AUTHOR:
TerrorismCentral Editorial Staff

TITLE:
TerrorismCentral Newsletter - December 16, 2007

SOURCE:
TerrorismCentral, December 16, 2007

TEXT:

New AML/CFT regulations came into force in Australia and the UK this week, and there were also a larger than usual number of AML cases. News highlights range from major suicide bombings in Algiers to cash rewards for rat tails. Recommended Reading features the Bali Roadmap. Note that you only have three free issues remaining. Read section 8 below for details on how you can get this Newsletter and out other publications in the future.

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.
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AML/CFT Incidents/Cases
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested 28 individuals charged with drug-related offenses including importation, trafficking, production and conspiracy. The drug ring based in Vancouver has international connections.
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/qc/comm/2007/12/071212b_e.htm
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071212/drug_bust_071212/20071212?hub=Canada

Robert Wasnie will be tried in Canada on money laundering charges next May.
http://www.newstalk980.com/incoming/20071211/manitoba-man-tried-money-laundering-next-may

Colombia's government angrily protested a Danish court's acquittal Thursday of seven people who raised money for the Andean nation's largest guerrilla group by selling T-shirts on the Internet.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/14/america/LA-GEN-Colombia-Denmark-FARC.php
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUSN1299728

Egypt is trying 40 senior members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood in a military court, for allegedly laundering money and engaging in terrorism.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/10/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Brotherhood.php

Malaysian water department manager Koay Ban Hing faces money laundering charges related to fraud and corruption.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/12/11/nation/20071211154508&sec=nation

Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested former Delta State Governor James Ibori, who is charged with 103 counts of abuse of office, corruption and money laundering
http://www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1847&Itemid=2
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7141047.stm
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712130001.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712150076.html

Swiss prosecutors filed charges Monday against five unidentified Zurich bankers accused of helping a ring of corrupt Brazilian tax officials launder about 60 million Swiss francs ($53.2 million).
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/12/10/swiss_charge_5_in_money_laundering_case/

Paul Allen has been jailed in UK court for 21 months in connection with laundering cash for a gypsy gang that fleeced elderly people.
http://www.thecomet.net/content/comet/news/story.aspx?brand=CMTOnline&category=News&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=newscomnew&itemid=WEED14%20Dec%202007%2015%3A08%3A07%3A120

Northern Ireland property developer Peter Curistan is taking legal action after his property development company was dropped amid alleged links to Irish Republican Army (IRA) money laundering.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7136669.stm

In the US state of Arkansas, Sondra Avanell Gerlt was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for money laundering associated with property fraud.
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/12/13/news/121407szwomansentenced.txt

Jean L Garcia has been arrested in California on federal felony charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a fraudulent home refinancing.
http://sacramento.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel07/sc121207.htm
http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=36220

James Bergen pleaded guilty in Connecticut court to one count of structuring currency transactions to evade reporting requirements.
http://newhaven.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2007/nh121307a.htm

A Florida district judge sentenced Juan A. Zaragoza to 57 months in prison and Angel Hernandez Quesada to 54 months, for their respective roles in a Medicare fraud and money laundering conspiracy
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/PressReleases/071211-02.html

A Georgia federal judge sentenced Atlanta jeweler Toros Seher to six years in prison and to forfeit his condo and $1.6 million for helping drug dealers hide their profits, including coaching them on how to evade reporting requirements.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/12/12/launder_1213.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2007/12/10/daily36.html
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan/press/2007/12-12-07.pdf

Emma Gerald, Ruy Brasil Silva, Douglas Ross, and Hudson Araujo were convicted by a federal jury in Georgia on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements related to a fraud scheme targeting illegal aliens.
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan/press/2007/12-13-07.pdf

Eight more people were arrested in Indiana, where they face money laundering and other charges related to organized gambling.
http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/local/local_story_349203551.html

Timothy Pulk was sentenced in Maine court to 121 months for money laundering in connection with cocaine trafficking.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2007/12/15/sabattus_man_sentenced_for_cocaine_trafficking_money_laundering/

In Maryland, Olugbenga Kamoru was convicted of two counts of bank fraud and four counts of money laundering, after depositing a fraudulent check into a company account and later withdrawing funds.
http://www.gazette.net/stories/121307/prinnew142959_32374.shtml

New Hampshire CPA Edward Baroody has been sentenced to two years in prison for laundering drug money. He also made wire transfers to Arizona.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=7479191&nav=4QcS

Bank Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank are facing charges in New York federal court that they violated American anti-terrorism finance laws by allegedly serving as a conduit for Hamas. The accusations come from the Arab Bank of Jordan, which was first accused of similar charges and is now striking back by throwing the charges at the Israeli banks.
http://www.forward.com/articles/12258/

Former New Jersey councilman Thomas A. Greenwald was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for agreeing to launder money he believed was the proceeds of illegal gambling and loansharking.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--monmouthcorruptio1211dec11,0,5927180.story

Louis Pagnotti III, of West Pittston, Pennsylvania, agreed to a plea deal that calls for a sentence of 20 months in prison for lying to a federal grand jury investigating money laundering allegations.
http://www.timesleader.com/news/20071212_12pagnotti_tmb_3a_ART.html
http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-57/119748030516200.xml

In Washington state two tanning salons fronted a prostitution and money laundering ring for which six people were arrested this week.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004068397_webtanningsalon12m.html
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AML/CFT Legislation and Regulation
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Australia's new AML/CFT laws came into force 12 December. The government does not plan immediate penalties, but has called on the financial sector not to delay know your customer rules.
http://www.austrac.gov.au/aml_ctf_programs.html
http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/page/Anti-money_laundering
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Money-laundering-laws-loom-9QSET?OpenDocument
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/12/2116441.htm?section=business
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22907499-15306,00.html

Austrac has identified a loophole in the new AML/CFT Act, which does not cover the issue of units in a managed investment scheme. In addition, jewelers, real estate agents, lawyers and accountants were left in limbo.
http://www.thesheet.com/nl05_news_selected.php?act=2&stream=1&selkey=2917&hlc=2&hlw=
http://business.theage.com.au/secondtier-laundry-list-left-out-to-dry-waiting-on-rudd/20071211-1ggt.html

