(Reuters) - China made its first substantive comments on Monday to reports of U.S. surveillance of the Internet, demanding that Washington explain its monitoring programs to the international community.

Several nations, including U.S. allies, have reacted angrily to revelations by an ex-CIA employee over a week ago that U.S. authorities had tapped the servers of internet companies for personal data.

"We believe the United States should pay attention to the international community's concerns and demands and give the international community the necessary explanation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily briefing.

The Chinese government has previously not commented directly on the case, simply repeating the government's standard line that China is one of the world's biggest victims of hacking attacks.

A senior source with ties to the Communist Party leadership said Beijing was reluctant to jeopardize recently improved ties with Washington.

The explosive revelations of the U.S. National Security Agency's (NSA) spying programs were provided by Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee and NSA contractor currently holed up in Hong Kong, a China-controlled city.

Snowden told the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's main English language newspaper, last week that Americans had spied extensively on targets in China and Hong Kong...

June 15, 2013
by Peter Kirsanow
Western Virginia Gazette

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Senate has begun debate on the proposed immigration reform bill. If this bill becomes law, there is one likely outcome for low-skilled West Virginia workers: Disaster.

The assurances of the bill's proponents that the bill will somehow help the economy obscure copious evidence that the bill will wreak enormous damage to the employment prospects of American workers who have already seen their wages and employment rates plummet over the last several years.

Indeed, it is no secret that the employment picture for low-skilled workers is abysmal. The national unemployment rate has been above 7.5 percent for more than four years and millions have dropped out of the workforce entirely. Among those without a high school diploma, the unemployment rate in May reached 11.1 percent, and for blacks without a high school diploma, it is more than 24 percent. The labor-force participation rate is at historic lows and long-term unemployment is the worst since the Great Depression. The workweek is shrinking, as well as wage rates. Barely one in two adult black males has a full-time job. A record 47 million people are on food stamps.

The immigration reform bill has the potential to make things even worse. Not only will the bill grant amnesty to 11 million illegal immigrants, it will act as a magnet for future illegal immigration and substantially increase the number of legal immigrants. It is conservatively estimated that the bill will result in 30 million to 33 million additional immigrants over the next 10 years.

The bill is structured so that most of the immigrants will be low-skilled. These immigrants will compete with Americans in the low-skilled labor markets. The competition is most fierce in some of the industries in which blacks historically have been highly concentrated, such as construction, agriculture and service. Since the supply of low-skilled workers already exceeds the demand, the massive influx in low-skilled immigrants bodes ill for all such workers, but particularly black males. Evidence adduced before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights shows that immigration accounts for 40 percent of the 18-point percentage decline in black employment rates over the last several decades -- the bulk of the decline occurring among black males. That's hundreds of thousands of blacks thrown out of work; hundreds of thousands who can't support their families without taxpayer assistance.

The evidence adduced by the commission shows that not only does illegal immigration depress the employment levels of low-skilled Americans, it drives down the wages for available jobs. For example, an economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta estimated that as a result of the growth of undocumented workers, the annual earnings of actual documented workers in Georgia in 2007 were $960 lower than they were in 2000. In the leisure hospitality sectors of the economy, the wages were $1,520 lower.

A $960 annual decrease in wages may not seem like much to some members of Congress, but as President Obama observed when he signed the extension of the payroll tax cut in 2012, an extra $80 a month makes a big difference to many families. It means $80 more toward rent, groceries and the cost of gasoline. Besides, why should American workers suffer any decline in their wages because of illegal immigration?

Recent history shows that a grant of legal status to illegal immigrants results in a further influx of illegal immigrants who will crowd out low-skilled workers from the workforce. Contrary to the mythology promoted by some supporters of the bill, this isn't because low-skill Americans -- regardless of race -- are unwilling to work. It's because they're unwilling to work at the cut-rate wages (and often substandard conditions) offered to illegal immigrants -- a cohort highly unlikely to complain to the EEOC, OSHA or the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor. This inexorably increases the number of low-skill Americans depending upon the government for subsistence, swells the ranks of the unemployed and reduces the wages of those that do have a job.

Before the federal government grants legal status to illegal immigrants, serious deliberation must be given to the affect such grant will have on the employment and earnings prospects of low-skilled Americans. History shows that granting such legal status is not without profound and substantial costs to American workers.

Does Congress care?

