Club of rich, powerful meet in secret near London

A policeman talks to a protester in the grounds of the Grove Hotel, which is hosting the Bilderburg meetings in Watford, near London June 6, 2013. Bilderberg is an annual conference attended by politicians, industry leaders, royalty and media designed to foster dialogue between Europe and North America, however it's closed-door and off-the-record policy is not appreciated by transparency campaigners. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh (BRITAIN - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS)

LONDON (AP) — It's a busy weekend at the luxury Grove Hotel, favored haunt of British soccer players and their glitz-loving spouses.

More than 100 of the world's most powerful people are at the former manor house near London for a secretive annual gathering that has attained legendary status in the eyes of anti-capitalist protesters and conspiracy theorists.

The guest list for the Bilderberg meeting includes Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. British Prime Minister David Cameron is due to drop by Friday.

The Bilderberg Group was set up in 1954 to support military and economic co-operation between Europe and North America during the Cold War.

Named for the site of its first meeting — the Bilderberg Hotel in Oosterbeek, Holland — the forum for prominent politicians, thinkers and business leaders has been held annually at a series of secluded venues in Europe and North America.

What happens at Bilderberg, stays at Bilderberg. There is no media access and the public is kept away by a large security operation. The group says that "there is no detailed agenda, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued."

But in a move toward slightly more openness, the group now has a website, which lists attendees and key topics for discussion, including the economy, U.S. foreign policy, "cyber warfare and the proliferation of asymmetric threats" and "major trends in medical research."

Invitees include British Treasury chief George Osborne, Goldman Sachs chairman Peter Sutherland and Thomas Enders, CEO of aerospace company EADS.

Publication of these details has done little to ease the concerns of protesters, who sense a shadowy global elite at work in the secretive meeting.

"When 130 of the leaders from all across the West get together, and many of these are billionaires, they are people who are immensely wealthy and immensely powerful," said Michael Meacher, a lawmaker from Britain's Labour Party.

"And when they all get together, it's not just to have a chat about the latest problem, it is to concert plans for the future of capitalism in the West. That is on a very different scale."

Others go even further, putting Bilderberg at the heart of a global web of conspiracy. The protesters in Watford include U.S. talk-radio host and Sept. 11 "truther" Alex Jones, and former professional soccer player David Icke, who believes the world is run by a race of reptiles in human form.

Demonstrators plan to hold a "Bilderberg fringe" festival outside the hotel until the conference ends Sunday.

A Bilderberg spokesman — reached by email since no phone number is listed — said there is nothing sinister about the gathering.

"We disclose the date, the location, the participants and the key topics of the conference," Xander Heijnen said. "Many groups of people meet without announcing it publicly at all, without disclosing who is taking part and without giving any key topics.

"The meetings broaden the participants' range of viewpoints, help them to gain insights and exchange views," he said. "It seems illogical to argue that a meeting of individuals designed to give and obtain fresh insights, somehow 'undermines democracy.'"

That message has not swayed protesters like Judd Charlton, a ventriloquist from London who showed up Thursday to jeer at cars with blacked-out windows entering the hotel compound.

"We are basically here to bring down the parasites who are drug dealers and bank collapsers who seem to want to destroy this world," he said.

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Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

A gathering of more than 100 wealthy figures at a secluded hotel spawns protests — and conspiracy theories. Hints of agenda

TV Actress Arrested for Sending Ricin Letters

TV Actress Arrested for Sending Ricin Letters

There are perhaps worse ways to lash out at your estranged husband than to threaten the life of the president, but none come immediately to mind. This afternoon, the FBI arrested Shannon Rogers Guess Richardson for sending ricin-tainted letters toObama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the head ofBloomberg's gun group. Richardson's husband, Nathaniel, is apparently doing just fine.

RELATED: Obama's New Ricin Letter Had the Same Text as Letter to Bloomberg Gun Group

Attention turned to Richardson when she called the FBI and told them that she suspected Nathaniel of sending the letters, which were received at the end of last month. (This is also worth noting: There are probably worse ways to draw attention to your illegal activity than to tell the FBI that you think someone in your house did it, but none come immediately to mind.) The FBI investigated and determined that Richardson was the most likely suspect. NBC News reported on the arrest in New Boston, Texas today, noting that the letters emphasized the recipients' opposition to new gun legislation.

