UN Approves New Debate on Arms Treaty Opposed by US Gun Lobby

Jakarta Globe, December 25, 2012

President Barack Obama says it's time for US lawmakers to tackle
the divisive issue of gun control. (AFP Photo)

          

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United Nations. The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Monday to restart negotiations on a draft international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global trade in conventional arms, a pact the powerful US National Rifle Association has been lobbying hard against.

UN delegates and gun control activists have complained that talks collapsed in July largely because US President Barack Obama feared attacks from Republican rival Mitt Romney before the Nov. 6 election if his administration was seen as supporting the pact, a charge US officials have denied.

The NRA, which has come under intense criticism for its reaction to the Dec. 15 shooting massacre of 20 children and six educators at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, opposes the idea of an arms trade treaty and has pressured Obama to reject it.

But after Obama's re-election last month, his administration joined other members of a UN committee in supporting the resumption of negotiations on the treaty.

That move was set in stone on Monday when the 193-nation UN General Assembly voted to hold a final round of negotiations on March 18-28 in New York.

The foreign ministers of Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya and the United Kingdom — the countries that drafted the resolution - issued a joint statement welcoming the decision to resume negotiations on the pact.

"This was a clear sign that the vast majority of UN member states support a strong, balanced and effective treaty, which would set the highest possible common global standards for the international transfer of conventional arms," they said.

There were 133 votes in favor, none against and 17 abstentions. A number of countries did not attend, which UN diplomats said was due to the Christmas Eve holiday.

The exact voting record was not immediately available, though diplomats said the United States voted 'yes,' as it did in the UN disarmament committee last month. Countries that abstained from last month's vote included Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Belarus, Cuba and Iran.

Among the top six arms-exporting nations, Russia cast the only abstention in last month's vote. Britain, France and Germany joined China and the United States in the disarmament committee in support of the same resolution approved by the General Assembly on Monday.

NRA threatens 'greatest force of opposition'

The main reason the arms trade talks are taking place at all is that the United States — the world's biggest arms trader, which accounts for more than 40 percent of global transfers in conventional arms — reversed US policy on the issue after Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support a treaty.

Obama administration officials have tried to explain to US opponents of the arms trade pact that the treaty under discussion would have no effect on gun sales and ownership inside the United States because it would apply only to exports.

But NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told UN delegations in July that his group opposed the pact and there are no indications that it has  changed that position.

"Any treaty that includes civilian firearms ownership in its scope will be met with the NRA's greatest force of opposition," LaPierre said, according to the website of the NRA's lobbying wing, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA).

LaPierre's speech to the UN delegations in July was later supported by letters from a majority of US senators and 130 congressional representatives, who told Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that they opposed the treaty, according to the NRA-ILA.

It is not clear whether the NRA would have the same level of support from US legislators after the Newtown massacre.

US officials say they want a treaty that contributes to international security by fighting illicit arms trafficking and proliferation but protects the sovereign right of states to conduct legitimate arms trade.

"We will not accept any treaty that infringes on the constitutional rights of our citizens to bear arms," a US official told Reuters last month.

The United States, like all other UN member states, can effectively veto the treaty since the negotiations will be conducted on the basis of consensus. That means the treaty must receive unanimous support in order to be approved in March.

Arms control activists say it is far from clear that the Obama administration truly wants a strong treaty. Any treaty agreed in March would also need to be ratified by the parliaments of individual signatory nations before it could come into force.

Reuters

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Fox News adjusts to new reality as it faces four more years of Obama

It's the go-to network for outraged conservatives – but now Fox News has benched two high-profile pundits, and shown signs of retreat. Is the US's biggest cable news network going moderate?

guardian.co.uk, Paul Harris in New York, Friday 7 December 2012

Fox News chief Roger Ailes. Producers must ask permission from senior
 management if they wish to put Karl Rove or Dick Morris on air. Photograph:
Reuters

For America's liberals, it is the tantalising cherry on top of the Obama election victory cake. The decision by Fox News to cut back the use of high-profile rightwing political pundits Karl Rove and Dick Morris raises a prospect few ever thought possible: that the hugely successful conservative cable news channel is in retreat.

