Friday 11-18-11

I was always worried about Australia and it being taking over by China, maybe the US is doing something to try to stop that, who knows.

Obama visit: Australia agrees US Marine deployment plan

Julia Gillard and Barack Obama announce details of the new military arrangement

She said about 250 US Marines would arrive next year, eventually being built up to 2,500 personnel.

The deployment is being seen as a move to counter China's growing influence.

But Mr Obama said the US was "stepping up its commitment to the entire Asia-Pacific", not excluding China.

"The main message that I've said, not only publicly but also privately to China, is that with their rise comes increased responsibility," he said.

"It is important for them to play by the rules of the road."

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin questioned whether the move was in keeping with the region's peaceful development.

Long a close ally of Washington, Australia is set to take on a growing strategic importance for the US as Mr Obama seeks to pivot America's foreign policy away from the wider Middle East towards the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.

Australia approaches China with a degree of ambivalence. Beijing is Australia's biggest trading partner. But China's growing military reach is seen as at least a potential threat for the future.

In his speech to parliament Mr Obama will set out his vision of a new Pacific century. A subsequent trip to Darwin on Australia's north coast will symbolise the enhanced military relationship between the two countries.

It is an attempt to offset Chinese influence and to ensure that Beijing's "soft power" remains just that and does not spill over into military assertiveness.
"It may not be quite appropriate to intensify and expand military alliances and may not be in the interest of countries within this region," he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

The Global Times, a newspaper produced by the Communist Party-controlled People's Daily group, has been much more bellicose, says the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing.

An editorial warned it was "certain" that if "Australia uses its military bases to help the US harm Chinese interests, then Australia itself will be caught in the crossfire".

Luo Yuan, a senior officer at the People's Liberation Army's Academy of Military Sciences told the paper that while neither the US or China wanted to start a war, "if China's core interests such as its sovereignty, national security and unity are intruded on, a military conflict will be unavoidable".

Alliance honoured

The US president flew into Canberra from this weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum in Honolulu.

The visit comes as the two countries mark a 60-year security alliance.

Ms Gillard said about 250 Marines would be deployed on a rotational basis in northern Australia from next year.

"Australia will welcome deployments of a company-size rotation of 200 to 250 Marines in the Northern Territory for around six months at a time," she said.

"Over a number of years we intend to build on this relationship in a staged way to a full force of around 2,500 personnel, that is a full Marine air-ground task force."

Analysts said the deployment was the biggest in Australia since World War II.

Mr Obama said the deployment would allow the US to "meet the demands of a lot of partners in the region" in terms of training, exercises and "security architecture".

Later in his visit the US leader is due to visit a memorial in Darwin to honour US and Australian soldiers killed during World War II.

Mr Obama has twice cancelled visits to Australia in the past - in March 2010 as he worked to pass healthcare reform legislation and then in June the same year amid the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

After his stop in Darwin, Mr Obama flies to Indonesia for a summit of Asian leaders.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15739995

5 simple changes to help you save money

WASHINGTON -- If you're looking to save some money this time of year, look no further. You can do it by making five simple changes.

Yahoo! Finance put together a list of five products and services you might be able to live without. If you can, it could save you about $1,500 a year.


Here's what you can do to save a few bucks:

Skip those lottery tickets.

Yahoo reports Americans spent $58 billion last year on lottery tickets. That's about $200 per American. Instead, it recommends tossing $5 a week into a retirement account of your choice. It says over 30 years with 6 percent interest, you could squirrel away $9,000.

Forget that extended warranty from retailers.

Tod Marks, senior editor for Consumer Reports, calls them "a sucker's bet." He says you're betting a product will break at a very specific time and the timing rarely works out. He says store warranties typically cover stove ranges for three years when studies show only one in five ranges breaks during that period. Most analysts will tell you extended warranties are a waste of money.

Rethink your unlimited cell phone plan.

Yahoo suggests tracking your usage to see if you can drop down one payment bracket on your plan. That alone could save you $240 a year. Of course if you utilize unlimited texts and calls, you'll want to stick with the plan.

Skip buying cleaning supplies.

Consider making your own. You can make your own glass cleaner for example using white vinegar, rubbing alcohol and water.

Avoid using plastic bags.

Skip the daily plastic bags at the grocery store and individual sandwich plastic bags for lunches. Instead, spend a little more on reusable bags and eliminate waste. Or, you can pack certain food

http://wtop.com/?nid=675&sid=2633909


Non-users of Facebook tracked by social network

As Facebook has grown, so has the amount of personal data it collects, including information about people who have not chosen to join the social network.

For the first time, Facebook explained how it tracks both users and non-users in a series of phone and email exchanges with USA TODAY.

When a Facebook user visits a Facebook.com page, two different kinds of tracking cookies are placed in the user's browser -- a "session cookie" and a "browser cookie."

Non-Facebook members and Facebook users who are logged off receive the browser cookie.

When Facebook users are logged on, the session cookie records the websites they visit, along with their names, email addresses, list of friends and preferences as indicated by the "like" buttons they have clicked in the past.

The online habits of those who did not join Facebook - as well as Facebook users not signed into their accounts - are tracked by the browser cookie, but they are identified by number, not by name.

Both cookies log IP addresses, screen resolutions, operating systems and record which browser (Mozilla-Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google, etc.) a person is using. That information is kept for 90 days.

Facebook says it uses tracking data from these cookies to enhance both security and its users' experiences, but does not yet use tracking data to target ads to specific people.

Privacy advocates say that when used creatively such data collection can be dangerous.

In Los Angeles, ABC-TV consumer reporter Ric Romero found that a man's insurance benefits were canceled after an investigator saw a picture of him sitting on a beach, drinking a beer. The picture was on Facebook.

Insurance investigators told Romero that honest people have nothing to fear. But the man whose benefits were denied had to hire an attorney and take his case to a labor board in order to prove his injury was not fraudulent.

Facebook is getting pressure from government agencies here and abroad.

Facebook has been haggling with the Federal Trade Commission over privacy, and The Wall Street Journal reports the social network is nearing a settlement with federal regulators that would require it to get the approval of a user before making changes that expose his profile and activities to a wider audience.

The settlement also would require Facebook to undergo independent privacy audits for the next 20 years.

http://wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2635253