Britain's top law enforcement official on Thursday approved the extradition to the US of an alleged computer hacker accused of damaging US military systems.
Gary McKinnon, 40, has two weeks to appeal the order, signed on Tuesday by Home Secretary John Reid, the Home Office said.
A judge ruled in May that Mc-Kinnon, who has been indicted in New Jersey and northern Virginia, should be sent to the US to face trial. The decision required Reid's approval. His office said he was not convinced by the arguments McKinnon raised in his defense.
McKinnon said he planned to appeal, telling British Broadcasting Corp television: "I am very worried and feeling very let down by my own government."
He is accused of illegally accessing 97 computers, causing at least US$700,000 in damage -- the largest-ever attack on the US government's computer networks, US government attorneys told a British court.
Court records in Virginia allege that McKinnon caused up to US$900,000 in damage to computers, including those of private companies, in 14 states.
McKinnon, an unemployed computer system administrator who lives in London, has said he did not intend to cause damage, but was seeking evidence that the US is concealing the existence of UFOs.
But Judge Nicholas Evans said he left messages on one system protesting US foreign policy.
"US foreign policy is akin to government-sponsored terrorism," Evans quoted one such note as saying.
McKinnon was arrested in 2002. He opposed extradition, claiming he could face prosecution under US anti-terror laws.
He is accused of hacking into US government computers including a system at the Pentagon between February 2001 and March 2002.
He allegedly accessed a network of 300 computers at the Earle Naval Weapons Station in Colts Neck, New Jersey, and stole 950 passwords.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person