In the wake of President Barack Obama's election win last month – which flew dramatically in the face of Rove and Morris's confident on-air predictions – the News Corp-owned station is being forced to adjust to a new reality.

Its broadcasting landscape is now one in which four more years of Obama's presidency stretch out in front of it. That second term was also won in an election many saw as a rejection of a Tea Party-infused Republicanism that saw extreme figures like pizza magnate Herman Cain, social conservatives Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann and even business mogul Donald Trump briefly leading the Republican field.

As a result, some experts see Fox News as having emerged from the defeat of eventual candidate Mitt Romney in the same shape as the Republican party itself – with a somewhat tarnished image. "It was a damaging election for Fox, not so much down to the result, but in the way that it was handled in the weeks leading up to it and in Rove's famous on-air meltdown," said professor Jack Lule, a media expert at Lehigh University.

The incident Lule is referring to happened on election night itself when Fox regular Rove questioned the channel's own polling unit in deciding to call the crucial state of Ohio for Obama. In a remarkable piece of live television – ordered by Fox News' co-founder Roger Ailes himself – anchor Megyn Kelly and a camera crew then took Rove's opinion to the Fox decision desk who stood by their call and debunked Rove's doubts.

For some, including many critics of the channel, the incident became the key moment when Fox News' often barely-disguised championing of the conservative cause ran into the simple reality of the facts on the ground. It also went viral. "My sister called me up to say: 'Turn to Fox News. It's crazy'," said Webster University broadcast journalism expert Professor Eileen Solomon.

Since then – as the Republican party itself divides between senior voices calling for more inclusive policies and a still outraged conservative base – Fox News has shown several other signs of moderating its stance. Not only has it "benched" Rove and Morris – with senior management permission needed if any producer wants to put them on air – but some of its top personalities are shifting policies.

Just two days after the election, which Obama won with a huge majority among Hispanic voters, Fox host Sean Hannity told listeners to his radio show that his views on illegal immigrants had "evolved" and he now supported a path to citizenship. Regular Fox News pundit Ann Coulter has also changed gear. Just this week she revealed on Fox that she now supported tax rises on the wealthy as a political tactic.

The shifts might reflect Fox News' and Ailes' establishment position within the broader Republican party, where both are hugely influential. Indeed, a plethora of Republican bigwigs – from Mike Huckabee to Sarah Palin to Newt Gingrich – have been paid Fox pundits.

Fox's unease thus reflects a wider Republican nervousness among top donors and the party elite about demographic growth among minorities that could play into the hands of Democrats for many election cycles to come.

Even before the election Fox had ended the show of notorious host Glenn Beck, who had become known for postulating rightwing conspiracy theories and made several racial gaffes. Beck, too, had begun to fall out of favour with Republican leaders. "Roger Ailes is part and parcel of the GOP establishment. He has a guiding role. Fox is a part of the GOP machine as much as it is a media enterprise," said Tim Dickinson, a national affairs correspondent for Rolling Stone, who has written a lengthy profile of Ailes for his magazine.

But some warn that any liberal celebration over the idea of Fox moderating is more than premature. For example, Fox has enthusiastically pursued Susan Rice, Obama's preferred nominee to be the next secretary of state, for comments she made in the wake of a terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed the ambassador to Libya.

Many of its hosts and broadcasting is still resolutely critical of Obama, and offers a regular diet of red meat to its conservative audience. Indeed, some people expect Rove himself to eventually return to the channel on a regular basis. "With Rove, I think it is kind of like a "head fake" in basketball. They are not really under great pressure to fundamentally change," said Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst for the Poynter Institute.

