Nigeria sect leader threatens Nigerian president in message

Boko Haram sect leader Imam Abubakar Shekau

Lagos, Nigeria - An audio message allegedly posted on the Internet by the leader of a radical Islamist sect in Nigeria, threatens the oil-rich nation's president and denies its members killed Muslim civilians in an attack last week that left at least 185 people dead.

Meanwhile, unrest continued across the north with the kidnapping of a German on Thursday and the killing of 15 traders in a daylight attack by apparent armed robbers.

The video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, shows a still image of Imam Abubakar Shekau sitting on a beige sofa, a Kalashnikov rifle at his back. Speaking at times in Arabic, English and the Hausa language of Nigeria's Muslim north, Shekau said negotiations suggested by President Goodluck Jonathan between the sect and the government will not happen.

"He's lying. He cannot do it," Shekau said. "If Jonathan does not repent as a Muslim, even if I die myself, Jonathan's going to see. He's looking at me like I'm nobody, but he'll see."

In the message, Shekau acknowledged that Boko Haram carried out the Jan. 20 attacks in Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city, that killed at least 185 people. Gunmen from the sect armed with explosives and assault rifles, some wearing army and police uniforms, others suicide car bombers, attacked police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria's secret police.

But Shekau denied killing civilians in the attack, claiming the sect's gunmen tried to protect the more than 9 million people who live in the important city in Nigeria's north.

"We're killing police officers, we're killing soldiers and other government people who are fighting Allah and Christians who are killing Muslims and talking badly about our Islamic religion," Shekau said. "I am not against anyone, but if Allah asks me to kill someone, I will kill him and I will enjoy killing him like I am killing a chicken."

Boko Haram wants to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people split largely into a Christian south and Muslim north. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, has now killed at least 262 people in 2012, more than half of the at least 510 people the sect killed in all of 2011, according to an AP (Associated Press) count.

The attack by Boko Haram comes during continued unrest across Nigeria's north. In Kano, gunmen kidnapped a German citizen who was working for Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company Ltd. on Thursday.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke told journalists on Friday that the embassy and a ministry crisis unit were working hard to resolve the case.

"I can't yet report any substantial progress," Peschke said.

Meanwhile, Zamfara state spokesman Ibrahim Muhammad Birnin Magaji said on Friday that gunmen killed 15 Muslim traders on their way to market. Birnin Magaji said the gunmen burned the bodies of their victims in a rural village in Katsina state on Thursday, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from Kano.

He said authorities suspect an armed robbery attack, but no goods were reported missing.

Corruption scandal shakes Vatican as internal letters leaked

Vatican City - The Vatican was shaken by a corruption scandal on Thursday after an Italian television investigation said a former top official had been transferred against his will after complaining about irregularities in awarding contracts.

The show "The Untouchables" on the respected private television network La 7 on Wednesday night showed what is said were several letters that Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who was then deputy-governor of Vatican City, sent to superiors, including Pope Benedict, in 2011 about the corruption.

The Vatican issued a statement on Thursday criticizing the "methods" used in the journalist investigation. But it confirmed that the letters were authentic by expressing "sadness over the publication of reserved documents." As deputy governor of the Vatican City for two years from 2009 to 2011, Vigano was the number two official in a department responsible for maintaining the tiny city-state's gardens, buildings, streets, museums and other infrastructure.

Vigano, currently the Vatican's ambassador in Washington, said in the letters that when he took the job in 2009, he discovered a web of corruption, nepotism and cronyism linked to the awarding of contracts to outside companies at inflated prices.

In one letter, Vigano tells the pope of a smear campaign against him (Vigano) by other Vatican officials who wanted him transferred because they were upset that he had taken drastic steps to save the Vatican money by cleaning up its procedures.

"Holy Father, my transfer right now would provoke much disorientation and discouragement in those who have believed it was possible to clean up so many situations of corruption and abuse of power that have been rooted in the management of so many departments," Vigano wrote to the pope on March 27, 2011.

In another letter to the pope on April 4, 2011, Vigano says he discovered the management of some Vatican City investments was entrusted to two funds managed by a committee of Italian bankers "who looked after their own interests more than ours."

$2.5 Million, 550,000 Euro Loss

Vigano says in the same letter that in one single financial transaction in December, 2009, "they made us lose two and a half million dollars."

The program interviewed a man it identified as a member of the bankers' committee who said Vigano had developed a reputation as a "ballbreaker" among companies that had contracts with the Vatican, because of his insistence on transparency and competition.

The man's face was blurred on the transmission and his voice was distorted in order to conceal his identity.

In one of the letters to the pope, Vigano said Vatican-employed maintenance workers were demoralized because "work was always given to the same companies at costs at least double compared to those charged outside the Vatican."

For example, when Vigano discovered that the cost of the Vatican's larger than life nativity scene in St. Peter's Square was 550,000 euros in 2009, he chopped 200,000 euros off the cost for the next Christmas, the program said.

Even though, Vigano's cost-cutting and transparency campaign helped turned Vatican City's budget from deficit to surplus during his tenure, in 2011 unsigned articles criticizing him as inefficient appeared in the Italian newspaper Il Giornale.

On March 22, 2011, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone informed Vigano that he was being removed from his position, even though it was to have lasted until 2014.

Five days later he wrote to Bertone complaining that he was left "dumbfounded" by the ouster and because Bertone's motives for his removal were identical to those published in an anonymous article published against him in Il Giornale that month.

In early April, Vigano went over Bertone's head again and wrote directly to the pope, telling him that he had worked hard to "eliminate corruption, private interests and dysfunction that are widespread in various departments."

He also tells the pope in the same letter that "no one should be surprised about the press campaign against me" because he tried to root out corruption and had made enemies.

Despite his appeals to the pope that a transfer, even if it meant a promotion, "would be a defeat difficult for me to accept," Vigano was named ambassador to Washington in October of last year after the sudden death of the previous envoy of the United States.

In its statement, the Vatican said the journalistic investigation had treated complicated subjects in a "partial and banal way" and could take steps to defend the "honor of morally upright people" who loyally serve the Church.

The statement said that today's administration was a continuation of the "correct and transparent management that inspired Monsignor Vigano."

Iran plays down U.S. naval moves

Tehran, Iran - Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Saturday that it considered the likely return of the U.S. warships to the Gulf part of routine activity, backing away from previous warnings to Washington not to re-enter the area.

