AUTHOR:
TerrorismCentral Editorial Staff
TITLE:
TerrorismCentral Newsletter - September 17, 2006
SOURCE:
TerrorismCentral, September 17, 2006
TEXT:
This week's Newsletter marks the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks against the US, describes the widening crises in Iraq, the Sudan, and elsewhere, identifies new medical breakthroughs in malaria and tuberculosis, and reminds everyone to wear shoes that are practical for descending high rise buildings in an emergency.
1. Global Terrorism Monitor
2. Political Risk Monitor
3. AML/CFT Monitor
4. Emerging Threat Monitor
5. Critical Infrastructure Monitor
6. Disaster Reduction Monitor
7. Recommended Reading
8. Asset Management Network News
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TAMNI Publications
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GTM Africa
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In Democratic Republic of Congo a report has emerged of a 5 September attack in which government soldiers attacked the small northeastern village of Monoli II. An inquiry is underway to identify those responsible for looting the village then setting it on fire, killing five and injuring many more.
Two more Ethiopian army officers, Brigadier General Hailu Gonfa and Colonel Gemechu Ayana, have reportedly defected to join the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
Nigerian security services have arrested two suspected Bayelsa state militants in connection with the kidnapping some three months ago of six foreign oil workers. Oil workers in the Niger Delta held a 3-day strike to protest insecurity, and demand that the government do more to protect them from attacks and abductions.
Three years into South Africa's trial of 22 Boeremag white supremacist militants accused of treason, two of the accused applied to have the judge recused. Demonstrating a growing division within the group, the rest of those on trial said they are completely satisfied with the way the trial has been conducted.
South Africa's defense secretary January Masileala confirmed that the army continues to pay a monthly salary to Wouter Basson ("Doctor Death"), the former head of the biological and chemical warfare program, although he has been suspended from his official position. In 2002 he was acquitted of 67 charges laid at the Truth and Reconciliation hearings.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1996583,00.html
Sudan has broadened its military offensive in Darfur with aerial attacks against seven villages on Monday, and continued operations during the week. Local ground attacks and acts of banditry are also on the rise. In his latest report to the UN Security Council, Secretary General Annan warned that the humanitarian and security conditions are dire, and have worsened considerably since the May peace agreement. Twelve aid workers have been killed in the past two months - more than the total of the previous two years. The conflict threatens to spread and have a devastating impact across the entire region, particularly affecting Chad and Central African Republic.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/sgsm10628.doc.htm
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/sc8823.doc.htm
Uganda has dropped a 12 September deadline for a peace agreement with Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. With a cessation of hostilities in place between the two parties, LRA fighters have been trekking from northern Uganda to assembly points in southern Sudan.
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GTM Americas
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Infamous former Brazilian police commander Ubiratan Guimaraes was shot and killed Last Sunday. He was infamous for being found guilty of using excessive force to end a prison riot that killed at least 111 (and possibly as many as 300) prisoners, then subsequently acquitted for the same action. Police are investigating a number of suspects, including possible links with the criminal gang First Command of the Capital (PCC).
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet led commemorations of the 11 September military coup with a remembrance ceremony in honor of the ousted president Salvador Allende. The events were marred with protestors who turned to violence, including throwing stones and bottles at police near Santiago University, and a firebomb at Government House. At least 79 people were arrested.
Canada's public inquiry into the terrorism investigation involving Maher Arar will be completed when its report is released, probably on Monday. It is expected to focus on improper information sharing.
The trial of Canadian terrorist suspect Momin Khawaja, a programmer and the first charged under the new Anti-terrorism Act, has opened with arguments that the broad provisions of the legislation renders the Act unconstitutional.
Cuban citizen and former US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative Luis Posada is wanted by Cuba and Venezuela on terrorism charges in connection with a 1976 airline bombing and other incidents. He was arrested in the US for crossing illegally from Mexico after serving time in Panama for plotting to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro. A US court has now ruled that he cannot be held indefinitely on immigration charges, nor can be deported to Cuba or Venezuela where the court ruled he could face torture. Pending deportation to another country, he will join his family in Miami, Florida.
Narcoterrorism in Mexico, especially in the city of Nuevo Laredor, has surged this year, claiming 1,500 lives so far, including execution-style murders of both Mexican and US citizens, as well as kidnappings, other murders, and harassment.
Across the US, solemn commemorations marked the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. US President Bush participated in a series of ceremonies at the three attack sites, ending the day with a prime time address from the Oval Office in which he described the long war against al Qaeda as an epochal struggle. Although conceding that Saddam Hussein and Iraq had no hand in 9/11, he called the war in Iraq the defining struggle of the age. Vice President Dick Cheney, on the other hand, repeated his assertion of links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. UN Secretary General Annan said the attacks were directed against humanity itself, and called for all member states to honor victims of terrorism everywhere.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,436481,00.html (photos)
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,436438,00.html (photos)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060911-3.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5337700.stm
http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=2196
The US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing on "Homeland Security: The Next Five Years". Questioning addressed security holes, including the low level of cargo container scanning, and the questionable list of targets and allocation of grant monies, and the disparity of spending $9 per airplane passenger, but less than half a cent on each mass transit rider. Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff said that bin Laden is trying to scare the US into bankruptcy, and that the government could not protect every target.
http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=394
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Michael Hayden said that since 9/11, more than 5,000 terrorists have been captured or killed.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/public_affairs/press_release/2006/pr09112006.htm
Kevin Kjonaas, former president of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA Inc. (SHAC-USA) has been sentenced in US court to 72 months in jail for inciting violence and terror against Huntingdon Life Sciences. Lauren Gazzola, SHAC-USA's former campaign coordinator, was sentenced to 52 months and group coordinator and web site manager Jacob Conroy, was sentenced to 48 months. The militant animal rights activists were ordered to help pay more than $1 million restitution, and will be on three years of supervised probation after serving their terms.
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/daily/24741/
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GTM Asia Pacific
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Australia's Muslim clerics are setting up a new national board to provide a united voice in issues facing the community, including extremism and terrorism.
Australia is also mourning the death of the Governor of Afghanistan's Paktia Province, Hakim Taniwal, who was also an Australian citizen. He was killed in a suicide bombing in Paktia.
http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/releases/2006/fa102_06.html
Anif Solchanudin was found guilty in Indonesian court of helping to plan the 2005 Bali bombings, and has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Three other people have previously been sentenced in the triple suicide attacks that killed 20 and injured more than 100.
Japan's Supreme Court has rejected Aum Shrinrikyo cult leader Shoko Asahara's final appeal against execution. He and several others were convicted for the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 12 and injured 5,000. None of the 12 death sentences imposed have been carried out. Following this decision, police raided cult offices to see if followers were planning any illegal activities in reaction to the decision. Aum Shrinrikyo has renounced violence and changed its name to Aleph.
The Philippines military continued their offensive against Abu Sayyaf militants thought to be sheltering Jemaah Islamiah bombers, and will continue through Ramadan. Some 6,000 troops are involved, and resistance has been stronger than expected, particularly given their diminishing numbers, although casualties are unclear.
In southern Thailand's main commercial and tourist center of Hat Yai, a series of bombings late on Saturday night killed four people and injured at least 70. The six explosions were triggered by mobile phones almost simultaneously. Planted in motorcycles, a toilet and elsewhere, they targeted two department stores, a hotel, a pub, a shopping mall, and a cinema. No one has claimed responsibility. The bombings occurred in conjunction with the anniversary the local insurgent movement was founded, and during the state-organized Peace Project. The day before, a Malaysian government fisheries official, Ayub bin Yago and a Thai village chief were shot and killed by suspected militants. On Thursday night, a village defense volunteer and government informant were shot dead.
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GTM Europe
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Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri's latest website video claims that the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has joined al Qaeda. He said that the Algerian group would target its former colonial rulers, France. Intelligence officials believe there are cells with several dozen Algerian militants in France and other European countries.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/france/20060914.FIG000000081_al_qaida_designe_la_france_au_gspc_algerien.html (in French)
A German court has ordered Fadi A.S. released, finding lack of evidence against the Syrian man connected with a failed bomb plot in July. Other suspects remain in detention.
In Kosovo, recent bomb explosions suggest opposition to a peace process that seems likely to lead to a separation from Serbia, which rejects an independent Kosovo.
In Russia's North Ossetia region of the Caucasus, a helicopter crashed. A rebel group calling itself the Ossetia Jamaat claimed it used a shoulder-fired antiaircraft missile to shoot it down, but the defense ministry said it struck a tree.
Turkey continues operations against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) separatists. At the beginning of the week, PKK militants led an armed assault on a checkpoint in which two PKK and a 10-year old child were killed, her mother was injured, and two people were arrested. The dead militants were reportedly carrying plastics explosives and long-range weapons. In the southeastern city of Diyarbakir an explosion at a bus stop on Tuesday killed eleven, including five children, and injured more than a dozen. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAC) claims responsibility for the recent string of bombings, but their claims are unverified, and they did not acknowledge the Diyarbakir bombing.
Britain's Home Office has deported alleged international terrorist "MK" to France. The dual French-Algerian national faces no charges in France, but was linked to the Algerian terrorist group Abu Doha, allegedly linked to al Qaeda.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,200-2359613,00.html
The UK government is considering establishing a police chief responsible for overseeing up to 10 regional anti-terrorism squads in different parts of the country.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1873033,00.html
Yassin Mutegombwa has been charged in UK court on three counts of terrorism training. He is the first person in the UK ever to face this charge. His brother Hassan, Musa Akmet, and Mustafa Abdullah have been charged with other Terrorism Act offenses. Six more men were charged on Wednesday, including Muhammad Al-Figari, Atilla Ahmet, Kadar Ahmad, Moussa Brown, Saloum Joh, and an unnamed 17-year-old. They had been arrested during a series of raids on 1 September. On Thursday, Mohamed Hamid and Kibley Da Costa were charged in connection with training and other offenses. Of the 14 arrested in this alleged terrorist recruitment network, two have been released.
The Metropolitan Police announced one of their largest ever weapons seizures. A raid in England found hundreds of guns and other weapons, both legal and illegal. One man was arrested on suspicion of supplying funs, and a second man was detained in the US state of New Jersey. This is part of Operation Trident, which was set up in 1998.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5342246.stm
http://www.met.police.uk/trident/
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GTM Middle East
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Al Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al Zawahiri spoke in a video aired on 9/11 in which he says that al Qaeda will begin shifting operations to US allies in the Gulf and Israel. He also called for Muslims to increase their resistance to the US, which he says is fighting its final battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/39289CD2-38BD-4C2A-BE9F-939D31526101.htm
In Gaza, Israel continued its military offensive with multiple airstrikes, and total blockade. The Popular Resistance Committees and the armed wing of Hamas claimed credit for an ambush on Tuesday that killed a non-commissioned officer with the Israel Defense Forces. An Israel Air Force strike destroyed the home of a senior Palestinian security official but caused no casualties. On Thursday, Israeli troops shot a local resident, who bled to death when the military prevented an ambulance from responding. A drive-by shooting on Friday killed senior Palestinian security officer Jad Tayeh and four of his aides and bodyguards. Fatah gunmen rampaged on Saturday to protest the killing. Although the attackers were not identified, Fatah did not rule out Hamas involvement.