That goes to the heart of what makes Fox tick, says Edmonds. Since being founded in 1996, Fox News has emerged to become the dominant force in cable news, and its political influence stretches far beyond its several million cable viewers. It is also highly profitable for its parent company. "If we do see any moderation it will be superficial. There will not be a sea change, because I don't think their advertisers or their viewers will demand that. Millions of conservatives like to watch and you can sell a lot of ads on the back of them," said Edmonds.

Fox News actually lost the battle for viewers on election night last month – the single most important event for the channel since the previous election – as CNN netted 8.8 million viewers to Fox's 8.7 million. But the fundamentals of the market have not changed. In November overall the most recent viewership figures show Fox easily dominated its rivals with a nightly average of 2.6 million during primetime. That means Fox News has occupied the number one spot for a remarkable 131 straight months.

At heart Fox News remains a business where the bottom line is just as important, if not more so, than the political line. And in a second Obama term, there is still a rich vein of conservative anger to be mined among core viewers. "If you are Fox you still need to feed the hardcore beast. It is possible that Ailes will guide viewers to a more moderate place, but it is not likely," said Dickinson.

Not that anyone at Fox sees it like that. The channel always insists it covers the news by its famed slogan "fair and balanced", and Ailes recently outlined his editorial philosophy in terms that would seem to dismiss any notion of problems in the wake of Romney's defeat. "I know no-one believes it, we have no agenda," Ailes said in a recent rare interview with the TVNewser blog. "I don't mind praising the guy (Obama) and I don't mind questioning the guy. It's day to day."

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“ …. 6. The News

Number six. I'll be brief. Watch for your news to change. It has to. When the media realizes that Human Beings are changing their watching habits, they're going to start changing what they produce for you to watch. Eventually, there's going to be something called "The Good News Channel," and it will be very attractive indeed. For it will be real and offset the drama of what is today's attraction. This is what families at night, sitting around the table, will wish to watch. They'll have something where the whole picture of a situation is shown and not just the dramatic parts. You will hear about what's happening on the planet that no one is telling you now, and when that occurs [we have no clock, dear one], it's going to compete strongly with the drama. I keep telling you this. Human nature itself is starting to be in color instead of black and white. Watch for it. And that was number six.  …”

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Mitt Romney lost because hardline Republicans betrayed him

The Tea Party zealots, homophobes and misogynists hijacked Romney's campaign – and threaten the Republican party's future

guardian.co.uk, Simon Tisdall, Wednesday 7 November 2012

A woman carries a picture of Mitt Romney after the US presidential election
watch event on November 7, 2012 in Seoul, South Korea. Photograph: Chung
Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Democrats of all stripes and colours rallied behind Barack Obama. Hardline Republicans betrayed Mitt Romney. And so he lost.

Despite the disappointments of the past four years, Democrat and independent voters from all backgrounds renewed their faith in a man who promised: "The best is yet to come." Despite Romney's emergence as an able candidate of personal integrity, his appeal was fatally undercut by political fundamentalists who said, in effect: "We must go backwards to go forwards."

Obama aimed unerringly for the centre ground of American life and politics. Republican party leaders and pressure groups showed they don't know where that heartland lies any more.

By campaign end, Romney – moderating his tone and positions – was finally connecting with 2012 America. GOP strategist Peggy Noonan called it Romney's "quiet rise", and there was evidence to support it. But the Tea Party zealots, the radical evangelicals, the homophobes, the misogynists and the rest of the unthinking, feckless right had already scuppered his chances. It was too late to turn it around.

Obama won on the central issue of the economy – which should by rights have sunk his ship with all hands. Exit polls showed just as many voters trusted Obama as Romney to handle the nation's finances, despite his term record of high unemployment and real hardship for many middle- and lower-income families.

By all historical precedent, given the figures, Romney should have sown it up months ago. But his Reagan-esque ideas were out of date. The voters replied: "It's the economy, but we're not stupid."