The statement may be seen as an effort to reduce tensions after Washington said it would respond if Iran made good on a threat to block the Strait of Hormuz - the vital shipping lane for oil exports from the Gulf.

"U.S. warships and military forces have been in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East region for many years and their decision in relation to the dispatch of a new warship is not a new issue and it should be interpreted as part of their permanent presence," Revolutionary Guard Deputy Commander Hossein Salami told the official IRNA news agency.

The apparently conciliatory comments may be a response to the European Union and Washington's rejection of Iran's declaration it was close to resuming negotiations with world powers and with the Pentagon saying it did not expect any challenge to its warships.

Crude prices have spiked several times this year on fears that diplomatic tensions could escalate to military clashes as well as uncertainty about the effect of sanctions on the oil market.

Along with the EU, which is set to agree an embargo on Iranian oil next week, Washington hopes the sanctions will force Iran to suspend the nuclear activities it believes are aimed at making an atom bomb, which a charge Tehran denies.

There has been no U.S. aircraft carrier in the Gulf since the USS John C. Stennis left at the end of December at a time when the Revolutionary Guard was conducting naval maneuvers.

On January 3, after U.S. President Barack Obama signed new sanctions aimed at stopping Iran's oil exports, Tehran told the Stennis not to return - an order interpreted by some observers in Iran and Washington as a blanket threat to any U.S. carriers.

"I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf," Iran's army chief, Major General Ataollah Salehi, said at the time. "We are not in the habit of warning more than once."

New Maneuvers

Washington says it will return to the Gulf and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said any move to block Hormuz - through which around a third of the world's sea-borne traded oil passes - would be seen as a "red line," requiring a response.

Citing operational security, the Pentagon will not say when the next carrier will return to the Gulf but officials say it is only a matter of time and they do not expect any problems.

In the coming days or weeks, the Revolutionary Guard will begin new naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf. Salami told IRNA these would go ahead as planned in the Iranian month of Bahman which runs from January 21 to February 19.

Iran has said it is ready to return to talks with world powers that stalled one year ago, but the West, concerned about Tehran's move of the most sensitive atomic work to a bomb-proof bunker, says it must first see a willingness from Tehran to address the nuclear issue.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday "time is running out" for a diplomatic solution and urged Russia and China to drop their opposition to sanctions on Iranian oil.

Iran is OPEC's (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) second biggest exporter and blocking its crude exports through the EU embargo or U.S. moves to punish banks that trade with Iran could have a devastating impact on its economy but there are no signs so far that such pressure would force it to stop what it calls its peaceful nuclear rights.

Indonesian atheist faces jail after Facebook post

Indonesia - An Indonesian civil servant who declared himself an atheist on Facebook was arrested and is now facing jail for blasphemy after being attacked by an angry mob, police said on Friday.

Alexander An, 30-years-old, who wrote "God doesn't exist" on his Facebook page, was beaten by a mob of dozens on Wednesday in his hometown in Pulau Punjung, West Sumatra province.

"He is suspected of having blasphemed against Islam," local police chief Chairul Aziz told AFP.

"The man told police investigators that if God really exists and has absolute power, why didn't he prevent bad things from happening in this world."

An said on his Facebook page that he was brought up as a Muslim, like the vast majority in Indonesia, where blasphemy is a punishable crime carrying a maximum five-year prison term.

Dozens of locals stormed into his office after a heated debate with them on Facebook over religion, police said.

An was also an administrator of a Facebook group promoting atheism with 1,243 followers. His postings no longer appeared online following his arrest.

Indonesia is a third-world country that's also notorious of persecuting anti-Islamic beliefs. It was quite remarkable that after beaten by a mob, An was the one who ended up behind bars, an example of backward mentality existing in a highly-religious Islam-dominated country. But, that's Indonesia where opinions not aligned with the religious belief of the majority is a crime.

Atheist society president forced to resign when Muslim students protested over cartoon of Muhammad having a drink with Jesus

University College London

UK - A row has erupted over an atheist society at a top London University after posting a cartoon sketch featuring the prophet Muhammad having a drink with Jesus on its Facebook page.

A student Muslim group is demanding the offensive image of Jesus and Mo having a drink at the bar, taken from an online satirical sketch (http://www.jesusandmo.net/), be removed from the social networking site.

The president of the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist society at the prestigious University College (UCL), Robbie Yellon, has stepped down over the controversy.

But the Society still refuses to take down the image, claiming its right to defend "freedom of expression."

Secretary for the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies, Michael Paynter said: "Robbie stepped aside because he signed up as president to organize events and run a student society."

"He did not appreciate the stress he would be under when dealing with a controversy like this, so he wanted to make way for someone else," he added.

CARTOON SPARKS AN ONLINE DEBATE

Elias Skourletos: 'Jesus and Mohammed are just historic figures such as Churchill and Hitler and we have every right to express our opinions on them.' (Comment on Atheist Society's Facebook page).

Martin Foreman: 'The right to offend is essential in a free society and must be defended.' (Comment on Atheist Society's Facebook page).

Richard of York: 'The thought that saying nothing won't cause offense, offends me.' (Comment on Richard Dawkins website).

Richard Dawkins: 'This sums up the gentle inoffensiveness of Jesus & Mo. Inoffensive, that is, to all who aren't out there eagerly scouting for offense opportunities.' (Comment on Richard Dawkins website).

Rational Conclusion: 'You cannot put regulations on things that offend because offense is subjective. A person can be offended by damn near anything. If we went about putting a halt to things that people find offensive we'd have almost nothing left.' (Comment on Richard Dawkins webstie).

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association's protest against the photo has been backed by UCL's Union.

A UCL Union statement said: "The atheist society has agreed they will take more consideration when drawing up publicity for future events."

"The society was asked to remove the image because UCLU aims to foster good relations between different groups of students and create a safe environment where all students can benefit from societies regardless of their religious or other beliefs," UCLU added.

The image that started the controversy was taken from an online twice-weekly satirical comic strip called Jesus and Mo, and has been running since 2005.

The Association aims to continue its protest until the image is taken down, claiming it is offensive and has wider implications.

The association's national spokesperson, Adam Walker, said the two student groups had worked well together in the past and said the offense was unnecessary.

He said: "The principle is more important than who is being attacked - this time it is Muslims and Christians but in the future it could be atheists themselves."

"There is no need to print these things other than to cause offense and history has told us that these things cause offense."

