The threat of a second nuclear age and the expected consequences of climate change have led the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society, to move the Doomsday Clock from seven to five minutes to midnight, the figurative end of civilization. This seemed like a good time to provide a review of "First Into Nagasaki". This book, hot off the press, is featured in Recommended Reading. Other news ranges from fresh outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza to an unprecedented hurricane in Germany that for the first time shut down the entire rail system.

3. AML/CFT Monitor

Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism is not simply an issue of compliance with local regulations. It is a global crime that can only be understood by crossing national or regional boundaries. Subscribers to the monthly AML/CFT Monitor receive information and analysis of worldwide incidents, trends, legal and regulatory issues, modalities, and related topics such as financial fraud and narcoterrorism.
http://secure.netsolhost.com/573566.585211/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=TP
--------------------------------------------------
AML/CFT Incidents/Cases
--------------------------------------------------
Australian music entrepreneur Glenn Wheatley has been charged with tax evasion. He is the first high-profile target of Operation Wickenby, a national investigation into illegal use of offshore tax and money-laundering schemes.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/wheatley-first-target-of-major-moneylaundering-probe/2007/01/19/1169095981213.html

Colombian police have captured Eugenio Montoya Sanchez ("Don Hugo"), an alleged leader of the Norte del Valle drug cartel. In a series of raids Colombian authorities have seized $54 million in cash and gold from shipments delivered by the Norte del Valle cartel. Twenty people were also arrested.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/16/ap/world/mainD8MM44OG2.shtml
http://www.channel4.com/news/content/news-storypage.jsp?id=7782609
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/fugitives/spanish/extrad_detalles/extra_detalle_05.html (in Spanish)

Six wealthy Egyptian businessmen have been arrested on suspicion of membership in and financing of the Muslim Brotherhood.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6266329.stm

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih spoke at parliament's second reading of the 2007 budget. He said that militants are taking most of the $1.5 billion a year stolen from the Baiji refinery alone. Smuggling and corruption are costing the country billions each year.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/RAS445332.htm

Sheikh Talal Nasser al-Sabah, a member of Kuwait's royal family, has been fined $35,000 and sentenced to death for trafficking hashish, laundering the proceeds, and illegally possessing weapons. The sentence will be appealed.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Kuwait/10097003.html

Mexico extradited 15 accused drug traffickers and other criminals to the US, the largest number ever.
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/January/07_ag_030.html

Nigerian Daily Trust owner Muhammed Bello Damagun was arraigned on three counts of receiving a total $300,000 from Al-Qaeda World Network to finance and recruit Nigerian Taleban trained in Mauritania.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/january07/17012007/f417012007.html

Alexi Frenkel has been arrested and charged in Russia for conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the contract killing of central banker Andrei Kozlov. Kozlov, who led Russian AML efforts, closed Frenkel's private VIP Bank just three months before his murder. His successful crackdown on money laundering and corruption made him a target, and the most high profile public figure killed under President Putin's regime. Frenkel claims that he has been targeted because he refused to participate in the money laundering operations of the Central Bank.
http://mosnews.com/news/2007/01/12/frenkelcharged_.shtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6264753.stm
http://www.kommersant.com/p733920/r_530/
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070119/59374920.html

Yaya Yahayai ("Topmidas"), Henry Sichone ("Wale"), and Andrew Sarpong were extradited from Thailand to the US, where they are wanted for allegedly participating in conspiracies to distribute heroin received from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Burma, and northern Thailand, worldwide. Thailand's first court-ordered wiretap, part of "Operation Ivory", was the key to breaking up the heroin trafficking organization.
http://www.dea.gov/pubs/states/newsrel/nyc011807.html
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--internationalhero0118jan18,0,3118339.story

The UK Assets Recovery Agency seized 77 properties worth GBP11.8 million. The properties are believed part of the fuel smuggling operations of Thomas "Slab" Murphy, the Irish Republican Army's chief of staff.
http://www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk/MediaCentre/PressReleases/2007/ARAFREEZES11.8MILLIONOFPROPERTYINMANCHESTER.htm
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/18/europe/EU-GEN-NIreland-IRA-Chief.php

Raheel "Ray" Shiekh pleaded guilty in US District Court in Detroit to laundering money on behalf of a drug organization by converting more than $1.2 million in currency into cashiers checks used to purchase buildings in Detroit and other locations, using a number of different names to disguise ownership.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070119/METRO03/701190326/1014

Jamine Alabre and Mathurin Ambroise have been charged with money laundering and receiving stolen property. Alabre allegedly embezzled $1.1 million from her employer, and with her boyfriend laundered it through New Jersey casinos.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/story/7127753p-6983602c.html

Childhood friends Celso Trinidad-Castro and Eusebio Aguilera-Meza grew up running multimillion-dollar businesses in which Trinidad-Castro distributed street drugs and Aguilera-Meza laundered the profits through his money transmitter company. They and their associates now face trafficking and money laundering charges in Utah and Mexico.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5015684
--------------------------------------------------
AML/CFT Legislation and Regulation
--------------------------------------------------
The Royal Bank of Canada issues clarification of US Dollar Accounts, which are possible for dual citizens that meet AML/CFT requirements.
http://www.rbc.com/newsroom/20070117us.html
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/172273

Ecuador's newly elected leftist President Rafael plans to step back from close relations with the US, which is likely to include non-renewal of the US lease on the Manta air base, where drug surveillance planes have been based since 2000, putting into question US anti-drug programs in the area.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-colombador15jan15,0,1889384.story

Indian finance minister Chidambaram has scheduled a meeting with bank leaders to discuss AML issues related to suspicious activity reporting, which is likely to be the basis for amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India_Business/FM_to_meet_bankers_on_money-laundering/articleshow/1322723.cms

Indonesia plans to take legal action to retrieve millions stolen under former President Soeharto. He allegedly redirected the funds from state coffers to foreign accounts.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/jakarta-to-seek-soeharto-millions/2007/01/15/1168709679044.html

Irish special branch police are monitoring Tunisian banker Chafiq Ayadi, who has been accused of financing al Qaeda.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-2546365,00.html

Israel Defense Forces object to US plans to spend $86 million to equip Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's security force because it is likely that some of the equipment will end up with Fatah militants and be used for terrorism.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/814673.html

Jamaica's House of Representatives approved a resolution to designate insurance brokers and intermediaries as financial institutions under the Money Laundering Act.
http://www.radiojamaica.com/news/story.php?category=2&story=32020
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000052/005241.htm

Japan has limited ATM cash transfers to 100,000 yen per transaction to help prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200701040109.html

A 5-year investigation in Malta has led to four arrests. Three men and one women were charged with money laundering in the "carousel fraud case" that involved moving money from Italy to Maltese bank accounts, changed to bank drafts, and distributed through a brokerage. The court banned revealing the names of the accused.
http://www.maltamedia.com/artman2/publish/law_order/article_275.shtml
http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=249504

The Philippines central bank and customs bureau are being asked to reconsider cash confiscation policies because airlines and travel agencies say current practices are hurting tourism.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=63802

Syrian opposition sources claim that Iran has provided tens of millions to support militias under the control of President Assad.
http://menewsline.com/stories/2007/january/01_18_1.html

US President Bush has renewed for one year the freeze on the assets of Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, and other "foreign terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process".
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070118-4.html

In the case of Rahmani v United States, the Supreme court refused without comment to intervene in the case of seven Iranian refugees, now all US citizens, were charged with providing financial support to an organization designated by the Department of State as a terrorist organization, several years after contributions had been made. In addition to the issue of retroactive designation, the case questioned whether the group could appeal against its designation. The People's Mojahedin insists it is a legitimate political opposition group, and this position was supported by a brief from the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus of the House.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/washington/09scotus.html

US financial examiners have asked Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs) to identify to their sponsoring bank those responsible for loading and reloading ATMs, and to document the location and ownership of each. They warn that an ATM could easily be refilled with illicit currency, which could in turn be withdrawn by legitimate customers.
http://www.selfserviceworld.com/article.php?id=16816

