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CONTENTS:

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK:

1. World
2. Africa
3. Americas
4. Asia Pacific
5. Europe
6. Middle East
7. South Asia
8. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare
9. Finance
10 Human Rights
11. Law and Legal Issues
12. Transportation
13. Weapons of Mass Destruction
14. Recently Published

FEATURE ARTICLE:
Shell Corporations for Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

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1. World

The EuroScience Open Forum discussed a range of science and technology issues including the view that climate change is only one of the most obvious man-made effects that are changing the chemistry, biology and physics of earth. http://www.esof2004.org/ Meanwhile, in a dramatic policy reversal, the US Bush administration has conceded that greenhouse gases are the only likely explanation for global warming. http://www.climatescience.gov/

An assessment of Millennium Development Goals for meeting water and sanitation targets shows there has been some progress towards environmental sustainability but more than one billion people lack safe drinking water and 2.6 billion - 40 percent of the world's population - lack even minimal sanitation. http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_23223.html

The National Institute of Standards and Technology investigations into the collapse of the World Trade Centers in New York has found that the fireproofing as installed in the 1960s met construction standards of the day. A more wide-ranging finding is that the tests used then - and still today - may be unable to accurately predict a real fire, raising the possibility that vulnerabilities may be greater than currently understood. NIST will continue their work and produce a draft final report in December. http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/wtc_fire_resistance_data.htm

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2. Africa

The locust invasion underway in the Sahel may prove to be worse than the last plague in 1987-89 because the insects are descending at seed planting time instead of at the harvest. Only a third percent of the funds necessary to combat the infestation have been made available. http://ochaonline.un.org/index.htm http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42891

HIV/AIDS has forced subsistence agricultural communities to choose less labor-intensive cropping and a loss of knowledge of local agricultural and farming practices, helping impoverish households. Based on a study in Mozambique that shows 45 percent of respondents from HIV/AIDS-affected households had reduced the area under cultivation and 60 percent had reduced the number of crops grown, is shows am alarming trend across southern and eastern Africa. http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2004/49917/index.html

Angola has announced national elections for September 2006. Before campaigning starts, the new constitution must be approved, new electoral laws put in place, and voter registration completed. Opposition parties resumed participation in the parliamentary commission responsible for meeting these goals, but former rebel group UNITA plans to continue negotiating some of the provisions in the electoral timetable.

The 22nd Summit of the Great Lakes Regional Peace Initiative on Burundi reviewed progress in the power sharing government, condemned the Gatumba massacre, and declared the Palipehutu-FNL (Forces nationales de liberation; National Liberation Forces) a terrorist group. FNL is believed to have joined armed Hutu groups from DRC and Rwanda to attack ethnic Tutsis. FNL is the only rebel group still fighting. Burundian officials in Belgium are seeking arrest of FNL members based in Europe. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42901 Note meeting communique at http://www.iss.co.za/AF/profiles/Burundi/22sum.pdf and an interview with Pierre Nkurunziza, former rebel leader of the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) and current Minister for Good Governance and State Inspection. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42800

In Democratic Republic of Congo, Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD-Goma) leader Azarias Ruberwa suspended participation (as one of four vice presidents) in the coalition transitional government, possibly connected with internal party conflict, but he rejoined after four days. The International Crisis Group says that urgent action is needed to avert a collapse of the peace process and possible return to war. http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=2927

Eritrean asylum seekers being deported from Libya hijacked the plane and forced it to land in Sudan. In Eritrea they would have faced detention and torture and it is thought they preferred to attempt asylum elsewhere. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/08/03/eritre9178.htm

Liberia's disarmament program has been extended to the end of the year. Previously disarmament was due for completion before the refugee return program beginning in October.

Somalia's transitional federal parliament was inaugurated.