"I wouldn't say we're specifically pursuing UCL atheist society, its more about the broader principle," he added.

The row has prompted debate on the internet with prominent academic and author Richard Dawkins backing the atheist society.

A spokesman for UCL said: "A situation has arisen surrounding publications by the UCLU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society on its Facebook page of a cartoon entitled Jesus and Mo, representing Jesus and Muhammad sitting in a pub."

"A number of complaints about the cartoon have been received by UCLU from UCL students."

"UCL believes that managing the conduct of student societies is primarily a matter for the UCL Union and not the university centrally."

"We understand that the Union has asked the Society to take the cartoon down, and this request has been refused."

Apparently, this is not the first time a comic strip has caused large-scale controversy.

In 2005, cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten sparked world-wide controversy.

The newspaper claimed the publication was an attempt to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship.

But Danish Muslim organizations that objected to the depictions, describing them as Islamophobic or racist, responded by holding public protests attempting to raise awareness of Jyllands-Posten's publication.

Further examples of the cartoons were soon reprinted in newspapers in more than 50 other countries, further deepening the controversy.

This led to Islamic protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence, including the bombings of the Danish embassy in Pakistan and setting fire to the Danish Embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, storming European buildings, and burning the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, French and German flags in Gaza city.

Iran nuclear scientist assassinated!

Iran blamed the U.S. and Israel for the assassination of a university professor and scientist who played a key role in the country's controversial nuclear weapons program.

Two hitmen on a motorcycle were said to have attached a magnetic bomb to the car of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan killing him and a passenger instantly as they sat in the Iranian-assembled Peugeot 405 in the northern district of the capital Tehran.

A 32-year-old chemistry expert and director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, Roshan was said to have been involved in the development of Tehran's atomic program.

The assassination had strong similarities to other executions in recent years of scientists linked to the program and underlined the belief that a major covert operation is underway against it.

Iran has accused Israel's Mossad, the CIA and Britain's spy agencies of engaging in an underground "terrorism" campaign against nuclear-related targets, including at least three killings since early 2010 and the release of a malicious computer virus that temporarily disrupted controls of some centrifuges - a key component in nuclear fuel production.

All three countries have denied the Iranian accusations.

Last week, Tehran pointed the finger at the U.S. and Israel as being behind the latest terrorist attack but promised it would not be a setback to the expanding nuclear program.

Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, the target who
was killed in Tehran when two motorcyclists
attached a magnetic bomb to his car.

"The bomb was a magnetic one and the same as the ones previously used for the assassination of the scientists, and the work of the Zionists (Israelis)," Deputy Tehran Governor Safarali Baratloo was quoted as saying.

First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rashimi added that Israeli agents were behind the attack, but cannot "prevent progress" in what Iran claims are peaceful nuclear efforts.

Israeli officials have hinted about covert campaigns against Iran without directly admitting involvement.

Previously, Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz told a parliamentary panel that 2012 would be a "critical year" for Iran - in part because of "things that happen to it unnaturally."

Roshan, a graduate of the prestigious Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, was deputy director of commercial affairs for the Natanz uranium enrichment plant and in charge of purchasing and supplying equipment for the facility.

Natanz is Iran's main enrichment site.

The U.S. and its allies are pressuring Iran to halt uranium enrichment, a key element of the nuclear program that the West suspects is aimed at producing atomic weapons.

Uranium enriched to low levels can be used as nuclear fuel but at higher levels, it can be used as material for a nuclear warhead.

Iran denies it is trying to make nuclear weapons, saying its program is for peaceful purposes only.

Since December, Iran has held or announced a series of war games that included threats to close the Gulf's vital Strait of Hormuz - the passageway for about one-sixth of the world's oil - in retaliation for stronger U.S.-led sanctions.

"Assassinations, military threats and political pressures ... The enemy insists on the tactic of creating fear to stop Iran's peaceful nuclear activities," lawmaker Javad Jahangirzadeh said after the blast.

"Instead of actually fighting a conventional war, Western powers and their allies appear to be relying on covert war tactics to try to delay and degrade Iran's nuclear advancement," said Theodore Karasik, a security expert at the Dubai-based institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.

He said the use of magnetic bombs bears the hallmarks of covert operations.

Additional Photos

Type 45 Destroyer HMS Daring was sent to the Strait of Hormuz by the
British Navy after Iran threatened to block it because of attacks on its
nuclear program.

Iran mocks US with Toy Drone

The Iranian government, which captured a U.S. stealth drone in December, has agreed to give the top-secret spy craft back, but instead of the original RQ-170 Sentinel drone, the Islamic Republic said Tuesday that it will send President Obama a tiny toy replica of the plane.

Iranian state radio said that the toy model will be 1/80th the size of the real thing. Iranian citizens can also buy their own toy copies of the drone, which will be available in stores for the equivalent of $4.

The White House formally requested return of the drone after the Iranians displayed it on state television. The U.S. says that the craft was operating over Eastern Afghanistan.

The Iranians claim they detected the drone well inside Iran's border and then took control of the craft electronically and brought it down safely. The U.S. has denied that the craft came down for any reason other than technical malfunction.

On Dec. 11, after President Obama said he had requested the return of the drone, an Iranian general said that it was not going to happen. The general also warned on Iranian's television of a bigger response to the hostile act of crossing into Iranian airspace.

"No one returns the symbol of aggression to the party that sought secret and vital intelligence related to the national security of a country," Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [IRGC] Lt. Commander Gen. Hossein Salami said, according to Iran's Fars News Agency.

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said that "given Iran's behavior to date, we do not expect them to comply" with Obama's request. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also said he didn't expect Iran to hand over the drone, but told reporters, "I think it's important to make that request."

Perry was called an idiot by Turkish columnist for Monday debate comments

Gov. Rick Perry

Turkey's envoy to the US expressed disappointment and concern over comments made by Texas governor Rick Perry in Monday's GOP (Grand Old Party) debate in which he described Turkey's moderate Islamic leadership as Islamic terrorists. Meanwhile, a leading Turkey lobbying association in Washington called on the candidate to apologize for his "appalling" and "uneducated" comments, which have been greeted with disbelief, ridicule and anger by Turkey's press.

Turkey is "a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists," Perry said, in response to a question about whether Turkey, a top American ally,  should remain a member of the NATO alliance.