Obama's victory was about the past as well as the future. Voters effectively endorsed his healthcare revolution – the Affordable Care Act – and the Dodd-Frank financial reforms that staved off a second depression. They also backed Obama's vow not to renew the Bush tax cuts (that expire at the end of the year) and payroll and other business tax cuts. This was a vote for fairness and plain-dealing over self-interest and greed.

In his concession speech, Romney showed he had heard the message. He called for renewed bipartisanship, an end to coruscating political divisions. But the Republican hard men still don't get it.

"For two years our majority in the House [of Representatives] has been the primary line of defence for the American people against a government that spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much when left unchecked," said the house speaker, John Boehner. The fact the GOP still commanded a House majority, Boehner suggested, meant the obstructionism, point-scoring and ideological warfare against the Obama White House would continue.

Evidence that the Republicans are out of line and out of touch crowded in from battleground states, nearly all of which, from all points of the geographical and social compass, went to Obama. So, too, did the popular vote.

Obama did better than expected with white voters, while accumulating massive support (60%) among Latinos. Many were apparently attracted by his decision to allow some young illegal immigrants the right to stay without fear of being deported – another Republican trigger issue that backfired.

Obama's support for Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin, the first avowedly gay woman to run for the Senate, proved to be a plus, not the minus Republican prejudice-peddlers perceived. Baldwin won – another milestone for change in the Obama era, another sign of how the country is shifting away from the restrictive shibboleths and biases of the past.

The zeitgeist was all Obama's. Liberal causes triumphed in several states that held separate votes on single issues. Maryland and Maine became the first states to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote. Colorado and Washington legalised some marijuana use.

In Ohio, in the heart of America, seen as the ultimate battleground, Obama won handily in the end. A key factor? His decision to bail out the US automative industry, approved by 59% of voters interviewed in early exit polls. Here was another symbolic vote for activist government and state intervention, another body blow for the every-man-for-himself, laissez-faire, free enterprise favoured by the Republican right.

Romney proved a better man than his party deserved. He went up in most people's estimation during the campaign. He was gracious in defeat.

"This is a time of great challenges for America and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation," he said. But presidential politics is a cruel sport. The truth is, Romney is history. He no longer leads the Republican party, if he ever did. He lost, and though he lost well, he will quickly be pushed aside. All the same, GOP manager and strategists would do well to take stock of his legacy. The big lesson for Republicans from this election is that extremism does not pay.

"Obama-ism" circa 2012 does not mean liberalism, immorality or Godless socialism. Obamaland is where the decent, hard-working open-minded middle lives. There are no signs, yet at least, that Republicans are ready to adjust to the change. A more likely reaction, like that of Britain's Benn-ite left during the Thatcher era, is to lurch ever closer to the political edge in pursuit of political purity and truth.

The aftermath produced a striking example of such thinking, from Keith Koffler, inthe White House Dossier blog:

"The re-election of President Obama is a catastrophe for conservatives that will set the United States on a track from which it will be difficult to derail. But the task for the right is not impossible.

Obama's victory is not a catastrophe, as some will maintain, because conservatism can't prevail in an presidential election. The Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, is not a conservative, and he failed to assertively articulate conservative ideas.

Rather, it's a catastrophe because Obama's leftwing agenda will now be ensconced more firmly than ever, and some portions of it may never be dislodged."

This sort of un-magical thinking spells political oblivion. Unless Republicans quickly regain perspective and balance, the abyss beckons

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Dutch tax dodge for Mitt Romney?

RNW, Lauren Comiteau, 5 November 2012     

 (Photo: ANP)

We’ve had the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Luxemburg. Now there’s a new name to add to the growing list of countries that US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney allegedly uses to dodge taxes: The Netherlands.

According to an investigation by the website Follow the Money and the Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant, Romney has made millions of tax-free dollars through the private-equity company he established in 1994—during his pre-political days--Bain Capital.

