LONDON - Business social network LinkedIn said Wednesday that some of its users' passwords have been stolen and leaked onto the Internet.

LinkedIn Corp. did not say how many of the more than six million passwords that were distributed online corresponded to LinkedIn accounts. In a blog post Wednesday, the company said it was continuing to investigate.

Graham Cluley, a consultant with U.K. Web security company Sophos, recommended that LinkedIn users change their passwords immediately.

LinkedIn has a lot of information on its more than 160 million members, including potentially confidential information related to jobs being sought. Companies, recruiting services and others have accounts alongside individuals who post resumes and other professional information.

There's added concern that many people use the same password on multiple websites, so whoever stole the data could use the information to access Gmail, Amazon, PayPal and other accounts, Cluley said.

Before confirming the breach, LinkedIn issued security tips as a precautionary measure. The company said users should change passwords at least every few months and avoid using the same ones on multiple sites.

LinkedIn also had suggestions for making passwords stronger, including avoiding passwords that match words in a dictionary. One way is to think of a meaningful phrase or song and create a password using the first letter of each word.

Cluley said hackers are working together to break the encryption on the passwords.

"All that's been released so far is a list of passwords and we don't know if the people who released that list also have the related email addresses," he said. "But we have to assume they do. And with that combination, they can begin to commit crimes."

It wasn't known who was behind such an attack.

LinkedIn's blog post had few details about what happened. It said compromised passwords have been deactivated, and members with affected accounts will be sent emails with further instructions.

While the passwords appear to be encrypted, security researcher Marcus Carey warned that users should not take solace from such security measures.

"If a website has been breached, it doesn't matter what encryption they're using because the attacker at that point controls a lot of the authentication," said Carey, who works at security-risk assessment firm Rapid7. "It's 'game over' once the site is compromised."

Cluley warned that LinkedIn users should be careful about malicious email generated around the incident. The fear is that people, after hearing about the incident, would be tricked into clicking on links in those emails. Instead of getting to the real LinkedIn site to change a password, it would go to a scammer, who can then collect the information and use it for criminal activities.

LinkedIn said its emails will not include any links.

Shares of LinkedIn, which is based in Mountain View, California, gained 8 cents to close Wednesday at $93.08.

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/06/06/millions-of-linkedin-passwords-reportedly-leaked-take-action-now/

Although not yet confirmed by the business-networking website, it is being widely speculated that over six million passwords belonging to LinkedIn users have been compromised.

A file containing 6,458,020 SHA-1 unsalted password hashes has been posted on the internet, and hackers are working together to crack them.

Although the data which has been released so far does not include associated email addresses, it is reasonable to assume that such information may be in the hands of the criminals.

Investigations by Sophos researchers have confirmed that the file does contain, at least in part, LinkedIn passwords.

As such, it would seem sensible to suggest to all LinkedIn users that they change their passwords as soon as possible as a precautionary step. Of course, make sure that the password you use is unique (in other words, not used on any other websites), and hard to crack.

If you were using the same passwords on other websites - make sure to change them too. And never again use the same password on multiple websites.

How to change your LinkedIn password
1. Log into LinkedIn.
2. You should see your name in the top right hand corner of the webpage. Click on it, and you will open a drop-down menu. Choose "Settings".

3. Choose the option to change your password.

4. After entering your old password, you will have to enter your new (hopefully unique and hard-to-crack password) twice.

Don't delay. Do it now. And if there are any more updates from LinkedIn we will let you know.

Edward Zuckerberg pulls his iPhone out of his jeans pocket and hits the familiar blue Facebook icon.

He's eager to show off his latest effort to market his suburban dental practice. The man known as "Painless Dr. Z" is offering a free teeth-bleaching kit to the first 10 patients who use their smartphones to tell their Facebook friends that they've stopped by his office.

On the receptionist's desk, a blue sticker exhorts clients to " 'Like' us on Facebook." The effort has paid off. The dental practice has more than 1,100 fans.

"It broadcasts to all their friends that they patronize this business," he said. "I hate to use the word 'sales' in my profession, but we are salesmen."

