Cyberattack at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries worries Tokyo as it keeps information on submarines, missiles and fighter jets China has angrily denied suggestions that it was behind a hacking attack targeting Japan’s biggest weapons contractor. Dozens of the firm’s computers were infected in what reports suggested was a co-ordinated attack on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which may have resulted in the leak of sensitive defence information. The company, whose military inventory includes submarines, US-designed F-15 fighter jets and surface-to-air Patriot missiles, said that only network information and IP addresses might have fallen into the hackers’ hands. A spokesman for the firm confirmed that 83 computers and servers at 11 locations, including Mitsubishi Heavy’s headquarters in Tokyo and shipyards in Nagasaki and Kobe, had been accessed. Speculation that hackers in China were responsible grew after media reports said Chinese characters had been detected in the attack. But Hong Lei, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters: “The Chinese government has consistently opposed hacking activities. The law strictly prohibits this. “China is one of the main victims of hacking … criticising China as being the source of the hacking attacks is not only baseless, it is also not beneficial for promoting international co-operation for internet security.” Mitsubishi Heavy was criticised for failing to report the attack, and could face serious financial repercussions if a police investigation reveals that military secrets were divulged. Under its agreement with the Tokyo government, the company is required to immediately inform authorities of any suspected breach of sensitive or classified information. Defence officials were reportedly furious after learning of the attacks through recent media reports, about a month after they took place. “It is up to the defence ministry to decide whether or not the information is important,” Professor Yoshiyasu Takefuji, a cybersecurity expert at Keio University in Tokyo, told Reuters. Takefuji said the breach, the first of its kind involving a Japanese defence firm, had exposed the country’s poor state of readiness for cyber-warfare. “This happened a month ago, and it’s just in the last few days they realised how bad it was,” he said. “They’ve been dozing for the past month.” Any leak of classified information could result in large fines for Mitsubishi Heavy, which earns a tenth of its revenue from government contracts, often in partnership with US firms such as Lockheed Martin. The defence minister, Yasuo Ichikawa, said that he was not aware that any important information had been leaked. Last year, the ministry awarded Mitsubishi 215 contracts worth a combined 260bn yen (£2.1bn), equivalent to almost a quarter of its annual expenditure. “We are not aware of any important data being leaked,” he said. “The ministry has business ties with the company, so we will instruct it to review its information control systems.” On Monday night, Japanese media reported that the scandal may escalate after IHI, which builds engine parts for fighter planes, had fallen victim to similar attacks. The Kyodo news agency reported that the websites of several government agencies had been attacked over the weekend. The national police agency said recent online message boards in China had encouraged hackers to disrupt Japanese websites ahead of the 80th anniversary on Sunday of the Mukden incident , an explosion staged by the imperial Japanese army that led to its invasion of China. Japan Cybercrime Arms trade Hacking China Computing Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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Three French men are being held over death of Lee Elton Fischer, who thought to have hit his head on the ground A British trade delegate has died after a brawl broke out in the French Riviera resort of Cannes. The 37-year-old, named by local police as Lee Elton Fischer from London, is understood to have hit his head on the pavement. Three French men between the ages of 25 and 30 were being questioned on Tuesday by detectives on suspicion of manslaughter. A local police spokesman said Fischer had been out with two friends and appeared to have been hit several times in the face in the attack on Sunday night. He is thought to have fallen awkwardly, causing a fatal injury. “It appears he was involved in an argument with three other men who work in the local area,” the spokesman said. “He died instantly and so he was not taken to hospital. “We are as yet unsure what sparked the dispute.” A postmortem examination is due to be conducted to establish the precise cause of death. A prosecutor from nearby Grasse has opened an investigation. The three men are being held in custody. Fischer is understood to have gone to Cannes to take part in an exhibition being organised by the Tax Free World Association. A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We can confirm the death of a British national in Cannes on September 18. “Next of kin are aware and we are providing consular assistance.” France Europe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Three French men are being held over death of Lee Elton Fischer, who thought to have hit his head on the ground A British trade delegate has died after a brawl broke out in the French Riviera resort of Cannes. The 37-year-old, named by local police as Lee Elton Fischer from London, is understood to have hit his head on the pavement. Three French men between the