WikiLeaks news compilation

[Cigar Guy]

WikiLeaks: Anwar plans to sue Dr Mahathir, media


Published: Tuesday December 14, 2010 MYT 7:18:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday December 14, 2010 MYT 7:19:32 PM

WikiLeaks: Anwar plans to sue Dr Mahathir, media

KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will file a suit against former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his comments on the WikiLeaks cable controversy.

When contacted Tuesday, Anwar's lawyer Sankara Nair confirmed that Anwar would be filing a suit against Dr Mahathir and that they were still gathering further information for "possible suits against several other individuals and certain newspapers.

"There are no further details at the moment. "We are checking the authenticity of The Sun-Herald story which was published in Australia as our initial investigations show that their story was not based on any WikiLeaks story," he said Tuesday.

When asked if Anwar would also be filing a suit against Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, he replied: "Until now, there have been no instructions from my client to sue Lee Kuan Yew." However, he added that he was checking on certain facts in Australia, and would then advice his client accordingly.

He also said that they had contacted the Singaporean Deputy High Commissioner, and were still awaiting a response. "I will be writing in officially tomorrow (Wednesday) asking for a response," he said.

 

[Cigar Guy]

Tuesday December 14, 2010

Singapore’s disdain exposed

By Mergawati Zulfakar

‘Stupid’, ‘losers’ and ‘corrupt’ are some of the damning assessments by Singapore diplomats of their close Asian neighbours. For many Malaysians, it comes as no surprise that is how Singapore sees the rest of the region.

SINGAPORE’S most senior Foreign Ministry official Bilahari Kausikan is heading for Kuala Lumpur on Dec 22 as a leader of a delegation to discuss KTM Berhad’s land swap deal in Singapore agreed in May by the Prime Ministers of the two countries.

This is the fifth round and possibly the last meeting of the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Implementation Team (MSJIT) between officials of both countries, each side with about 20 people representing various ministries and agencies.

After the last meeting two weeks ago, a short one-paragraph joint statement was issued describing the meeting as one held in a cordial atmosphere. Come Dec 22, the atmosphere will definitely be awkward, at least to some officials.

Simple analogy – imagine sitting with someone that you know who has been bad-mouthing you to others. How would you feel? Now, how about sitting down to a meeting with the very man who claimed, among others, that Malaysia was “confused and dangerous, fuelled by the distinct possibility of racial conflict”?

Not only that, Kausikan said back in September 2008 that “a lack of competent leadership is a real problem for Malaysia”. Courtesy of WikiLeaks and not exactly denied by his boss, Foreign Minister George Yeo, Kausikan’s remarks are riling up officials in Putrajaya.

“His remarks are crude and smack of arrogance. It is not just what he has said but how he said it. It shows his sentiment for us. “Every time there is an MSJIT meeting, the host country will host lunch and dinner. It is going to be an awkward situation for us, said one government official.

Kausikan’s predecessor Peter Ho has also made damaging remarks on Malaysia, along with the ministry’s ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh whose views of Japan and India were damaging. “Fat losers, stupid, bad leadership” are some adjectives that had been used by Singaporean diplomats to describe their neighbours.

Yeo, in an immediate attempt to play down reports, defended his officials, saying their comments were taken out of context and were interpretations of views reflected by American officials. The comments, which Yeo described as “cocktail talk”, were confidential and should not have been released.

Yeo said his ministry would not check the veracity of the remarks, nor comment on what could have gone on in an informal and confidential setting. It is normal for diplomats to get information from others during cocktails. What is surprising, though, is that the information gathered from the Singaporeans merit attention from the Americans.

“I am sure how it was said by the Singapore diplomats and the sentiment that it merits attention,” said an official. For those who have dealt with Singapore, nothing has changed. The general feeling among officials is that their Singapore counterparts do have condescending traits.

WikiLeaks exposés in the past weeks have caused embarrassment to diplomats and government officials around the world. This week, it is Singapore’s turn. There are thousands of documents yet to be made public by WikiLeaks and who knows if Malaysia would be next, as we are never short of politicians who may not be able to keep their mouths shut.

As Yeo said, he did not think relations with the countries will be affected. True, but as the closest neighbour with supposedly warm ties, Singapore would do well to show some kind of regret over the remarks made by its officials.