Iraqi government figures show an average of 100 civilians killed everyday and over 14,000 wounded each month, raising the growing specter of a breakdown into civil war.
http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/2006/706
This week began with a suicide bomb attack on a minibus carrying Iraqi army recruits. 13 were killed and one injured outside the Muthenna recruitment center, which has been targeted several times. Also in Baghdad, a car bomb missed an army convoy but killed four and injured three; an armed assault at a telephone exchange killed two people; and two bodies tied up and shot were found. Gunmen in northern Iraq ambushed a bus carrying oil workers, killing four and injuring one. On Tuesday in Baghdad a car bomb in Mansur targeted a US convoy, killing six and injuring 15. Near the University of Technology, a roadside bomb killed a policeman and a civilian, and injured seven. A policeman was shot dead. In Diyala province, a bomb near a shop killed four and injured 24 in the town of Muqudadiyah, where another bomb killed police operations head Brigadier General Ali Hassan Jubur as he left his home near Baquba, the provincial capital. Shooting attacks in the region killed another six. Gunmen in Samarra killed five. A roadside bomb near Kirkuk killed an Israeli soldier and injured three. Fifteen bodies were found across the region.
Between 0600 on Tuesday and 0600 on Wednesday at least 60 more bodies were found all over the city of Baghdad, almost all tortured then shot. On Wednesday, a car bomb near the national sports stadium killed 14 and injured nearly 60. A bomb near a police patrol killed eight and injured at least 17. A mortar attack injured a policeman and several civilians. The total death toll in these 24 hours was just short of 100.
On Thursday, two bombings in Baghdad killed ten and injured 39 people; an armed assault on a mosque killed two worshippers; and a traffic policeman was shot dead on his way to work. Another 32 bodies were discovered. Other attacks killed two US soldiers. In Tall Afar, a suicide bomber killed himself and one man, and injured three. On Friday more bodies were found, pushing the number in just three days to more than 100. Yesterday 47 bodies of people tortured before being shot dead were found across Baghdad, raising the total number of corpses found in less than four days to 176. Nearly all were victims of sectarian attacks, but criminal gangs probably were involved in some cases.
Today, four separate vehicle bombings killed at least 23 people and injured 65 in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
An Israeli military court ordered the release on bail of 18 Hamas officials, ministers and members of parliament as their trials continue. The judge noted that the politicians had been allowed to run for office and serve for several months, and questioned the timing of their arrest following the capture of an Israeli soldier. Army lawyers are appealing the decision.
In southern Lebanon, the cleanup of US-supplied cluster bombs has run into unanticipated obstacles. There are more than 130,000 unexploded bomblets in 498 locations. Less than four percent have been disposed of, and no southern villages are certified safe for domestic or agricultural use. The rate of unexploded bomblets is estimated as high as 60 percent, not the 1-to-4 percent expected. In addition, Israel dropped the bombs both before and after buildings were hit. This stops heavy equipment operators, because many bomblets are found between layers of rubble.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=75501
Amnesty International deemed Hezbollah's rocket attacks on northern Israel a deliberate and indiscriminate assault on civilians and civilian objects, both war crimes. Hezbollah rejected the report. Amnesty issued similar findings regarding Israel's behavior in the war, which Israel rejected.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE020252006
Hezbollah fighters still live in southern Lebanon, and are planning a victory rally. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that two Israeli soldiers held by the militants will be released only if Samir Qantar, captured in a cross-border raid and convicted of murders 27 years ago, is also released.
Syria's interior ministry reports that Syrian security guards stopped an attack on the US embassy in Damascus. Three attackers were shot dead at the site, where a security guard was also killed. The fourth attacker died subsequently of his injuries.
In the West Bank on Tuesday, a 13-year-old boy was shot and killed and two people injured as Israeli forces confronted protesters during an arrest raid. On Thursday, Israeli troops detained seven Hamas officials from a raid in Bethlehem.
Asher Weisgan, a Jewish settler, has been convicted in Israeli court for the murder of four Palestinians in the West Bank settlement of Shilo, including two as he drove them home after work. He undertook the attacks to divert security attention away from Gaza and so stop the 2005 Israeli withdrawal.
In Yemen, four suicide attackers in two cars were killed as they attempted to force entry at the Safer refinery in Marib and the al-Dhabba terminal in Hadramout. Security guards blew up the card before they were able to reach the targeted oil storage facilities, and were able to put out one small fire. One security guard died in the response.
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GTM South Asia
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At the funeral in Khost province of assassinated Paktia Provincial Governor Abdul Hakim Taniwal another suicide attacker struck, killing at least five people. The Taleban has claimed responsibility for this attack and the suicide attack that killed the governor on 10 September. Fighting in Farah province on Wednesday killed four policemen and four militants. Continued military operations under Operation Medusa have reportedly killed large numbers of Taleban rebels, but have also killed at least 25 civilians and displaced some 7,000 families. Afghan security forces recaptured a district headquarters in Farah province from the Taleban: their takeover of the area had raised fears of a new front opening to the west. This weekend a new offensive dubbed Operation Mountain Fury has been launched against Taleban militants in the southeast provinces of Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktia and Lowgar.
Separatist rebels from Arakan province in Burma have been detained in India's remove Andaman-Nicobar archipelago for eight years. The 34 rebels have appealed to President APJ Abdul Kalam for a pardon, citing the case of UK arms dealer Peter Bleach two years ago. The National Unity Party of Arakan (NUPA) members had been charged with gunrunning in February 1998.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5347068.stm
Intelligence officers in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu identified the real identity of "Sreenivasa Reddy" as Raghu. He is suspected of arranging a large arms consignment seized in Andhra Pradesh and meant for use by Maoist separatists.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/12728.html
Indian police in Maharashtra have issued photofits of two men suspected in the recent mosque bombings where 31 people were killed.
The 1993 serial explosions in Bombay (Mumbai) killed 257 people and injured 713. A lengthy trial involving 123 defendants has ended, and the judge is in the process of announcing the lengthy verdict n stages. On Tuesday, four members of the Memon family were found guilty of conspiracy and abetting a terrorist act in association with Tiger Memon, who is one of the main accused and associated with Dawood Ibrahim, believed to be one of the masterminds of the incident. Mohammed Ghansar was found guilty on Thursday of placing explosives in a scooter near a market, setting off one of the serial bombs. Dawood Ibrahim and the other plot leaders, linked to underground crime syndicates, have not been captured.
In Kashmir, suspected Islamic militants killed a husband and wife they suspected had informed on them. In several other incidents, militants killed a soldier and injured a woman. Former Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) militant leader Farooq Ahmed Dar ("Bitta Karatey") had been accused of dozens of cases and held in detention multiple times. This week, the Supreme Court ended his detention as a flagrant violation of several articles of the constitution.
Nepal's Maoist rebels intervened with a violent protest against the alleged army import of weapons from India. Ceasefire monitors and authorities investigated the convoy and found no weapons, and the defense secretary said no new arms purchases are planned. Peace talks between the government and the Maoists continue.
Pakistani police in the city of Quetta report the arrest of 14 suspect Taleban while they were being treated in hospital. In the northwest town of Dera Ismail Khan, journalist Maqbook Hussain Siyal was killed in a drive-by shooting: motive and responsibility as yet unknown.
Sri Lanka reports that fighting with the Tamil Tigers 6-12 September killed 150 rebels and 35 soldiers. The Tigers say that only 12 fighters have been killed.
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TAMNI Publications
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PRM Africa
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Democratic Republic of Congo's Supreme Court overturned its ruling that the 29 October date for presidential run-off elections was unconstitutional and has now determined that the election can proceed as planned.
Ivory Coast has formed a unity government, following the resignation of the previous sparked by toxic waste dumped in Abidjan more than ten days ago. The fatality rate now stands at seven, including four children. The number requiring treatment has soared to 16,000 people have been treated. Angry youths this week rioted and blocked roads with burning barricades. They dragged Transport Minister Innocent Anaky Kobenan from his car and beat him, and set port director Marcel Gosso's house on fire. For details of the environmental disaster, see ETM/Environment, below.
Libya is accused of subjecting migrants, asylum seekers and refugees to serious human rights abuses including beatings, arbitrary arrests, and forced returns, and the EU has turned a blind eye to the situation. These are among the findings in the new Human Rights Watch report, "Stemming the Flow".
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/09/13/libya14158.htm
Namibia's opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) meetings have been banned from 1 September, essentially rendering it illegal because it publicly advocates the secession of the Caprivi Region from the rest of Namibia.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55509
Contradictions in witness testimony led the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to acquit former mayor Jean Mpambara of three charges of crimes against humanity related to the 1994 genocide. Former commander of Rwanda's military school Lieutenant Colonel Tharcisse Muvunyi was sentenced to 25 years in prison, receiving credit for crime served. He was found guilty of genocide and certain crimes against humanity.
http://69.94.11.53/ENGLISH/PRESSREL/2006/492.htm
http://69.94.11.53/ENGLISH/cases/Mpambara/judgement/120906.pdf
http://69.94.11.53/ENGLISH/PRESSREL/2006/493.htm
http://69.94.11.53/ENGLISH/cases/Muvunyi/judgement/muvunyi_summary_120906.pdf
Senegal and Spain have resumed repatriation of illegal migrants to the Canary Islands.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/13/europe/EU_GEN_Spain_Migrants.php
http://www.la-moncloa.es/ServiciosdePrensa/BoletinPrensaNacional/_2006/boln20060913.htm (in Spanish)
In the peace agreement between northern and southern Sudan the parties have largely observed the ceasefire, but key parts of the agreement including revenue sharing, UN access to Abiye, disarmament, or a human rights commission are behind schedule. Meanwhile, displaced persons have been rounded up and evicted, and the UN peacekeeping mission faces blockades, bans, and other obstacles. The situation in Darfur is extremely serious. The government has continued a military offensive and ruled out a UN force in the area, although the African Union force is expected to leave at the end of the month. More than 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur, and more than two million have been displaced.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel.asp?infocusID=88&Body=Sudan&Body1=
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/news/article_full.cfm?eventid=2862
"Peace in Northern Uganda?" is a new briefing from the International Crisis Group that examines the steps taken and the hurdles ahead in the negotiations between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). It calls for a new two-phase mediation strategy to move beyond the current talks led by Dr Riek Machar, vice president of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS). Phase one would focus on the technical issues necessary to end the immediate conflict, such as the LRA's return from the bush and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. Phase two would be a more inclusive discussion on the broader questions dealing with the political and structural issues that have fuelled the cycle of conflict in the north, including Acholi political grievances.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4374
"The Last King of Scotland", a new film about the late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, and the first to be shot entirely on location in Uganda, has premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.
http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/thelastkingofscotland/
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/home/default.asp
Zimbabwe's inflation rate surged to 1,204.6 percent in August and unemployment to 70 percent. Inflation may hit 1,800 percent by year-end.
Zimbabwe's Congress of Trade Unions leader Wellington Chibebe has been arrested for holding a banned demonstration. Police response to peaceful demonstrations across the country was swift and violent, including roadblocks and beatings, leading the unions to abandon their protests. Several union leaders have been arrested and several have been transferred from the prison to hospital, for treatment of injuries inflicted in police beatings.
