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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
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AML/CFT Incidents/Cases
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Jordan-based Arab Bank has dismissed as false a Los Angeles Times report that it had channeled tens of millions of dollars from wealthy Saudis to Palestinian groups that finance suicide bombers and their families.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-fg-arabbank4mar04,1,5462881.story
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=80132#

"Operation Imperial Emperor" was a US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) led investigation into a Mexican drug trafficking organization and US distributors. The investigation has yielded 400 arrests, $45 million, and 18 tons of drugs.
http://www.dea.gov/pubs/states/newsrel/sd022807.html

Muslim imam Mohamed Shorbagi, a native of Palestine, had his sentence reduced in US court from 15 to just under eight years in prison because he cooperated in other terrorism investigations. Shorbagi was found guilty of r providing material support to Hamas. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $610,454.
http://ww.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/criminal_info.pdf
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/plea_agreement.pdf
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9E89D5B5-16EB-4F10-B003-C81AD8568732.htm

David Nieman was convicted in a US federal court in Iowa on money laundering and multiple drug and firearm charges.
http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2007/02/23/latest_news/doc45df9e1625efe998799229.txt

The owner of a Texas family supermarket, Jaime Miguel Lopez, was sentenced to two years in prison and more than $500,000 restitution for laundering stolen US Treasury checks through the MA Lopez Supermarket's bank account. The fraud was uncovered in early 2000 when the intended Mexican recipients filed claims for missing checks.
http://www.theeagle.com/stories/022407/texas_20070224024.php

Alaa "Alex" Ramadan, a Jordanian citizen, was sentenced in US federal court to 3.5 years in prison for money laundering in connection with mortgage fraud.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=925511

The United Arab Emirates central bank has ordered accounts of 21 individuals and nine businesses frozen pending investigation into suspected laundering of drug money.
http://mwcnews.net/content/view/12958/195/

Zambia's Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has arrested 14 people for money laundering involving agricultural products. Those arrested include several Ministry of Agriculture officers.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200702240179.html
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AML/CFT Legislation and Regulation
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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures (MONEYVAL) for the first time held a joint plenary meeting, 21-23 February. They reviewed evaluation reports, and discussed abuse of Value Added Tax systems for money laundering and money-laundering in South America.
http://www.coe.int/t/dc/files/events/2007_moneyval_plenary/default_en.asp
http://www.fatf-gafi.org/dataoecd/28/6/38164024.pdf

Bangladesh is preparing the Anti-terrorism Ordinance 2007. Terrorist financiers would be tried under its provisions.
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/03/01/d7030101148.htm
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/03/03/d7030301148.htm

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has told insurance companies to improve internal controls to better combat money laundering.
http://english.people.com.cn/200702/28/eng20070228_352858.html

"Cyprus: Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes - FATF Recommendations for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism" has been released. The report finds that Cypriot authorities have demonstrated their resolve to reduce AML/CFT vulnerabilities, including increased staff, improved relationships, new guidance, and on-site visits. Other enhancements have made good progress, including enhanced customer and beneficial owner identification, and in transaction monitoring. Some of the supervisory guidance should be converted to law or regulation. Cyprus abolished its offshore regime through tax changes, and believed this reduces money laundering vulnerability. Furthermore, they now require lawyers creating, operating or managing companies or organizing the contributions necessary for the creation, operation or management of companies to comply with the provisions of the AML-Law on establishing AML procedures. Cyprus has criminalized financing of terrorism, and is following UN and EU measures in this regard.
http://www.coe.int/t/e/legal_affairs/legal_co-operation/combating_economic_crime/5_money_laundering/evaluations/3rd%20Round/MONEYVAL%20_2005_%2020%20E%20CYPRUS%20Report.pdf

An Egyptian court has upheld the public prosecutor's freeze on the assets of 29 members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BD0B3272-B87D-49BC-A6D8-967AB5172DCA.htm

Allegations that North Korean money laundering through Macau bank were probably exaggerated or false. An Ernst and Young audit found no evidence to support the claim, nor has the government of Macau.
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16812231.htm

Vicente Aquino, executive director of the Philippines Anti Money Laundering Council, says that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has avoided laundering dirty money by a system of establishing identity of its casino patrons, recording transactions, and implementing other regulations. Many politicians, NGOs and religious organizations are opposed to the government's operation of gambling installations.
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/feb/25/yehey/top_stories/20070225top5.html
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/feb/25/yehey/top_stories/20070225top2.html

The UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Ed Balls, and Home Office Minister, Tony McNulty, launched the Government's strategy to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2007/press_23_07.cfm

The Bank of England has imposed additional sanctions for terrorist financing and regarding the Democratic Republic of Congo.
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/news/2007/024.htm
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/news/2007/023.htm

The US Department of State released its 2007 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. Volume II of the report focuses on Money Laundering and Financial Crimes. You can read prepared remarks and a transcript of the press conference following the release of the report in Recommended Reading, below.
http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2007/vol2/

The US Treasury designated six Belarusian government officials pursuant to Executive Order 13405, which targets individuals and entities either undermining the democratic processes or institutions or are responsible for human rights violations related to political repression in Belarus. The designation freezes any assets the individuals may have that are in the possession of US persons and prohibits US persons from transacting or doing business with them. Those designated are Petr Petrovich Miklashevich, Prosecutor General; Yuri Nikolaevich Podobed, Lieutenant Colonel of the Special Riot Police in Minsk; Aleksandr Mikhailovich Radkov, Minister of Education; Vladimir Vasilyevich Rusakevich, Minister of Information; Yury Sivakov, former Minister of the Interior; former Minister of Sport and Tourism; and Oleg Leonidovich Slizhevsky, Head of the Public Associations Department.
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp282.htm

The largest Muslim charity in the US, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, was shut down five years ago over allegations that its contributions were financing terrorism. Their attorneys now say that the government's own documents, which disclose major discrepancies between official summaries and verbatim transcripts, provide evidence that many of the charges were fabricated.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-holyland25feb25,1,4876426.story

Yemen's Central Bank says that limited capital in Yemen means that the country is not conducive to money laundering.
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=6&id=8166
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AML/CFT Modalities
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Brazilian gangs are using children, who are often drugged and abused, as their soldiers in the drug wars: their prison sentences are shorter.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,469510,00.html

In Cyprus proceeds of crime continue to be derived from both domestic and foreign predicate offences. It has a low level of domestic crime, and those which generate illegal proceeds are: fraud (including the offence of “obtaining money or goods by false pretences”); burglary; theft; and drug trafficking offences. Cyprus has no tradition of narcotic production or trafficking and a relatively limited local use of narcotic drugs. Organized crime groups are reported currently not to exist in Cyprus, and there is no established link between Cyprus residents and organized crime groups in other countries. Police investigate numerous money laundering offences based on foreign predicates, and proceeds from foreign predicates may be laundered through Cyprus. There have been no domestic investigations of terrorist financing, but Cyprus has conducted some enquiries on behalf of other countries.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=20466.0

This report suggests that Sri Lanka is financing the Tamil Tigers by purchasing Tamil programs from global Tiger television and film organizations.
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/4696

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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
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ETM Corruption and Transnational Crime
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Scientists have developed a revolutionary genetic map of elephant herds on the African continent that has allowed them, working with Interpol, to track down the source of an illegal ivory haul.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=300289

China has expelled nine officials and business executives involved in the Shanghai pension fund scandal.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-03/03/content_818588.htm

Czech anti-corruption police are investigating funds missing from the state-run railway. A parliamentary investigation is under way regarding alleged corruption around a 2001 fighter jet sale.
http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/35/czech_business/2272/
http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/35/czech_national_news/2275/

Note this important review of the impact of the BAE bribery scandal.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/931739c8-c53d-11db-b110-000b5df10621.html

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has made German construction company Lahmeyer International ineligible for EBRD-financed contracts. The World Bank debarred Lahmeyer last year. Following these bribery cases, Transparency International has called for debarment consistency among development banks.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/27577430-c503-11db-b110-000b5df10621.html
http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2007/2007_02_26_ti_urges_debarment_consistency
http://www.ebrd.com/oppor/procure/guide/fraud.htm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is being investigated in another corruption scandal, this one related to granting personal benefits to his political favorites in 115 cases.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/831813.html

Gyude Bryant, who acted as Liberia's President during a post-civil-war transitional period, has been charged with embezzling more than $1m while in office. Liberia's solicitor general said that Bryant and all others named in the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) report will be investigated.
http://www.ecowas.int/

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri has dismissed more than 50 officials for corruption.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=80146

Tom Wise, a Member of the European Parliament from the UK Independence Party, has been suspended pending investigation a European Anti-Fraud Office investigation into financial irregularities. This is another blow to the beleaguered far-right organization.
http://www.ukip.org/ukip_news/gen12.php?t=1&id=2892
http://ec.europa.eu/anti_fraud/index_en.html
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/otherparties/story/0,,2023432,00.html