If it had been Singapore at the end of the stick, they would not stop until they get what they want. No doubt, Malaysia will now need to be more alert when dealing with Singapore. During next week’s meeting, officials will need to remain professional when they meet Kausikan.

They have to stick to the agenda as there are objectives to be met since the leaders have given officials until end of the year to iron out details of the KTM land swap deal and other related projects. The days of being emotional are long gone. It is time to think strategically for the long term and best interest of Malaysia.

 

[Cigar Guy]

U.S. Air Force blocks NYT, Guardian over WikiLeaks


Wednesday December 15, 2010

U.S. Air Force blocks NYT, Guardian over WikiLeaks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force has blocked employees from visiting media websites carrying leaked WikiLeaks documents, including the New York Times and the Guardian.

Major Toni Tones, a spokeswoman at Air Force Space Command in Colorado, said it had blocked employees whose computers are connected to the Air Force network from accessing at least 25 websites that have posted WikiLeaks documents.

<table align="right" width="20%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td>

</td></tr><tr><td>Wikileaks founder Julian Assange holds up a copy of the Guardian newspaper during a press conference at the Frontline Club in central London, July 26, 2010. (REUTERS/Andrew Winning/Files)
</td></tr></tbody></table> The Air Force "routinely blocks Air Force network access to websites hosting inappropriate materials or malware (malicious software) and this includes any website that hosts classified materials and those that are released by WikiLeaks," she said.

The U.S. government is seeking to minimize the damage from WikiLeak's release of 250,000 State Department cables through some media outlets and on its own website.

The cables released last month, which reveal blunt, sometimes derisive depictions of foreign governments and leaders, have been an embarrassment for Washington.

"It is unfortunate that the U.S. Air Force has chosen not to allow its personnel access to information that virtually everyone else in the world can access." New York Times spokesman Robert Christie said in a statement. A representative from the Guardian was not immediately available for comment.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the block. Past releases this year by WikiLeaks, which is a website that publishes leaked documents, contained sensitive information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Washington said compromised national security and put people at risk.

"It seems like a comical, clumsy attempt to deal with a real issue," Ken Doctor, an analyst with Outsell Research who covers the media, said of the Air Force move. "It is almost like something out of Dr. Strangelove." "Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" is a 1964 satirical film about a U.S. Air Force general who ordered a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union.

"It's really putting established publishers into the category of miscreants," said Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for digital journalism at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. The Pentagon had already prohibited its employees from viewing WikiLeaks documents online, but it has not blocked access to websites that post leaked cables.

Pentagon officials have instructed employees they "shouldn't access the WikiLeaks site because the information there is still considered classified," said Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.

(Reporting by Missy Ryan in Washington and Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Chris Wilson)

Copyright © 2010 Reuters

 

[Cigar Guy]

WikiLeaks: Uzbekistan is 'rampantly corrupt'

The former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan has been condemned as riddled with "rampant corruption", "organised crime", and torture, just days after Prince Michael of Kent led the biggest-ever delegation of British businessmen to the capital, Tashkent.


UK police 'developed evidence' against McCann parents

British police helped the Portuguese authorities “develop evidence” against Madeleine McCann’s parents, according to the latest revelations by WikiLeaks.


WikiLeaks: 'Little progress' in tackling Islamists

US diplomatic cables show concern over efforts made by UK to engage with Muslim communities after 7/7 London bombings.


Wikileaks: RBS chairman says directors breached duties

Sir Philip Hampton believes some of his predecessors on the board of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) breached their duties as directors, according to leaked US diplomatic messages.


WikiLeaks hacktivists 'target' Government sites

National security adviser warns about websites holding personal data of British taxpayers.

WikiLeaks founder's online dating profile warns of 'danger'​

An online dating profile created by Julian Assange has been unearthed, disclosing that the WikiLeaks editor sought "spirited, erotic" women "from countries that have sustained political turmoil".

 

[Cigar Guy]

Assange bail hearing in Twitter first

The district judge hearing the bail application from Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, made an unusual form of legal history allowing live updates to be sent from his court on the website Twitter.


Mother of Julian Assange grateful for help 'in his hour of need'

Christine Assange told The Daily Telegraph that she was grateful for the show of support to her son as he fights sex assault claims in Sweden.


