Bradley Manning's 'sole purpose was to make a difference', lawyer insists

In closing arguments, defence lawyer paints portrait of Wikileaks source as someone without 'evil intent'

The lawyer representing the WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning has asked the judge presiding over the soldier's court martial to decide between two stark portrayals of the accused - the prosecution's depiction of him as a traitor and seeker of notoriety, and the defence's account that he was motivated by a desire to make a difference in the world and save lives.

Over four hours of intense closing arguments at Fort Meade in Maryland, David Coombs set up a moral and legal clash of characterisations, between the Manning that he laid out for the court, and the callous and fame-obsessed Manning sketched on Thursday by the US government. "What is the truth?" the lawyer asked Colonel Denise Lind, the presiding judge who must now decide between the two accounts to reach her verdict.

"Is Manning somebody who is a traitor with no loyalty to this country or the flag, who wanted to download as much information as possible for his employer WikiLeaks? Or is he a young, naive, well-intentioned soldier who has his humanist belief central to his decisions and whose sole purpose was to make a difference."

Coombs answered his own rhetorical question by arguing that all the evidence presented to the trial over the past seven weeks pointed in one direction. "All the forensics prove that he had a good motive: to spark reforms, to spark change, to make a difference. He did not have a general evil intent."

Coombs ridiculed the prosecution case as a "diatribe" and said that its account of his client as someone who only cared about himself as the opposite of the truth. "He is concerned about everybody, he is concerned to save lives."

The lawyer continued: "He felt were were all connected to everybody, we had a duty to our fellow human beings. It may have been a little naive, but that is not anti-American, it is really what America is about."

The closing arguments presented over two days in the courtroom at Fort Meade have emerged into a clash of visions about the nature of leaking of official secrets in the digital age. At the centre of the battle is Manning himself, a diminutive figure in military fatigues, who has sat silently throughout.

With the end of the evidential stage of the trial, it now falls to the Lind to make sense of these two starkly conflicting pictures and reach a verdict that could come within days. Sitting without a jury at Manning's own request she must now decide whether the soldier is guilty of 21 counts that could see him detained in military custody for life without any chance of parole, plus a total of 154 years for itemised offences.

The soldier has already admitted to transmitting hundreds of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks, and to a lesser version of the charges that carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.

The most serious charge against Manning, carrying a possible life sentence, is that he "aided the enemy", specifically al-Qaida, by passing intelligence to WikiLeaks which then made it accessible on the internet. In prosecution closing arguments, the government alleged that because of Manning sensitive US state secrets had been found in the possession of Osama bin Laden the day the al-Qaida leader was killed.

Countering that view, Coombs argued that WikiLeaks was a legitimate news organisation on a par with the international alliance of news outlets that had worked with the anti-secrecy websites to release edited versions of Manning's disclosures. "WikiLeaks is no different from the New York Times, no different from the Guardian, no different from Der Spiegel."

He cited the US government's own counter-intelligence report on WikiLeaks that described the organisation as being motivated by a desire to hold governments accountable to their people. "That is the watchdog function of the press - that is what the press is designed to do," Coombs said.

The "aiding the enemy" charge is the most contentious aspect of the Manning trial. It has provoked a wide debate about its possible impact on press freedom in the US, with first amendment advocates warning it could spread a chill across investigative reporting.

Coombs made his comments within that context, implying that to hold Manning guilty of helping al-Qaida by dint of having leaked to a news organisation would set a dangerous precedent. "Giving something to a legitimate news organisation is the way we hold our government accountable. Giving information to the world, to inform the public does not give intelligence to the enemy," he said.

Contrary to the prosecution's claim that he was indiscriminate in his leaking, Coombs said that Manning was careful to be selective in his choice of documents, weeding out "humint" reports that gave specific details on human sources on the ground and focusing instead on civilian loss of life such as the Apache video. "If he was a traitor who wanted to hurt the US, you would have seen a lot more indiscreet disclosures," he said.

The defence attorney also tried to undercut prosecution allegations that the more than 700,000 documents Manning leaked were damaging to the US. The soldier faces several counts under the 1917 Espionage Act accusing him of leaking intelligence "with reason to believe such information could be used to the injury of the United States or the advantage of any foreign nation".