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PRM Americas
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The Non-Aligned Movement of 118 developing countries met in Cuba to discuss shared political, economic and cultural interests. Among the topics raised was the moral decadence of the US empire, support for Iran's development of nuclear power, condemnation of Israeli attacks, and many other issues. The summit adopted five documents:
"Declaration on purposes and principles and the role of the NAM in present international juncture"; "Final Document" advocating multilateralism; "Document on Methodology Plan of Action" institutionalizing past working methods; "Declaration on Palestine" reaffirming solidarity with the Palestinian cause; and a "Statement on the Islamic Republic of Iran's Nuclear Issue".
Brazil and India have signed several multi-million trade agreements in technology and alternative energy source development.
In Mexico, political protests continue with mass rallies against the presidential election result that gave Felipe Calderon a tiny victory over Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Fearing continued demonstrations could disrupt independence day celebrations, events have been moved from Mexico City to the town of Dolores Hidalgo.
The US Senate Judiciary Committee backed a bill that would allow a secret court to review the constitutionality of the Bush administration's eavesdropping program and require regular reports to Congress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/washington/13cnd-capital.html
Key Senate Republicans supported by former Secretary of State Powell and a number of retired admirals and generals, including two former Joint Chiefs, expressed opposition to an administration proposal to redefine and dilute provisions of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which includes a prohibition on cruel, humiliating, and degrading treatment
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091300289.html
Letter from Retired Military Officials
http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/06913-etn-military-let-ca3.pdf
Letter from General John Vessey
http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/06914-etn-vessey-geneva-ltr.pdf
Powell Letter on Common Article 3
http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/06914-etn-powell-ltr-com-art-3.pdf
The Senate Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, has launched a 3-part oversight hearing on "Iraq: Democracy or Civil War?" Part one asked When Can Iraqis Assume Full Internal Security? Part 2, What will it Take to Achieve National Reconciliation? Part three looked at What Are the Consequences of Leaving Iraq?
http://reform.house.gov/NSETIR/Hearings/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=49828
http://reform.house.gov/NSETIR/Hearings/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=50027
http://reform.house.gov/NSETIR/Hearings/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=50207
The US Border Patrol implemented the Border Safety Initiative in 1998 to reduce injuries and deaths of migrants attempting to cross the border illegally. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed trends, methodologies, and other data, finding that deaths have consistently increased and that consistent protocols are required to evaluate safety initiatives. See "Illegal Immigration: Border-Crossing Deaths Have Doubled Since 1995; Border Patrol's Efforts to Prevent Deaths Have Not Been Fully Evaluated".
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-770
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has pledged to defend Iran from attack.
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PRM Asia Pacific
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The Australian Law Commission completed its review of new sedition offenses introduced under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2005. See ETM/Legal below for details.
The UN Police in East Timor has assumed command of national policing activities.
Indonesian environmental group Greenomics suggests that the job of rebuilding Aceh should be transferred to the incoming provincial administration to eliminate central bureaucracy that has slowed progress.
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev has sponsored the Congress of World and Traditional Religions. The 2-day event promoted both the country and religious tolerance.
http://www.inform.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=144570
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/09/e2366429-546f-4fca-9694-b760afe534d1.html
Kyrgyzstan opposition leader Omurbek Tekebayev was arrested for heroin possession at a Polish airport last week, but released after a judge ruled the drugs had been planted. Parliament blamed police chief Zhanysh Bakiev for staging the incident, and forced his dismissal, although he denies involvement.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare ordered Australian High Commissioner Patrick Cole was ordered to leave the country. Sogavare was angered at Australian opposition to his cabinet appointments of two lawmakers charged with inciting riots in April. Australia is considering retaliatory diplomatic measures. Amid suspicions of corruption, Australia may also reduce aid to the islands.
Mass protests demanding the resignation of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian continued, with as many as three-quarters of a million participants in a march on Friday. A counter demonstration on Saturday brought tens of thousands to the streets to support the president and warn that the anti-corruption campaign is weakening democracy.
Thai Muslim leaders hosted a visit by Ahmad Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of Indonesia's largest Muslim group, the Nahdlatul Ulama, who said that troubles in the south were associated with the government's failure to advocate peaceful change - an effort that could take several years. In southern Thailand, a task force was set up to establish a peace dialog among all parties, including exiled leaders of separatist groups. The Peace Project gathered at the end of the week, with about 1,500 attendees - half the number they had hoped. Ahead of this meeting there were a number of violent incidents (see GTM above) apparently designed to hinder the discussions.
Meanwhile, Thais are waiting for an anticipated announcement next week from caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra regarding his intentions to run again or step down. Investigations into an alleged bomb plot against him continue, but lack of recent police action has raised suspicion that close aides to the Prime Minister may be involved in the plot/subterfuge.
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PRM Europe
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The Georgian-Abkhaz conflict will continue to fester unless both sides take a new approach to build mutual respect. The International Crisis Group's new report "Abkhazia Today" also examines the causes of the conflict, current conditions in breakaway Abkhazia, and reforms affecting internally displaced ethnic Georgians, as well as the implications these have for ultimately resolving the conflict.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4377
In Germany, for the first time since World War II, three Jewish graduates have been ordained as rabbis.
Pope Benedict XVI visited Germany, where he gave a speech that touched on the concept of holy war and quoted a 14th century Christian emperor who said that the Prophet Muhammad had brought only "evil and inhuman" things into the world. The remarks led to a firestorm among Muslims, and international condemnation that has ranged from a New York Times editorial to rejection of the comments by Egypt's Coptic Church, to attacks against churches in the West Bank. The murder of a nun in Somalia has been connected with the furore. The Vatican's clarification of his remarks did not relieve the offense, but a more specific apology has been accepted by many, including Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5353208.stm
Although Kosovo, Serbia, and the UN continue peace talks, the UN mediator reports the chance of making progress is very slim, and could continue for a decade without changing the positions. Serbia is adamant that Kosovo should be an integral part of the country, while the ethnic Albanian population of Kosovo demands independence. Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica has suggested that Kosovo's current status should be enshrined in a new constitution. Snap local elections in Novi Pazar were accompanied with violence, including the shooting death of one of the candidates.
Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and his pro-Western coalition has won 41 of 81 assembly seats. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other observers said that these first elections since independence was declared in May were held largely in line with international standards for democratic elections, although more work is needed.
http://www.osce.org/item/20433.html
Russian President Putin inaugurated a new sea route to link Kaliningrad directly to Russia, breaking an effective blockade that was the byproduct of Poland and Lithuania's 2004 membership in the EU.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/12/042.html
Russian Central Bank deputy chairman Andrei Kozlov and his driver died in an apparent contract killing when a group of gunmen armed with semi-automatic weapons shot them. Kozlov was responsible for cleaning up Russia's banking sector and led the efforts to close down dozens of banks that violated regulations, especially money laundering and terrorist financing.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060914/53881142.html
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060915/53917476.html
Russian police broke up an illegal demonstration by the Movement Against Illegal Immigration. Ethnically motivated racial attacks have surged in recent months. Alexander Koptsev was responsible for the notorious incident in which he stabbed nine worshippers in a Moscow synagogue. This week he was ordered to undergo treatment for a mental disorder and to serve 16 years in prison.
The European Court of Justice has dismissed a case brought Spain that argued only EU citizens could vote and instead upheld the right of Commonwealth citizens in Gibraltar to vote in European elections, as part of the UK's south-west constituency.
Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Morantinos was the first to testify before European Members of Parliament investigating CIA secret jails. He acknowledged that Spain may have been a stopover for secret flights, but said there was no evidence of any crimes committed on Spanish soil.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/017-10609-257-09-37-902-20060913STO10607-2006-14-09-2006/default_en.htm
Sweden is voting in a general election that is expected to be extremely close.
Turkey refuses to ratify a customs agreement with Cyprus, which is a condition for continued EU accession talks, unless the EU first ends restrictions on direct trade and transport to Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.
Turkey is angry with both Iraq and the US for not interfering in Kurdistan Peoples Party (PKK) cross-border attacks that have greatly increased this year, and have killed more than 90 soldiers, as well as many civilians.
A Ukrainian court has ruled that the country should take control of 22 lighthouses in Crimea currently operated by the Russian military. The court pointed to a 1997 agreement, but Moscow says the lighthouses have been leased to the Russian navy until 2017, and is not prepared to hand them over.
http://www.regnum.ru/english/705322.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5339570.stm
Ukraine President Viktor Yuschenko has criticized and rebuked Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych for suggesting the country is not ready to join the EU due to public opposition.
British Prime Minister Blair faces thousands of angry demonstrators on a visit to Lebanon, denouncing his rejection of an early ceasefire and saying he is not welcome in the country.
UK cabinet minister Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer gave the Magna Carta Lecture in Australia. In the speech he addressed current US policies in this manner:
" It is a part of the acceptance of the rule of law that the courts will be able to exercise jurisdiction over the executive. Otherwise the conduct of the executive is not defined and restrained by law. It is because of that principle, that the USA, deliberately seeking to put the detainees beyond the reach of the law in Guantanamo Bay, is so shocking an affront to the principles of democracy. That we disagree on this issue does not detract from the fact that the USA is a close and staunch ally of the UK. Without independent judicial control, we cannot give effect to the essential values of our society. To give effect to our democratic values needs the participation of executive, legislature, and judiciary together. How well they do it, as in every endeavor, depends on the quality of the individual decisions each branch of the state takes. The ability to give effect to these values is not just the morally correct position to take, though I believe it is most certainly that. It is also a vital part of providing security for our peoples. The rule of law and the protection of human rights provide the setting in which innovation, and economic prosperity occur. As we see countries applying to join the EU, they do so in the full knowledge that the economic benefits come only with subscription to the democratic and human rights values of the EU. The identification of these underpinning values is vital in the context of the fight against terrorism. For us to succeed in a battle which seeks to undermine our very way of life we must win, not just by the strength and effectiveness of the coercive and security apparatus of the state, but also because of the superiority of the values of our society over the values of those who attack us. Without these values what we are fighting for can get lost in the way we fight."
http://www.dca.gov.uk/speeches/2006/sp060913.htm
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PRM Middle East
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Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have continued talks on forming a unity government, although agreeing on a government satisfactory to all members of the Quartet remains problematic. Meanwhile, unrest and disaffection among Palestinians has grown in parallel with increased deprivation. Gazans have not had a regular supply of power since Israel destroyed the only power station on 28 June, and six months into a trade embargo the shelves are bare.
Iranian authorities banned the leading reformist paper Shargh for publishing a satirical cartoon that apparently portrayed President Ahmadinejad as a braying donkey.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to Tehran, which has expressed full support to help stabilize security in Iraq.
Iraqi government figures show an average of 100 civilians killed everyday and over 14,000 wounded each month, raising the growing specter of a breakdown into civil war. In an effort to increase security, Iraq plans to dig trenches and seal off dozens of roads in Baghdad. The remaining 28 roads will have new checkpoints and will monitor all travelers.
http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/2006/706
Sunni legislators who fear weakening the central government defeated a parliamentary vote on a Shiite proposal to increase provincial autonomy. Developing a truly national agenda has repeatedly failed.