Kirsanow is a labor and employment attorney in Cleveland, a former member of the National Labor Relations Board, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and the former chairman of the Center for New Black Leadership. 

By Ashley Fantz and Jill Dougherty, CNN
June 12, 2013 -- Updated 1039 GMT (1839 HKT)

Washington (CNN) -- Senior State Department and Diplomatic Security officials may have covered up or stopped investigations of inappropriate or even criminal misconduct by staff, according to an internal memo from the department's Office of the Inspector General.

The timeline surrounding the allegations places the incidents during former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's tenure, opening the possibility that a widening scandal might taint both her record and her possible political aspirations. Clinton has also taken heat for the department's response to the September 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

The memo itself, purportedly written by Ambassador Larry Dinger, describes some of the information as coming from office chatter.

"Sometimes the sources are one or more agents who became aware of the case from colleagues in what, given cubicles, can be a collegial environment," the memo says.

Regarding the latest allegations, CNN was provided the documents by a lawyer for a whistle-blower who is a former senior inspector general investigator.

They include:

• An active U.S. ambassador "routinely ditched his protective security detail in order to solicit sexual favors from both prostitutes and minor children," the memo says. The ambassador's protective detail and others "were well aware of the behavior," the memo asserts. When a diplomatic security officer tried to investigate, undersecretary of state for management Patrick Kennedy allegedly ordered the investigator "not to open a formal investigation."

On Tuesday, CNN obtained a statement from the ambassador, who vigorously denied the allegations, calling them "baseless."

A source close to the investigation of the ambassador told CNN that the ambassador's security detail reported to the inspector general that the ambassador would leave his house at night without notifying the detail. The detail followed the ambassador and saw the ambassador once go to a park that's known for illegal activity, the source told CNN. The detail said they never witnessed the ambassador engage in any sexual activity, the source said.

The ambassador went to Washington and was asked what he was doing and he denied any wrongdoing, the source told CNN. The ambassador explained that sometimes he fights with his wife, needs air and he goes for a walk in the park because he likes it.

Kennedy also issued a statement Tuesday, saying it is his responsibility "to make sure the department and all of our employees -- no matter their rank -- are held to the highest standard, and I have never once interfered, nor would I condone interfering, in any investigation."

• A State Department security official in Beirut allegedly "engaged in sexual assaults" against foreign nationals working as embassy guards. The security official, the Office of the Inspector General says, was also accused of committing "similar assaults during assignments in Baghdad, and possibly Khartoum and Monrovia." The office's memo says that an inspector general's investigator who went to Beirut to try to conduct an investigation was not given enough time to complete the job.

• A member of Clinton's security detail allegedly "engaged prostitutes while on official trips in foreign countries." The inspector general's agent assigned to investigate "concluded" that the "prostitution problem was endemic."

• In Iraq, an "underground drug ring" may have been operating near the U.S. Embassy and "supplying" drugs to State Department security contractors, but an agent sent to investigate the allegations was prevented from completing the job.

The allegations were first reported Monday by CBS...

englishnews@chosun.com / May 28, 2013 09:39 KST

Senior Chinese official and roaming regional ambassador Wang Jiarui recently described his country's ties with North Korea as merely "normal relations between states," a lawmaker here said Monday.

Yoo Ki-june of the Saenuri Party's Supreme Council was speaking after he led a group of 10 ruling and opposition lawmakers on a visit to China last week.

Yoo told Saenuri leaders that the group met senior Chinese officials like Wang, the director of the Communist Party's International Department, and Chongqing party secretary Sun Zhengcai, who handle Korean affairs. "In my meetings with them, I sensed a lot of change in Chinese diplomacy toward North Korea," Yoo said.

Yoo later told the Chosun lbo, "Wang called Beijing-Pyongyang ties 'normal relations between states' while explaining his country's relations with North Korea since the North's third nuclear test. He implied that Pyongyang is so recalcitrant that it's hard for Beijing to influence it."

"In the past, China tried to defend the North even if it had made mistakes, but this time all Chinese officials we met openly complained about the North," Yoo added.

In a separate telephone interview, Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Gyu-baek, who was also part of the group, also said, "When we met Wang, I urged China to play a leading role in persuading the North to return to the six-party nuclear talks. But he said that the U.S. and South Korea rather than China are key to the role. It sounded as if there was some change" in China's relations with the North.

By Ramsey Cox - 05/22/13 01:08 PM ET
TheHill.com

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Wednesday that he doesn’t trust members of his own party to negotiate a budget conference report.