Australian Privacy commissioner Karen Curtis has urged businesses to consider the privacy of consumers when collecting personal information under the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF), amendments which came into effect 12 December.
http://www.privacy.gov.au/news/media/2007_20.html
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/66813,privacy-commissioner-businesses-be-wary-of-new-antimoney-laundering-laws.aspx

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) is offering assistance for members to comply with the new AML regime.
http://www.superannuation.asn.au/mr071212/default.aspx
http://www.investordaily.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/id/style/3582.htm?rdeCOQ=SID-3F579BCE-BC7A4917
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-Articles/The-Briefing/20071210-Anti-money-laundering-red-tape-for-SMEs.html

Brunei Darussalam's Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance is f drafting rules to combat money laundering and terrorist financing by consulting banks, insurance companies and remittance companies.
http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Dec07/121207/nite04.htm

The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) completed its Third Round Mutual Evaluation Report of Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands government recognizes the importance of effective AML/CFT, and actively updates its framework. They rated compliant or largely compliant with 38 of the 40 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) AML recommendations and the nine CFT special recommendations. Suspicious activity reports (SARs) have decreased by an annual average of seven percent over the last three years. This may be due to enhanced risk management and compliance controls. Banks submit most SARs, and ten percent are sent in from lawyers. The report makes a number of recommendations for further improvement.
http://www.cfatf.org/profiles/media/Cayman%20Islands%20MEV%20-%20Final%20Report%20_2_a.pdf
http://www.caymanfinance.gov.ky/portal/page?_pageid=1186,2439848&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
http://www.caymannetnews.com/news-4139--1-1--.html

China hosted the 7th Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG), where members committed to broaden and deepen AML/CFT cooperation.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/14/content_7245896.htm
http://www.eurasiangroup.org/

Ghana's parliament passed the Anti-Money Laundering Act, which now awaits Presidential Accent.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/business/200712/11229.asp

India is prepared to rewrite the Benami Transactions and Prohibitions Act, passed in 1988 but not yet in effect, in an effort to curb terrorist financing and money laundering.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/New_Benami_Act_aims_to_curb_terror_fund_flow/articleshow/2618542.cms

In important changes to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the Indian government has decided to empower the Enforcement Directorate to register cases, aiming to make AML/CFT efforts more effective.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/ED_may_get_power_to_book_money_launderers/articleshow/2609548.cms

Bank Mellat, Iran's third largest state-owned bank, is going ahead with its privatization plan despite facing US sanctions because of Iran's nuclear program and alleged "terrorist" activities.
http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidFFT107345C2DC66FD/secIndustries/pagFinancial%20Services

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor's key advisor Grace Beatrix Meyer has been removed from the Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets regarding Liberia.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/A/4/fin_sanctions_liberia_notification131207.pdf
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/F/1/fin_sanctions_commission_regulation_14622007.pdf

Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) lamented that the fight against money laundering still very low, disclosing that over $16.5 million and another EU600,000 (N20 billion) was recently intercepted in the country on its way out of the country.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712070988.html
http://www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1840&Itemid=2

The UK's new Money Laundering regulations came into force on 15 December.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./consultations_and_legislation/money_laundering_directive/consult_moneylaundering_2007.cfm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/mlr/
http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2007/151-07
http://www.estateagencynews.co.uk/news/news-1207d.asp

The Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB) issued revised Anti-Money Laundering Guidance for the Accountancy Sector.
http://www.ccab.org.uk/PDFs/070612%20CCAB%20Guidance%20Clean.pdf

The Third US-Mena Private Sector Dialogue conference on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing Terrorism (AML-CFT) took place on Wednesday. Attendees discussed substantial progress, and their common determination to continue their AML/CFT efforts.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/12/13/10174474.html
http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=60756
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2007/December/theuae_December337.xml&section=theuae&col=

The US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Mexican money launderer Blanca Margarita Cazares Salazar (Blanca Cazares) and 19 companies and 22 individuals in Mexico that are part of her financial network as specially designated narcotics traffickers subject to economic sanctions pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp729.htm
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AML/CFT Modalities
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The CFATF review of the Cayman Islands reports that the major sources of illegal proceeds domestically are fraud and drug trafficking. Such proceeds are spent rather than laundered. The major foreign predicate crime source is serious fraud. Money launders mostly target banks, and terrorist financing is a minor generator of suspicious activity reports.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports that financial fraud has become extremely sophisticated and a new breed of criminal is moving beyond street crimes and the drug trade into financial fraud.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/12/09/18465974.php
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/financial/fcs_report2006/financial_crime_2006.htm

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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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has attacked the high salaries and bonuses paid to CEOs, addressing a growing public feeling of inequality, but not with new legislation.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,522480,00.html

The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KAC) has taken action in more than 30 cases regarding alleged illegal acquisition of public land.
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=112420
http://www.kacc.go.ke/

Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested former Delta state governor James Ibori for alleged corruption and money laundering.
http://www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1847&Itemid=2

The Samsung corruption investigation has found more dubious financial reporting.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/12/113_15357.html
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/12/113_15287.html

Erstwhile media mogul Conrad Black has been sentenced to 6.5 years in US federal prison for fraud that involved stealing millions from Hollinger International. He plans to appeal the sentence.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tue_kipnis_boxdec11,1,6229666.story
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=b36bbf3a-db28-4b17-9f71-bbcce3b1a746&k=79524
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ETM Economies and Financial Systems
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On 12 December the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank are announcing measures designed to address elevated pressures in short-term funding markets.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20071212a.htm

African countries are facing a stark choice between trade tariffs for exports to Europe and a trade agreement that many feel stacks the odds in Europe's favor.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7134407.stm
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ETM Environment and Climate Change
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See Recommended Reading, below, for the Bali conference outcome.

