South Korea inquiry finds North Korea torpedo sank warship

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vows 'stern action' for the provocation. The North says it will take strong measures, including war, if the South imposes sanctions.

Times Wire Services

May 20, 2010

Seoul

— Evidence overwhelmingly proves North Korea fired a torpedo that sank a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors, investigators said Thursday.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed "stern action" for the provocation and called an emergency security meeting for Friday.

The long-awaited investigation results from a multinational team said a torpedo caused a massive underwater explosion that tore the Cheonan apart on March 26.

Fifty-eight sailors were rescued from the frigid Yellow Sea waters near the two nations' maritime border, but 46 perished, South Korea's worst military disaster since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Recovered fragments from the sea floor indicate the torpedo came from communist North Korea, investigators said.

North Korea responded to the findings by saying it would take strong measures, including war, if the South imposes sanctions after accusing it of sinking a navy ship, Yonhap news service said.

In Washington, the White House said it supported the report's conclusions, adding that the "act of aggression" was another sign of North Korea's unacceptable behavior, a challenge to international peace and a violation of the armistice agreement.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the investigation's results were "deeply troubling," and officials in China called the ship's sinking "unfortunate" but would not comment on the report.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-korea-boat-20100520,0,1355747,print.story

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Talking won't work with North Korea

Vietnam ousted the murderous Khmer Rouge by force; expecting peaceful change in North Korea is folly.

Donald Kirk

May 19, 2010

Is the regime of Kim Jong Il the cruelest the world has seen since Adolf Hitler's in Germany or Josef Stalin's in the Soviet Union? For all the world has heard about North Korea and its people's suffering, the answer is no. The dubious distinction of cruelest probably belongs to Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. They took over Cambodia in 1975 and ruled from the once-tranquil capital of Phnom Penh until December 1978, when Vietnamese communist troops drove them out. About 2 million people are estimated to have died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, from disease, starvation, executions and torture.

The suffering under the Khmer Rouge is resonant with the plight North Koreans have endured for many more years. Today, however, Phnom Penh is bustling, alive with shops selling an incredible variety of silk, statuary, silver objects and souvenirs. Restaurants offer just about any menu. The streets are swarming with traffic as motor scooters dart in and out and larger vehicles carry people and commercial products. Motorcycles pulling what look like small, old-fashioned carriages offer taxi services. Internet cafes thrive in every marketplace. Casinos and nightclubs lure those in search of higher-priced fun, and the National Museum and Royal Palace offer lush and rich glimpses of Khmer civilization and heritage going back 2,000 years.

So what lesson is there — for North Korea and the world — in the transformation of Cambodia from a frightening dictatorship into a hustling if not exactly democratic society? Cambodia's current system, in which Hun Sen has ruled as prime minister, with the backing of Vietnam, almost continuously for 25 years, is not at all ideal. Many of the country's 15 million people continue to suffer economically. And it's fair to assume that torture and killings go on, although not on a mass scale.

In an imperfect world, however, Cambodia gives every appearance of having recovered its erstwhile reputation as an "oasis of peace." That was how Prince Norodom Sihanouk described his kingdom when navigating a treacherous course of neutrality as American and South Vietnamese forces fought the North Vietnamese until the U.S.-backed regime fell in Vietnam two weeks after the defeat of Cambodia in 1975. It was a measure of Sihanouk's incredible finesse that he was able to return to Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, even though a number of his children were killed at the hands of the forces that isolated him in his royal quarters.

Sihanouk has somehow survived, even though he has no real power. He is more or less a king emeritus, a revered figure who is able to appear above the tawdry power politics that periodically shakes up the elite six years after his eldest surviving son, Norodom Sihamoni, was crowned as his successor. The endurance of the throne, however, represents a grand compromise in which momentous changes had to occur before Cambodia could begin to reach its current level of peace and prosperity. The Pol Pot regime had to fall, and the men around him — those responsible for forms of torture comparable to the security apparatus of North Korea's "Dear Leader," Kim Jong Il — had to flee, to be killed or captured, to disappear forever. That should not be lost on South Koreans or their American ally in weighing how far to go in attempting reconciliation or "talks" with North Korea. At some point someone in responsibility has to face the question: At what point does intervention become necessary?