There's an easy explanation for the 56-year-old's familiarity with social networking. This bald, bearded dentist is father to that other Zuckerberg, Mark, the curly-haired founder of Facebook who grew up above the basement office.

But this isn't the story of the kid genius helping Pop set up a profile. Long before Mark became a billionaire and the subject of the Academy Award-winning biopic "The Social Network," his father was embracing a digital future from the confines of his small business.

The elder Zuckerberg's first office computer — an IBM XT with a hard drive whose capacity was one twenty-five-thousandth of the standard today — was purchased in 1984, the year Mark was born.

He gave his son his first lessons in programming on the family's Atari 800, which looked like a big electronic typewriter. And he made sure each of his four children had a computer.

"A key word here is 'vision,' " the dentist said with a terse bravado that could have been lifted from Aaron Sorkin's screenplay. "We're all exposed to a lot of things, but how many can see where things are heading?"

At first glance, the office of Edward Zuckerberg, D.D.S., doesn't look like a crucible of innovation.

Tucked into a modest, gray-paneled house in Dobbs Ferry, 45 minutes north of New York City, it has low, tiled ceilings. Soft rock and local traffic reports drone through the hallways. A plaque on a light-blue wall reads: "Be true to your teeth or they will be false to you."

advertising

But in the three examination rooms, patients can watch Internet-streamed television on flat-screen monitors or soothe themselves with music on one of the office iPods. Those needing dental implants don't have to wait long. Zuckerberg has the equipment to scan a broken tooth and fabricate a replacement in just a few minutes.

"Part of my shtick, if you would call it here, is that I am a technology guy," said Zuckerberg, a stout, slow-moving man with a penetrating gaze.

Rosa Cavalluzzi, his longtime assistant, should know. She ticked off some of the advances during her 23 years at the office: panoramic X-ray machines and scanners for making electronic copies of incoming mail to satisfy Zuckerberg's quest for a paperless office.

She had to hand over her scheduling book to Zuckerberg when appointments were computerized. "I cried," she said, only half in jest.

"I brought her out of the dinosaur age," Zuckerberg said. "You can't be part of the scene here and not be up to snuff."

Zuckerberg's wife, Karen, was part of the scene, helping out in the office downstairs and raising the kids upstairs until she gave up the office work a few years ago. The practice now has seven employees, including two other dentists, and about 3,000 patients.

Like his son, Zuckerberg is an evangelist for social media, albeit on a smaller stage. In February he spoke to a crowded room of dental students at Columbia University about "Technology Integration in the Dental Office."

Tom Connolly, a Columbia faculty member, attended in the hopes of improving his own dental practice. Zuckerberg's lecture on digitizing his office, delivering appointment reminders by email and marketing with Facebook sent Connolly away buzzing with ideas.

"The fact that I've always looked toward being cutting-edge, and the fact that he was seven to 10 years ahead of me, I was really impressed with that," Connolly said.

Mark is not the only child to share his father's passion. The youngest Zuckerberg daughter, Arielle, is a senior at Claremont McKenna College studying computer science; she designed the office's website.

The oldest daughter, Randi, works at Facebook as the head of marketing. The middle daughter, Donna, a doctoral student in classics, is married to a computer whiz. That son-in-law, Harry Schmidt, has supplemented his graduate-school income by designing an iPhone app for translating Latin.

It is Schmidt, not Mark, whom dentist Zuckerberg calls when he needs IT help.

"Mark was never a repair kind of guy," Zuckerberg said. "Harry can do lots of stuff that Mark can't."

It's easy to see where Mark inherited the cool dispassion for which he is known. The elder Zuckerberg talks about Facebook more from the perspective of a calculating businessman than a proud parent.

"It's a tremendous marketing tool for business. It certainly is the biggest bang for your marketing buck," he said.

Zuckerberg has mostly ignored people who post comments about his son on the dental office Facebook wall. In person, he grows visibly uncomfortable when asked about him. (Mark was equally reticent about his father.)

Though Zuckerberg talks little of his famous offspring, he is quick to defend him. He takes particular offense at director David Fincher's portrayal of his son as a back-stabbing, arrogant, socially inept savant in "The Social Network." The movie, Zuckerberg said, was "inaccurate" and "disturbing."