The NATO ally had moved "far away from the country in which he'd served as a U.S. Air Force pilot in the 1970s," Perry said.

"Rick Perry: what an idiot," was the reaction from top Turkish Hurriyet Daily News columnist Mustafa Akyol on Twitter, according to CNN's Ivan Watson and Tesim Comert.

Turkey's main state broadcaster TRT added, "The debate that the Republican candidate Rick Perry attended on American Fox TV turned into a scandal that contained very ugly statements about Turkey," also according to CNN.

"I am disappointed and concerned that Turkey and its time-tested ties of alliance, partnership and friendship with the United States became the object of misplaced and ill-advised criticism during last night's Republican candidates' debate," Turkey's ambassador to the United States Namik Tan said in a statement which was sent to Yahoo news on Tuesday. "Needless to say, the Turkey described in the debate simply does not exist."

"Turkey is a secular democracy that has for decades been an essential and trusted partner of the U.S.," Ambassador Tan continued. "Whether in the fight against terrorism or violent extremism, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria or against the proliferation of WMD (Weapon's of Mass Destruction), we stand side by side to tackle the many common threats and challenges of our times."

"While it was unfortunate, we do hope this episode in last night's debate leads to a better informed foreign policy discussion among the Republican Party candidates," Tan added.

The Turkish Coalition of America, a Washington pro-Turkey lobbying group, condemned Perry's comments as appalling, uneducated and uninformed on Tuesday, and called on the candidate to apologize for the offense he caused to the U.S. NATO ally.

"This level of ignorance shown by the governor of such an important state as Texas is appalling," Turkish Coalition of America president G. Lincoln Murdy said in a statement. "How can we expect to have friends in the international world if our leaders show this level of ignorance and narrow mindedness in trying to score political points? Gov. Perry's state and country are all poorly served by his comments."

His group "is happy to help educate Gov. Perry about the true value of U.S.-Turkey relations... but respectfully requests that Gov. Perry apologize for his divisive and uneducated remarks," McCurdy continued.

"Turkey is one of the largest contributors of support to U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, including providing the second-largest NATO army on the ground, leading the NATO troops in Afghanistan three times, and providing over 70 percent of the international logistics support to U.S. troops in Iraq," he said.

In addition, McCurdy noted, Perry's own state Texas has increased its exports to Turkey by over 215 percent in the last four years, while "Texas is home to a thriving Turkish American community."

Gov. Perry's foreign policy adviser Victoria Coates acknowledged after the South Carolina debate Monday that Turkey is a "hinge point between east and west," ABC News' Arlette Saenz reported.

But Coates defended Perry's controversial description, explaining that Turkey under its Justice and Peace Party leadership has in recent years moved to express sympathy for Hamas-controlled Gaza and cooled its once warm relationship with Israel. She also noted the 2009 Gaza aid flotilla that departed from a Turkish port that got into a clash with Israeli commandos in which eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed.

Echoing the moderator's question from Monday night's debate, the adviser also described Turkey as tolerating violence against women - without citing any evidence to back up the highly controversial contention, given Turkey's long thriving secular scene.

"The governor was responding to the questioner's references to violence against women and to association with Hamas, I think both of which are things that many people do associate as he said with Islamic terrorists," Coates said in the post-debate spin room, according to reporter Saenz. "He was referring to those things, and while he would welcome the opportunity to work with Turkey on regional issues like Syria or Iraq, this kind of behavior on the part of that country is disturbing and I think we should be concerned about it."

"What he said was that many people associate that kind of behavior with that of Islamic terrorists," Coates said. "I think also their support for the flotilla against Israel this fall. It's deeply concerning, and I think it's something any future American president needs to be aware of."


Source Yahoo News

Wikipedia to be blacked out over anti-piracy bill

The foundation behind Wikipedia has announced on Monday night that it will black out the English language version of its website on Wednesday to protest against anti-piracy legislation under consideration in Congress.

The website will go dark for 24 hours in an unprecedented move that brings added muscle to a growing base of critics of the legislation. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, and is considered as one of the Internet's most popular websites, with millions of visitors daily.

"If passed, this legislation will harm the free and open Internet and bring about new tools for censorship of international websites inside the United States," the Wikimedia foundation said.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Protect Intellectual Property Act under consideration in the Senate are designed to crack down on sales of pirated U.S. products overseas.

Supporters include the film and music industry, which often sees its products sold illegally. They say the legislation is needed to protect intellectual property and jobs.

Critics say the legislation could hurt the technology industry and infringe on free-speech rights. Among their concerns are provisions that would weaken cyber-security for companies and hinder domain access rights.

The most controversial provisions is in the House bill, which would have enabled federal authorities to "blacklist" sites that are alleged to distribute pirated content. That would essentially cut off portions of the Internet to all U.S. users. But congressional leaders appear to be backing off this provision.

Tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, eBay, AOL and others have spoken out against the legislation and said it threatens the industry's livelihood. Several online communities such as Reddit, Boing Boing and others have announced plans to go dark in protest as well.

The Obama administration also raised concerns about the legislation over the weekend and said it will work with Congress on legislation to help battle piracy and counterfeiting while defending free expression, privacy, security and innovation in the Internet.

Wikipedia's decision to go dark brings the issue into a much brighter spotlight. A group of Wikipedia users have discussed for more than a month whether it should react to the legislation.

Over the past few days, a group of more than 1,800 volunteers who work on the site and other users considered several forms of online protest, including banner ads and a global blackout of the site, the foundation said. Ultimately, the group supported the decision to black out the English version of the site.

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia who first announced the move on his Twitter account on Monday, said the bills are a threat to the free, open, and secure web.

"The whole thing is just a poorly designed mess," Wales said in an email to the Associated Press.

Wikipedia is also requesting that readers contact members of Congress about the bill during the blackout.

"I am personally asking everyone who cares about freedom and openness on the Internet to contact their Senators and Representatives," Wales said. "One of the things we have learned recently during the Arab spring events is that the Internet is a powerfully effective tool for the public to organize and have their voices heard."

Wikipedia will shut down access from midnight Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday night until midnight Wednesday.

This is the first time Wikipedia's English version has gone dark. Its Italian site came down once briefly in protest to an Internet censorship bill put forward by the Berlusconi government; the bill did not advance.

"Wikipedia is about being open," said Jay Walsh, spokesman for the Wikipedia foundation. "We are not about shutting down and protesting. It's not a muscle that is normally flexed."