The UK Metropolitan Police Arts and Antiques Unit returned a valuable Iraqi manuscript stolen in 1977 back to Iraqi authorities. Written by the famous Arab physician Ar-Razi, the manuscript dates from 403AH (1013 AD) and is one of the oldest and most important books from the AwQaf library in Mosul. It is by the and was stolen from the library in 1977 and came to police attention when a man attempted to sell it to a London auction house.
http://cms.met.police.uk/news/policy_organisational_news_and_general_information/met_repatriates_valuable_iraqi_artefacts
Israeli Major General Udi Adam, a senior commander during the conflict in Lebanon, has resigned. Public opinion in Israel remains highly critical over the way the conflict was managed, and today the cabinet approved formation of a government commission of inquiry.
Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon is expected completed by the end of this month. There have been a number of minor incidents and violations between the Litani River and the Blue Line, but the cessation of hostilities has been largely maintained. Israel's investigation into the bombing of a UN post in southern Lebanon that killed four peacekeepers in July found that it was a tragic error due to flawed military maps.
Lebanon's UN peacekeeping force has been further bolstered by up to 2,400 German naval personnel who will patrol the coast, and the first contingent of Spanish troops. The total force is near 5,000, and when complete will be 15,000.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has predicted a win in the presidential election next week, in which he faces one opponent. There have been incidents of election violence. The most serious was an election rally on Tuesday in which a stampede led to the death of 51 people and injured more than 100. A similar incident occurred on Thursday, when four people were crushed and two run over by vehicles, and six others were injured.
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PRM South Asia
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NATO commanders have pleaded for an additional 2,500 troops to respond to the growing threats in Afghanistan, but no state has as yet stepped up with an offer of more personnel. Poland says it could send a thousand more troops next year.
Afghan President Karzai has inaugurated a brand new Coca-Cola bottling plant in Kabul, bringing the beverage back to Afghanistan for the first time in more than ten years.
http://www2.coca-cola.com/presscenter/nr_20060910_kabul_plant_launch.html
Bangladesh opposition supporters clashed with police outside the prime ministers office, injuring more than 150, including former government officials. The incident was much less serious than last week when senior opposition member Saber Hossain Choudhury was hurt. He is being treated in Singapore for serious head injuries.
In the Indian state of Orissa, 19 prisoners who were hospitalized after going on hunger strike to protest the poor quality of food have been hospitalized then returned to jail.
"Everyone Lives in Fear" is a new report from Human Rights Watch that documents recent abuses by the Indian army, paramilitaries, and militants. Army abuses include torture, disappearances, arbitrary detention, and fake encounter killings, while militants target civilians with bombs and grenade attacks particularly on religious and ethnic minorities. They say that the "government's failure to end widespread impunity for human rights abuses committed both by its security forces and militants is fueling the cycle of violence in Jammu and Kashmir".
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/09/08/india14159.htm
India and Pakistan have agreed to resume formal peace talks.
The International Crisis Group's new report "Pakistan: The Worsening Conflict in Balochistan" says that "Tensions between the government and its Baloch opposition have grown because of Islamabad's heavy-handed armed response to Baloch militancy and its refusal to negotiate demands for political and economic autonomy". They call for Islamabad to reverse ill-advised policies that include:
* exploitation of Balochistan's natural resources without giving the province its due share;
* construction of further military garrisons to strengthen an already extensive network of military bases; and
* centrally driven and controlled economic projects, such as the Gwadar deep sea port, that do not benefit locals but raise fears that the resulting influx of economic migrants could make the Baloch a minority in their homeland.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4373
Sri Lanka's government and the Tamil Tiger rebels have agreed to hold peace talks in Norway by early October, but have not yet agreed to end violence or develop an agenda.
The AML/CFT Monitor is a monthly 16-page print publication. News highlights from the past week are provided in this free email update, but detailed analysis, background information and source documents are only available to subscribers. Purchase a subscription at our online store:
TAMNI Publications
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AML/CFT Incidents/Cases
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In Canada, formerly prominent investment manager Peter Shoniker was sentenced to 15 months in prison for money laundering. His co-defendant, jeweler Adeli Tabrizi, pleaded guilty to undertaking four laundering transactions on Shoniker's behalf, and has received a 12-month conditional sentence.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2006/09/06/shoniker-sentence.html http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/on/press/2004/2004_june_14_e.htm
Spanish police arrested 13 people in a drug ring that used real estate and luxury vehicles for money laundering.
http://www.surinenglish.com/noticias.php?Noticia=9159
Jerod Lee Keyser has been charged in US District Court with laundering, using falsified mortgage loans, some $20 million: the proceeds of a drug-trafficking operation that lasted more than 30 years, Ten other people in five states were also detained or arrested in the connection with the operation.
http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/articles/2006/09/14/news/news01.txt
Jaroslaw Sawczuk and Jozef Bronislaw Bogacki pleaded guilty to laundering more than $20 million in connection with an employee leasing conspiracy involving more than 550 illegal workers, as well as visa, wire, mail and tax fraud.
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/060913WashDC.htm
Employee leasing company owner Thomas King was convicted in US federal court of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering in connection with falsification of workers compensation insurance fraud.
http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2006/09/11/daily36.html
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AML/CFT Legislation and Regulation
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Australia's Office of the Privacy Commissioner provided a second round of comments regarding the second exposure draft of proposed AML/CFT legislation.
http://www.ag.gov.au/agd/WWW/agdhome.nsf/Page/RWP8B2E91AF7CF4CFCACA2570C900112F4C
http://www.privacy.gov.au/
Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice Wong Yan Lung gave a speech on how the rule of law attracts investors, including brief remarks on their recent advances in AML/CFT.
http://www.news.gov.hk/en/category/ontherecord/060914/html/060914en11001.htm
The UN Security Council unanimously voted to extend the Ivory Coast Group of Experts responsible for monitoring the arms embargo. This measure was taken following a determination of a continued threat to international peace and security. The Group will also prepare an updated report on the effectiveness of the weapons ban, as well as on the success of other States' efforts to prevent the import of rough diamonds from Ivory Coast which has been divided between government and rebel forces since fighting broke out in 2002.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/sc8830.doc.htm
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unoci/index.html
Insurance organizations in Malawi have called for immediate action to revise the 1957 insurance law in line with the closely related Money Laundering, Proceeds of Serious Crime and Terrorist Financing Bill, which was passed recently.
http://www.nationmalawi.com/articles.asp?articleID=18592
Russian Central Bank deputy chairman Andrei Kozlov and his driver died in an apparent contract killing when a group of gunmen armed with semi-automatic weapons shot them. Kozlav was responsible for cleaning up Russia's banking sector and led the efforts to close down dozens of banks that violated regulations, especially money laundering and terrorist financing.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060914/53880748.html
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060914/53875396.html
http://www.cbr.ru/pw.asp?file=press\if\060915_1245372.htm (in Russian)
A Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense analyst describes narcoterrorist activities by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, Tamil Tigers) in this article, which also contains a list of suspected traffickers:
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk/fullnews.php?id=955
UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) executive Philip Robinson spoke to the Cambridge Economic Symposium on "The risks posed by economically motivated crime".
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/Speeches/2006/0906_pr.shtml
The US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a hearing on "Examining Treasury's Role in Combating Terrorist Financing Five Years After 9/11". Testimony from four government officials emphasized progress and cooperation but also mentioned the evolving nature of the challenges ahead.
http://banking.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=235
http://www.nysun.com/article/39555
Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) president Tibisay Lucena asked for the Scientific, Penal and Criminology Investigation Agency (CICPC), and the Integrated National Customs and Tax Administration Service (SENIAT) to help identify and monitor the origins of funds raised for the upcoming presidential election campaign. Several organizations have admitted receiving US funding, but foreign financing of propaganda and political advertising is illegal.
http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/09/13/en_pol_art_13A777525.shtml
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AML/CFT Modalities
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The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released the 2006 Annual Opium Survey. It reports that opium cultivation throughout Afghanistan surged 59 per cent to 165,000 hectares in 2006. The opium harvest was an unprecedented 6,100 tons, an increase of 49 per cent from 2005, making Afghanistan virtually sole supplier to the world. Only six of the country's 34 provinces are opium-free. Cultivation fell in eight provinces, mainly in the more stable north. Around the country, the number of people involved in opium cultivation increased by almost a third to 2.9 million, representing 12.6 per cent of the total population. Revenue from the harvest will be over $3 billion this year. This opium boom is likely to fuel a surge in the number of lethal drug overdoses when the new heroin starts reaching retail users in 2007, and is likely to kill many more than the 100,000 deaths associated with its abuse in the recent past. To address these threats, UNODC head called for robust military action by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces to eliminate the opium industry by destroying the heroin labs, disbanding the open opium bazaars, attacking the opium convoys and bringing to justice the big traders. Most of the opium is in southern Afghanistan, particularly in the increasingly lawless southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, where counterinsurgency and counternarcotic efforts must reinforce each other. Most important, the Afghan national drug control strategy, which includes development, security, law enforcement and good governance, must be implemented in full.
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/press_release_2006_09_01.html
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press_release_2006_09_12-2.html
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press_release_2006_09_12.html
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/execsummaryafg.pdf
This article discusses the connections between organized crime and terrorism.
http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=2145&cid=11&sid=64
South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni expressed concerns over increasing numbers of armed robberies on vans carrying cash and his belief that even tainted cash is being laundered through casinos. Casino Association of South Africa CEO Derek Auret said that in their highly regulated environment they have prevented money laundering and have detained groups or individuals trying to use stained notes.
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=qw1158266521758B265
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A272033
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/business_today/170865.htm
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ETM Corruption and Transnational Crime
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The World Bank released Governance Matters 2006: Worldwide Governance Indicators. More than a dozen non-OECD countries score higher than some industrialized countries, and indicators indicate reasons for optimism not pessimism in Africa.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21051871~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html
Austria's ministry of justice reports that French authorities have arrested Helmut Elsner, the firmer head of the Bank Fuer Arbeit und Wirtschaft (Bagwag) in connection with fraud alleged in loans to the now bankrupt US brokerage firm Refco.
China is investigating a major corruption scandal following the discovery that Shanghai's pension fund paid a road between Shanghai and the tourist destination of Hangzhou. Two city government officials and the head of the toll road operator, one of the richest people in China, have been arrested.
A series of corruption scandals in Israel has furthered lowered public opinion in a population already angry over the outcome of the devastating invasion of Lebanon.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/14/africa/ME_GEN_Israel_Drowning_in_Scandal.php
Kenya's Anti-Corruption Commission plans to seize millions of dollars in 78 bank accounts belonging to current and former politicians, civil servants, and businessmen that was allegedly made through corrupt deals.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-09-14-voa50.cfm
The US-based National Association of Insurance Commissioners adopted "Guidelines for International Antifraud Enforcement Cooperation", which provides a framework for international information exchange and anti-fraud best practices.
http://www.naic.org/Releases/2006_docs/antifraud_enforcement.htm
US federal and state authorities and the Congress have all undertaken investigations into the use of pretexting, also known as social engineering, in which a firm of private investigators falsified identities in order to obtain phone and other records of Hewlett Packard (HP) board members. HP chair Patricia Dunn stepped down from her position, although remaining on the board, after taking responsibility for ordering the investigation into leakage of confidential board information. The case is raising serious issues regarding privacy, protection of consumer information, the actions of private investigators, and other issues of governance and security.
