N.Korean Security Turns to Sexual Abuse, Seduction

Chosun Ilbo, 16 March 2010

North Korean security agents specialize in torture techniques using needles, water and electric shocks, but recently, sexual abuse is said to have become the preferred interrogation tool.

Robert Park, a missionary released by Pyongyang last month after crossing the border on Christmas Eve, was severely beaten and sexually abused during his detention, according to his close associates. Park, 28, who was released after 43 days in detention has received psychiatric treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

He was severely beaten by North Korean border guards just after crossing over the border. After being transferred to Pyongyang, Park was then tortured by security agents. The sexual abuse was probably intended to break his will and exact a fabricated apology.

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Twitter co-founder says Great Firewall of China will fall

AFP, 15 March 2010

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams told a gathering of the technology faithful yesterday that notorious censorship firewalls in countries such as China will give way to online innovations.

“The Internet is a tidal wave that is going to be impossible for anyone to keep out,” Williams said during an on-stage chat at the South By South West Interactive gathering here.

“In places like China it is hard to say how long those firewalls will be able to hold up,” he said.

Beijing tightly controls online content in a vast system of censorship often called the “Great Firewall of China”, removing information it deems harmful — including pornography and violence, but also politically sensitive material.

Williams’s comments came as Internet colossus Google and China face-off on the censorship of online searches in that country.

California-based Google has said it is prepared to leave the world’s largest online market if Beijing continues to insist on its censoring its Web searches.

China on Friday warned Google it would face “consequences” if it stopped filtering its search results, after the firm threatened to leave the country over cyber attacks and Web censorship.

Google threatened in January to abandon its Chinese-language search engine and perhaps leave China altogether over what it said were cyber attacks aimed at its source code and at the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

The company has since continued to filter results on Google.cn and posted ads for dozens of positions in China, which has 384 million web users.

“We are just realizing the promise of the Internet,” Williams said. “It is about democratization of information that anybody can share with the world… It will continue to change institutions for the coming decades.”

Twitter has become an Internet Age superstar since it was created in 2006 as a way for people to share their thoughts, observations and activities in the form of messages of no more than 140 characters. — AFP

Social Security to start cashing Uncle Sam’s IOUs

Associated Press, 15 march 2010

The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration.

It’s time to start cashing them in.

For more than two decades, Social Security collected more money in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits — billions more each year.

Not anymore. This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes — nearly $29 billion more.

Sounds like a good time to start tapping the nest egg. Too bad the federal government already spent that money over the years on other programs, preferring to borrow from Social Security rather than foreign creditors. In return, the Treasury Department issued a stack of IOUs — in the form of Treasury bonds — which are kept in a nondescript office building just down the street from Parkersburg’s municipal offices.

Now the government will have to borrow even more money, much of it abroad, to start paying back the IOUs, and the timing couldn’t be worse. The government is projected to post a record $1.5 trillion budget deficit this year, followed by trillion dollar deficits for years to come.

Social Security’s shortfall will not affect current benefits. As long as the IOUs last, benefits will keep flowing. But experts say it is a warning sign that the program’s finances are deteriorating. Social Security is projected to drain its trust funds by 2037 unless Congress acts, and there’s concern that the looming crisis will lead to reduced benefits.

“This is not just a wake-up call, this is it. We’re here,” said Mary Johnson, a policy analyst with The Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group. “We are not going to be able to put it off any more.”

For more than two decades, regardless of which political party was in power, Congress has been accused of raiding the Social Security trust funds to pay for other programs, masking the size of the budget deficit.

Remember Al Gore’s “lockbox,” the one he was going to use to protect Social Security? The former vice president talked about it so much during the 2000 presidential campaign that he was parodied on “Saturday Night Live.”

Gore lost the election and never got his lockbox. But to illustrate the government’s commitment to repaying Social Security, the Treasury Department has been issuing special bonds that earn interest for the retirement program. The bonds are unique because they are actually printed on paper, while other government bonds exist only in electronic form.

