Mysterious ”insurance file” posted on WikiLeaks

WASHINGTON: Whistleblower website WikiLeaks has posted a mysterious encrypted “insurance file,” touching off speculation about what it contains.

Wired magazine said the 1.4-gigabyte “insurance file” appeared on WikiLeaks” “Afghan War Diary” page several days after the site released tens of thousands of classified documents related to the war in Afghanistan.

Cryptome, another whistleblower site, said it may have been “pre-positioned for public release” in the event of a “takedown” of WikiLeaks by US authorities or if something happens to its founder, Julian Assange, an Australian national.

“In either scenario, WikiLeaks volunteers, under a prearranged agreement with Assange, could send out a password or passphrase to allow anyone who has downloaded the file to open it,” Wired said.

The file is also available on a file-sharing site in addition to the WikiLeaks page.

Cryptome.org speculated the “insurance file” may contain the 15,000 Afghan files whose release WikiLeaks said it had delayed “as part of a harm minimization process demanded by our source.”

WikiLeaks has never identified the source of the Afghan files but suspicion has fallen on Bradley Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst who is under arrest for allegedly leaking video of a 2007 US Apache helicopter strike in Baghdad in which civilians died.

Wired said the “insurance file” may contain more material from Manning, including war logs from Iraq, video from Afghanistan and 260,000 US State Department cables.

New In Town Movie Review

Urbanites often find it difficult to get out of their comfort zone which happens to be the city they live in. A city sucks peace out of your life and compensates for it by offering you with better infrastructure facilities and availability of technology. Work rate quickens and money flows in faster. But the professionalism of a bustling city leaves no room in your life to actually live it to the fullest. Humanity, unconditional love, innocence are words that seem apt only in a fairy tale… unless, you get to experience it yourself.

Lucy Hill (Renee Zellweger) is an ambitious woman who lives in Miami and works for a food processing giant. She loves her city life but wants to climb the corporate ladder. She thus grabs an opportunity of handling her company’s underperforming branch in New Ulm, Minnesota hoping a promotion sooner.

Once she shifts to her new town, her down-to-earth Minnesotan staff helps her regain humanity. Promotion is no longer the only goal which motivates her to make her branch excel in the business. She even launches a new product on her own when her company plans to shut the branch owing to its continuous bad returns.

New in Town has a sweet story to tell but unfortunately the execution isn’t great enough. Characters and their affection for each other just don’t come across, nor the romantic relationship that Lucy shares with Ted (Harry Connick Jr). Ted happens to be the union leader of the branch, is a widower and lives with his 13 year old girl in New Ulm.

The film evokes a few laughs in few scenes but that’s it. There is nothing extremely comic or romantic or even emotional in this film as is intended by the director.

Renee Zellweger disappoints as she is anything but the charming actress we have seen in Jerry McGuire, Bridget Jones’ Diary and many such beautiful movies. She seems uninvolved and detached from her character. We wonder if its bad make-up or actual signs of ageing but Renee looks haggard! Harry Connick Jr plays his part well but his character itself being poorly sketched he doesn’t have much scope anyways.

The story should ideally make you feel warm and mushy inside but you don’t feel anything when it ends.

How Lucy goes about single-handedly launching the new product and thus saving jobs in the new town – the process itself is missing thus making the film shallow and mediocre.

You can safely give this film a miss…

Cast: Renee Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr

Direction: Jonas Elmer

Genre: Romantic Comedy

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New In Town Movie Review was first posted on December 12, 2009 at 12:34 pm.
©2009 “India News“.

Osama Bin Laden Son Refused British Entry

LONDON: A bid by one of Osama bin Laden’s sons to visit Britain was rejected by an immigration tribunal today amid questions about his proposed marriage to a British woman and his attitude to his father.

Omar bin Laden, 28, lost his appeal against Britain’s refusal in April 2008 to allow him to move here with British-born Zaina Alsabah, 54, who he claimed to have married in his homeland of Saudi Arabia in 2007.

The deputy president of the asylum and immigration tribunal, Mark Ockelton, said their union “was not to be regarded as valid in English law”, partly because they were both married to other people at the time.

Ockelton said that he was “not satisfied” that the pair, who met in September 2006, had any intention of marrying or living together.

In rejecting Omar’s request last year, British authorities in Egypt, where the couple were living, cited as one reason his “continuing loyalty” to his father and said his presence in Britain could cause “public concern”.

Ockelton said a person’s parents should not count against them in deciding whether they were allowed into Britain or now, but said Omar’s view that his father was not a terrorist “might cause concern”.

“It seems to me that the presence in the United Kingdom of a person closely related to Osama bin Laden and expressing the views that the appellant does express would be likely to cause public disquiet and perhaps public disorder,” he said.

Omar is the fourth of 11 children by his father’s first wife and one of reportedly 19 fathered by the man who claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

He has claimed not to have seen his father since 2000. Zaina, formerly known as Jane Felix-Browne, is a Muslim who had been married at least five times before, the tribunal ruling said.

She was described as “in poor health, suffering from multiple sclerosis”.

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Osama Bin Laden Son Refused British Entry was first posted on December 5, 2009 at 3:39 pm.

Turkish Military Chiefs Quizzed over Alleged Plot

ISTANBUL: Turkish prosecutors are questioning former chiefs of the army and air and naval forces over an alleged secularist plot to topple Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-oriented government.

The questioning of the retired commanders, including Army Chief Gen. Aytac Yalman, Air Force Chief Gen. Ibrahim Firtina and Navy Chief Adm. Ozden Ornek, on Saturday is expected to shed light on allegations of abandoned coup plots.

Several other military officers are already on trial for their alleged role. Some charges are based on excerpts from a diary in 2007 that is said to belong Ornek. The diary talks about coup plans that were abandoned, partly because of a lack of support from other commanders. Ornek denied he wrote the diary.

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Turkish Military Chiefs Quizzed over Alleged Plot was first posted on December 5, 2009 at 5:26 pm.

Vampire Diaries Episode 7 Full Episode

Vampire Diaries Episode 7 Full Episode: Vampire Diaries episode 7 full episode and Vampire Diaries episode 8 preview . Vampire Diaries has become so popular that people have been writing to the broadcasters to prolong the timing of the show. Many people have written to make it two hour long.

Vampire Diaries Episode 7 Full Episode:Vampire Diaries episode 7 full episode and Vampire Diaries episode 8 preview. Vampire Diaries has become so popular that people have been writing to the broadcasters to prolong the timing of the show. Many people have written to make it two hour long.
Vow, nothing would be better than that. And people would be able to enjoy the dreadful beauties haunting them throughout the show.

The Vampire Diaries is based on a novel series penned by L.J. Smith where you are given the insight into the diary of Elena Gilbert. Elena had always been a star student; beautiful, popular and involved with school and friends.

As the fall semester begins, Elena becomes fascinated with the mysterious new boy in school, Stefan Salvatore, and she has no way of knowing he is a centuries-old vampire.

While Stefan struggles to live peacefully among humans, his brother Damon is the embodiment of violence and brutality. Now these two vampire brothers-one good, the other evil-are at war for Elena’s soul in the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia.

Produced by Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson, the show has a pair of ageless vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon Salvatore. In the TVD they are shown making efforts to integrate into the lives of humans in present-day Virginia.

Reality show watchers feel that the extension may help show’s network CW to improve its ratings. To date the show premiered on September 10 attracted 4.8 million viewers. This was the network’s highest-rated series debut in its history. Surprisingly, some 3.9 million views tuned in to their popular show to watch the October 15 episode.