The House Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on Energy and Resources concluded its investigation regarding the absence of price thresholds in deepwater leases entered into between the Department of the Interior and various oil and gas companies during 1998 and 1999. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that the lack of price thresholds will cost the US Government almost $10 billion in lost revenue. Interior's Inspector General Earl Devaney testified to the investigation into the Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service and the missing price thresholds. In addition to detailing their actions, he condemned the agency's tolerance of ethical failures from cronyism to incompetence.
http://reform.house.gov/ER/Hearings/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=49989
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/business/14oil.html
http://www.doioig.gov/
US Republican congressman Bob Ney has agreed to plead guilty in the Abramoff corruption and bribery case.
Telecommunications executive Walter Anderson has pleaded guilty in the biggest criminal tax fraud in US history, in which hid assets abroad to evade more than $100 million in taxes.
Vietnam has called for public comment on a draft decree that requires government officials to declare personal property.
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/politics/2006/09/612086/
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ETM Economies and Financial Systems
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In the World Development Report 2007, the World Bank focuses on 1.3 billion young people living in the developing world. This is the largest youth group in history and presents a perfect opportunity to invest in youth. The report says they are healthier and better educated than previous generations, and they will join the workforce with fewer dependents because of changing demographics. Failure to seize this opportunity to train them more effectively for the workplace, and to be active citizens, could lead to widespread disillusionment and social tensions. But if developing countries invest in better education, healthcare, and job training for their record numbers of young people, they could produce surging economic growth and sharply reduced poverty.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21054292~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released the Global Financial Stability Report, which warns of the greater likelihood of a global economic slowdown linked to high oil prices and a cooling US housing market. Trading imbalances remain at the heart of economic fears, particularly between China and the US.
http://www.imf.org/External/Pubs/FT/GFSR/2006/02/index.htm
http://www.imf.org/external/np/tr/2006/tr060912.htm
IMF also released the World Economic Outlook Report. It predicts overall 5.1 percent growth this year, up from the spring forecast, and anticipates slight slowing to 4.9 percent in 2007. This strength has more uncertainty than usual, with risks tilted towards the downward side due to risks of inflation and global trade imbalances.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2006/02/index.htm
http://www.imf.org/external/np/tr/2006/tr060914.htm
The Global Call to Action Against Poverty is using the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank to launch a month of action to campaign for a greater voice of the poor in making decisions.
http://www.whiteband.org/News/gcapnews.2006-09-15.7710872752
A brief update on World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda and "Aid for Trade" since April 2006 can be read here:
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pn/2006/pn06105.htm
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dda_e.htm
The European Court of Justice has ruled in a case brought by Cadbury Schweppes that putting subsidiaries in low-tax European countries should not be treated as tax avoidance if they carry out genuine economic activity. UK legislation on controlled foreign companies can apply only to wholly artificial tax arrangements. This decision could make it easier for multinationals to take advantage of lower-tax countries in the EU, such as Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and others.
http://www.curia.europa.eu/en/actu/communiques/cp06/aff/cp060072en.pdf
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ETM Environment and Climate Change
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Another study adds to research linking human activity to rising greenhouse emissions and a related increase in temperatures of the sea surface which contribute to increased storm intensity.
http://www.llnl.gov/pao/news/news_releases/2006/NR-06-09-02.html
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued an advisory of unexpected El Nino conditions that could lead to extreme weather in many parts of the world.
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2699.htm
The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research says a 90 percent reduction in greenhouse gases is necessary to avoid a two degree centigrade increase in average temperature by 2050. Doing this now would avoid more drastic action later.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1873070,00.html
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/
Arctic ice is shrinking by 14 percent in a single year, and the rate of melting has increased 30 times, far exceeding previous models.
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/seaice_meltdown.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1603667.ece
Trafigura Beheer BV has responded to news reports regarding the toxic waste dumped in Abidjan - Ivory Coast's largest city. They say that the Probo Koala ship was "carrying gasoline blend stock under a time charter to Trafigura. It is used for floating storage, that is the receiving vessel for cargoes of gasoline blend stock. Cleaning with caustic soda takes place each time it receives a new load of gasoline blend stock. After the cleaning the residue washings (slops) are transferred to the ship's slop tanks....Senior executives from the company are in Abidjan and are working with the authorities there to try to establish what happened after the slops were unloaded". A French team's analysis of the waste will be completed soon, and the Dutch ministry of justice has launched an investigation, including another team of investigators. The incident has not only killed six people and harmed 16,000, but also led to the resignation of the government amid corruption accusations. Kechukwu Ibeanu, the Special UN Rapporteur on adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights called for a full, independent investigation.
http://www.trafigura.com/press_statement.aspx
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=19764&Cr=ivoire&Cr1=
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KKEE-6TFQLD?OpenDocument
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5323258.stm
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/09F62514FEED8F7AC12571E90053B574?opendocument
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=487&ArticleID=5347&l=en
The World Bank has launched a major initiative to improve forest governance, pointing to the $15 billion a year cost of weak governance.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21055716~menuPK:34463~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html
Researchers from North Carolina State University (NCSW) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated that a commonly prescribed antidepressant can interfere with the reproductive cycle of freshwater mussels, at least in a controlled setting. More and more studies are turning up evidence of common drugs and their breakdown products in waterways, raising concerns about potential health impacts for both humans and animals from low-level but continuous exposure to the chemicals.
http://www.nist.gov/sigmaxi/Posters06/17%20Heltsley%20@%201-5-06/Sigma%20Xi_2006_Rebecca%20Heltsley.htm
http://www.ncsu.edu/research/results/vol11/gifs/RESULTS.pdf
http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=10280971345
Arguing that environmental degradation could undermine progress in reaching global anti-poverty goals, Alexander Mueller, Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) urged action in support of an international target for cutting biodiversity loss.
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000393/index.html
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
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ETM Human Rights
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The World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group reports that fragile countries that are weak and poorly governed, with deepening poverty can provide a breeding ground for global terrorism. Their number has grown sharply over the past three years, despite increased Western efforts to improve their conditions. Since the report was last issued in 2003, the number of fragile states has jumped from 17 to 26. In 2003, they included Afghanistan, Angola, Burma (Myanmar), Burundi, Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Laos, Liberia, Somalia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, and these remain on the list today. Newly added are Cambodia, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo Republic, East Timor, Eritrea, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kosovo, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, Togo, Vanuatu, and the West Bank and Gaza.
http://www.worldbank.org/ieg/licus/
UN member states adopted the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy on 8 September 2006, including a Resolution and an annexed Plan of Action:
* Measures to address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism
* Measures to Prevent and combat terrorism
* Measures to build States' capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and to strengthen the role of the United Nations system in this regard
* Measures to ensure respect for human rights for all and the rule of law as the fundamental basis of the fight against terrorism
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sgsm10625.doc.htm
http://www.un.org/terrorism/strategy/
The General Assembly opened debate on Secretary General Annan's recent report on preventing armed conflict around the world. His report outlines a three-pronged approach to preventing armed conflict: targeting the sources of tension within and between societies, States and regions; reinforcing the norms and institutions for peace; and strengthening the mechanisms that can resolve disputes between countries. It stresses the importance of addressing global risk factors that transcend individual nations, including environmental issues, corruption, youth unemployment, HIV/AIDS, and the trade of illicit weapons and drugs. It emphasizes the importance of equipping Member States to manage their own problems by helping them build national infrastructures, including constitutions, credible elections and democratic governance.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/sgsm10619.doc.htm
Colombia Journalism Review writer Eric Umansky examines "Failures of Imagination" - a critical look at press coverage of torture. This is accompanies by a piece on the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2006/5/Umansky.asp
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2006/5/Umanskyb.asp
The International Save the Children Alliance released a new policy report, "Rewrite the Future: Education for children in conflict-affected countries". The report calls for international assistance to finance education and ensure adequate systems are in place during conflict, that education must be part of the humanitarian response in every emergency, and that armed forces and militias violent towards teachers and students must be prosecuted. These recommendations address such findings as:
* In 2003, more than half of armed conflicts used combatants under the age of 15.
* More than five million primary-aged children (6-11 years) are out of school in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and more than six million 12-17 year olds have never been to school.
* In Nepal, between January and August 2005, more than 11,800 students were abducted from rural schools for indoctrination or forced recruitment into the militia.
* In Afghanistan, most qualified teachers fled the conflict. Now fewer than 15 percent of teachers hold professional qualifications.
http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/what_we_do/newsdesk/2006-09-12.html
International Literacy Day was marked on 8 September. More than 771 million adults are illiterate, but the link between learning and development is critical.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sgsm10613.doc.htm
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=34570&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=43283&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=42853&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=34578&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Radio Free Europe reporter and human rights activist Ogulsapar Muradova died in a Turkmenistan prison. There have been numerous calls for an independent investigation into her death, and concern over the fate of two other people also convicted of weapons charges in a trial generally considered unfair.
http://www.rferl.org/reports/mm/2006/09/14-150906.asp
http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/europe/turkmen14aug06na.html
http://www.osce.org/item/20607.html
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=19853&Cr=turkmen&Cr1=
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/72239.htm
The New China News Agency has defended new rules restricting the sale of foreign wire service news as a legitimate protection of domestic financial and economic news services.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/14/business/rules.php
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ETM Infectious Diseases
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Nearly 30 years after safety concerns led to the phasing out of indoor spraying with DDT and other insecticides to control malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) has started promoting this method again to fight malaria. The global scourge kills more than one million people every year, including around 3,000 children everyday. More than 500 million people suffer from acute infection each year. Malaria disproportionately affects poor people, with almost 60 percent of malaria cases occurring among the poorest 20 per cent of the world's population. Of the dozen insecticides WHO has approved as safe for house spraying, the most effective is DDT. Extensive research and testing has demonstrated that well-managed indoor residual spraying programs using DDT pose no harm to wildlife or to humans. As part of this campaign, WHO calls for all malaria control programs to outline their position on indoor spraying with long-lasting insecticides such as DDT, specifying where and how spraying will be implemented in accordance with WHO guidelines.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2006/pr50/en/index.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/17/who17.xml&DCMP=EMC-new_17092006
Imperial College London has identified a simple intervention to reduce deaths from malaria in Africa. http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_15-9-2006-15-3-25?newsid=2702
RESULTS Educational Fund released "Enduring Neglect: The World Bank's Inadequate Support for Africa's TB emergency". The 32-page report says that while more than a third of the world's 1.7 million TB deaths occur in Africa, less than five percent of the World Bank's lending to fight TB worldwide over the past five years has gone to African countries. This translates to approximately $9.40 invested per TB case outside of Africa and only 80 cents per TB case inside Africa."
http://www.results.org/website/article.asp?id=2364
The Medical Research Council National Institute for Medical Research and St George's Hospital researchers have devised a blood serum test for tuberculosis that used biomarkers to identify tuberculosis infections with 94 percent accuracy. The simple, reliable test can help patients in the developing world where TB is the leading cause of death by infection.
http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/news/2006/tb/
This article explains the significant impact of airline travel on the inter-regional spread of influenza.