Senate opens Renato Corona's impeachment trial

Manila, Philippines — The Senate formally began the impeachment trial against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona on Monday (January 16).

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who sits as presiding officer, banged the gavel past 2:00 p.m. to signal the start of the proceedings.

Senator Edgardo Angara opened the 2:11 p.m. proceedings with a prayer asking the heavens to grant him and his colleagues good judgment.

The impeachment complaint against Corona was initiated and signed by 188 members of the House of Representatives last Dec. 12, 2011 and filed in the Senate the following day.

On Dec. 14, 2011, the Senate convened itself as an impeachment court to try the case of Renato Corona.

The 11-man prosecution team was then immediately formed by the House. Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. will be the lead prosecutor while Cavite Representative Joseph Emilio Abaya will manage the prosecution team.

The other members of the Prosecution team are Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo C. Fariñas, Akbayan Rep. Arlene J. Bag-ao, CIBAC Rep. Sherwin N. Tugna, Cavite Rep. Elpidio F. Barzaga Jr., Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali, Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza, Pangasinan Rep. Marlyn L. Primicias-Agabas, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri J. Colmenares and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi B. Aggabao.

Corona's defense team on the other hand is composed of former Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas, Ramon Esguerra, Jacinto Jimenez and Tranquil Salvador of Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc and De Los Angeles law offices, German Lichauco III, Dennis Manalo and Noel Lazaro of Siguion Reyna Montecillo and Ongsiako law offices, Jose Roy III, former dean of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila [University of Manila]'s Law School, Joel Bodegon, managing partner of Bodegon Estorninos Guerzon Borje & Gozos law offices, Rico Paolo Quicho, partner in Quicho and Angeles law offices, and Karen Jimeno, a cum laude graduate from the UP College of Law.


Source Inquirer

Iran sentence a former U.S. Marine to death

Amir Hekmati in Colombia in 2010. Courtesy of Amir's
Family.

The State Department said on Monday that it was working to confirm Iranian state media reports that an Iran revolutionary court had sentenced an American citizen and former U.S. Marine Amir Mirzaei Hekmati to death on charges of spying for the CIA.

"If true, we strongly condemn this verdict," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a press statement on Monday. "Allegations that Hekmati either worked for, or was sent to Iran by the CIA, are simply untrue."

Hekmati "has 20 days to appeal the court's decision," the Washington Post's Thomas Erdbrink reported from Tehran, Iran.

Hekmati, 28, a former U.S. Marine Arabic language translator in Iraq, was born in Flagstaff, Arizona of Iranian descent and raised in Michigan. His family in Michigan, former colleagues and American officials say Hekmati never served in the CIA and was in Iran to visit his grandmother.

Hekmati's parents said they "are shocked and terrified" by the news. His mother Behnaz Hekmati wrote at the website the family set up to advocate for Amir's release, FreeAmir. "We believe that this verdict is the result of a process that was neither transparent nor fair."

"Amir did not engage in any acts of spying, or fighting against God, as the convicting Judge has claimed in his sentence," his mother's press statement continues. "A grave error has been committed, and we have authorized our legal representatives to make direct contact with the Iranian authorities to find a solution to this misunderstanding."

Hekmati had the permission of the Iranian interests—the U.S.-based diplomatic outpost for the Islamic republic—in Washington D.C. to travel to Iran in August to visit his elderly grandmother, his family has told Yahoo News. After his arrest on August 29 last year, Iranian officials initially urged the family to keep quiet in order to facilitate his release.

But in December, Iranian state media aired video of Hekmati allegedly confessing to having worked as a CIA agent—charges his family and friends vehemently deny and which they said appear to have been given under duress.

Hekmati joined the Marines in 2001 after graduating from high school. He was posted to Iraq after attending language school in Monterey, California. He left the Marines in 2005, and later worked for various companies, including those based in Kansas for the government contractor BAE Systems from March until September 2010.

Former U.S. Marine Jared Bystrom told Yahoo News on Tuesday that Hekmati called him last year to propose launching a business together. Bystrom and Hekmati had been posted by the Marines to the defense language school in Monterey, California in 2001, where Hekmati studied Arabic.

Another friend and former colleague of Hekmati's, Chase Winter, told Yahoo News last month that Hekmati had told him he was thinking of going back to school to get a business degree. Hekmati visited Winter in South America last September 2010 for a week's vacation, Winter said.

Hekmati's Facebook page until shortly after his Iran TV video confession last month featured photos of himself in various locales he had traveled and worked—hardly demonstrating the behavior of someone trying to conceal his activities, his associates note.

American officials again called on Monday for the Iran government to give Swiss diplomats consular access to Hekmati, to allow him to meet with a lawyer, and to release him without delay.

"Securing the freedom and safety of this young man is the top concern of the U.S. government in this case," a U.S. official who requested anonymity said on Monday. "Unfortunately, the Iranian government is not doing the right thing here. They have a track record of falsely accusing individuals of espionage for leverage."

International human rights groups also called on Iran to reverse the sentence, and raised concerns about the apparent lack of due process Hekmati was granted. Hekmati is the first American to be sentenced to death in Iran since the 1979 Iranian revolution, Amnesty International said.

"Like many other detainees in Iran, Amir Hekmati did not receive a fair trial and we question the timing and political circumstances of this decision," said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International's interim director for the Middle East and North Africa. "We know from past experience that the Iranian authorities sometimes rush forward with executions of political prisoners — including dual nationals — at politically sensitive times and we fear that this execution could happen within days or weeks."

"We are seriously concerned regarding the death sentence, secrecy, and continued lack of transparency surrounding the prosecution of Iranian-American citizen Amir Hekmati," the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran's Hadi Ghaemi said in a press release on Monday. "We ask the Iranian judiciary to adhere to international standards of due process and allow independent observers in the courtroom at his appeals trial."


Source Yahoo News

Luxury Ship aground off Italy: 3 bodies found, 69 missing

Porto Santo Stefano, Italy — According to an Associated Press (AP) report, divers searched the submerged part of a luxury cruise liner that went aground off Italy's coast in case any of 70 people unaccounted for might be trapped inside, a coast guard official said on Saturday, as passengers described a delayed and terrifying evacuation.

Three bodies were recovered from the sea after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the tiny island of Giglio near the coast of Tuscany late Friday, tearing a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in its hull and sending in a rush of water.