The SEC has charged 14 defendants in a brazen insider-trading scheme in which more than $15 million was obtained using information stolen from UBS Securities and Morgan Stanley and others. Those involved included elite Wall Street executives, as well as their lawyers and officials responsible for governance, reflecting memories of the 1980s insider trading scandals
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2007/2007-28.htm
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/03/01/insider.trading/index.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030100853.html
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ETM Economies and Financial Systems
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The Chinese stock market suffered its worst day of trading in 10 years following a wave of shares sold by leading investors. The Shanghai Composite Index fell nearly 9 percent. The drop triggered falls in other markets across Asia and Europe, and then in the US, where the Dow plummeted 416 points: the biggest fall since 9/11. These sudden falls reflect both market uncertainties and the new role of China. Watch next week to see where the markets flow.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6399941.stm
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/weekinreview/04porter.htmls
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/02/28/business/20070228_STOX_P1_GRAPHIC.html

China's National Development and Reform Commission has left Iran, Nigeria, and Sudan off its latest list of countries rich in resources for which it would provide investment incentives.
http://www.oilvoice.com/China_Names_Nine_Countries_as_Suitable_for_Oil_Investment/8970.htm
http://english.people.com.cn/200703/03/eng20070303_354001.html
http://en.ndrc.gov.cn/
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ETM Environment and Climate Change
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Analysis of core ice samples from Antarctica reveal that it is more sensitive to warming temperatures than previously understood, presenting the threat that sea levels could rise significantly more than previously estimated.
http://jurnalo.com/jurnalo/storyPage.do?story_id=20296
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,469495,00.html
http://www.andrill.org/

Project Skyhole Patching is a project launched last September to curb illegal trade in chemicals that damage the ozone layer. Since this initiative began, up to 64.8 tons of illegal ozone depleting substance (ODS) have been recorded in China, India, Thailand and other countries.
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=392&ArticleID=5528&l=en

Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru was stricken on 15 February by a fire in its meat processing unit, in which one sailor died. The ship was too badly damaged to resume its whale hunt, so it has returned to Japan
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0703/S00008.htm
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21283101-1702,00.html

The Principles on Climate Leadership is an initiative between the UN and the US city of San Francisco, the Bay Area Council, and more than 20 companies. It gives businesses a framework to address climate change, and share best practices.
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/NewsAndEvents/news_archives/2007_03_01.html

UK Environment Secretary David Miliband, addressing the National Farmers' Union (NFU), announced his desire to work with food producers to create a labeling system that shows the environmental impact of each item.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/ministers/speeches/david-miliband/dm070226.htm

The governors of the US states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington, have signed the Western Climate Initiative. In the absence of federal action, they have agreed to set a regional target for lower emissions within six months, and develop a regional carbon-trading scheme within a year. This follows the example set by northeastern states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
http://www.governor.state.az.us/dms/upload/NR_022607_NGA5StateNATIONALRelease.pdf
http://www.rggi.org/
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ETM Human Rights
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In the first case of a state being charged with genocide, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a careful and complex ruling in which Serbia was cleared of direct responsibility for genocide during the 1990s Bosnian war, but found that Serbia had violated international genocide law by failing to prevent the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the only incident in the war that is a confirmed act of genocide. ICJ rejected Serbia's argument that the court had no jurisdiction, and said that Serbia is required to abide by the 1948 Genocide Convention. Had Serbia been found responsible, Bosnia would have sought billions in compensation.
Summary
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2007/isummary_2007-2_bhy_20070226.htm
Judgment
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idocket/ibhy/ibhyjudgment/ibhy_ijudgment_20070226_frame.htm
Audio reading of the Judgment's Operative Clause
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idocket/ibhy/ibhyjudgment/i20070226.mp3
Press statement
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/SPEECHES/ispeech_president_higgins_bhy_20070226.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6399319.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6399321.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/02/26/serbia.warcrimes.ap/index.html

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has demonstrated that community-based interventions aimed at halting violence against women can yield significant results, with entire communities able to change attitudes to violence against women as a result of a few, specifically targeted interventions. They provide ten case studies as examples.
http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=936
http://www.unfpa.org/publications/detail.cfm?ID=323

Burma (Myanmar) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have concluded an Understanding that provided for alleged victims of forced labor to have full freedom to submit complaints to the ILO liaison officer n the country, and guarantees that no retaliatory action will be taken against complainants.
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2007/4.htm

The British Council, which promotes British culture and education abroad, announced a major shift from Europe to Muslim countries. It will reduce funding to EU countries by a third, and reallocate it to Middle East and other high priority regions. A government grant will support a new program, Reconnect, to focus on reducing youth alienation and building trust between the UK and the Islamic world.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/home-newsfeed-260207-europe-press-release.pdf

In the US state of Florida, a commission was appointed after a botched execution to evaluate the lethal injection procedure. The Final Report of The Governor's Commission on Administration of Lethal Injection recommends that steps are taken to ensure condemned inmates are completely sedated prior to injection with two extremely painful and lethal chemicals. They also called for improved training and execution practice.
http://www.flgov.com/pdfs/20070301-lethalinjection.pdf
http://www.flgov.com/release/8675

In Mississippi, a grand jury has refused to return an indictment for the killing of black teenager Emmett Till, whose murder 52 years ago galvanized the US civil rights movement.
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=6148836
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/03/ap/national/mainD8NKR6L00.shtml
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb07/miburn022607.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb07/coldcase022707.htm
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ETM Infectious Diseases
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Rising temperatures attributed to global warming are redistributing bacteria, insects and plants, exposing people to diseases they'd never encountered before.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-disease25feb25,1,6978166.story

Attendees of the 14th Conference no Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections heard of two new AIDS drugs that offer novel options to expand treat options for HIV infections.
http://www.retroconference.org/2007/data/files/webpage_for_CROI.htm
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/28/healthscience/web-0228drugs.php

Laos has reported its first suspected case of human avian influenza, in a 15-year-old girl. Laos's second case, a 42-year-old woman, has proven fatal. There are also more cases in China and Egypt, including a fresh H5N1 outbreak in Hong Kong. As of 1 March, there have been a total of 277 laboratory-confirmed cases of human H5N1 infections, of which 167 have been fatal.
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/index.html
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/country/cases_table_2007_03_01/en/index.html

The UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) has completed the first stage of the public health follow up in relation to the outbreak of avian flu on a poultry farm in Holton, Suffolk. Antiviral drugs have been offered to 480 people and 310 of those have so far received seasonal flu vaccination. The local Health Protection Unit continues to monitor the situation locally working together with Defra and Bernard Matthews. HPA tested six people with flu-like symptoms. All were negative for avian influenza.
http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/news/articles/press_releases/2007/070227_holton_avian_flu.htm

For decades farmers have used futures markets to make decisions about what crops to plant. Now, University of Iowa and other groups have established a market to predict the spread of avian influenza. Public health experts will stake about $100 each to "bet on the spread".
http://www.rwjf.org/newsroom/newsreleasesdetail.jsp?id=10479
http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2007/march/030107bird-flu-market.html
http://fluprediction.uiowa.edu/

Faced with more than 100,000 cases of dengue fever, Paraguay's Congress declared a 60-day emergency and voted funds to combat the mosquito that transmits it. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is assisting with control efforts.
http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=9967&formato=HTML
http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr070212.htm

PAHO has called on the entire Latin American region to take preventive measures to prepare for further severe and complex outbreaks this year.