Although Romney stepped down from Bain in 1999, he and his wife were reportedly still allowed to invest in the company until at least 2009, and were still reaping the benefits in 2010 and 2011.

And as part of his so-called “golden handshake,” the investigation says Romney got a severance deal that paid him in capital gains rather than salary, meaning the taxes he had to pay were significantly lower.

How it works

The story goes like this: In 2004, Bain acquired the Irish pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott, which was originally registered in Bermuda but moved to Ireland in 2009 to avoid President Obama’s crackdown on Bermuda’s lax tax rules.

Then two years ago, Bain registered its interest in Warner Chilcott with the private Dutch company Alter Domus, which provides administrative services for multinational corporations and investment funds. If a Dutch company owns more than five percent of the shares in another company, than that other company is exempt from paying taxes on all capital gains.

Through exemptions like that and a host of other complicated tax treaties, the Netherlands offers huge tax breaks to companies like Bain, which is reported to have evaded 80 million euros in dividend taxes by running through the Netherlands.

Dutch tax haven

“The Netherlands is the world champion of participation exemption,” Jos Peters of tax consultancy firm Merlyn told Follow the Money.

By examining Bain’s filings with US regulators, Dutch Chamber of Commerce documents and those made public by Gawker, and even Romney’s own tax returns, Monday’s report says Romney has been able to financially benefit from the “Dutch route” as well.

The investigation says that there is a discrepancy between Romney’s tax filings and the tax-exempt Warner Chilcott shares he donated to his son’s charity in 2011, worth about $450,000.

The Tyler Foundation donates most of its money to the Mormon Church, of which Romney is a member.

Both Bain and Romney have refused repeated requests to comment on the issue.

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Republican Senate hopeful Richard Mourdock in rape row

BBC News, 24 October 2012

US Presidential Election 2012 

• Foreign policy dilemmas
• Third debate as it happened
• Six Senate races to watch
• Top 10 US political donors

Richard Mourdock: "Even when life

begins  in that horrible situation of rape,

 it is something God intended to happen"

Republican US Senate hopeful Richard Mourdock has expressed regret a day after suggesting pregnancies caused by rape were God's plan.

The Indiana candidate made the remarks while debating his Democratic opponent.

On Wednesday, he told reporters he "abhors" rape and that if anyone "came away with any impression other than that, I regret it".

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign said he still backed Mr Mourdock, although he disagreed with his views.

Mr Mourdock's comments come two months after another Republican candidate caused a furious backlash when he said women's bodies had ways of preventing pregnancy after rape.

Mr Romney and President Barack Obama are campaigning hard for the 6 November US presidential election, in which women's votes could prove crucial.

'Humbled'

During Tuesday night's debate with his Democratic challenger Joe Donnelly, Mr Mourdock was asked whether he believed abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest.

'Walmart moms' could make all the
 difference in the 2012 presidential
election

"I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realise that life is that gift from God," he said.

"And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

At a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Mourdock said he had been "humbled" by the reaction to his comments.

"If, because of the lack of clarity in my words, that they came away with an impression other than... life is precious and that I abhor violence and I'm confident that God abhors violence and rape... I truly regret it."

Mr Mourdock, a geologist by trade and the current Indiana state treasurer, said others were trying to "twist" his comments.

There are 33 Senate seats up for grabs in next month's elections, and the Republicans are hoping to win control of the chamber.

The Indiana seat was held safely at the last election by veteran Senator Richard Lugar, but he was ousted by voters in a Republican primary in May.

Mr Mourdock is backed by conservative groups, including the Tea Party, and has pledged no compromise with Democrats if he is elected.

What polling is available in the state suggests the he and his Democratic rival arein a tight race.

Republican backlash

Several Republicans in close races, including Mr Romney, have distanced themselves from Mr Mourdock to varying degrees since Tuesday's comments.