The Canadian province of Quebec will adopt California-level auto emission standards.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=0a917fe1-c448-4e8d-8d26-3cb249e7108a&k=47112

Farmers on the frontline of climate change in Mali have been turning the desert green.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7133469.stm

A new report from a House committee said Monday that the White House has engaged in a systematic effort to censor climate scientists.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/waxman-white-house-censored-climate-scientists-2007-12-10.html

The automotive industry suffered a major legal blow when US District Court Judge Anthony W. Ishii ruled a 2002 California law was lawful, and will require automakers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in vehicles by 30 percent by 2016 through increases in fuel economy. Fifteen other states are interested in adopting similar law.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/washington/13emissions.html

"Sustainability for Arizona: The Issue of Our Age" suggests that rapidly growing places can learn from each other how to design sustainable cities from scratch, addressing such issues as immigration, urban heat, water supplies, and energy disruption.
http://asunews.asu.edu/20071207_Sustainability
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ETM Human Rights
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International Human Rights Day was marked on 10 December.

Chilean legislators are angered at reports that the National Intelligence Agency (ANI) has increased monitoring of environmentalists.
http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=15563&topic_id=15

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed suit against the New York Police Department (NYPD) on behalf of Arun Wiita, who was detained by officers for about 30 minutes and never charged with a crime after the officers saw him photograph a Manhattan subway station.
http://www.dailymail.com/News/200712060746
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ETM Infectious Diseases
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There has been another bird flu outbreak in Germany.
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=46969

Kenya has put border control measures in place to block the spread of Ebola from Uganda. They have also set up a special ward in the Buisa district to deal with any cases detected. Ugandan President Museveni has ordered an investigation into the original source of the epidemic that has already killed 32 people.
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=112428
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/Museveni_orders_probe_into_Ebola_origin.shtml

The US Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) issued guidance for use by financial institutions in identifying the continuity planning that should be in place to minimize the potential adverse effects of a pandemic.
http://www.ots.treas.gov/docs/7/777089.html
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ETM Legal Systems
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Scotland's Chief Inspector of Constabulary released an annual report calling for a national framework to address key threats, and also to centralize police recruitment, legal and financial services. Strathclyde chief constable Stephen House strongly criticized the content and tone of the annual report, and called for a new board to be established to make the new Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) more accountable. He also suggested Audit Scotland should be called in to ensure the controversial new authority is providing value for money.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.1904374.0.Time_the_police_shed_the_handcuffs_of_selfinterest.php
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1890887.0.0.php

In Ugandan prisons, 90 percent of the inmates are illiterate and have been held on petty offenses.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/90_per_cent_inmates_are_petty_offenders_illiterate.shtml

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble and US Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff discuss the muddy waters of creating a legal framework to deal with terrorists who are neither covered by domestic law nor the international rules of warfare.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,522438,00.html

The US Supreme Court recently ruled that federal sentencing guidelines for criminal cases involving the sale of crack are merely advisory rather than mandatory, providing sentencing judges greater leeway in those cases.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/10/AR2007121000558.html
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ETM Natural Resources
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Sustainable forest management offers opportunities for immediate climate change mitigation and adaptation. Deforestation is responsible for some 17 percent of global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, so improved forest management could provide comprehensive, rapid and effective action while at the same time benefiting the rural poor and capturing environmental co-benefits. Payments for environmental services and for carbon conservation and sequestration could be made to farmers living in fragile ecosystems.
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000731/index.html
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ETM Populations
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The UN High Commissioner for Refugees convened the 2-day "Dialog on Protection Challenges". The international meeting is the first in a series, to give governments an informal forum in which to discuss the major asylum and refugee-related challenges they face, with the goal of better ensuring the protection of the 10 million refugees around the world. Human mobility is growing in scale, scope and complexity, including forms of displacement and forced migration that are not addressed by international refugee law. Refugees constitute only a small percentage of the 200 million or more people living outside their countries, they are increasingly found in mixed movements, traveling in the same directions, using the same routes and means of transport as migrants.
http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/475eb9074.html

Canadian federal officials submitted a multi-million-dollar offer to Six Nations leaders in Ontario to settle a pre-Confederation claim related to the Welland Canal flooding. Six Nations representatives have complained for decades about the damage caused by the flooding and sought to obtain compensation.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=54cdd336-0edc-4f13-8cd9-086c9ebbf56b&k=3971
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ETM Technology
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Lloyds and the Lighthill Risk Network hosted a seminar on nanotechnology, which is being used in many industries, but little is known of the potential risks.  Scientists are also worried of the unknown human health and environmental impacts of nano tech.
http://www.lighthillrisknetwork.org/events/LLoyd's - Nanotechnology_the_big_questions.pdf
http://www.news.wisc.edu/14483
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/money/2007/12/17/cnnano117.xml
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ETM Weapons (WMD, Proliferation)
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The illicit trafficking of nuclear material and the potential threat it poses continues to be an issue of international concern, while steps to establish effective technical and administrative systems to prevent the uncontrolled and unauthorized movement of nuclear and other radioactive materials must continue to be taken.
http://www.iaea.or.at/NewsCenter/News/2007/nucltrafficking.html

The Czech Republic has returned 80kg of highly enriched uranium in spent nuclear fuel to Russia as part of a push to reduce stockpiles of nuclear material worldwide.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/marlboroughexpress/4319933a6423.html

Professor Nigel Lightfoot, chief adviser to the head of the Health Protection Agency, said other countries had agreed to help Britain, in a reciprocal arrangement to deal with victims of a dirty bomb.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/misc/print.php?artid=1908412

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers are using carbon nanotubes to seek out specific proteins, including dangerous proteins such as anthrax toxin, and render them harmless using nothing but light.
http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2369

The Meeting of States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was held in Geneva from 10 to 14 December 2007.
http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/5275A9CC8C5EE6A7C12573B1005C0D28?OpenDocument

Bioterrorists stand poised to unleash plague bacteria, killing thousands or millions with the kind of horns that children use at sporting events.
http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/speeches/SGBioT20071203.asp
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/10/interpol_bioterror_lookatme/

The Republic of the Congo has become the 183rd State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
http://www.opcw.org/

The Iranian computing research center that says it built a supercomputer with Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Opteron processors has removed from its Web site photographs showing a possible link to the United Arab Emirates as a source of the chips. Longstanding US concerns about the UAE being a conduit for sending technology to Iran and other banned countries remain.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9052459