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0030401
The need for immediate treatment in human avian influenza infections is discussed in this article:
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nm1477.html
The UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) has introduced a collaborative system of pandemic influenza data collection and analysis called QFLU.
http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/news/articles/press_releases/2006/060913_qflu.htm
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~mczqres/qflu.php
HPA has also developed a single test for avian and seasonal human flu virus.
http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/news/articles/press_releases/2006/060912_avianflu.htm
Researchers at Harvard University's School of Public Health have identified cost-effective antiretroviral therapies that could dramatically increase life expectancy for HIV-infected patients in poor countries.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/press/releases/press09142006.html
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ETM Legal Systems
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The Australian Law Commission completed its review of new sedition offenses introduced under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2005. "Fighting Words: A Review of Sedition Laws in Australia" makes 27 recommendations for reform of the legislation. They emphasize that media commentators, satirists, artists and activists should be safe from controversial sedition laws, even if their ideas are unpopular and confronting, as long as they don't urge the use of violence. The say the government should:
* Drop the 'red rag' term 'sedition' from federal laws;
* Further refine the existing law to require the Crown to prove that a person urged others to use force or violence against community groups or the institutions of democratic government, and with the intention that this violence would eventuate; and
* Lead a process through the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General to reform state and territory laws in this area "which mostly are a good deal worse than the federal law".
http://www.alrc.gov.au/media/2006/mr1309.htm
South Africa is undertaking a major reform of police and prison systems. The latest measure will be to move women and children out of prisons to make way for the most dangerous and repetitive criminals.
http://www.info.gov.za/leaders/ministers/safesec.htm
The US Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on "The Thompson Memorandum's Effect on the Right to Counsel in Corporate Investigations". Critics including former Justice Department officials, business and legal groups, point to the practice of forcing corporations and white-collar defendants to waive their rights as both a constitutional violation and a bad practice because it can inhibit revelations of corporate wrongdoing. The Justice Department is reviewing its guidelines.
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=2054
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/7929239/c_7929402?f=home_todayinfinance
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/business/13legal.html
http://www.justice.gov/dag/cftf/business_organizations.pdf
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ETM Natural Resources
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Russia's Natural Resources Ministry is continuing to apply pressure on project participants to force greater government participation in production deals. The Sakhalin project is coming under particular scrutiny.
http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=529&id=705028
http://www.hemscott.com/news/latest-news/item.do?newsId=36223754267686
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aFoGcbEOi8BA
The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CALPERS) is planning significant investments in natural resource commodities.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2006/09/11/daily14.html
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ETM Populations
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The UN held its first high-level meeting on migration and development. It addressed the positive and negative aspects of migration, which now affects more nations than at any time in history.
http://www.un.org/migration/
http://www.un.org/esa/
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/ga10494.doc.htm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0914/p02s02-wogi.html
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released Education at a Glance 2006. Key findings include:
* On average in OECD countries, 84 percent of people who have achieved a tertiary education qualification are in employment. By contrast, only 56 percent of people without even an upper secondary qualification have jobs.
* Public funding of education remains a social priority, even in OECD countries with relatively little public involvement in other areas: between 1995 and 2003, education took a growing share of total public expenditure in most countries, with Denmark, Greece, New Zealand, the Slovak Republic and Sweden showing particularly significant shifts in public funding in favor of education.
* At the tertiary level, however, the proportion of public expenditure as a share of total spending has fallen from an average of 81.2 percent in OECD countries in 1995 to an average 76.2 percent in 2003, with only the Czech Republic, Ireland, Norway and Spain showing an increase. The proportion of tertiary education funded privately varies from more than 50 percent in Australia, Japan, Korea and the United States as well as the partner country Chile to less than 5 percent in Denmark, Finland, Greece, Norway and Turkey. Most of private funding comes from households, notably through tuition fees, which are charged in three-quarters of OECD countries, though at widely varying levels.
* Rapidly growing numbers of students are enrolling in tertiary education outside their home country. In 2004, they comprised 2.7 million students worldwide, an 8 percent increase on the previous year and more than twice as many as in 1995. More than half of these students are enrolled in four OECD countries – the United States (22 percent), the United Kingdom (11 percent), Germany (10 percent), and France (9 percent).
* Annual salaries of teachers with at least 15 years experience at lower secondary level range from around $10,000 in Poland to $48 000 or more in Germany, Korea and Switzerland and more than $80,000 in Luxembourg.
* Gender differences in educational qualification rates are shifting in favor of women. For 55-to-64-year-olds, average duration of formal study favors women in only three countries, but for 25-to-34-year-olds, the average number of years of study completed is higher among women in 20 out of 30 OECD countries, and of the remaining 10 countries only Switzerland and Turkey register differences of more than six months in favor of men.
http://www.oecd.org/document/37/0,2340,en_2649_201185_37387877_1_1_1_1,00.html
A National Research Council expert panel commissioned by the US Census Bureau completed a study in the way prisoners are counted. " Once, Only Once, and in the Right Place:
Residence Rules in the Decennial Census" calls for a major experiment in the 2010 census to study whether prisoners should be counted where currently incarcerated or where they last lived.
http://newton.nap.edu/catalog/11727.html
http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/news/fact-14-9-2006.shtml
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/nyregion/15census.html
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/tabulating_prisoners.pdf
The Government Accountability Office examined the significant financial shortfall facing the Social Security program, specifically examining how different indexes have different effects on benefits and revenues.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-804
GAO's "Foreign Workers: Information on Selected Countries' Experiences" report examines the experiences in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and 6 other countries..
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-1055
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ETM Social Responsibility
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Talisman Energy, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has welcomed dismissal of a lawsuit in US court, which found lack of evidence that Talisman had aided and abetted the government of Sudan in its brutal human rights abuses, including a campaign of ethnic cleansing. The Presbyterian Church of Sudan and others who brought the suit will appeal the ruling.
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article17600
http://cnrp.ccnmatthews.com/client/talisman_news/release.jsp?actionFor=611659&year=2006&releaseSeq=0&disclaimer=1
http://calsun.canoe.ca/Business/2006/09/13/1833891-sun.html
http://www.bergermontague.com/case-summary.cfm?id=34
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has targeted Denver-based burrito chain Chipotle to live up to its "Food with Integrity" policy and commitment to animals by helping protect farm workers who pick the Florida tomatoes they use in their products.
http://www.ciw-online.org/Chipotle_press_release.html
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_4327141
http://www.chipotle.com/
Garbage hauling company Waste Management has released a social responsibility report, "It Starts with Commitment".
http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2006/0915/Community/015.html
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ETM Technology
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Australia's University of Sydney marked the 50th anniversary of its first high-speed computer, the SILLIAC . Constructed by the School of Physics, the SILLIAC and its power supply filled up two rooms. It performed its first successful scientific calculation on 4 July 1956, but was not officially declared open until 12 September.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/the-computer-that-launched-our-it-revolution/2006/09/11/1157826868138.html
Samsung Electronics Co., Asia's biggest semiconductor maker, unveiled the world's first 32-gigabit NAND flash memory chip based on 40-nanometer technologies.
http://www.samsung.com/PressCenter/PressRelease/PressRelease.asp?seq=20060911_0000286548
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ETM Weapons (WMD, Proliferation)
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International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei expressed to the Security Council serious concern about Iran's lack of cooperation in allowing investigators to determine whether the country's nuclear program is for peaceful or military applications. While all the nuclear material declared by Iran to IAEA has been accounted for and inspectors have found little build-up of enrichment capacity at Natanz ,IAEA was not able to assess fully the country's enrichment-related research and development activities, including the possible production of centrifuges and related equipment. Because of this, and the lack of readiness of Iran to resolve these issues, IAEA is unable to provide assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, which continues to be a matter of serious concern.
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Statements/2006/ebsp2006n013.html
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2006/iran_compliance.html
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2006/dgbriefsboard.html
Iran has suggested it may be willing to suspend nuclear work temporarily. It's response to the EU proposal can be read here:
http://www.isis-online.org/publications/iran/confusedbuthopeful.pdf
IAEA has taken strong exception to erroneous and misleading claims made in a US House intelligence committee report regarding Iran's nuclear program.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5346524.stm
A group of 16 nuclear nonproliferation experts called upon US Senators to remedy serious flaws plaguing the controversial July 2005 US-Indian nuclear trade proposal.
http://www.armscontrol.org/pdf/20060912_India_Ltr_Congress.pdf
http://www.armscontrol.org/projects/india
Representatives from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan signed the Central Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sgsm10622.doc.htm
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/11/asia/AS_GEN_Central_Asia_US_Nuclear.php
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines issued "Landmine Monitor Report 2006". The report explains that "More land was demined in 2005 than ever before, but global funding for mine action decreased for the first time, raising concerns about future progress in eradicating mines and efforts to meet the needs of the increasing number of survivors...."
http://www.icbl.org/news/lmrelease
5. Critical Infrastructure Monitor
Critical Infrastructure Monitor gives you the background and analysis missing from these news briefings. Subscriptions can be purchased from our online store:
TAMNI Publications
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CIM Agriculture and Food
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Some 50 countries attending a UN meeting on aquaculture have welcomed a series of non-binding international principles for responsible shrimp farming which offer guidance on how to reduce its environmental damage while boosting its ability to alleviate poverty. Small-scale producers in the world's poorest countries produce 99 percent of the world's farmed shrimp, and depend on it for their livelihoods.
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000391/index.html
The European Commission has adopted guiding principles for sustainable fishing in 2007.
http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/1198&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/330&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating an E. coli outbreak that to date has caused 102 reported cases of illnesses, with one fatality and 16 cases of kidney failure. The cases are tied to fresh spinach. The Lettuce Safety Initiative has been expanded to include spinach.
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01452.html
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CIM Banking and Finance
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The European Commission has released plans to help facilitate cross-border mergers, making it harder for political interference to quash a merger. T he proposed Directive provides supervisory authorities with a clear and transparent process for decision-making and notification. There is now a closed list of criteria on which the acquiring company should be assessed, such as reputation of the proposed acquirer, reputation and experience of any person that may run the resulting institution or firm, financial soundness of the proposed acquirer, compliance with relevant EU Directives, and risk of money laundering and terrorism financing. The assessment period is reduced from three months to 30 days and allows the supervisory authority to 'stop the clock' only once, under clear conditions.
http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/1174&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
The UK Treasury has announced its decision to grant new powers to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) under which it is allowed to veto disproportionate rule changes of recognized exchanges. This measure was taken pursuant to a proposed US company takeover of the London Stock Exchange. The UK prefers a light touch to regulation and believes that US requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley could pose an anti-competitive environment and create onerous regulatory burdens. This rule permits the FSA to veto certain rule changes to prevent this.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2006/Press_62_06.cfm
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/Statements/2006/recognised_bodies.shtml
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/Speeches/2006/0912_jt.shtml
The US House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit held a hearing on "A Review of Regulatory Proposals on Basel Capital and Commercial Real Estate". Testimony covered a broad span of financial institutions and analysts.
http://financialservices.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=507
Ahead of the deadline for enhanced customer authentication, US financial regulators have warned of an anticipated increase in fraudulent activities, including exploits using the 31 December conformance date.
http://www.occ.gov/ftp/alert/2006-50.html
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CIM Chemical
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Multinational chemical companies have endorsed the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) research roadmap "Innovating for a Better Future, Putting Sustainable Chemistry Into Action, Implementation Action Plan (IAP) 2006".
http://www.suschem.org/
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) released new performance indicators that indicate improvements in security, safety, and emissions.
http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_acc/sec_news_article.asp?CID=206&DID=3484
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CIM Commercial Facilities
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Canadians are reviewing school security, including physical security measures, to address a recent school shooting rampage.