Missouri Representative Todd Akin
refused  to drop out of his own race after
his remarks sparked a row

Romney press secretary Andrea Saul said on Wednesday: "We disagree on the policy regarding exceptions for rape and incest, but still support him."

The Romney campaign says his administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee also stood by the Senate hopeful.

But other Republicans locked in tight election races spoke out against Mr Mourdock, such as Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who also cancelled a planned trip to campaign with him.

In Mr Mourdock's home state of Indiana, Representative Mike Pence, running for governor, called on the candidate to apologise.

Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown also said he disagreed with Mr Mourdock's views.

Democrats pounced on the debate remarks.

The Democratic National Committee has released an ad reminding voters of Mr Romney's recent endorsement of Mr Mourdock.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that the president found the comment "outrageous and demeaning to women".

And Indiana party chairman Dan Parker said he was "stunned and ashamed" of Mr Mourdock's comments.

In August, Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin almost derailed his own campaign when he said that in cases of "legitimate" rape, "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down" and avert pregnancy.

At the time, Mr Romney and other senior Republicans urged Mr Akin to stand aside, but he refused, saying he had misspoken and asking to be forgiven.

Mr Akin lost millions of dollars of funding as a result of the remark, but has managed to keep his campaign afloat, polling an average of 5% behind incumbent Clare McCaskill.

Both presidential campaigns are desperately trying to win women's votes.

A gender gap poll among likely voters suggests that Mr Romney enjoys 14% more support among men than Mr Obama, while the president's support among women is 8% more than Mr Romney.

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Archangel Michael: The Declaration of Human Freedom

"... No person shall be forced into marriage against his or her will. No woman shall be forced to bear or not bear children, against her will. No person shall be forced to hold or not hold views or worship in a manner contrary to his or her choice. Nothing vital to existence shall be withheld from another if it is within the community’s power to give....."

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

"... I want to define life for you - not biological life, but spiritual life. So for all those intellectuals, just hold on, for many won't like this. Spiritual life, as measured by Spirit, is when a Human has free choice. When is that? It's when they take their first breath. Not in utero. There will be those who will say, "That's wrong, that's wrong. The soul in the woman's body is alive!" Just wait. I'm talking about spiritually. That which Spirit sees, and it's when you come from the other side of the veil and take your first breath.

A child with the mother has no free choice. That child is linked to the choice of the mother until it is born. It is, indeed, a soul in preparation for free choice, and there are many attributes that are spiritual that we have discussed before about how that soul reacts. But now I'm discussing life with polarity [duality], free choice.

But let's discuss that "child inside" for a moment, for there is a process I want you to know about. I want to talk about 240 days into the pregnancy. At about that time, the child has perfect DNA. It hasn't taken its first breath. The DNA hasn't measured the energy of the planet yet, since it is contained. Did you realize that? Inside the womb is a perfect child. The child's DNA has all the attributes of the Akash and also the parent, but it's different in a way you have not been told. The DNA is 100% as designed.

The quantum instructions within the DNA are all talking to the biology of the child,, getting ready for the first breath. ..."

Truth manipulator: Romney's business ties with China

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2012-10-20

Mitt Romney during the first presidential debate at the University of
Denver on Oct. 3. (Photo/Xinhua)

Republican candidate Mitt Romney has been keen to win support by painting China as a threat to US industry, saying he would label China a currency manipulator on his first day in office if elected. Yet the Guangzhou-based Time Weekly points out that Romney has had ties with China in the business career which he has touted as his major qualification for seeking his country's highest office.

The major source of Romney's fortune is Bain Capital, which he founded with three other partners in 1984 and which now boasts 400 specialists and US$65 billion in funds under its management. During the 14 years when Romney headed the company, it racked up annual investment returns of 113% on average.

Bain has close business links with China, having entered the Chinese market in 1993 by setting up an office in Beijing, the first international strategic consulting firm to do so, at a time when the company was headed by Romney.