Julian Assange prepares for new bail hearing

WikiLeaks founder's legal team are preparing for another court battle as his supporters race to raise the £240,000 bail money.


Assange 'Rock Star of the Year'

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, has been named "Rock Star of the Year" by the Italian edition of Rolling Stone magazine.


WikiLeaks: Julian Assange returns to court

WikiLeaks founder in fresh attempt to get bail over sex offence allegations.


Visa 'instrument of US policy'

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange criticises Visa, MasterCard and PayPal for blocking donations to the whistle-blowing website.

 

[Cigar Guy]

Wikileaks: Swedes 'asked US to keep talks off record’

Exclusive: The secret cables, seen by The Daily Telegraph, disclose how Swedish officials wanted discussions about anti-terrorism operations kept from public scrutiny.

Supporting Assange 'patriotism' says Michael Moore

Supporting Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks website is a "true act of patriotism", according to Michael Moore, the American filmaker.


Wikileaks: Berkeley Council considers naming Bradley Manning a hero

The council in the US city of Berkeley is considering a motion that will proclaim Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking thousands of classified documents to the Wikileaks website, a hero deserving of a medal.


WikiLeaks: celebrities offer to pay Julian Assange's bail

Film directors, authors, journalists and socialites have offered up thousands of pounds from their own pockets to meet the £200,000 security demanded by the court against the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.


Wikileaks: credit card row forces Assange to stay in jail

Julian Assange set to remain behind bars despite being granted bail after his dispute with the world’s biggest credit card companies forced his supporters into the position of trying to raise £200,000 in cash.


Wikileaks: US air force blocks news websites

The US Air Force has blocked computer access to The New York Times and other media sites that published sensitive diplomatic documents released by WikiLeaks.

 

[Cigar Guy]

Assange remains in jail until Swedish appeal

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains in jail after the Swedish authorities appealed against a decision to grant him bail.


WikiLeaks: Twitter follows Assange trial after judge gives 'tweet' permission

Twitter users followed the Julian Assange bail hearing online minute-by-minute after the judge gave journalists permission to ‘tweet’ updates from the courtroom.


WikiLeaks: how the Julian Assange court drama has unfolded

Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, is set to remain behind bars despite being granted bail after his dispute with the world’s biggest credit card companies forced his supporters into the position of trying to raise £200,000 in cash.


Wikileaks: Sweden pursuing 'show trial' over Assange

The Swedish authorities are turning the sexual assault case against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, into a "show trial", his lawyers claimed.


Wikileaks: Assange rape case 'abuse' of law

The case against the Australian was an “abuse of process” and should be dismissed as the chances of securing a conviction were small, City of Westminster Magistrates Court was told.


Vaughan Smith: why WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange can stay with me

Vaughan Smith, the man who has offered sanctuary to Julian Assange, has explained why he opened his doors to the controversial WikiLeaks activist.


WikiLeaks: Julian Assange to swap cell for Frontline club owner's mansion

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is preparing to swap his prison cell for a room in a lavish country retreat owned by Vaughan Smith, the founder of London’s Frontline Club.

 

[Cigar Guy]

Taliban down but not out in Afghanistan's Kandahar

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Foreign and Afghan forces have pushed back the Taliban insurgency in the key Kandahar province battleground but cementing those gains over the coming months will be the next challenge.


Ghana's Mills was concerned about government drugs trade: leak

LONDON (Reuters) - Ghana's president was concerned about drug trafficking and corruption within his own government, Britain's Guardian newspaper said on Wednesday, citing U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.


Assange's UK lawyer says half of bail cash raised

LONDON (Reuters) - A lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Wednesday his backers had raised around half of the 200,000 pounds ($317,400) cash he needs to secure bail after he was accused of sex crimes in Sweden.


UK court to hear Assange bail appeal on Thursday

LONDON (Reuters) - A British court will hear the prosecution appeal against the decision to grant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange bail on Thursday, court officials said on Wednesday.

 

[Cigar Guy]

Thai queen accused of backing 2006 military coup: US cable

Wednesday, 15 December 2010 11:01 Mohideen Mifthah

LONDON, Dec 15, 2010 (AFP) - A former Thai prime minister with close ties to fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra accused the queen of being behind a 2006 coup that ousted his ally, a leaked US diplomatic cable showed.

