Vietnam whistleblower defends WikiLeaks

PENTAGON Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg waited decades for someone like Bradley Manning to follow in his footsteps.

He hails the US Army private accused of spilling secrets to website WikiLeaks as a champion of truth and not a betrayer of his country.

Manning was arrested in May 2010 on 22 charges of giving classified material on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to WikiLeaks.

Military prosecutors have accused Manning of the capital crime of aiding the enemy, saying they will not seek the death penalty for the 25-year-old man but want him to spend the rest of his life in prison.

"I have significant identification with all whistleblowers, but with Bradley above all," said Ellsberg.

"I'd like to see him get the Nobel Peace Prize," Ellsberg continued, tossing in a military Medal of Honour and a Congressional Gold Medal.

"He deserves to be seen as a hero. Certainly, he is a hero of mine."

Ellsberg sees Manning's case as mirroring his history-making move in 1971 to leak what became known as the Pentagon Papers, a report about US political and military machinations involving the Vietnam War.

"It is the first time since the Pentagon Papers that someone has put out a large raft of material," Ellsberg said in an interview at his home in the wooded enclave of Kensington across the bay from San Francisco.

"I think Bradley has done the right thing," continued Ellsberg, who will be 82 in April. "We've needed this kind of revelation frequently."

The Pentagon Papers were finally published in full in June 2011, 40 years after then US military analyst Ellsberg slipped excerpts of the classified report to the media.

Ellsberg's act of defiance revealed evidence that successive US administrations had lied to the public about Vietnam.

Pentagon Papers leaks led Nixon to set up a covert White House investigations unit, known as The Plumbers, to prevent further leaks to the media.

Members of the unit were subsequently implicated in a 1972 burglary at the Watergate complex in Washington - sparking the scandal that eventually forced the president derisively nicknamed "Tricky Dick" to quit in 1974.

A set of Pentagon Papers books were prominently displayed in wall-to-ceiling bookshelves in Ellsberg's home.

"I couldn't have done that without Xerox," Ellsberg said, referring to how he photocopied thousands of pages from the report.

"Manning couldn't have done what he did with access to a thumb drive."

Manning told a military tribunal in February that he leaked secret files to WikiLeaks in order to start a "public debate."

He remains in military custody pending trial and has pleaded guilty to misusing classified information but denies the damning charge of aiding America's enemies.

He sent WikiLeaks, which campaigns against government secrecy and publishes leaked information on a secure website, two military logs of daily incidents during the US campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also provided a vast trove of US diplomatic cables and cockpit video from a US helicopter gunship involved in an incident in which Iraqi civilians died.

Ellsberg also gave hero status to WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange.

"Julian Assange was in uncharted territory, by himself, and no one had ever set out to do what he did in the form of facilitating leaks by people like me or Manning," Ellsberg said.

"Using digital age tools to do it and offering anonymity."

"The charges that WikiLeaks had blood on their hands the very first day that they put it out have proven not to be true," Ellsberg said.

"Ironically, they were made by people who were up to their chins in innocent blood of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and elsewhere."

Ellsberg argued that the charges against Manning should be dropped for the same reason the case against him was dismissed, namely governmental misconduct that "offends the sense of justice."

Ellsberg told of warrantless wire taps, the burglary of his former doctor's office and even efforts to have him "completely incapacitated."

He put those tactics on par with Manning being held incommunicado for three years, more than 10 months of that time in solitary confinement, and part of the time deprived of clothing and sleep.

Ellsberg contended that instead of betraying the trust placed in him, Manning was true to his vow as a soldier to support and defend the US Constitution.

"The widest form of participation in evil-doing is keeping it secret."

"There is, in effect, a war on whistleblowers," Ellsberg said. "Call it a war on truth-telling, especially truths about government crimes, lies, war and recklessness."

Ellsberg sadly noted that Manning is likely to spend a long time in prison. Charges Manning already pleaded guilty to carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.

17.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man critically hurt by storm-felled tree

A RUNNER hit by a falling tree in a wild storm that lashed southeast Queensland remains in a critical condition.