Chile is undertaking control measures to address an outbreak of anthrax among farmers and fishermen in a small southern village.
http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=9927&formato=HTML

In 2006, an outbreak of chikungunya fever swept over a number of islands in the Indian Ocean. This article discusses the globalization of vector-borne diseases.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/extract/356/8/769
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ETM Legal Systems
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Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Europol have signed an agreement to cooperate in tackling transnational crimes.
http://www.afp.gov.au/media_releases/national/2007/afp_and_europol_join_forces_to_fight_crime

In the last seven months, eight of the 94 US attorneys have been fired under questionable circumstances, apparently from purely political considerations. The US House Committee on the Judiciary has issued subpoenas to former US Attorneys to gather evidence of any potential political pressure. On Saturday, White House and Justice Department officials said that the White House approved firing seven US attorneys late last year after senior Justice Department officials identified prosecutors they believed were not doing enough to carry out President Bush's policies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/26/opinion/26mon4.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/washington/25lawyers.html
http://judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/110-conoco.pdf
http://judiciary.house.gov/markup.aspx?ID=153
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/28/AR2007022801502.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/02/AR2007030201949.html
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ETM Natural Resources
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Iraq's government has agreed to a draft law governing the country's oil wealth. The draft will go to parliament for approval, and more specific terms will be developed.
http://www.oilweek.com/news.asp?ID=7888
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/26/iraq.main/index.html
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/4929/1/243/
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ETM Populations
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Cyprus is considering a huge cash bonus of EU34,000 to families having three or more children. Family planning groups and a member of parliament have called on the government to ensure retroactive payments to avoid a risk of abortions followed by pregnancies after payments begin. Turkish Cypriots have a much higher birth rate, and its population is reaching parity with the Greek.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6397135.stm

Bedouin nomads in the Negev desert are being forced to move again to make room for Israel's "security" barrier
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/831416.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2022974,00.html
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ETM Social Responsibility
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More ethical investors are beginning to "put CEOs in a fishbowl".
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0226/p13s01-wmgn.html
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ETM Technology
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Technology firms have shifted from research to development. This Economist article describes why this matters.
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8769863

Forensic scientists have developed ways to link DNA to fragments of unexploded bombs or bullets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2021386,00.html

The European Research Council has an EU7.5 billion budget to fund the best ideas in science.
http://erc.europa.eu/
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ETM Weapons (WMD, Proliferation)
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Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says there is no reverse gear in its nuclear program. US Vice President Dick Cheney says all options to deal with the threat presented by Iran are on the table. New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh describes US plans for a bombing campaign in Iran.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2021434,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2021437,00.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/25/news/iran.php
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/25/iran.nuclear.reut/index.html

Today's Sunday Telegraph, a British newspaper, reports that a former Iranian diplomat claims Iran has trained secret networks of agents across the Gulf states to attack Western interests and incite civil unrest in the event of a military strike against its nuclear program. leveraging long-standing sectarian grievances.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/04/wiran04.xml

The Bush administration is backing away from its long-held assertions that North Korea has an active clandestine program to enrich uranium, leading some experts to believe that the original U.S. intelligence that started the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions may have been flawed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/28/AR2007022801977.html

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi says his country has not been adequately compensated for renouncing nuclear weapons. Although it would not return to the past, he feels that this failure contributed to Iran's and North Korea's reluctance to follow in Libya's footsteps.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6414387.stm

The UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) provided its latest update on the public health issues surrounding the death by polonium-210 (Po-210) of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. 581 people tested for polonium exposure had results below the reporting level of 30 millibecquerels (mBq) per day. 85 people had results above this level but presenting no health concern to the individual, but probable contact with polonium. 334 people had results above 1 millisievert (mSv), but below 6mSv indicating no public health risk, and no health concern to the individual, but probable contact with Po-210. 16 people had results above 6mSv which are not significant enough to cause any illness in the short term and any increased risk in the long term is likely to be very small
http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/news/articles/press_releases/2007/070301_pol210_update.htm

The US Bush administration has selected Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to design a new nuclear warhead.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/washington/03nuke.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/03/AR2007030301077.html

The US Department of Homeland Security's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are working together to reach out to academics to foster research to leapfrog current nuclear detection technologies.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i09/8509notw3.html

The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, briefed the Council on cooperation between the Security Council and the OPCW, particularly regarding nonproliferation and disarmament.
http://www.opcw.org/pressreleases/2007/PR10_2007.html

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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
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CIM Agriculture and Food
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Friends of the Earth International released "Who benefits from GM crops?: an analysis of the global performance of GM crops (1996-2006)". The report uses numerous case studies of genetically modified crops in the US, South America, and various countries, to address crop performance and the issue of contamination. They found no evidence that GM crops have alleviated hunger or poverty. Instead, the great majority are cultivated as high-priced animal feed to supply rich nations with meet. More studies are needed, but the world needs above all to develop sustainable approaches to agriculture.
http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/gmcrops2007full.pdf

The Drylands Coordination Group has developed a section of their website dedicated to information on the best development techniques and approaches for the improvement of agriculture in the Sahel.
http://www.drylands-group.org/Thematic_Focus/Agriculture/Best_techniques/index.html

The American Farm Bureau Federation has called on federal and state governments to strengthen capabilities to prevent and respond to acts of bioterrorism. They look back to similar precautions during the Cold War, and emphasize that farmers are still an important part of the defense network in rural areas.
http://www.fb.org/index.php?fuseaction=newsroom.focusfocus&year=2007&file=fo0226.html

US crops in 24 states are threatened by the sudden and mysterious disappearance of up to 70 percent of honeybees. The underlying phenomenon of these sudden deaths is unknown, but has been labeled "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD).
http://abfnet.org/news/honey-bee-die-off-alarms-beekeepers-crop-growers-researchers/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27bees.html
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-deadbees2407feb24,0,556133.story
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1172380913235300.xml
http://www.ento.psu.edu/MAAREC/pressReleases/ColonyCollapseDisorderWG.html

The US Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Inspector General released a Review of Customs and Border Protection's Agriculture Inspection. The Department of Agriculture's responsibility to inspect agricultural goods arriving at US ports was transferred to the DHS's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit in March 2003. Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service retained responsibility for related policies and procedures. Transitional issues remain, including noncompliance and control problems, and data inaccuracies.
http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_07-32_Feb07.pdf
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CIM Banking and Finance
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A Central Banking Journal survey of reserve managers finds that central banks are more actively managing foreign exchange reserves, seeking riskier assets that could increase the portfolio yield.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e5c6e0ae-c526-11db-b110-000b5df10621.html
http://www.centralbanking.co.uk/publications/journals/cbj.htm

The EU is making progress towards a single market in financial services.
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/finances/progress-report/index_en.htm

A series of bank robberies in coastal Spain is believed the work of an eastern European organized crime gang, which has leveraged physical vulnerabilities to accomplish the robberies.
http://www.roundtownnews.co.uk/content/view/10189/34/

The UK Financial Services Authority's (FSA) independent Consumer Panel warns that FSA favors the City at the expense of shareholders, citing its permission for foreign hedge and other funds to operate under light touch regulations that benefit issuers but weaken investor protection.
http://www.fs-cp.org.uk/press/ct_pr84.html

Pertrac Financial Solutions announced the results of the 2006 Hedge Fund Database Study. It found a 61 percent increase in hedge funds and funds of hedge funds (FOFs) over the prior year. Other key findings include:
* Over 15,400 distinct funds reported performance data in 2006.
* Nearly 13,675 single manager hedge funds were identified, as well as approximately 6,100 FOFs. This compares with 8,100 single managers and 4,150 FOFs identified in the 2005 study.
* Nearly 4,900 distinct fund managers (general partners) were counted. Related fund management companies (subsidiaries, etc.), where identifiable as such, were counted as a single fund manager. This compares with approximately 3,500 general partners that were identified in 2005.
* Of the single manager hedge funds, approximately 10,200 reported performance in 2006. Of those, approximately 35 percent were onshore funds and 65 percent were offshore.
* About 36 percent of identified single manager funds were domiciled onshore (in the United States) while about 64 percent were domiciled offshore. Among FOFs, approximately 18% were domiciled onshore while 82 percent were offshore.
http://pertrac.pertracnet.com/per0020/web/me.get?web.websections.show&PER0020_1220

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued Hong Kong-chartered Blue Bottle Ltd, to recover trading profits improperly obtained by hacking into systems containing material, nonpublic information about imminent news releases.
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2007/comp20018.pdf

The SEC has also charged 14 defendants in a brazen insider-trading scheme in which more than $15 million was obtained using information stolen from UBS Securities and Morgan Stanley.
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2007/2007-28.htm
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CIM Chemical
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Following the use of chlorine as a component of bombs in Iraq, there is renewed concern over rail tanker cars that carry chlorine and other lethal chemicals. Similarly, there is concern about storage facilities, including New Jersey's Kearny chlorine processing plant, labeled one of the most vulnerable terrorist target, and located near highly populated areas.
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyNjMmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwODQxODMmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk5
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/02/security_train.html
http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=6151493&nav=S6aK
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CIM Cybersecurity
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A Storm Trojan variant is spreading through web-based message forums, blogs and webmail.
http://news.com.com/Storm+Worm+variant+targets+blogs,+bulletin+boards/2100-7349_3-6162623.html
http://www.online-casinos.com/news/news4056.asp

Following an incident in which insurance documents were stolen from an employee's car, Wisconsin's legislature has implemented a new polity that prohibits employees from taking home documents that contain sensitive personal information.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/breaking_news/16759526.htm
http://privacy.wi.gov/

Arutyun Shatarevyan, Arman Ter-Esayan, Mikael Stepanian, and Gevork Baltadijian have been charged in the US state of Rhode Island for allegedly replacing checkout land keypads at Stop and Sop supermarkets in order to steal data from more than a thousand customers' credit cards.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/02/28/4_charged_with_trying_to_steal_customer_data_at_ri_store/
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070301-1037-stop&shopthefts.html