The Sudanese government has pledged a policy of voluntary repatriation for more than a million people displaced by the Darfur conflict. Despite such pledges, Human Rights Watch reports that the government is permitting Janjaweed militia to maintain at least 16 camps in the western region of Darfur. In some cases government troops have been observed in the same camps. As for accepting African Union peacekeeping forces, the government says they are not yet ready for a wider AU role, a statement that many Africans believe offers further indication that blacks are not welcome in Sudan. Bowing to pressure they have now agreed to possibly expand the current force of 550 monitors and soldiers to as many as 3,000. Sluggish peace talks between the government and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) receded further as the SLA said it would not disarm until the Janjaweed are disarmed. There is a report that some 500 militiamen have disarmed but they denied being Janjaweed. The International Crisis Group called for a new international action plan that includes " taking tougher measures against the Khartoum government, which has acted in bad faith throughout the crisis, and authorising the African Union (AU), with stronger international support, to follow up more decisively its efforts to improve the situation on the ground and mediate a political settlement".
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/08/27/darfur9268.htm
http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=2920&l=1

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3. Americas

Argentina's military junta was support by the US in 1976 despite the massive human rights abuses underway, according to newly declassified material published by the National Security Archive. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB133/index.htm

Colombia's efforts to undertake a prisoner exchange with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was dismissed first by the rebels then by the US ambassador who criticized the proposal and said the US would enforce extradition warrants against any released prisoners. This leaves the government little to offer in negotiations. At the end of the week a bombing in Bogota killed two police officers. UNHCR warns of the displacement and rising rate of violent death in Altos de Cazuca, near Bogota, where tens of thousands of displaced people face grave risks. http://bogota.usembassy.gov/ http://www.unhcr.ch/

US President Bush issued a number of executive orders to expand the powers of the Director of Central Intelligence, establish a national counterterrorism center, and set guidelines for information sharing. http://www.whitehouse.gov

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States has officially closed its doors but will open a small privately financed office that will lobby for the commission recommendations. http://www.9-11commission.gov/

For information about the reports on abuse at Abu Ghraib, see Human Rights, below.

Venezuela's electoral authorities say the audit of the vote on President Chavez's rule found no evidence of fraud. It was the third time international observers had endorsed the results, and leaves the opposition determined but with few options.

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4. Asia Pacific

Australia plans to purchase a long-range cruise missile system for its fighter aircraft. http://www.defence.gov.au/media/AlertTpl.cfm?CurrentId=4187 The increased capabilities make Australia's airforce one of the most deadly in the world and drew concern from regional leaders who warned of an arms race. Indonesia, Australia's nearest neighbor, expressed particular concern. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,269636,00.html

China's National People's Congress's Standing Committee has passed new legislation that stipulates the various levels of government must take measures to prevent and control HIV/AIDS and outlaws discrimination against those infected.

East Timor has been largely peaceful but recent incidents of fighting among armed groups and political demands of local veterans require policies to address their situations. The country is making progress towards self-sufficiency but will require international assistance for some time. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sc8172.doc.htm http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/2004/669

North Korea and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) published the first environmental assessment, finding neglected and overused resources of which the forests need most urgent attention. http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=403&ArticleID=4590&l=en

Singapore, warning of the continued risk of terrorist strikes, released "The Fight Against Terror - Singapore's National Security Strategy". It is available for download or in bookstores. http://www.pmo.gov.sg/NSCS/FightAgainstTerror.pdf http://app.sprinter.gov.sg/data/pr/2004082798.htm

In southern Thailand a bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded at a market, killing one and wounding at least 31.

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5. Europe

In northern Cyprus, the trade ban has been lifted, allowing trade between the Turkish north and Greek south for the first time in more than 30 years.

In Greece, anti-US protests involving some 2,000 people were the first to disturb the Olympics. Police responded with tear gas, while demonstrators threw rocks. At least three people were injured and the center of Athens was closed for about three hours.

