America unveils the criminal case against the man who revealed its broad eavesdropping and spying program; Brazil’s President will address the nation after days of unrest; And the death toll from incredible flooding in North India grows.

The US is charging whistleblower Edward Snowden with espionage, theft, and conversion of government property.  America is asking Hong Kong to detain Snowden and extradite him.  Snowden is seeking political asylum in Iceland, but he can only apply for it once he’s actually in the country.

Britain’s online eavesdropping operation is by far the biggest of any of “The Five Eyes”, the name given to the five Anglophone allies composed of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, who form an espionage alliance.  In the latest revelation from UK’s The Guardian Newspaper from the information that Edward Snowden released, the Brits are tapped into the world’s network of fiber-optic cables, with more than 500 analysts from UK and US monitoring the data.  Yep, someone’s looking, so behave yourselves! 

 “The Age” is calling on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to resign before the 14 September election, in the interests of her party and the nation.  A scathing editorial says the voters have stopped listening to her, and the PM is unable to sell Labor’s ambitious reforms.  The Age says Kevin Russ is an imperfect leader, but should be given a chance to lead again.

Parks Victoria has do to something about the rising population of wild horses in the Victorian Alps, but one thing isn’t up for discussion:  Hunting and shooting the Brumbies.  They’re a little rough on the environment, with big appetites for wild plants, and hooves that wear down the soil.  But the Parks’ advisory group will consider plans for the “live removal” of horses for saleyards (eek), a knackery (double eek), or (best idea) to individuals who will treat them right.

Nelson Mandela might return home soon.  The 94-year-old has been in hospital for two weeks with a lung infection, but has steadily made progress.  The former South African President and ex-political prisoner’s 95th birthday is 18 July.

More than one thousand people are believed dead in devastating flooding in Northern India, caused by the early arrival of the monsoons.  Soldiers are fanning out, trying to locate Hindu pilgrims and tourists, tens of thousands of whom are still stranded.  The charity Action Aid says 5,000 people are missing in the state of Uttarakhand.  Beyond the human tragedy, a state agriculture minister says it will take at least 5 years for farms and infrastructure to recover from the floods.

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff will address the nation regarding the widespread unrest that saw at least one million people in the streets of the major cities yesterday.  It started as protests over a bus fair hike, since rescinded, but pulled the wraps off of simmering dissatisfaction over the government’s pouring billions of dollars to host the World Cup and the Olympics, while schools, hospitals, and infrastructure crumble before peoples’ eyes.  There are superlatives floating about the world media, and there are broken windows and the token car-burning here and there, and one person was killed.  But that’s out of 1,000,000+ protesters. It really seems to be the cops causing the confrontations.

Turkey’s bid to join the European Union is in danger, following the ugly government crackdown on protests against autocratic Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized the crackdown as “too harsh”, drawing a rebuke from Turkey’s ambassador claiming Merkel was just looking for “internal political material” ahead of Germany's September elections.  Criticising the most popular member is not the way to join a club.  Germany has summoned the Turkish Ambassador to explain himself. 

Where did the Syrian Rebels get new weapons?  A spokesman for the “Free Syrian Army” says new weaponry is being distributed on the front lines, gear that could lead to “changes” in that country’s civil war.  But the spokesman says it didn’t come from the US, which announced last week it would provide the rebels with direct military aid.  This comes out a day before the meeting of the “Friends of Syria” group, made up of the countries that want to topple President Bashar al-Assad: The US, UK, France and Germany as well as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan.