Suu Kyi release could boost Myanmar's economy - AFP

Suu Kyi release could boost Myanmar's economyBy Roberto Coloma (AFP) – 1 hour ago

SINGAPORE — The release of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi could pay off economically for Myanmar's junta even though Western nations are unlikely to ease trade and other sanctions soon, analysts said.

For years, the military regime of resource-rich Myanmar has blunted the impact of US and European punitive measures by cultivating trade and investment links with neighbours led by Thailand, China, India, Singapore and Malaysia.

Suu Kyi's freedom and this month's rare election may reduce the stigma of doing business with Myanmar, even though her party boycotted the vote and the results were dismissed as a sham by much of the outside world.

"It is a welcome sign. We hope this is the start for a change and that it will encourage more investments in Myanmar," said a senior official from the Malaysian trade ministry who declined to be named.

But opponents of the junta fear that any increased money flowing into the impoverished country will not improve the lives of ordinary people.

Myanmar is one of the world's least developed countries, with nearly a third of the population living below the poverty line as the generals and their associates exploit raw materials for their own benefit.

Asian neighbours China, India, and Thailand already overlook human rights concerns in favour of engagement with Myanmar, which boasts oil, gas and other natural resources as well as tremendous tourism potential.

India gave Myanmar leader Than Shwe a red-carpet welcome in July and the two countries signed pacts on border security, road building and finance.

But for India, as the world's largest democracy, Myanmar's recent moves could ease domestic political pressure not to prop up the regime.

"The release of Aung Sang Suu Kyi gives India a greater diplomatic space to engage with Myanmar without the fear of being criticised while dealing with the military dictatorship regime," said C. Uday Bhaskar, director of the New Delhi think-tank National Maritime Foundation.

Thailand is another top investor and trading partner, importing over 90 percent of all of Myanmar's natural gas exports.

A major Thai construction firm recently signed an eight-billion-dollar infrastructure deal with the military-ruled country, including the construction of a giant deep sea port in the impoverished nation.

China, a single-party state often criticised for its own human-rights record, is also expected to forge closer economic ties regardless of the political situation as it scours the world for natural resources to feed its fast-growing economy.

Indeed, it recently became the largest foreign investor in Myanmar this year, state media in Beijing reported. Among projects already under way, China National Petroleum Corp. is building an oil and gas pipeline from Myanmar's Kyuakryu port to southwestern China.

"Both the junta and Chinese Communist Party have an understanding that whatever the West and rest of the world thinks about human rights and the Nobel prize, it will not really have an impact on the development of ties and support for each other," said Professor Ian Holliday at the University of Hong Kong.

Myanmar watchers said it was too early to say if the developments could lead to an easing of Western sanctions on the regime, which is still holding an estimated 2,200 political prisoners, and they underscored the crucial role to be played by Suu Kyi.

Alistair Cook, a fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said Western nations will await "feedback" from Suu Kyi, who plans to consult the people of Myanmar.

"Should they want an end to the economic sanctions, then I am sure Aung San Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy leaders will articulate this. It will be then up to those states imposing economic sanctions to respond accordingly."

Suu Kyi led her party to a landslide win in Myanmar's 1990 elections, but the military never recognised the result and kept the Nobel peace prize laureate in detention for 15 of the past 21 years.

Critics of the sanctions say they have done little to undermine military rule and instead aggravated the deprivation of ordinary people in Myanmar.

The United States bans trade with companies tied to the junta in Myanmar. It also freezes such firms' assets and blocks international loans to the state.

The European Union also has sanctions freezing assets and businesses of junta figures, and blacklisting their travel, but it has continued some trade and investment such as in oil.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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Lewis Stifles Giants and Gives Rangers a Boost - New York Times

Fans were urged to make some Texas-sized noise and to sing along to “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” Just in case anyone had forgotten, the 106th World Series had shifted to the Lone Star State, where subtlety is a four-letter word.

That fits the profile of the Texas Rangers, who matched the spectacle surrounding their first World Series home game with a 4-2 victory against the Giants in Game 3 that was anything but understated. Yet another stifling pitching performance from Colby Lewis, coupled with booming home runs by Mitch Moreland and Josh Hamilton, restored the sizzle to a series that seemed to have lost its sheen when it left an apoplectic San Francisco on Thursday.

The Rangers found World Series games here so much fun that they assured their fans of seeing a full complement, with the ace Cliff Lee lined up for a Game 5 start Monday that will play a pivotal role in determining whether Texas will become the first pennant winner to overcome a 2-0 deficit since the 1996 Yankees. Game 4, with Madison Bumgarner of San Francisco scheduled to face the Rangers’ Tommy Hunter, is set for Sunday night.

The underbelly of the Rangers’ bullpen, battered for 11 of the Giants’ 20 runs, may as well head for the concession stands when Lewis is on the mound. He has become their designated stopper, winning his last three starts, all after losses. Two of those came in the American League Championship Series against the Yankees, who were baffled by his extraordinary command and deceptive slider.

Yet the perception still existed that no way was Lewis — Colby Lewis? — morphing into an ace. Lewis allowed late bases-empty homers to Cody Ross (seventh inning) and to Andres Torres (eighth), and in four playoff outings he is 3-0 with a 1.71 earned run average.

The opinion that Lewis would be nervous heading into his start Saturday, with the Rangers trailing in the series, 2-0, was understandable if also, to him, a bit laughable. Want to know what pressure feels like? Try taking your family to Japan and telling them to trust you. Want to know what pitching in front of a rollicking capacity crowd feels like? Try making two opening day starts for the Hiroshima Carp.

“I think that’s what kind of helps me coming back here with the noise and the celebration and everybody cheering and stuff like that,” Lewis said.

There was noise and celebration and plenty of stuff like that at Rangers Ballpark, where the night unofficially began with the beloved former catcher — and current Washington National — Ivan Rodriguez catching (blocking, actually) the ceremonial first pitch from Nolan Ryan.

Many among the largest crowd in stadium history — 52,419 — came decked out in claw T-shirts and antlers headgear, the battle cry of a team that ever so slightly has intruded into a local sports scene dominated by the football team down the street. One fan held aloft a sign that deftly summarized the region’s feelings: “Who Needs Cowboys When We Have Rangers.” For 39 seasons, this bustling suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth has waited for Saturday, and its team did not disappoint.

Standing between the Rangers and relevance again was the San Francisco left-hander Jonathan Sanchez, who rarely produces a start that is merely average. He either dominates (Game 1, division series) or implodes (Game 6, N.L.C.S.), which is what he seemed to be saying Friday when asked about that brief appearance in Philadelphia.

“You know,” he said, “everybody is going to have bad days and good days.”

It started out good for Sanchez, who was uncharacteristically efficient in a 10-pitch first inning, but then it turned bad, in a second inning that he would soon like to forget. The Rangers’ poor situational hitting (4 for 21 with runners in scoring position through two games) was seemingly doomed to fail them once more, when with one out Jeff Francoeur could not drive in Nelson Cruz from third. Sanchez then walked the No. 8 hitter Bengie Molina, which is a smart play in National League ballparks, where the designated hitter is not used and the pitcher usually bats ninth.

Batting ninth for Texas was Moreland, a rookie left-handed hitter with a .342 average in 12 playoff games — and only 20 regular-season at-bats against left-handers. In the A.L.C.S., Moreland terrorized Yankees pitchers with his ability to grind out long at-bats, to foul off pitches, and that strategy can be particularly effective against wild pitchers like Sanchez. With a 2-2 count, Moreland fouled off four straight pitches — two sliders, two changeups — before mashing a fastball deep into the right-field seats. Ross, patrolling right field, hardly moved as the ball soared above.

The Rangers led, 3-0, their first advantage since the third inning of Game 1, and the score stayed that way as Lewis silenced the Giants through the middle innings, mowing down 14 of 16 batters. He ended up pitching seven and two-thirds innings, before Darren O’Day got one out and Neftali Feliz got the final three.

Sanchez briefly teetered, putting runners on base in the third and fourth, before with two outs and the bases empty in the fifth allowing a 426-foot blast to Hamilton that cleared both bullpens in right-center field.

As Hamilton rounded the bases, four people deliriously waving Texas flags ran onto the berm, reminding everyone — again, in case they had forgotten — how baseball is played in these parts.

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No boost for Social Security checks in 2011 - The Associated Press

No boost for Social Security checks in 2011By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER (AP) – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON — More than 58 million retirees and disabled Americans will have to go another year without an increase in their Social Security benefits, the government is expected to announce this week.

It would mark only the second year without an increase since automatic adjustments for inflation were adopted in 1975. The first year was this year.

The cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, are automatically set each year by an inflation measure that was adopted by Congress back in the 1970s. Because consumer prices are still lower than they were they were two years ago, the last time a COLA was awarded, the trustees who oversee Social Security project there will be no benefit increase for 2011.

The lack of inflation will be small comfort to many older Americans whose savings and home values still haven't recovered from the financial collapse. Many haven't had a raise since January 2009, and they won't be getting one until at least January 2012.

"While people aren't getting COLAs they certainly feel like they're falling further and further behind, particularly in this economy," said David Certner, AARP's legislative policy director. "People are very reliant on Social Security as a major portion of their income and, quite frankly, they have counted on the COLA over the years."