The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has delivered a mandated report to Congress which states that reporting of cross-border wire transfer data by financial institutions is technically feasible for the government and may be valuable in AML/CFT efforts. They propose moving forward incrementally, by first spending the next year to conduct a cost-benefit analysis with the participation of both the financial services industry and law enforcement, to determine and quantify both the benefits to the public of such a system and the costs to all parties affected by any such potential regulatory requirement, and to address concerns regarding technical capacity and privacy. This research provides the foundation for policy makers to decide whether to implement such a reporting requirement. If so, public comment and administrative rulemaking would follow.
http://www.fincen.gov/news_release_cross_border.html
--------------------------------------------------
AML/CFT Modalities
--------------------------------------------------
New Zealand correctional officials describe methods of smuggling drugs into prisons, including stuffing tennis balls, fruit, or dead birds with methamphetamine, and throwing them over prison fences into exercise yards.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sundaynews/3930692a11.html

The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released "Mortgage Loan Fraud: An Industry Assessment based upon Suspicious Activity Report Analysis". Between 1997 and 2005, SARs pertaining to mortgage loan fraud increased by 1,411 percent. In 2006, 7,093 reports were filed, a 35 percent increase over the same period in 2005. This is due in part to greater awareness of the risk. Vulnerabilities the report identified include automated loan processing, sub-prime loans associated with suspected fraud, mortgage broker originated loans, identity theft, and exploitation of people on fixed incomes and the elderly.
http://www.fincen.gov/MortgageLoanFraud.pdf

4. Emerging Threat Monitor

Climate change, pandemics, and global economic imbalances are just a few of the threats emerging in this 21st century. Subscribers to the Emerging Threat Monitor stay a step ahead with monthly analysis of trends and responses worldwide. It offers executives a heads-up of new risks, and details of the policies and best practices gleaned from every country around the globe.
http://secure.netsolhost.com/573566.585211/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=TP
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Corruption and Transnational Crime
--------------------------------------------------
Following allegations that UN Development Program (UNDP) funds may have been siphoned off by North Korea, UNDP will no longer pay hard currency for its operations in North Korea, and a system-wide audit has been launched into all UN funds and programs around the world.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21282&Cr=dprk&Cr1=

Following the state of emergency in Bangladesh, the military and the technocrats they have placed in government plan a massive anti-corruption drive, but the Anti-Corruption Commission has not yet launched a single investigation.
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto011620071915090993
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/01/19/d7011901022.htm

Shanghai police have detained up to 22 staff working for a number of foreign multinationals in connection with a bribery investigation.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=303395&type=Metro

Former Volkswagen personnel boss Peter Hartz admitted making illegal payments to union officials. He is charged in Germany with 44 charges of breach of trust, and is negotiating a plea agreement.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=abCw7FZ7TJ4k

Israel Finance Ministry accountant general Yaron Zelekha named Israel as the most corrupt country in the West, but is optimistic that the problems are being addressed.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/813765.html

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is under investigation for his role in the 2005 privatization of Bank Leumi. This is yet another in a series of corruption inquiries.

An Italian judge invoked the statute of limitations to reject embezzlement charges against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and of receiving stolen goods against British lawyer David Mills. The two men and 11 others face other fraud charges in connection with a complex offshore tax evasion system.

Deloitte has reached a settlement with Parmalat in which it agrees to pay EU115 million to end allegations that the company's previous management was able to continue fraudulent activities because auditors and banks knew or should have known something was wrong but failed to act. Other suits continue.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/01/12/ap3325239.html

The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission has cleared Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi of any wrongdoing in the Anglo Leasing scandal.
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=89941

Liberian police are questioning former President Gyude Bryant regarding allegations of stealing state funds. A 2-year-old Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) audit found some $30 million missing, and named other people, who will also be investigated.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200701190418.html

Former South African ruling ANC parliamentary whip Tony Yengeni was freed from prison after serving five months of a 4-year fraud conviction.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=295724

The chief executives and board members of Swissair who served in the late 1990s are on trial in Switzerland for charges that include false accounting and criminal mismanagement in connection with the airline's sudden bankruptcy in October 2001.
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/detail/Business_elite_tried_over_Swissair_collapse.html?siteSect=105&sid=7432371&cKey=1168890889000

Controversy over bribery investigations into BAE arms deals with Saudi Arabia and South Africa have increased pressure on UK Prime Minister Blair to launch full inquiries. He claims that a corruption inquiry into a Saudi arms deal would have had a devastating effect on British-Saudi relations and threatened national security, but MI6 denies ever issuing any such warnings. Anti-arms campaigners in South Africa are demanding a speedy investigation. Significantly, the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) Working Group on Bribery rebuked the UK for dropping the Saudi arms bribery inquiry.
http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page10763.asp
http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,,1991281,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,,1992934,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/01/08/saudi.warplanes.ap/
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleId=295457
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57127
http://www.oecd.org/document/43/0,2340,en_2649_201185_37948971_1_1_1_1,00.html

Ruth Turner, a political advisor to Britain's prime minister, was arrested on Friday and questioned on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. She has been released on bail pending further inquiries. This was the fourth arrest in an ongoing investigation into the alleged exchange of political donations for peerages. The Sunday Telegraph reports that police hacked into Downing Street computers to search for evidence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6280521.stm
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/funding/story/0,,1994854,00.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/20/nloans20.xml
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/21/npeers21.xml

Former UN Oil-for-Food Chief Benon Sevan has been indicted in US court on charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He is the first UN official charged with wrongdoing, but is the 14th charged to date in the ongoing US investigation. An arrest warrant for Sevan, who lives is Cyprus, has been issued.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/world/17nations.html
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=30184&cat_id=1

Former US Republican congressman Bob Ney has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for corruption in connection with his association to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Ney pleaded guilty to trading political favors for money and gifts.
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/January/07_crm_027.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011900162.html
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Economies and Financial Systems
--------------------------------------------------
The World Social Forum opened on 20 January and will continue until the 25th. More than 80,000 people have gathered in Kenya, to campaign for fair trade, a sustainable environment, and against poverty and war. Debt cancellation and an end to agricultural subsidies in developed countries are among the leading items on the agenda, as is HIV/AIDS and a range of human rights and equality issues.
http://www.wsf2007.org/
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=89996
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57083
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6281649.stm

"Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union" is a new report from the World Bank. It reports that remittances benefit both migrants' families and their home countries. For many of the poorest countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia they are the largest source of outside income and have served as a cushion against the economic and political turbulence of the past 15 years. Remittances represent over 20 percent of GDP in Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina and over 10 percent in Albania, Armenia, and Tajikistan. The report recommends closer coordination of national policies to ensure balance between migrant labor supply and demand through legal channels.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/0,,contentMDK:21173991~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:258599,00.html

China reports that foreign currency reserves at the end of 2006 exceeded $1 trillion, the largest pool of foreign currency in the world. Foreign direct investment increased by five percent over 2005.

Montenegro has become the 185th Member of the International Monetary Fund.
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2007/pr077.htm

The US Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on long-term economic and budget challenges in which Federal Reserve head Ben Bernake warned that benefit reform is urgently needed lest economic growth is threatened.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/testimony/2007/20070118/default.htm
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Environment and Climate Change
--------------------------------------------------
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is finalizing its 4th assessment report, which finds 90 percent likelihood that emissions from burning fossil fuels have caused global warming.
http://www.ipcc.ch/

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) appealed to the international community to plant a billion trees around the world this year as part of Plant for the Planet campaign, which identifies four key areas for planting: degraded natural forests and wilderness areas; farms and rural landscapes; sustainable plantation management; and urban environments, but it can also begin with a single tree in a back garden.
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=498&ArticleID=5497&l=en

Pledges can be entered on the web site:
http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign

Africa produces no significant level of greenhouse gases, but emissions from the developed world is contributing to the dehydration of the entire continent. This article describes the case of Lake Chad, which was once the third largest body of inland water on the continent, and which is on course to disappear in just two decades. The shrinking lake already has had a devastating impact on the fishing industry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6261447.stm

Global warming is encouraging large increases in jellyfish populations that have led to twice as many Australian swimmers (from 13,000 to 26,000) being stung.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/jellyfish-victims-double-and-global-warming-could-mean-even-more/2007/01/21/1169330767444.html

Australia's drought has driven tens of thousands of venomous reptiles into urban areas, presenting an increased danger to humans.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21079632-1702,00.html

Brazil's plans for managed large-scale logging in the Amazon will move forward this year, relying on the local population and a new Forest Service with 150 employees, to police the vast area.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/world/americas/14amazon.html

China's Ministry of Agriculture reports that a third of the fish species in the Yellow River are extinct, raising serious questions of whether the country's major rivers are able to support life.
http://www.mwr.gov.cn/english1/20070117/81428.asp

Jakarta, Indonesia, has joined the Urban Environmental Accord.
http://www.wed2005.org/3.1.php

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL) has returned to the traditional hima method of sustainable development, based on communal land and traditional businesses in which the local community protests wildlife and natural resources.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=78650

Swedish power company Vattenfall has released the "Global Climate Impact Abatement Map". The company surveyed climate change control measures around the world and concludes that sustainable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is technically and financially feasible if existing technical solutions are applied consistently.
http://www.vattenfall.com/www/vf_com/vf_com/370103press/558539press/index.jsp?pmid=78403&WT.ac=content
http://www.vattenfall.com/climatemap/

Britain's environment department is taking steps to clarify and quantify carbon offsetting, which is currently an unregulated market.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/latest/2007/climate-0118.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6274325.stm

The UK Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee took evidence from economist Sir Nicholas Stern, who said he is encouraged by progress being made by countries, particularly in the EU and the US state of California, to tackle climate change.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmenvaud/uc227-i/uc22701.htm

The Zoological Society of London has launched a conservation program to save the world's weirdest creatures, many of which are ignored by current international conservation efforts. The bizarre and unusual creatures that will be the focus of 2007 are:
* Yangtze River dolphin
* Attenborough's long-beaked echidna (egg-laying mammal)
* Hispaniolan solenodon (venomous shrew-like creature)
* Bactrian camel
* Pygmy hippopotamus
* Slender Loris (a shy, nocturnal primate with gigantic eyes)
* Hirola antelope (antelope known as "four-eye antelope", as their preorbital glands look like a second set of eyes)
* Golden-rumped elephant shrew (the size of a small rabbit; can run at speeds of up to 25km/h)
* Bumblebee bat (possibly the world's smallest mammal)
* Long-eared jerboa (mouse-like animals with the largest ear to body ratio of any mammal)
http://www.zsl.org/whipsnade/news/saving-the-worlds-weirdest-creatures,333,NS.html
http://www.edgeofexistence.org/

The US Geological Survey found endocrine disruptors (sex changing chemicals) in the Potomac River and its tributaries.
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1606

The state of Massachusetts has rejoined the 7-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2007/01/18/patrick_signs_regional_greenhouse_gas_initiative/
http://www.rggi.org/
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Human Rights
--------------------------------------------------
More than 80,000 anti-globalization protesters have arrived in Kenya for the World Social Forum.
http://www.wsf2007.org/
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57083
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6281649.stm

17 January marked the 30th anniversary of the execution of Gary Gilmore in the US state of Utah. It was the first to take place after the 1976 US Supreme Court decision, Gregg v Georgia, which allowed executions to resume. Since then, more than 1,050 have taken place in the US, particularly in the states of Texas, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. However, ten states have put executions on hold pending challenges to protocols for lethal injections.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510112007
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/document.do?id=ENGAMR510122007&tr=y&auid=2288605

Rwanda's cabinet has voted to replace the death penalty with life in prison. The change must be approved by parliament. If it proceeds, countries holding genocide suspects that object to capital punishment could proceed with extraditions to Rwanda.

Ecpat UK has released a new report revealing that dozens of children have been trafficked and exploited in England.
http://www.ecpat.org.uk/press_01.html

A trafficking case in the US has resulted in a sentence of life in prison. Nineteen of more than 70 immigrants crammed into the back of Tyrone Williams' truck died during a journey from Central America and Mexico en route to Texas in May 2003. Although he avoided a death sentence, he is not eligible for parole.

Ishmael Beah describes his life as a child soldier during Sierra Leone's civil war in this memoir.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/magazine/14soldier.t.html

The African Media Development Initiative conducted a survey of 17 African countries. They found that the media is not strong enough or sufficiently independent to check government excesses, and that professional, technical, ethical and management standards remained low. Although journalists are poorly paid, poorly trained, and subject to government control, there has been a proliferation of media organizations in the last five years.
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=89646
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/trust/specials/1552_trust_amdi/index.shtml

The Inspector General of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released "Treatment of Immigration Detainees Housed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement Facilities". The audit of five facilities used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to house immigration detainees focused on compliance with detention standards regarding healthcare, environmental health and safety, general conditions of confinement, and reporting of abuse. They identified multiple incidents of noncompliance, and also noted that the ICE Detention Standard on Detainee Grievance Procedures does not provide a process for detainees to report abuse or civil rights violations. Two detention facilities did not issue handbooks specifically addressing detainee's rights, responsibilities, and rules; and three did not translate handbooks and orientation material into Spanish and other prevalent languages. ICE is addressing the concerns and recommendations.
http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_07-01_Dec06.pdf
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Infectious Diseases
--------------------------------------------------
World Bank experts say the avian influenza virus remains a threat to poultry and human health, and should be treated as a permanent threat. Carried by wild birds and through poultry trade, the virus now has reached at least 55 nations around the world. The Food and Agriculture Organization reports that over 220 million domestic birds in developing countries have died or been culled in efforts to contain the virus. Economic losses in the Southeast Asia poultry sector alone are estimated at around $10 billion, and culling has cost the African poultry industry another $60 million.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21178498~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html

There were a number of serious incidents this week:
* The World Health Organization has warned that H5N1 is making a seasonal resurgence in Asia and can easily spread to Europe again this year.
* Hong Kong is testing Crested Goshawk, which carried an H5 strain, and is concerned that Buddhist rituals involving mass release of birds could spread bird flu to poultry
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG272018.htm
* Following the death of four people infected with H5N1 avian influenza last week, Indonesia banned commercial animal husbandry from residential areas to help prevent spread of the virus. Although the ban began as a voluntary measure it will become mandatory later this month. People have two weeks to consume, sell or destroy their birds. Only owners with fowl infected with H5N1 will receive compensation. Next week the ban will be extended from Jakarta to other provinces.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK176607.htm
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/backyard-poultry-ban-as-indonesia-acts-to-stop-bird-flu/2007/01/16/1168709753018.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/01/18/birdflu.asia.reut/index.html
* An outbreak in a farm southwest of Tokyo led Japanese authorities to cull 12,000 birds last weekend. It has confirmed that the outbreak involved the H5N1 strain. Following the outbreak, Hong Kong has banned all Japanese poultry imports
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-01/16/content_5614420.htm
* Two fatal infections in Egypt indicate resistance to the antiviral drug oseltamivir.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_01_18/en/index.html
* South Korea is preparing a cull of more than 386,000 poultry following an outbreak of a virulent strain of bird flu.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/01/19/skorea.birdflu.ap/
* Thailand has reported its first outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in six months, following the deaths of about 100 ducks. There have been mass culls, and provincial governors have been told to declare affected areas as disaster zones, so emergency funds can be provided to help eradicate the virus and fund containment measures.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/18Jan2007_news16.php
* In a study of nonhuman primates infected with the influenza virus that killed 50 million people in 1918, an international team of scientists has found a critical clue to how the virus killed so quickly and efficiently, by hijacking the body's own immune system.
http://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/13360.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6271833.stm
* In Vietnam, avian influenza has spread to a seventh province in the Mekong Delta.
http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=24320
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e9f79c66-a3f9-11db-bec4-0000779e2340.html
http://www.oie.int/downld/AVIAN%20INFLUENZA/A_AI-Asia.htm
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_01_15/en/index.html
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/country/cases_table_2007_01_15/en/index.html

The ASEAN summit included a special session on HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS provided a report in which it called AIDS "not a passing storm but a long-run threat to development and national security in Asia". It called for decisive leadership in the region of the world with the second largest number of people living with HIV infections.
http://www.unaids.org/en/MediaCentre/PressMaterials/FeatureStory/20070112_ASEAN_Session_AIDS.asp

Researchers at Brazil's Oswaldo Cruz Institute have developed an anti-microbial gel from algae that preliminary tests have found is 95 percent efficient in blocking HIV infections. This could provide powerful protection for women.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6266527.stm
http://www.ioc.fiocruz.br/pages/informerede/corpo/noticia/2007/janeiro/15_01_07_01.htm (in Portuguese)

As of 12 January there have been 220 suspected cases and 82 deaths in Kenya from Rift Valley Fever.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_01_15a/en/index.html
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Legal Systems
--------------------------------------------------
The UK Association of Chief Police Officers gave evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee in which it was disclosed that offenses committed overseas were not being entered into the Police National Computer/ This involved more than 27,500 cases, of which some 540 British criminals have been identified as having been committed of serious crimes committed abroad. About 70 of those convicted are back in the UK, where their criminal backgrounds to not appear in employment background checks. An investigation into the matter continues, and an unnamed senior official has been suspended.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2547909,00.html
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news/crimes-abroad

Zimbabwe's Judge President of the High Court Rita Makarau warns that lack of funding or support for the crumbling judicial system is encouraging corruption.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=295860
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Natural Resources
--------------------------------------------------
The World Wildlife Fund released "Gone in an Instant". The report finds that multinational chains including Starbucks, Kraft, Nestle and other major companies have purchased coffee planted illegally in Indonesia's most important national park for tigers, elephants, and rhinos.
http://www.worldwildlife.org/coffee/
http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2007/01/18/brk,20070118-91527,uk.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b19e8234-a698-11db-937f-0000779e2340.html

Guinea has at least a third of global bauxite reserves. Foreign countries have been mining the rock then transporting it for refining. Now Guinea is launching a new factory that will allow it to process bauxite into alumina, the ore from which aluminum is made. Bauxite costs $20 per ton while refined alumina goes for up to $400 a ton.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6254719.stm
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Populations
--------------------------------------------------
"Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union" is a new report from the World Bank. It reports that migration can benefit both sending and receiving countries and reduce poverty among migrants if it is better coordinated between countries. It has been well publicized that migration to Western Europe has increased significantly over the past 15 years, with Western Europe receiving 42 percent of migrants from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as growing numbers of migrants from the former Soviet Union. What is less known is that on a global level, Germany and France are the only Western European nations in the top-ten migrant-receiving countries. Russia is number two; Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Poland are also in the top ten. Potential benefits of circular migration include:
* Receiving countries could fill labor shortages, increase revenue, and reduce social tensions related to undocumented and unmanaged migration;
* Sending countries would accumulate human capital that might otherwise be lost; and
* Migrants could increase their income, build human capital and financial savings, maintain links with their families, pay lower remittance costs, and create trade/investment linkages between countries.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/0,,contentMDK:21173991~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:258599,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6266775.stm

Angola, in association with the Catholic Church, has carried out massive levels of forced evictions, usually accompanied with excessive use of force, to free land for new middle- and upper-class housing projects, and a new church sanctuary. None of the affected residents has received compensation or alternative accommodation. More than three million have been evicted since 2000. In December, Christian Aid issued a similar warning of Mugabe-style clearances.
http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGAFR120022007
http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/news/stories/061222s.htm

Botswana President Festus Mogae and his colleagues met with the San Bushmen to discuss terms and conditions of their return to their ancestral lands.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57124
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=296274&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/

"On the run with the Karen people forced to flee Burma's genocide" describes an experience all too common among the country's ethnic minorities.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2157351.ece

In a series of articles, IRIN news organization documents the levels of violence and consequent needs of the population in different areas of Iraq.
Anbar:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57061
Baghdad:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57101
Basra:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57079
Kurdistan:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57111

In Israel's Negev Desert the indigenous Bedouins are struggling to survive.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57106

A Russian law limits non-Russians working in retail to 40 percent, and will reach zero by the end of the year. Forcing immigrants out of the work force is supposed to lower racial tensions, following race riots last summer, and to encourage increased applications for legal residency. However, most of those affected are from CIS countries. Human rights groups warn of the likelihood that police officers could abuse their authority. Companies worry about labor shortages.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2007/01/15/045.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6262549.stm

Taiwan has formally recognized the Sakizaya as its 13th indigenous aboriginal tribe.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/editorial/2007120/100530.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6271819.stm

A New York Times analysis of census results reveals that for the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one. In 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000. Also in 2005 married couples became a minority of American households for the first time. These two trends could change social and workplace policies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/16/us/16census.html
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Social Responsibility
--------------------------------------------------
The sheer mass of the Gates Foundation has redefined foundation philanthropy, but the Carnegies, Rockefellers, and others are responding with changes to improve the impact of their grants through structural change, not just cash.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/us/14foundation.html

Citigroup in partnership with UK government equity group CDC has launched an African private equity fund to provide opportunities for Africa's infrastructure, telecommunication, manufacturing, and energy industries.
http://www.cdcgroup.com/files/PressRelease/UploadPDF/CDCBacksCitigroupsAfricaFund15Jan2007.pdf
http://www.citigroup.com/citigroup/fin/index.htm

UK retailer Marks and Spencer launched "Plan A", an ambitious sustainability plan that would make the company carbon neutral within five years. Setting the bar for other businesses, the plan calls for the entire company to:
* Become carbon neutral
* Send no waste to landfill
* Extend sustainable sourcing
* Set new standards in ethical trading
* Help customers and employees live a healthier lifestyle.
http://www2.marksandspencer.com/thecompany/mediacentre/pressreleases/2007/com2007-01-15-00.shtml

UK supermarket will run three-quarters of its distribution fleet on 50 percent biodiesel blend from January 2007, and take other wide-ranging measures to cut carbon emissions and encourage green consumption.
http://www.tescocorporate.com/page.aspx?pointerid=85972EF1026E493EAE465634DCE452A0
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Technology
--------------------------------------------------
British police and the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, acted on a whistleblower tip and other evidence to conduct unannounced visits to two leading IVF clinics. A BBC Panorama investigation had uncovered cases of unproven treatments on offer, potentially threatening patient health.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6225951.stm
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2157442.ece

Recent analyses have documented bias in pharmaceutical studies funded by industry. Children's Hospital Boston researchers found a similar phenomenon in scientific articles about nutrition: beverage studies funded solely by industry were four to eight times more likely to have conclusions favorable to sponsors' financial interest than were studies with no industry funding, posing potentially significant implications for public health
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0040005

Cambridge University researchers have discovered the state at which some cells of a fertilized egg develop into stem cells and why it occurs, suggesting earlier differentiation than previously supposed.
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/press/dpp/2007011102

UK think-tank Demos released "The Atlas of Ideas". The new report warns that British science will be sidelined within ten years unless it urgently scales up collaboration with the innovation hotspots of China, India, and South Korea.
http://www.demos.co.uk/media/pressreleases/atlasofideas

The National Research Council reports that half of US environmental satellites will stop working by 2010, which could lead to a loss of data used to study climate change, predict natural disasters, and monitor land use. NASA and NOAA should secure long-term funding of about $3 billion per year to maintain existing and previously planned satellite missions and to undertake a set of 17 new missions between 2010 and 2020
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11820.html
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15441088.htm

Hewlett Packard researchers announced a novel way to leverage nanotechnology circuitry to make it adaptive for end-use applications, even after the device is sold.
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2007/070116a.html