Like his son — who is known for wearing T-shirts and driving an aging Acura — Zuckerberg has tenaciously clung to the same life he had before Facebook garnered half a billion users and converted "friend" into a verb.

The biggest change in his life, he said, is the amount of time he has to spend deflecting questions from patients about Mark and his company.

"I guess I've lost some of my identity. I've always been the dentist, and now I'm the father of the Facebook guy," Zuckerberg said, just a bit ruefully. But then he perked up: "You know, I'm still the dentist."

Chinese Magical Hard-Drive

A Russian friend of mine has posted this absolutely amazing story.

He works at a hard-drive repair center in a Russian town, located near the Chinese border. A couple of days ago a customer has brought a broken 500Gb USB-drive that he had bought in a Chinese store across the river, for an insanely low price. But the drive was not working: if you, say, save a movie onto the drive, playing the saved movie back resulted in replaying just the last 5 minutes of the film.


The whole service center was rolling on the floor laughing. This was not the first time someone has brought a disk like that. And the previous drives were also bought in China,  They opened up the drive right before the astonished customer's eyes. This is what they saw:


It's a 128-MB flash-drive. Working in a "looped" mode - when it runs out of space, it starts overwriting from the beginning. My friend said they're still trying to figure out how did the Chinese do that. Because the drive reports "correct" file sizes and disk-capacity. And the "looped-overwriting" does not touch the other files present on the drive.

The device looks pretty convincing - lots of tech labels and stuff,  The Chinese salesman even saved something to the drive to demonstrate that it "works" in the store.

The hacker collective Anonymous has attacked Sony websites all week, taking them down intermittently in retaliation for Sony's federal lawsuit against PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz ("GeoHot". But in recent days, "Operation Sony" morphed from a standard website attack into something a bit more personal, as some Anons formed a separate "Sony Recon" mission and began tracking down corporate executives, their wives, the schools their children attend, and the shops at which they buy their flowers. And the way they obtain that information can be ingenious—and disquieting.

Gathering this sort of information is referred to as "doxing" or collecting "dox" on targets, and such data is usually collected and distributed so that others can use it "for the lulz"—amusement, legitimate protest, or harassment.
Jack Tretton

Public information sources, if properly collated, can supply a wealth of detail. For instance, when a Sony exec's address was located, it was the work of a few moments on local government websites to find out what he pays in taxes, how large the house is, and who lives next door.

When public information just won't do, a bit of social engineering can sometimes supply an answer. It was social engineering that played a role in the Anonymous attacks on HBGary, and some Anonymous operatives are quite skilled at exploiting others.

For instance, one of Sony Recon's key players decided to find the home address and phone number of Sony Computer Entertainment America head Jack Tretton, and he claims to have succeeded using a clever social hack. Here's how it allegedly happened, over four hours:

s[i]onyrecon335: Indeed Stalin, I can't hack--But I know how to manipulate people
Stalin-chan: hey
Stalin-chan: thats better than hacking
D1sc0n3kt: lol sure it is!
…
sonyrecon335: I'm going to speak to several companies in the Area,
              see if he has ever ordered flowers for his wife etc -
              that could lead to a home address.
sonyrecon335: [Business name redacted] - Foster City, CA, 94404 -
              These people have a record of an order placed on February 11th
              by a J. Tretton. That's all I could get.
sonyrecon335: I'll give it time, and i'll get a third party to phone
              posing as Tretton.
…
sonyrecon335: Just confirmed the address I have for Tretton with
             the previously mentioned Florists - and it matched. We have him
,
sonyrecon335: Just ordered a bunch of Pizza's to be delivered
            to Tretton's house under the name Anon Mous
sonyrecon335: That's a little reward to myself for finding the address[/i]

With that information shared among channel participants, they could then turn to finding Tretton's home on Google Street View and talking about the car in Tretton's driveway. Within a half hour, sonyrecon335 decided to move beyond the pizza orders and to call the home himself.