They are stored in a three-ring binder, locked in the bottom drawer of a white metal filing cabinet in the Parkersburg offices of Bureau of Public Debt. The agency, which is part of the Treasury Department, opened offices in Parkersburg in the 1950s as part of a plan to locate important government functions away from Washington, D.C., in case of an attack during the Cold War.

One bond is worth a little more than $15.1 billion and another is valued at just under $10.7 billion. In all, the agency has about $2.5 trillion in bonds, all backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. But don’t bother trying to steal them; they’re nonnegotiable, which means they are worthless on the open market.

More than 52 million people receive old age or disability benefits from Social Security. The average benefit for retirees is a little under $1,200 a month. Disabled workers get an average of $1,100 a month.

Social Security is financed by payroll taxes — employers and employees must each pay a 6.2 percent tax on workers’ earnings up to $106,800. Retirees can start getting early, reduced benefits at age 62. They get full benefits if they wait until they turn 66. Those born after 1960 will have to wait until they turn 67.

Social Security’s financial problems have been looming for years as the nation’s 78 million baby boomers approached retirement age. The oldest are already there. As that huge group of people starts collecting benefits — and stops paying payroll taxes — Social Security’s trust funds will shrink, running out of money by 2037, according to the latest projection from the trustees who oversee the program.

The recession is making things worse, at least in the short term. Tax receipts are down from the loss of more than 8 million jobs, and applications for early retirement benefits have spiked from older workers who were laid off and forced to retire.

Stephen C. Goss, chief actuary for the Social Security Administration, says the crisis has been years in the making. “If this helps get people to look more seriously at that in the nearer term, that’s probably a good thing. But it’s only really a punctuation mark on the fact that we have longer-term financial issues that need to be addressed.”

In the short term, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that Social Security will continue to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes for the next three years. It is projected to post small surpluses of $6 billion each in 2014 and 2015, before returning to indefinite deficits in 2016.

For the budget year that ends in September, Social Security is projected to collect $677 million in taxes and spend $706 million on benefits and expenses.

Social Security will also collect about $120 billion in interest on the trust funds, according to the CBO projections, meaning its overall balance sheet will continue to grow. The interest, however, is paid by the government, adding even more to the budget deficit.

While Congress must shore up the program, action is unlikely this year, said Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., who just took over last week as chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees Social Security.

“The issues required to address the long-term solvency needs of Social Security can be done in a careful, thoughtful and orderly way and they don’t need to be done in the next few months,” Pomeroy said.

The national debt — the amount of money the government owes its creditors — is about $12.5 trillion, or nearly $42,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. About $8 trillion has been borrowed in public debt markets, much of it from foreign creditors. The rest came from various government trust funds, including retirement funds for civil servants and the military. About $2.5 trillion is owed to Social Security.

Good luck to the politician who reneges on that debt, said Barbara Kennelly, a former Democratic congresswoman from Connecticut who is now president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

“Those bonds are protected by the full faith and credit of the United States of America,” Kennelly said. “They’re as solid as what we owe China and Japan.” – AP

Thai PM rejects protest ultimatum

BBC News, 15 March 2010

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has appeared on national television to reject a demand from demonstrators that he resign by midday and call elections.

As he spoke, tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside the army barracks where he was holed up.

The rally, led by red-shirt supporters of ousted ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra, was one of the largest in recent years.

The protests have been peaceful but two soldiers were hurt when grenades exploded inside another army base.

An army spokesman said the grenades appeared to have been fired into the compound, but said it was not clear who was responsible.

Early in the day, crowds of demonstrators gathered outside the headquarters of the 11th Infantry Battalion barracks in the north of the Thai capital.The protesters have now begun returning from the barracks to their base camp around Government House. Red-shirt leaders said they would meet to discuss their next move.

