Philippines and U.S. announces defense pact

The U.S. and the Philippines have agreed on a new 10-year defense pact that will allow increased presence of U.S. troops in the Philippines, White House officials said Sunday.

The deal came in advance of President Obama's arrival in the Philippine capital, Manila, on Monday, the last stop on his four-country Asian tour.

The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which has been under negotiation for eight months, is "the most significant defense agreement that we have concluded with the Philippines in decades," said Evan Medeiros, National Security Council senior director for Asian affairs.

The accord will give U.S. forces temporary access to select Philippine bases and allow them to position planes and ships there.

Details of the size, duration and location of the increased U.S. presence are yet to be worked out, but it is a significant step in the Obama administration's pivot toward Asia, a region with a rising power in China and a large number of volatile territorial disputes in the East and South China seas.

The Philippines has long been seeking additional support in its disputes with China over areas such as the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal. For the U.S., the pact is an opportunity to reassert its presence in the region and monitor its interests, particularly freedom of navigation on the South China Sea.

Obama has been careful not to antagonize China on this Asia trip, which included visits to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.

"We're not interested in containing China," he said in South Korea on Friday. "We're interested in China's peaceful rise and it being a responsible and powerful proponent of the rule of law and an international system."

"The Chinese consider U.S. action encirclement and containment.," he said. "China may not want U.S. ships regularly patrolling the region, but the rules of engagement will be more readily understood between the two and potentially create a temporary maritime balance."

The Philippines has a long-standing and deep connection with the U.S. It was an American colony from 1898 to 1946, and the countries' military defense treaty, signed in 1951, is the oldest U.S. treaty alliance in Asia. Throughout the Cold War, the United States maintained a large military presence in the Philippines at Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Station.

Still, U.S. military presence in the Philippines has long been an emotionally charged topic, evoking issues of sovereignty and national pride. Intense debates in the Philippine Senate ultimately led to closing Subic Bay Naval Station, the last permanent U.S. base in the country, in 1992.

Credit to USA Today

Arkansas Tornadoes: 'Utter Devastation', At Least 16 Deaths

A dangerous scene played out northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday night when a massive tornado slammed Mayflower and Vilonia, demolishing homes and tossing cars like toys.

The tornado touched down Sunday about 10 miles west of Little Rock at around 7 p.m., then carved an 80-mile path of destruction as it passed through or near several suburbs north of the state capital, including Vilonia. It grew to be a half-mile wide and remained on the ground for much of that route, authorities said.

The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management confirmed at least 16 deaths from the tornado – 10 in Faulkner County, five in Pulaski County and one in White County.

In Faulkner County, sheriff Andy Shock told the Associated Press there is "utter devastation," and that family members are searching for missing relatives. Shock said there is widespread confusion and a medical triage area had to be opened in a Mayflower home-improvement store's parking lot to treat the injured.

The American Red Cross has opened two emergency shelters and is supporting four community shelters for residents displaced by tornadoes in three Arkansas counties. The tornado that hit Arkansas didn't form until night was setting in, so the full extent of the damage won't be known until after sunrise Monday.




Storm chasers were on the scene shortly after, and Brett Adair told The Weather Channel that they assisted injured residents in nearby communities affected by the tornado. After hitting Mayflower, the tornado also left severe damage in Vilonia and El Paso.

"It was like a war zone," said Tom Marsh, who was in Vilonia when the tornado hit the town.

Among the ruins was a new $14 million intermediate school that was set to open this fall.

"There's just really nothing there anymore. We're probably going to have to start all over again," Vilonia Schools Superintendent Frank Mitchell said after surveying what was left of the building.

Matt DeCample, a spokesperson for Gov. Mike Beebe, told the AP that the tornado was at least a half-mile wide when it slammed Vilonia. Three years ago, this central Arkansas city of just over 3,800 was hit by a tornado that killed four people on April 25, 2011.

Karla Ault, a Vilonia High School volleyball coach, said she sheltered in the school gymnasium as the storm approached. After it passed, her husband told her their home had been reduced to the slab on which it had sat.