sonyrecon335: About to phone Tretton
got2b: Haha you're going to actually do it?
irannaked: got his number?
got2b: Yeaa : )
sonyrecon335: for sure
irannaked: NICE!
irannaked: ask him why he wants to press charges against geohot
sonyrecon335: Right, let's see what he has to say.
…
sonyrecon335: ringing him now
,
sonyrecon335: Erm the naughty woman just hung up on me, I assume it was his wife
…
sonyrecon335: I asked if Jack was there, she asked who it was
          and I said Anonymous

Information collected went far beyond home addresses, though. Anons began collecting much more information on people like overall Sony boss Sir Howard Stringer and his family, with one complaining, "No one found ANY info on Stringers kids?" But they did eventually find information on Stringer, including his height, his addresses, his old fraternity, his corporate security officer, the dates he adopted his son and then his daughter, the schools he attended, his brother's name and year of birth, and the names of his parents.

One Anon even claimed that he had access to information obtained from the garbage outside Stringer's Manhattan apartment.

FresnoNews: might have some new info on their execs to add to the pp
FresnoNews: waiting a few mins
FresnoNews: couple ssn's
FresnoNews: should know in 3-5 mins
FresnoNews: someone garbagebinned stringer and is going through it
FresnoNews: got a few statements but no ssn yet
FresnoNews: lots of papers
FresnoNews: NONE shredded
…
FresnoNews: NYC residence
narc0synthesis: thats bleeping pro

Did this really happen? It's almost impossible to know. I later asked sonyrecon335, one of the more active members of the op, if it was real. He told me that it wasn't real, just a bit of channel chatter; we can't be sure either way.

$sql = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM staffs WHERE s_no = '".$_POST['staffs']."'";

$staffNo=$_POST['staffs'];

$sql = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM staffs WHERE s_no = '$staffNo'";  // Note the single quotes!

The Rev. Pat Robertson turned heads with his appearance on The 700 Club on Wednesday when he blamed Haitian history for Tuesday's devastating earthquake. In short, Robertson claimed that the quake was divine retribution for a pact with the devil that was sworn long ago, a statement he was audacious enough to make while the 800 number for disaster relief scrolled at the bottom of the broadcast.

"And you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French, you know, Napoleon the Third and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.' True story. And so the devil said, 'O.K., it's a deal.' "

So what was Robertson referring to? The theory that Haiti is a nation built on a pact with the devil has circulated on a number of websites, each tracing back to an apocryphal tale of Haitian voodoo priests sacrificing a pig and drinking its blood in 1791 in order to secure Satan's aid in expelling the French occupation. In return, the priests are said to have promised Haiti to Satan for the next 200 years. The French were soon beat back, and in 1804, Haiti became an independent nation. But even if you believe the story (something many historians doubt), Satan's lease on the tiny island nation should have expired in 1991.

This isn't the first time that Robertson has shocked people by speaking off-the-cuff. After then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke in January 2006, Robertson posited that it was punishment from God. He urged the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in 2005, and hosted the Rev. Jerry Falwell on the "700 Club" in 2001, when Falwell made comments suggesting gays and feminists, among others, were responsible for bringing the 9/11 attacks on America. He has also become famous for his woeful prognostication, after promising a disastrous tsunami in America in 2006 and a terrorist attack on U.S. soil in 2007, both of which (thankfully) failed to materialize.

EXPOSED: Police officer aids corruption, robbery in Edo police command – Dismissed Sergeant
Simon Ebegbulem, Benin City
Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Are the police combating crime?

Police Sergeant Gbenga Joseph was attached to the Edo State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) until his dismissal from the force last November.

In this interview with Saturday Vanguard, he explains his dismissal over N50,000 involvement of his boss with a murder suspect, his incarceration, and a N500, 000 extortion also by his boss for him to regain freedom and the eventual sack from he force. Alleging illegal dismissal, Joseph says hardened criminals are being released by an officer at the Edo State CID, after receiving both material and financial gratifications from the people involved. Gbenga is in hiding after a colleague of his disclosed how he is being hunted by his superiors to stop him from exposing their iniquities. He appeals to the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ogbonnaya Onovo to investigate his statement in this interview and offers his willingness to provide evidence to back his claims. He also asks for protection as he is being hunted day and night by a cabal in the state CID. Excerpts:

Background

I was enlisted in the Nigeria Police in June 4,1992 and I have served in various states since then. I studied International Relation at the University of Ife and graduated in 2003.But I served mainly in the Criminal Investigation Department for over 10 years. I was transferred to Edo State in March 2009 and I worked in the intelligence department until I was sacked.

