bhutto. The award-winning journalist described as "complete madness" the reports that the squad headed by General Stanley McChrystal, the new commander of US Army in Afghanistan, had also killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafique Al Hariri and a Lebanese Army Chief.

May 7th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday rubbished reports that Islamabad has shared information about its nukes with US authorities. Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters here that information about Pakistan's nukes is sacrosanct and could not be shared with any other country.

April 16th, 2009 LONDON - Former England batsman Ian Bell has said that it hurts that he is not in the national squad, and has answered his critics by smashing an unbeaten 84 for Warwickshire yesterday. According to The Sun, the batsman had not played competitively for two months after losing his England place to Middlesex's Owais Shah.

April 12th, 2009 LONDON - England are all set to formally appoint former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower as their head cricket coach this week. Flower, who is the currently the interim coach of the team after Peter Moores stepped down last week, has been interviewed by a panel chaired by Hugh Morris, the managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

December 24th, 2008 LONDON - Former England captain Michael Vaughan can make a comeback to the Test side for the West Indian tour, with coach Peter Moores in favour of his return. Vaughan stepped down from captaincy in August and has since not played international cricket.