Hazardous waste regulations regarding nanoparticles have come into effect in Berkeley, California. The regulation, prompted by an environmental impact review of a University of California plan to launch a nanotech department, requires researchers and manufacturers to report what materials they are working with, any known toxicity, and handling procedures.
http://www.nanotechbuzz.com/50226711/berkeley_nanotechnology_regulations_take_effect.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/weekinreview/14feder.html
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/environmentaladvisory/2006environmentaladvisory/minutes/090706m15.htm
--------------------------------------------------
ETM Weapons (WMD, Proliferation)
--------------------------------------------------
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS), supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC and the Royal Society in London has moved the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock on January 17, 2007, from 7 to 5 minutes to midnight. The decision to move the hand closer to midnight, the figurative end of civilization, reflects two major sources of catastrophe: the perils of 27,000 nuclear weapons, 2000 of them ready to launch within minutes; and the destruction of human habitats from climate change.
http://www.thebulletin.org/weekly-highlight/20070117.html
http://www.thebulletin.org/weekly-highlight/weekly-highlight.html

US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and North Korean envoy Kim Kye Gwan met in Berlinto discuss the next round of six-party talks. North Korea insists that US actions will determine North Korea's next steps.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-Koreas-Nuclear.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-19-nkorea-talks_x.htm
http://www.washtimes.com/world/200-2103r.htm

Iran is proceeding to install up to 3,000 centrifuges at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/18/europe/EU-GEN-Nuclear-Iran.php

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) used commercial satellite imagery to examine Pakistan's Chashma nuclear industrial park. Construction of the Chasnupp-2 reactor continues, and there are other images of what may be the fabrication facility and a reprocessing facility, which potentially could support development of thermonuclear weapons as well as increasing the size of its nuclear arsenal.
http://www.isis-online.org/publications/southasia/chashma.pdf

Another ISIS report reviews India's Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Program, which they suggest is growing capacity for military purposes.
http://www.isis-online.org/publications/southasia/indiagrowingcapacity.pdf

Here is the latest news in the investigation of Alexander Litvinenko's death by polonium poisoning:
* Russian prosecutors have sent investigators to the UK to question more than 100 witnesses and examine locations connected with the incident.
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2007/01/15/litviprobe.shtml
* Three publishing houses have signed book deals
http://www.newyorkbusiness.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070114/SUB/70114039/1084/toc
* Hollywood is also making plans
http://www.news24.com/News24/Entertainment/Abroad/0,,2-1225-1243_2054687,00.html
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i92e281f2c3f748bee92beb1c43d92008
* British experts have asked permission to visit Russia again for further investigations
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070116/59137591.html

China reportedly completed an anti-satellite test in which it destroyed an orbiting satellite in the orbit used for US weather and military satellites. The US performed a similar test in 1985. Australia, Japan, the UK and US all expressed concern over the test. This demonstration may be designed to put pressure on the US and others to move forward with international treaties to ban space weapons, as Russia and China have wanted for several years. Russian defense minister Sergei Ivanov called the reports exaggerated rumors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/world/asia/19china.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/01/19/china.missile.ap/index.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011801029.html
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070119/59365283.html

5. Critical Infrastructure Monitor

The 21st century is the interdependent century. Understanding the implicit and explicit networks on which we rely, and the interdependencies among the sectors of the critical infrastructure is essential for business continuity, economic success, and our very survival. The Critical Infrastructure Monitor, published monthly, analyzes these sectors, regulatory frameworks, and issues of enterprise risk management in global supply chains.
http://secure.netsolhost.com/573566.585211/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=TP
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Agriculture and Food
--------------------------------------------------
World Bank experts report that up to five million farm workers are estimated to suffer pesticide poisoning every year and at least 20,000 die annually from exposure, many of them in developing countries. Their research offers a simple methodology to identify toxic hotspots in any developing country in the absence of detailed information on pesticide use and analyzes the potential adoption of safer production methods.
http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0,,contentMDK:21139876~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64165026~theSitePK:469382,00.html

"Trading Away Our Oceans" is a new report from Greenpeace that warns liberalization of fishing would cause rising fish prices in developing countries as more resources are diverted to exports, lowering that available for local consumption.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/trading-away-our-oceans
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57121

Demand for ethanol has led to a surge in corn prices, which in turn has increased the cost of Mexico's staple food, corn-based tortillas. The government is importing less expensive corn to help drive the prices down. Similar problems are anticipated with other foods.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avLZDY_yffKY
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/01/15/the_power_of_big_corn/
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tortillas12jan12,1,1635056.story
http://www.mexidata.info/id1210.html
http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/April06/Features/Ethanol.htm

A freeze in California has destroyed some three-quarters of the citrus crop.
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Banking and Finance
--------------------------------------------------
UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury Ed Balls announced that a new taskforce will research and design a national generic financial advice service to ensure that every person, including those on the lowest incomes, can get quick, easy and simple access to good quality financial advice.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2007/press_07_04.cfm

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a consumer advisory regarding how to avoid cashier's check fraud.
http://www.occ.gov/ftp/ADVISORY/2007-1.html
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Chemical
--------------------------------------------------
The BP US Refineries Independent Safety Review Panel released its final report into the 23 March 2005 BP Texas City refinery disaster, which resulted in 15 deaths and more than 170 injuries. The scale of the disaster led the US Chemical Safety Board to issue an urgent safety recommendation that BP should commission an independent panel to assess and report on effectiveness of corporate oversight of safety management systems at its refineries and its corporate safety culture. The finding that BP failed to provide adequate resources to ensure safety at its US refineries is likely to fuel the many civil cases outstanding.

The review panel made ten recommendations to address these problems, for BP and more generally across the industry:
* Executive and corporate management must provide effective leadership on and establish appropriate goals for process safety, including clear articulation of the importance of process safety and matching that message with both policies and actions.
* BP should establish and implement an integrated and comprehensive process safety management system that systematically and continuously identifies, reduces, and manages process safety risks at its US refineries.
* BP should develop and implement a system to ensure that its executive management, its refining line management above the refinery level, and all U.S. refining personnel, including managers, supervisors, workers, and contractors, possess an appropriate level of process safety knowledge and expertise.
* BP should involve the relevant stakeholders to develop a positive, trusting, and open process safety culture within each US refinery.
* BP should clearly define expectations and strengthen accountability for process safety performance at all levels in executive management and in the refining managerial and supervisory reporting line.
* BP should provide more effective and better coordinated process safety support for the US refining line organization.
* BP should develop, implement, maintain, and periodically update an integrated set of leading and lagging performance indicators for more effectively monitoring the process safety performance of the US refineries by BP's refining line management, executive management (including the Group Chief Executive), and Board of Directors. In addition, BP should work with the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and with industry, labor organizations, other governmental agencies, and other organizations to develop a consensus set of leading and lagging indicators for process safety performance for use in the refining and chemical processing industries.
* BP should establish and implement an effective system to audit process safety performance at its U.S. refineries.
* BP's Board should monitor the implementation of the recommendations of the Panel (including the related commentary) and the ongoing process safety performance of BP's US refineries. The Board should, for a period of at least five calendar years, engage an independent monitor to report annually to the Board on BP's progress in implementing the Panel's recommendations (including the related commentary). The Board should also report publicly on the progress of such implementation and on BP's ongoing process safety performance.
* BP should use the lessons learned from the Texas City tragedy and from the Panel's report to transform the company into a recognized industry leader in process safety management.
http://www.bp.com/bakerpanelreport
http://www.safetyreviewpanel.com/
http://www.csb.gov/index.cfm?folder=news_releases&page=news&NEWS_ID=331
http://www.csb.gov/index.cfm?folder=current_investigations&page=info&INV_ID=52
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/011607dnbusbp.46a71b38.html
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Cybersecurity
--------------------------------------------------
Oracle released its quarterly critical patch update, with 51 fixes.
http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/critical-patch-updates/cpujan2007.html

Microsoft reissued an Excel patch after finding that it made it impossible for some Excel 2000 users to open documents.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931183

McAfee released a white paper that highlights global identity theft trends, including a dramatic increase in online and computer-based identity theft.
http://www.mcafee.com/us/local_content/white_papers/wp_id_theft_en.pdf

Netcraft has released its Year in Phishing report, showing that attacks are continually evolving with ever increasing sophistication.
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2007/01/15/phishing_attacks_continue_to_grow_in_sophistication.html