"I'm just kind of numb. It's just shock that you lost everything. You don't understand everything you have until you realize that all I've got now is just what I have on," Ault said.

Credit to Weather.com

why are nearly 50 million Americans dealing with food insecurity?

If the economy really is "getting better", then why are nearly 50 million Americans dealing with food insecurity?  In 1854, Henry David Thoreau observed that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation".  The same could be said of our time.  In America today, most people are quietly scratching and clawing their way from month to month.  Nine of the top ten occupations in the U.S. pay an average wage of less than $35,000 a year, but those that actually are working are better off than the millions upon millions of Americans that can't find jobs.  The level of employment in this nation has remained fairly level since the end of the last recession, and median household income has gone down for five years in a row.  Meanwhile, our bills just keep going up and the cost of food is starting to rise at a very frightening pace.  Family budgets are being squeezed tighter and tighter, and more families are falling out of the middle classevery single day.  In fact, a new report by Feeding America (which operates the largest network of food banks in the country) says that 49 million Americans are "food insecure" at this point.  Approximately 16 million of them are children.  It is a silent epidemic of hunger that those living in the wealthy areas of the country don't hear much about.  But it is very real.

The mainstream media and our politicians continue to insist that "things are getting better", and that may be true for Wall Street, but the man who was in charge of the new Feeding America report says that the level of suffering for the tens of millions of Americans that are food insecure has not changed...

“Nothing is getting better,” said Craig Gundersen, lead researcher of the report, “Map the Meal Gap 2014,” and an expert in food insecurity and food aid programs.

“Let’s stop talking about the end of the Great Recession until we can make sure that we get food insecurity rates down to a more reasonable level,” he added. “We’re still in the throes of the Great Recession, from my perspective.”

In fact, a different report seems to indicate that hunger in America is actually getting worse...

Children's HealthWatch, a network of doctors and public health researchers who collect data on children up to 4 years old, says 29% of the households they track were at risk of hunger last year, compared with 25% the year before.

If someone tries to tell you that "the economy is getting better", that person is probably living in a wealthy neighborhood.  Because those that live in poor neighborhoods would not describe what is going around them as an "improvement".

In particular, many minority neighborhoods are really dealing with extremely high levels of food insecurity right now.  The following comes from a recent NBC News article...

"Minorities are facing serious hunger issues. Ninety-three percent of counties with a majority African-American population fall within the top 10 percent of food-insecure counties, while 60 percent of majority American Indian counties fall in that category"

But if you don't live in one of those areas and you don't know anyone that is facing food insecurity, it can be difficult to grasp just how much people are actually suffering out there right now.

For example, consider the story of a young mother named Tianna Gaines Turner...

Tianna Gaines Turner can't remember the last time she went to bed without worrying about how she was going to feed her three children.

She can't remember the last time she woke up and wasn't worried about how she and her husband would make enough in their part-time jobs to buy groceries and pay utilities on their apartment in a working-class section of Philadelphia.

And she can't remember the last time she felt confident she and her husband wouldn't have to skip meals so their children could eat.

Have you ever been in a position where you had to skip meals just so that other family members could have something to eat?

I haven't, so it is hard for me to imagine having to do such a thing.  But there are millions of parents that are faced with these kinds of hard choices every day.

Things can be particularly hard if you are a single parent.  Just consider the story of Jamie Grimes...

After Jaime Grimes found out in January that her monthly food stamps would be cut again, this time by $40, the single mother of four broke down into sobs — then she took action.

The former high school teacher made a plan to stretch her family’s meager food stores even further. She used oatmeal and ground beans as filler in meatloaf and tacos. She watered down juice and low-fat milk to make it last longer. And she limited herself to one meal a day so her kids — ages 3, 4, 13, and 16 — would have enough to eat.

I have such admiration for working single mothers.  Many of them work more than one job just so that they can provide for their children.  It can be absolutely frustrating to work as hard as you possibly can and still not have enough money to pay the bills at the end of the month.