One of the victims was a Peruvian crew member, a diplomat from the South American country said, adding that a Peruvian woman was also missing. The ANSA news agency identified the other two fatalities as French passengers, but didn't cite a source.

Passengers described a scene reminiscent of "Titanic", saying they escaped the ship by crawling along upended hallways, desperately trying to reach safety as the lights went out and plates and glasses crashed. Helicopters whisked some survivors to safety, others were rescued by private boats in the area, and witnesses said some people jumped from the ship into the dark, cold sea.

The ship was lying virtually flat off Giglio's coast, its starboard side submerged in the water and the huge gash showing clearly on its upturned hull.

Passengers complained the crew failed to give instructions on how to evacuate and once the emergency became clear, and delayed in lowering the lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for many of them to be released.

SOPA Author is a Hypocrite!

While the Stop Online Piracy Act, otherwise known as SOPA, continues to dominate the news, the people responsible for the bill continue to break their own rules.

A few weeks ago, several SOPA sponsors were caught posting copyrighted videos on their personal websites.

Under SOPA, this is considered to be a felony, and is punishable by 5 years in prison.

One of the most prominent "criminals" was SOPA author Lamar Smith, who as it turns out, is a persistent copyright infringer himself.

This was the Lamar Smith's website before it was remodeled.

This was the photo copyright of DJ Schulte.

Vice reports that Smith used a Creative Commons licensed photo on his site without attributing the author.

"I do not see anywhere on the screen capture that you have provided that the image was attributed to the source (me)," photographer DJ Schulte told Vice.

"So my conclusion would be that Lamar Smith's organization did improperly use my image. So according to the SOPA bill, should it pass, maybe I could petition the court to take action against www.texansforlamarsmith.com."

Smith and his team, upon realizing they were caught, were quick to hide all traces to the infringing material, but  not before the screenshot above was captured.


Source TorrentFreak

Philippines to China: Let’s settle Spratlys row based on UNCLOS

Spratly Islands

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday urged the Chinese government to settle the dispute over the Spratly Islands based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) after a Chinese official earlier described the Philippines' claim to the territory as "groundless."

The Philippine DFA chief Alberto del Rosario said the Philippines wants a peaceful resolution to the dispute using the UNCLOS as basis for claiming the territory.

"The Philippines is therefore prepared to validate our claims under UNCLOS, and we cordially invite China to join us in endeavoring to validate its own claims," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Del Rosario issued the statement after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin insisted that China has an undisputed claim over the area.

The DFA chief, however, did not directly react to the Chinese official's claim.

Instead Del Rosario said, "We look upon our valuable and long-standing friendship with China to be one that is based on mutual respect and equality."

The Philippine government last year lodged a protest before the United Nations questioning China's claim over the Spratly Islands.

The Spratlys, a group of islets in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits, are being claimed in whole or in part by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines.

Terror threat remains in Manila

Philippine President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy"
Aquino III

Manila, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino ordered security officials on Wednesday to come up with a plan to ensure public safety amid terrorist threats and possible early election-related violence.

Aquino said raids on suspected safehouses of terrorists have yielded nothing so far.

He said there have always been unsubstantiated reports of terror threats, bu the difference in the last few days is there have been sightings of terrorists and explosive devices.

Aquino said the threat remains for so long as the suspected terrorists have not been arrested and no case has been filed in court.

Police earlier said they were hunting Islamic militants who may still be planning to attack the nation's capital, even after the Black Nazarene procession went ahead without incident.

President Aquino had warned that militants were planning to bomb Monday's spectacular annual festival, when an estimated 8 million pilgrims converged on Manila in a bid to touch the alleged centuries-old icon of Jesus Christ.

The feared attack in Asia's Catholic outpost did not take place after heavy security was imposed in the city, but national police chief Nicanor Bartolome said on Tuesday that there was still a threat.

"Metro Manila remains on full alert," Bartolome told reporters, adding between 6 and 9 suspects were being tracked.

"We are conducting surveillance on certain houses," he said without giving further details.

National police spokesman Agrimero Cruz also said safety measures put in place for the procession would remain on Manila's mass public transport services, as well as its airports and the city's port.

"We apologize to the public over the measures that are in place to protect the majority. These are being undertaken with public safety and security in mind," Cruz told reporters. "We can't say how long these will last."

The government had said the suspects may be members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the country's deadliest terrorist attacks, or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The front has been waging a separatist rebellion in the south since the 1960s that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Its leaders are currently involved in peace talks with the government and have disavowed terrorism, but have previously acknowledged an inability to control "rogue" members.

Cops search for kidnapped Australian in Sulu

Australian captive Warren Rodwell

Zamboanga, Philippines - Authorities in southern Philippines are verifying information that an Australian kidnapped in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay on December last year has been transferred to Sulu.

Police Chief Superintendent Bievenido Latag, police regional director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the information states that Warren Rodwell was allegedly brought to Talipao, Sulu on January 7 this year.

Latag said Rodwell was reportedly accompanied by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) to Sumisip, Basilan-based commander Radzmir Alih.

"Dinala siya sa Patikul sa grupo ni Radulan Sahiron [He was brought to Patikul, to the group of Radulan Sahiron]," he said.

Latag said that the 3 recent explosions in the bridges in Patikul and Panamao are diversionary tactics to send the military troops away from Talipao, in preparation for Rodwell's arrival in the province.

Latag said the ASG in Basilan probably felt the military pressure and sought a safer place to hide the Australian captive.

"Bugbog sarado na ang Basilan, masyado na maraming militar doon kaysa sa Sulu dahil sa Al-Barka incident [Basilan is already overwhelmed, there's too many military there than there is in Sulu because of the Al-Barka incident]," Latag said.

Latag, however, clarified that they are still trying to validate this information.

Meanwhile, the Western Mindanao Command said this was the original plan of the ASG, but the plan to transfer Rodwell to Sulu did not materialize.

In a text message sent to ABS CBN News, the military said Sahiron refused to take custody of the captive since the group recently lost their lair in Sinumaan Complex in Patikul town.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed that Sahiron's group is currently scattered and on the run after the marines occupied their former stronghold.

Latag added the Federal Police of the Australian government is continuously giving support through information in the effort to recover Rodwell at the soonest possible time.