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.
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CIM Agriculture and Food
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Significant falls in stocks of corn wheat and soybean amid heavy demand, create concern over food price inflation.
http://www.ft.com/foodprices

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Program (WFP) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) warned that climate change is a major challenge to world food security and will increase hunger and malnutrition unless immediate action is taken. Three out of four of the world’s one billion poorest people live in the rural areas of developing countries and face immediate risks from increased crop failures and loss of livestock. More than 1.5 billion forest-dependent people, among the poorest in the world, are highly vulnerable too, as are 200 million people dependent on fisheries. Immediate action is vital to increase the resilience of rural people to climate change and help them adapt to new conditions. Specific actions to be deployed include early warning systems; adaptation strategies; disaster risk- reduction activities; and hunger safety-net initiatives.
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000731/index.html
http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/agm07/jvbagm2007.asp

Dr. Jacques Diouf, FAO Director-General, said commented on recent press and media reports suggesting that FAO endorses organic agriculture as the solution to world hunger. He says that we should use and promote organic agriculture, while is healthy and attracts higher prices. However, FAO data and models regarding the productivity of organic as opposed to conventional farming show that the potential of organic agriculture is far from large enough to feed the world.   Higher productivity with lower inputs can be obtained from such systems as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Conservation Agriculture (CA). IPM can reduce pesticide use by 50 percent in the case of cotton and vegetable production and up to 100 percent with rice. CA and no-tillage agriculture reduces labor requirements by doing away with plowing and can use 30 percent less fertilizer and 20 percent less pesticides.
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000726/index.html

A University of Alberta study shows, for the first time, that parasitic sea lice infestations caused by salmon farms are driving nearby populations of wild salmon toward extinction
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=8947

Amendments to the Canada Grain Act include eliminating the requirement that grain companies post bonds or letters of credit as security to cover unpaid purchases.
http://www.albertafarmexpress.ca/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=77711&PC=FBC&issue=12142007

Chinese energy company Zhongshui Energy Development Co., in the landlocked southwest province of Guizhou, is awaiting its first harvest of more than 13,500 hectares of a "diesel tree", which will yield 15,000 tons of biodiesel oil for the energy-thirsty country.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/14/content_7250543.htm

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the US Departments of Energy and Agriculture agreed to strengthen and expand cooperation on biofuels production and use.
http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/china/US-ChinaBiofuelsMOU12-7-07.pdf

A plague of rats in India's northeastern Mizoram state has led the government to take measures to address wanton crop destruction, including increasing wages and rice supplies, and offering cash in exchange for rat tails. The rat boom is associated with a species of bamboo that flowers once every 40 years.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3249908.ece
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=413170&sid=REG&sname=&news=%60Cash-for-rats%20scheme%60%20costs%20Mizoram%20govt%20nearly%20Rs%2025%20lakh
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Mizoram_hikes_rice_quota_and_wage_to_combat_famine/articleshow/2615679.cms

Philippines House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Roilo Golez said the worldwide biofuels program has generated a "food versus fuel" debate since the setting aside of more land for planting biofuel crops has affected food production, and could even cause increased beer prices.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=107102

The US Senate has passed its Farm Bill. It will now be reconciled with legislation previously passed by the House.

http://agriculture.senate.gov/
http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/2007FarmBill.html
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2007/12/0376.xml
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CIM Banking and Finance
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In Australia, the number of people using online banking has doubled in four years, to 8.5 million. Each year online banking customers are being defrauded of more than A$25 million.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/security/is-internet-banking-safe/2007/12/12/1197135470454.html
http://www.marketintelligence.com.au/asp/PR_InternetBanking.htm

The China Financial Certification Authority (CFCA) reports that about a third of individual and corporate banking clients in ten major cities used internet banking this year, an increase from last year of 4.2 percent for individuals and 1.7 percent for corporate clients. More than 53.5 percent of the individual respondents used digital certificates to accept online banking services to ensure transaction security, compared to 46 percent in 2006.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/14/content_7248216.htm

The Indian Institute of Security and Safety Management convention on "Banking Security: challenges of outsourcing" addressed issues related to security and licensing. 90 percent of the armed guards that security agencies provide for bank security are ex-servicemen. The weapon is licensed in their name and even if the bank wishes to, it cannot buy better weapons.
http://www.livemint.com/2007/12/14154343/Security-professionals-to-doub.html

Rampaging bank robbers in Mozambique are striking in groups of six or more presenting themselves as customers.
http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/daily-news/rampaging-bank-robbers-strike-again-in-mozambique-2007121213300/

New Zealand is moving forward two bills that set new standards for finance companies, requiring that companies provide clear information and easier access to redress.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10482281

A new variant of malicious software - the latest version of the PRG Trojan, is specifically designed to commit bank fraud. It is accountable for millions stolen from commercial banking clients in Italy, Spain, the UK and US.
http://www.crn.com/security/204803106

The 2007 Federal Reserve Payments Study of non-cash payments revealed that in 2006 more than two-thirds of all US non-cash payments were made electronically. About 19 billion more electronic payments were made in 2006 than in 2003.  In contrast, the number of checks paid fell by about 7 billion over the same period.  Of the 93 billion non-cash payments in 2006, about 63 billion were electronic and around 30 billion were checks. Among the three main types of electronic payments, the annual use of debit cards increased by about 10 billion payments over the survey period to 25.3 billion payments in 2006.  Debit cards now surpass credit cards as the most frequently used electronic payment type.  Over the same period, automated clearinghouse (ACH) payments grew to 14.6 billion, an increase of almost 6 billion payments. Credit cards grew by almost 3 billion payments to 21.7 billion in 2006. The highest rate of growth from 2003 to 2006 was in ACH payments, which grew about 19 percent per year, followed closely by debit card payments at almost 18 percent.  Checks declined by an average of 6.4 percent per year since 2003, indicating the pace at which check payments has been decreasing since the mid-1990s has picked up in recent years.  In addition to the 30 billion checks paid, some payments that started out as checks became electronic payments. During 2006, almost 3 billion consumer checks--including checks sent to billers or used as source documents to initiate electronic payments at the point of sale--were converted and cleared as ACH payments rather than check payments, an eight-fold increase since 2003.  A total of 33 billion checks were written in 2006.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/other/20071210a.htm