Coombs attempted to counter those charges by arguing that in fact the WikiLeaks disclosures had very limited impact on US interests. The more than 750 files on Guantanamo detainees were "not worth the paper they were written on", the lawyer said, adding they were intended for background information and were riddled with inaccuracies.

The war logs from Afghanistan and Iraq were historical documents that recorded past battlefield events that could not provide useful intelligence to the enemy given how rapidly tactics on both sides changed in a military conflict. "The harm that could have been done is like Chicken Little yelling the sky is falling down," Coombs said.

In the most emotive scenes of his closing arguments, Coombs played to the court three clips from the video Manning uploaded to WikiLeaks of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad. The clips showed a group of civilians, that included two Reuters correspondents, being mowed down from aerial bullet fire.

Coombs asked the judge to watch the video "from the standpoint of a young man looking at eight people and what we know now to be the truth - there are two reporters there - standing on a street corner and being shot like fish in a barrel ... You have to view that through the eyes of a young man who cared about human life."

Reuters' climate-change coverage 'fell by nearly 50% with sceptic as editor'

Media Matters for America study follows blog by former agency reporter about appointment of Paul Ingrassia

Reuters' climate-change coverage fell by nearly 50% after a climate sceptic joined the news agency as a senior editor, a study has found.

The sharp decline in coverage since 2011, recorded by the Media Matters for America advocacy group, reinforces charges from a former staffer that Reuters cut back on climate stories under the influence of Paul Ingrassia, who is now the agency's managing editor.

Media Matters found a 48% decline in climate-change coverage over a six-month period, after Ingrassia joined the agency in 2011.

The New York Times and other news organisations have cut back on climate coverage, closing down blogs and redeploying correspondents, at times citing financial constraints. However, Bloomberg, Reuters' main competitor, has deepened its investment in climate change and sustainability coverage. The agency's founder, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, has been a strong advocate for action on climate change.

Charges of an ideological component to Reuters' declining coverage - related to Ingrassia's personal doubts about established climate science - have sharpened concern in media and environmental as well as business circles, because of the agency's focus on financial news.

"It is just not responsible in our opinion to be cutting back on an issue that is having such a profound impact on every sector of the economy," said Mindy Lubbers, who heads the Ceres sustainable business network, which represents companies and investors controlling some $11tn in assets. "This is a financial risk that needs to be looked at and addressed."

The Climate Progress blog has since criticised Reuters for injecting references in stories to fringe groups that reject established climate science, and represent barely 3% of scientists publishing on climate change.

The news agency did not respond specifically to the findings of a deep cut in climate-change coverage. But in an emailed statement, a spokesperson wrote:

"Reuters covers climate change closely both as a scientific and public-safety issue, as well as the impact of climate change on businesses, the economy and the markets. We have a dedicated staff, including a team of specialist reporters at Point Carbon and a columnist, who all generate significant coverage on the topic across our various platforms. We remain committed to providing fair and independent coverage of climate change that complies fully with our Trust Principles."

The scrutiny of Reuters' climate-change coverage began earlier this month when David Fogarty, the former Asia Climate Change Correspondent , wrote in a blog post that climate-change coverage had been dramatically cut back after Ingrassia's hire. Fogarty, a 20-year veteran at Reuters, covered climate change for four and a half years. But early last year it became increasingly difficult to get climate-change stories published. Editors suggested he pursue other stories. Then Fogarty described a conversation with Ingrassia, then deputy editor, at a social event.

"In April last year, Paul Ingrassia [then deputy editor-in-chief] and I met and had a chat at a company function. He told me he was a climate-change sceptic. Not a rabid sceptic, just someone who wanted to see more evidence mankind was changing the global climate.

"Progressively, getting any climate change-themed story published got harder. It was a lottery. Some desk editors happily subbed and pushed the button. Others agonised and asked a million questions. Debate on some story ideas generated endless bureaucracy by editors frightened to take a decision, reflecting a different type of climate within Reuters - the climate of fear.

"By mid-October, I was informed that climate change just wasn't a big story for the present, but that it would be if there was a significant shift in global policy, such as the US introducing an emissions cap-and-trade system. Very soon after that conversation I was told my climate change role was abolished."

Fogarty left the agency soon after.

Disclosure: the Guardian is a Reuters client.

Morsi being investigated over claims of 'colluding with Hamas' in uprising

Deposed president alleged to have helped Palestinian Islamists murder Egyptian police during 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak

The overthrown Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, is under investigation for conspiring with Hamas during Egypt's 2011 revolution, state media reported on Friday, in the first official update on his status since he was forced from office and detained by the Egyptian army on 3 July.

After the announcement, Morsi was moved from a secret military facility to Cairo's Tora prison, where his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, is also being held.

The news heightened tensions on a day when supporters of Egypt's two main factions formed rival mass protests across the country in what was billed as a showdown between people backing the army and Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. By the evening, nine people had been killed, most in Alexandria, and at least 200 injured in clashes in five cities, according to the MENA state news agency.

Morsi is under investigation for colluding with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, during the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak. The charges allege that Morsi and other senior Muslim Brothers were rescued from jail during the revolution with Hamas's assistance, and then helped Hamas to attack Egyptian police facilities and murder policemen during the ousting of Mubarak. The Muslim Brotherhood says the fugitives left with the help of locals and that Hamas had no role in the uprising.

"It's laughable," said Gehad al-Haddad, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood. "It's every crime that you would think of if you were looking at the 25 January revolution [the 2011 uprising] through the eyes of Hosni Mubarak. It's retaliation from the Mubarak state."

Haddad's argument spoke to the belief that Morsi's overthrow has enabled the return to influence of Mubarak-era officials and institutions who were sidelined by the 2011 revolution.

The police - a target of the 2011 uprising - have seen their popularity rise again following the anti-Morsi protests on 30 June, and they have been quick to capitalise. On Friday, police gave Egyptian flags to pro-army protesters in a show of unity.

The decision by the new government to focus first on allegations relating to events before Morsi's presidency, rather than on human rights violations that occurred during the presidency itself, indicates that it may be wary of implicating state institutions such as the police - who were also complicit in the torture and killing of protesters under Morsi.

Resurgent support for the police, who publicly backed Morsi's removal, was apparent among pro-army protesters, even from the most unlikely sources.

"The interior ministry [who run the police] have been purified of the blood of the past," said 66-year-old Magdy Iskandar Assad, whose son was killed by police officers during protests following Mubarak's fall. "There's a reconciliation now between the people and institutions like state security."

Assad was one of hundreds of thousands demonstrating in support of the army chief, General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who asked on Wednesday for Egyptians to give him a mandate to deal with what he termed terrorism. His speech was seen by sceptics as a thinly veiled attempt to win popular support for a violent crackdown on Morsi supporters. Much of the Egyptian media has spent the past month depicting the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies as terrorists. At least seven channels suspended normal programming to encourage their audience to go out to support Sisi, and thousands heeded the call - in particular in Cairo's Tahrir Square, where the atmosphere was of a military pageant.

Many wore photographs of Sisi around their neck. Military helicopters flew overhead to loud cheers from the crowd. Smiling protesters had their pictures taken with the soldiers who were securing the entrances to the square, some of them sitting on large armoured personnel carriers.

"My message to General Sisi is: what you did on 30 June was greater than what Egypt did in the 1973 war [against Israel]," said Walid Hedra, 38, a one-time Islamist who grew disillusioned with Morsi after he used dictatorial powers to force through a controversial new constitution last November.

"The armed forces are reborn again thanks to Sisi, the successor to Gamal Abdel Nasser," said Assad, referring to Egypt's much-loved dictator during the 50s and 60s. "Sisi is a courageous man who is working for the good of the country."

Egypt's pro-Sisi demonstrations also coincided with counter-demonstrations by Morsi's supporters. The Muslim Brotherhood organised 35 marches across the capital, raising fears of serious factional fighting after nightfall. By the evening, 37 had already been injured in clashes in northern Cairo - but clashes were fiercest in Alexandria, where the health ministry reported at least 100 injured.