Sacked? Why?

The whole thing started in June, 2009.There was a murder case transferred from the Area Commander Auchi, to the state CID Benin involving six suspects. The senior brother of the main suspect was introduced to me by one of my younger brothers and he told me that they needed assistance, that he wanted me to appeal to an officer to release his brother because his brother was not involved in the crime.

I said, okay I would tell him because it would not be the first time I would be used to get a suspect released. I went to the officer and told him what the people said. He said I should ask them to bring N500,000 and he would release the suspect. So, I went to the people and told them but they said the money was on the high side but that they could pay N250,000. So, I went back to the officer and he later agreed. They brought the money and he said I should keep it because he had to travel with the Commissioner of Police to Abuja, following the Akoko Edo re-run election.

But after collecting the money, the suspect was not released and I think the relations became worried. They complained to an SSS officer and I think they went and met the CP or the officer over the matter. I was not in the office on the 31st of August, when I received a call that the officer said that I was holding some money. I said I had the money with me and I would give it to him any time he wanted it, as usual.

But the caller told me there seemed to be a little problem. I told the caller not to worry, that I would settle the problem whenever I got to the office. So, when I got to the office, I went to see a lady officer who happens to be a Yoruba woman, and we had a very good working relationship. She asked me what was happening between me and the officer.

I told her that the money was with me and that there was no problem about it. She said that the officer had been angry with me but I decided not to give her details in order not to reveal my dealings with the officer. She asked me how much was with me. I said I had N200,000 with me at that time and that I could get the remaining N50,000 later. She now said, okay, I should bring the money and follow her.

But on our way, I saw Mrs Ewere who ordered that I should be disarmed. I asked why should I be disarmed? I did not argue with them. I followed the woman to the officer’s office. The woman now told the officer that his money was with me and that I had assured that I would go and bring the balance.

He asked, ‘ which money?’ I told him the money they said I should give him. He queried whether he asked me to collect money from anybody. I kept quiet so that people would not understand what transpired. Surprisingly, he told the OC Interpol to go and obtain statement from me and he should also handcuff me and lock me up. I kept calm because I felt the officer was just acting the drama so as to deceive other officers that he was dealing with me but would later let me go.

They beat me up and when they said I should write a statement, he said no, that the IPO should write it for me. He wrote the statement himself, saying that the officer never asked me to collect money and that I went behind the officer to collect money. They now said I should sign the statement. I told them I could not sign because all they wrote were lies.

But they started beating me again and after much pressure and beatings, I was forced to sign. Shortly after that, the OC Interpol came and told me that I should not worry that the officer and I would settle soon, that it was just that because of the pressure on ground, the officer would detain me and leave me later. I said, ‘no problem, Sir’. But surprisingly for me, I was in detention for one good month. People now started calling him to intervene in the matter. An influential man intervened and met the officer who said he had no problem with me, that I should just go and give him his money.

The influential man told him that, ‘ he cannot give you the money while in detention; you have to free him so that he can go and look for the money?’ He said they should go and get N100,000 to release me. These people rallied round. That was on the 2nd of September, 2009. When they gave him the N100,000, he still refused to release me. On the 7th of September again, he told them that if we provide the money he would release me.

Because of that, I sent for my younger brother who is in Kogi state. I begged him to send me N100,000. There is a Constable in Interpol’s office (name withheld), he gave me his UBA account number. My people now processed the sum of N100,000 to me on the 7th of September, through somebody, which we collected and handed over to the influential man who gave the money to the officer.

But the officer said he gave the money to the another officer that there would be no need to write another undertaking again that I had paid N300,000. And I went there hoping that he was going to release me. He now said that he had not concluded, that he wanted to consult before he could release me.