The US House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, held a hearing on Information Security Management at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Evidence indicates that information security shortcomings first identified last May have not been adequately addressed. In May a laptop containing personal information on more than 26 million veterans and active-duty personnel was stolen. Another drive was stolen last month, with information on 1.8 million veterans and doctors.
http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/schedule110/feb07/02-28-07/witness.html

The US Department of Homeland issued on 1 March proposed requirements for drivers' licenses and identification cards in compliance with the REAL ID Act of 2005. Some limited accommodations are being offered to help States comply, but several intend to opt out of what is effectively a very expensive national identity card.
http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/laws/gc_1172765386179.shtm
http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.5361c0f4fe6e68d18a278110501010a0
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/28755prs20070301.html

The Risk Management Institution of Australasia Limited (RMIA) has been awarded a government grant to develop a Security Risk Management Body of Knowledge, which will cover:
* what is needed to create a secure environment;
* how to determine and rank security risks;
* what is required for, and how to implement, a robust, effective SRM framework;
* what stakeholders expect by way of results; and
* what is considered industry best practice.
http://www.rmia.org.au//LinkClick.aspx?link=National+Public+Docs%2fSRMBOK+gets+govt+funding%4001-03-2007.pdf

Intrusion detection analyst Shawn Carpenter has been awarded $4.3 million for wrongful termination. Here is his description of the case, which followed a 2004 breach that affected other sensitive networks.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011832
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1589735,00.html

Australian Federal Police (AFP) is setting up fake jihadist websites to help track extremists.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/calling-extremists-a-cyber-sting-awaits/2007/02/26/1172338547066.html

Florida's Secretary of State announced that an audit of electronic voting in Sarasota at the last election showed no errors and no undervote. Following this unlikely determination, pressure has increased for an independent review.
http://oss.dos.state.fl.us/communications/press-releases/2007-02-23.cfm
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=23597
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070224/NEWS/702240339
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CIM Dams and Bridges
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British troops' ability to protect a hydro-electric power station in Afghanistan's Helmand province could determine the outcome of their entire mission, says Alastair Leithead.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6400245.stm

Dam constructions in Pakistan's Balochistan province are among measures being taken to improve living standards, and in turn security, in the restive border region.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=45218

In Sudan, construction of the Merowe Dam, which will flood the remains of the ancient Cush Kingdom, is continuing, as is a related dispute over the handling of salvaged archaeological treasures.
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article20457
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CIM Defense Industrial Base
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The UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries completed a week-long session that addressed issues such emerging trends regarding mercenaries or mercenary-related activities and the impact of private companies offering military assistance, consultancy and security services on human rights. The group expressed concern about the increasing involvement of private military and security companies in countries facing conflict, including their work protecting mining companies and the effect this has on local communities, such as land rights and a clean environment.
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/1D59617B2E30442FC125728E003539CD?opendocument
http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/mercenaries

Two years after a Hercules military aircraft crash killed ten British servicemen, key safety measures have still not been introduced, including the use of explosive suppressant foam.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6406203.stm

Since 1999 the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified the Defense Department's inventory management as high-risk due to ineffective and inefficient inventory systems and practices. In "Defense Inventory: Opportunities Exist to Improve the Management of DOD's Acquisition Lead Times for Spare Parts" GAO recommends that the department take actions to improve the accuracy and strengthen its management of lead times, such as review lead time data to detect and correct errors, review and revise the methodology used for setting lead times, set lead time reduction goals, and direct the components to measure and report the impact of initiatives to reduce overall lead times within each of the military components' inefficient use of funds and potential shortages or excesses.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-281

The Commission on the National Guard and Reserves released a preliminary report to Congress on Strengthening America's Defenses in the New Security Environment. They find that heavy deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, have exhausted equipment and personnel, threatening the ability of National Guard units to respond domestically, or abroad. 88 percent of guard units are rated as unready.
http://www.cngr.gov/Worddocs/March%201%20Report/CNGR%20Second%20Report%20to%20Congress%20.pdf
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030100687.html
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CIM Emergency Services
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Australian Capital Territory's Coroner's Court completed last December a comprehensive inquiry into the cause, origin and circumstances of devastating bushfires in Canberra, in January 2003, and the four deaths associated with those fires, which also injured 435 people, destroyed 487 homes, and caused A$610 million damage. The report criticized top government ministers and emergency services officials of gross failures, and made 73 recommendations to improve emergency services, communications, and hazard reduction. Although the coroner ascribed ultimate blame to Stanhope, he refuses to accept any personal or professional responsibility. This week the assembly took a motion of no confidence against Chief Minister Jon Stanhope, but he survived the motion. The attorney general also rejected the report's call to reorganize emergency services.
http://www.hansard.act.gov.au/hansard/2007/week01/5.htm
http://batemansbay.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=lifestyle%20news&subclass=news%20extra&story_id=561620&category=news%20extra
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=political&story_id=561128&category=Political
http://www.courts.act.gov.au/BushfireInquiry/The%20Canberra%20Firestorm%20Report/The%20Canberra%20Firestorm%20Report.htm

The EU is establishing an emergency veterinary team to provide rapid response to animal disease outbreaks.
http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/252

Audit Scotland completed a review of fire and rescue authorities' modernization efforts. They fund there is more emphasis on prevention and community safety, but it is too early to demonstrate a sustained reduction in fire risk. The report also calls for a more modern attitude, including diversity in the workplace. Even after targeted recruitment campaigns, only 3.9 percent of firefighters are women and 0.5 percent of the total workforce are from minority ethnic groups.
http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/news/press_releases/2006/fire_pr.pdf

The US Department of Homeland Security Office of National Capital Region Coordination (DHS ONCRC) and the Department of Defense Pentagon Force Protection Agency (DoD PFPA) joined more than 50 public and private sector participants in 20 locations last month, in a demonstration to validate the functionality of the First Responder Authentication Credential (FRAC).
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1172866131042.shtm
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CIM Energy
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Russian officials are likely to revoke further foreign energy licenses. This week a senior official warned Exxon of new checks on Sakhalin-1 by the end of the month, and told BP that the TNK-BP license to the Kovykta gas field will likely be revoked in three months.
http://www.mosnews.com/money/2007/03/02/exxonchecks.shtml
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/06d29f60-c6b0-11db-8f4f-000b5df10621.html

Silicon contamination has been identified as the reason that thousands of British cars broke down. Trading standards officials have launched an inquiry.
http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/business/trading/petrolprob.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6414905.stm

In "Convergent Interests: US Energy Security and the 'Securing' of Nigerian Democracy", the Center for International Policy describes how contradictory US policies are likely to replace one set of insecurities with another:
"In its anxious search for energy security, the United States has embarked on a risky strategy to arm and train the militaries of oil-producing West African countries under the rationale of pursuing the Global War on Terror. Over the past 15 years, amidst widening crises in the Middle East and volatile petroleum markets, the US has quietly institutionalized a West African-based oil supply strategy, closely focused on an 'Oil Triangle' centered on the Gulf of Guinea. These policies are deeply flawed because they will serve to undermine America’s energy security even as they breed growing resentment and violence against U.S. economic and strategic interests."
http://www.ciponline.org/NIGERIA_FINAL.pdf

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released "Energy Efficiency: Long-standing Problems with DOE's Program for Setting Efficiency Standards Continue to Result in Forgone Energy Savings". Congress set 34 deadlines for the Department of Energy (DOE) to set energy efficiency standards. DOE missed all 34, and two-thirds of the deadlines were unmet for years, including many delayed for more than a decade.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-42

The 25X24 Renewable Energy Alliance is lobbying to produce 25 percent of US energy from farm, ranch and forest products by 2025.
http://www.25x25.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=218&Itemid=56

Power company TXU Corporation's board accepted an offer to sell the company to private equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, as week as Goldman Sachs. The $45 billion deal would be the largest buyout offer ever made. It would take company private and, in an unusual alliance with two environmental groups (Environmental Defense and Natural Resources Defense Council), would stop plans to build eight coal-fired power plants. A federal judge has issued an emergency order to freeze assets of some buyers pending a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into insider trading.
http://www.txucorp.com/media/newsrel/detail.aspx?prid=1020
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/longterm/stories/buscoalresources.162b5ce1.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSN0240431620070302
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CIM Information Technology
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At the Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technologies and Development, a UN initiative, Secretary General Ban called for turning the digital divide into a digital opportunity, and emphasized the key role of information technology in fostering development.
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24198&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8NJEV001.htm

Carnegie Mellon researchers find that disk failure in the real world fail 15 times the rate estimated by drive vendors, and there is no difference between the mean time to failure of fiber channel drives and Serial ATA drives.
http://www.usenix.org/events/fast07/tech/schroeder/schroeder_html/index.html

The Green Grid consortium of technology companies has announced plans to address energy efficiency in data centers.
http://www.thegreengrid.org/pages/news.html