ages of 25 and 30 were being questioned on Tuesday by detectives on suspicion of manslaughter. A local police spokesman said Fischer had been out with two friends and appeared to have been hit several times in the face in the attack on Sunday night. He is thought to have fallen awkwardly, causing a fatal injury. “It appears he was involved in an argument with three other men who work in the local area,” the spokesman said. “He died instantly and so he was not taken to hospital. “We are as yet unsure what sparked the dispute.” A postmortem examination is due to be conducted to establish the precise cause of death. A prosecutor from nearby Grasse has opened an investigation. The three men are being held in custody. Fischer is understood to have gone to Cannes to take part in an exhibition being organised by the Tax Free World Association. A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We can confirm the death of a British national in Cannes on September 18. “Next of kin are aware and we are providing consular assistance.” France Europe guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media [h/t David ] Poor Rep. John Fleming. After he pays his 500 employees and rent for his Subway and UPS stores, he says he only has $400,000 to show for it. Only $400,000. That poor guy. It’s a wonder he can manage . Here’s a bit of his whine: “In my own case, I own LLCs,” Fleming told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing. “The income flows to my personal tax return and whatever is left over after taxes are paid, I feed my family on the one hand and on the other hand, I reinvest in my business.” “With all due respect, The Wall Street Journal estimated that your businesses, which I believe are Subway sandwich shops and UPS stores — very successful — brought you last year, over $6 million,” Jansing noted. ” Yeah, that’s before you pay 500 employees, you pay rent, you pay equipment and food,” Fleming agreed. ” Since my net income — and again, that’s the individual rate that I told you about — the amount that I have to reinvest in my business and feed my family is more like $600,000 of that $6.3 million. And so by the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over to invest in new locations, upgrade my locations, buy more equipment.” Wow, there’s some magic in those numbers. I’m guessing his reference to “feeding his family” also relates to paying for his home, his cars, their private schools, and any other household expenses, which he estimates at $200,000, five times the earnings of an average middle class family. But that’s not even the real magic. It’s unclear where that $6.3 million figure came from. Jansing noted that it “brought him” $6.3 million, but what does that mean? If the $6.3 million is the amount that flowed through onto his personal tax return, then payroll, equipment, rent and supplies were already factored in. That is the amount left over after he expensed all of those items. If, on the other hand, $600,000 flowed through from his LLC to his personal taxes, then he had $600,000 left to “feed his family with”, since all of the expenses he enumerated as counting against it would have been accounted for already. Six-hundred thousand bucks isn’t such a bad paycheck to take home, especially when he isn’t really active in the day-to-day management of the businesses, just the higher level overview, by his own admission . Assuming his $174,000 Congressional salary isn’t included in the $600,000 figure, that’s nearly $800,000 of income. Excuse me if I don’t weep for him paying a bit more in taxes, though even with all that combined income, he hasn’t hit the million-dollar mark set by President Obama’s plan. Except….he has. By the way, the reason Rep. Fleming has structured his businesses as Limited Liability Corporations is to avoid paying any corporate income tax , similar to Koch Industries’ structure. Why? Because corporate rates are higher than personal tax rates, and losses can be passed through to offset other losses on their personal tax return. In fact, a look at Fleming’s financial disclosures reveal that he was less than forthcoming about his financial picture. If you’re going to go on TV and whine about taxes sucking the life out of job creation, Rep. Fleming, you might want to think about at least drawing the whole picture. According to his most recent financial disclosures, Rep. Fleming’s three largest sources of income are from his Subway restaurants, a medical practice and his property investment corporation. The Subways yielded *income* of over $5,000,000 in 2010. The property investment corporation yielded income of more than $100,000 and less than one million dollars in 2010. The medical practice yielded income of between 1 million and $5 million. He has other businesses, too, but their income reported is negligible in comparison. If I add up the totals of non-IRA, non-401k, non-investment income on the high and low ends, Rep. Fleming’s income is between $6,271,000 and 12,164,500 for 2010. That’s substantially more than the paltry $400,000 he claims to have for reinvestment into his businesses, and doesn’t even take into account income sources from other passive investment activities. Rep. Fleming just unwittingly made himself the poster child for tax reform. Between his creative corporate structuring — all legal, of course — to minimize his income taxes and his disingenuous claim to only have a fraction of that available for reinvestment in jobs and business while his disclosures clearly say otherwise, he’s proven just how much we need tax reform right now.