In that debate, the Khmer Rouge comparison assumes still greater relevance. The question is how was it that the forces of a communist country —- against which the Americans and South Vietnamese, supported by two divisions of South Koreans, had fought for a generation — accomplished such a stunning success for the everlasting benefit of the Cambodian people? The answer in part is that Vietnam, after the communist victory in 1975, was never a terrible dictatorship. As Vietnam's leadership went through its own tortuous policy shifts, market capitalism began to flourish. Vietnamese gained a level of cultural and economic freedom that had not appeared possible in 1975. Moreover, Ho Chi Minh, who led Vietnam's communist regime until his death in 1969, never gained a reputation for pervasive cruelty over his own people, even as he ruthlessly suppressed opponents.

It's difficult to compare such different societies and cultures as those in Cambodia and North Korea, but the lesson is clear. There can be no real compromise with the Kim regime. The history of regimes such as Cambodia's under the Khmer Rouge is that they do not willingly yield, do not suddenly adopt humanitarian policies and do not give up the props of their rule, notably their weapons. It's wishful thinking to expect North Korea to shift its policies or honor any agreement on much of anything, including its nuclear weapons program. It took an upheaval to bring about relief from suffering in Cambodia, and it will take another on that scale to reform North Korea.

Donald Kirk, based in South Korea, covered Cambodia and Vietnam in the late 1960s and early '70s for newspapers and magazines. He is the author of several books, most recently "Korea Betrayed: Kim Dae Jung and Sunshine."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kirk-cambodia-20100519,0,1132621,print.story

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350 immigrants held more than 6 months while fighting deportation, U.S. says

ACLU sought detainees' names as part of a class-action lawsuit seeking their release until the cases are resolved.

By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times

May 20, 2010

More than 350 immigrant detainees in the Los Angeles area have been held behind bars longer than six months while fighting deportation, according to a list recently released by the federal government.

The list of names was turned over to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California late last month as part of a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The ACLU is battling for the right of detainees held for six months or more to have hearings on whether they can be released from custody while their cases are pending.

The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on the lawsuit. The department opposed releasing the names but was ordered to do so by a federal judge. Its lawyers are continuing to oppose the bond hearings.

Ahilan Arulanantham, who directs the immigrants' rights and national security program for the ACLU of Southern California, said he was shocked that so many immigrants were being held in detention for longer than six months.

"That number just dwarfs the number we expected," he said.

There are about 1,400 immigrant detainees in the area. There is generally no limit on the length of time immigrants are detained as long as their cases are not yet resolved. In addition, few detainees are guaranteed a right to a bond hearing.

The team of attorneys is sending letters to its clients. Many of the class members are seeking asylum and some have been held for years. At least 30% were never represented by an attorney, Arulanantham said.

Arulanantham, who filed the suit along with the Stanford Immigrants' Rights Clinic and the law firm of Sidley and Austin, said lawyers chose the six-month mark based on other case law on detention and due process rights.

One of the class members, Damdin Borjgin, a Mongolian man seeking asylum in the United States, has been in custody at Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster since November 2007. Borjgin said he has never had a hearing to see if he would be eligible for release.

"I didn't think I would be locked up in the jail for this much time," Borjgin said through an interpreter in a recent interview. "I am living here as a prisoner. My rights are limited."

Borjgin, 49, first came to the United States in 1999 on a visitor's visa, overstayed that visa and then returned to his native country in 2007 because his father was ill. Borjgin said he discovered possible corruption at the national bank where he worked and reported it to police. As a result, Borjgin said, he was detained and pressured to withdraw the case because it was "damaging the reputation of a high-ranking political official."

Afraid for his safety, he said he obtained a false passport and came to the United States, where he was detained at Los Angeles International Airport and taken to the detention center.

Borjgin, who has a wife and two grown children in Mongolia, said he cannot return to his native country. "It's a danger to my life," he said.