The Muslim Brotherhood's leader, Mohamed Badie, had earlier stoked tensions by calling Sisi's overthrow of Morsi a more heinous crime than the destruction of Islam's most sacred shrine.

Many marching in Morsi's name were afraid of what Sisi's campaign against terrorism might entail. "It doesn't make sense for a defence minister to ask people to give him authority to fight terrorism," said Abdallah Hatem, a 19-year-old student from Cairo. "So his speech was a pretext for something else - a pretext to fight peaceful protesters who want Morsi to come back."

"None of us here are terrorists," added Mohamed Mostafa, a street vendor from southern Egypt, struggling nearby under the weight of a Morsi banner. "You can see that for yourself."

But not everyone on the streets accepted the binary choice of the army or the Brotherhood. A small group of Egyptians, calling themselves the Third Square, gathered in a square in west Cairo to object to the authoritarianism of both groups.

Since Morsi's overthrow, parts of Egypt have been hit regularly by violent protests and counter-protests by those supportive and opposed to his tenure. More than 200 Egyptians have already died in clashes between Morsi's supporters, opponents and security forces since protests against the ex-president began in late June.

Contrary to local media reports, which blame the Brotherhood almost entirely for the unrest, all sides have been party to violence - not least the state. On 8 July, police and soldiers massacred 51 pro-Morsi supporters at a protest outside a military compound in east Cairo. In turn, Morsi's opponents claim his armed supporters have started other fatal fights - in particular while marching provocatively through neighbourhoods south of Tahrir Square, the cradle of anti-Morsi dissent.

The fighting accompanies a surge in militancy in Sinai - long considered a hotbed of extremism - and a rise in sectarian attacks on Christians in southern Egypt.

Sisi's callout this week is considered an attempt to get the Brotherhood to leave the streets. But the movement's leaders are frightened of doing so because they fear an escalation in the current crackdown against senior figures within their group, as exemplified by Friday's charges against Morsi. Leaving the streets without securing Morsi's return to presidency - the Brotherhood's core and delusional demand - would also see them lose significant credibility among their supporters.

"It means doing the thing that the Brotherhood can't and won't do right now - giving up their claims to legitimacy," said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha centre, and an expert on political Islam. "They've been telling their supporters that legitimacy is something worth dying for. They can't just change their minds overnight."

Asked whether he would accept anything less that Morsi's reinstatement, 19-year-old Morsi-backer Abdallah Hatem said: "It's impossible."

Additional reporting by Marwa Awad

More than 100 Morsi supporters killed in Egypt clashes

Death toll above three figures in Cairo as Muslim Brotherhood accuses security forces of shooting to kill

Egyptian security forces shot dead at least 100 supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi early on Saturday, the Muslim Brotherhood said, deepening the turmoil which has convulsed Egypt for weeks.

Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said the shooting started shortly before pre-dawn morning prayers on the fringes of a round-the-clock vigil being staged by backers of Morsi, who was toppled by the army more than three weeks ago.

"They are not shooting to wound, they are shooting to kill," Haddad said, adding that the death toll might be much higher.

Al Jazeera's Egypt television station reported that 120 had been killed and some 4,500 injured in the early morning violence near Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawia mosque.

Reporters at the scene said firing could still be heard hours after the troubles started.

"I have been trying to make the youth withdraw for five hours. I can't. They are saying they have paid with their blood and they do not want to retreat," said Saad el-Hosseini, a senior Brotherhood politician.

"It is a first attempt to clear Rabaa al-Adawia," he said.

There was no immediate comment from state authorities on what had happened.

The clashes started after police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Morsi supporters who tried to extend the sit-in in eastern Cairo.

Al Jazeera showed medics desperately trying to revive casualties arriving at a field hospital set up near the mosque.

El-Haddad said police started firing repeated rounds of tear-gas at protesters on a road close to the mosque sometime after 3am local time (2am BST). Shortly afterwards, live rounds started flying, hitting people at close range.

The bloodshed came the day after supporters and opponents of Morsi staged mass rival rallies across the country, bringing hundreds of thousands into the streets and laying bare deep divisions within the Arab world's most populous country.