I was in the cell for over a week again before my people approached him again to release me. But surprisingly, he said if I should go and get another N200,000 to make the money N500,000 that he would release me. People pleaded but he refused.

I called my younger brother again. He was able to raise the N200,000 on the 14th September through the same account. After collecting the N200,000, he did not ask me to come and write any undertaking again. While I was in detention, a lot of things happened. They brought me out of the cell one day and they told me that they had sent signal to Commissioner of Police and that I should tried.

I said okay, as long as there would be justice and fair hearing. That faithful day, they dedicated one woman, a Superintendent of Police in Ugbeku station to try me. But I learnt the woman said she could not try me, and because of that, she ran to the hospital and collected medical report for sick leave. She said she could not try me because the mandate they gave her was to dismiss me outrightly and she said she could not do that.

They threatened her. After three days, the woman was forced to try me. On the day the trial started, the woman did not know that I understand Hausa. She told somebody that they asked her to dismiss one young officer, that people should pray for her. She told the person that she did not want anybody that would put her in trouble, that the person she was asked to dismiss was a young promising officer but that she was confused.

The officer was the first person they called to come and give evidence. He came there and denied that he ever told me to go and collect any money for him, and that he did not have any business with me. I wanted to ask him some questions but they shouted me down, telling me that I should be aware that I was dealing with a senior officer, so I should shut up. So, I was not allowed to ask question.

How did they now come about your dismissal?

After I spent one month in the cell and paid N500, 000 and the trial, some officers asked me to keep quiet, that if I said anything or tried to fight the system, they would rope me into one criminal charge and send me to prison. Every thing looked like a film to me because I never knew the system would be so wicked to me. I thought they were going to ask me to defend myself so that everybody would know the truth.

But they never did. I was not even given the opportunity to see the Commissioner of Police who signed my sack letter without hearing from me. After I learnt they had recommended my dismissal, I decided to leave the system because I was reliably informed by a police officer in the quarters that they learnt I wanted to write a petition against them. So, they wanted to lure me back, and pretend they were begging the CP and then lock me up again so that I would not tell the world the rot and the injustice in the system.

A lot of police officers have been laid off just like this due to the wickedness of some officers. But because they are scared, they cannot say a word to anybody. I never knew that I had been dismissed because The officer promised me that I would not be dismissed. I was shocked until I laid me hands on my dismissal letter with Ref No PC197098/EDF/PERF/2, entitled “Disciplinary Rank and File”. In the signal, they said I had been dismissed with effect from 17/11/2009.

Frozen Accounts

During the cause of the investigation, the accounts of my in-law and that of my wife were frozen by The officer. And this matter has nothing to do with these people. Following this action, I wrote a petition to the ICPC, the Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police over the matter. I sued the officer for freezing the accounts and the court served the letter.

I heard they sought the advice of the OC Legal and he told them they could not win such a case because it’s against the law. Based on the information they got that I had written to the ICPC and the IG, they went out hunting for me. One of our colleagues called me that I should leave Benin, that they were after my life.

One of The officer’s aides sent his two children to a friend of mine’s house one night to see if I was there, and my friend told them I had travelled. They left that place and went to another friend’s house in the barracks and they were there till 4am in the morning searching for me.

They went to the influential man’s house house searching for me all night. I called the Station Officer (SO) and asked him why they were looking for me. He said I should come so that we could discuss. I asked, ‘discuss what when I have been dismissed?’ He said he wanted to advise me to withdraw the court case and the petition, that I would be reinstated. But I warned him never to call me again. This conversation was made on the 16th of December, 2009.

How The Officer frees arm robbery suspects illegally

There was a time three armed robbers were arrested. They were being investigated by the Anti Vice section of the State CID. The three suspects (name withheld) were confirmed armed robbers. They made confessional statements. But to my surprise, negotiations started going on.

This officer was at the center of it. He is very close to the officer. They demanded N1.5million, that is N500,000 from each of them. These three suspects were so deadly that the command sent a team of detectives to Delta and Anambra states to recover the arms they used in robbery. To my surprise, on the 7th of September, The officer’s driver went to the cell and brought out one of the suspects under the pretence that he wanted to go and wash AC CID car. But surprisingly, the suspects never returned to the cell.