Borjgin, who did not have an attorney, lost his case in Immigration Court and at the Board of Immigration Appeals. The case now is pending in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Arulanantham said Borjgin should be entitled to a hearing and released from detention because he has not committed a crime and is not a flight risk or a danger to the community. Instead, he said, the government could require him to wear an electronic ankle bracelet or have him regularly check in with immigration officials.

Currently, only certain immigrant detainees are entitled to bond hearings. If foreigners are arrested upon arrival in the United States, they cannot request a bond hearing. Detainees who have committed certain crimes or who have lost their cases and have final orders of deportation are also not eligible for bond hearings. Detainees who cannot be deported within six months of the conclusion of the case may be entitled to be released.

Arulanantham said that the irony is that under the revamped detention system, Borjgin might have never been placed behind bars in the first place. Immigration officials now release arriving asylum seekers from detention if they have a credible fear of persecution, prove their identity and pose neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community.

"ICE's detention capacity is not unlimited," said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "We want to ensure we're using our detention resources to keep criminals and other dangerous aliens in custody while we seek their removal from the country."

The change was part of an overhaul of the detention system announced last year. John Morton, the chief of the immigration agency, said he would make immigration detention less reliant on prisons and jails and more specifically designed for civil detainees.

Since the announcement, the agency has reduced the number of detention facilities nationwide from 341 to 270 and canceled contracts at 10 sites because of reported problems. Visitation, recreation and legal access also have been expanded at more than 20 facilities.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0520-immig-detain-20100520,0,556492,print.story

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EDITORIAL

The starving can't wait

May 19, 2010

A close observer of current events could be forgiven for thinking that world hunger is waning, given that the issue has largely disappeared from headlines since the global food crisis that led to riots in 2008. Sadly, the opposite is true. Continued high food prices, drought and a worldwide recession that has reduced remittances from immigrant workers in developing countries have all contributed to swelling the ranks of chronically hungry people.

Although development experts need to address the global shortfalls in production, distribution problems and other underlying causes of famine, the immediate challenge always is to feed the hungry. In 2007, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reported 923 million undernourished people worldwide, an increase of 80 million over 1992. Last fall, the organization counted more than 1 billion hungry people — an estimated 15% of the world's population — up by nearly 80 million in just two years. Population growth, rural-to-urban migration and other factors mean the numbers will continue to rise over the coming decades. This is dispiriting news by any measure, but there is at least some progress to report in U.S. efforts to feed the hungry.

The United States is the world's largest food donor, and historically the U.S. government has required that its food aid be purchased at home and shipped by American companies to the countries in need. International aid organizations have long argued that this is expensive and inefficient, and most other developed countries have made the switch to cash allocations that allow the food to be purchased where it makes the most sense — sometimes in the donor countries, but more often in the region where it will be consumed. Now the U.S. is beginning to follow suit with pilot programs that allow aid groups to buy food elsewhere, rather than exclusively in the United States, or to distribute vouchers to the poor.

The pilot programs, begun under the George W. Bush administration and advanced under President Obama, can cut the cost of food aid by up to one-third in parts of Africa, according to the Government Accountability Office, and deliver the goods three times as fast. For the hungry, that can mean the difference between life and death. Right now, that life-and-death struggle is most acute and concentrated in the West African nation of Niger, where drought has devastated the grain harvest and there is fear of a famine even more widespread than one in 2005. More than 2 million people already require food assistance, and the government estimates that about half of the country's 15 million people are at risk. The U.N. special envoy to Niger declared the problem a disaster in January, clearing the way for international humanitarian aid that needs to be in place by summer. Disturbingly, food shipped directly from the United States today probably wouldn't arrive until fall, whereas food from the region could be delivered within a couple of months.

The amount of food aid funds authorized for local and regional purchases through the pilot programs is relatively small — about $325 million of the $1.9 billion in U.S. food aid this year. Yet groups that distribute sustenance to the hungry, such as the U.N. World Food Program and the not-for-profit Mercy Corps, say it is a good beginning that gives them more flexibility to address a variety of problems. In some instances, famine is caused by a failed harvest and there simply is no food in the region. In those cases, it may still make the most sense to buy food in the United States. Sometimes the problem is limited to one country in a region or to a certain part of the country, and food is readily available for purchase nearby; buying it there cuts transportation costs and delivery time. In still other cases, hunger is the result of poverty — there are grains in the market, but people don't have money to buy them. That's where vouchers are useful. Vouchers and purchases of indigenous crops also ensure that people get culturally appropriate foods that they are accustomed to eating.