Source ABS CBN News

4 militants killed as US drone strikes resume in Pakistan

Miranshah - The deadly US drone campaign in Pakistan's tribal zone resumed with a missile strike that killed four militants, two months after a controversial NATO raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

The CIA campaign had reportedly been suspended to avoid worsening relations between the United States and Pakistan after the deadly November 26 incident, which eroded even more the thin veneer of trust between the wary allies.

The four militants were killed late Tuesday when two missiles struck their compound on the outskirts of Miranshah in North Waziristan, a lawless tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said.

The attack set the building on fire and flames could be seen from the roofs of houses in Miranshah, which lies five kilometers (three miles) away, according to residents.

It was the first missile strike in Pakistan since November 17. It remains to be seen if it presages a new round of attacks on Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants based in the remote territory bordering Afghanistan.

November's strike by NATO helicopters triggered outrage in Pakistan and aggravated tensions in an already shaky relationship with Washington, prompting Islamabad to block alliance supply convoys heading to Afghanistan.

Islamabad also ordered the United States last month to leave Shamsi air base in western Pakistan, from where it is believed to have launched some of its drones. Others are thought to be flown from within Afghanistan.

Pakistani defense analyst Talat Masood said the latest strike showed that the United States was pressing on with the covert campaign, as the lull had done little to mend frayed ties.

"America was exercising I think restraint over this period in order to improve its relationship with the Pakistan military and overall leadership," he said.

"Now that it has resumed, it shows that this policy of the US is not going to change," he said. "There has not been much movement in the US-Pakistan relationship and they cannot afford militants to become dangerous and effective by using this period to consolidate and gain strength."

A joint US-NATO investigation concluded last month that a catalog of errors and botched communications led to the soldier's deaths in November. But Pakistan rejected the findings, insisting the strikes had been deliberate.

NATO's probe said that both sides failed to give the other information about their operational plans or the location of troops and that there was inadequate coordination by US and Pakistani officers.

The US drone campaign has reportedly killed dozens of Al-Qaeda operatives and hundreds of low-ranking fighters in Pakistan since the first Predator strike in 2004.

But the program has incensed many Pakistanis and fuels widespread anti-American sentiment throughout the country.

The Los Angeles Times reported last month that the US Central Intelligence Agency had suspended drone strikes on gatherings of low-ranking militants in Pakistan due to the tensions caused by the campaign.

The latest drone strike came on the same day that a remote-controlled bomb killed 35 people and wounded more than 60 others in the troubled Khyber tribal region of northwest Pakistan.

The region had served as the main supply route for NATO forces operating in Afghanistan before the suspension triggered by the November incident.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing but local residents suggested it was a tribal dispute.

The United States denounced the blast, which struck in a marketplace.

"We remain deeply committed to working with Pakistan to address these kinds of terrorist threats and the results of violent extremism," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

She added that Washington could not confirm reports that Al-Qaeda was behind the attack.

The border crossing for supplies to foreign troops fighting in Afghanistan remains closed. NATO said this month that it wants to get relations with Pakistan back on track as quickly as possible so it can be reopened.

Filipina OFW set for repatriation from Syria dies

An overseas Filipino worker (OFW), who was getting ready to be repatriated back to the Philippines, died in Syria after being hit by a vehicle.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez said Violeta Cortez was found lying unconscious on a bridge in Damascus on January 5. She died in a hospital 3 days after the accident.

"Nakikiramay po tayo sa pamilya ni Violeta kasi pumanaw na si Violeta... Ang hinala ay biktima siya ng hit-and-run. Kaaagad dinala siya ng isang good samaritan sa hospital [We sympathize with the family of Violeta because Violeta passed away... We suspect that she was a victim of a hit-and-run. She was brought to a hospital by a good samaritan]," said Hernandez in an interview with Noli de Castro on dzMM, Tuesday morning.

According to Hernandez, the Syrian employer said Cortez left their home and only found out about the accident when police summoned them.

Last January 3, de Castro was able to talk to Cortez on his radio program.

During that phone interview, Cortez said she really wanted to go home but her employer did not want to release her even if the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) was willing to pay the deployment cost.

However, Hernandez said the embassy was able to negotiate with her employer and finally agreed on paying $2,000 as deployment cost.

"Handa na silang pumunta sa embahada para sa repatriation. Nagkasundo na yung embassy na i-repatriate at dadalhin si Violeta sa embahada for repatriation sana this week. Ang pinagkasunduan ay $2,000. Last January 8, dapat dadalhin na doon sa embassy si Violeta kasama na yung exit visa para for repatriation [They were ready to proceed to the embassy for repatriation. The embassy had made an agreement to repatriate and bring Violeta to the embassy for repatriation suppose to be this week. The settlement was $2,000. Last January 8, Violeta was to be brought to the embassy along with her exit visa for repatriation]," he added.

The DFA spokesperson said it may take a month before Cortez' remains are repatriated since the case is still under investigation.

"This is still under investigation pero ang ginawa po ng embahada ay ini-relay sa Ministry of Foreign Affairs para tingnan at gawin yung kumpleto at mabilis na imbistigasyon para malaman natin yung katotohanan sa kanyang pagkamatay at masiguro nating walang foul play [This is still under investigation but what the embassy did was relay it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to look and make a complete and quick investigation to determine the truth behind her death and to make sure there is no foul play]," said Hernandez.

"Gusto din natin na ang magbabayad ng repatriation cost ay yung employer at kung halimbawa may mga compensation na kailangang bayaran nila [We also want the employer to pay for the repatriation cost and for example there are compensation they need to pay], we will also demand that."

Hernandez said he got in touch with Cortez's family in San Pedro, Laguna, as well as with her sister, Emma, who is also working in Syria.

"Mukhang gusto nang sumabay ni Emma na kasama yung labi ni Violeta sa repatriation [It seems Emma also wanted to be repatriated along with the remains of Violeta]," he said.

It was also known that Violeta was sent to work abroad by an illegal recruiter. The government also plans to penalize the person responsible for her illegal departure for Syria.

Ex-US soldier charged with trying to join Shebab

Islamist fighters loyal to Somalia's Al-Qaeda inspired al-Shebab
group perform military drills at a village in Lower Shabelle region
in 2011.

A former American soldier with specialist intelligence and cryptology training has been charged with trying to join Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants, according to U.S. justice officials on Monday.

Craig Baxam, who is a 24-yer-old from the Maryland suburbs outside Washington, appeared briefly in court on Monday near the U.S. capital to hear charges that he attempted to join - and provide material support - to a terrorist group.

