Top-secret embarrassment: Stealth ship laptop missing in Taiwan

A locally designed Kuang Hua VI class boat from the Taiwanese navy (AFP Photo/Sam Yeh)

Source: Russia Today
http://www.rt.com/news/taiwan-secret-computer-missing-573/

A top-secret computer from a state-of-art stealth warship has vanished, the Taiwanese military revealed on Monday. There are fears the laptop and its classified content is now in the hands of the Chinese.

The computer was installed on board a Kuang Hua No. 6 class guided missile vessel. It belonged to a private contractor and was used for testing confidential communication equipment and procedures.

Last month it disappeared, while the missile ship was stationed at the southern port of Tsoying, Taiwan's largest naval base. An internal investigation failed to determine how it happened.

“We admit that the navy exhibited some flaws in the control of personnel at the base," a naval spokesman told AFP.

The case has now been handed over to the military prosecutors.

Taiwan deployed a squadron on 10 Kuang Hua No. 6 ships in 2010, which was deemed a major improvement to the country’s naval capabilities. They are each armed with four locally developed Hsiungfeng II ship-to-ship missiles, with a range of 150 kilometres. They are also designed to be stealthy and reduce the risk of being detected.

The missing computer may have been stolen by Chinese spies interested in modern military technologies, experts believe.

"If China obtained the laptop, it would get the navy's highly sensitive communications code as well as related missile data," said Erich Shih, an editor at Taipei-based Defence International magazine.

China and Taiwan have been separate since the end of a civil war in 1949. Beijing still considers the island part of its territory waiting for reunification. Relations between the two have been improving thanks to increased trade. The thaw was championed by Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who came to power in 2008

US, Germany slam Khodorkovsky verdict

Khodorkovsky, the former head of the Yukos oil company, is accused of stealing billions of dollars worth of oil from their oil company between 1998 and 2003

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157508.html

The US and Germany have criticized Moscow over a second guilty verdict against the jailed Russian former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev were charged with embezzlement and laundering of stolen property at a Moscow district court on Monday.

The United States was quick to express its "deep concern" about the verdict.

"The apparent selective application of the law to these individuals undermines Russia's reputation as a country committed to deepening the rule of law," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was "very worried" by the "extremely dubious" trial.

"The trial … is a step backward on the road toward modernization of the country," Westerwelle said in a statement.

So far, the European Union has refrained from denouncing the verdict.

Political commentator, Peter Lavelle, told Press TV that Khodorkovsky is "a criminal at a vast scale" and compared the tycoon to US financier Bernard Maydoff, who was sentenced to a 150 years in prison for large-scale fraud.

Khodorkovsky, the former head of the Yukos oil company, and his business partner Lebedev are accused of stealing over 23 billion dollars worth of oil from their oil company between 1998 and 2003.

Both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev maintained their innocence and claimed the charges against them were politically motivated.

The trial, which began in March 2009, was the second for the two men. During a 2005 hearing, both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to eight years behind bars for tax evasion.

The new verdict is likely to keep Khodorkovsky and Lebedev in prison for several more years, but the announcement of the final verdict may take some days.

As the judge inside the court delivered the guilty verdict, hundreds of supporters outside the court building were chanting "freedom" and "shame."

Among those who gathered were public figures, opposition and rights activists.

They believe that the Kremlin wants Khodorkovsky behind bars for as long as possible because he financed the opposition when Vladimir Putin was the country's president.

Days ahead of the verdict, Putin -- who is now Russia's prime minister -- referred to the former oil tycoon as "a thief" who "belongs in prison."

Since the Russian premier has hinted that he may return to presidency in 2012, observers believe Khodorkovsky is likely to stay behind bars until then.

However, many in Russia have no sympathy for the former billionaire.