Retail chain TJX reports a computer intrusion that potentially has compromised tens of millions of customers of TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, AJ Wright, Winners, HomeSense, TK Maxx, and Bob's Stores, in at least four countries. Credit card processor Fifth Third Bank has also been drawn into the breach.
http://www.tjx.com/tjx_message.html
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070120/BIZ01/701200339/1076/BIZ

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce's Talvest Mutual Fund reports that a hard drive containing backups of client accounts was stolen, placing the personal data of 470,000 accounts at risk.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a1eBk2949Ps0&refer=canada

Computer Sweden reports that phishing gangs have stolen nearly a billion Euros from Nordea, a Swedish Bank, whose customers have been hit with a Trojan horse on login.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/19/phishers_attack_nordea/

Britain's domestic intelligence agency MI5 launched an email terror alert system, which has now been revealed to pose potential privacy and security problems, including sending unencrypted data to the US.
http://p10.hostingprod.com/@spyblog.org.uk/blog/2007/01/mi5_email_alert_signup_shambles_email_subscriptions_sent_to_the_usa_without_encr.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6262719.stm

Washington Post staff writer Ellen Nakashima describes America's surveillance society, using the example of a day in the life of a real estate agent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/15/AR2007011501304.html
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Dams and Bridges
--------------------------------------------------
India's controversial Sardar Sarovar dam has started generating power.
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-01-19T223153Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-284313-1.xml
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Emergency Services
--------------------------------------------------
Ireland's Health and Safety Executive released the results of a commission survey carried out among people who attended Emergency Departments in 2006. Key findings included:
* 93 percent of patients reported that they were treated with dignity and respect while in the Emergency Department.
* 76 percent were satisfied with their experience of the Emergency Department.
* 86 percent of patients who said they had a choice of services from which to attend would choose to go back to the same Emergency Department if needed in the future.
* Patients who reported that they received less information, advice and pain relief were more likely to be dissatisfied. These patients were also more likely to have experienced longer waiting times with half (51 percent) waiting more than three hours following initial assessment to be examined by a doctor.
* Following their initial assessment 50 percent of patients who needed to be examined by an Emergency Department doctor were examined within one hour of their initial assessment. A further 25 percent were examined within three hours. A total of 2 percent of all patients did not need to see a doctor and 2 percent left before being examined by a doctor.
http://www.hse.ie/en/Publications/HSEEmergencyDepartmentsPatientProfilesExperi/FiletoUpload,4586,en.pdf
http://www.iaem.ie/patientsats.pdf
http://www.irishmedicalnews.ie/articles.asp?Category=news&ArticleID=17892

Scottish ambulance staff were attacked at work 249 times last year.
http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=89972007

The need to follow protocols was emphasized in the case of a paramedic who was demoted and placed on probation after he pronounced dead an attempted suicide who was still alive.
http://www.oregonlive.com/suburban/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_north_news/1169085326266390.xml
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Energy
--------------------------------------------------
Association of East Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states as well as Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea, have signed the Cebu Declaration of East Asian Energy Security. It promotes reliable energy supplies, alternative fuels, a regional electricity grid and a trans-Asia natural gas pipeline.
http://www.aseansec.org/19236.htm

Russia is considering shipping oil across the Baltic to Europe to bypass Belarus.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,459973,00.html

South African power company Eskom issued a power alert after outages following demand 30 percent higher than anticipated and technical problems. People were told to expect outages for the next week, and Eskom is launching a public campaign to encourage reduced power usage.
http://www.eskom.co.za
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=296163 /

Turkey has reached a tentative agreement to build a network of pipelines to ship oil, gas, and water to Israel.

The UK Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee released the Government Response to the Committee's Sixth Report of Session 2005–06: Keeping the Lights on: Nuclear renewables and climate change
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmenvaud/196/19602.htm
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmenvaud/196/19603.htm

The US House of Representatives passed legislation to rescind $14 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for oil drillers and instead spend the funds on alternative energy projects and conservation. The Senate and the Bush administration will also weigh in on this issue. Oil industry subsidies have been one of President Bush's key industry initiatives.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/business/19royalty.html

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released "Department of Energy: Key Challenges Remain for Developing and Deploying Advanced Energy Technologies to Meet Future Needs". The report finds that despite periodic price shocks and related energy crises, the US is even more dependent on crude oil and natural gas than it was almost 30 years ago, and without dramatic change, the nation will become ever more reliant on imported oil and natural gas with attendant threats to national security. The nation has also become concerned about global warming, which has been linked to carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal and oil. GAO recommends that Congress work with the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and deploy a diversified energy portfolio and focus research and development funding on advanced energy technologies.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-106
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Information Technology
--------------------------------------------------
The One Laptop per Child initiative has dismissed reports of western consumer sales at higher prices.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070112005706&newsLang=en

A European Commission funded report found that open source software could offer considerable savings with little effect on business.
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/policy/doc/2006-11-20-flossimpact.pdf
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste
--------------------------------------------------
Cambridge University researchers have found that radiation emitted from high-level nuclear waste could transform one candidate ceramic material in just 1,400 years, much more quickly than previously thought. This suggests that previous estimates of radiation damage to storage materials have been too low.
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070108/full/070108-6.html

"A Nuclear Power Renaissance" discusses new nuclear reactor construction on the rise around the world, and includes a photo gallery.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,460011,00.html
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,18596,00.html

Indonesia has proposed construction four nuclear plants at the foot of Mount Muria, a dormant volcano in central Java.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4F625D97-7199-4A93-8F8C-C38C475E3082.htm

Japan's Takahama No 1 reactor in Fukui prefecture was being inspected when four employees were splashed by radioactive water. Kansai Electric Power Company says that the workers' were unharmed, and no water leaked outside the plant. Takahama had been closed for routine inspections since November and is scheduled to restart in March.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/T273713.htm
http://www.kepco.co.jp

Fukai was also the site of a deadly nuclear accident in 2004, when a steam pipe rupture in the Mihama nuclear power plant killed five and injured six. The reactor has now been restarted.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070111a3.html
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/20070111TDY02004.htm
http://www.kepco.co.jp/english/notice/040823.html

Jordan's King Abdullah, in an interview with Haaretz newspaper, said that he wants to develop a nuclear power program.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/815274.html

Russian state-run nuclear exporter Techsnabexport reports that signed a cooperation agreement with Renova Group to set up joint ventures to prospect and develop uranium deposits in Africa and Asia.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20070119/59376609.html

The UK Department of Trade and Industry released "Global Partnership Nuclear Non-Proliferation Global Partnership Annual Report 2006". The UK plans to add nearly $4 million to its contribution to an international effort to secure WMD materials in the former Soviet Union.
http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file36547.pdf
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Public Health and Healthcare
--------------------------------------------------
Children's Hospital Director David Ludwig says, "We don't all take drugs, but we eat every day. If the science base is compromised by conflict of interest, that's a top-order threat to public health". He and his research team have found bias in scientific articles about nutrition, which could have far greater effects than similar bias documented in pharmaceutical studies. In their analysis of soft drinks, juice, and milk research, they found that beverage studies funded solely by industry were four to eight times more likely to have conclusions favorable to sponsors' financial interest than were studies with no industry funding.
http://www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom/Site1339/mainpageS1339P1sublevel273.html

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed the content of cigarettes and found that companies had increased nicotine 11 percent over the last seven years. Philip Morris disputed the results, but the report has led to calls for new controls on the addictive substance.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nicotine/trends.pdf
http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/en/about_us/news_media/pressroom/press_releases/articles/PR_01_17_2007_Data_Reported_to_Massachusetts_Department_of_Publi.asp
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/health/19tobacco.html
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Telecommunications
--------------------------------------------------
Nearly a month after an undersea earthquake crippled telecommunications across Asia, affected undersea cables are still operating at only 60 percent capacity, as traffic is rerouted to undamaged lines. The disaster continues to cripple business, but would have been much worst if it had not occurred during the holiday season. While repairs continue, companies are racing to bolster their systems with additional cables, alternate routes, and backup capacity, including third party partnerships.
http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/press_rel/2007/Jan_2007_r6.html
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Technology/New-damage-bad-weather-delay-Asian-Internet-repairs/2007/01/17/1168709833073.html