The man, 58, suffered serious head injuries on Sunday night in the Brisbane suburb of St Lucia, and was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital.

A spokeswoman told AAP he was still critical on Monday night.

Power firm Energex said 1500 properties were still without power at 5pm (AEST), down from 60,000 at the height of the super cell storm.

"Our crews will be working through the night to get that power back on," a spokeswoman said.

The affected homes are in the Brisbane, Logan, Redlands and Scenic Rim areas.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Amber Young said heavy rain and wind gusts of 90km/h had been recorded.

Emergency Management Queensland said most of the 100 calls for help it received were for damage caused by the strong winds, including damaged roofs and downed trees.

Three men were plucked from their upturned dinghy by a dredge boat in Moreton Bay after being spotted by a passing cargo ship, four hours after they capsized.

The west Brisbane suburb of Carol Park recorded 45mm of rain in 45 minutes, while 40mm fell in 30 minutes at Brassall in north Ipswich.

Ms Young said the chance of more storms on Tuesday had subsided.

"There was certainly a possibility earlier in the day and we have seen some storms form on the high ground northwest of Brisbane," she told AAP.

"But the sea breeze along the coast has helped to stabilise things."

Ms Young said she "would never rule out" more super cell storms over autumn.

Energex urged home owners and businesses to make sure they secured loose items and had a storm plan in place.

"The weather has been quite unstable," the spokeswoman said.

17.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hong Kong stocks close up 0.61%

HONG Kong shares have ended 0.61 per cent higher after Cyprus agreed a last-minute deal with its international creditors that will qualify it for a crucial bailout.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 135.85 points to 22,251.15 on Monday on turnover of $HK60.68 billion ($A7.54 billion).

Chinese shares ended flat. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.07 per cent, or 1.56 points, to 2326.72 on turnover of 85.4 billion yuan ($A13.2 billion).

17.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Car thief shot over drug debt: WA court

WHAT began with a $20,000 car being stolen as collateral to settle a drug debt ended in Jeremia Iskander's murder, a West Australian court has heard.

Damien Phillip Mathews and Hayden Shane Wayne Joseph are on trial in the West Australian Supreme Court for the murder of the 21-year-old, who was shot in the chest at close range on December 2, 2011.

Prosecutor Amanda Forrester said in her opening address on Monday that Mathews fired the fatal shot, but Joseph was involved in its planning and therefore equally culpable.

The court heard Mr Iskander had been friends with Joseph for several years, but they had fallen out because Joseph owed him money.

Ms Forrester said two of Joseph's cars, including one he estimated to be worth $20,000, were stolen to force him to pay his debt.

She said Joseph believed Mr Iskander was driving the car and doing burnouts, "rubbing his nose" in his loss.

The court heard Joseph and Mathews confronted Mr Iskander in a driveway and the three men, as well as a woman who accompanied the accused men, had an argument.

Mr Iskander said he wanted to have a "one-on-one" with Joseph, Ms Forrester said.

Instead, Mathews had shot Mr Iskander in the chest and then fled with Joseph.

An ambulance took Mr Iskander to Joondalup Health Campus, where he died.

In the lead-up to the murder and the hours after it, Joseph sent many text messages to friends, indicating in one message he was responsible for Mr Iskander's death, Ms Forrester said.

Joseph and Mathews set fire to the car to destroy evidence and went missing for nine days until they finally turned themselves in, she said.

Police say they found four unfired bullets in the driveway that the prosecution claims came from the gun used in the killing, but no weapon has been found.

However, defence lawyer Vesna Amidzic, representing Joseph, said the entire incident was "completely unexpected".

Colin Lovitt, representing Mathews, said one of the key witnesses, who claimed to have seen his client with a gun, was unreliable and biased.

"A man is dead, but that doesn't mean he's been killed by someone," he said.

Mr Lovitt said Mr Iskander was a violent bully who had a "keen interest" in guns.

"He was someone who liked to throw his weight around," Mr Lovitt said.

It was Mr Iskander who had a gun in his trousers and who struggled with Mathews over the weapon, Mr Lovitt said.

He said it was during the struggle that a shot was fired, but not deliberately.