New numbers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation reveal Atlanta, Georgia, as the bank robbery capital of the US.
http://www.wjbf.com/midatlantic/jbf/news_index.apx.-content-articles-JBF-2007-12-13-0052.html
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CIM Chemical
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The US House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection, held a hearing on the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2008.
http://homeland.house.gov/hearings/index.asp?ID=108
http://www.rotor.com/Default.aspx?tabid=510&newsid905=57208

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released two related reports:
"Toxic Chemical Releases: EPA Actions Could Reduce Environmental Information Available to Many Communities".
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-128
"Toxic Chemical Releases: Survey of State Toxics Release Inventory Coordinators"
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-129SP

The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) told the House subcommittee that mandating inherently safer technology (IST) in a regulatory context under the guise of chemical security would result in government micromanagement of the design and engineering at individual facilities, impose burdensome paperwork requirements on the regulated community, and duplicate certain key requirements of other federal and state regulatory programs. It could slow chemical production activities, lead to manufacturers moving production overseas, and be quite costly.
http://www.socma.com/GovernmentRelations/index.cfm?subSec=97&sub=97&articleID=746

A first US national survey of nurses’ exposures to chemicals, pharmaceuticals and radiation on the job suggests there are links between serious health problems such as cancer, asthma, miscarriages and children's birth defects. http://www.asq.org/qualitynews/qnt/execute/displaySetup?newsID=2679
http://www.ewg.org/sites/nurse_survey/analysis/main.php

The Dow Chemical Company and Petrochemical Industries Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, announced plans to form a 50/50 joint venture that will be a market-leading, global petrochemicals company. It will manufacture and market polyethylene, ethylenamines, ethanolamines, polypropylene, and polycarbonate, with projected revenues of more than $11 billion (pro forma), and employ more than 5,000 people worldwide.
http://news.dow.com/dow_news/corporate/2007/20071213a.htm
http://www.pic.com.kw/

Residents along the Great Pee Dee River, which begins in the Appalachian Mountains and continues through North and South Carolina, are asking The Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to test people for mercury poisoning, before approving a nearly $1 billion power plant that will release more of the toxic metal.
http://www.thestate.com/local/story/250829.html
http://www.lakefronthartwell.com/news29672/pee-dee-area-physicians-call-on-dhec-to-test-human.shtml

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is seeking further information regarding the new federal chemical regulations, but has informed farmers that they may be affected.
http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agriculture/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=146660
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CIM Commercial Facilities
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Many of Australia's most famous skyscrapers, including Australia Square and the MLC Centre in Sydney, are going green after developers pledged to adopt strict energy efficiency codes.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/knocking-co2-off-the-old-office-block/2007/12/12/1197135558249.html
http://www.tec.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=620&Itemid=1

A recent study in the Journal of Management in Engineering investigated the impact of multiple-floor fires on long span truss floor systems in tall buildings, using the World Trade Center Towers as an example. They found that large displacements could occur in long-span structural floor systems without failure, though the interaction of highly deflected floors with the exterior of perimeter columns can lead to structural collapse. Hat trusses and other structural components that can redistribute loads away from exterior columns to core columns can dramatically reduce the risk of collapse.
http://scitation.aip.org/meo

Following the April 2007 tragedy at Virginia Tech (VT), in which a student shot and killed 32 individuals many lessons were learned, and may help other institutions better respond to such threats. In particular, schools should maintain open lines of communication, which is key to effective notification of an unsafe situation. Traditional calling trees, PA system announcements, TV, and radio combined with web sites, text messaging, and email blasts can be very effective. Access control and other security measures are also under consideration.
http://www.rims.org//Magazine/PrintTemplate.cfm?AID=3538
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071215/NEWS01/712150328/1006

Security specialists say that malls must increase training and pay for security guards if they want to avoid public shootings like the recent tragedy in Omaha. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/suffolk/ny-limall075491020dec07,0,1176269.story

The Security Industry Association (SIA) 2008 legislative agenda focuses on physical security, including rail and public transit systems; schools; port security; wastewater treatment; hospitals and healthcare facilities; fire safety; agriculture facilities; and several other priorities.
http://www.siaonline.org/government/2008_agenda.cfm
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CIM Cybersecurity
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Microsoft released seven software patches this week, of which three are rated critical.
https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-dec.mspx
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA07-345A.html
http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=3735

Apple patched several bugs in QuickTime, including a streaming media vulnerability for which exploit code has been in circulation since the end of November.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307176

Companies are increasingly facing cybersecurity threats that firewalls cannot stop, including keyloggers that capture usernames and passwords.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119717602597518492.html

SecureWorks reports that a new Prg Banking Trojan is stealing funds from commercial accounts in Italy, Spain, the UK and US, using a man-in-the-middle attack.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/121307-zbot-trojan-robbing-banks.html

Swiss researchers report that Microsoft's wireless keyboard uses encryption so weak it was cracked in moments.
http://www.dreamlab.net/download/articles/Press%20Release%20Dreamlab%20Technologies%20Wireless%20Keyboard.pdf

Anti-virus vendors have formed the new Anti-Malware Testing Working Group, which will set guidelines for standardized security software testing. It plans to launch the first guidelines early next year.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071205-antivirus-vendors-to-agree-on-testing-guidelines.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR2007120400741.html

The UK Ministry of Justice has launched the Data Sharing Review, which will examine issues such as how information is being used, how to ensure such use is lawful, who holds personal information and to what end, and what impact information sharing has on private lives.
http://www.justice.gov.uk/reviews/datasharing-intro.htm

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) lost 800 budgeting loan applications in transit between Sheffield and Newcastle.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/7141195.stm

Personal details of up to 3,000 patients in Wales were on a laptop computer stolen from a doctor's surgery in Newport.  A security investigation is under way.
http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Health&F=1&id=12817
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7143358.stm