Cruz's remark came after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he thought it was “bizarre” that a member of his own party was objecting to forming a conference committee with the House to work out a budget. 

McCain said the objections suggested Senate Republicans didn’t trust House Republicans to hold the party line in negotiations.

Cruz responded that he doesn't trust Republicans. 

“The senior senator of Arizona urged senators to trust House Republicans ... and frankly, I don’t trust Republicans,” Cruz said. “It’s the leaders of both parties that got us in this mess. ... A lot of Republicans were complicit in this spending spree.”

Thursday, 09 May 2013 06:23 PM
By Greg Richter and Kathleen Walter
NewsMax.com

The continuation of a false narrative for weeks after the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya that left U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead is "not understandable and is not forgivable," former director of the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency Gen.l Michael Hayden told Newsmax TV.

Hayden, in an exclusive interview, said he's been in the shoes of the State Department staff who had to deal with the aftermath of the Benghazi terrorist attacks. Knowing what they were going through, he tells Newsmax that he doesn't want to accuse anyone of wrongdoing in how they handled the situation while it was ongoing – or immediately afterward.

But he is curious about why so few options were available in the first place and why the State Department and the White House weeks later were sticking with the narrative of a demonstration over a video.

"I’ve been in these kinds of circumstances where if you’ve got a worldview, if you’ve got a narrative that you believe in, you try to make the facts presented to you fit the narrative," Hayden said. "I fear there may have been some people in our government who kind of fell into that trap in the days after Benghazi, which is understandable and, frankly, forgivable, and then in the weeks after Benghazi, which is not understandable and is not forgivable."

"Anyone like me who saw those events would quickly conclude it was a terrorist attack," Hayden said. "It was fairly complex, synchronized, direct and indirect fire weapons on multiple locations, and it took place in a part of Libya that was the heartland of the Libyan Islamic fighting group."

"I mean, the immediate explanation that this was a bad movie review, that just beggared comprehension," he said.

By Frosty Wooldridge
May 4, 2013
NewsWithViews.com

Senate Bill 744, Comprehensive Immigration Reform, promises the most prolific invasion of America since Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. But with one deadly difference: those storms subsided so we could repair the damage.

If S744 passes, we face endless immigration numbers to the tune of a minimum of 33 million immigrants within the first decade. Passing that bill means an increase of legal immigration from its current 1 million annually to 1.5 million annually. All totaled with immigrants, their offspring, chain migration and diversity visas, a mind numbing 100 million immigrants will land on America within 37 years—by 2050. (Source: www.NumbersUSA.org; US Population Projections by Fogel/Martin; PEW Research Center)

Even more sobering, we face a total population growth via “population momentum” of 138 million people to grow from 316 million in 2013 to 438 million people by 2050.

Their horrific impact on our schools, medical systems, infrastructure, water, resources, energy and environment cannot be calculated, but will exceed anything anyone can imagine. The impact of 100 million immigrants can and will degrade our quality of life and standard of living beyond anyone’s understanding. Their impact upon our environment cannot be measured, but it will be catastrophic for all Americans.

"Unlimited population growth cannot be sustained; you cannot sustain growth in the rates of consumption of resources. No species can overrun the carrying capacity of a finite land mass. This Law cannot be repealed and is not negotiable.” Dr. Albert Bartlett, www.albartlett.org, University of Colorado, USA.

Dennis Lynch created one of the most powerful films on illegal immigration. (six minutes) The number of Asian/Chinese coming across the border is rarely mentioned. But if you stop and consider the implications you will likely come to the same conclusion as many of us. An unsecured southern border presents a clear and present danger to all of us and this specific threat has little to do with cheap labor.

(Illegals migrate from the interior of Mexico, but come from as far south as Brazil.)

These immigrants bring incompatible cultures, religions and political clout. They displace American citizens, utilize welfare, housing and food stamps. They overwhelm villages, towns and cities...

Today, California pays over $10 billion in services annually for its estimated 3 to 4 million illegal aliens and its countless legal immigrants.

Published May 04, 2013
FoxNews.com

A Washington group is criticizing the Senate immigration bill because it allows for up to $150 million for organizations to advertise citizenship opportunities and to help illegal immigrants sign up to become citizens.

The nonpartisan Center for Immigration Services calls the money “slush funds” and earlier this week cited several concerns -- particularly that the money can go to the same groups that helped craft the legislation and that the spending appears to have no cap or oversight.