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/National/2006/09/17/1852586-sun.html
Sewell Chan writes " 9/11 Has Spurred Only Modest Changes in New York City and National Building Codes". (New York Times 9 September)
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0C10FC3F550C7A8CDDA00894DE404482&showabstract=1
Security is a major design concern in rebuilding the World Trade Center sites.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/security/0,71754-0.html
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CIM Cybersecurity
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Sky by Broadband (BSkyB) is working with Microsoft to address the cracking of its Digital Rights Management (DRM) system to prevent movies from being copied. Pending resolution of the problem broadband downloads have been suspended.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-09-12T172551Z_01_L12830299_RTRIDST_0_MEDIA-BSKYB-MICROSOFT-UPDATE-1.XML
The Anti-Phishing Working Group reports a record number of phishing web sited in July, and hijacked a record number of brands to support their attacks.
http://www.antiphishing.org/reports/apwg_report_july_2006.pdf
The Ponemon Institute released its latest study on the lack of awareness to insider threats. The report finds most insider security breaches are unreported usually because companies lack resources to identify and address the issue.
http://www.ponemon.org/press/Ponemon_ArcSight_Insider_Study_9.pdf
A US court of appeals has ordered Fidelity Bank to pay a $50 million fine for purchasing the names and addresses of more than 650,000 people in the US in violation of the Drivers Privacy Protection Act which is supposed to protect the privacy of drivers' records. The court ruled that it was not necessary to demonstrate actual harm in order to recover monetary damages.
http://www.epic.org/privacy/drivers/kehoe.html
Princeton University researchers at the Center for Information Technology Policy completed a security analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine. They report, "Analysis of the machine, in light of real election procedures, shows that it is vulnerable to extremely serious attacks. For example, an attacker who gets physical access to a machine or its removable memory card for as little as one minute could install malicious code; malicious code on a machine could steal votes undetectably, modifying all records, logs, and counters to be consistent with the fraudulent vote count it creates. An attacker could also create malicious code that spreads automatically and silently from machine to machine during normal election activities - a voting-machine virus. We have constructed working demonstrations of these attacks in our lab. Mitigating these threats will require changes to the voting machine's hardware and software and the adoption of more rigorous election procedures." Diebold disputes the report and says the equipment tested was out of date and normal security procedures were ignored.
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S15/81/66A80/index.xml?section=newsreleases
http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/
Meanwhile, Maryland elections officials are struggling to count votes after voter access cards needed for the machines were not distributed to polling places.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9003305
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/14/AR2006091401895.html
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has closed four illegal spamming operations including one that offered the opportunity to "date lonely wives" and two that hijacked the computers of unwitting third parties and used them to pelt consumers with graphic and explicit email.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/09/spammers.htm
Farid Essabar was sentenced in Moroccan court to two years in prison and Achraf Bahloul to one year on charges of conspiracy, theft, forgery, and illegal access to computers in connection with damage caused by the August 2005 Zotob worm.
Ahead of the deadline for enhanced customer authentication, US financial regulators have warned of an anticipated increase in fraudulent activities, including exploits using the 31 December conformance date.
http://www.occ.gov/ftp/alert/2006-50.html
California's Highway Patrol is investigating an apparent breach of a computer system used by aides to Governor Schwarzenegger. The system stored audio files and the breach released imprudent and prejudicial remarks made by the governor.
Computer security experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have issued the" Guide to Integrating Forensic Techniques into Incident Response". It recommends four steps in digital forensics, supported by eight different scenarios:
* Identify, acquire and protect data related to a specific event
* Process the collected data and extract relevant pieces of information from it
* Analyze the extracted data to derive additional useful information
* Report the results of the analysis. Lessons learned during the forensic process should be incorporated in future forensic efforts.
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/
The US House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity, held a hearing on 13 September regarding "The Future of Cyber and Telecommunications Security at the Department of Homeland Security".
http://hsc.house.gov/testimony1.cfm
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-1087T
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CIM Dams and Bridges
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In Australia, security fees and other costs associated with water from the Chaffey Dam in New South Wales have increased water prices from $11.11 per megaliter to $25.22 by 2010.
http://tamworth.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=general&story_id=509422&category=General&m=9&y=2006
Access control at the Canyon Ferry Dam in the US state of Montana is described here:
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/09/11/helena/a01091106_1.txt
Security of the US state of Washington's Grand Coulee Dam is addressed here:
http://www.kxly.com/news/index.php?sect_rank=2§ion_id=560&story_id=4747
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CIM Emergency Services
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Emergency responders were among those honored during 9/11 commemorations.
http://www.emsresponder.com/article/article.jsp?id=4082&siteSection=1
One of the continuing issues remains the long-term health impact of workers who responded to the attacks.
http://www.emsresponder.com/article/article.jsp?id=4039&siteSection=1
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/wtc/
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CIM Energy
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Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) completed the North American Power Executive Survey 2006. Key findings include:
* A majority of executives believed that carbon emission mandates would be in force within ten years.
* Eighty-five percent of the executives surveyed felt that there would not be adequate generation or transmission investment made within the next five years and expected some regional power markets to experience supply shortfalls when load growth absorbed current supply surpluses.
* Fuel price risk and developing fuel diversity are the top strategic priorities for power executives.
* "Clean coal" will play a prominent role in the next wave of generation build, along with more natural gas–fired units. Nuclear is expected to play a more important role in the 20-year time frame, in tandem with clean coal and gas.
* The majority of executives cited employee benefit costs and the aging workforce as important internal business risks.
http://www.cera.com/aspx/cda/public1/news/researchHighlights/researchHighlights.aspx#8333
French energy company Total plans to continue developing Iran's natural gas fields, and perhaps expanding into oil. Although they say they will respect French, EU and UN rules regarding Iran, they do not plan to accede to US regulations.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aJhPsk62oCBE
South Asia's energy crisis is discussed in this article:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HI14Df01.html
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CIM Government Facilities
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The thwarted attack on the US embassy in Damascus, Syria led to the question of whether the embassy building in Damascus meet Inman standards. The answer was no, but the US State Department spokesman said it is one of the most heavily defended facilities with multiple physical and technical upgrades. The Inman standards mentioned in the question followed an investigation that into the 1998 East African embassy bombings.
http://fas.org/irp/threat/inman/
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-642
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CIM Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste
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The International Atomic Energy Agency is considering a nuclear-fuel bank and other security measures to safeguard against proliferation and terrorism. Germany favors a multilateral uranium enrichment facility.
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/PressReleases/2006/prn200615.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0918/p04s01-wogi.html
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2000049,00.htmls
Russia and the US signed a liability protocol in support of a plutonium disposition program.
http://www.doe.gov/news/4160.htm
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CIM Postal and Shipping
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The US Government Accountability Office released "Mail Security: Incidents at DOD Mail Facilities Exposed Problems That Require Further Actions". The report explains that in March 2005, two well-publicized and nearly simultaneous incidents involving suspected anthrax occurred at the Pentagon mail facility and a commercial complex in the Washington DC area. Although these were false alarms, federal and local agencies responded and the Postal Service suspended operations at two facilities. More than a thousand Defense and Postal =employees were given precautionary antibiotics. This report describes the incident and response, and makes recommendations to help improve future responses, in particular interagency coordination.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-757
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CIM Public Health and Healthcare
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Residents and travelers in the Indian Ocean islands are being warned of greatly increased prevalence of the mosquito-born Chikungunya virus.
http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/news/articles/press_releases/2006/060913_chikungunya.htm
In India, Punjab state has published test results showing that Coke and Pepsi are safe to drink. The two companies are taking legal action to challenge a ban in Kerala state, which claims the drinks contain harmful pesticides.
Nellie Bristol writing in The Lancet says, "Despite a crumbling health system and perpetual insecurity, Iraq has managed to stave off major disease outbreaks during the past 3 years.... With funding to Iraq from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) due to run out on Sept 30, Naeema Al-Gasseer, WHO's representative in Iraq, is warning that the country's public-health successes - which include reductions in measles and malaria, and containment of avian influenza- could be reversed if money is not made available to continue interventions".
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673606693525/fulltext
South Africa's health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang says she welcomes a new inter-ministerial committee on AIDS led by the deputy president, but denies that this indicates she has been moved aside in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
http://www.sabcnews.co.za/
http://www.aidstruth.org/letter-to-mbeki.php
In the Western Cape, one in five women tested at public antenatal clinics are HIV positive.
South Africa faces another threat with the discovery that extremely drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) has become endemic in KwaZulu-Natal.
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CIM Telecommunications
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The International Telecommunication Union reports that density of telecommunications has more than doubled n the majority of least developed countries (LDCs) since 2000. LDCs with the highest annual growth rate of cellular subscribers in 2000-2005 were Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Niger, Liberia, Mali, Sudan, Yemen and Laos. Prepaid services, account for almost 90 per cent of the entire market. In Afghanistan, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Haiti, Somalia and Niger all mobile subscriptions were prepaid. Overall, access to the internet has increased and more interest is on deployment of broadband services in rural areas. By 2005, internet user penetration caught up with fixed line penetration in LDCs, providing access to applications in education, health, business, agriculture, and government. LDCs continue to face major challenges such as obsolete policies and regulations that lead to inefficient and untenable restrictions and barriers.
http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2006/16.html
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released "Internet Infrastructure: DHS Faces Challenges in Developing a Joint Public/Private Recovery Plan" in June. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the internet, asked for a summary of the report in support of a hearing on "CyberSecurity: Protecting America's Critical Infrastructure, Economy, and Consumers". GAO explains that "since the early 1990s growth in the use of the internet has revolutionized the way that our nation communicates and conducts business. While the internet originated as a US government-sponsored research project, the vast majority of its infrastructure is currently owned and operated by the private sector. Federal policy recognizes the need to prepare for debilitating internet disruptions and asks the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with developing and integrated public/private plan for internet recovery".
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-672
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-1100T
http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/09132006hearing2022/hearing.htm
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CIM Transportation
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Some security experts have suggested that recent security incidents involving the airline industry could be terrorist probes to investigate response.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200609180311.htm
http://www.alpa.org/DesktopModules/ALPA_Documents/ALPA_DocumentsView.aspx?itemid=4649&ModuleId=2618&Tabid=73
Security at Thailand's new airport has been strengthened following a series of apparent sabotage incidents and an increased terrorism threat.
http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=24861
Items newly banned on US airliners are often getting past screeners.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091201635.html
The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Subcommittee on Aviation, held a hearing on "Rural Air Service". Among the topics addressed were federal programs for providing and improving air service to small communities.
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1794
Singapore is strengthening port security by more than doubling their list of controlled items.