Samak Sundaravej “showed disdain for Queen Sirikit, claiming that she had been responsible for the 2006 coup d'etat...,” according to the October 2008 memo from the US embassy in Bangkok, obtained by British daily The Guardian from the WikiLeaks website.

“Samak viewed himself as loyal to the King, but implied that the Queen's political agenda differened (sic) from her husband's,” according to the confidential diplomatic note, posted on The Guardian's website.

Queen Sirikit is the wife of Thailand's deeply-revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Any discussion of the royal family is an extremely sensitive topic in the politically turbulent country, where insulting the monarchy is a serious offence punishable by up to 15 years in jail.

Samak took power in Thailand's first elections after the 2006 coup that toppled his ally Thaksin, who lives overseas to avoid a prison term for corruption. The kingdom has been riven by political unrest since the overthrow of Thaksin, whose “Red Shirt” supporters staged mass street protests in Bangkok in April and May that sparked violence which left more than 90 people dead.

Samak spent seven months in office, marked by mass demonstrations staged by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a royalist movement better known as the “Yellow Shirts” -- rivals of the Reds. The colourful right-winger was forced from office in September 2008 for accepting payments for appearing in television cooking shows. He died of liver cancer in November 2009 at the age of 74.

Another US memo, dated November 2008, was critical of the queen's appearance at the funeral of a Yellow Shirt demonstrator killed in clashes with police. “We agree that the Queen's funeral appearance was a significant blunder, jeopardizing the public's perception of the palace's neutrality,” the cable said.

King Bhumibol, the world's longest reigning monarch and widely revered as a demi-god by many Thais, has been hospitalised since September 2009. The 83-year-old monarch has no official political role but is seen as a unifying figure. The US memo quoted a palace insider as saying the king had told the army chief in 2008 not to launch another coup.

 

[Cigar Guy]

John Pilger: WikiLeaks decision 'a glimpse of justice'

Campaigning investigative journalist John Pilger, who has put up a £20,000 surety for Julian Assange, says his bail is a 'glimpse of justice'.


Wikileaks lawyer: 'we expect Assange to be released today'

Mark Stephens celebrates the news that the Wikileaks founder has finally been granted bail.


Julian Assange should never have been denied bail.

The writer Tariq Ali says the Wikileaks founder should have been granted bail in the first place.


Julian Assange's supporters decry prison conditions

Julian Assange's mother, his lawyer Mark Stephens and campaigning journalist John Pilger speak out about the condtions WikiLeaks website founder is being held in.


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange granted bail

Mr Justice Ouseley throws out appeal pending moves to extradite him to Sweden for questioning.


WikiLeaks: Scotland Yard investigates British hackers

Scotland Yard is investigating the role of British hackers in cyber attacks by activists claiming to defend WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing website.


WikiLeaks: doubts over suitability of Thailand's playboy prince

Aides to the elderly King of Thailand have doubts about the suitability of his successor, a playboy crown prince with several mistresses, leaked diplomatic cables show.


Brown 'was terrorist target at Beijing'

Gordon Brown was a potential target of East Turkestan militant groups during 2008 Beijing Olympics, Wikileaks reveals.

 

[Cigar Guy]

Wikileaks: Gordon Brown and David Miliband 'were terrorist targets at Beijing 2008 Olympics'

Gordon Brown, the then UK Prime Minister, and Foreign Secretary David Miliband were potential targets of the East Turkestan militant groups during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, a secret cable from the US embassy indicates.

Target: Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2nd-R) introduces British Olympic golden medal winner Kelly Holmes (2nd-L) to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Jacquelin Magnay, Olympics Editor 3:12PM GMT 15 Dec 2010

A Wikileaks document from the US Embassy in Beijing dated Aug 10, 2008, two days after the opening ceremony, and written by US deputy chef de mission Dan Piccuta, named the two UK VIPs as well as the US President George W Bush and Condoleezza Rice as potential targets based on specific Chinese intelligence received a month earlier.