Some 50,000 soldiers and police have been deployed in Bangkok, and several thousand extra soldiers were sent to the barracks to reinforce security.

Flanked by ministers and coalition allies, Mr Abhisit appeared on national television as the protesters’ deadline for him to step down passed.

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Thousands of protesters gather in Bangkok, seek elections

Reuters, 14 March 2010

Thousands of protesters gathered in Bangkok today and planned to give Thailand’s military-backed government an ultimatum: either call elections or face more pro-democracy demonstrations over the coming week.

About 80,000 red-shirted supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a military coup in 2006, arrived yesterday, many traveling in pick-up trucks, motorcycles or vans from northern provinces, carrying red flags and blaring music about democracy and freedom.

Thousands more were expected today, including hundreds who boarded boats in nearby Ayuddhutthya province.

Investors are worried about violence, and about the government being distracted when it should be concentrating on nurturing the economy as it recovers from a brief recession.

But Thailand is still benefiting from investment funds flowing into Southeast Asia and foreigners have snapped up US$500 million (RM1.7 billion) of Thai stocks so far this year, much of it this month. The stock market rose 1 percent on Friday.

The protesters plan to maintain pressure on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve 

parliament and call an election Thaksin’s allies would be well placed to win, or face more protests over a 20 km radius of their main protest site on Ratchadamnoen Road in the heart of Bangkok.

“It is expected to get up to over 100,000 people today,” Thawil Pliensri, secretary general of the National Security Council, told Reuters. Protest leaders say they already had drawn hundreds of thousands to Bangkok as of Saturday night.

“The security forces are on highest alert. The situation remains normal and we expect it to remain so today,” he added. “But it may get more volatile after a few days as the protest leaders step up their measures and people are tired and frustrated. We have to make sure there is no damage.”

“We are here to ask for justice and for rule of law to be applied to all,” one protest leader, Weng Torirajkan, told supporters who responded with loud cheers.

“Since the government cannot do it because it’s too busy serving the elite, we ask that it step out and call fresh elections so we have a government that represents the whole country, a government that represents us.”

About 40,000 soldiers and police have been mobilised.

The protests add a new chapter to a seemingly intractable political conflict pitting the military, the urban elite and royalists, who wear the revered king’s traditional colour of yellow at protests, against the mainly rural Thaksin supporters.

The protesters say the Oxford-educated Abhisit came to power illegitimately, heading a coalition cobbled together by the military after a pro-Thaksin party leading the previous coalition government was dissolved by the courts.

The “red shirts” chafe at what they say is an “unelected elite” preventing allies of twice-elected Thaksin from returning to power through a vote. Adding to their anger, Thailand’s top court seized $1.4 billion of his assets last month, saying it was accrued through abuse of power.

On Saturday, a Reuters photographer counted thousands of pickup trucks streaming into Bangkok along a main road from Thaksin’s strongholds in the north and northeast of the country. Police briefly stopped them and searched for weapons.

Thousands had gathered on Ratchadamnoen Road, a central Bangkok thoroughfare leading to the bridge that will be the main site for today’s rally.

Armed guards stood at many banks and state buildings after government warnings of potential sabotage, including bombings.

In 2008, a rival group sought to topple a Thaksin-allied government by seizing Government House for three months and shutting Bangkok’s two main airports for eight days, damaging the tourist sector and dealing a blow to investor confidence.

The UDD insist they will not use the same tactics.

Roberto Herrera-Lim, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said the “red shirts” recognised violence would be counter-productive and were now intent on building up public support for what they present as a pro-democracy movement.

“Whether the ‘red shirts’ will accomplish anything at all depends on the numbers that they can muster,” he said.

Thaksin fled Thailand in 2008 to escape a two-year sentence for graft. Woravat said he was in Dubai, now his main base, but would be flying to Europe soon to meet up with his daughters.