Continue reading …Click here to view this media [h/t David ] Poor Rep. John Fleming. After he pays his 500 employees and rent for his Subway and UPS stores, he says he only has $400,000 to show for it. Only $400,000. That poor guy. It’s a wonder he can manage . Here’s a bit of his whine: “In my own case, I own LLCs,” Fleming told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing. “The income flows to my personal tax return and whatever is left over after taxes are paid, I feed my family on the one hand and on the other hand, I reinvest in my business.” “With all due respect, The Wall Street Journal estimated that your businesses, which I believe are Subway sandwich shops and UPS stores — very successful — brought you last year, over $6 million,” Jansing noted. ” Yeah, that’s before you pay 500 employees, you pay rent, you pay equipment and food,” Fleming agreed. ” Since my net income — and again, that’s the individual rate that I told you about — the amount that I have to reinvest in my business and feed my family is more like $600,000 of that $6.3 million. And so by the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over to invest in new locations, upgrade my locations, buy more equipment.” Wow, there’s some magic in those numbers. I’m guessing his reference to “feeding his family” also relates to paying for his home, his cars, their private schools, and any other household expenses, which he estimates at $200,000, five times the earnings of an average middle class family. But that’s not even the real magic. It’s unclear where that $6.3 million figure came from. Jansing noted that it “brought him” $6.3 million, but what does that mean? If the $6.3 million is the amount that flowed through onto his personal tax return, then payroll, equipment, rent and supplies were already factored in. That is the amount left over after he expensed all of those items. If, on the other hand, $600,000 flowed through from his LLC to his personal taxes, then he had $600,000 left to “feed his family with”, since all of the expenses he enumerated as counting against it would have been accounted for already. Six-hundred thousand bucks isn’t such a bad paycheck to take home, especially when he isn’t really active in the day-to-day management of the businesses, just the higher level overview, by his own admission . Assuming his $174,000 Congressional salary isn’t included in the $600,000 figure, that’s nearly $800,000 of income. Excuse me if I don’t weep for him paying a bit more in taxes, though even with all that combined income, he hasn’t hit the million-dollar mark set by President Obama’s plan. Except….he has. By the way, the reason Rep. Fleming has structured his businesses as Limited Liability Corporations is to avoid paying any corporate income tax , similar to Koch Industries’ structure. Why? Because corporate rates are higher than personal tax rates, and losses can be passed through to offset other losses on their personal tax return. In fact, a look at Fleming’s financial disclosures reveal that he was less than forthcoming about his financial picture. If you’re going to go on TV and whine about taxes sucking the life out of job creation, Rep. Fleming, you might want to think about at least drawing the whole picture. According to his most recent financial disclosures, Rep. Fleming’s three largest sources of income are from his Subway restaurants, a medical practice and his property investment corporation. The Subways yielded *income* of over $5,000,000 in 2010. The property investment corporation yielded income of more than $100,000 and less than one million dollars in 2010. The medical practice yielded income of between 1 million and $5 million. He has other businesses, too, but their income reported is negligible in comparison. If I add up the totals of non-IRA, non-401k, non-investment income on the high and low ends, Rep. Fleming’s income is between $6,271,000 and 12,164,500 for 2010. That’s substantially more than the paltry $400,000 he claims to have for reinvestment into his businesses, and doesn’t even take into account income sources from other passive investment activities. Rep. Fleming just unwittingly made himself the poster child for tax reform. Between his creative corporate structuring — all legal, of course — to minimize his income taxes and his disingenuous claim to only have a fraction of that available for reinvestment in jobs and business while his disclosures clearly say otherwise, he’s proven just how much we need tax reform right now.