The document throws the spotlight on the extent of security planning required for the London 2012 Olympic Games. So far around 150 heads of state are expected to attend the London Games opening ceremony.

Earlier this week the Security Minister Baroness Neville-Jones revealed much of the £1.131 billion counter-terrorist budget for 2011 and 2012 would be centred on the Olympics.

According to the 2008 US cable, the Chinese intelligence officer said the al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri had tasked former East Turkestan terrorists to travel to China to conduct terrorist attacks at the Olympics.

Piccuta wrote other potential targets included the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, the cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, Olympic programmes; and VIP tourists.

''The terrorists are apparently bomb-making experts and may carry micro bomb-making material in plastic products, jewelry, and crystal ornaments across the border with them,'' the cable said.

''According to the Chinese intelligence officer, al-Qaeda and East Turkestan terrorist groups would have different targets, with East Turkestan groups primarily targeting Olympic facilities and landmarks and not targeting US VIPs or the US Embassy."

"The same source previously cited information from July indicating a threat to the US and Afghan presidents during the Olympics Opening Ceremony.'' The same cable also revealed that the Beijing Olympics were protected by rings of Infrared screens that sounded alarms when people broke the barriers.

The cable quoted the Beijing Zhongguo Xinwen She, saying more than 400 Infrared poles were installed around the central zone of the Olympic Games, forming an Infrared protective wall at the Birds Nest National Stadium, the Water Cube, and other important Olympic competition venues.

Another wider screen comprising of 2002 Infrared poles surrounded the Olympic athletes village and the main media centre. The cable noted that the security was at its highest levels seen in the general vicinity of the stadium, key hotels and diplomatic areas.

''Chinese SWAT team members have been observed patrolling on every block and Peoples Armed Police (PAP) squads are present at two block intervals along main streets. "In addition, groups of Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers wearing their Olympic sweat suits have congregated at major intersections, where traffic police officers have augmented or replaced regular crossing guards.''

The cable revealed that 12 people had been deported in three incidents of pro-Tibetan protests in Beijing and six protesters removed from the Sha Tin Olympic equestrian venue in Hong Kong over three days from Aug 6 to Aug 9, 2008. Meanwhile, one of the most pressing issues that confronted the Beijing Olympic Games organisers was the International Olympic Committee specifications for the Olympic venues.

In a US diplomatic cable sent in 2007, the Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan was quoted as noting the exacting standards of the International Olympic Committee which meant the sand for the beach volleyball site had be brought all the way from Hainan Island for its purity and softness.

 

[Cigar Guy]

WikiLeaks: Doubts over suitability of Thailand's playboy prince

Aides to the elderly King of Thailand have doubts about the suitability of his successor, a playboy crown prince with several mistresses, leaked diplomatic cables show.

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej (left) waves to the crowds next to Queen Sirikit and Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn (right) Photo: AFP

By Jon Swaine 11:28PM GMT 15 Dec 2010

Members of the Thai Privy Council, which advises King Bhumibol Adulyadej, told the US ambassador to the country of their misgivings about Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, who they consider a liability.

General Prem Tinsulanonda, the head of the privy council, and council members Anand Panyarachun and Air Chief Marshal Siddhi Savetsila told him they wished "other arrangements could be made".

"While asserting that the crown prince will become King, both Siddhi and Anand implied the country would be better off if other arrangements could be made," the cable states.

After asking where the prince was, the ambassador, Eric John, was told: "You know his social life, how he is," according to the memo, written in January this year.

Mr John reported that this was a "presumed reference to Vajiralongkorn's preference to spend time based out of Munich with his main mistress, rather than in Thailand with his wife and son".

One official "noted that the Crown Prince frequently slipped away from Thailand, and that information about his air hostess mistresses was widely available on websites", Mr John said.

The issue of the succession is pressing because the king is 83 years old and unwell. Thai analysts have expressed doubt that his 58-year-old son will be able to hold the divided country together.

Earlier this year 91 people died amid riots by supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister and an ally of the prince, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006.

In a separate cable by Mr John sent in October 2008, Samak Sundaravej, who was Thailand's prime minister for seven months in 2008, alleged that Queen Sirikit encouraged the coup that overthrew Mr Thaksin.