Government House, which includes Abhisit’s office, has been cordoned off. The authorities have closed several other roads to prevent protesters from besieging government buildings. — Reuters

4500 new affordable rental properties for Victoria

From The Age

 

DEWI COOKE

 

Buffett Takes $100,000 Berkshire Salary for 29th Straight Year

By Jamie McGhee from Bloomberg

Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. who pays the company for postage and personal phone calls, received a $100,000 salary for a 29th straight year as he arranged a $27 billion acquisition.

Berkshire’s shareholder equity, a measure of assets minus liabilities, rose 20 percent to $131.1 billion in 2009 and annual net income climbed 61 percent to $8.06 billion. Buffett received no bonus in 2009 and he doesn’t get stock options or grants, Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire said late yesterday in a regulatory filing.

“Considering that far-more-mortal executives have been paid far more for delivering far less, the standards of comparisons would warrant a monumental increase,” said Tom Russo, partner at Gardner Russo & Gardner in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which holds Berkshire stock. “He could say, ‘I’m worth a billion a year,’” Russo said. “That’s not Buffett.”

Buffett reimbursed Berkshire $50,000 last year to cover the cost of postage stamps, phone calls and staff time used for personal tasks, the company said in the filing. Vice Chairman Charles Munger, who also made a $100,000 salary, paid $5,500. Buffett and Munger don’t use company cars or belong to clubs paid for by Berkshire.

Security Costs

Berkshire reported $344,490 in costs for Buffett’s personal and home security. That’s up 9.1 percent from $315,709 in 2008.

Buffett, 79, completed the purchase last month of railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. for $27 billion, the biggest acquisition of his career. He built Berkshire into a $200 billion company over four decades, transforming a failing maker of men’s suit linings into an enterprise with businesses ranging from car insurance and underwear to power plants and corporate jet leasing.

Buffett is also Berkshire’s chief executive officer as well as its largest shareholder. Since 2004, Berkshire’s compensation committee has determined salaries. Prior to that, Buffett recommended his own salary to the board.

“He views the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway as partners,” said Jeff Matthews, author of “Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha” and founder of the hedge fund Ram Partners LP. “If you have your own skin in the game, you own the shares of stock alongside your fellow shareholders and you make them a ton of money, you will make yourself a ton of money, and that’s the proper way to do it in his mind.”

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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi urges response to ‘unjust’ law

AFP, 11 March 2010

Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday called on Myanmar’s people to give a united response to an “unjust” election law, her lawyer Nyan Win told AFP.

“The people and political forces have to respond united to such an unjust law,” Suu Kyi said, according to Nyan Win, after he visited the democracy icon at her house. “She didn’t think such a repressive law would come out.”

Under new election legislation Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi faces exclusion from her own National League for Democracy (NLD) party and is not allowed to stand in elections this year on the grounds that she is a serving prisoner. – AFP

Tourists told to avoid weekend protests in Bangkok

Associated Press, 11 March 2010

Tourists in the Thai capital should brace for more traffic than usual and avoid sites near anti-government protests this weekend that authorities fear could turn violent, the government spokesman said Wednesday.

More than 30,000 security officials will be deployed around Bangkok and 46,000 “civilian defense volunteers” are on standby for rallies scheduled to start Friday and run several days, said the government spokesman, Panitan Wattanayagorn.

Supporters of ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 coup, have called for a “million man march” to begin nationwide Friday and converge in the capital Sunday, where they plan to possibly remain several days.

Authorities estimate the turnout will be tens of thousands. On Tuesday, the government invoked its Internal Security Act, a law that gives the military special powers to restore order if necessary. It cited intelligence reports about plans to instigate violence at the rallies.

“We have confidence that we can manage to get through this situation peacefully,” Panitan told a news conference attended by police, military and Bangkok city officials. “But due to the large number of demonstrators planning to come we have concerns.”

Tourists and foreigners are not targets of the protesters, who are calling for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign and pave the way for fresh elections.