RELATED: Another Ricin Letter Was Found in D.C., This Time Targeting Obama

In a statement to E! News on Monday, Richardson indicated that she was innocent.

I would not put my unborn child or other children in danger just to 'frame' someone. He simply needed someone to blame for what he has done and I was the obvious person for him to blame. Most of what is being reported in this case is absolutely inaccurate. That's all I can say.

Given the recent history of ricin-letter investigations, it's worth giving Richardson the benefit of the doubt. In April, authorities arrested-and-then-unarrested Elvis impersonator Paul Kevin Curtis for similarly sending letters to the president. James Everett Dutschke was indicted for the crime last week, bringing the total number of names involved in the arrested suspects in these cases to ten.

RELATED: What They're Saying About Gun Control After the Newtown Shooting

If you're curious why E! News cared about a random arrest in Texas, the answer lies in Richardson's career. Her IMDB page explains: She's had minor parts in a number of TV shows (like Walking Deadand The Vampire Diaries) and movies you probably haven't heard of. There are perhaps worse ways to improve your name recognition as a D-list celebrity than to threaten the life of the president, but none come immediately to mind.

Amid safety fears, US Navy jets train on Iwo Jima

IOTO, Japan (AP) — Iwo Jima is a training site like no other. The rugged volcanic crag was one of the most iconic battlegrounds of World War II, and is so isolated and barren it has almost never been inhabited by anyone other than military troops. But from the perspective of U.S. Navy fighter pilots who regularly train on the island's one functioning airstrip, it is unique in another way.

If a plane finds itself in serious trouble and for some reason that lone airstrip on the island isn't viable, the only alternative is to eject and ditch in the Pacific. It's a problem that the U.S. Navy, which is now conducting training on the island to prepare pilots for deployment to the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, has been trying to fix for nearly 25 years.

But, so far, Japan has failed to find a more suitable site.

Briefing reporters on the tiny island Friday, Capt. Dennis Mikeska, the assistant chief of staff for operations, planning and operations for the U.S. Naval Forces, Japan, said Iwo Jima is the only place in the world where the Navy conducts crucial carrier landing practice without an emergency "divert" — an alternate location where a plane can go in an emergency.

He said the Navy hasn't lost a plane on Iwo Jima yet, but added, "That's not to say there haven't been any close calls."

Mikeska was quick to note that although the site is not so critically dangerous as to be unusable, it does not meet Navy safety standards and must be replaced as soon as possible.

Japan is responsible for providing locations for all U.S. bases within Japanese territory that both countries agree are necessary. The Navy's plea has run up against the classic dilemma that faces all U.S. forces in Japan. Though the Japanese government is one of Washington's staunchest and most reliable allies, it is virtually impossible to find a city, town or village that will quietly accept having U.S. troops based near it.

The not-in-my-backyard problem is most intense on the island of Okinawa, where about half of the 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan are based. Plans to simply deploy the Marine Corps' new transport aircraft, the MV-22 Osprey, have sent tens of thousands of Okinawans to the streets in protest.

This week, the mere suggestion by the mayor of Japan's second-largest city that the U.S. should use a small suburban airfield there was met with an immediate outcry, and has become a national debate.

For the Japanese leadership — who are rarely willing to risk such controversy — Iwo Jima is the perfect place to put the noisy U.S. fighters.

Now officially called Ioto in Japan, the island is inhabited full time only by a few hundred Japanese troops. It is about 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) south of Naval Air Facility Atsugi, the base on Japan's main island where the George Washington aircraft carrier's air wing — the units that train on Iwo Jima — is stationed when not at sea.

Local anger over the noise and dangers of a crash are what drove the wing to Iwo Jima to begin with.

With little other choice, the Navy has been using the Iwo Jima facility for carrier landing practice since 1989, when the two governments agreed to move such operations there "on an interim basis" in response to the noise complaints, and costly lawsuits, from Atsugi residents.

Carrier-based fighter pilots need to train intensely and are required to take qualification tests before deploying to sea. The strip on Iwo Jima has a mock-up of an aircraft carrier's deck. Veteran pilots stand nearby as the fighters approach, both to guide them in and to grade each landing.