In Russia two planes crashed almost simultaneously in southern Russia, hundreds of miles apart, killing 90 passengers and crew. Examination of the debris has revealed traces of explosives. Each plane had one female Chechen passenger, the only one whose family did not make inquiries. It is believed they were Chechen separatists, responsible for the attack. Chechnya is holding presidential elections on August 29, under very strict security. They take place less than four months after a bomb killed the last president. There has been one incident near a polling station when a man was killed as he ran away from security and the bomb he was carrying went off.

In Britain, August 27 marked two significant IRA attacks 25 years ago. First was the Warrenpoint massacre in which 18 soldiers and one civilian were killed when two IRA booby-traps exploded. It remains the single largest loss of military lives during the troubles. A few hours later a bomb blast on Lord Mountbatten's boat in Ireland killed the earl and three others. Thomas McMahon was convicted of the murders then later freed under the Good Friday agreement.

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6. Middle East

In Gaza Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a convoy carrying the deputy Palestinian intelligence chief Tariq Abu Rajab, who was seriously injured. Two bodyguards were killed and two other people wounded. Israeli Defense forces shot dead a young man as he stood with friends near the border. Following Palestinian attacks using makeshift missiles against a nearby town, Israeli troops split Gaza into three parts and closed the border with Egypt.

Fighting continues throughout Iraq, with heavy fire in Falluja at this time. But the peace initiative by Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, returning from heart surgery in Britain, quickly bore fruit in a truce between rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi government. Residents are returning, the bodies that litter the streets are being retrieved, and now the people of Najaf must deal with the ruin left behind more than three weeks of fighting in that holy city. At least 74 people were killed and hundreds more injured. Iraqi police

For information on US abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, see Human Rights, below.

Israel's defense minister says part of the West Bank barrier will be rerouted to reduce encroachment on Palestinian land, in compliance with an Israeli High Court ruling.

Some 2,000 Palestinian and Israeli protestors demonstrated for non-violent opposition to end the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Among those participating was Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.

In Lebanon's Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp a gun battle between Palestinian supporters of Yasser Arafat and Islamic extremists killed three, including a teenage girl, and injured at least seven.

Lebanon's cabinet approved a bill to amend the constitution to allow President Lahoud to seek another 3-year consecutive term. His current 6-year term ends in November and the constitution prohibits serving two consecutive terms.

In Yemen fighting against supporters of rebel cleric Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi continues despite earlier government statements of comprehensive victory. Fifteen soldiers were killed in an ambush as they were engaged in a manhunt for Al-Houthi. A Yemeni court sentenced 15 men on terror charges, including the 2002 Limburg tanker bombing, an assassination plot against the US ambassador, and similar charges. One was sentenced to death and the others to jail for up to ten years.

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7. South Asia

In Afghanistan, a large suicide car bomb killed at least seven people. The attack by a Taliban fighter went off near a building housing the private US security firm that works for President Karzai as well as other western offices and aid agencies. Afghanistan's thriving poppy trade finances much of the violence that threatens the country's stability. To understand the extent of the problem, see the IRIN web special "Bitter Sweet Harvest: Afghanistan's New War". http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/Opium/default.asp

In Bangladesh, fighting broke out across the country as opposition supporters rioted in protest of the bombings that killed 19 people. Next came demonstrations and two general strikes to protest last week's attack and demand protection. During the past five years a series of explosions has killed more than 140 people but neither the attackers nor their motives have been identified and the government has rejected accusations they are the work of religious extremists.

Indian rebels of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) placed bombs on two buses. In the first two people were killed and more than 30 injured. The second, a few hours later, killed at least five. Other explosions at a railway track and market resulted in property damage and injuries but no fatalities. In the state of Maharashtra, bombs at two mosques injured at least 19.

Nepal's Maoist rebels suspended their blockade after one week and several shootings, but none of their demands were met.

In Pakistan an express train narrowly missed a disastrous bombing because it was running behind schedule and the timed bomb went off before they reached it.