Continue reading …I am writing this at 9:05 PM PDT on September 19th. Five minutes earlier, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal was effective (Midnight EDT), and there can be no more discrimination in our armed forces against people for their sexual orientation. This is a BFD, and a long, hard slog. Huffington Post: It took nearly a year for the President’s plan to jell. And it would be another painful year before the winning votes on Capitol Hill. And after that, another seven months would pass before Jeh Johnson would hand-deliver the signed Gates and Mullen certification to the White House for the President’s signature and transmitted to Capitol Hill. All in all, not that long for a successful legislative and military operation, but inordinately protracted for advocates and especially long for gay and lesbian service members being discharged every day under DADT and for those serving in silence. And make no mistake. The President directed his forces with precision, methodically insisting all options be examined and re-examined. He realized almost from the beginning that success would depend upon the military, that he would need Gates and Mullen and his senior commanders and the troops with him to bring about this change. And he also knew that would take time. He was determined not to be rushed. The last time this was rushed without a plan and military support the results had been disastrous. He would not make that mistake. Indeed. He didn’t make that mistake, and today that horrible, discriminatory, brutal policy is gone. There’s still work to be done with DOMA and treatment of transgendered individuals . But today represents real, tangible progress. Jonathan Capehart: There are still issues concerning benefits that have nothing to do with the legacy of DADT and everything to do with DOMA, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. For instance, because of DOMA , the surviving same-sex spouse of a service member is out of luck in receiving the same considerations a surviving straight spouse. You better believe there are plans in the works to right this wrong. Greg Sargent nailed the larger significance of the demise of DADT in a post earlier this afternoon. “It was an extremely hard-fought win — a massive victory for common sense and decency over bigotry and legalized discrimination,” he wrote. “At a difficult moment, it stands as a sorely needed reminder that progress remains possible. Let’s not forget it.” To those who served in silence: Thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and your patience. Welcome to the light.
Continue reading …I am writing this at 9:05 PM PDT on September 19th. Five minutes earlier, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal was effective (Midnight EDT), and there can be no more discrimination in our armed forces against people for their sexual orientation. This is a BFD, and a long, hard slog. Huffington Post: It took nearly a year for the President’s plan to jell. And it would be another painful year before the winning votes on Capitol Hill. And after that, another seven months would pass before Jeh Johnson would hand-deliver the signed Gates and Mullen certification to the White House for the President’s signature and transmitted to Capitol Hill. All in all, not that long for a successful legislative and military operation, but inordinately protracted for advocates and especially long for gay and lesbian service members being discharged every day under DADT and for those serving in silence. And make no mistake. The President directed his forces with precision, methodically insisting all options be examined and re-examined. He realized almost from the beginning that success would depend upon the military, that he would need Gates and Mullen and his senior commanders and the troops with him to bring about this change. And he also knew that would take time. He was determined not to be rushed. The last time this was rushed without a plan and military support the results had been disastrous. He would not make that mistake. Indeed. He didn’t make that mistake, and today that horrible, discriminatory, brutal policy is gone. There’s still work to be done with DOMA and treatment of transgendered individuals . But today represents real, tangible progress. Jonathan Capehart: There are still issues concerning benefits that have nothing to do with the legacy of DADT and everything to do with DOMA, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. For instance, because of DOMA , the surviving same-sex spouse of a service member is out of luck in receiving the same considerations a surviving straight spouse. You better believe there are plans in the works to right this wrong. Greg Sargent nailed the larger significance of the demise of DADT in a post earlier this afternoon. “It was an extremely hard-fought win — a massive victory for common sense and decency over bigotry and legalized discrimination,” he wrote. “At a difficult moment, it stands as a sorely needed reminder that progress remains possible. Let’s not forget it.” To those who served in silence: Thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and your patience. Welcome to the light.