Lenovo and Sanyo are recalling 205,000 batteries used in ThinkPad laptops, sharing the costs.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2007-03-02T190029Z_01_T236508_RTRIDST_0_TECH-LENOVO-SANYO-BATTERIES-DC.XML

The European Commission has warned Microsoft of further penalties over unreasonable pricing, as its interoperability information lacks significant innovation.
http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/269
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CIM Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste
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In Australia, uranium mining and new nuclear power plants have become contentious political issues.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/green-energy-be-dammed/2007/03/02/1172338885190.html
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=230556
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/pm-on-defensive-over-nuclear-power-claim/2007/02/27/1172338624578.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21297150-1702,00.html

The Czech Republic's Temelin nuclear power plant suffered a radioactive water leak. More than 500 gallons were released, but a Czech official said that it did not harm the employees or contaminate the environment. Austria has voiced concern that it was not advised of the leak for more than 50 hours.
http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/35/czech_national_news/2353/index.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6450447,00.html

Egypt will delay its independent nuclear energy program, under pressure from the US and funding sources.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/830820.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5378148.stm

Switzerland has decided that new nuclear plants are needed to prevent a power shortfall after 2020.
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/detail/Government_sticks_with_nuclear_power.html?siteSect=105&sid=7551144&cKey=1172132313000

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has determined that the Perry nuclear power plant in Ohio has taken sufficient corrective actions to return to regular oversight.
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2007/07-004iii.html

In New York, the Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant was shut down for the fifth time in 15 months following the second malfunction in less than a week. One problem involved failure of a pressure transmitter, and a second involved a cracked nuclear fuel rod. There was no release of radioactivity.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070301/NEWS01/703010379

County officials in areas within the 10-mile evacuation radius of Indian Point will be given new supplies of potassium iodide to replace those expiring, in case of a radiological release.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070303/NEWS01/703030355

The US Energy Department is considering 13 locations for nuclear storage. Two South Carolina sites under consideration could send thousands of truckloads of nuclear waste through heavily populated areas of metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2007/02/25/0226srs.html
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CIM Postal and Shipping
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In a step that would offer considerable cost savings, the US Postal Commission has recommended issuing a stamp that will survive rate increases. The decision is subject to approval of the Board of Governors.
http://www.prc.gov/R2006-1Opinion.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/26/AR2007022600972.html
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CIM Public Health and Healthcare
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Up to a billion people suffer from neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer and Parkinson disease, strokes, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy, migraine, brain injuries and neurological infections. Some 6.8 million die of the maladies each year. In Europe alone, the economic cost of such diseases reached $139 billion in 2004. The World Health Organization calls for strengthening health systems to deliver better care, integrated into primary care. Simple and effective efforts include providing low-cost epilepsy drugs to developing countries, helmets for bike/motorcycle riders, seatbelts in cars, and early treatment of malaria. In addition, they recommend that decision makers increase awareness, address stigma and discrimination, build national capacity, and enhance international collaboration.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr04/en/index.html

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have called on governments worldwide to include refugees in their national HIV/AIDS policies and programs, and provide the same access to treatment as is provided to their citizens.
http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/45e708e12.html
http://www.unaids.org/en

The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson have announced grants to organizations in five countries to address links between gender-based violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
http://www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=561

Mozambique has declared tuberculosis as a national emergency, citing its limited capacity to treat more than 35,000 cases recorded last year.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=300254

The Center for Science in the Public Interest points to "A 2,000-calorie appetizer. A 2,000-calorie main course. Another 1,700 calories for dessert. Those aren’t typos. It’s more like par for the course at Ruby Tuesday, On the Border, the Cheesecake Factory, and countless other top table-service chain restaurants." They call this X-treme eating, and accuse chain restaurants with promoting unhealthy eating, providing no clue to a diner that a single dish could be providing an entire day's worth of calories. They call for nutritional information to be routinely provided on restaurant menus, and says the time is ripe for the US Congress to pass Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) legislation. Sixty million adults in the US are obese, of a total population of 300 million.
http://www.cspinet.org/new/200702233.html
http://www.obesity.org/

Britain's health unions are likely to take industrial action following a public sector pay increase below the rate of inflation, including nurses with increases below two percent.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Society/publicfinances/story/0,,2024921,00.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=3U5RU1FEAVG43QFIQMGSFF4AVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/03/02/nhs02.xml
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CIM Telecommunications
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The UN Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Development says that bringing down the costs of internet access could set off the same wave of connectivity that has made mobile phone usage commonplace in developing countries.
http://www.un-gaid.org/en/node/385
http://www.un-gaid.org/en/node/388

The International Telecommunications Union says that in 2004 alone, Africa added some 15 million new mobile phone subscribers, a figure which has more than doubled since 1999.
http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2007/03.html
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CIM Transportation
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Canada's Commons Committee on Transport heard evidence that funding cuts at Transport Canada have undermined air inspections and safety.
http://www.thestar.com/article/186973
http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteeHome.aspx?Lang=1&PARLSES=391&JNT=0&SELID=e17_&COM=10462

Israel's Shin Bet security service is acquiring new technology that will prevent the need for separate personal checks of Arab passengers in airports.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/831784.html

Investigative reporters at 11 News in Houston, Texas (US), uncovered unprotected general aviation facilities in three locations.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou070228_tnt_airportfolo.5aea901.html

Leading designers including Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana, Fendi, and Oscar de la Renta are producing "security chic" see-through, airport-friendly handbags.
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2303012.ece
http://www.eluxury.com/browse/product_detail.jhtml?SectionID=6000&styleid=11367721

Eighteen States have signed, subject to ratification, the 2005 Protocols to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA), 1988, and the related Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf, 1988.
http://www.imo.org/Newsroom/mainframe.asp?topic_id=1472&doc_id=7790

India's railway minister Lalu Prasad announced measures to strengthen security, including installation of CCTVs and smart video cameras, at sensitive railway stations.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/CCTVs_smart_cameras_at_key_stations/articleshow/1689424.cms

Travelers to the Caribbean for the March and April Cricket World Cup will have their passports checked against Interpol's database of 13.4 million lost or stolen travel documents, making the islands the first region in the world to put such a system into operation.
http://www.interpol.int/Public/News/2007/CricketWorldCup20070302.asp
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/world/americas/02caribbean.html
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CIM Water
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Research presented recently at the ASM Biodefense and Emerging Disease Research Meeting compared two common disinfectants used by municipal water systems. They found that taking into account a range of hazards, traditional chlorination might be more effective than treatment with monochloramine
http://www.chemicalonline.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID=%7B1E1558A9-39EF-4FA7-8049-76B4F8017ECB%7D

The Australian state of Victoria has rejected Prime Minister Howard's national plan for water security pending resolution of the many serious areas as yet unresolved, including property rights, security of water allocations, and governance.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/bracks-was-right-to-reject-the-pms-murraydarling-plan/2007/03/01/1172338792230.html
http://www.vff.org.au/index.php?id=673008
http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/bm/national/685377.html
http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/newsroom/news_item.asp?id=1015

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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
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DRM Incidents
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Two months of torrential rain leaves Bolivia facing one of its most devastating disasters. Hundreds of thousands have been affected in El-Nino enhanced floods that have killed at least 35 people, devastated large parts of the country, and sharply increased diseases, including 1,660 cases of dengue; 1,452 of malaria; 22 of leptospirosis; and large numbers of respiratory illnesses and diarrhea. A state of emergency has been declared in the affected areas. President Evo Morales blames the floods on pollution from wealthy nations that has changed the weather.
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSN02459518

In Nigeria, the front tire of a truck full of traders and animals burst, and the truck crashed. Forty people died instantly and another 40 were taken to hospital.

Heavy rains in Indonesia triggered landslides that have killed at least 32 people and buried dozens more under the mud.

More than a dozen tornadoes were reported Wednesday and Thursday in the US states of Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas and Missouri. At least 20 people were killed, including eight teenagers inside their Alabama high school when part of the roof collapsed.

At least 14 people were killed and 25 injured when a passenger bus came off the road and plunged into a river in southern Nepal.

Last weekend, Cyclone Favio moved to Mozambique, destroying the popular tourist resort Vilankulo, and leaving at least ten dead. Cyclone Gamede struck Mauritius, killing one and injuring nine. Flooding continued this week. Mozambique Marines launched a rescue operation in the flooded central town of Buzi, where took more than 1,700 people, including 900 children, to safety. They join another 90,000 people previously rescued in floods that have left at least 40 dead since the inundation began in January.

A US yacht in Haiti caught fire en route to the Turks and Caicos, and sank. Eight of those on board were killed and two were taken to a Dominican Republic hospital. Authorities are still searching for another 44 missing.