Buying locally is not always the answer. In Latin America, for example, it may be cheaper to ship food from the United States, according to the GAO report. Many local markets have a limited number of reliable suppliers, poor or insufficient inventory and lack legal systems necessary to enforce contracts, making strict oversight essential. Huge purchases on the ground can also drive up prices, forcing consumers who might have been able to buy their own food out of the market and into the ranks of the needy.

Nonetheless, with proper care and oversight, the benefits frequently outweigh the risks. Local and regional food purchases can stimulate agriculture in underdeveloped countries and feed dollars into hungry economies, as well as food into hungry bellies, while also reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by planes, ships and trucks. Furthermore, shipping food to impoverished countries can undercut their agricultural base, as former President Clinton noted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in March when he expressed regret for policies implemented during his administration to export U.S.-subsidized food to Haiti, making it cheaper to buy U.S. rice there than the Haitian-grown commodity. Similarly, too much food charity shipped from the United States can discourage production in the recipient country and damage its ability to feed itself even in good times.

In the United States, resistance to cash allocations came from farmers and longshoremen, for whom the aid purchases amounted to a kind of backdoor subsidy. The Bush administration tried and failed to pass a farm bill that would have allowed 25% of U.S. food aid funds to be used to purchase food abroad — compared with at least 50% in Canada and nearly 100% in the European Union. The Bush administration finally was able to get $60 million over five years in a pilot program under the 2008 farm bill, and the Obama administration has authorized $300 million in International Disaster Assistance funds this year. Moreover, the Obama administration has made global hunger and food security a foreign policy priority, promising to attack the underlying factors that contribute to food crises, from population growth and deforestation to crop and food distribution problems. In the meantime, we concur with the food aid groups that the administration has made a good start. Faster food deliveries can save lives.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-food-20100519,0,7435636,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Diplomatic Storm Brewing Over Korean Peninsula

WASHINGTON — South Korea 's formal accusation that a North Korean torpedo sank one of its warships, killing 46 sailors, will set off a diplomatic drumbeat to punish North Korea , backed by the United States and other nations, which could end up in the United Nations Security Council .

On Thursday morning in Seoul, the South Korean government presented forensic evidence, including part of a torpedo propeller with what investigators believe is a North Korean serial number.

They said it proved that the underwater explosion that shattered the 1,200-ton corvette, the Cheonan, in March near a disputed sea border with the North was caused by the detonation of a torpedo.

On Monday, South Korea is expected to push for the case to be referred to the United Nations , and the United States plans to back Seoul “strongly and unequivocally,” according to Obama administration officials.

The investigation “points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that North Korea was responsible for this attack,” the White House said in a statement after the report was released in Seoul. “This act of aggression is one more instance of North Korea's unacceptable behavior and defiance of international law.”

The big question, the officials said, is whether China, North Korea's neighbor and a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, will go along with yet another international condemnation of the North. China backed sanctions against North Korea last year after the North tested a nuclear device, but it has reacted with extreme caution since the ship sank on March 26.

North Korea dismissed the findings as a fabrication and warned that it would wage “all-out war” if it were punished, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The sharp escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula complicates a trip to China by a delegation of senior American officials, led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner , to hold a so-called Strategy and Economic Dialogue.

Nearly 200 American officials will travel to Beijing this weekend to consult with their Chinese counterparts on an array of issues, including sanctions against Iran, China's exchange rate, climate change policy and exchanges between the American and Chinese militaries.

The American delegation will include officials as diverse as Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and the commander of the United States Pacific Command, Adm. Robert F. Willard.

The South Korean report, which essentially accuses the North of the worst military provocation on the Korean Peninsula since the end of the Korean War, injects a potentially combustible element into these talks. Among other things, it raises the question of how hard the United States plans to push Beijing to support a new Security Council resolution.