"He showed disdain for Queen Sirikit," John writes, "claiming that she had been responsible for the 2006 coup d'etat as well as the ongoing turmoil generated by PAD [People's Alliance for Democracy] protests."

 

[Cigar Guy]

Factbox: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:38pm EST

(Reuters) - Here are some facts about Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website, who will learn on Thursday whether he will be freed on 200,000 pounds ($317,000) bail in connection with accusations of sex crimes in Sweden.

* PERSONAL LIFE:

-- Assange was born in Townsville, Australia, in July 1971, to parents who were involved in theater and traveled frequently. Assange's mother runs a puppet theater.

-- In his teens, Assange gained a reputation as a sophisticated computer programer.

-- In 1995 he was arrested and pleaded guilty to hacking. He was fined, but avoided prison on condition he did not reoffend.

-- In his late 20s, he went to Melbourne University to study mathematics and physics.

-- Assange has no permanent home and was often seen carrying a rucksack, moving from city to city and staying with friends in countries from Iceland to Kenya.

-- He is described by those he has worked with as highly intelligent, determined, intense and at times paranoid.

-- He is known for being highly secretive. It has been reported that he carries several mobile phones and at one point believed he was being followed.

-- Assange is wanted in Sweden for questioning about allegations of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion and he is fighting attempts to extradite him to Sweden. He has denied any wrongdoing.

-- Assange was granted bail on Tuesday by a British court but prosecutors appealed and he remains in a London jail.

-- Despite Assange's legal problems, WikiLeaks continues to drip feed some of the 250,000 cables it has obtained, working with newspapers around the globe to amplify their impact.

* WIKILEAKS WEBSITE:

-- Assange began WikiLeaks in 2006, creating a web-based "dead letter drop" for would-be leakers.

-- His website has five full-time staff, several dozen active volunteers and 800 part-time volunteers. Assange has said he has received hundreds of documents and does not have enough resources to go through all of them.

-- Assange said he thinks there is still a place for investigative journalism and hoped that WikiLeaks could complement traditional media.

-- He said that WikiLeaks has never compromised a source.

-- Assange is an avid user of social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter and is known for his sometimes sharply worded tweets. WikiLeaks' pages have some 300,000 to 400,000 followers.

Sources: Reuters/WikiLeaks website/BBC

(Reporting by David Cutler in London and Mia Shanley in Stockholm; editing by David Stamp)

 

[Cigar Guy]

Mugabe wife sues over WikiLeaks diamond story

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's wife is demanding $15 million in a lawsuit against a private newspaper for publishing details from U.S. cables on WikiLeaks that said she was involved in illicit diamond trading.


CORRECTED - WikiLeaks cables show graft in Ukraine--Le Monde

(Corrects year of Akimova's election: 2007, not 2010)

PARIS Dec 16 (Reuters) - U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks quote a Ukrainian lawmaker as saying that under former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko 70 percent of government spending was allocated without tenders, French daily Le Monde reported.


BP had gas blowout in 2008: WikiLeaks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables reveal BP suffered a blowout on an Azerbaijan gas platform in September 2008 and was fortunate to evacuate workers safely after a blast that preceded the one that killed 11 workers in the Gulf of Mexico in April, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported.

Other cables leaked by the website WikiLeaks claim Azerbaijan's president accused BP of stealing oil from his country and using "mild blackmail" to secure rights to develop vast gas reserves in the Caspian Sea region, the Guardian said.


U.S. seeks to build WikiLeaks conspiracy case: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors are looking for any evidence WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange conspired with a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking classified government documents, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

 

[Watchman]

Re: WikiLeaks: Anwar plans to sue Dr Mahathir, media

UK, not Sweden, behind efforts to keep Assange in jail: report

Daniel Tencer
Raw Story
Dec 16, 2010

Assange’s lawyers say they were lied to on effort to prevent bail
Human Rights Watch: Don’t prosecute Assange over cables
British prosecutors, rather than Swedish officials, are behind the effort to keep WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from being granted bail, the Guardian reports.
Assange was granted bail by a London judge on Tuesday, but remained in custody reportedly because of plans by Swedish prosecutors to appeal the decision.
“But today the Swedish prosecutor’s office told the Guardian it had ‘not got a view at all on bail’ and that Britain had made the decision to oppose bail,” the newspaper reported.
“The decision was made by the British prosecutor,” Swedish prosecution service spokeswoman Karin Rosander said. “I got it confirmed by the CPS this morning that the decision to appeal the granting of bail was entirely a matter for the CPS. The Swedish prosecutors are not entitled to make decisions within Britain. It is entirely up to the British authorities to handle it.”

