90 still missing after boat capsizes off Indonesia

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) ? A search continued Friday for scores of men missing after a steel-hull fishing boat carrying about 200 suspected asylum seekers bound for Australia capsized in heavy seas south of Indonesia.

Four Indonesian and Australian warships, four merchant ships and five Australian government aircraft had joined the search in 2-meter (7-foot) swells for around 90 people still missing after the tragedy Thursday, Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Jo Meehan said. All aboard the vessel were male.

An Australian navy patrol boat and three cargo ships had rescued 110 survivors ? including a 13-year-old boy ? by late Thursday and delivered them to the Australian territory of Christmas Island 200 kilometers (120 miles) to the south early Friday, Meehan said. Three bodies also were recovered.

"The vast majority of the survivors are healthy and won't need medical attention," Meehan said.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said while seas were rough, people could have survived if they had life jackets or were clinging to debris as most survivors had done.

"There is the prospect that there are people out there still alive," he told reporters.

He said about 40 survivors had been found clinging to the upturned hull on Thursday afternoon, while others were discovered clinging to debris up to 6 kilometers (4 miles) from the scene.

Clare said the boat had initially called Australian rescue authorities late Tuesday to report being "in distress," but gave no location. The crew called back early Wednesday and reported the boat's position 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of the main Indonesian island of Java. Australian authorities advised the crew to return to Indonesia and reported their situation to their Indonesian counterparts, who had rescue responsibility for the area, he said.

An Australian surveillance plane crew spotted the boat on Wednesday afternoon continuing south toward Christmas Island and showing "no visual signs of distress," Clare said.

"Nevertheless, at Christmas Island Border Protection Command began to preposition vessels to respond if an urgent request for assistance was requested," Clare said.

A surveillance plane crew found the boat capsized on Thursday afternoon halfway between Christmas Island and Java, still within Indonesia's zone of search and rescue responsibility.

He said the boat had made several calls Thursday morning that "raised concerns about the safety of the vessel," but he did not have details of those calls.

Speaking of Australian rescue authorities' response, Clare said that "it looks like they took proactive steps."

"All of the advice I have is that the work between Australian agencies and Indonesian agencies was very good," he added.

Authorities have not confirmed where the men were from, but Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports they are thought to be from Sri Lanka.

Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, is closer to Indonesia than to the Australian mainland. It is a popular target for a growing number of asylum seekers, many from Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, who attempt to reach Australia on overcrowded fishing boats from Indonesia ? sometimes with deadly consequences.

Western Australian police were being sent to Christmas Island to attempt to identify bodies.

Gagah Prakoso, a spokesman for Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency, said the capsized boat was reportedly carrying 206 people.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is seeking ways to stem the flow of asylum seekers to Australia, discussed the apparent tragedy with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Brazil, where they are both attending a United Nations environment summit.

"At this stage, details are sketchy but what is apparent is there has been a large loss of life at sea," she said. "This is a very distressing and tragic incident."

In December 2010, an estimated 48 people died when an asylum seeker boat broke up against Christmas Island's rocky coast.

Last December, about 200 asylum seekers were feared drowned after their overcrowded ship sank off Indonesia's main island of Java.

___

Associated Press Writer Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.

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Book Publisher CelebrityPress Signs Publishing Deal With Leading ...

CelebrityPress, a leading fitness and health book publishing company, has recently signed a publishing deal with several leading health and fitness professionals from around the world to release ? The Fad Free Fitness Formula.?

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Study: State pension shortfall ballooned in 2010

In this photo taken May 2012 an American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees union member wears their protest message on his shirt while rallying against the proposed pension legislation at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill. The Pew Center on the States releases a 50-state report that finds the gap between the promises states have made for public employees? retirement benefits and the money they have set aside has grown. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

In this photo taken May 2012 an American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees union member wears their protest message on his shirt while rallying against the proposed pension legislation at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill. The Pew Center on the States releases a 50-state report that finds the gap between the promises states have made for public employees? retirement benefits and the money they have set aside has grown. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

In this photo taken Feb. 2012, a sign held up by a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union is seen during a rally in front of the governor's office at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill. The Pew Center on the States releases a 50-state report that finds the gap between the promises states have made for public employees? retirement benefits and the money they have set aside has grown. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) ? Recession-plagued states diverted scarce money away from pensions to pay for more immediate concerns, leaving a $757 billion hole in the retirement funds covering millions of public employees, according to a study released Monday.

