Presiden Barack Obama membayar pajak sebesar Rp 1,1 miliar ($112.214).

MENJELANG batas waktu pengembalian pajak yang di Amerika Serikat jatuh pada tanggal 15 April 2013, otoritas Gedung Putih pun mengumumkan besaran pajak Presiden Barack Obama dan Ibu Negara Michelle Obama. Kegiatan seperti ini rutin dilakukan Gedung Putih untuk mendukung transparansi informasi terkait pajak para pejabat Gedung Putih.  Dalam pengumumannya itu seperti dilaporkan Reuters,Sabtu (13/4), otoritas Gedung Putih bukan hanya mengumumkan pajak  Obama, melainkan juga pejabat negara lainnya seperti Wapres Joe Biden.  Untuk tahun 2012 ini, Presiden Obama dan istrinya, Michelle,  dilaporkan membayar pajak sebesar Rp 1,1 miliar ($112.214).  Pajak yang dibayarkan keluarga Obama pada 2012 ini dipotong dari penghasilan kotornya pada tahun yang sama sebesar Rp 6,08 miliar ($608.611). Dalam hal ini, Obama membayar dengan tingkat pajak 18,4 persen.  Selain itu, otoritas Gedung Putih juga mengumumkan besaran donasi yang dibayarkan keluarga Obama pada tahun 2012. Nilainya adalah Rp 1,5 miliar ($150.034) atau sekitar 24,6 persen dari penghasilan kotornya itu.  Donasi Obama dan istrinya itu diberikan kepada 33 badan amal. Donasi terbesar senilai Rp 1 miliar ($103.871) diberikan kepada Yayasan Fisher House yang selama ini memberikan layanan kesehatan dan perumahan dengan harga terjangkau bagi kaum veteran dan keluarga militer. Di samping itu, Obama juga membayar pajak penghasilan sebesar Rp 290 juta ($29.450) di kampung halamannya di Illinois. Pengumuman pajak dan donasi Obama ini dilakukan sebelum itu disampaikan kepada lembaga pajak AS (Internal Revenue Service/IRS) pada 15 April 2013. Dilaporkan, dibandingkan dengan 2011, penghasilan Obama selama 2012 (Rp 6,08 miliar atau $608.611) menurun. Pada 2011, penghasilan kotor keluarga Obama Rp 7,8 miliar ($789.674) dengan potongan pajak sebesar 20,5 persen. Bisa jadi, menurunnya penghasilan Obama sepanjang 2012 ini ada kaitannya dengan penyelenggaran pesta demokrasi terbesar di negara itu yang digelar pada November 2012.  Sementara itu, terkait dengan informasi pajak Wakil Presiden AS Joe Biden, Gedung Putih menyebutkan, penghasilan kotor  orang nomor dua di AS itu adalah Rp 3,8 miliar ($385.072). Keluarga Biden membayar pajak sebesar Rp 870 juta ($87.851) dengan tingkat pajak 22,8 persen. Selain itu, Biden juga membayar pajak penghasilan di Delaware dan Virginia,masing-masing senilai Rp 130 juta ($13.531) dan Rp 35 juta ($3.593). Sedangkan nilai donasi keluarga Biden sepanjang 2012 adalah Rp 71 juta ($7.190). Ini diluar donasi sejumlah pakaian dan sepatu milik keluarga Biden yang nilainya mencapai Rp 20 juta ($ 2.000). Soal donasi sepatu Biden itu, warga di dunia maya sempat menjadikan itu lelucon. "Wah, berarti di luaran sana ada warga yang pakai sepatu atau baju bekas Biden," demikian komentar sejumlah warga AS dalam akun twitter mereka terkait dengan sumbangan baju dan sepatu dari keluarga Biden itu.   Transparannya informasi pajak orang nomor satu di AS itu memang bukan hal yang luar biasa di kalangan negara warga di negara-negara maju. Para pejabat negara memang diwajibkan untuk mengumumkan kekayaan dan pajak yang mereka bayarkan. Anehnya, di Indonesia hal ini justru tak dilakukan. Bahkan, beberapa waktu lalu saat nilai pajak Presiden Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) sempat bocor ke publik, pihak Istana uring-uringan. Otoritas Kantor Pajak Indonesia pun menginvestigasi kasus itu dan ternyata pelaku pembocornya adalah sejumlah karyawan pajak yang punya akses untuk melihat data pajak seluruh WNI. Mereka pun diberi sanksi.  Ini sangat aneh karena sudah seharusnya pemerintah Indonesia mendukung transparansi informasi soal pajak para pejabatnya demi mencegah korupsi dan praktik tak terpuji lainnya. Mudah-mudahan saja pada tahun 2013 ini, para pejabat di negara ini akan terbuka terkait besaran pajak yang mereka bayarkan itu sebagaimana yang dilakukan Presiden Obama dan  para pejabat Gedung Putih lainnya. (Huminca/"PR")****