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8. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare

The Rbot-GR variant of the W32 worm series includes functionality that allows remote control of webcam and microphones on Windows machines. http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/w32rbotgr.html

During the three months of "Operation Web Snare" more than 150 people have been arrested or convicted in US enforcement operations directed against online fraud and cyber crimes that involved 150,000 victims with losses of more than $215 million. http://www.usdoj.gov:80/opa/pr/2004/August/04_crm_583.htm
"Operation Digital Gridlock" is the first US federal enforcement action against peer-to-peer services that are accused of illegal distribution of copyrighted materials. They have executed five search warrants at residences and one to an internet service provider. Arrested. http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/August/04_ag_578.htm

In addition to the software compatibility problems identified in Microsoft XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) new security flaws have been identified, including a highly critical drag and drop vulnerability in Explorer and the extremely critical web systems management interface (WBEM) vulnerability that allows downloadable code to spoof firewall status information. http://secunia.com/advisories/12321/ and http://secunia.com/advisories/12381/

mi2g reports their database analysis shows economic damage from malicious software proliferation in 2004 works out to an average $290 of lost productivity per Windows PC. For more about the research and methodology see http://www.mi2g.net

Content from the 2004 Digital Forensic Research Workshop is posted online at http://www.dfrws.org

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9. Finance

Both First Merchant Bank in Northern Cyprus and Infobank of Belarus have been designated as financial institutions of primary money laundering concern by the US Treasury, under Section 311 of the Patriot Act. http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js1874.htm

The US House Committee on Financial Services held hearings on "The 9/11 Commission Report: Identifying and Preventing Terrorist Financing" http://financialservices.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=329
The Commission itself has released a "Monograph on Terrorist Financing" that is highly critical of the lack of progress in identifying sources and ways to intervene in terrorist financing. http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911_TerrFin_Monograph.pdf

The Burma Campaign has issued its new Dirty List of companies trading in and thereby supporting the Burmese dictatorship, as well as companies that have withdrawn from the country. http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/dirty_list/dirty_list.html

The US Attorney for the District of Columbia has launched an investigation into potential criminal activities at Riggs Bank.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20191-2004Aug20.html

Zimbabwe's Financial Gazette weekly newspaper reports that Zimbabwean intelligence agencies are monitoring finances to identify diplomatic missions funding the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=121144

Note coverage of shell corporations and shell banks in the Feature Article, below.

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10. Human Rights

Chile's Supreme Court agreed by nine votes to eight to uphold the lower court decision to strip Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution. This clears the way for an investigation and prosecution for the deaths and disappearances of political opponents and other abuses during Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule.

Argentina's Supreme Court ruled there is no time limit on crimes against humanity. This makes it possible to prosecute crimes of the 1976-83 "dirty war".

Two reports on abuses by US forces in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison have been issued. The Schlesinger report, by a commission appointed by US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, shows the degeneration into chaos and sadism and stretches responsibility for failures to plan or counter the abuse to the highest levels of civilian and military defense management. An internal Defense Department report - the Fay Report - focuses on military intelligence, finding that military intelligence personnel and CIA operatives participated in the abuse. None of the senior officials found responsible for the abuse will be held culpable.
Further analysis, interviews and links to the reports:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33795-2004Aug25.html

The US House Subcommittee on the Constitution held hearings on "Privacy and Civil Liberties in the Hands of the Government Post-September 11, 2001: Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and the U.S. Department of Defense Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee". http://www.house.gov/judiciary/constitution.htm

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, speaking to an international conference on human rights and terrorism, called for the judiciary to guard long-accepted principles and not sacrifice them for unknown ends in the "war on terrorism". http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/3485B28EDDA173F0C1256EFD0035373C?opendocument

August 23 commemorated the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave
Trade and its Abolition. The date was chosen for the Santo Domingo uprising on the night of August 22-23 that played a crucial role in abolishing the transatlantic slave trade. Santo Domingo later became today's Haiti and Dominican Republic.
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=5420&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

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11. Law and Legal Issues

Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul, third Guantanamo detainee to appear before a US military commission, is accused of being an al Qaeda propagandist. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2004/n08262004_2004082603.html

James Alshafay and Matin Siraj were arrested in New York on suspicion of planning to bomb a subway station, perhaps near the Republican National Convention that begins next week. They had no means to carry out the alleged plan.

Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, accused of supporting terrorism in a sting operation in New York, have been granted bail and released with electronic surveillance after the court said there was no evidence they were linked to terrorism.

Cesare Battisti, a former member of the radical Armed Proletarians for Communism turned novelist, awaiting the results of an appeal against an Italian extradition warrant, has sparked a manhunt in France after failing to report to the police in Paris. He is wanted in Italy for four murders.

Marko Boskic, suspected of war crimes in Bosnia in 1995, has been found working in the construction industry in Massachusetts, USA. He was arrested in April for drunken driving and subsequently identified. He is now charged with having illegally claimed refugee status to enter the US. UN officials do not plan to indict him.

Luis Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jimenez, Guillermo Novo and Pedro Remon were pardoned by Panamanian President Moscoso. They had been held on charges of forgery and threatening security in connection with a plot to assassinate Cuban President Castro. Three of the men are US citizens and returned directly to Miami. In response, Cuba has cut diplomatic relations. In support of Cuba, Venezuela has withdrawn its ambassador to Panama.

Ismael Selim Elbarasse, suspected of financial ties to Hamas, was arrested after he and his wife videotaped sights from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland. He is being held as a material witness in a terrorist financing case.

Bobby Fischer, former world chess champion wanted in the US for violating international sanctions against Yugoslavia by playing a 1992 chess match has been issued a deportation order in Japan.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, accused of being Osama bin Laden's driver, is the first Guantanamo Bay prisoner to face war crimes charges before a US military commission. His hearing ended in a continuance for the defense. Hamdan was the first of four to face such hearings. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2004/n08252004_2004082501.html

Abu Hamza, a radical Islamic cleric in Britain, has been arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. He had been in prison awaiting extradition on a US warrant but has been moved for questioning by anti-terrorism police.

David Hicks, the second Guantanamo detainee facing a US military tribunal, has pleaded not guilty to accusations of fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2004/n08262004_2004082601.html

Idris ("Jhoni Hendrawan ") was found guilty in Indonesian court of being one of the people who handled explosives used in the August 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing. Regarding his self-confessed part in the 2002 Bali bombings, the court ruled that the retrospective anti-terrorism law could not be used to prosecute him.

Simon Mann, leader of the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, has been found guilty in Zimbabwean court of attempting to obtain dangerous weapons. All of the other 66 suspected mercenaries were acquitted.

Mohammed Mirmehdi and his three brothers, Mostafa, Mohsen and Mojitba are Iranians arrested on October 2, 2001. They have been jailed for allegedly supporting terrorism because they supported the Moujahedeen Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group designated a terrorist organization by the US. An immigration appeals board has now ruled they are not a danger to national security and cannot be deported to Iran. The court is now reviewing a bail request while immigration proceedings continue.

Ihab Shoukri, a Northern Ireland loyalist, was acquitted by forensic evidence of the charge of murdering a man during factional fighting within the Ulster Defense Association (UDA) last year. Shoukri, a former UDA member, still faces the charge of being a member of the Ulster Freedom Fighters.

Sir Mark Thatcher ("Scratcher"), son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has been arrested in South Africa for allegedly financing an attempted coup against Equatorial Guinea. http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=121128

Johannes Weinrich, who is serving a life sentence for a 1983 bombing in Berlin and is an alleged accomplice of Carlos the Jackal, has been acquitted of six counts of murder and 22 of attempted murder related to bombings in France in the 1980s, due to insufficient evidence.