For weeks after the sinking of the Cheonan, China urged caution in pointing fingers at North Korea, even though the evidence pointed strongly in that direction. On Wednesday, South Korea briefed Chinese diplomats, as well as those of other countries, about its findings.

“China has always tried to avoid making choices between North and South Korea, but an incident like this doesn't allow that,” said Victor Cha, a former Bush administration official, responsible for North Korean policy, who now teaches at Georgetown University . “They have to choose.”

For the United States, the calculus is also complicated. The Obama administration just won China's backing for a fourth round of United Nations sanctions against Iran related to its nuclear program. That, some analysts said, was the administration's main strategic priority at this point.

Still, the United States has been deeply involved in the South's investigation of the sinking. It sent a team from the Navy 's Pacific Command to take part in the search for clues, officials said, headed by an expert in submarine escape and rescue, Rear Adm. Thomas J. Eccles.

Australia, Canada, Britain and Sweden also took part in the investigation and will endorse its conclusions, officials said. South Korea, the officials said, wanted to have an international team so it would be harder for the North to dismiss the inquiry as politically motivated.

South Korea is weighing other measures against North Korea, which could include cutting imports of raw materials from the North. Those shipments have already been constricted since the North closed several North-South joint-venture companies north of the border.

South Korea could also undertake naval exercises in its coastal waters as a form of muscle-flexing, Mr. Cha said, perhaps in cooperation with the United States.

But the world's leverage over North Korea is extremely limited, analysts said. The North has little trade with its neighbors, aside from China. It no longer admits United Nations inspectors to visit its nuclear facilities and announced in 2003 that it would withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

On Thursday, Japan said that the report on the sinking would make it harder to resume six-party talks with North Korea over the fate of its nuclear program.

Add to the uncertainty are the motivations, health and even state of mind of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il , remained cloaked in mystery. Mr. Kim recently met in Beijing with President Hu Jintao , Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and other leaders.

Kurt M. Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said he discussed Mr. Kim's visit with Chinese officials earlier this week. He predicted that it would be a prime topic for Mrs. Clinton when she meets with Dai Bingguo, a state councilor in charge of foreign affairs.

“A central issue of discussion for Secretary Clinton and her Chinese interlocutors, Dai Bingguo and also the Chinese leaders, will be on their assessments of developments in North Korea and their reaction to the report,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/world/asia/20diplo.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

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Five Ways to Keep Online Criminals at Bay

THE Web is a fount of information, a busy marketplace, a thriving social scene — and a den of criminal activity.

Criminals have found abundant opportunities to undertake stealthy attacks on ordinary Web users that can be hard to stop, experts say. Hackers are lacing Web sites — often legitimate ones — with so-called malware, which can silently infiltrate visiting PCs to steal sensitive personal information and then turn the computers into “zombies” that can be used to spew spam and more malware onto the Internet.

At one time, virus attacks were obvious to users, said Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, a training organization for computer security professionals. He explained that now, the attacks were more silent. “Now it's much, much easier infecting trusted Web sites,” he said, “and getting your zombies that way.”

And there are myriad lures aimed at conning people into installing nefarious programs, buying fake antivirus software or turning over personal information that can be used in identity fraud .

“The Web opened up a lot more opportunities for attacking” computer users and making money, said Maxim Weinstein, executive director of StopBadware , a nonprofit consumer advocacy group that receives funding from Google , PayPal, Mozilla and others.

Google says its automated scans of the Internet recently turned up malware on roughly 300,000 Web sites, double the number it recorded two years ago. Each site can contain many infected pages. Meanwhile, Malware doubled last year, to 240 million unique attacks, according to Symantec , a maker of security software. And that does not count the scourge of fake antivirus software and other scams.

So it is more important than ever to protect yourself. Here are some basic tips for thwarting them.

Protect the Browser

The most direct line of attack is the browser, said Vincent Weafer, vice president of Symantec Security Response. Online criminals can use programming flaws in browsers to get malware onto PCs in “drive-by” downloads without users ever noticing.