Up till now, there was not entry and the case died naturally. It got to a stage that the IPO of the case, complained that the suspects were no longer complete, they shut him down. On the 14th of September, after they collected the money from these criminals, they begged some persons to come and sign a surety for one of them who was the ring leader of the gang.

He was released on the 14th of September and the bond was duly signed by The officer. The third suspect, was released in mid October, 2009. The Magistrate court cannot even do that; the High Court cannot release you without seeking legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP). These suspects confessed that the last by-pass that they blocked, they did the operation with the help of others from Asaba and Onitsha. These boys made a lot of confessions. Now, they have released them and they have killed a lot of people in the process.

Secondly, The officer owns a lot of land in this city and only both of us know about it. I have been the middle man and loyal servant to him. He was given a land at Uholor by the Monarch.

Again, there was an incident in Okpilla where the suspects were arrested. But after the officer collected N750,000 from them, he released the main suspects. These people committed arson in Okpilla, and arson and murder are capital offence in this country. After releasing them, he went and arrested three innocent people to replace them. These innocent people were arrested and charged to court and they are still in prison today languishing as we are talking. The lawyer to the suspects in the cell wrote a petition to Federal SARS in Lagos and they now sent a signal to Edo state Command which the CP allgedly endorsed a letter to the officer asking him to produce the main suspects.

Appeal to the IG of Police

I am appealing to the world, particularly the IG who is presently working hard to reposition the police, to look inward for some officers like the officer who are frustrating his good job. We all know that our IG is a just man with a clean record. A lot of people here have been sacked unjustly and they are not given the opportunity to say a word. I am not safe in Edo state Command. I can come anywhere to defend all I have said.

The plan that was revealed to me was to get me arrested, incarcerated me and me frame with up in order to jail me. I appeal to well meaning Nigerians and the National Assembly to intervene in this matter because that is the only way to rid the police of corrupt officers.

Web posts suggest lonely, depressed terror suspect
AP - December-29-09 3:53:13 AM By JON GAMBRELL

Internet postings purportedly written by a Nigerian charged with trying to bomb a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day suggest a fervently religious and lonely young man who fantasized about becoming a Muslim holy warrior.

Throughout more than 300 posts, a user named "Farouk1986" reflects on a growing alienation from his family, his shame over sexual urges and his hopes that a "great jihad" will take place across the world.

While officials haven't verified that the postings were written by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, details from the posts match his personal history.

For example, the username also matches the alleged bomber's middle name and birth year. Farouk1986 says he is from Nigeria, the home nation of the man who allegedly tried to bring down the Detroit-bound flight. And the suspect's father says Abdulmutallab broke off ties with the family.

Those posts, beginning in 2005, show a teenager looking for a new life outside his boarding school and wealthy Nigerian family.

Most of all, they paint a portrait of someone who seems lost and needs someone to hear him.

The postings seem hastily written and are replete with spelling and grammar errors. In one, on Jan 28. 2005, he wrote: "i am in a situation where i do not have a friend, i have no one to speak too, no one to consult, no one to support me and i feel depressed and lonely. i do not know what to do."

The posts were made to an Islamic bulletin board called Gawaher, which literally translates from Arabic as "gems" or "jewels," but can also be read as "essence" or "spirit."

U.S. government officials had no immediate comment.

The Washington Post first reported on the postings. The messages could not be independently verified.

Farouk1986 discussed growing up and preparing to leave his British boarding school in the African nation of Togo for college, which also matches Abdulmutallab's personal history. However, educational pursuits appear to be overtaken by a growing fascination with religion, with posts going so far as to describe his own fantasies about holy war.

"I imagine how the great jihad will take place, how the muslims will win, insha Allah and rule the whole world, and establish the greatest empire once again!!!" reads one Feb. 20, 2005, post. The words "insha Allah" are the phonetic translation of the Arabic for "God willing."