Israel at 65: Success still plagued by uncertainty By ARON HELLER

JERUSALEM (AP) — In 65 years, Israel has surpassed the dreams of its founders, emerging as the Middle East's strongest military force, a global high-tech powerhouse and a prosperous homeland for the Jewish people. Yet it remains a divided society, and its most intractable problem — peace with its Arab neighbors — has yet to be resolved. On the eve of the 65th anniversary of its creation, the Jewish renaissance in the Holy Land remains a work in progress. Dominating the short term is Iran's nuclear program, which Israel believes is aimed at developing an atomic weapon that could be used against the Jewish state, despite Iranian denials. Unrest along Israel's borders is equally worrisome. Over the longer term, reaching peace with the Palestinians remains elusive, with the sides unable to agree even on how to restart negotiations. Palestinians consider creation of Israel a catastrophe that caused a stubborn refugee problem. The 46-year occupation of Palestinian territories also ignites domestic and international tensions. Without a partition, Arabs could one day outnumber Jews, threatening Israel's democratic nature. Israel began observing its annual Memorial Day on Sunday evening, honoring fallen soldiers and victims of militant attacks. At 8 p.m., air raid sirens sounded nationwide to mark a minute of silence. A two-minute siren was set for Monday morning. At sundown Monday, the country abruptly shifts its mood to mark its 65th Independence Day with fireworks, military processions and picnics. The transformation from grief to joy is an annual ritual meant to show the link between the sacrifices and the accomplishments. "Today there are also those who rise up against us and threaten to destroy us. They did not succeed in the past, and they will never succeed," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Memorial Day ceremony Sunday. Netanyahu's older brother, Yonatan, was killed in a military operation in 1976. Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948. Israel marks the day according to the lunar Hebrew calendar. This year the Hebrew date comes out April 15-16 on the calendar used in the West. Since Israel's creation, it has been in a constant state of conflict with its neighbors, most recently eight days of exchanges last November with Palestinian militants firing rockets from the Gaza Strip. It has signed peace treaties with just two Arab nations, Egypt and Jordan. Yet the country is thriving in other ways. It has weathered the global financial crisis better than most, with unemployment below 7 percent and a growing economy. As a "startup nation," it has pioneered breakthroughs, including Wi-Fi technology, the computer firewall and instant messaging. In the past decade, Israeli scientists have won six Nobel prizes in chemistry and economics. It has absorbed immigrants from more than 100 countries to host the world's largest Jewish population, evolving from a largely agrarian backwater to consistently rank high in measures of standard of living. Israel has given the world international supermodels, and its war history has inspired Oscar-nominated films and a TV series that was adapted into "Homeland," the award-winning American show. "The state of Israel is truly a fantastic success story, perhaps among the greatest success stories of the 20th century," said Tom Segev, an Israeli author and historian. "There's an Israeli culture, a renewal of the Hebrew language. The most amazing thing is that we now have a third generation of Israelis for whom the country is a given. 'Israeliness' has become something that we take for granted." On the other hand, Segev noted that the country is still grappling with the same basic issue that plagued it in 1948 — its relations with the Palestinians. Israel still does not have internationally recognized borders, and remains in control of about 2.5 million Arabs living in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel captured the areas, along with the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war, withdrawing from Gaza in 2005. The Palestinians claim all three territories for a future state. "We haven't been able to solve this and we may not be able to solve it all," Segev said. "Most Israelis look at the Palestinian issue as a military problem and not a political problem. As long as it is quiet and there is no terror, we think everything is fine." Israelis argue that the Palestinians have rejected generous peace offers, a claim the Palestinians reject, pointing to Israel's construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a sign of bad faith. Nahum Barnea, a veteran newspaper columnist, said that even if Israel can resolve its conflict with the Palestinians, its place in the heart of the Muslim world will never be certain. "The occupation (of the West Bank) is an open wound. But even if the occupation were to miraculously end, the country's relations with the rest of the world would not suddenly be solved," he said. "Our struggle is not behind us. It is with us and ahead of us." Israel has serious internal problems as well. About 20 percent of its 8 million citizens are Arabs, who are often treated like second-class citizens and frequently identify with the Palestinians. Nearly 10 percent of Israelis are ultra-Orthodox Jews, who have clashed with the general public over their dependence on welfare instead of work, refusal to serve in the military and attempts to impose their strict practices on broader society. More than half of Israel's first grade students are now either Arab or ultra-Orthodox Jews, predicting a future demographic makeup that is less loyal to the state and less productive to its workforce. Israel's transformation into a high-tech, knowledge-based economy has also fueled a growing gap between rich and poor, setting off protests in the summer of 2011 against the country's high cost of living. Despite all their issues, Israelis are among the world's happiest people. Recent surveys by the OECD, Gallop and the United Nations' World Happiness Report all had Israel near the top. Most Israelis appear to have developed an ability to block out the nation's problems and focus on life in a country that just a century ago was just a dream. "Israelis feel that things are good with them, but not with the state," Segev said. ___ Follow Heller on Twitter (at)aronhellerap