The head of Thailand's army has warned that Singapore's ownership of Thailand's telecommunications group Shin Corp presents a potential security threat.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/asiapacific/2007120/100521.htm
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Transportation
--------------------------------------------------
The EU is moving forward with the Security of Aircraft in the Future European Environment (SAFEE) project to design an aircraft capable to countering hijackings and terrorist attacks.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/future-aircraft-designed-to-put-terrorists-out-of-action/2007/01/17/1168709828834.html
http://ec.europa.eu/research/aeronautics/info/news/article_681_en.html

Two Air India staff were suspended for negligence for clearing prominent industrialist Nusli Wadia on a flight when he was carrying a pistol and bullets. He was detained in Dubai when the pistol was found.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1905018,0008.htm
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=India&month=January2007&file=World_News200701207482.xml
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/how-to-get-your-gun-to-fly-with-you/31624-3.html

Israel has announced "Code Positive", a pilot identification system required of all commercial airlines flying to Israeli airspace.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/814210.html

The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing on Aviation Security - Reviewing the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. Testimony from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) administrator Kip Hawley revealed that the do not fly and passenger screening systems are being reviewed and reduced by about half. The actual numbers are unknown. A complaints system will also be introduced.
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1807
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901649.html

The same committee also held an Oversight Hearing on Federal Efforts for Rail and Surface Transportation Security. In connection with this meeting, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the TSA has yet to finish a full-scale threat assessment of US passenger rail systems.
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1808
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-225T

A Daily Mirror newspaper reporter went to a high-security rail yard to plant a fake bomb on an unguarded Ministry of Defense train carrying a full load of explosive shells, grenades, and mortars. EWS Railway has offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of the railway employee who leaked confidential information regarding train consignment and movements to the paper.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/northernireland/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=18471879%26siteid=94762-name_page.html
http://www.ews-railway.co.uk/cmsystem/news_article.asp?guid={37C46C24-0843-48A0-BD9C-72E8FC791541}

A Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporter bypassed security to gain access to chemical plants and freight lines that carry toxic materials in several states, and was never stopped by police. Proposed security legislation would not address his findings.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/specialreports/s_487117.html
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/specialreports/s_487290.html
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/specialreports/s_487291.html
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/specialreports/s_487292.html
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/specialreports/s_487120.html
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/train/

A train derailment that released burning hazardous materials has also raised concerns about rail safety in the US.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-01-19-voa47.cfm

The Bahamas has joined the US Container Security Initiative.
http://freeport.nassauguardian.net/national_local/288551971708792.php

India plans to improve maritime security defense along the coastline.
http://www.india-defence.com/reports/2812

The International Maritime Bureau maintains the alerts for Bangladesh and Somalia.
http://www.icc-ccs.org/prc/piracyreport.php
--------------------------------------------------
CIM Water
--------------------------------------------------
An idea to build a transcontinental water pipeline across Australia has been replaced with a new idea to use ships powered by wind and solar energy to transport water from Tasmanian dams to southern mainland cities.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/on-the-horizon-solarpowered-tankers-to-slake-sydneys-thirst/2007/01/16/1168709754693.html

Baghdad's sewage system collapsed after four days of heavy rain, putting residents of Iraq's capital at risk of waterborne disease.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57064

In Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, the Firle Sewage Treatment Plant was already far beyond its designed capacity when it broke down at the end of last week. The largest sewage plant in the country is now sending tons of raw effluent directly into the Mukuvisi River, which is a tributary of Manyame River, which feeds Lake Chivero, Harare's main source of water. This creates a major public health crisis, which the economic crisis feeds. The $20 billion cost of repair is simply not available.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15247637.htm
http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=13957&cat=1
http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=13940&cat=10

6. Disaster Reduction Monitor

Natural and manmade events are inevitable, but they need not become disasters. Subscribers to the monthly Disaster Reduction Monitor learn from past incidents to prevent future disasters. It includes analysis of historical events, emerging risks and risk mitigation, and features new techniques to address disaster reduction, ranging from technical advances to regulatory best practices and micro-finance.
http://secure.netsolhost.com/573566.585211/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=TP
--------------------------------------------------
DRM Incidents
--------------------------------------------------
In Bangladesh, a cold wave that began earlier this month has killed more than 130 people and affected at least 100,000. It has also damaged crops, disrupted communications and transportation, and spread diseases, especially among children and the elderly. The cold is expected to last another two weeks.
http://ochaonline.un.org/webpage.asp?Page=873&Lang=en

Ice storms that began last weekend in the midwestern US moved across the country, even in the normally warm southern states, leaving at least 65 people dead. The storms brought extensive power outages, as well as serious transportation disruption and damage to crops.

In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, 80 people were on a boat that had a capacity for 35. At least 60 people are feared drowned.

Hurricane winds and heavy rains in northern Europe killed at least 27 and disrupting travel for tens of thousands.
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/19/europe.storm.ap/index.html

Fresh rains last weekend and more rivers bursting their banks contributed to increased flooding in southern Malaysia that has left at least 17 dead. More than 100,000 people have been evacuated, but the 300 relief centers are overwhelmed and out of capacity. Water and mosquito-borne diseases may follow.

Seventeen people were killed and 33 injured when a speeding bus plunged into a river in Thailand.

Rescue crews in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo has recovered six bodies from the crater formed by the underground station that collapsed last week. Rescue work continues.

In southern Sweden severe storms with winds reaching nearly 150 kilometers per hour (93 mile) brought down trees that killed three people, including a 9-year-old boy. Transportation and electrical supplies are badly disrupted.

Near the Sicilian port of Messina a passenger hydrofoil carrying about 150 people collided with a cargo ship, killing three crewmembers and injuring dozens of people, including some in grave condition.

In Indonesia a train derailed, and a carriage fell from a bridge to a dry riverbed, killing at least five and injuring more than 250.

A Honduran warehouse collapsed, crushing six workers under sacks of coffee beans weighing around ten tons.

A high rise under construction in Dubai caught fire, killing two workers and injuring more than 40. An inquiry has been launched to determine the cause of the fire, and to address concerns regarding working conditions among the many migrant workers supporting Dubai's building boom.

Soaring temperatures and drought have caused extensive bushfires in Australia's Victoria state. One person has been killed in his burned-out home. The bushfires have knocked out the power lines linking the state to the national grid. Supplies to about 200,000 people have been cut, transportation was massively disrupted, and hospitals and businesses in Melbourne were forced to close. Telecommunication networks have been overwhelmed.
--------------------------------------------------
DRM Response and Recovery
--------------------------------------------------
The MSC Napoli cargo ship suffered structural damage during winter storms off the UK coast. An operation is under way to control up to 200 tons of oil that leaked from a fuel tank.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/6283965.stm

Indian authorities in the state of Tamil Nadu have launched an enquiry into reports that tsunami survivors have been forced to sell their kidneys because of financial pressures they face following slow rehabilitation and their continued residence in a temporary camp near Madras, a considerable distance from the sea.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/kidney-brokers-lure-tsunamihit-women/31188-3.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6266641.stm

In Indonesia, attorneys for survivors of the Senopati Nusantara disaster are suing ferry operator PT Prima Vista for negligence, and may also sue the Transportation Ministry for allegedly giving preferential treatment to relatives of passengers on the missing Adam Air flight. Adam Air carried 102 passengers. The ferry carried at least 628, of whom only 235 were rescued. Although these claims can proceed, PT Prima Vista and its insurance company, the state-owned PT Jasa Raharaja, have agreed to pay the families of the victims compensation of Rp 15 million ($1,578) each.
--------------------------------------------------
DRM Risks
--------------------------------------------------
The threat of a second nuclear age and the expected consequences of climate change have pushed the Doomsday Clock to 5 minutes to midnight.
http://www.thebulletin.org/weekly-highlight/20070117.html

Aon risk analysts cite complexity, nationalism and arbitrary regulation as newly emergent threats to multinational corporations' balance sheets.
http://www.aon.com/about/news/press_release/pr_00697117_Political_Risk_Map_2007.jsp