Baxam, who served in Iraq and South Korea, was apprehended on December 23 aboard a bus near the Kenyan city of Mombasa with $600 to $700 in cash that he intended to give the Shebab as an introductory offer, prosecutors said.

Baxam allegedly told FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) officers that he wanted to die fighting for the Shebab "with a gun in my hand," and replied "that is awesome" when informed that the militant group encouraged beating people who did not attend prayers.

Counter-terrorism experts have expressed growing concern about a steady stream of recruits, many of them British, making their way to Somalia to join the Shebab.

An extremist accused of heading a wave of British recruits to the Shebab was arrested four days before Baxam in Mombasa.

Baxam, who joined the U.S. military in 2007, was deployed to Baghdad shortly after finishing eight months of advanced training for cryptology and intelligence.

He returned home after his Iraq deployment and then re-enlisted before being deployed to South Korea for one year beginning in August 2010.

According to court documents, it was in South Korea that he secretly converted to Islam after visiting an extremist website. He quit the army days later and returned to the United States in mid-2011.

"One evening, Baxam was surfing the Internet and came across a named Islamic religious website," the affidavit said.

"An article therein about the Day of Judgment spoke to Baxam. Baxam read more and immediately realized that Islam was the truth. He wanted to read more about Islam and the more he read, the more he wanted," it said.

"Baxam's conversion was in secret, except that his roommate in the army eventually figured it out because he saw Baxam's prayer rug and books."

The fresh convert struggled to adjust to life back home, residing with his father in Maryland and briefly working for a television services company.

"Baxam said that living an Islamic way of life in the United States is oppressive," prosecutors said. "To live as a Muslim in the United States you need to compromise. He finds the constant playing of music and constant display of pictures disrespectful. Only Allah can create images."

After considering Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan and parts of the southern Philippines under the control of Muslim rebels, he decided on Somalia and the Shebab, prosecutors said.

He cashed in his army savings and bought a plane ticket to Nairobi because he thought a round-trip would not arouse suspicion.

Baxam arrived in Nairobi on December 22 and caught a night bus to Mombasa, where he was arrested the following day as he made for the Somali border.

"His plan was to cross the border and find the first mosque. That mosque would be a Shebab mosque," prosecutors said.

Baxam was questioned by Kenyan anti-terrorism police and the FBI in Nairobi before being put on a plane back to the United States to stand trial.

He is to appear again in court on Wednesday. If found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

The Shebab has long sought to recruit Westerners to join the bloody uprising it launched in 2007 against the Western-backed transitional government.

The Islamic militants lost a key source of finance when they pulled out of fixed positions in the capital Mogadishu last August, switching to guerrilla attacks on African Union-backed forces there.

Now the extremist fighters largely rely for funding on the southern port of Kismayo and the charcoal trade, both of which are under pressure from Kenyan forces who crossed into southern Somalia to attack them in October.

Philippine Chief Justice can't afford condos but has it?

Philippines - Malacañang on Saturday stepped up the pressure on the alleged corrupt, former-President Arroyo puppet, Chief Justice Renato Corona to disclose his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), claiming that Corona's salary as a government official would not have been enough for him to pay for the purchase of a luxury condominium unit worth more than P14 million (US$317,000).

By Budget Secretary Florencio Abad's reckoning, if an official does not earn enough to buy a multimillion-peso property (plus a few others, as alleged by the House prosecution panel in Corona's impeachment trial) then the properties may have been acquired through other means.

"If it's true that he owns not just the Bellagio penthouse but possibly other real properties in pricy locations and knowing that the income alone from government service will not afford the Chief Justice the ability to acquire those assets, a reasonable mind can only conclude that the Chief Justice may have other sources of income outside of government or that those properties may have been acquired some other way," Abad said in a text message.

"That it why it becomes even more compelling for the Chief Justice to publicly disclose his SALN. Otherwise, inquiring minds will begin to speculate," he said.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said a government official's salary would really not be enough to buy a premium piece of property unless he has received a sizeable inheritance or has returns on investments made before entering government.

The Palace officials made the remarks after the publication of Corona's SALNs from the years that he served in Malacañang, which placed his net worth at almost P15 million in 1992 and at P14 million in 2002. The news media Inquirer obtained the data from a source privy to the House prosecution panel's evidence in Corona's impeachment trial.

Abad said he has yet to see Corona's SALNs for 1992 and 2002 while Valte said the declaration should be in the records of the Office of the President. She said she would look into the records to see if the Palace had the same figures.

Aquino administration officials and anti-Corona partisans have been harping on Corona's failure to make public his SALN since joining the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court spokesperson Midas Marquez has explained that high court justices have not published their SALNs since a 1992 resolution of the Narvasa court restricting the release of the SALNs of justices and judges to shield them from acts which may "endanger, diminish or destroy their independence and objectivity in the performance of their judicial functions."

Court order needed

Justices of the Supreme Court are obliged to submit documents concerning their assets and liabilities to the clerk of court every year. Since the 1992 resolution, parties requesting a copy of a judge's or a justice's SALN have to secure a court order.

Since the outcry for Corona to disclose his SALN, two Supreme Court justices have released details of their SALNs. Associate Justices Antonio Carpio and Maria Lourdes Sereno furnished the Kaya Natin [eng: We can do it], one of the groups demanding that Corona produce his SALNs to show proof that he can afford to buy a pricy condominium, summaries of their SALNs.

House prosecutors are timing to present Corona's alleged ownership of expensive real estate as evidence of corruption in his impeachment trial to start a week from now in the Senate.

According to Valte, it would not be possible to afford a P14-million luxury condominium unit - let alone a few other pieces of premium property - while living on a government salary for roughly 20 years.

"Not unless it could be shown there was an inheritance while in service," Valte told state-run radio dzRB.

Valte also said having the means to buy a property like Corona's alleged 300-square meter unit at the Bellagio development in Bonifacio Global City would depend on the pieces of property that he already owned upon entering government service.

"If only on a government salary, it really wouldn't be enough," she said.

Meanwhile, Marquez did not answer calls and text messages to his phone, asking for comment on the latest sally from Malacañang.

Ernesto Francisco Jr., one of Corona's lawyers, also declined to comment as he was withdrawing from the Chief Justice's legal team.

He declined to reveal the reasons for his departure, saying only that he would formalize it on Tuesday.