Internet Explorer and Firefox are the most targeted browsers because they are the most popular. If you use current versions, and download security updates as they become available, you can surf safely. But there can still be exposure between when a vulnerability is discovered and an update becomes available, so you will need up-to-date security software as well to try to block any attacks that may emerge, especially if you have a Windows PC.

It can help to use a more obscure browser like Chrome from Google, which also happens to be the newest browser on the market and, as such, includes some security advances that make attacks more difficult.

Get Adobe Updates

Most consumers are familiar with Adobe Reader, for PDF files, and Adobe's Flash Player. In the last year, a virtual epidemic of attacks has exploited their flaws; almost half of all attacks now come hidden in PDF files, Mr. Weafer said. “No matter what browser you're using,” he said, “you're using the PDF Reader, you're using the Adobe Flash Player.”

Part of the problem is that many computers run old, vulnerable versions. But as of April, it has become easier to get automatic updates from Adobe, if you follow certain steps.

To update Reader, open the application and then select “Help” and “Check for Updates” from the menu bar. Since April, Windows users have been able to choose to get future updates automatically without additional prompts by clicking “Edit” and “Preferences,” then choosing “Updater” from the list and selecting “Automatically install updates.” Mac users can arrange updates using a similar procedure, though Apple requires that they enter their password each time an update is installed.

Adobe said it did not make silent automatic updates available previously because many users, especially at companies, were averse to them. To get the latest version of Flash Player, visit Abobe's Web site .

Any software can be vulnerable. Windows PC users can identify vulnerable or out-of-date software using Secunia PSI , a free tool that scans machines and alerts users to potential problems.

Beware Malicious Ads

An increasingly popular way to get attacks onto Web sites people trust is to slip them into advertisements, usually by duping small-time ad networks. Malvertising, as this practice is known, can exploit software vulnerabilities or dispatch deceptive pop-up messages.

A particularly popular swindle involves an alert that a virus was found on the computer, followed by urgent messages to buy software to remove it. Of course, there is no virus and the security software, known as scareware, is fake. It is a ploy to get credit card numbers and $40 or $50. Scareware accounts for half of all malware delivered in ads, up fivefold from a year ago, Google said.

Closing the pop-up or killing the browser will usually end the episode. But if you encounter this scam, check your PC with trusted security software or Microsoft 's free Malicious Software Removal Tool . If you have picked up something nasty, you are in good company; Microsoft cleaned scareware from 7.8 million PCs in the second half of 2009, up 47 percent from the 5.3 million in the first half, the company said.

Another tool that can defend against malvertising, among other Web threats, is K9 Web Protection , free from Blue Coat Systems . Though it is marketed as parental-control software, K9 can be configured to look only for security threats like malware, spyware and phishing attacks — and to bark each time it stops one.

Poisoned Search Results

Online criminals are also trying to manipulate search engines into placing malicious sites toward the top of results pages for popular keywords. According to a recent Google study, 60 percent of malicious sites that embed hot keywords try to distribute scareware to the computers of visitors.

Google and search engines like Microsoft's Bing are working to detect malicious sites and remove them from their indexes. Free tools like McAfee's SiteAdvisor and the Firefox add-on Web of Trust can also help — warning about potentially dangerous links.

Antisocial Media

Attackers also use e-mail, instant messaging, blog comments and social networks like Facebook and Twitter to induce people to visit their sites.

It's best to accept “friend” requests only from people you know, and to guard your passwords. Phishers are trying to filch login information so they can infiltrate accounts, impersonate you to try to scam others out of money and gather personal information about you and your friends.

Also beware the Koobface worm, variants of which have been taking aim at users of Facebook and other social sites for more than a year. It typically promises a video of some kind and asks you to download a fake multimedia-player codec to view the video. If you do so, your PC is infected with malware that turns it into a zombie (making it part of a botnet, or group of computers, that can spew spam and malware across the Internet).

But most important, you need to keep your wits about you. Criminals are using increasingly sophisticated ploys, and your best defense on the Web may be a healthy level of suspicion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/technology/personaltech/20basics.html?8dpc=&pagewanted=print

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Obama and Calderón Decry Ariz. Immigration Law

WASHINGTON — At the White House on Wednesday, President Obama and the visiting Mexican president, Felipe Calderón , discussed the finer points of border policy. At a nearby school, their wives were unexpectedly confronted with the human face of illegal immigration .