Nicolas Maduro Wins Venezuela Election

CARACAS (Reuters) - Ruling party candidate Nicolas Maduro wonVenezuela's presidential election on Sunday with 51 percent of votes, the electoral authority said, allowing him to carry forward the socialist policies of the late Hugo Chavez. Maduro's young challenger, Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles, took 49 percent of the ballots, the authority said, in a tighter-than-expected vote. (Reporting by Caracas newsroom; Editing by Eric Beech)

Google Inactive Account Manager :What happens to your data when you die?

Have You Written Your Google Will? What happens to your data when you die? At some point in their lives, most people take a little time to figure out who should get their house, their car, their money, and their heirlooms when they're gone. But in an age where some of our most personal assets live online—our emails, our photos, our social-media identities—few of us stop to think about who will have control over this information. In many cases, unless you specify otherwise, it simply lives on in the cloud indefinitely. That can result in awkward situations when, say, your friend sees your name pop up in a Facebook ad for a product you once "liked." Facebook has addressed the problem of the digital afterlife with options for relatives to"memorialize" an account once its owner has died. On Thursday, Google announced a process that lets you plan for that eventuality yourself, while you're still alive. It's called Inactive Account Manager, which sounds a bit impersonal, but is admittedly less blunt than the obvious alternative, "Google Death." The feature allows you to have your account deleted after it has been inactive for a specified amount of time, from three months to a year. That will wipe clean your YouTube videos, Google+ posts, Google Drive files, emails, and all the rest. Or you can have the data sent to one or more trusted relatives or friends. Before that happens, though, Google will try to contact you via text message and secondary email to make sure you aren't just hibernating. Google has more on the new feature in a blog post, and you can set it up for yourselfhere. Alternatively, you can sit back and hope that Google's new director of engineeringturns out to be right about the singularity.