Those that believe that the economy has gotten "back to normal" just need to look at the number of women that have been forced to turn to government assistance.  As I mentioned the other day, a decade ago the number of American women that had jobs outnumbered the number of American women on food stamps by more than a 2 to 1 margin. But now the number of American women on food stamps actually exceedsthe number of American women that have jobs.

The truth is that we are nowhere close to where we used to be.  The last major economic downturn permanently damaged the middle class, and now the next major economic downturn is rapidly approaching.

Right now, there are nearly 50 million Americans that are facing food insecurity.  When the next economic crisis strikes, that number is going to go much higher.

There is going to be a great need for love and compassion in this country during the hard times that are coming.  Instead of just cursing the darkness, I hope that you will choose to be a light to those that desperately need it.

Credit to Economic Collapse

Investigation reveals how easy it can be to access voicemails without PINs

Phone hacking dominated the news during the Leveson Inquiry, but despite the high-profile exposure, voicemails are still at risk.

During an investigation by The Register, journalist Simon Rockman was able to use a Skype-style Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) handset to access the inboxes of EE, Three and Orange customers.

EE, which owns the Orange and T-Mobile networks, has now fixed the flaw as a result of the investigation, but Three is said to still be at risk.



During an investigation by The Register, journalist Simon Rockman was able to use a Skype-style VoIP service to access the inboxes of EE, Three and Orange customers. By linking a mobile number to a VoIP handset, Rockman was able to trick the inbox into thinking it was the number's owner and access the inboxes

WHAT IS VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP)?

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is sometimes referred to as Voice over Networks or (VoN), Voice over Broadband (VoB) and sometimes Internet Telephony.

VoIP lets people make free, or low cost, telephone calls over the web.

Popular VoIP services include Viber and Skype.

VoIP can be used anywhere in the world and can call landline and mobile numbers.

When you call voicemail from a handset registered with the account, the inbox is automatically opened because it assumes the caller is the phone’s owner.

But when calls are made from another phone, users are asked for a PIN - or denied access if no PIN has been set up.

By linking the mobile number, and therefore a voicemail account, to a VoIP handset, Rockman was able to trick the inbox into thinking it was the number’s owner on three of the major network operators.

When calling the external voicemail number on EE, the inbox was accessed immediately.

It was the same situation on Three.

On Orange, Rockman was able to not only access the voicemails but also change the voicemail greeting.

Although this access was granted intermittently - sometimes access was given automatically, while at other times it asked for a PIN.



EE, which owns the Orange and T-Mobile networks, has now fixed the flaw, but Three is said to still be at risk. Three offers advice on how to set up a voicemail PIN on its support page, and recommends its users select the option that asks for their phone number and PIN every time they access their voicemail

It is worth noting that accessing someone else's voicemail account without their permission is illegal and falls under computer misuse legislation.

EE told MailOnline: 'Our engineers have worked hard since then to identify the root fault and work on a fix.

'We can now confirm that we have urgently updated our systems and patched the issues raised in the article.'

Three offers advice on how to set up a voicemail PIN on its support page, and recommends its users select the option that asks for their phone number and PIN every time they access their voicemail to get the highest level of security.

This would effectively stop people accessing the account in the way The Register demonstrated.

Credit Mailonline.com

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2613258/Are-voicemails-STILL-risk-hacked-Investigation-reveals-easy-access-inboxes-without-PINs.html#ixzz306d772qY

Death & Taxes: A Letter From A Private Banker

 

Submitted by Michael O'Brian via Sovereign Man blog,

One of the founding fathers of the United States famously remarked that death and taxes are the only certainties in life.

And as tax day rolled around once again in the US, individuals the length and breadth of the country were participating in the annual ritual of filing their income tax returns with the federal government.

Outside of the United States, banks, custodians, brokers and investment advisers are also working to meet a tax deadline coming soon—registration with the United States Internal Revenue Service to comply with FATCA.

