The Philippine Online Chronicles

US president Barack Obama has signed the legislation that seeks to increase the US debt ceiling to avert a financial default, shortly after the US Senate approved the measure 74-26 on Tuesday.

The bill raises the US debt limit by up to $2.4 trillion from $14.3 trillion, and makes savings of at least $2.1 trillion in 10 years, according to a report.

Obama hinted that the passage of the bill will require tax hikes aside from spending cuts worth trillions. “Everyone is going to have to chip in," he said shortly after the measure passed through Senate.

The last-minute signing of the measure – just ten hours before the deadline for Washington to raise its borrowing limit – failed to cheer financial markets.

According to an Associated Press report,  “The Dow Jones industrial average sank by 2.2 percent, its eighth straight losing session. Standard & Poor's 500 lost 2.6 percent to finish at its lowest point of the year."

Asian financial markets followed the plunge in Wall Street. Japan’s Nikke index was down Wednesday by nearly 2 percent.

Analysts also claim that the US debt debate has made incumbent Democrats and Republicans vulnerable to the American public’s backlash in the coming elections.

Biggest hacking operation discovered

Hackers breached the networks  of 72 corporations and government organizations in what was described as the biggest hacking campaign to date, a security firm disclosed Wednesday.

Among the victims were the networks of the United Nations secretariat, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a US Energy Department lab, the International Olympics Committee, Hong Kong and New York offices of the Associated Press, and a dozen US defense firms, according to global security firm McAfee’s report.

Other targets included the networks of the governments of the US, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Canada. McAfee refused to name most of the private firms targeted in the hacking operation.

"Even we were surprised by the enormous diversity of the victim organizations and were taken aback by the audacity of the perpetrators," McAfee's vice president of threat research Dmitri Alperovitch wrote in the report.

McAfee dubbed the attacks “Operation Shady RAT,” saying the earliest discovered breaches date back to mid-2006. RAT stands for remote access tool, a type of software that hackers and security experts use to access remote computer networks.

"Companies and government agencies are getting raped and pillaged every day. They are losing economic advantage and national secrets to unscrupulous competitors," Alperovitch told the media.

McAfee said the intruders accessed data on sensitive U.S. military systems, as well as material from satellite communications, electronics, and natural gas companies.

Security experts claimed that China is the most likely origin of the massive cyber-spying operation.

Mubarak trial to start in Cairo

Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted by a mass uprising in February, arrived in Cairo Wednesday for the start of his trial.

The 83-year-old Mubarak, his former minister, and six top police officers are charged with murder and attempted murder of 850 protesters killed during the uprising early this year, according to a report. They could face death penalty if proven guilty.

In separate charges, Mubarak and his two sons will also face trial for alleged corruption.

The former Egyptian dictator has lived in a Red Sea resort since he was booted out from power. six months ago. He was receiving treatment in the coastal town since April for a heart condition.

BBC reported that clashes are happening outside the trial venue between hundreds of supporters and opponents of the former president, while  others were gathered near the police academy monitoring a wide screen to watch the proceedings inside the courtroom.