Popular tourist attractions the Grand Palace and backpacker street Khao San Road are “areas of concern” because of their proximity to the main protest site, said Bangkok Metropolitan Authority spokesman Thanom Onkeppol. Protesters plan to gather at an open field near the Grand Palace, and spread around the area.

Tourists should avoid the areas “if that’s possible,” said Panitan, adding that more than 50,000 tourists pass through the Thai capital every day.

Some two dozen foreign embassies have issued advisories, including the United States which urged Americans to stay away from the protests where “violence cannot be ruled out.”

Protest leaders from the pro-Thaksin movement, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatoriship have repeatedly said they will gather peacefully and accuse the government of hyping security concerns to make them look bad.

Authorities fear a repeat of April 2009 when tens of thousands of Thaksin supporters paralyzed major Bangkok intersections and sparked violence that killed two and injured more than 120 people.

Thailand has been gripped by a political crisis and sometimes violent protests since 2006, when Thaksin was ousted for alleged corruption and abuse of power. In 2008, when a pro-Thaksin administration was in power, anti-Thaksin activists seized Bangkok’s two airports and stranded thousands of tourists.

Bangkok’s international Suvarnabhumi Airport has a contingency plan in case of emergency, an airport statement said Wednesday. International passengers were advised to get to the airport three to four hours before their flights depart. – AP

Beijing rejects political reform calls but rhetoric softens

Associated Press, 10 March 2010

The top lawmaker on the mainland rejected calls to open up the communist political system to reform on Tuesday, but his milder rhetoric indicated confidence among the authorities that a crackdown on dissent has been effective.

Beijing will stick to the “socialist path of political development with Chinese characteristics,” Wu Bangguo told the nearly 3,000 National People’s Congress delegates gathered in Beijing for their annual full session.

While such statements are routine in speeches to the legislature, the tone varies depending on how threatened the government feels by its critics.

Wu, the ruling Communist Party’s second highest ranking official, used much more strident language last year, when the party was beating back a bold call for sweeping political reform known as Charter 08, which drew considerable attention among intellectuals and on the internet. On that occasion, Wu spoke at length about the unique suitability of the political system, declaring: “We will never simply copy the system of Western countries.”

More than one year later, Charter 08’s most illustrious signatory, Liu Xiaobo, is in prison serving an 11-year sentence for incitement to subvert state power. Others who signed have been threatened and intimidated into silence, along with activists for religious and ethnic minority rights.

The apparent success of the harsh response has left the leadership secure enough to tone down the tough rhetoric, which many better educated and cosmopolitan people find alienating.

“They feel they’ve conveyed the message,” said Michael C Davis, a law professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Davis said he also saw in the toned-down rhetoric a realisation that audiences at home and abroad were growing less receptive to the party’s more aggressive approach to political and economic disputes.

“The leadership had the sense that people didn’t understand them and had to drive home the message, but there’s now a certain weariness of this message,” Davis said.

Since sending troops to crush 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations, leaders have shown zero tolerance towards political dissent, while pursuing sweeping economic reforms that have brought thriving growth but exacerbated social inequalities.

In his address, Wu said legislative priorities this year would focus on improving social security and fostering more equitable economic development.

Uneven economic growth, skyrocketing home prices, limited and expensive medical care, and sparse pension plans have provoked widespread discontent and raised huge concerns about social stability.

Elsewhere in his address, Wu said delegates would put the final touches on a draft social security law and make adjustments to the legal system to “dispel the people’s worries and better maintain social harmony and stability.”

“China is in an important period of strategic opportunities for its economic and social development as well as a period of serious social problems, and its tasks for promotion reform, development, and stability are arduous and formidable,” he said.

The social security law broadly aims to establish a safety net of pension, health care and unemployment benefits, provide free primary and secondary education, and assist the migration of rural residents to cities.

Wu also said the congress backed efforts to accelerate economic and social development in Tibet, Xinjiang and other ethnic minority areas. – AP

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