Michelle Obama had taken her Mexican counterpart to a Maryland elementary school that serves many children originally from Latin America, to showcase its physical education and lunch programs as part of her emphasis on healthy living. But as the first lady took questions from some students, a little girl raised her hand.

“My mom,” the girl started hesitantly, “she says that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn't have papers.”

“Yeah, well, that's something that we have to work on, right?” Mrs. Obama answered. “To make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers, right?”

“But my mom doesn't have any papers,” the girl said.

For a president's family mostly removed from the real world, the encounter brought home in a direct and unusually personal way the complicated dynamics of the nation's problem with illegal immigration. Just minutes after the first lady's encounter in Maryland, Mr. Obama strode into the Rose Garden with Mr. Calderón to navigate the treacherous political crosscurrents of the divisive issue.

Mr. Obama joined Mr. Calderón in denouncing the new Arizona law on illegal immigration while defending his own record on border security. He used the occasion to press Congress to pass legislation to increase enforcement of immigration law and to create a path for illegal immigrants to pay a fine and back taxes to achieve legal status.

The Arizona law was “a misdirected expression of frustration over our broken immigration system,” Mr. Obama said. “We're examining any implications, especially for civil rights, because in the United States of America, no law-abiding person, be they an American citizen, a legal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico , should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like.”

Mr. Calderón said many Mexicans now faced discrimination in Arizona. While he was respectful of the internal policies of the United States, he said, “we will retain our firm rejection to criminalize migration so that people that work and provide things to this nation will be treated as criminals.”

In a statement issued after the president's remarks, Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona said the law simply reflected the requirements of federal law. “Further delays in securing our nation's border,” she added, will “only continue to leave this years-long problem unresolved.”

Discussion of the measure came as Mr. Obama treated Mr. Calderón to a visit full of pomp, including an arrival ceremony on the White House lawn, meetings in the West Wing, a lunch hosted by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton , and a lavish state dinner. On Thursday, Mr. Calderón will address a joint session of Congress.

Peter DeShazo, a former State Department official and now director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies , said the attention was critical with the drug war flaring.

“It sends the message in both directions that this is a really important bilateral relationship,” he said. “That's really good. But this is something that needs underscoring.”

Mrs. Obama's stop at New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md., provided the emotional counterpoint to the diplomacy. Accompanied by Margarita Zavala, Mexico's first lady, she visited a school where two-thirds of the 400 students are Hispanic, and an even larger proportion live at or below the poverty line.

Mrs. Obama seemed uncertain about how to handle the little girl who admitted that her mother was in the country illegally. “Well, we have to work on that,” she said. “We have to fix that, and everybody's got to work together in Congress to make sure that happens.”

The exchange was captured on television, and the administration later signaled that it would not pursue the girl's family. Without directly commenting on the situation, Matt Chandler, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security , said, “Our investigations are based on solid law enforcement work and not classroom Q & A's.”

Jen Hinrichs, president of the school's P.T.A., said that the vast majority of students were legal, but that it would not be surprising if some were not. Although she was not at the event on Wednesday, she said the moment must have made a powerful impression on Mrs. Obama.

“It's very real, it's very visceral, I'm sure, hearing it from a child who's hearing it from home and not really understanding it and having to learn with that uncertainty,” she said. “It's all very difficult.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/world/americas/20prexy.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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From the FBI

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Al Qaeda Supporter Pleads Guilty to Supporting Terrorist Organization

Kansas City Man Also Admits to Bank Fraud, Overseas Money Laundering

KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist organization al Qaeda. He also pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering.

“National security is the highest priority of the Department of Justice,” Phillips said. “I applaud the diligent work of our law enforcement partners from local, state and federal agencies that serve on the Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force. These agencies have made significant investments of manpower and resources to the task force, and I appreciate their commitment to defeating terrorism. Much of their work is done behind the scenes, investigating and gathering information, but they play a crucial role in preventing terrorist activities.”