Iwo Jima has its advantages. Because there is no local population to worry about, fighters can fly at low altitudes and at all hours of the night. But according to the Navy, the nearest place a pilot can "divert," or make an emergency landing, is 600 miles (960 kilometers) away, or about six times farther than the 100 miles (160 kilometers) that is considered safe.

"We need a special waiver every time we train out there," said Jon Nylander, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy in Japan. "Moving it is a high priority for us."

Tokyo has acknowledged Iwo Jima is only a temporary solution.

Japan has suggested the Iwo Jima flight training be conducted on Mageshima, an island in Japan's southwest where Tokyo plans to build a military base to bolster its southern defenses and its preparedness for natural disasters. Mageshima was officially named a candidate in 2004 in a meeting between the U.S. and Japanese foreign and defense ministers.

Mageshima would provide access to alternative landing sites, and would also be closer to the home base of the air wing when it moves to Iwakuni, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) away. That move was scheduled for 2014, but has also stalled.

No progress has been announced on moving to that island, however.

Mikeska said Mageshima is still officially a candidate site, but no firm plans have been agreed upon.

Putin orders crackdown on Islamists, police detain 300 people

Student Loan Fraud: It’s Worse Than You Think

More and more people are gaming the federal student loan system.

According to a new report by the Office of the Inspector General, college students who are suspected of engaging in loan fraud increased 82 percent in the last four years from 18,719 students to 34,007. The office identified more than 85,000 recipients who might have participated in student aid fraud rings.

And the price tag for such fraud? About $874 million with the government losing about $187 million.

“These programs are inherently risky because of their complexity, the amount of funds involved, the number of program participants and the characteristics of student populations,” the report's authors wrote in their biannual report to Congress. “Our efforts in this area seek not only to protect federal student aid funds from waste, fraud and abuse, but also to protect the interests of the next generation of our nation's leaders—America's students.”

But how does a person go about defrauding the government? That's the question many in Washington will be asking as a battle brews in Congress to try and avert student loan interest rates from doublingby July 1, 2013.

On Thursday, Democrats on Capitol Hill blocked a bill by Republicans that would tie the student loanrate to a ten-year T-bill rate, which would make it fluid and undoubtedly higher than the current 3.4 percent. Consequently, Republicans blocked the Democrats bill to keep rates at the current rate. Both parties agree that rates should remain low.

As the new OIG report states, 34,007 students defrauding the government is a small number compared to the 54 million students who borrowed loans through federal programs.

“The results of our efforts have led to prison sentences for unscrupulous school officials and others who stole or criminally misused these funds, significant civil fraud actions against entities participating in the Title IV programs, and hundreds of millions of dollars returned to the Federal Government in fines, restitutions, and civil settlements,” the report stated.

In some cases, identity thieves get student loans in other people’s names. Some students would simply rather try to obtain loans instead of an education. In other instances, fraud rings—large, loosely affiliated groups of criminals—are used to obtain federal aid illegally.

Here’s such a case. In Mississippi, 12 residents were indicted in a student aid scheme to attend Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado. A ringleader recruited people to act as “straw” students who submitted false admissions and financial aid applications to the college. Of course, they didn’t intend on attending classes.

The ringleader received a cut of about $800. The students received more than $52,000 in student loans and grants they were not entitled to receive. Subsequently, the ringleader was sentenced to serve 33 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $244,000 in restitution. The other participants received sentences ranging from 24 months of probation to 6 months in prison, and they were ordered to pay various restitutions.

Last year, a California man, along with five others, were indicted on charges that they stole more than $250,000 from the Department of Education in a scheme. They used 100 straw students to apply for student aid at vocational and community colleges all around California, according to a news report.

According to the national law firm Morgan and Morgan’s website, individuals who deceive the government to qualify for federal student loans could be in violation of the False Claims Act. It notes that such fraudulent actions include providing “false or misleading student financial information on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA),” “helping students obtain invalid high school diplomas” and “violating Department of Education Regulations.”

As the debate continues in Washington over student loan rates, this new report certainly gives added ammunition to Congressional members who already oppose student loan programs because of potential fraud.