"They (the accused men) shouldn't be made to pay a price over and above for what they did," Mr Lovitt said.

"There's no criminal responsibility at all."

He said the fact that they did something as "stupid" as burning the car did not mean they were guilty of murder.

The trial is set down for four weeks.

17.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cyprus leaders to head to Brussels

A delegation from Cyprus led by President Nicos Anastasiades is on its way to Brussels for talks. Source: AAP

CYPRUS President Nicos Anastasiades and party leaders will travel to Brussels on Saturday for crunch talks with the EU on measures aimed at staving off bankruptcy for the island, state media said.

The delegation would depart at lunchtime and return to Cyprus late on Saturday or on Sunday, a day ahead of a deadline to adopt the measures aimed at raising 5.8 billion euros ($A7.22 billion) in order to secure a 10-billion-euro bailout, the official CNA news agency reported.

The Cyprus parliament finally gave its approval late Friday to the first three of eight measures hammered out by the government in a desperate bid to secure the bailout from the EU and IMF by Monday's deadline.

MPs approved a solidarity fund to be set up through the nationalisation of pensions and capital controls to prevent a run on the island's banks when they are finally due to open on Tuesday after being closed for more than a week.

They also passed a restructuring plan drawn up by the Central Bank of Cyprus that will separate "good" debts from "bad" in the troubled banks, particularly in second largest lender Laiki Bank.

- an unpopular measure that deputies have already rejected this week in another form.

But with the deadline looming and the option of securing funding from elsewhere including from ally Russia exhausted, they have been forced to revisit it as an option to raise the 5.8 billion euros.

Media reports on Saturday said the most likely scenario was a tax of 20-25 per cent on deposits of more than 100,000 euros at the island's biggest lender, the Bank of Cyprus.

The government needs to seal the package by Monday or face being denied European Central Bank emergency funding in a move that would collapse the island's banks and devour its economy.

17.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

China's first lady a media sensation

Peng Liyuan set Chinese media and social network sites abuzz with her elegant style in Moscow. Source: AAP

CHINA'S glamorous first lady has become a media and internet sensation as she accompanies husband President Xi Jinping on a state visit to Russia.

Already famous and immensely popular in her homeland due to her long career as a singer, Peng Liyuan set Chinese media and social network sites abuzz with her elegant style from the moment she stepped off the plane in Moscow Friday.

Photographs of Peng and Xi were plastered across the front pages of state media, which usually do not focus on the country's first ladies.

Major newspapers in Beijing on Saturday featured a shot of the Chinese leader and his wife smiling as they left their plane, rather than a photo of Xi's handshake with President Vladimir Putin on his first overseas trip as head of state.

Carrying a handbag and wearing a navy blue coat standing beside her husband, Peng was even shown briefly arm-in-arm with Xi in a public display of affection rare among the communist leadership.

This scene makes the Chinese happy because they have been waiting for it for a long time," said Hu Xijing, editor of the Global Times, while regretting that the media's comments did not give the event the importance it deserved.

Peng did not stop smiling before and during the official welcome from their Russian hosts.

That smile and her sense of style attracted widespread attention on China's Twitter-like microblogs.

"What elegance!" said one charmed commentator using the name "Lanpingzigaidexingfu".

"What a beauty," added "Renxiaoxuanxuan", while a more restrained "Yanhuozhiqiu" praised her as being "dignified" and "open minded".

Peng's coat was the particular object of attention. Just hours after the first images were broadcast of her descending from the aircraft, copies of the garment were being offered on the internet shopping site Taobao (China's version of eBay) for between 499 and 10,000 yuan ($A77 and $A1,540).

In just seconds, Peng effortlessly projected an image of youth and spontaneity in stark contrast to what the Chinese public have grown accustomed to over the past 30 years.

Her immediate predecessor Liu Yonqing, the austere and reserved wife of former president Hu Jintao, was rarely exposed to the limelight and usually seen standing behind her husband.

Peng, however, was already a household name in China thanks to her role over the past 25 years in the state television New Year gala, which is watched by millions of viewers.