 

[Cigar Guy]

Julian Assange: Rape allegations are a smear

Speaking after his release the Wikileaks founder discusses his extradition proceedings, his first night of freedom and alleged WikiLeaks source, Bradley Manning.


Julian Assange fears an 'illegal investigation'

WikiLeaks founder, the day after being released from prison, says he is being targeted by a "very aggressive" inquiry.


WikiLeaks made Navy medic a conscientious objector

A Royal Navy medic who objected to deployment to Afghanistan on moral grounds said today he felt unable to serve in the wake of WikiLeaks' revelations.


WikiLeaks 'did not break Australian laws'

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has confirmed that WikiLeaks have not broken any laws in her country.


Bailed WikiLeaks founder 'victim of vendetta'

Julian Assange was released on bail amid accusations that he is the victim of an Establishment “vendetta”.


Julian Assange claims he will face espionage charges

Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, claimed he expects to be indicted with charges of espionage in America as he was released from prison on bail.


Assange expects US to charge him with spying

WikiLeaks founder vows to ''continue his work and protest innocence'' as he emerges after nine days behind bars.


WikiLeaks: India 'systematically torturing civilians in Kashmir'

US diplomats were given evidence suggesting India was systematically torturing civilians in Kashmir, according to leaked cables.


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walks free from prison

Julian Assange walks free from the High Court and tells media: " I will continue my work and continue to protest my innocence."

 

[Cigar Guy]

WikiLeaks inspires sanitary pad ad


WikiLeaks inspires sanitary pad ad

Published Dec 17 2010

Pakistani advertisers in the feminine hygiene business have harnessed the political notoriety of WikiLeaks to tell women that while the US State Department might leak, they don't have to.

Advertising sanitary pads on selected billboards in Pakistan's financial capital Karachi, the latest catchphrase is: "WikiLeaks... Butterfly doesn't".

Leaked American diplomatic cables turned the Internet whistleblower into a household name in Pakistan, fascinating and appalling members of the public over reported inner dealings of their political and military elite.

Pakistani advertisers usually avoid the divisive world of politics but advertisers said the commercial had attracted considerable attention.

"We have received a huge response from the public and everyone has commended us on it," said Syed Amjad Hussain, head of business development at RG Blue Communications, which pitched the advertisement to manufacturers Butterfly.

"It could have been yet another ad showing a girl promoting the sanitary pad, but we made it different, completely different," art director Munir Bhatti told AFP.

Hussain said the response had been "great" although a fully-fledged media campaign had yet to start.

 

[Cigar Guy]

U.S. code-cracking agency works as if compromised

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's main code-making and code-cracking agency now works on the assumption that foes may have pierced even the most sensitive national security computer networks under its guard.

"There's no such thing as 'secure' any more," Debora Plunkett of the National Security Agency said on Thursday amid U.S. anger and embarrassment over disclosure of sensitive diplomatic cables by the web site WikiLeaks.


Dissidents have little support in Cuba: U.S. cable

HAVANA (Reuters) - Despite years of U.S. political and financial support for Cuban dissidents, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana said opposition leaders are largely unknown, badly divided and unlikely to ever run the country, according to a secret diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks.


Assange denies knowing detained U.S. Army specialist

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday denied any knowledge of the former U.S. Army intelligence analyst accused of providing his organization with classified reports that could lead to Assange's indictment on spy charges in the United States.


WikiLeaks' Assange says fears U.S. extradition

ELLINGHAM, England (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Friday that he was the target of an aggressive U.S. investigation and feared extradition to the United States was "increasingly likely."

 

[Cigar Guy]

Pro-WikiLeaks hackers may be hard for US to pursue


Pro-WikiLeaks hackers may be hard for US to pursue

By Andrew Longstreth

NEW YORK, Dec 17 (Reuters Legal) - Legal hurdles could make it tough for U.S. prosecutors to go after pro-WikiLeaks hackers who waged cyber attacks last week on Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and other companies.