“It’s virtually a blank check,” Jon Feere, a Center for Immigration Services legal policy analyst, told FoxNews.com. “And the groups that helped draft this bill can now give themselves taxpayer dollars.”

The money is divided into two parts. The first is $100 million in grants to public and private nonprofit groups for programs that help people apply for provisional immigrant status, which includes assistance with completing applications and gathering proof of identification.

The other part in $50 million for additional assistance that includes legal help and public-awareness campaigns that tell illegal immigrants about the “eligibility and benefits of registered immigration status.”

The 844-page bill calls for the grant programs to run through 2018 and be administered by the secretary of Homeland Security through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

englishnews@chosun.com / Apr. 24, 2013 12:30 KST

In a further lurch to the far right, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told lawmakers on Tuesday that he does not believe Japan's occupation of other Asian countries during World War II can be considered "invasions."

Abe claimed there are no set international or academic definitions of the word. "It depends on the point of view of individual countries," he said, referring to a statement in 1995 by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, which apologized to all Asian victims of Japanese aggression and from which rightwingers are scrambling to distance themselves.

Japan occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945 and invaded China and several Southeast Asian nations during an aggressive expansion to create what was billed as the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."

Experts here slammed Abe's remarks. Ko Sang-tu at Yonsei University said, "That is simply absurd. It's like saying Hitler's invasion of Poland wasn't really an invasion. If a German chancellor had said the same thing, he or she would have had to resign."

Abe told lawmakers on Monday that he does not feel bound by the Murayama statement. The global press was alarmed, with the New York Times saying he sought to whitewash his country's World War II atrocities, while the Economist warned that the right-leaning Japanese Cabinet is a bad sign for the region.

Abe said Japan's pacifist constitution was put together by what he called "occupying forces," referring to the victorious U.S. at the end of the war.

The constitution, which stipulates the country's desire for peace and pledges a policy of non-aggression, effectively "entrusted the lives and safety of the public to the goodwill of other countries," he claimed.

This suggests he is throwing his weight behind moves from the far right to revise the constitution so the Japanese military can launch pre-emptive strikes abroad.

Japanese lawmakers pay homage at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday. /Reuters-Newsis

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and other Japanese politicians visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which houses the remains of Japan's war dead including convicted war criminals. On Tuesday, 168 members of the Diet followed suit, the biggest number of lawmakers since 1989.

The Japanese media were critical of the stunt. The Asahi Shimbun urged cabinet members to exercise "restraint" in speech as well as action, while the Mainichi Shimbun warned Japan's "national interests are at risk" if such strain is put on cooperation with China and South Korea in trying to rein in North Korea.

by Chris Cassidy
Boston Globe
Monday, April 29, 2013

The Tsarnaev family, including the suspected terrorists and their parents, benefited from more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance — a bonanza ranging from cash and food stamps to Section 8 housing from 2002 to 2012, the Herald has learned.

“The breadth of the benefits the family was receiving was stunning,” said a person with knowledge of documents handed over to a legislative committee today.

The state has handed over more than 500 documents to the 11-member House Post Audit and Oversight Committee, which today met for the first time and plans to call in officials from the Department of Transitional Assistance to testify.

“I can assure members of the public that this committee will actively review every single piece of information we can find because clearly the public has a substantial right to know what benefits, if any, this family or individuals accused of some horrific crimes were receiving,” said state Rep. David Linsky (D-Natick), the committee’s chairman.

Linsky’s committee has requested documents from the DTA, the state’s Medicaid director and Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz. But so far the committee has not released the records publicly, citing a privilege the DTA is asserting under state law.

Transitional assistance officials also told the Herald tonight that the agency was conducting its own investigation into whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s family ever notified the DTA about his extended trip to Russia, and has since expanded its probe to include a full history of the benefits received by the entire Tsarnaev family.

by Neil Munro [White House Correspondent]
TheDailyCaller.com
April 26, 2013

The pending Senate immigration bill would bring a minimum of 33 million people into the country during its first decade of operation, according to an analysis by NumbersUSA, a group that wants to slow the current immigration rate.

By 2024, the inflow would include an estimated 9.2 million illegal immigrants, plus 2.5 million illegals who arrived as children — dubbed ‘Dreamers’ — plus roughly 3.4 million company-sponsored employees with university degrees, said the unreleased analysis.