The COLA projection will be made official on Friday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases inflation estimates for September. The timing couldn't be worse for Democrats as they approach an election in which they are in danger of losing their House majority, and possibly their Senate majority as well.

Democrats have been working hard to make Social Security an election-year issue, running political ads and holding press conferences to accuse Republicans of plotting to privatize the national retirement program.

"If you're the ruling party, this is not the sort of thing you want to have happening two weeks before an election," said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration and now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

"It's not the congressional Democrats' fault, but that's the way politics works," Biggs said. "A lot of people will feel hostile about it."

Social Security was the primary source of income for 64 percent of retirees who got benefits in 2008, according to the Social Security Administration. A third relied on Social Security for at least 90 percent of their income.

A little more than 58.7 million retirees and disabled Americans receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income. The average Social Security benefit is about $1,072 a month.

Social Security recipients got a one-time bonus payment of $250 in the spring of 2009 as part of the government's massive economic recovery package. President Barack Obama lobbied for another one last fall when it became clear seniors wouldn't get an increase in monthly benefit payments in 2010.

Congress took up the issue, but a proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders died when 12 Democrats and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut joined Senate Republicans to block it. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine was the only Republican to support the second bonus payment.

Sanders, I-Vt., said he will continue pressing for another $250 payment when Congress returns after the election in November.

"During these very difficult economic times many seniors and disabled veterans are spending a lot of their limited incomes on rising health care and prescription drugs costs," Sanders said. "They need help."

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., chairman of the Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security, has introduced a new bill to provide $250 payments to seniors, if there is no increase in Social Security. Maybe, he said, there will be more of an appetite in Congress to pass it after lawmakers hear from voters in November.

Federal law requires the Social Security Administration to base annual payment increases on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, which measures inflation. The CPI-W is based on the cost of goods and services, such as food, housing, transportation and energy, typically purchased by urban wage earners and clerical workers.

Officials compare inflation in the third quarter of each year — the months of July, August and September — with the same months in the previous year.

If consumer prices increase from year to year, Social Security recipients automatically get higher payments, starting in January. If inflation is negative, the payments stay unchanged.

Social Security payments increased by 5.8 percent in 2009, the largest increase in 27 years, after energy prices spiked in 2008.

But energy prices quickly dropped. For example, average gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon in the summer of 2008. But by January 2009, they had fallen below $2. Today, the national average is roughly $2.70 a gallon.

As a result, Social Security recipients got an increase in 2009 that was far larger than actual inflation. However, they won't get another increase until consumer prices exceed the level measured in 2008. The Social Security trustees project that will happen next year, resulting in a small increase in benefits for 2012.

Social Security spokesman Mark Lassiter said the agency has no leeway to increase payments if the inflation measurement doesn't call for it.

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Online:

Social Security COLAs: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/cola/latestCOLA.html

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Tea party convergence: Big boost for Republicans in Election 2010 - Christian Science Monitor

It’s still three weeks and a couple days before the midterm election. But the likelihood of a Republican takeover in Congress just keeps growing, powered by a major boost from the tea party movement – a political phenomenon that has evolved from a scattered and sometimes flaky insurgency into a sophisticated, organized effort.

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In his latest estimate, polling expert Nate Silver of the FiveThirtyEight blog says Republicans have a 72 percent chance of taking over the House, up from 67 percent last week. Also, he writes in his latest New York Times column, the GOP has “nearly even odds of a achieving a net gain of 50 seats” – 11 more than it needs to become the majority party in the House.

No doubt that’s thanks in large measure to the higher level of preelection energy among tea-fueled Republicans.

IN PICTURES: Tea parties

The latest survey conducted jointly by the Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University shows why.

“On every measure, strong supporters of the tea party movement stand above the rest of the field,” writes Dan Balz in the Post.

“For starters, take the question of whether people are very interested in these elections,” Balz writes. “Forty-three percent of Democrats said they are. Among Republicans, 57 percent said they're very interested. Among tea party supporters the figure was 74 percent, and among the strongest tea party supporters it was 83 percent.”

While the Republican Party has had its run-ins with tea partyers – most notably in GOP primaries where establishment candidates got whacked – the Washington Post-Kaiser-Harvard poll shows a large majority of tea party supporters favoring a GOP takeover of Congress.

Meanwhile, what probably should have been called the “tea parties” – over the past year there have been many disparate and sometimes contending groups – are becoming more organized and unified as the election approaches.

In Virginia, for example, groups from around the state have formed a federation called “Virginia Tea Party Patriots.” The group just held a two-day convention in Richmond.

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