Two Swedish commuter buses collided in wintry conditions, killing six, seriously injuring nine, and lightly injuring 40.

In the southern US state of Georgia, a bus carrying the Bluffton, Ohio, baseball team, the Bluffton Beavers, crashed through an exit ramp barrier and fell onto the highway 30-feet below. Six people were killed, including four members of the team, and 29 injured, three critically.

Heavy winds in a sandstorm hit a train in northwestern China, tipping 11 carriages of a train and cracking windows. Four people were killed and 30 injured.
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DRM Response and Recovery
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Today's issue of the Times Picayune includes a special edition called Last Change: The Fight to Save a Disappearing Coast. The report summarizes, "It took the Mississippi Rover 6,000 years to build the Louisiana coast. It took man (and natural disasters) 75 years to destroy it. Experts agree we have 10 years to act before the problem is too big to solve."
http://www.nola.com/speced/lastchance/

The UK Rail Accident Investigation Branch released an interim report of the 23 February train derailment, in which one person died and 22 were injured, three critically. They find that the condition of the Lambrigg 2B points, devices that enable trains to divert or join between two routes, were faulty, with several key components missing. The investigation will continue into the source of the faults and other aspects for more detailed findings. The operator, Network Rail, checked some 700 points with similar construction, and found no other damage.
http://www.raib.gov.uk/publications/interim_reports/070226_I012007_grayrigg.cfm
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/4008.aspx
http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,,2021746,00.html

The US city of New Orleans has filed a $77 billion claim for damages that resulted when levees built by the US Army Corps of Engineers failed after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, flooding the city.
http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=1&load=~/PortalModules/ViewPressRelease.ascx&itemid=3781
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/03/01/katrina.claim/index.html

Insurers found themselves under attack during a congressional panel reviewing insurance payment processes in the Gulf Coast after the 2005 hurricane season, which Mississippi representative Gene Taylor described as nothing less than massive fraud.
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr022807.shtml
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DRM Risks
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The volcanic island of Stromboli, in Italy's Tyrrhenian Sea, is on alert following two new craters opening, with lava starting to flow into the sea. Emergency services are monitoring the area.

The US House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on The Need to Extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). Regulators and insurers called for quick action, as a federal backstop is essential to address unpredictable acts of terror that could threaten the country's economic and financial systems.
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr030507.shtml
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DRM Mitigation
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Ahead of the 2007 hurricane season, the World Bank has worked with heads of government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to establish the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF). This is the world's first ever multi-country catastrophe insurance pool, and will allow these vulnerable countries to draw immediately on emergency funds following a disaster.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21237724~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html

The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) has released the "Stop Disaster Game". From raging wildfires, devastating floods and towering tsunamis to roaring hurricanes and cataclysmic earthquakes, children can use this internet video game to learn how to respond to and mitigate disasters from an early age.
http://www.stopdisastersgame.org

The UK Health and Safety Executive has asked for public comment on proposals for revised policies regarding development applications near large-scale petroleum storage facilities, in the wake of the December 2005 Buncefield disaster.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd211.htm

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7. Recommended Reading

The 2007 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) is an annual report by the Department of State to Congress prepared in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act. It describes the efforts of key countries to attack all aspects of the international drug trade in Calendar Year 2006. The report was released on 1 March. Anne W. Patterson, Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs gave the following prepared remarks, followed by a press briefing.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Good afternoon. Before I begin, I'd like to introduce my colleague James O'Gara from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He's the Deputy Director. Today, the Department of State releases its 24th International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, or INCSR. While the INCSR delves into substantial detail, I would like to focus on major trends and accomplishments in these brief remarks. I also have a more detailed statement available.

Many countries in the Western Hemisphere are confronting the drug trade head on. In Mexico, the Fox and Calderon administrations have cracked down on traffickers more than any previous Mexican governments. In cooperation with the United States, they have seized drugs, eradicated illegal crops, and extradited some of Mexico's most notorious traffickers. There is still much work to be done in combating drugs in and through Mexico.

Mexico remains the primary corridor for drugs entering the United States. Over the past year, methamphetamine production increased and drug-related violence and homicides escalated.

In the Andes, Colombia continued to attack the drug trade and the terrorist organizations which profit from it. Colombia today is starkly different from the mid-1990s when the country was reeling from drug cartels and insurgent violence. Since 2002, homicides in Colombia have declined by 40 percent, kidnappings by 76 percent, and the number of terrorist attacks by 61 percent. In January of this year, Colombian police also made the largest single seizure of drug-related funds ever in the Western Hemisphere. Though coca cultivation persists, aggressive eradication resulted in the destruction of what could have become billions of dollars of cocaine on US streets. The number of cocaine addicts in the United States has also dropped from 3.4 million in 1995 to roughly 1.5 million today. Our joint efforts are helping reinforce the rule of law and restoring order.

In contrast to the strong stands taken by the governments of Mexico and Colombia, political will in Venezuela and Bolivia faltered last year. The President determined last September that Venezuela, for the second year in a row, demonstrably failed to adhere to its obligations under international narcotics agreements.

Venezuela's permissive and corrupt environment led to more trafficking, fewer seizures, and an increase in suspected drug flights over the past 12 months. From 2005 to 2006 there was a 167 percent increase in cocaine trafficked via air to Hispaniola.

In Bolivia, President Evo Morales advocated for increased legal cultivation and the industrialization of coca. While Bolivia met its goal of eradicating 5,000 hectares of coca, this represents the lowest amount of eradication in ten years. Bolivia's interdiction efforts did improve, but this may be due, in part, to increased cultivation and trafficking.

Another region of major concern is South and Central Asia. Afghanistan's opium poppy cultivation increased by an alarming 59 percent, making last year's crop the largest on record. Of particular worry is the Taliban's involvement in the drug trade. The Taliban have publicly linked themselves to poppy cultivation, and drug profits now support elements of the Taliban and fund attacks on U.S. and NATO forces. While counternarcotics efforts intensified last year, results to date are insufficient. More must be done.

Demand for synthetic drugs is steadily increasing in both the industrialized and developing world. Ecstasy use continues to plummet in the United States among the teenage population most at risk. Global demand, however, remains strong and ecstasy use in Europe and Canada is significant. Fortunately, methamphetamine use in the United States has declined, although our communities must still cope with the dire societal effects of this dangerous drug.

This year's INCSR contains a report identifying countries that are major importers and exporters of essential methamphetamine precursor chemicals, as mandated by the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act. In accordance with the Act, the President has determined that all of the countries identified in the report have cooperated fully with the United States or are otherwise fulfilling their obligations under international drug agreements. I would like to note that this report does not comply with all the technical requirements of the Act. Much of the necessary information is unavailable at this time, but we are working to have it available by next year.

The second volume of the INCSR is devoted to money laundering and terrorist financing. While money laundering has long been intertwined with the drug trade, it has been since September 11th that we have become more aware of terrorists using underground systems to move money and transfer assets.

Our report details important efforts to address these issues.

Making communities worldwide safe from drugs and criminal activity is a daunting task. Nations and law-abiding citizens whose legal, economic, and social institutions are undermined by this trade and its associated crime and corruption deserve our support.

Thank you and I'd be happy to answer questions at this point.

Yes.

QUESTION: Donna Leinwand from USA Today. You mentioned that counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan had increased, yet the harvest also increased and you said more needs to be done. Do you have any suggestions on what that more needs to be?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Yes. We're -- what the -- we have a five-pillar strategy in Afghanistan and we can brief you more fully on that after the press conference if you're interested in more details. But we're trying to step up the pace of eradication. We use forced manual eradication. We work with the Government of Afghanistan to use forced manual eradication in Afghanistan. We're trying to step up the pace of eradication.

We're also working with the government to step up the pace of governor-led eradication, which is basically voluntary eradication that uses economic incentives and social and moral suasion to move ahead. There have also been some very positive developments in the criminal justice counternarcotics legal system in Afghanistan, which get little publicity in light of the reports about the crops. In 2005, they put out by executive decree a world class counternarcotics law.

And we are working with the government, Norwegian prosecutors, American prosecutors to set up a task force that has prosecutors and judges and counternarcotics police. And they've convicted over a hundred mid-level drug traffickers. We're hoping to get some major traffickers soon, but it's going -- it's better in the criminal justice system than in the eradication.

I think this gentleman right here.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) South Asia also and the money-laundering and also in the drug trafficking report. How serious is this problem, especially in India and those countries -- India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and Afghanistan? How serious is it in India as far as money-laundering and the drug trafficking?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: India, of course, is the only legal producer of opium and we've worked closely with the Indian Government. They -- India has a good record, frankly, on counternarcotics. We work very closely with them to prevent diversion from that. The Indian Government is very committed to that. They also have a methamphetamine and precursor problem. They're -- but they have a very large, legitimate pharmaceutical industry. The Indian Government has a good record on this, but it's a huge -- it's also a huge -- it's a huge country with a very large industry, so to prevent diversion from the legitimate pharmaceutical industry is a challenge.