The majority of the inflow, or roughly 17 million people, would consist of family members of illegals, recent immigrants and of company-sponsored workers, according to the NumbersUSA analysis provided to The Daily Caller.

The estimate is likely the first of several that will be produced by advocates as the Senate grapples with the immigration bill developed by the “Gang of Eight” senators.

The 844-page bill was released last week, and was scheduled for debate and amendment in the Senate’e judiciary committee starting April 25. However, the amendment process was held up for a week by Republican Senators, who said they need more time to study the complex bill.

Advocates for the bill have yet to release any estimates of the future inflow.

“Nobody has a number that is based on the bill right now that’s accurate,” Lynn Tramonte, deputy director of the pro-immigration America’s Voice Education Fund, told the Christian Science Monitor in an April 25 article. “It’ll take a bit more [analysis] to get a specific number about how things will change.”

A high inflow could prove to be a political problem for the bill’s advocates.

An April 20-22 Fox News poll of 1,009 registered voters showed that 55 percent of respondents want a reduction in the current number of legal immigrants.

Currently, the country accepts 1 million immigrants and 700,000 temporary company-sponsored workers each year. The bill would boost that to roughly 3 million immigrants and 1 million company-sponsored workers per year.

Forty-five percent of non-whites, 53 percent of independents and 62 percent of people without college degrees, favor a reduction in legal immigrants. Only 18 percent of Republicans and 29 percent of independents favor an increase in legal immigration, the Fox poll reported.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/26/anti-immigration-group-immigration-bill-to-bring-in-at-least-33-million-people/#ixzz2Rlm55m1X

WASHINGTON — While much of the debate over immigration has focused on the fate of the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. without legal authorization, one of the biggest immediate impacts of the reform bill being prepared in the Senate would be a sudden, large surge in legal migration.

The U.S. admits about 1 million legal immigrants per year, more than any other country. That number could jump by more than 50% over the next decade under the terms of the immigration reform bill that a bipartisan group of senators expects to unveil as early as Tuesday. The impact would be felt nationwide, but areas that already have large immigrant communities would probably see much of the increase.

The immigration package includes at least four major provisions that would increase the number of legal immigrants, according to people familiar with it. Some of the parts could generate as much controversy as the provisions dealing with those who enter the country illegally or overstay their visas, according to those with long experience of the politics of immigration...

by SARTRE
April 6, 2013

“Still, three Security Council resolutions - in 2006, 2009 and 2013 - critical of North Korea's nuclear program and tightening sanctions on Pyongyang - had the blessings of China, a permanent member with veto powers.

 

But the harshest of possible sanctions - a naval blockade, an oil embargo or a cutoff of economic aid from China - have escaped Security Council resolutions, at least so far.

 

The 15-member Council met in an emergency session Tuesday and issued a predictable statement condemning the test as "a grave violation" of its three resolutions and describing North Korea as a country which is "a clear threat to international peace and security".”

“In this tense game of diplomatic-military poker, South Korea is not even the North's principal adversary. Kim Jong-il is now blithely defying all the major regional actors - the US, China, Russia and Japan - while actively exploiting differences between them. It makes little difference whether his aim is recognition and security guarantees; economic and financial assistance; or the succession of his son. Kim is playing off the great powers against each other, to see what he can get out of them. The result is virtual diplomatic meltdown.

 

Just look at what has happened since last month's bombardment of Yeonpyeong island. China, the North's only influential ally, has come under strong US pressure to pull its supposed client into line. China's perceived failure to do so is straining relations with Washington. James Steinberg, the US deputy secretary of state, visited Beijing today carrying the message: China must do more, fast.”

“The Chinese military, and to a lesser extent the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party, assert strong influence on China's Korea policy, and both powerful entities prefer to keep North Korea close at hand, Chinese and American analysts say. 

 

While the People's Liberation Army is not even able to conduct military exercises with the North Koreans - the government in the North forbids such contact with outsiders - Chinese military strategists adhere to the doctrine that they cannot afford to abandon their ally, no matter how bad its behavior, analysts here say. 

 

At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party looks upon the North Korean Communist Party - led by Kim Jong-un, the grandson of the nation's founder - as a fraternal brotherhood. Indeed, relations between the two countries are conducted largely between the two parties rather than between the two foreign ministries, the more normal diplomatic channel. 