In "Enterprise at Risk: 2007 Privacy & Data Protection Survey" Deloitte and the Ponemon Institute report that 85 percent of privacy and security professionals in North America surveyed acknowledged having at least one reportable data breach of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) within their organizations during the last 12 months. Other findings include:
* 63 percent acknowledged multiple reportable data breaches occurred within their organizations during the same period.
* Only slightly more than 7 percent of a professional’s time is allocated to employee training and no more than 10 percent is allocated to establishing an incident response team, management reporting and conducting root cause analysis.
* Resource allocation associated with notification activities alone could be a significant hidden cost of privacy and data protection within the enterprise. The percentage of incidence-related time spent notifying stakeholders is the second highest among incident-related activities reported by survey respondents.
* While 61 percent indicated their organization has processes in place to identify and assess the impact of new regulations, only 23 percent reported a change management process in place to respond to developments impacting privacy.
* Due to the dichotomy between the management and protection of PII and the distributed nature of the privacy function itself, reporting structures varied greatly for privacy and security professionals. An analysis of primary reporting structures indicates privacy professionals report most often to the General Counsel (38 percent) or Compliance (21 percent). According to respondents, security professional’s reporting structure is concentrated at the CIO (76 percent).
* Despite significant technical advances, most organizations are still too dependent on standalone point solutions. For example, most enterprises (55 percent) are implementing some type of encryption; with 37 percent currently encrypting both data at rest and data in motion.
http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_risk_s%26P_2007%20Privacy10Dec2007final.pdf

Facebook's controversial Beacon ad system tracks activities from all users in its partner sites, including people who never signed up with Facebook or who have deactivated their accounts. Beacon in several cases violates a 1988 video privacy protection law.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9050663&pageNumber=1
http://www.epic.org/privacy/socialnet/default.html
http://www.epic.org/privacy/vppa/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/11/AR2007121100723.html

The FBI is seeking the public’s assistance in determining the identity of several individuals suspected for their involvement in a scheme in which the identity and brokerage accounts of several individuals were stolen via the internet.
http://losangeles.fbi.gov/pressrel/2007/la121207.htm

Web search site Ask.com is launching AskEraser, a feature that allows users to delete data on their search queries, in an effort to bolster personal privacy while surfing the Internet.
http://www.irconnect.com/ask/pages/news_releases.html?d=132847
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CIM Dams and Bridges
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India's Supreme Court will take up the case of a suit filed by the Tamil Nadu Government for declaring the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2006 insofar as it applied to the Mullaperiyar dam unlawful, and an interim stay of its operation. The two states disagree over the water level, one wanting to raise it for agricultural use, and the other concerned over the environmental and security risks it could present.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/14/stories/2007121453710400.htm

A new flood control agency for California's Butte and Sutter counties will start considering levee rebuilding and repairs to boost protection to 100-year levels.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_7692446?nclick_check=1

In Missouri, the Taum Sauk reservoir, which collapsed on 14 December 2005, is being reconstructed with a safer design and security improvements.
http://www.joplinglobe.com/statenews/local_story_348002148.html
http://publicbroadcasting.net/kwmu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1198391&sectionID=1

Virginia's Barton Lake dam and flood protection system poses a flood risk to the area, and does not comply with minimum federal requirement for sediment storage. These safety issues, as well as aesthetic concerns, were the subject of a recent public meeting.
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=91694&paper=61&cat=104
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CIM Defense Industrial Base
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Israel has passed the US to become the world's fourth largest weapons exporter, with defense exports this year exceeding $4 billion.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932656.html
http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Industry/Analysis/2007/12/13/analysis_israel_defense_exports_strong/7255/

This article asks why Russia is doing so well in the global arms sales market when its economic resources are only a fraction of the US.
http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Industry/Analysis/2007/12/14/defense_focus_russias_edge_--_part_1/9539/

UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith updated Members of Parliament on the ongoing investigation into illegal immigrants licensed by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) to work as security guards. Of the 39,885 non-European nationals licensed by the Security Industry Authority to work in the UK:
* 28,737 had the right to work here
* 6,653 did not have the proper immigration authority to work here
* 4,447 were questionable, and will require further research
* 48 were duplicate submissions that could be discarded
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news/sia-update
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7142436.stm

The Center for American Progress released "Restoring American Military Power: Toward a New Progressive Defense Strategy for America". The report explains, "After more than four years of war in Iraq and seven in Afghanistan, the US military is facing a crisis not seen since the end of the Vietnam War. Equipment shortages, manpower shortfalls, recruiting and retention problems, and misplaced budget priorities have resulted in a military barely able to meet the challenges America faces today and dangerously ill-prepared to handle the challenges of the future", and this crisis presents an opportunity to transform while rebuilding.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/12/restoring_military.html

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released two reports on military base realignments and closures:
"Military Base Realignments and Closures: Cost Estimates Have Increased and Are Likely to Continue to Evolve"
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-159
"Military Base Realignments and Closures: Impact of Terminating, Relocating, or Outsourcing the Services of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology"
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-20

In the small California town of Potrero, near the Mexican border, a majority of the planning group has been recalled for approving a Blackwater training camp. Blackwater plans to proceed, pending environmental reports and final review from the San Diego County board of supervisors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/us/11blackwater.html
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/toddbeeton/BJG

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CIM Emergency Services
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Emergency responders need to be aware of the new dangers they face with new hybrid vehicle, including extremely high voltages in electric cars.
http://yorkdispatch.inyork.com/yd/search/ci_7682998?IADID=Search-yorkdispatch.inyork.com-yorkdispatch.inyork.com

New Zealand fire brigades were angered when they responded to a fire that turned out to be a derelict house used as a bonfire for the owner's staff Christmas party.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/timaruherald/4324539a6571.html

In some parts of South Africa, hoax emergency calls account for 60 percent of all emergency areas.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=660273

A British coroner is pressing the government to fill gaps in emergency services' training and equipment after a lack of available skills to free a flood victim left him dead after four hours trapped in a debris-choked drain. Emergency services are not trained or equipped for underwater rescues.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weather/Story/0,,2227986,00.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=502427&in_page_id=1770
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3054126.ece