The Pew Center on the States found 34 states failed to maintain safe levels of money in the pension funds, which most experts agree is about 80 percent of long-term obligations. Four states ? Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky and Rhode Island ? didn't even have 55 percent of the money they'll need in the long run.

The total gap between the money states had available and what they'll have to pay out in the decades ahead reached $757 billion in 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available. That was up 9 percent from the year before, according to the study entitled "The Widening Gap Update."

The Pew Center found most states were trying to address the funding gap, either through cutting benefits for future employees or requiring workers to pay more of their own money into their retirement funds. Some went after benefits for current employees, triggering court battles. States also adopted more conservative estimates for what they'll earn on investments down the road.

Pensions aren't the only retirement problem. States also faced a $627 billion shortfall in health care services for retirees. Essentially, for every $1 they'll eventually have to pay out in health care, states had set aside only 5 cents.

"So why should Americans care about these funding gaps? Because the larger they are the higher the cost to taxpayers today and for many years to come," said David Draine, a senior researcher for the Pew Center on the States.

Nationwide, some 22.5 million public workers fall under a state pension plan. When states fall behind in their retirement contributions, they'll have to come up with even more money later to make up the difference. In addition, pension and retiree health costs are growing, driving up state expenses even more. That leaves states less and less each year to spend on education, public safety and other government services.

Illinois had the worst funding level at just 45 percent. Officials there say fixing the problem is a top priority, but a proposal to cut cost-of-living increases for current employees and retirees has stalled in the General Assembly.

"Pensions are the biggest mountain we have to climb," Gov. Pat Quinn, a Chicago Democrat, said Monday.

While the new report looks at figures from 2010, pension expert Robert Rich, said there's no reason to think the situation has improved significantly.

Rich, executive director at the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs, stressed that the recession was not the chief cause of the pension problem, although it contributed by eating away at the value of investments. For years, states failed to pay their full share of pension costs, he said, so the problem won't be wiped away if the economy improves.

"It took us a long time to get into this hole, and it's going to take a long time to get out of it," Rich said.

The problem may be even larger than the report indicates. Many states calculate their funding levels by assuming an 8 percent return on their investments, a level that many experts believe is no longer realistic.

The Pew Center said that from 2009 to 2011, 43 states cut benefits for future employees, required them to pay more or did both. And six states took similar action in 2012.

Some states also cut benefits for people who have retired already. However, public-employee unions argue that amounts to breaking a contract, and some state constitutions impose tough restrictions on cutting benefits. So going after benefits for current employees and current retirees can result in legal challenges.

Staff at the Pew Center said Rhode Island has been most aggressive in overhauling its pension systems to cut costs. The state, whose systems were only 49 percent funded in 2010, decided to cut retirement benefits for current employees as well as those hired in the future. Officials limited cost-of-living increases, raised the retirement age from 62 to 67 and changed the formula for calculating benefits.

They also put workers in a new hybrid retirement system that combines elements of the traditional system where retirees are guaranteed a certain level of benefits and new 401(k)-style systems were money is invested on behalf of the retiree.

Rich, from the University of Illinois, questioned the emphasis on cutting benefits when much of the pension problem was created by states failing to contribute their share to retirement systems. States also should be promising to put more money into retirement systems over the long run, he said.

"It's neither shared sacrifice nor fairness if it's only employees who are paying for the problem," Rich said.

___

Online: http://www.pewstates.org

___

Follow Christopher Wills at https://twitter.com/chrisbwills

Associated Press

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AltEnergyMag: SEIA's Statement: New Brattle Group Report Shows Solar Energy as a Solution in Texas to Help Address Summer... http://t.co/c1SOKVXK

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Italy Senate lifts immunity for party ex-treasurer

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Mistress tells her side of John Edwards' affair in book (reuters)

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