Numerous simultaneous natural and human-made emergencies in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, ranging from drought, floods, polio and fighting to the ills these crises engender such as water-borne diseases and displacement, are threatening millions of people with disastrous humanitarian consequences,
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/STED-6XKPD3?OpenDocument
http://ochaonline2.un.org/Default.aspx?tabid=8770
http://ochaonline.un.org/webpage.asp?Page=873&Lang=en
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/STED-6XKP99?OpenDocument

Although an eruption is not thought imminent, Comoros authorities remain on red alert, and there have been limited evacuations while Mount Karthala continued to trigger earthquakes, and a lava lake has formed in the crater.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57072
--------------------------------------------------
DRM Mitigation
--------------------------------------------------
Lloyd's chairman Lord Levene has called on insurers to address global climate change as they cope with the growing cost of extreme natural disasters.
http://www.lloyds.com/News_Centre/Press_releases/Insurers_must_tackle_climate_change.htm

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) has launched a website to provide information and discussion of climate change, its impact on the insurance industry, and actions the industry is taking.
http://www.climateandinsurance.org

On 13 January 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 was taking off from Washington National Airport during a severe snowstorm when it crashed into the 14th Street Bridge. It claimed the lives of four people on the bridge and 74 on the plane. The lessons learned from this accident had a major impact in disaster prevention and response, not only within the aviation industry, but also for rail, maritime, hospitals, and other business sectors. In particular, it led to communication and organizational reforms that help avoid costly and often deadly errors.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/11/AR2007011102220.html
http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/1982/AAR8208.htm

The World Health Organization and World Food Program have partnered to stock strategic stockpiles of relief goods and equipment to speed up medical aid after an emergency anywhere in the world.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/new/2007/nw02/en

7. Recommended Reading

In a week when the Bulletin of Atomic Scientist has moved the Doomsday Clock from seven to five minutes to midnight, this week's Recommended reading takes a look at "First Into Nagasaki".
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307342010

George Weller was a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter. He covered World War II across Europe, Africa, and Asia. In September 1945 General MacArthur imposed a media blackout that Weller ignored. He reached Nagasaki just weeks after the atomic bomb, long before outside medical aid or other correspondents. He witnessed and described the bomb's effects. Despite the importance of understanding the effects of radiation, the US government censored every word, and his reports never saw the light of day.

Weller died in 2002, after a long and successful history. As his son, novelist Anthony Weller, sorted through his papers, he found the carbon copies of the original reports, and proceeded to work through the crumbling cables to reconstitute the articles.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/01/16/son_honors_dads_nagasaki_reporting/

This remarkable collection is emotive and often shocking. Had this information been revealed at the time, the subsequent story of nuclear testing and weapons proliferation could have been very different. Here is an example from 9 September 1945:
"The atomic bomb's peculiar 'disease', uncured because it is untreated and untreated because it is undiagnosed, is still snatching away lives here. Men, women and children with no outward marks of injury are dying daily in hospitals, some after having walked around for three or four weeks thinking they have escaped. The doctors here have every modern medicament, but candidly confessed... that the answer to the malady is beyond them. Their patients, though their skins are whole, are simply passing away under their eyes". (Page 43)

He goes on to describe the work of local physicians, and their efforts to treat "Disease X", then describes what we now understand as radiation sickness:
"Among exterior symptoms in the first class are: falling hair from the head, armpits and pubic zones; spotty local skin hemorrhages, looking like measles all over the body; lip sores; diarrhea but without blood discharge; swelling in the throat areas of the epiglottis and retropharynx; and a descent in the number of both white and red corpuscles. Red corpuscles fall from a normal five million to half or one-third, while the whites almost disappear, dropping form seven or eight thousand to three to five hundred. Fever rises to 104 and stays there without fluctuating.

"Interior symptoms of the first class revealed in the post-mortems seem to show the intestines choked with blood, which [[the x-ray specialist] thinks occurs a few hours before death. The stomach is also choked with blood, and also mesenterium. Blood spots appear in the bone marrow, and subarachnoid oval blood patches appear on the brain which, however, is not affected. Upgoing parts of the intestines have little blood, but the congestion is mainly in downgoing passages. The duodenum is drained of blood, but the liver, kidney and pancreas remain the same. The spleen is hard but normal, though the urine shows increased blood. There is little blood in the colon but much in the jejunum or upper intestine." (Page 44)

Weller then described a second class of patients. "These patients begin with slight burns which make normal progress for two weeks. They differ from simple burns, however, in that the patient has a high fever. Unfevered patients with as much as one-third of their skin area burned have been known to recover. But where fever is present after two weeks, the healing of burns suddenly halts and they get worse. The burns come to resemble septic ulcers. Yet patients are not in great pain, which distinguishes them from any X-ray burn victims. Four to five days from this turn to the worse, they die. Their bloodstream has not thinned as in the first class, and their organs after death are found in a normal condition of health. But they are dead - dead of the atomic bomb - and nobody knows why." (Page 45)

Sixty years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, we understand much about the medical effects, and the medical applications, of nuclear and radiological materials. We have not learned the lessons of the disaster presented by nuclear weapons, and our continued ability to destroy the world many times over.

In addition to reporting on the aftermath of the attacks, George Weller was also one of the first people to enter the Allied Prisoner of War camps. Hundreds of prisoners watched the explosions. Some died, but for others it brought an end to years of torture and forced labor. Weller collected their stories, the two "Robinson Crusoes" of Wake Island, and the Japanese "hellships" that transported prisoners into murder and even cannibalism. Although his eyewitness narrative of the 1944-1945 death cruise was published in a heavily edited version, all of his reports on the POWs were also banned. As George Weller explained in a 1984 article by his son, "MacArthur could not halt history or science, but he did his best to take the bloom off death by atomic radiation". (Page 313)

As well as accounts of the bombing aftermath, the dramatic POW testimonies are included in this book, including the first complete version of the hellships story. The book includes 20 photographs and recommendations for further reading.

We highly recommend "First Into Nagasaki". It is an important book that pulls the curtain away from 60 years of cover-ups, and offers an unforgettable reminder that civilians must remain vigilant, and learn from history.

8. Asset Management Network News

TAMNI has released two new Special Reports. "The Interconnected Century: Critical Security Issues" describes the ways in which individuals, governments, and businesses rely for their very survival on networks, both explicit and informal. It raises the issues of how these networks interact, and provides examples of practical ways to address risks and opportunities in each sector of the critical infrastructure.

"Trends in Terrorism 2006" provides statistical summaries and analysis of the trends in attacks, tactics, facilities, geographic distribution and other areas for 2006. It includes quantitative comparison over time, and compares these to trends over the past 40 years, and how they compare to natural disasters. This year has expanded to include a chronology of major incidents.

People who purchase a subscription to one of the Asset Management Network Monitors receive related Special Reports at no additional charge. If you purchase one of our premium subscription services between now and 31 January, ten percent of the purchase price will be donated to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
http://secure.netsolhost.com/573566.585211/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=TP

HOW TO CONTACT US:

Please contact us with your questions or comments by sending email to .

If you want to be removed from this list, please reply to the message with REMOVE in the subject line.
Editorial Team
TerrorismCentral

All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2006 by The Asset Management Network Inc.

DISCLAIMER: This publication is made available with the understanding that it does not provide legal or other professional services. Although we have used sources we believe to be reliable and every effort has been taken to ensure accuracy of information, we cannot guarantee its accuracy, completeness, or usefulness. The opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of The Asset Management Network Inc. The Asset Management Network Inc. is not responsible for the content of external websites. Mention of such websites does not imply endorsement. The Asset Management Network Inc. specifically disclaims any liability or loss which is incurred as a consequence, direct or indirect, of the use or application of this publication.

This Newsletter, "Global Terrorism Monitor", "Political Risk Monitor", "AML/CFT Monitor", "Emerging Threat Monitor", "Critical Infrastructure Monitor", and associated databases are published by The Asset Management Network, Inc., P.O. Box 380313, Cambridge MA 02238-0313. Tel + 1 , Fax + 1 . Email