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12. Transportation

The International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center warned of "Two serious and brutal incidents have been reported within 30 nm radius of lat 02:45N - long 108:00E during the night of 20.08.04. Group of seven pirates with guns and knives are targeting and attacking ships. Ships are advised to take extra precautions in [the vicinity of Midai island, Indonesia / South China Sea]". http://www.iccwbo.org/ccs/imb_piracy/weekly_piracy_report.asp

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will begin testing "Secure Flight", a modification of the Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II). They will take over passenger screening that is now carried out by the airlines. http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=44&content=09000519800c6c77 For analysis, http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-secure27aug27.story
Excerpts from testimony on airline passenger information at a closed hearing before the Senate Governmental Affairs committee are posted at http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=47&content=09000519800b1b9f

US Customs and Border Protection announced it has reached a milestone in the Container Security Initiative (CSI) with 25 operational ports. They include Halifax, Montreal, and Vancouver, Canada; Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Le Havre, France; Bremerhaven and Hamburg, Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; Singapore; Yokohama, Tokyo, Nagoya and Kobe, Japan; Hong Kong; Goteborg, Sweden; Felixstowe, United Kingdom; Genoa and La Spezia, Italy; Busan, Korea; Durban, South Africa; Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia; Piraeus, Greece; Algeciras, Spain; and Laem Chabang, Thailand. In addition to these major international seaports, CSI will be expanded to cover more than 80 percent of containers destined for the US. In another container security initiative, the TSA has begun operational testing of explosives detection devices at three airports. http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/press_releases/08252004.xml
http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=44&content=09000519800c5ca4

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13. Weapons of Mass Destruction

China confirmed that the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza has been found in two pigs, one in 2002 and a second in 2003, and has stepped up surveillance accordingly. The World Health Organization warns that: "Considering the widespread nature of the current H5N1 outbreak in Asia and the capability of influenza viruses to jump the species barriers, it is inevitable that H5N1 virus will be detected in some pigs. Pigs can be infected with both avian and human influenza A viruses-for instance, human influenza H3N2 viruses have been detected in pigs in Asia, Europe and Africa. Some of these human and avian influenza viruses might become adapted to pigs and then begin circulating in pig populations. The co-circulation of avian, human, and pig viruses in pigs is of significant concern because of the potential for a genetic exchange, or 'reassortment,' of material between these viruses. Such an occurrence has the potential to produce a new, pandemic influenza strain." In the US, the Department of Health and Human Services has released its first draft plan to deal with a flu pandemic.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2004_08_20/en/
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2004_08_25/en/
http://www.dhhs.gov/nvpo/pandemicplan
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/
http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjects/en/health/diseases-cards/special_avian.html

The polio outbreak originating in northern Nigeria after last year's suspension of immunization has spread to 12 other countries, raising the specter of a major epidemic across West and Central Africa http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2004/pr57/en/

University of Chicago researchers using new screening tools have discovered new compounds that inhibit anthrax toxins.
http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2004/20040820-anthrax.php

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warns that changes in airline security measures have increased problems in shipping radioactive isotopes used for medical treatment. Measures to ensure rapid distribution need to be developed. http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2004/Medical_Isotopes.html

The US Department of Energy has approved resumption of classified work at six of the 34 divisions of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Work at the nuclear research facility had been stopped last month following the possible disappearance of two computer disks containing classified material.

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14. Recently Published

Graham Allison, "Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe" Times

George Crile, "Charlie Wilson's War" Atlantic Monthly Press

Roya Hakakian, "Journey From the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran" Crown

Sam Harris, "The End of Faith: Religious, Terror, and the Future of Reason" Norton

Jean-Yves Le Naour, "The Living Unknown Soldier: A Story of Grief and the Great War" Metropolitan Books

Ray Moseley, "Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of Il Duce" Taylor

Ana Tortajada, transl Ezra Fitz, "The Silenced Cry: One Woman's Diary of a Journey to Afghanistan" St Martin's

Al-Khansa is a new internet magazine for women fighting jihad. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3594982.stm

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FEATURE ARTICLE: Shell Corporations for Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Activities among organized criminal organizations in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the 1990s first drew public attention to the use of shell corporations and foreign shell banks. Today we know that these organizations are used to move illicit funds through formal and informal financial systems. Terrorist organizations in particular tend to use alternative means of financing their activities, ranging from cigarette smuggling to complex electronic instruments of transnational fraud.