17.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cambodia French family deaths not suicide

Investigators in Cambodia have ruled out suicide in the deaths of French widower Laurent Vallier. Source: AAP

FRENCH and Cambodian investigators have ruled out suicide in the deaths of a Frenchman and his four young children whose skeletal remains were found in a submerged car last year.

Ten French investigators, including a judge and scientific and forensic police, arrived in Cambodia earlier this month to probe the deaths of widower Laurent Vallier, 42, and his young children.

"This (investigation) has led to very significant breakthroughs which are now ruling out the possibility of a suicide," the French embassy in Phnom Penh said in a statement on Saturday.

The family's badly decomposed bodies were discovered inside Vallier's white 4x4 vehicle after it was retrieved from a large pond behind his house in southern Kampong Speu province in January last year.

Vallier and his two sons and two daughters, thought to have been aged from two to nine, had been missing since September 2011.

Chhim Rithy, a Cambodian investigating judge at Kampong Speu who was working with the team, said they had found some blood stain stains inside Vallier's house and on a rope.

"It is not the case of suicide. It could be a murder case," he told AFP, adding investigation in the case was still ongoing.

Vallier, who according to his relatives worked as a tour guide, is understood to have moved from France to Cambodia around 13 years ago, arriving in Kampong Speu in 2007. His Cambodian wife died in childbirth in 2009.

17.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Queen volunteered for Olympics Bond

Director Danny Boyle says the Queen offered to do the James Bond skit for the London Olympics. Source: AAP

QUEEN Elizabeth II needed no convincing to appear in a James Bond-themed skit during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics - in fact, she volunteered, according to the show's director.

Director Danny Boyle says he had initially thought a lookalike - possibly actress Helen Mirren - would play the role of Elizabeth alongside Bond actor Daniel Craig.

He tells ITV's Jonathan Ross in an interview to air Saturday night that when he sought permission from officials to film the skit he heard back that not only was the video a go, but the monarch herself wanted to be in it.

Boyle says that when filming began, the Queen asked him if he thought she should have a line, to which he replied "OK, what do you suggest?"

"She said 'I'll do something' and we started shooting and she turned round and she said her lines beautifully," he said, according to excerpts of the interview released in advance.

The Queen's star turn in the skit was considered one of the highlights of the opening ceremony last year.

In the skit, a tuxedo-clad 007 strides into Buckingham Palace to escort his VIP guest to the Olympic ceremony. In her acting debut, Elizabeth swivels around in her desk chair to face the legendary spy and declares: "Good evening, Mr. Bond."

Two of Queen's corgi dogs also appeared in the clip.

17.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Polka-dot dresses the rage in N. Korea

POLKA-DOT dresses and manual threshing machines were among the hottest consumer products in North Korea last year, according to an annual list compiled by a research analyst in South Korea.

The arrival of the boldly-patterned dresses in the top 10 list was down to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's wife, Ri Sol-Ju, who was seen wearing them to public functions on state television.

"Young North Korean women are keenly interested in the first lady's fashion style and try to follow her example" Dong Yong-Seung, a senior research fellow at the Samsung Economic Research Institute in Seoul, told AFP on Tuesday.

Dong has been compiling a top 10 chart of consumer items in North Korea since 2010, basing her findings on interviews with North Korean defectors and Chinese traders on the Sino-North Korean border.

The fact that manual threshing machines made the list spoke of the prevalence of electricity cuts in the countryside, Dong said.

17.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

SA backs wind farm developments

SOUTH Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has reaffirmed his government's support for wind energy and will seek a vote in parliament on Wednesday backing the renewable energy sector.

Mr Weatherill said recent suggestions of a moratorium on future wind farm developments was putting investment in the industry at risk.

"The government remains committed to providing ample opportunity for investment in wind energy in South Australia," the premier told state parliament on Tuesday.

"Every megawatt hour of wind energy cuts about one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions.

"Apart from the environmental benefits, wind farms also bring in vital investment to our state."

Mr Weatherill said South Australia had already attracted about $3 billion in wind energy investment, creating 842 direct jobs.

17.01 | 0 komentar | Read More