Registration under FATCA has long been viewed as inevitable for foreign financial institutions. Most of these institutions were also quick to realise that FATCA would set a precedent—automatic exchange of information programs would follow elsewhere.

And over the last few years, as FATCA was being implemented, policy-makers the world over have indeed come to see FATCA as the tax compliance model to emulate.

The financial crisis and the witch-hunting scandals involving offshore accounts in recent years created an environment that was receptive to proposals for the multilateral exchange of tax information between and among countries.

Concerns about data protection and privacy issues posed by FATCA and FATCA-like mechanisms were drowned out by grand declarations about the principles of increased transparency and information sharing.

In June last year the G-8 released a declaration that directed that “tax authorities across the world should automatically share information to fight the scourge of tax evasion.”

Less than a year later and 44 countries have agreed to a September 2017 deadline for the ‘Automatic Exchange of Information’ between governments.

The financial information to be reported under the OECD’s standard includes investment income from interest and dividends, as well as account balances and sales proceeds from financial assets.

EU Council chief Herman Van Rompuy gladly sounded the death knell: “Banking secrecy is set to die,” he said after Austria and Luxembourg finally acquiesced to demands and agreed to automatic exchange of savings account information on non-citizens.

And so the diminished privacy that has become a feature of our modern lives now looks set to pervade the conventional banking system.

Citizens will render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, but the wisest among them will continue to avail of the privacy and asset protection offered in certain jurisdictions.

While financial privacy within the conventional banking system doesn’t exist anymore, you can still achieve a great degree of privacy for your wealth by holding it in alternative assets like physical precious metals, real estate, collectibles etc.

And as far as banking goes, the least you can do for your monetary assets is to entrust them into the custody of a sound institution with solid fundamentals that won’t gamble away with your deposits.

Establishing a banking relationship in a safe bank abroad is something that anyone can and should do. This is not about hiding anything. As we can see, financial nudity is now the norm anyways. The main reason to do so is to protect your savings from shaky institutions and bankrupt governments.

If death and taxes are certainties, the prescription is simple: report and fully comply with your domestic tax codes and then chose a very private jurisdiction that will protect your tax-compliant assets from the risks that overleveraged big financial institutions subject their clients to.

Credit to Zero Hedge

G7 'to intensify Russia sanctions'

The G7 group of economic powers has agreed to intensify sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

A G7 statement gave no detail of the sanctions, but US officials said they could announce measures by Monday.

The West accuses Russia of leading a secession rebellion in Ukraine's east, months after it annexed Crimea. Moscow denies the allegations.

Meanwhile, negotiators are trying to secure the release of international observers seized by pro-Russia gunmen.

Forces in the city of Sloviansk are still holding the eight European military observers and several Ukrainian army personnel who they seized on Friday and accuse of espionage.
Pro-Russian armed men have seized a number of government buildings in eastern Ukraine
Ukraine says its soldiers have now erected checkpoints around the eastern city of Sloviansk

The observers were taking part in a mission linked to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Jets 'violated air space'

Rebel militia continue to occupy official buildings in a dozen eastern cities, defying the government in Kiev.

Russia has tens of thousands of troops deployed along its side of the border with Ukraine and has said it would act if its interests were threatened.

The US accused Russian jets of violating Ukraine's airspace on Friday in a further sign of escalation.

Pentagon spokesman Col Steven Warren said Russian aircraft had entered Ukrainian airspace several times in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the G7 praised Ukraine for acting with restraint in dealing with the "armed bands" that had occupied government buildings.

But the group, which includes the US, UK, Germany, Japan, France, Canada and Italy, condemned Russia's "increasingly concerning rhetoric and ongoing threatening military manoeuvres".

"Given the urgency of securing the opportunity for a successful and peaceful democratic vote next month in Ukraine's presidential elections, we have committed to act urgently to intensify targeted sanctions and measures to increase the costs of Russia's actions," said the statement.

The US and EU already has assets freezes and travel bans in place target a number of Russian individuals and firms accused of playing a part in the annexation of Crimea.