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Let us give credit for honesty (at least temporarily) to the New York Times “conservative” columnist, David Brooks, for his brutal self-recognition of a political flaw. Brooks flat out admits that he is a sap: I’m a sap, a specific kind of sap. I’m an Obama Sap. Brooks lays out in some detail his discovery of what most of the rest of us already knew; his extreme gullibility when it comes to believing Obama: When the president said the unemployed couldn’t wait 14 more months for help and we had to do something right away, I believed him. When administration officials called around saying that the possibility of a double-dip recession was horrifyingly real and that it would be irresponsible not to come up with a package that could pass right away, I believed them. To this humble correspondent it seems that Brooks had been sounding like the character of Triz Tryzcinski in the movie “Stalag 17″ who, against all odds, kept professing to believe his wife after reading a credibility straining letter from her: I believe it. My wife says, “Darling, you won't believe it, but I found the most adorable baby on our doorstep and I've decided to keep it for our very own. Now you won't believe it, but it's got exactly my eyes and nose.” Why does she keep saying I won't believe it? I believe it! I believe it. Brooks continues confessing an extreme gullibility that would put Stalag 17 Triz to shame: I liked Obama’s payroll tax cut ideas and urged Republicans to play along. But of course I’m a sap . When the president unveiled the second half of his stimulus it became clear that this package has nothing to do with helping people right away or averting a double dip. This is a campaign marker, not a jobs bill. And now we have Brooks supposedly awakening from his extreme sap mode: It recycles ideas that couldn’t get passed even when Democrats controlled Congress. In his remarks Monday the president didn’t try to win Republicans to even some parts of his measures. He repeated the populist cries that fire up liberals but are designed to enrage moderates and conservatives. He claimed we can afford future Medicare costs if we raise taxes on the rich. He repeated the old half-truth about millionaires not paying as much in taxes as their secretaries. …This wasn’t a speech to get something done. This was the sort of speech that sounded better when Ted Kennedy was delivering it. The result is that we will get neither short-term stimulus nor long-term debt reduction anytime soon, and I’m a sap for thinking it was possible . Yes, I’m a sap . I believed Obama when he said he wanted to move beyond the stale ideological debates that have paralyzed this country. I always believe that Obama is on the verge of breaking out of the conventional categories and embracing one of the many bipartisan reform packages that are floating around. In the midst of all these sappy confessions, Brooks also admitted to his inner Charlie Brown: Being a sap , I still believe that the president’s soul would like to do something about the country’s structural problems. I keep thinking he’s a few weeks away from proposing serious tax reform and entitlement reform. But each time he gets close, he rips the football away. He whispered about seriously reforming Medicare but then opted for changes that are worthy but small. He talks about fundamental tax reform, but I keep forgetting that he has promised never to raise taxes on people in the bottom 98 percent of the income scale. Despite his self-recognition as a sap, Brooks admits that he may still remain one in his conclusion: The White House has decided to wage the campaign as fighting liberals. I guess I understand the choice, but I still believe in the governing style Obama talked about in 2008. I may be the last one. I’m a sap. I would love to ask Brooks if he still has his “Sap Chart” hanging in his office. This was the chart that the Obama people gave to Brooks early in this administration. Here is Brooks' description of it while suffering an attack of deep sap fever: The White House has produced a chart showing nondefense discretionary spending as a share of G.D.P. That’s spending for education, welfare and all the stuff that Democrats love. Since 1985, this spending has hovered around 3.7 percent of G.D.P. This year, it’s about 4.6 percent. The White House claims that it is going to reduce this spending to 3.1 percent by 2019, lower than at any time in any recent Republican administration. I was invited to hang this chart on my wall and judge them by how well they meet these targets. (I have.) So how well did they meet their targets, David? And if you're too embarrassed to continue hanging that Sap Chart in your office, perhaps you should auction it off on eBay. I BELIEVE I would definitely place a bid to buy your Sap Chart.
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The Washington Post religion page is thundering from the pulpit again, preaching to the liberal choir on the godliness of higher taxes. In “It's not 'class warfare,' it's Christianity,”
Continue reading …At least 25 dead after gunmen open fire on Shia Muslim pilgrims in Baluchistan province in apparent sectarian attack At least 25 Shia Muslim pilgrims have been killed after gunmen opened fire on a bus in western Pakistan, officials said. The pilgrims were going through Mastung district in Baluchistan province, en route to the Iranian border, when the attack occurred, said a senior district official, Saeed Umrani. Two motorcycles blocked the path of the bus and three gunmen stormed the vehicle, opening fire on the roughly 40 pilgrims inside, said a local tribal police officer, Dadullah Baluch, after interviewing survivors and eyewitnesses. At least 25 people were killed and more than a dozen injured in the attack on Tuesday, he added. The dead and wounded were being taken to a hospital in Quetta, about 35 miles to the north, he said. Pakistan is a majority Sunni Muslim state. Although most Sunnis and Shias live there relatively peacefully, extremists on both sides often target each other’s leaders and activists. The Sunni-Shia schism over the true heir to the prophet Muhammad dates back to the seventh century. Pakistan guardian.co.uk
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