Khalid Ouazzani, 32, of Kansas City, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to a federal information that charges him with conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization. Ouazzani also pleaded guilty to charges contained in an indictment that was returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City on Feb. 3, 2010.

Ouazzani, a native of Morocco and a naturalized citizen of the United States, swore an oath of allegiance to al Qaeda in June 2008. Ouazzani admitted that, from August 2007 to February 2010, he participated in a conspiracy to provide material support or resources to al Qaeda.

Ouazzani also admitted that he personally provided more than $23,000 to al Qaeda and performed other tasks at the request of and for the benefit of al Qaeda. Ouazzani had conversations with others about various ways to support al Qaeda, including plans for them to fight in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Somalia.

“Citizens here in the heartland should be alert to suspicious activity and never hesitate to report their concerns to law enforcement. This case serves as a reminder that terrorist-related activities can occur anywhere,” said Special Agent in Charge Brian A. Truchon of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Kansas City field office.

Ouazzani agreed to contribute $6,500 to al Qaeda in August 2007. A co-conspirator, who is not identified in court documents, made that payment on Ouazzani's behalf. Ouazzani repaid the co-conspirator in November 2007 through a wire transfer to the co-conspirator's bank account in the United Arab Emirates. Those funds came from Ouazzani's sale of his business, Hafssa LLC, doing business as Truman Used Auto Parts, a retail operation that bought and sold used auto parts and used motor vehicles.

In June or July 2008, Ouazzani also agreed to pay al Qaeda $17,000, which represented his profit from the sale of an apartment in the United Arab Emirates that was owned by Ouazzani and a co-conspirator (who is not identified in court documents).

Bank Fraud Scheme

Ouazzani obtained a $175,000 line of credit commercial loan from Union Bank in April 2007 for Hafssa LLC (Truman Used Auto Parts). Under the terms of the loan, the funds were to be used as working capital for his business. Ouazzani admitted that he submitted false financial information about himself and the company to obtain the loan, and used substantial amounts of the loan proceeds for various personal purposes.

Ouazzani made only approximately $13,000 in payments on this loan. In September 2008 Union Bank wrote off the loan (then in the amount of $174,028) as uncollectible. On Feb. 11, 2009, Union Bank obtained a civil default judgment against Ouazzani and Hafssa LLC in the amount of $177,001.

Money Laundering

Ouazzani admitted that he used part of the proceeds of the Union Bank loan to purchase an apartment in the United Arab Emirates with a co-conspirator.

On May 23, 2007, Ouazzani caused a wire transfer of $112,830 to be sent to a bank account in the United Arab Emirates. The funds for this wire transfer included funds obtained from the $175,000 Union Bank loan and involved a series of transactions designed to make it more difficult to trace the funds.

Ouazzani used the wire-transferred funds to purchase an apartment in the United Arab Emirates, which he later sold for a profit of approximately $17,000. Ouazzani requested a co-conspirator to pay this $17,000 to al Qaeda.

“The criminal justice system is a valuable tool for disrupting terrorist plots and bringing terrorists to justice,” Phillips said. “We must use every means—criminal prosecutions as well as intelligence and military operations—to protect the American people. Federal prosecutions not only result in long prison sentences, but yield valuable intelligence that can be used in the fight against al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.”

Under federal statutes, Ouazzani is subject to a sentence of up to 65 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $1 million and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Daniel Stewart, David M. Ketchmark and Brian P. Casey and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Menzel of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri, with assistance from attorneys at the Justice Department's National Security Division, including the Counterterrorism Section. It was investigated by the Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Missouri Department of Social Services - Division of Legal Services Investigation Section.

Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
Defense Criminal Investigative Service
Federal Air Marshals Service
IRS-Criminal Investigation
Kansas City, Kan., Police Department
Kansas City, Mo., Police Department
Kansas Highway Patrol
Missouri State Highway Patrol
Overland Park, Kan., Police Department
U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Western District of Missouri and the District of Kansas
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Marshals Service
U.S. Postal Inspection Service
U.S. Secret Service

http://kansascity.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/kc051910.htm

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