Credit to BBC

Putin Halts All Talks With White House

As new U.S. sanctions against Russia loom, the Kremlin has shut down—at least for now—intensive high level communications between top U.S. and Russian officials.

Since the invasion of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama have had regular phone calls in an often half-hearted attempt to deescalate the ongoing crisis inside Ukraine. But as the U.S. and EU prepare to unveil new sanctions against Russia, Putin has decided the interactions should stop. The Kremlin has ended high-level contact with the Obama administration, according to diplomatic officials and sources close to the Russian leadership. The move signals an end to the diplomacy, for now.

“Putin will not talk to Obama under pressure,” said Igor Yurgens, Chairman of the Institute for Contemporary Development, a prominent Moscow think tank, and a close associate of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “It does not mean forever.”

Obama and Putin last spoke over the phone on April 14, a call that the White House said was initiated at Moscow’s request. Obama urged Putin in the call to end Kremlin support for armed, pro-Russian activists creating unrest in eastern Ukraine. Obama also warned that the U.S. would impose more “costs” on Russia if Putin continued his current course. According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Putin denied Russian interference in eastern Ukraine and said “that such speculations are based on inaccurate information.”

Obama and Putin have spoken to each other about Ukraine regularly over the past weeks, including calls on March 28, March 16, and March 6. But that these calls are now on hold for the indefinite future, due to their lack of progress and frustration on both sides.

On Friday, Kerry warned that new round of American financial assaults on Russia were on the way. “We are putting in more sanctions, they will probably come Monday at the latest,” he said in a private meeting in Washington, according to an attendee. Russian businesses and individuals close to Putin would be on the sanctions list, he added.

Diplomatic sources close to the process confirmed that Putin is not interested in speaking with Obama again in the current environment. The two leaders might talk again in the future but neither side is reaching out for direct interaction, as they had been doing since the Ukraine crisis began. The failure of the agreement struck last week in Geneva between the contact group of the U.S., EU, Russia, and Ukraine has made further direct Washington-Moscow interactions moot.

“‘We are putting in more sanctions, they will probably come Monday at the latest,’ Kerry said. Russian businesses and individuals close to Putin would be on the sanctions list, he added.”

Other top U.S. officials are also now out of direct contact with their Russian interlocutors. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is also getting the cold shoulder from his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu. Pentagon officials have reached out to Russia on Mr. Hagel’s behalf within the past 24 hours but have not gotten any response, according to Pentagon Spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren.

That leaves the channel between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as the only semi-functioning high-level diplomatic channel between Washington and Moscow. But even that often-frosty relationship has further chilled as the two sides hurled insults and accusations this week.

After speaking over the phone Monday and then again Tuesday about the now defunct Geneva agreement on Ukraine, Kerry and Lavrov are now conducting diplomacy through the press—and leveling harsh and undiplomatic charges against one another.

Kerry appeared at the State Department press room Thursday afternoon to declare publicly that Russia was not keeping its word.

“For seven days, Russia has refused to take a single concrete step in the right direction,” Kerry scolded. “Not a single Russian official, not one, has publicly gone on television in Ukraine and called on the separatists to support the Geneva agreement, to support the stand-down, to give up their weapons, and get out of the Ukrainian buildings. They have not called on them to engage in that activity. “

Kerry also lashed out at Russia Today, the Kremlin-sponsored television network, which Kerry said spends all its time “to propagandize and to distort what is happening or not happening in Ukraine.” 

“Instead, in plain sight, Russia continues to fund, coordinate, and fuel a heavily armed separatist movement in Donetsk,” Kerry accused.

Lavrov publicly responded, “The U.S. is trying to pervert everything that is going on in Ukraine.”

On Friday, Kerry summed up his recent interactions with his Russian counterpart,  “I’ve had 6 conversations with Lavrov in the last few weeks. The last one was Kafka-esque... It was bizarre.”

Credit to The DeadlyBeast.com