Inside the world of Kim Jong Un: North Korea's strange hermit king

W hat do we know about Kim?  North Korea's young leader is alarming the world with threats of nuclear war. What makes him tick? He's the third and youngest son of former North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, the "Dear Leader" who died in 2011. Because of the secretive nature of the regime, no one outside of Pyongyang's ruling elite knows the young Kim's precise birth date — experts think he is 29 or 30 years old — or his mother's true identity. Some reports suggest she was Ko Yong Hui, a former dancer and mistress of Kim Jong Il who served as the country's First Lady until her death in 2004. It is known that as a teenager, Kim was sent to study at Switzerland's $25,000-a-year International School of Berne. While in Switzerland, his official biography claims, he was a superior student who mastered "English, French, German, and Italian, as well as Chinese, Japanese, and Russian." His school records tell a different story. What kind of student was he really? Kim flunked science and only narrowly passed English, German, and math. At age 15, he was transferred from the elite institution to a nearby state-run Swiss high school. One fellow student remembers Kim as a "nice guy" who was "much more interested in soccer and basketball than in lessons." He idolized American basketball players like Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan, and often shot hoops with Swiss friends. Former classmate Marco Imhof said the 5-foot-9 Korean was a skillful player for his size who "hated to lose." Kim returned to Pyongyang in 2000 and attended a military academy. Was Kim always expected to rule? No. His older brother Kim Jong Nam was originally supposed to inherit the dictatorship. But he embarrassed his father in 2001 when he was caught sneaking into Japan on a forged passport, apparently bound for Tokyo Disneyland. The middle son, Kim Jong Chul, was viewed as a "little girl" by his father and too weak to lead, according to a memoir by the family's Japanese former chef. That left only one choice. Kim debuted as heir apparent alongside his father at a massive military parade in 2010, when many regime-watchers noted how the once-athletic youth looked and moved exactly like his pudgy grandfather Kim Il Sung, the nation's beloved founder. "The regime wants its people to see Kim Jong Un as Great Leader Kim Il Sung reincarnated," said Kim Kwang-in, head of the North Korea Strategy Center in Seoul. "They fattened him up and gave him a thorough training — and plastic surgery, too, some even say." Is his authority secure? His recent actions would suggest it is not. When Kim succeeded his father and took on the title "Supreme Leader" two years ago, many intelligence analysts thought he was just a figurehead, and that real power lay with the country's network of much older generals. But last year Kim conducted a brutal purge of senior military officials he viewed as insufficiently loyal. Dozens of officers were executed by firing squad, and Deputy Defense Minister Kim Chol was reportedly ordered to stand in a deserted spot on a North Korean army range and then "obliterated" by targeted mortar fire. Many analysts believe that Kim's recent barrage of provocations, including threats to wage war on South Korea and to nuke the U.S., are intended to further secure his domestic power base. Why would a crisis strengthen him? Using manufactured external threats is one of the oldest tricks in the tyrant playbook. "By creating the impression that a U.S. attack is imminent," said Jean Lee, the Associated Press' bureau chief in Pyongyang, "the regime can foster a sense of national unity and encourage the people to rally around their new leader." If Kim can convince the citizens and the 1.2-million-man army of the Hermit Kingdom that North Korea faces a major threat from a hostile outside world, the generals would not dare challenge the young dictator's authority. Kim also learned from his father that playing crazy is an effective way to manipulate foreign powers. During his 17-year rule, Kim Jong Il repeatedly threatened to turn Seoul into a "sea of flames." Unsure whether the Dear Leader was mad enough to follow through, the South agreed to supply food and fuel aid to the impoverished North and to create cash-generating investment zones. The younger Kim has tweaked his father's "crazy-guy-in-the-neighborhood" strategy by expanding his war threats to include the U.S. as well as Seoul, even though he has no missiles that can go that far. What does Kim want from the U.S.?  He wants it to roll back tough U.N. sanctions, implemented earlier this year, that ban the export to North Korea of luxury items such as gems, yachts, and sports cars. Kim needs these goodies to buy the loyalty of high-ranking officials. Some analysts worry that Kim lacks his father's strategic cunning, and could go overboard in attempting to prove his toughness. "Although he practiced brinkmanship all the time, there was a record of Kim Jong Il stepping back from the brink," said Alexandre Mansourov, a North Korea expert at Johns Hopkins University. "With his son, we don't have a track record yet. We don't know what his limits are, how far we can push him, or whether he has any brakes or not." The Kims' sibling rivalry The late Kim Jong Il's oldest son, Kim Jong Nam, is still bitter over his little brother's success. Jong Nam has repeatedly lobbed insults at Jong Un since his accession, telling one Japanese newspaper that his regime was "a joke" and doomed to collapse. He's paid a price for his name-calling. Russian weekly Arguments and Facts last year reported that Jong Nam was tossed out of a five-star hotel in the Chinese gambling hub of Macau following the sudden cancelation of his regime-funded Visa Gold card. Soon after, South Korean officials claimed to have captured a North Korean agent who'd been ordered to kill Jong Nam by staging a car accident in China. Jong Nam fled Macau, and is now thought to be in hiding in Singapore. fromthe week http://theweek.com/article/index/242619/inside-the-world-of-kim-jong-unnbspnorth-koreas-strange-hermit-king