According to the New York Times, Romney has a stake worth US$250,000 in the Bain Capital Asia Fund and US$1 million each in the company's IX and X funds. Founded in February 2007, the Bain Capital Asia Fund boasts a scale of US$1 billion, focusing on investments in China and Japan.

Bain has invested heavily in at least eight Chinese enterprises, including Gome Electrical Appliances and firms in the fields of food packaging and firefighting equipment.

At the end of 2011, Bain acquired China Fire & Security Group for US$265 million; founded in 1950, the company is the first firefighting firm listed on the US stock market.

In September 2010, Bain spent US$165 million to buy Asimco Technologies and its 11 subsidiaries and affiliates. Asimco is a leading Chinese manufacturer of auto parts.

The company encountered a major setback in its investment in Gome, however, one of China's leading retailers of home appliances. In 2009, Bain spent HK$1.8 billion (US$232 million) to subscribe to seven-year convertible bonds floated by Gome and converted the holdings into shares in September 2010, becoming the company's second-largest shareholder with a 9.98% stake. In the first half of 2012, Gome incurred huge losses of over 500 million yuan (US$80 million), leading Bain to suffer a near 40% loss on paper in its investment in Gome.

According to Time Weekly, Romney says that China has taken jobs from American workers but the accusation seems to apply to manufacturing enterprises in which Bain invests. Even Romney's investments in the US cannot be insulated from the China issue. Bain owns a stake worth US$2.6 billion in Sensata Technologies, a manufacturer of sensing detectors and controlling devices, which employs 4,000 people in China.

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Associated Press, Jan 24, 2012

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Advisers to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney are acknowledging that he once had a Swiss bank account but that it was closed in 2010 as prepared to enter the race for the White House.

The Swiss account is listed on Romney's newly released 2010 federal income tax return. It had been opened by a Boston lawyer who oversees the Romney family investments and a blind trust containing millions of dollars in assets.

Romney's net worth is estimated at as much as $250 million.

R. Bradlford Malt, the trustee, said Tuesday that he closed the account in early 2010 because "it just wasn't worth it." He acknowledged that the account might be inconsistent with Romney's political views. Malt has dropped other investments that conflict with Republican Party views.

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Mitt Romney apologises after 'gay bully' school report

BBC News, 10 May 2012

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Mitt Romney attended the school
 for six years - including when his father
was Michigan governor

Presumptive US Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has apologised for school "pranks" after a report he bullied a classmate thought to be gay.

The Washington Post reported that in 1965 Mr Romney held down a younger student and cut off his hair.

Mr Romney said that he did not remember the incident, but apologised for "hijinks and pranks" that "may have gone too far".

A campaign spokeswoman called the report "exaggerated and off-base".

The Post interviewed five former classmates of Mr Romney about his time as a student at the Cranbrook School outside of Detroit, Michigan.

The classmates said Mr Romney objected to a younger student's bleached blond, longer hair.

According to the report the young man, John Lauber, was "perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality".

"I don't remember that incident," Mr Romney told Fox News during a radio interview.

"I certainly don't believe that I thought the fellow was homosexual. That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s, so that was not the case."

Mr Lauber died in 2004, according to the Post.

Mixed record

Gay rights have become a national issue in recent days, with President Barack Obama confirming on Wednesday that he personally supports the idea of same-sex marriage.

His comments followed fulsome support from Vice-President Joe Biden on Sunday.

After Mr Obama's statement, Mitt Romney quickly moved to state his opposition to same-sex marriage and civil unions.

According to his campaign, Mr Romney supports a federal constitutional amendment against gay marriage or civil unions.

However, Mr Romney had a mixed record on the issue during his time as governor of Massachusetts.

During his gubernatorial campaign Mr Romney defended some gay rights. After he was elected, though, he spoke out against gay marriage when courts made it legal in the state.

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