The Scottish Ambulance Service has missed its target of reaching dangerously ill patients within eight minutes due to a huge increase in 999 calls since GP surgeries stopped working after 6 p.m.
http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/media/article.php?id=64
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1904388.0.Ambulance_service_fails_to_hit_targets_for_999_patients.php

The American College of Cardiology says the door-to-balloon time in a heart attack case should be less than 90 minutes for 70 percent of patients. Beth Israel Medical Center has launched the Direct Angioplasty Saves Heart (DASH) program that speeds treatment at the emergency room.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/health&id=5816345

Most US ambulances are equipped with aging 6-liter diesel engines that require constant maintenance.
http://www.firefightingnews.com/article-US.cfm?articleID=42178

Atlanta firefighters describe their daring rescue of a man who drove a car off the seventh floor of a parking deck. Steel cables surrounding the deck trapped the car, leaving it suspended in the air.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/12/13/danglingcar_1213.html
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CIM Energy
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The International Energy Agency (IEA) and OPEC issued contradictory messages about the 2008 oil demand outlook.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4dea19e4-aaaf-11dc-a779-0000779fd2ac.html
http://www.opec.org/home/Monthly%20Oil%20Market%20Reports/2007/mr122007.htm


IEA participated in this week's climate change meeting in Bali, calling for countries to step up to mitigate the threat and realize the huge potential of energy efficiencies.
http://www.iea.org/Textbase/press/pressdetail.asp?PRESS_REL_ID=246

Belarus and Norway agreed to collaborate on energy security, energy effectiveness and energy saving measures.
http://law.by/work/EnglPortal.nsf/0/788FC25502DE341BC22573B0005161E4?OpenDocument

The Chinese government has issued a new list of compulsory purchase items designed to enforce the procurement of energy-efficient products by departments and local authorities.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/12/content_7236457.htm

China’s biggest refiner, Sinopec, and Iran have signed a $2 billion agreement on developing the Yadavaran oil field, firming Beijing’s business links with Tehran despite US calls for sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKPEK15481720071213
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/290546037.shtml

Iraq has the second-largest proven oil reserves in the Middle East, after Saudi Arabia. IEA says that Iraq is producing 2.3 million barrels of oil a day, up from 1.9 million at the outbreak of war in 2003 and substantially higher than January this year, when it dipped to a low of 1.7 million barrels.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7144774.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3054300.ece
http://www.iea.org/Textbase/country/n_country.asp?COUNTRY_CODE=IQ&Submit=Submit

Kazakhstan Prime Minister Masimov calls for repossession of its energy assets.
http://enews.ferghana.ru/article.php?id=2266

The US House and Senate passed an energy bill that includes new fuel economy standards and other measures directed towards energy independence and security. The two versions will be reconciled and finalized soon. President Bush threatens a veto.
http://speaker.house.gov/legislation?id=0076

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/opinion/13thu2.html
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CIM Government Facilities
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has ordered a security review after a bomb in Algiers became the deadliest attack on its offices. In 2003, an attack killed 11. This week, 17 died.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7139787.stm

The idea for massive Titan super-prisons to tackle the overcrowding crisis has already caused controversy. But is there any "right" way to design a prison?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7138110.stm
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CIM Information Technology
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ChangeWave Research LLC said its latest quarterly survey indicates that IT spending in 2008 will get off to an unusually weak start, as increasing numbers of companies plan to spend less on IT products and services.
http://www.changewave.com/assets/alliance/reports/1q_itspending_20071126/1q_itspending_20071126.pdf

UK Telecoms regulator Ofcom published its second annual International Communications Market report, which finds:
* The UK has the highest take-up of digital television of the twelve countries surveyed: France, Germany, Italy, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Canada and the United States. At the end of 2006, 76 per cent of UK households were digital, driven mainly by growth in digital terrestrial television (Freeview). The US and Japan were next with 61 and 60 per cent respectively.
* Digital radio is becoming increasingly popular in the UK with one in five adults owning a digital radio set. Digital radio coverage was highest in the UK and Germany at over 80 per cent for both countries.
* Broadband take-up continues to increase in the UK with over half of all households connected at the end of 2006, putting the UK slightly ahead of the US for the first time.
* UK adults spend more time on social networking sites than their European neighbors, with 4 in 10 UK adults saying that they regularly visit the sites. The UK adults who visit the sites spend an average of 5.3 hours each month on them and return to them an average 23 times in the month.
* In the UK and the US, women use the internet more often than men. In the US, 52 per cent of internet users are women and in the UK the internet is used equally by men and women except in the 18-34 age group where women spend more time online than men (57 per cent compared with 43 per cent).
* Advertisers in the UK spend more money per person on internet advertising than any other country, at GBP33. This is twice as much as France, Germany and Italy combined.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/icmr07/
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2007/12/nr_20071213
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7139943.stm
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CIM Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste
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As the Canadian Parliament passed a bill to restart the Chalk River nuclear reactor, the Harper government came under fire for allowing the reactor to shut down in the first place, causing a global shortage of medical isotopes used to diagnose cancer. Canadian Prime Minister Harper has appointed a new chair and CEO to Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. The reactor resumed operations today.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=be0293f1-afd1-4306-93d4-a38676f4e914&k=4963
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/business/worldbusiness/13reactor.html
http://www.aecl.ca/NewsRoom/News/Press-2007/071214.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/12/16/chalk-river.html

Chinese experts shared nuclear emergency response capabilities with multiple other countries during a Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism Radiation Emergency Response Workshop.
http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/docs/newsreleases/2007/PR_2007-12-14_NA-07-61.htm

Iran and Russia have agreed on a timetable for completing Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071213/92237912.html

South Korea has become the 19th member of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (CNAP).
http://www.gnep.energy.gov/gnepPRs/gnepPR121107.html

British Energy has announced that its nuclear power plants Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B will continue to operate until 2016.
http://www.british-energy.com/article.php?article=219
http://www.british-energy.com/article.php?article=220