 

In an early sign that Mr. Xi is unlikely to veer from past policy, the state-run news agency, Xinhua, criticized the United States and its allies for essentially forcing the North's aggression by causing the country to feel insecure.”

"North Korea's continuous provocations defying China's demands, warnings and brazen neglect of China's key strategic and security interests certainly drive many in China, both in the public and among elites, to 'soul-searching' on its North Korea policy," said Wang Dong, director, School of International Studies, Center for Northeast Asian Strategic Studies, Peking University, Beijing.

 

China will join the international community in tightening sanctions against the regime, "but it will also carefully ensure the sanctions do not 'threaten' another key goal of China, which is peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," Wang said.”

englishnews@chosun.com / Apr. 05, 2013 12:33 KST

International hacker group Anonymous on Thursday broke into Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean website that spreads propaganda from North Korea's official KCNA news agency.

The hacker collective released the personal information of the website's 9,001 subscribers, including their ID and password, name, date of birth and other details.

The South Korean National Intelligence Service said, "Many of the leaked details on the website match those of South Koreans."

Police are taking a keen interest. A National Police Agency spokesman said, "A considerable number of people who want to access information about North Korea are registered on Uriminzokkiri. If they have carried out any pro-North Korean activities such as spreading articles from the site or posting pro-North Korean comments, we will take actions since that violates the National Security Law."

The site, which is run by North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, is blocked in South Korea but can be accessed using proxy servers.

Anonymous in a statement on Tuesday urged North Korea to stop developing nuclear arms and threatening the world with nuclear weapons, and called for Kim Jong-un to step down. It also warned of a "cyber war."

Pyongyang did not react to the hacker attack, which also targeted other North Korean websites. A South Korean security official said, "Given the nature of North Korean system, where decision-making takes a long time, there's unlikely to be any official comment till the weekend."

But North Korea experts say the attack must have hurt. Besides the identity theft, the hackers also managed to keep a satirical image showing Kim Jong-un as a pig with a Mickey Mouse tattoo on the front page of the website all day.

North Korea also suffered cyber attacks from unknown sources on March 13 and 14. Access to websites with servers in North Korea including the Rodong Sinmun, North Korean Central News Agency and Naenara was disabled.

englishnews@chosun.com / Apr. 05, 2013 10:26 KST

A North Korean defector stole a fishing boat on Yeonpyeong Island on Wednesday night and returned to the North across the West Sea.

The incident occurred even as the South Korean military was supposedly on heightened alert due to increasingly bellicose rhetoric from the North and in the wake of similar other incidents highlighting lax border security.

North Korea was apparently unaware for more than an hour that the fishing boat had crossed over the de facto maritime border.

According to the Defense Ministry, the defector stole a nine-ton fishing boat on Yeonpyeong Island at around 10:49 p.m. and headed for the Northern Limit Line -- a distance about 5.5 km.

Coast guards check a fishing boat at a port on Yeonpyeong Island on Thursday morning.

The man, who was identified by his surname Lee, had fled the North in March 2007 and made his way to the South. He found a job on the island late last month as a crab fisherman.

Lee scoured Yeonpyeong port that night and found a fishing boat with the key stuck in the ignition, which is apparently common practice among local fishermen. Military authorities prohibit crab fishing at night, and a Marine sentry stationed at the port spotted the boat leaving the dock and informed his senior officers at around 10:31 p.m. But they did nothing.

"It is common during the crab-fishing season for boats to anchor near the seawall. The unit in charge of the area apparently thought this was the case that night," a Defense Ministry official said.

The Marines and Navy operate radar installations on Yeonpyeong Island. At around 10:46 p.m., three minutes before Lee crossed over the NLL, military authorities on the island said they saw a fishing boat around 900 m south of the maritime border. The Navy immediately dispatched patrol vessels, but the fishing boat had already crossed into North Korean waters.

The military has recently raised the alert level by a notch, and joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises were taking place even as the incident occurred. The Marines and Navy claim they have also increased surveillance around Yeonpyeong Island.

North Korea, which also claims to have raised its military alert to the highest level, failed to detect the approaching boat. "There were no movements by North Korean patrol boats even an hour after the fishing boat crossed over the NLL," said an informed source. "To my knowledge, even the North Korean military was surprised."

englishnews@chosun.com / Apr. 01, 2013 12:20 KST

Deng Yuwen

The deputy editor of an official Chinese publication has lost his job over an article he wrote late February for the Financial Times arguing that China should abandon North Korea.

