The Philippine Online Chronicles

Wikileaks.org discloses Afghan war reports

Wikileaks.org, a whistleblower website, put out tens of thousands of documents from 2004 to January 2010 recording military records and incidents covering the Afghan war.

The website’s introduction in the War Diary said that the reports in the documents illustrate the “the majority of lethal military actions involving the United States military,” including “persons internally stated to be killed, wounded, or detained during each action, together with the precise geographical location of each event, and the military units involved and major weapon systems used.”

There are over 91,000 reports released in three publications: The New York Times, German magazine Der Spiegel, and British newspaper The Guardian. The documents published in the website reportedly include information of unreported killings, death of civilians, and reports on Pakistan allegedly allowing its spies to meet with the Taliban,

"We see the who, the where, the what, the when and the how of each one of these attacks," Julian Assange, founder and editor-in-chief of Wikileaks told CNN. He added that the website is planning on publishing more documents after it edits names of some people for protection.

Leaked Afghan documents have included incidents that allegedly resulted to deaths of civilians in the country, as well as reports suggesting that there were a lot of internal disputes among Afghan security forces. According to Al Jazeera, a shooting accident involving Afghan officers was reported: two policemen were "conducting horseplay with their service arms when they accidently shot the NDS director... and logistics officer." Drug abuse is also part of the incidents revealed. Afghan troops were allegedly smoking marijuana and doing opium.

The disclosure of these documents has been considered as the biggest in history. The United States condemned it, saying it could “threaten national security.” Assange defended their side by saying "Just like any dealing with any source, you should exercise some common sense -- that doesn't mean that you should close your eyes.” He also told the Agence France-Presse that he’s hoping that the leak would lead to better understanding of the Afghan war.

Last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed confidence that the country’s forces are ready to take over the country’s security by 2014.

Kenyan alcohol poisoning kills 17

At least 17 people were reported dead and a dozen blinded in a liquor poisoning in Kenya.

The locally-made moonshine (changaa), is a home-distilled liquor that killed people in the Nairobi slum of Kibera, may have contained traces of methanol, said the BBC. Authorities are looking into two sides that led to the deaths: poisonous chemicals could have been added on purpose or accidentally entered the mix during the distilling process.

Changaa is reportedly a beverage of choice in the country, since most of them cannot afford the more expensive alcoholic drinks in the market. Drinking the illegal concoction, however, could lead to horrible consequences. Many people in the African country have been killed or blinded due to alcohol poisoning. One of the worst alcohol poisoning cases reported was nine years ago, where 128 Kenyans reportedly died and 400 harmed due to drinking illegal drinks.

Moonshine made in African nations go by very apt names, to say the least: "Kill me quick", "The dog that bites" and "Goodbye Mum” are some of the mixes that could make people regret their decision of drinking.

The suspected distiller of the poisonous drink has been already arrested by Kenyan police. The number of victims could still rise in the coming days.

Queen Elizabeth joins Flickr

Queen Elizabeth II of Britain is set to share photographs in Flickr, an online image and video hosting website.

The Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen, who is already on Youtube and Twitter, will post more than 600 photos of the royal family on her page.

CNN reported that photos to be included in the photostream include rare images of the royal family’s past as well as well as their public businesses. Commenting on the posts, however, will be turned off.

According to Reuters, The account also contains photos from Royal Collection exhibitions including early British photography collections of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Burma junta leader arrives in India

Amid condemnations and criticism from various human rights groups, Burmese leader General Than Shwe arrived in India for a state visit and a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The two leaders are set to talk about economic and strategic ties between Burma and India, the BBC reported. Than Shwe is reportedly expecting support and endorsement from the world’s largest democracy for the proposed general election in Burma set to take place this year.

Delhi was reportedly a supporter of Burma democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi until the mid 1990s.

The visit, that will stretch on for 5 days has been condemned by human rights groups. The Burma center Delhi submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Singh asking him to denounce the election unless Burma frees Aung San Suu Kyi and all its political prisoners. According to Burma News International, the group also asked Singh to encourage Burma for a fair election. The memorandum says that Than Shwe “does not represent the 50 million people of Burma,” and that he is “solely responsible for attempting to assassinate Ms Suu Kyi, in what has become known as the 2003 Depayin Massacre.”

The Burmese leader reportedly went to a Buddhist pilgrimage site in eastern India and visited the mausoleum of Indian hero Mahatma Gandhi.