The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- LulzSec hackers say disbanding after last data dump
- Libyan soccer stars join rebels in blow to Gaddafi
- Prominent Chinese dissident freed from jail
| LulzSec hackers say disbanding after last data dump Posted: 25 Jun 2011 08:29 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Lulz Security group of rogue hackers announced it was disbanding on Saturday with one last data dump, which included internal AOL Inc and AT&T documents.
LulzSec, which gained wide recognition for breaching the websites of Sony Corp, the CIA and a British police unit among other targets, said in a statement that it had accomplished its mission to disrupt corporate and government bodies for entertainment. "Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind -- we hope -- inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love," the group said. Known for irreverence and a fondness for naval metaphors, the hacker group took to Twitter -- the microblogging site where it had more than 277,000 followers -- to release its statement. A link to the release also was posted on http://www.lulzsecurity.com but there was no way to independently contact the group to confirm the release. The abrupt dissolution came a few days after LulzSec threatened to escalate its cyberattacks and steal classified information from governments, banks and other major establishments. LulzSec also had said it was teaming up with the Anonymous hacker activist group to cause more serious trouble. "... Our planned 50-day cruise has expired," the hackers said in their statement, "and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind -- we hope -- inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere." CLOSING IN? In what could be a sign that cyber police were making progress toward shutting down LulzSec, British police said on Tuesday they had arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion that he was connected to the attacks on Sony, the CIA and a British police unit that fights organized crime. London police declined to say if the teenager was a member of LulzSec but the hacking group said on Twitter that he had hosted one of its chatrooms on his computer server. The arrest came after Spanish police earlier this month apprehended three men on suspicion they helped Anonymous. So far LulzSec's publicized assaults have mostly resulted in temporary disruptions of some websites and the release of user credentials. The data the group released Saturday was a mixed bag. Reuters was not able to access all of the files but those that were available included a list of routers -- devices that handle Internet traffic -- and their passwords, as well as account information for an Irish private investigation service. The AOL documents appeared to be elements of an internal technical manual. A file list on a download site indicated there also was some AT&T internal data in the dump, although the nature of that data was not immediately clear. AOL was not immediately available for comment, while an AT&T spokesman did not have immediate comment. (Reporting by Ben Berkowitz and Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Bill Trott) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. | ||
| Libyan soccer stars join rebels in blow to Gaddafi Posted: 25 Jun 2011 08:29 PM PDT BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Four members of Libya's national soccer team and 13 other football figures have defected to rebels in a blow to Muammar Gaddafi's government, the rebel authority in eastern Libya said on Saturday. Gaddafi has faced a string of defections by officers and diplomats but has resisted efforts by rebels backed by a NATO bombing campaign to dislodge him after four decades in power.
Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the rebel council, said the footballers had been in touch with the insurgent leadership in Benghazi and were staying in neighbouring Tunisia. "It's a direct reflection of opinions and feelings of all people across Libya. These 17 members were on their way to Mali when they declared their defection," he said. "This is not just symbolic but it's also very important. It (shows) that whenever a person is able to set themselves free and announce their defection, they do so. There are many of those who are not able to do that." National goalkeeper Juma Gtat and Adel bin Issa, the coach of Tripoli's top club al-Ahly, announced the defections in the rebel-held Nafusa Mountains in western Libya, the BBC reported. "I am telling Colonel Gaddafi to leave us alone and allow us to create a free Libya," it quoted Gtat as saying at a hotel in the town of Jadu. "In fact I wish he would leave this life altogether." Bin Issa told the BBC he had chosen to come to the Western Mountains "to send a message that Libya should be unified and free", adding: "I hope to wake up one morning to find that Gaddafi is no longer there." (Reporting by Maria Golovnina in Benghazi and Alistair Lyon in London) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. | ||
| Prominent Chinese dissident freed from jail Posted: 25 Jun 2011 08:29 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - One of China's most prominent dissidents, Hu Jia, was reunited with his family early on Sunday after serving three-and-a-half-years in jail on subversion charges, but he needed rest and was not ready to speak in public, his wife said.
Hu, 37, was convicted in 2008 for "inciting subversion of state power" for criticising human rights restrictions in China, and was seen by some supporters as a potential recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize before it went to another jailed Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo, last year. "He is back home with his parents and me," his wife, Zeng Jinyan, told Reuters in a brief telephone interview. "I don't know if he can speak later. At the moment, I want everything to be peaceful. I'm worried that doing interviews at this stage might cause problems. Please understand." Hu's long-scheduled release followed this week's abrupt freeing from detention of the prominent artist and activist Ai Weiwei, and has come while Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is visiting Europe on trips to Hungary, Britain and Germany. Asked how Hu's health was, his mother, Feng Juan, said by telephone: "It's so so. He was in a very good mood. The first thing he did after coming home was to take a bath. Then he had a meal." China's Communist Party has cracked down on dissent since February, responding to fears that uprisings across the Arab world could also inspire challenges to its one-party rule, especially ahead of a leadership succession late in 2012. Many dissidents detained in that drive have been ordered by authorities to stay silent after their release. Hu's wife, Zeng, and other advocates have voiced concern that Chinese authorities might also impose restrictions on him amounting to house arrest after his formal release. Zeng, a prominent activist in her own right, told Reuters in late May that she was worried by the trend of rights activists coming under informal house arrest after their release from formal detention or jail. "If we are put under house arrest or disappear, I don't want our daughter to be with us when we endure life under house arrest," she said. "I have sent her to be with my relatives." Zeng posted messages on Twitter, the micro-blogging site, describing harassment from authorities before Hu's release. "A prohibition on contact with the media was a condition of Hu Jia's sentence, with the one year's deprivation of political rights on his release, and no doubt the authorities will remind him of that," said Phelim Kine, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group that has denounced the conviction of Hu and other Chinese dissidents. "Given the current climate of oppression, he will be under extreme pressure to obey," Kine said by telephone. ENERGETIC CAMPAIGNER Hu and Zeng have live in an apartment complex in east Beijing called Bobo Freedom City. Many police officers and security guards patrolled the area on Sunday morning. "A sleepless night and Hu Jia came home at 2:30. Peaceful. Very happy. Needs a period of time to recuperate," Zeng wrote in her latest Twitter entry in Chinese. Most Chinese people lack the know-how to read Twitter, which the government blocks with a censorship firewall. Hu was detained in late 2007 and then tried and convicted in the following year on subversion charges that stemmed from criticism of the government he had made in Internet writings and interviews with foreign reporters. China often uses the broad charge of "inciting subversion" to punish dissidents, and when Hu was convicted, state media said that he had bowed to the accusations against him. Before he was jailed, Hu pursued an energetic career as an environmental protection campaigner, advocate for rural victims of AIDS, and vocal critic of China's restrictions on political dissent. Shaven-headed and wearing bookish spectacles, he was a familiar sight at activist gatherings in Beijing. Hu is also a vegetarian and Buddhist who has criticised China's controls on that religion in Tibet and voiced sympathy for the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader reviled by Beijing. Asked about Hu's future plans, Zeng said her husband studied law in prison and has no plans to move abroad. "According to law, if you have any criminal record you cannot become a lawyer. But he is studying to gain more comprehensive knowledge," Zeng said in May. "I think he has very clear and fixed ideas about the future, but we don't know what the conditions will be like (after he gets out) ... I think he will (focus) on rights defending." (Additional reporting by Michael Martina and Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) Copyright © 2008 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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