"So usually my fa(n)tasies are about islamic stuff," he continued. "The bad part of it is sometimes the fantasies are a bit worldly rather than concentrating in the hereafter."
On Jan. 28, 2005, Farouk1986 said he was writing from Yemen, and that he was learning Arabic at the Sana'a Institute of Arabic Languages. Administrators at the school said Monday that its director, Muhammad al-Anisi, has spent two days being questioned by Yemeni security officials. He remained in custody Tuesday.

Farouk1986 was enthusiastic and described parts of the city as being traditional and quiet and other parts bustling, with Western fast-food restaurants, amusement parks and gyms.

"Its quite cheap too," the writer gushed. "Yemenis are so friendly and welcoming."

Yemen's government said Abdulmutallab lived in the country for two different periods, a year from 2004-2005 and from August-December this year.

On Tuesday, Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili told reporters that Abdulmutallab told his parents he wanted to study sharia law only a few months ago, something his father said he couldn't do. Abdulmutallab responded by sending a text message from an unknown cell phone number saying he never would talk to his family again, Akunyili said.

In a series of exchanges which coincide with Abdulmutallab's final year of high school in 2005, the writer also discusses his conflict between attending his high school prom and being a good Muslim. He has exchanges with other posters about proper Islamic dress, modern movies, marriage and his desire to learn Arabic.

In another posting, Farouk1986 describes how alone he feels and acknowledges feeling lust, chastising himself for not lowering his gaze around unveiled women. At another point, he warns how "the hair of a woman can easily arouse a man." He writes that he was considering getting married at 18, as his family "could help me financially." Abdulmutallab's father is a prominent Nigerian banker, but nothing apparently came of his marriage wishes.

Instead, Farouk1986 wrote that he embraced fasting.

"I felt a shield that prevented evil thoughts coming into my head," he wrote. "I felt closer to Allah."

Still, some of Farouk1986's writings offer a hopeful tone. He writes about expecting to get over his loneliness when he attends university classes and joins local Islamic groups. He discusses television and soccer, but at one point gets upset after another person posts a sarcastic remark about soccer loyalties.

"I had butterflies going through my stomach reading that," Farouk1986 wrote. "I acted hypocritically? May Allah forgive me for that. I'm very sorry. Now i feel all bad. Maybe its time to say bye bye to this thread. I'm sorry if i offended anyone. Please all should forgive me."

Former student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly attempted to blow up US jet, had UK visa request refused in May

THE son of a prominent Nigerian banker, who allegedly attempted to blow up a transatlantic flight over America, was barred from returning to Britain earlier this year.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, graduated from a university in London last year but his visa request was refused in May when he attempted to apply for a new course at a bogus college.

Abdulmutallab, described as a devout Muslim, attempted to ignite an explosive device on a plane from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day after shouting about Afghanistan.Bomb materials had apparently been sewn into his underwear, an authoritative American report said.

The incident led to increased security at UK airports and delays of up to five hours for passengers in Britain yesterday.

For the past two years Abdulmutallab has been on a United States watchlist for people known to have extremist links, but he was not prevented from flying to America. UK officials indicated that he had passed across MI5’s radar but was not deemed sufficiently threatening to warrant surveillance.

Abdulmutallab began his journey in Nigeria and then changed planes in Amsterdam. Peter King, a Republican congressman, claimed he did not go through full-body image screening at either airport.

All airlines flying to America have now imposed heightened security, including “pat-down” checks for all passengers and a hand luggage check at the gate.

Abdulmutallab was from a privileged background. His father, Dr Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, was until recently the head of First Bank of Nigeria and had been a government minister during the 1970s.

Abdulmutallab studied engineering for three years at University College London. His father said yesterday that he had lost contact with his son after he left London in November last year.

He attempted to return to Britain for a six-month course in May this year but was refused by officials from the UK Border Agency.

“He was refused entry on grounds that he was applying to study at an educational establishment that we didn’t consider to be genuine,” a Whitehall official said.

4 months and no pay?

allimercy:

How can an antelope fights and elephant ? The antelope must turn himself to elephant before it can fight.

So my dear brother, there is no issue of battle on this matter. This is a clear issue without any debate.

Naijacentral needs to run to meet nairalist first and not to go to battle now, otherwise it will crumble. prematurely