Well over 200 people have died in violence since the overthrow of Morsi, most of them Brotherhood supporters.

ICS (Android 4.0) Launched For Galaxy S2

Finally a good news for Samsung Galaxy SII owners, Samsung has recently released official Android 4.0 (Ice-cream Sandwich) update for SGS2. The ICS firmware is dated 9th March 2012. Although Samsung has taken a little bit of time for releasing the ICS update still this firmware has no bluish ICS interface and is very much similar to Android 2.3.6. Galaxy SII owners must be expected something better, I, myself being a Samsung Galaxy S2 user, wanted a little more from them. Right now we can only wait for another update with few new features.

The firmware is based on I9100XXLPQ (4.0.3) with modem XXLPQ and CSC OXALPQ, while the kernel build is 3.0.15. Although the update has not taken place worldwide and is limited to certain countries, but still if you want to try this ICS final build from Samsung, then you can have a look at XDA Forum or SAM Mobile, from where you can download this firmware along with the instructions for flashing/updating your Samsung Galaxy S2.

Related posts:

1. ICS For Samsung Galaxy S2 Coming Soon
2. Android 4 (ICS) For Samsung Galaxy S
3. ICS Rom For Galaxy Note Leaks Out

Gmail Sign Up – Gmail.com Login

www.Gmail.com Sign Up, Gmail Login or Gmail Sign In is a very easy process. Now Gmail.com users can also login multiple Gmail Accounts via Mobile (check the update at the end of this post). As everyone knows that Gmail.com is one of the best and most popular free email service provider. Gmail.com is owned by Google and has come up with one of the best services offered by Google. If you want to know how to login to gmail, then you can head over to this post.

Gmail is getting more and more popular as one of the best email service provider and it uses the Google accounts as a Gmail Login. To sign in into www.Gmail.com, you can visit, http://mail.google.com, but if you own multiple Google Accounts (Gmail.com Accounts), then, when you need to switch between Google Services, you need to login and log out. But now with a simple Greasemonkey script, you can easily switch between Google accounts, without login and logout each time. Once you have installed the Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox, install the user script.

CLICK HERE FOR WWW.GMAIL.COM SIGN UP OR GMAIL.COM LOGIN

Next time when you login to Gmail.com or any Google account, you can see a drop down on the extreme right where you can add new accounts. When you want to switch account, select the account from the drop down list and this script will automatically switch accounts without having to login and log out.

Install User Script For Multiple www.gmail.com Login

Update 1: Now you can login to multiple Gmail accounts simultaneously in Gmail Mobile too. For Multiple Gmail Sign In, click on the account switcher at the bottom of the thread list and then click on "Sign into an another account." Now you can quickly switch between two Gmail accounts by selecting the desired account from the Accounts menu.

Update 2: Sign up for a google account or gmail.com account means that you are signing up for Google plus account too. It means that if you sign up for a www.gmail.com Gmail account or Google account, it will automatically create a Google Plus account for you and your all the Google services will have same logins and will be integrated with each other. Means when you login your Gmail account (www.gmail.com), it will automatically login your Google and Google plus account too.

Update 3: Google has recently changed their privacy policy and have merged all their policies to a single privacy policy. It means that the privacy policy of Gmail (www.gmail.com) has also been changed. You can have a look in their new privacy policy, if you are very much conscious about your privacy.

Related posts:

1. Gmail Sign Up Means Google+ Sign Up
2. Hotmail Sign In or Login
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PayPal Now Supports Prepaid Gift Cards

PayPal has added support for prepaid gift cards through PayPal Checkout, thanks to a "patent-pending and innovative method" that the company claims took "months of research and investigations" to develop. Though prepaid gift cards are a highly lucrative industry-research firm First Data estimated that more than $43 billion worth of gift cards were purchased during the 2012 holiday season-they can be difficult to use on e-commerce sites because most don't have a billing address attached to them. In fact, 60% of people who received gift cards told First Data they preferred to use them at brick-and-mortar locations. By offering gift card support through PayPal Checkout, the company may encourage more shoppers to redeem their gift cards online. PayPal isn't doing this out of altruism, of course.

Read the full story at TechCrunch.