In the op-ed piece on Feb. 27, Deng Yuwen wrote, "North Korea's third nuclear test is a good moment for China to re-evaluate its longstanding alliance with the Kim dynasty. For several reasons, Beijing should give up on Pyongyang and press for the reunification of the Korean peninsula."

Deng was the deputy editor of Study Times, the publication of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China.

Deng told the Chosun Ilbo by telephone that the article cost him the job. "I was relieved of the position because of that article, and I'm suspended indefinitely. Although I'm still being paid by the company, I don't know when I will be given another position."

Deng said the Chinese Foreign Ministry was "very upset" by the article and made a call to the Central Party School to complain.

NewsMax.com
Sunday, 24 Mar 2013 09:14 AM

Senator John McCain said Republicans should compromise and increase tax revenue as part of a “long-term grand bargain” on the budget, and praised President Barack Obama for talking to senators across the aisle.

“I’m open — have always been open — to closing loopholes, eliminating special deals for special interests,” McCain, of Arizona, said in an interview on “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” airing this weekend on Bloomberg Television. “If you call that ‘raising revenues,’ I’ve been guilty all my political career” of trying to cut special-interest loopholes.

Obama and congressional Democrats want to combine higher revenue with spending cuts to replace the $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts that began taking effect March 1. Many Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, have rejected tax increases, and the House last year voted to curb food stamps and other domestic programs rather than defense to avoid the across-the-board reductions known as sequestration.

The Senate early today adopted a nonbinding budget blueprint for fiscal 2014 that would reduce U.S. debt through higher taxes for top earners. Lawmakers voted 50-49 to approve the Democratic-sponsored measure, with all the chamber’s Republicans, including McCain, voting no.

McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election, said that in contrast to his first term, the president “has changed significantly” and is reaching out to Republicans.

Grand Bargain

“The question is: Will that translate into what I think we’ve got to do sooner or later, and that’s a grand bargain?” he told interviewer Hans Nichols. “I am more than willing to give the president of the United States the opportunity to sit down and work with us. And we may have to make some concessions on our side.”

He added: “What we would want to have is a really long- term grand bargain, not one of these that lurches a couple of months to a couple of months. And at least the dialogue has begun.”

The government could reap “tens of billions” of dollars by ending tax breaks for Hollywood and companies such as Facebook Inc. (FB), McCain, 76, said. The social media company went public with $16 billion in deductions to lower future tax bills because of the way current law allows it to value stock options. In many cases, though, executives who receive the options will have to pay taxes on income from them.

“Why are we doing all these things that only benefit the special interests who still have enormous influence here?” McCain said. “Republicans have betrayed our base by allowing this kind of pork-barrel and earmark spending to go on.”

He didn’t identify enough loopholes to close in order to reach the $600 billion in new revenue that Obama has called for.

DHS staying mum as members probe for explanations

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
Mar 21, 2013

Speaking at CPAC with Infowars and We Are Change reporter, Luke Rudkowski, Congressman Timothy Huelscamp revealed this week that the Department of Homeland Security has refused to answer questions from “multiple” members of Congress regarding its recent purchase of huge amounts of weapons and ammunition.

“They have no answer for that question. They refuse to answer to answer that,” Huelscamp said.

“I’ve got a list of various questions of agencies about multiple things. Far from being the most transparent administration in the world, they are the most closed and opaque,” the Congressman added.

“They refuse to let us know what is going on, so I don’t really have an answer for that. Multiple members of Congress are asking those questions,” he added.

“It comes down to during the budget process, during the appropriations process, are we willing to hold DHS’s feet to the fire?”

“We’re going to find out… I say we don’t fund them ’til we get an answer. Those type of things really challenge Americans. They are worried about this administration,” Huelscamp urged.

Watch the clip below:

The Congressman’s comments come in the wake of a demand for answers from New Jersey Congressman Leonard Lance on the same subject.

“I would like a full explanation as to why that has been done and I have every confidence that the oversight committee ….should ask those questions,” said Lance, adding that he shared a belief, “that Congress has a responsibility to ask Secretary Napolitano as to exactly why these purchases have occurred.”

The DHS has purchased over 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the past year – enough to wage a 20 year plus war. Earlier this month, Forbes Magazine called for a “national conversation” on the matter.

During the CPAC interview, Congressman Huelscamp also spoke briefly about why he voted twice against the National Defense Authorization Act, stating that it was because of the lack of detail regarding the provision in the bill to allow for incarceration of Americans without due process.