Attorney General Eric Holder said last week he was "looking into" it but there are enormous challenges finding, moving, investigating and finally convicting those the United States might accuse.

Typically the federal government prosecutes hacking under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which prohibits the "transmission of a program, information, code, or command" that "intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer."

It's a broad, powerful statute that applies even to computer crime committed abroad, and can carry prison sentences and heavy fines. But to use it, authorities will first have to locate the elusive hackers and bring them to the United States.

In this case, a group of Internet activists working under the name Operation Payback claimed responsibility for the attacks, which briefly shut down the websites of several companies that had cut off services to WikiLeaks after the whistleblower organization last month made public a massive trove of secret U.S. diplomatic cables.

Dutch police arrested two Dutch teenagers last week, and other hackers around the globe are believed to be involved. If the U.S. seeks to prosecute these or any other hackers who may be apprehended overseas, it will have to rely on foreign counterparts to extradite them to the United States. Extraditions often get caught up in politics.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Over the last decade, international cooperation in computer crimes has increased; since 2004, dozens of countries have ratified the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime, which was designed to harmonize computer crime policy and foster international cooperation. Still, a handful of countries, including Russia, have not ratified the treaty.

Prosecuting hackers in those countries could prove difficult. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation worked with Dutch authorities on the arrests; Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney declined to comment on the arrests in the Netherlands or the extent to which the two countries may be cooperating.

The targeted companies apparently suffered "distributed denial-of-service attacks," which overload websites with so much traffic that they slow down or stop functioning altogether. In such attacks, hackers infect many computers with a program designed to flood the target's Web server.

To find the people responsible, the U.S. government might be able to use undercover agents and cooperators, or get help from international organizations that track the sources of viruses and cyber-weapons.

SUBPOENAS NEEDED

In the absence of such assistance, investigators would have to trace the source of the attacks themselves. First, the infected computers must be located. For investigators in the United States, this technological challenge also presents a legal hurdle: obtaining subpoenas for multiple Internet service providers.

Then, once the infected computers are tracked down, and if the owners don't voluntarily turn them over, investigators face another legal obstacle: getting a search warrant to examine the hard drives. Only then can they begin the complex forensic analysis aimed at tracing the program back to its source.

The U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act imposes another hurdle, albeit a minor one: The government must show that the alleged computer crime caused losses in excess of $5,000 over a one-year period. In this case, that would be easy to do. But so far, no evidence has emerged to suggest that any of the companies targeted by Operation Payback suffered serious losses.

MasterCard, for example, said in a statement that while it had "seen limited interruption in some web-based services," its "core processing capabilities have not been compromised and cardholder account data has not been placed at risk." Prosecutors may feel less urgency to bring charges because the damages appear to be relatively small.

In contrast, the federal government last year won a conviction against Albert Gonzalez, an American who pleaded guilty in connection with the computer hacking of several major U.S. retailers. More than 40 million credit and debit card numbers were allegedly stolen in the process. Gonzalez was sentenced to 20 years in prison in March.

David Goldstone, a former attorney in the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and now a partner at Goodwin Procter, said that a decision whether to prosecute the Operation Payback could come down to the allocation of resources and the perceived importance of the attacks. "The government may give it less of a priority," Goldstone said. "They may treat it as graffiti."

(Editing by Eric Effron and Amy Stevens of Reuters Legal)

 

[Cigar Guy]

Assange enjoying the chill English country air

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (R) walks with colleague Kristinn Hrafnsson outside Ellingham Hall, the home of their friend, journalist Vaughan Smith, in Norfolk, England December 17, 2010. Assange said on Friday that he was the target of an aggressive U.S. investigation and feared extradition to the United States was ''increasingly likely''. Credit: Reuters/Paul Hackett

ELLINGHAM, England (Reuters) - Julian Assange looks every inch the country gentleman in his green trousers, padded jacket and leather boots, standing outside an 18th-century mansion set in hundreds of acres of snow-clad English woodland.

Assange is staying at Ellingham Hall in rural East Anglia, about three hours' drive northeast of London, as part of his bail conditions after being freed from nine days in prison.


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