QUESTION: Just a quick follow-up. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, like you said, Taliban, it has been known for a number of years, as far as Talibans are concerned, they were selling and also profiting and selling arms from the drug traffics. And you say it's a serious concern even now. What are we doing or international community, especially the NATO, which is there in Afghanistan, to stop this crime which they have been committing and still they are growing poppy and other drugs in Afghanistan?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Well, NATO is doing quite a bit and particularly, our allies, the UK. The UK is present in Helmand Province, which is -- accounts for about 45 percent of the cultivation. And British troops are fighting and dying there to prevent the Taliban. We're also trying to improve Afghan capacity to investigate these crimes, to prevent money-laundering, and to bring these people to justice.

But we've had quite good success with our allies. For instance, in one of the Swedish provinces, they worked very closely with us -- Balkh, they've worked very closely with us on eradication.

I don't know who was next. I think you -- sorry.

QUESTION: I saw in this year's report that Iraq has made its way onto the list of countries of concern in regard to money-laundering. I'm wondering, given the widespread concern about corruption funds and other money that moves within Iraq and out of Iraq, as well as concerns about Saudi Arabia, why are those two countries not considered Countries of Major Concern?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: That's a legal question and I'm going to ask Mr. Rindler to talk to you afterwards. Basically, the categorization is not based on terrorist financing. It's based on whether you're a money -- a Country of Major Concern for money-laundering. My suspicion is it's sort of an outdated categorization, so that's why you don't see Saudi Arabia in the first tier because they're not a country that is engaged in first-class money laundering, but there are concerns about terrorist financing. It's a technical/legal issue.

QUESTION: Right. If I might ask a quick follow-up, this document is used by many bank compliance officers who try to evaluate risk associated with various jurisdictions. Given that and given the anti-money-laundering rules for financial institutions are risk-based, is it a problem that terrorist financing does not play into the INCSR ratings?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Well, I think it's something we should look at and perhaps consult with the Congress to get fixed in the future, because like you, we're very concerned about this. We're concerned about the appearance of it. It looks like countries that -- that one would -- common sense would suggest have problems are not in the first category. But Ed can talk to you in more details afterwards.

Yeah.

QUESTION: On Mexico.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Yes.

QUESTION: You are underlining the efforts of the government, the Fox administration, and now the government --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: The Calderon administration.

QUESTION: But at the same time, you are expressing concern about the level of violence in Mexico. I really don't get it. If there is more violence in Mexico, it's because there is more demand for drugs in the U.S. or in Mexico. Can you clarify? There is a contradiction and are you enforcing --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: There's -- you know, the -- I don't know if that's true. I mean, what we think could be happening is that basically these drug organizations are fighting for turf and basically responding to the increased levels of -- increased efforts of law enforcement. That's entirely possible. But yes, of course, everybody's very concerned about the violence when you have what we've seen recently in Nuevo Laredo.

But I think the Calderon and the Fox administration before this have begun on a very ambitious program of police reform.

QUESTION: Let me follow up on violence. There's also some concerns in the Government of Mexico what the U.S. is doing to stop the violence. Because most of the arms used by narcotraffickers are exported from the United States to Mexico. So what are you guys doing about that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: That's true in every Latin country that most of the arms come from the United States. The United States is an overwhelmingly large market. It was true in Colombia. I'm sure it's true in Bolivia and Ecuador, of course. What at least we do in Colombia -- and I'm not sure what we do in Mexico, but I suspect it's the same thing -- we have a very elaborate tracking system and we try to follow back to suppliers in the United States where law enforcement can then engage in sting operations. If we find an American arm from the United States is used in a crime, we try and follow it back. We work very hard on this, but this is, as I say, an enormous economy with a very porous border and it's very hard to control.

Yes.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, on Greece. Are you satisfied with your cooperation with the Greek Government against the drugs since in your report you are saying that Greece is a traditional "Balkan route" for drugs even headed to the United States of America?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: I'm sorry, I didn't fully understand. You asked if we were satisfied with the Greece -- Greek cooperation?

QUESTION: No, I'm saying are you satisfied with your cooperation with the Greek Government against the drugs since in your report you are saying, inter alia, that Greece is a traditional "Balkan route" for drugs even headed to the United States?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Yes, we're satisfied with the cooperation with it. What we've seen in recent -- certainly in the last several years is an increase basically Afghan -- Afghan heroin moving into Europe through Iran, through Turkey, through Greece, up into Germany and into the United Kingdom. So the supply is greater and we're satisfied with our Greek efforts.

QUESTION: But could you tell us in specific -- in areas in which the two governments are cooperating?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Yes, we can get that for you and I'll have someone follow up with you right after the conference. Thank you.

I think I had one back there. Yes.

QUESTION: When I was in Afghanistan a year ago, I spoke to a number of families who had been subjected to forced eradication of poppy crops and they were deeply in debt because of it, and some of them had lost their daughters to the drug traffickers because they could not pay that debt. And so I'm wondering if you could speak about what the United States Government is doing to promote the voluntary eradication rather than this forced eradication which causes many families to flee or have other really devastating effects? And --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Last year there was a very small percentage of forced eradication. It was about 2,500 hectares. So the number of families affected by that would no doubt have been small.

It has a dissuasive effect on growing. The UNODC has said that eradication is the biggest single factor in not growing the following year. And it had a big dissuasive effect in governor-led eradication.

But to answer your question more specifically, because I think the nature of the problem is smaller than you suggested, AID has put over $4.5 billion into Afghanistan. We've put an enormous amount of resources into Helmand province, which is the heart of the problem. And we brought a map today because we get this question a lot: Are you providing alternative livelihoods or alternative development resources for the growers? And they've been provided in enormous amounts in the major growing areas, and we can provide that to you quite specifically.

QUESTION: If I could follow up. Also, if you could characterize Iran's role in fighting the opium trade in Afghanistan. Are they playing a positive role?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: They're paying -- they're playing a very positive role, not the least of which they have the world's highest addiction rate. It's some six times what it is in the States, maybe more. They've been very active on the border in preventing -- in interdicting shipments coming in from Afghanistan.

I think the Iranians view this as a -- as well they might, as a major social and law enforcement problem. So yes, they've been, of the neighbors, by far the most aggressive in interdicting the product coming out of Afghanistan.

QUESTION: I just wanted -- I have a technical question and then another one. In your comments you said -- or at least in the written version of the comments, it says that Afghanistan's opium production, poppy, opium poppy cultivation increased by an alarming 59 percent. In the report it says it went from 4,475 to 5,644 over the last year. And that is not 59 percent. When
is --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Cultivation. One is hectarage. The -- I'm not sure what figure you're looking at, but it's two very different figures. What I was referring to in the statement was cultivation, the area cultivated, under cultivation.

QUESTION: Yeah, that's what -- that's what it says here, too.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Tom, maybe you could help him.

QUESTION: Cultivation.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Well, then maybe a mistake. See if --

QUESTION: Well, I mean, I think it was page 226, it says cultivating 170 --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Okay, we'll --

QUESTION: Anyway, on the second question, which is more -- you say that -- on Venezuela that there was a 167 percent increase in cocaine traffic (inaudible) to -- I presume this is Haiti and the DR. How do you know this? Are there seizures that --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Because we track -- we have very good information on air tracks. And what's essentially happened is what the -- what used to come through Colombia by air has now been virtually eliminated through a very successful program called air bridge denial and pushed eastward into Venezuela.

QUESTION: Okay.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: And a lot of product is also moving from Colombia by land into Venezuela where it's put on small planes and goes into Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

QUESTION: And your information is on the weight of this amount or just on the number of planes?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: No, on the -- on the number of tracks we've seen. And there's a complicated formula that derives that. It's about 9 percent of U.S. supply.

QUESTION: Yeah, but I'm just not sure I understand how you get 170 --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Okay, we'll give you that.

QUESTION: -- 167 percent increase in cocaine when you haven't actually weighed it. I mean, you're talking about an increase in the number of flights, right?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: We're talking about an increase in the number of flights.

QUESTION: Of which you do -- which may or may not have illicit drugs on them?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Well, that's true. But we have many years of statistical history on this --

QUESTION: I'm sure you do, but I don't know that.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: No, that's fair enough. We'll provide that for you. Okay.

QUESTION: Now, Bolivia was not included in the failed demonstrably list that was put out in September. And I know that there's a six-month -- there was a commitment to review this within six months. We're about two weeks away from the six-month date. Based on your assessment of the last five and half months, do you feel that Bolivia is edging closer to that failed demonstrably standard?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Well, we're certainly concerned about what appears to be a tendency on their government to increase the area under cultivation, to go from sort of the traditional 12,000 hectares up to 20, and to basically make it legal to have small plots. We're working on that report right now. It will be a report to the President and then we will determine what next steps to take.