“I think it’s something that is so Constitutionally suspect,” Huelscamp said. “It’s one of those things, if you’re not absolutely crystal clear on a Constitutional issue like that, we shouldn’t take those chances.”

“I gather there are folks on the other side who think they covered that. I just don’t think we did a good enough job,” the Congressman added. “And based on how hard it was for Senator Paul to get an answer out of the administration, very clearly we need to make it absolutely clear that there are Constitutional protections in this country.”

The Congressman also spoke with regards to the recent and ongoing furor over the Obama administration’s intentions for using drones domestically and it’s withholding of information on it’s overseas drone program.

“One of the difficulties I have as a member of Congress is the failure of this administration to provide information on what is actually going on,” Huelscamp said.

“When we take office we sign an oath to office, but we also sign a little card that says we have access to classified military intelligence, and I’ll just tell you, this administration and prior administrations are not very clear or transparent with the folks that actually control their budget.”

“Every member of Congress should know the answers to those questions, and whether or not they can share them,” the Congressman concluded.

—————————————————————-

Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.

This article was posted: Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 10:18 am

englishnews@chosun.com / Mar. 15, 2013 13:21 KST

U.S. President Barack Obama told ABC News on Wednesday that China is "recalculating" its North Korea policy, which until now tolerated the North's belligerence to maintain the status quo and keep the regime in place. Obama said the changes in China are "very positive."

It is rare for a U.S. president to make such comments about China and hints that fundamental strategic talks have taken place behind the scenes over North Korea.

China has supported two UN Security Council resolutions this year approving sanctions against North Korea. In the process, Washington and Beijing will have talked in great depth about how to deal with the North, which succeeded in launching a rocket capable of being turned into an intercontinental ballistic missile and conducted its third nuclear test.

Both the U.S. and China favor stability on the Korean Peninsula over abrupt change. Obama has vowed not to reward North Korea's belligerent behavior, but also stated that he wants to resume dialogue with Pyongyang if it shows positive signs such as halting its nuclear weapons and missile development programs.

China, which just elected Xi Jinping as its new president, is expected to convene a meeting of top diplomatic and national security officials to determine the direction of its foreign policy. Beijing stood by Pyongyang even after the North sank the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan and shelled Yeonpyeong Island, because just such a meeting of top diplomatic and national security officials after Pyongyang's second nuclear test in May 2009 agreed that the North remains a strategic asset.

That position is likely to come up for review in the upcoming meeting.

But while all these momentous discussions are going on, the Park Geun-hye administration here has not even formally appointed a presidential national security advisor, intelligence chief or defense minister, even though it has been in office for 20 days.

The best scenario for Seoul would be if Beijing persuades Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear weapons program and pursue reforms. Surely one of President Park's most urgent tasks is to prod Beijing in that direction. She must make it clear to both the U.S. and China that South Korea is not a passive bystander in the developments on the Korean Peninsula but one of the main players.

englishnews@chosun.com / Mar. 14, 2013 12:32 KST

One of the main duties of North Korean diplomats is to change counterfeit money into real money and send it back, according to a former North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea in 2011.

He said one North Korean embassy in Eastern Europe generated US$30 million by exchanging counterfeit notes a year.

North Korea manufactures so-called supernotes or high-quality counterfeit $100 bills and hands them to embassies for laundering. "The supernotes are delivered at a certain time each year by ship or plane," he said. "An agent working at the embassy goes to a safe house and brings a box full of them."

When the bills arrive, embassy staff bundle them up into $10,000 units. They then travel to major cities in their host country to exchange it. Sometimes they are caught, but the North carefully studies the different types of punishment in different countries and gives the information to diplomats, the defector added.

Diplomats are taught not to exchange too much money at once. After the fakes are exchanged into the host country's currency, the money is exchanged again into real U.S. dollars. And diplomats do not stay long in the cities where they exchange the money. "You can get caught if you stay more than a week in one particular area," the defector said. Diplomats also frequently use casinos to launder their money.

North Korean diplomats also use supernotes to buy millions of dollars worth of gifts to send back to the North every year to mark nation founder Kim Il-sung's birthday on April 15 and the birthday of his son, Kim Jong-il, on Feb. 16.

"In my experience, it was safe to mix counterfeit and bona fide dollars at a ratio of 7 to 3," the defector said.