Shell corporations are companies that have no independent assets or operations of their own. They are registered and licensed so their owners can conduct business dealings or maintain control of other companies but are neither publicly traded nor operated on their own. In fact, they typically exist only on paper.

Legitimately used for some purposes, including tax and insurance arrangements, they are too often used to disguise the illegal source of funds. If established in a jurisdiction with strict secrecy laws, it can be almost impossible to identify the owners or directors and therefore similarly difficult to trace funds back to their true owner or original source: precisely the goal of money launderers, terrorist financiers and other criminals. Until the Patriot Act led to new rules for customer identification, it was perfectly possible to provide fictitious names or nominee names on corporate documents.

Once the corporation is established and sets up bank accounts they can receive deposits, transfer funds, and carry out other normal corporate activities, that in fact are disguising sources of funds, structuring funds, and avoiding reporting requirements.

These risks expand with the use of correspondent banks. Correspondent banking is a critical service in which one bank provides services to another to move funds, exchange currencies, or conduct other financial transactions. Many banks established correspondent relationships with high-risk foreign banks including shell banks with no physical presence in any country, offshore banks that conduct business only with people outside their licensing jurisdiction and banks in jurisdictions with weak controls. Again, correspondent banking risks were addressed in new regulations under the Patriot Act. Non-US jurisdictions have similar measures in place to enforce customer identification and correspondent banking regulations. But when the risks were first identified in 1999 and 2000 a corporation - including a bank - could be formed without requiring personal identification of the principals, where they operate, or the business activities to be conducted.

One of the first investigations was in Euro-American that formed a number of shell corporations tied to East European money laundering activities. A GAO report "determined that Euro-American had formed three of the Delaware corporations identified by the Subcommittee [on Investigations], as well as approximately 2,000 others, for Russian brokers. From 1991 through January 2000, more than $1.4 billion in wire transfer transactions was deposited into 236 accounts opened at 2 U.S. banks: Citibank (136 accounts) and Commercial Bank (100 accounts). IBC/Euro-American established those accounts for corporations that it had created. Of the $1.4 billion, more than $800 million was wired from foreign countries into IBC/Euro-American accounts at Citibank. Over 70 percent of the Citibank deposits for these accounts was wire-transferred to accounts in foreign countries. Of the remaining $600 million deposited in Commercial Bank, over 50 percent was similarly transferred into the U.S. banking system from abroad. In addition, most of the $600 million was transferred out of the U.S. banking system. These banking activities raise questions about whether the U.S. banks were used to launder money".

They informed regulatory authorities and soon after the first Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) review described the profile of shell company activities. It including complex wire transfers, the use of shell companies, large numbers of wire transfers, transaction activities in bursts, beneficiaries that have appeared in prior SARs and reappearing beneficiary banks based in offshore locations.

Wire transfers and these other patterns remain significant tools for illegal financial activities, and based on the latest SAR review, published in August 2004, Eastern Europe also remains a high-risk jurisdiction. They report that "extraordinary sums of money are passing through correspondent accounts established for Eastern European banks".

Furthermore, "Suspicious Activity Reports filed between April 1996 (the time financial institutions were mandated to file Suspicious Activity Reports) and January 2004 involved shell corporations, Eastern European countries [Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Yugoslavia], and the use of correspondent bank accounts. The aggregate violation amount reported in those 397 Suspicious Activity Report forms totaled almost $4 billion. Many of these financial institutions, in turn, had established correspondent banking relationships with financial institutions in the United States".

Almost every terrorist event has cost less than $50,000 to carry out and the financing of such low-cost events is extremely difficult to trace. The new SAR report suggests looking for the following red flags in combination with the definition of a shell corporation:

If these patterns are detected, the institution is required to file a SAR that will be investigated by the appropriate authorities.

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