QUESTION: But they're not heading in the right direction, is that fair to say, based on what you've seen since --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: It's sort of a mixed picture. Certainly on the cultivation side, they're not heading in the right direction. We've seen increases of cultivation, preliminary increases in cultivation, throughout the country. We have seen an increase in seizures. We think that's probably because there's more out there to seize, so it's sort of a -- it's a mixed picture.

QUESTION: And one more if I may. Why have they been so slow on eradication? Is that simply a function of their desire to increase the amount that is legally under cultivation or is there some other reason?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Well, I think that's an element, but I think it's a political issue, too, for the current government, some of whose leaders come out of the coca-growing movement. But anyone who's worked on Latin America remembers the problems in Bolivia in the '80s when it was virtually a narco state. And no one wants to see Bolivia return to that because it took years and years to roll it back. And I'm sure the Brazilians don't want to see any more cocaine roll into Rio and some of their other major cities and increase drug trafficking and gang warfare there, too.

QUESTION: Do you think it is heading in that direction?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Well, let me say, I think we see some worrisome signs.

Yes. I'm sorry.

QUESTION: I have one more follow up. You are listing (inaudible) list that Pakistan is a major drug trafficking and money laundering center. How can you explain this? Where are the drugs coming and going through Pakistan?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: There's a legal definition of what a major trafficking -- and it's in the front part of that report -- and yeah, sure, Pakistan because they take at least somewhere between half and two-thirds of the Afghan product moves through Pakistan. So they meet the definition. A country can meet the definition and still do a great job on counternarcotics efforts.

And I have this gentlemen right here.

QUESTION: Ms. Patterson, to what degree are modern technologies being used, such as RFD, satellite and GPS monitoring where this -- the drugs are first cultivated and then moved? And to what degree are we working with shipping companies and looking for the corruption, not necessarily at the home port where these drugs come from, but where the third-party transit locations and what also is the degree of receptiveness by these governments and narcotic bureaus in the various locations to work with our government?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Well, let me take your questions in order. We use very sophisticated techniques on satellite coverage on monitoring. And at least in Latin America and now in Afghanistan, we've been using that for 15 or 20 years. And the techniques get progressively more precise. So we do have good techniques, I think, to measure cultivation.

On the second question about working with shipping companies, at least in Latin America, we've been doing that for years. And of course, it's in the interest of the shipper who doesn't want his or her goods opened in Miami port when it's, you know, 110 degrees out there to cooperate with that. And in Colombia it's a program called BASC and it works very, very well. And it also enables legitimate commerce to get in by sorting out the curious shipments, so we do that as well.

And generally speaking, to answer your question over the years that I've been doing this, I've seen more and more countries cooperate fully with us because this is truly a global problem. And a producing country can -- will always, always become a consuming country at some point. There's never been a case where that hasn't been true. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iran is a good example. We're seeing huge increase in domestic use. So countries have a real incentive to cooperate in this fight.

Yes.

QUESTION: You've talked a fair amount about the cultivation in Afghanistan. How much do we know about how the money is being moved out of the country?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Not as much as we should, but we're working on that. And we have -- what we have seen, though, is increasing -- there's always a lag with intelligence and particularly intelligence in law enforcement information. And we've seen increasing evidence that much of this money is going to -- or some of it at least -- significant amounts are going to support the Taliban. And I think our database and our information is getting progressively better. And we're working now with banking institutions in Dubai which we think is probably a -- I wouldn't call it a major money laundering center, but much of the money may go out through there. We're trying to get a handle on this problem.

QUESTION: Do we have a handle on whether or not a lot of this is trade-based, whether it's based on goods moving into the country in exchange for drugs?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: My suspicion is it's not. In that respect, it would not be like Latin America because it's just not that kind of economy. It's mostly in many of these areas, a barter economy.

QUESTION: Thanks.

QUESTION: Yeah. What trends have you observed in North Korea during the last year, both with regard to drug trafficking and money laundering?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: We actually don't have much recent information on North Korea. They continue to be involved in criminal activity, counterfeiting of money, counterfeiting of cigarettes, but we haven't seen certainly government involvement in narcotics for some years. I think what makes sense to us is given the nature of the country and the fact that there were many incidents prior to 2002 that if there is this -- the government might still -- could well be involved in this activity, but we haven't seen any evidence of that for some years.

Yes.

QUESTION: You did mention the five pillars and more briefly afterwards. But the five pillar plan has been in place I guess now for, what, three or four years and the cultivation and the production continues to increase. To what do you attribute that and why do you think the five pillars will eventually work?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: I attribute a lot of the problem in Afghanistan to basically the -- it's a problem with narcotics anywhere is that the government doesn't have control of territory. And this is why the cultivation both in Helmand and Kandahar has soared this year because the -- because there is basically a lack of law enforcement and control. But I think once the -- these issues are always intertwined. I think once the security situation settles down and we are doing forced manual eradication now in Helmand and it's going pretty well. We've had better eradication than we anticipated at this part. It will allow other parts of this strategy to take hold, such as the poppy elimination programs which is basically an agricultural extension service in the (inaudible) development.

Yes.

QUESTION: This report is based off of -- the possibility of assistance, further assistance for all those countries. Can we expect Colombia and Mexico to be certified in receiving more assistance in countries like Venezuela and Bolivia (inaudible) in Afghanistan also --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Well we wouldn't -- that's a decision of the --recommendation of the Secretary and a decision of the President. And I wouldn't want to steal their thunder, as it were, on that. And we have a number of months to work this issue. But generally speaking, this report does describe the cooperation with the United States which is the basis for budgets and certainly forms the basis for our certification decisions.

Yes.

QUESTION: Voice of America, Uzbek Service. Has the worsening of U.S.-Uzbek relations affected the scope of partnership with Uzbekistan in combat and drug trafficking and what is being done to inform the public of U.S. assistance if there is any at the moment --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: In Uzbekistan.

QUESTION: -- given - right --given the fact that the Uzbek Government is running anti-U.S. campaign in the local press.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: I honestly don't know the answer to that question.

QUESTION: And the first part of the question -- the scope of relationship in this partnership, in this business with Uzbekistan?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: I think we have some very small programs in Uzbekistan. Does -- anyway, well, let me find you the answer. Generally speaking, we work pretty well with Central Asian countries because of the proximity to Afghanistan, they have a big interest in that. But I can't answer your question specifically about Uzbekistan, but we'll get you an answer right after that.

There was one back there. Yes.

QUESTION: On Cuba. The report says Cuban official arranges a bilateral agreement with U.S. and the U.S. says not possibly. Could you please elaborate a little bit about that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Well, this is -- I think first of all, that we were pleased by the fact the Cubans extradited to Colombia recently -- I don't know if extradited is the proper legal term -- sent to Colombia, a major trafficker and then came to the United States. But we've been having counternarcotics discussions as the report says with the Cubans off and on for years. And I think our judgment is there is not a major trafficking issue through Cuba. What happens is the drugs will wash ashore from other places in the Caribbean.

MR. CASEY: I should say -- I think, let's make this the last one.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Okay. All right.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) follow up the question on Venezuela. It seems to me that without the facts, are you saying is more a political statement than a real fact of what's going on in Venezuela with narcotics. Can you --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: Let me answer that because it's not just a political statement.

QUESTION: Is not just --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSON: The Venezuelans -- look, look the Venezuelans for years did a great job on counternarcotics -- one of the best in the entire hemisphere. They had -- if you grew coca in Venezuela, you went to jail. They vigorously enforced their laws and frankly that's all stopped for reasons that aren't entirely clear to me. They've had problems of -- they've had problems of corruption in the police. They've had problems with interdiction. And again the fact that these flights can move into Venezuela is a very worrisome sign. We still have some programs with Venezuela. We still have some multilateral programs that we fund through UNODC. We want to work with the Venezuelans -- let me stress that -- on counternarcotics because you cannot just -- it has to be a regional approach in Latin America. But we just haven't gotten very far in recent years and their problem is increasing. That's the worrisome thing about this. Success in Colombia has basically led to a migration to some of this into Venezuela.

SOURCE:
http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/rm/81278.htm
http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2007/

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8. Asset Management Network News

On 12 April we are conducting a breakfast seminar, "Islamic Finance: An Introduction". Attendees will interact with international experts from industry, research, security and compliance, to Address:
* The overall marketplace, and the opportunities it presents now and in the future
* Key principles and challenges
* Recent examples and a detailed case study
* Strategic consideration of regulatory and governance issues
* How to take the first steps on your own or with partners
Each attendee will also receive supplementary printed materials for further reference.

Email for additional details, or visit www.tamni.com and click on Seminars.

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