The US Senate approved comprehensive port security legislation. The House passed a similar bill in May and the two bodies must now develop a consensus version.
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=248660&Month=9&Year=2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/15/news/secure.php
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/14/AR2006091401240.html
"Depot Maintenance: Improvements Needed to Achieve Benefits from Consolidations and Funding Changes at Naval Shipyards" is a new report from the Government Accountability Office that analyzes changes to improve fleet support activities, recommending improved cost visibility, performance measures, and information systems.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-989
The Coast Guard issued a Fact Sheet on its efforts since 9/11.
https://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/786/131107/
Bombadier Transportation and March Networks have agreed to jointly design and develop mobile security for the passenger rail market.
http://www.bombardier.com/
http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/287943274155031.php
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CIM Water
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The Scottish National Liberation Army emailed a threat to poison England's water supply to The Sunday Times of London office in Glasgow, Scotland.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=200-9457r
In the Australian state of New South Wales, the government announced an A$1.7 million investment in rainwater harvesting projects, and has also opened a water recycling project.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rainwater-harvesting-project-launched/2006/09/11/1157826854257.html
China's water supply is endangered by more than 130 accidents involving contamination of water supplies in less than a year.
The American Water Works Association (AWWA) reports on water security post 9/11:
http://www.watertechonline.com/news.asp?mode=4&N_ID=63630
News highlights from the past week are provided in this free email update, but detailed analysis, background information and source documents are only available to subscribers. Disaster Reduction Monitor subscriptions and other titles can be purchased here:
TAMNI Publications
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DRM Incidents
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Northwest of Madagascar a ship with up to 77 people on board sank in bad weather: 44 survivors have been rescued. The captain and the ship's owner were held for questioning.
Ten high-ranking military officers were killed when a Russian military helicopter crashed in the North Caucasus, and four were injured during military exercises.
In remote western districts in Nepal floods and landslides have killed nine people, including six members of one family when their home was destroyed in a landslide. Relief had been delayed but has begun to arrive.
The Suez Canal was briefly closed after an Egyptian dredger sank following a suspect pump explosion. Two people are confirmed dead, two are missing and believed dead, and about 50 were safe.
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DRM Response and Recovery
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The World Food Program is battling bad weather and landslides to deliver emergency rations for tens of thousands of flood survivors in Nepal.
http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2244
Howard French discusses China's response to Typhoon Saomai and the way official accounts of the disaster have emerged and changed over time in this New York Times article (14 September).
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/world/asia/14china.html
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DRM Risks
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In West Sumatra, Indonesia, Mount Talang has increased volcanic activity, raising the threat alert level.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued an advisory of unexpected El Nino conditions that could lead to extreme weather in many parts of the world.
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2699.htm
IOMA Research report "Corporate Anti-Terrorism Benchmarks and Best Practices" finds that terrorism preparedness is incomplete.
http://www.ioma.com/issues/SPCRPT/1608633-1.html
California's State Auditor released "Emergency Preparedness: California's Administration of Federal Grants for Homeland Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Is Hampered by Inefficiencies and Ambiguity". The audit revealed that:
* The State's two annual statewide exercises have not sufficiently tested the medical and health response systems.
* The Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Emergency Services) and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security have been slow in spending federal grant awards for homeland security.
* Emergency Services is behind schedule in its receipt and review of county and state agency emergency operations plans.
* The California Department of Health Services has not finalized its plans to conduct on-site reviews of subrecipients.
* The State's organizational structure for ensuring emergency preparedness is neither streamlined nor well defined.
http://www.bsa.ca.gov/reports/summary.php?id=511
Guy Carpenter's "World Catastrophe Reinsurance Market" reports that in response to the rising frequency and severity of North Atlantic storms:
"The major modeling companies have reviewed or re-interpreted their tropical storm models... leading to higher probably maximum losses (PMSs) for cedents at the same return period. For example, one model change led to increased modeled annualized insurance losses of 40 percent on average across the Gulf Coast, Florida, and the southeast United States, compared to losses based on long-term 1900-2005 historical average hurricane frequencies".
http://www.guycarp.com/portal/extranet/popup/pdf/GCPub/World Catastrophe Report 2006.pdf
Following a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in Florida last week, experts explained that quakes are relatively rare and hurricanes will always present a bigger threat.
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/11/State/Gulf_quake_rates_a_sh.shtml
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1552
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DRM Mitigation
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Chicago's mass evacuation drill earlier this month revealed the need to use shoes that are practical for descending in high rise buildings, where high heels or slip-ons make it difficult to walk down many flights of stairs.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-evac08.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060907drill,1,172682.story
The UN Environment Program has partnered with Google Earth to spotlight crisis zones.
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=487&ArticleID=5350&l=en
Guy Carpenter's "World Catastrophe Reinsurance Market" reports there are wide variations in global property catastrophe reinsurance premiums. The report covers 22 countries and four regions that represent more than 90 percent of the world's catastrophe reinsurance market. The highest, average rate increases are offered in the US (76 percent) and Mexico (129 percent). These market price discriminations were specific to both countries and regions within countries, and this split in rates between those areas that were catastrophe impacted and those that were not bodes well for the resilience of the market.
http://www.guycarp.com/portal/extranet/popup/pdf/GCPub/World Catastrophe Report 2006.pdf
In "Casualty Specialty Update" Guy Carpenter provides articles on third party liabilities from acts of terrorism, workers' compensation and employers' liability insurance, and director and officer class actions, as each is addressed in Europe.
http://www.guycarp.com/portal/extranet/popup/pdf/GCPub/Casualty Specialty Update Sept 06.pdf
The US House Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, held a hearing on "Stabilizing Insurance Markets for Coastal Consumers". Testimony primarily from industry representatives discussed the need for public-private partnerships to develop market-based solutions for catastrophe insurance, including government support of new building codes, land use regulations, and support for state and federal backdrops.
http://financialservices.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=506&comm=1
The California Earthquake Authority lowered insurance rates in July, making thousands eligible for refunds.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-quakeinsure12sep12,1,4664746.story
http://www.earthquakeauthority.com/
Connecticut's Insurance Commissioner Susan F. Cogswell is considering expansion of the state's last-resort insurance program to include wind insurance pools from other states, expanding options in a difficult coastal insurance market. She also asked insurers in the state to abide by a 90-day moratorium on forcing homeowners to install hurricane-proof shutters in order to keep their insurance coverage, on deductible increases, and on policy cancellations.
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-shoreinsure0915.artsep15,0,5332812.story
http://www.ct.gov/cid/cwp/view.asp?Q=319664&A=1269
To honor the 5th anniversary of 9/11, we are relisting the recent books, reports, and news specials related to the event.
Books
-------------------
David Friend, "Watching the World Change: The Stores Behind the Images of 9/11", (Farar, Straus and Giroux).
http://davidfriend.net/about.php
Reviews:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/books/review/Keillor.t.html?ex=1158033600&en=efd1c55aaca6b6d0&ei=5070
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0609/wtwc.html
Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon, "The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation" (Hill and Wang).
Reviews:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5287968.stm
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/books/reviews/4155666.html
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6365955.html?display=current&industry=Sara+Nelson&verticalid=792
Author Interview:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5690970
Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, "Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission" (Knopf)
https://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307263773
Reviews:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06232/714598-148.stm
http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews2/0307263770.asp
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060909.BKTWIN09/TPStory/Entertainment/Books
Joel Meyerowitz, "Aftermath: World Trade Center Archive" (Phaidon)
Reviews:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/books/review/Mahler.t.html?ex=1158033600&en=c3886155c59b77d1&ei=5070
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/books/reviews/4155665.html
Author Interviews:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/faith/interviews/meyerowitz.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1490523
Lawrence Wright, "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" (Knopf)
http://www.lawrencewright.com/books.html
Reviews:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/books/review/06filkins.html?ex=1158033600&en=19d3e37152a4672e&ei=5070
http://www.slate.com/id/2146654/entry/2146655/
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0905/p14s03-bogn.html
Author interview:
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2006/09/20060905_a_main.asp
Additional books are mentioned here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0907/p13s02-bogn.html
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6364855.html?pubdate=8%2F21%2F2006&display=archive
Items addressing 9/11 conspiracy theories:
-------------------
NIST World Trade Center fact sheet.
http://wtc.nist.gov
Popular Mechanics, "Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts" (Hearst)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/03/INGR0KRCBA1.DTL
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/article.jsp?content=20060904_132517_132517
State Department, " The Top September 11 Conspiracy Theories"
http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=pubs-english&y=2006&m=August&x=20060828133846esnamfuaK0.2676355
Reports
-------------------
Brookings Institution, "Five Years After 9/11 "
http://www.brookings.org/comm/infocus/911.htm
Chatham House, "The War on Terror: Do the Rules Need Changing?"
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/index.php?id=189&pid=316
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/pdf/research/il/BPwaronterror.pdf
Chatham House, " Al-Qaeda Five Years On: Threats and Challenges"
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/index.php?id=189&pid=318
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/pdf/research/mep/AlQaeda0806.pdf"
Foreign Policy "What 9/11 Didn't Change"
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=220
News Specials:
-------------------
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/5321414.stm
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/the_long_war_sept_11
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2006/09/03/911__5/
CBS
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/september11/main500249.shtml
Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0911/p01s02-usgn.html
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2002/america.remembers/
Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/0,,597544,00.html
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-091106-sept11coverage,0,7725462.special?coll=la-home-headlines
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/special_packages/sept11/
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/index.html
Newsweek
http://www.time.com/time/2006/september11/
Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/special_packages/sept11/
Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/911-five-years-on/2006/09/10/1157826815886.html
Time
http://www.time.com/time/2006/september11/
Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,31229,00.html
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/9-11-index.htm
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/911/
Prior TerrorismCentral coverage:
-------------------
"Voices of 9/11"
https://terrorismcentral.com/Newsletters/2005/091105.html#FeatureArticle
"Losing the 'War on Terrorism'"
https://terrorismcentral.com/Newsletters/2004/091204.html#FeatureArticle
8. Asset Management Network News
Haven't heard of botnets? Not sure if nanotechnology is an idea or a threat? Heard about disaster plans but don't have one? Want to educate your own staff about insider threats? Need a list of companies that provide biometric identification products? Have you read a news topic where we didn't provide enough background, or missed a major issue on your radar screen? Contact us with questions, or consider our custom research and report services, for internal use or customized information distribution.
We will be attending "Connected Health -Empowering Care through Communications Technologies" on 18-19 September, where we will provide information on lessons learned and experiences shared between the financial services and healthcare industries, such as payment systems, security, identity management, data normalization, and outsourcing. The symposium "is bringing together thought leaders from each aspect of healthcare and technology, to discuss the innovative applications of new healthcare communications technologies. Interactive sessions, workshops and panel discussions will focus on the application of these technologies and the impact on providing quality patient care, the management of telemedicine programs in healthcare settings and strategies for integrating connected health throughout the healthcare system". The Connected Health Initiative is a project involving Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Partners Telemedicine.
http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?i=f72fe396-bcfc-4e8b-bd21-15f2e83d5673
Visit our online store to purchase subscriptions to the Monitor series as well as our Special Reports, including our new Special Report "Trends in Terrorism: 2005".
Email info@tamni.com for details about the new products, publications, and information about services, including custom research.