Nuclear power's resurgence in the US has activists and regulators revisiting safety concerns that dogged the industry in the 1970s. With applications to build up to 32 new plants already filed with regulators, watchdog groups are raising new concerns over safety and equipment improvements.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-12-11-nuclear-plant-safety_N.htm

As a result of recent reports of inattentive security guards at some nuclear power plants, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) told operators of commercial nuclear power plants and certain fuel cycle facilities they must provide specific information to the agency on their security programs and practices.
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2007/07-167.html

The Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska will receive additional NRC oversight based on a violation that adversely affected the reliability of one of the plant’s emergency diesel generators.
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2007/07-044.iv.html
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CIM Postal and Shipping
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In "US Postal Service Facilities: Improvements in Data Would Strengthen Maintenance and Alignment of Access to Retail Services" the Government Accountability Office (GAO) explains that the Postal Service developed the Facility Database to address the challenge of capturing and maintaining accurate facility management data. However, the database does not include data needed to measure performance, or the capacity to track such data. It has duplicative and contradictory data, and major departments do not use it as a consolidated source.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-41

The Pentagon and postal service have tightened regulations on military mail, requiring identification or screening to prevent hate mail or security problems.
http://www.wtoctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7495963&nav=0qq6cWgn
http://www.usps.com/supportingourtroops/supportingfaqs.htm

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a request for information, asking for industry input to determine whether available container security devices and readers are secure enough to detect tampering during transit.
http://www.fbo.gov/spg/DHS/USCS/PDDC20229/Reference%2DNumber%2DRFICSD/SynopsisR.html
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/online/1_1/31971-1.html
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CIM Public Health and Healthcare
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Climate change will affect, in profoundly adverse ways, some of the most fundamental determinants of health: food, air, water. The health sector must now fight to place public health issues at the centre of the climate agenda,
http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2007/20071211_maryland/en/index.html

This article argues that every man, woman and child should carry a mask at all times.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/53896/

A new World Bank research report finds that 22 countries with the world’s highest numbers of TB cases could earn significantly more than they spend on TB diagnosis and treatment if they signed onto a global plan to sharply reduce the numbers of TB-related deaths. Highly affected African countries could gain up to nine times their investments in TB control. The study also warns about the need to step up TB control worldwide with the growing emergence of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) in southern Africa, eastern Europe and Central Asia.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr64/en/index.html

Junior doctors in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh ended an 11-day strike on Thursday, after receiving assurances of personal protection. On Friday a woman died in hospital and her relatives beat up two of her doctors. The distraught physicians called for a boycott and staged a sit-in. The woman's relatives accused the staff of negligence and went on a rampage, attacking doctors and destroying furniture. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) declared a strike that will start on Monday. IMA has demanded security at all teaching hospitals, the arrest of those instigating attacks on doctors, and an ordinance that would render assault on a medical practitioner an offense not eligible for bail.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/15/stories/2007121560800300.htm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hyderabad/Docs_AP-wide_stir_from_Monday/articleshow/2625229.cms

Welsh hospitals brought back licensed doormen and extra police to guard against drunken revelers in hospitals over the holidays.
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2007/12/14/doormen-return-to-north-wales-a-e-departments-33/

Of the 30 percent of elderly patients in nursing homes and long-term care facilities who regularly receive antipsychotic medication, the majority that are not suffering from mental disorders are at high risk for death.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119672919018312521.html

Health clinics at many US airports have offered flu shots for years in public areas outside security checkpoints, but few passengers want to risk missing their flights by getting vaccinated before clearing the checkpoints. Now airports are beginning to offer flu shots in passenger concourses inside the checkpoints


As Massachusetts' landmark health care law nears another crucial deadline, its single most dramatic success is the addition of about 300,000 Massachusetts residents to the ranks of the insured.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/12/07/as_health_care_law_reaches_key_threshold_ripples_spread/

A Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled doctors have a duty to inform patients about their medication's side effects to prevent public harm.
http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2007/12/11/news/news02.txt

In Oregon, a report on the state hospital in Salem finds that a dozen forensic patients, some with extremely violent pasts, have escaped in the lat two years, while other patients have smuggled in drugs, weapons, and other contraband and developed romantic relationships with staff. The number of patients exceeds the limit by nearly seven percent.
http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1197326406296000.xml&storylist=orlocal
http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/mentalhealth/osh/main.shtml
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CIM Telecommunications
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UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom published its second annual International Communications Market report, including comparisons with Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Japan, and the US. Key findings include:
* The UK has the highest take-up of digital television of the twelve countries surveyed: At the end of 2006, 76 per cent of UK households were digital, driven mainly by growth in digital terrestrial television (Freeview). The US and Japan were next with 61 and 60 per cent respectively.
* In all countries, buying more than one service from the same operator or ‘bundling’ generally provides much better value for money than buying a separate single service.
* Mobile is driving most of the communications sector growth and now accounts for 53 per cent of total telecoms revenues. By the end of 2006 there were 402 million landlines (39 per cent) and 634 million mobile connections (61 percent) across the twelve countries surveyed and in the majority of the countries surveyed the number of mobile subscriptions outnumbers the population. Italy has the highest number of active mobile connections with 139 subscriptions per hundred people followed by the UK with 115. The number of mobile connections is also high in Russia at 106.
* Russia , Brazil, India and China are driving much of the growth in mobile phone take-up. In the five years since 2001 over 660 million subscriptions have been added in these countries representing 40 per cent of the total number of new mobile subscriptions globally.
* In India, the number of new mobile subscriptions doubled to 150 million during 2006. This increase is more than the entire number of mobile subscribers in the UK (70 million connections). However, mobile connections per person are still relatively low in India at 14 percent, demonstrating the large potential for growth that remains in this country.
* Accessing the internet from a mobile phone is growing in popularity. In Japan, where over half of mobile phones use a 3G network, mobile users are three times more likely to send an email from their mobiles as they are a text message. However, Europeans send more text messages with 75 per cent of mobile phone users in the UK, France, Germany and Italy sending SMS messages regularly.
* Japanese and US consumers spend the most time watching TV – both averaging 4.5 hours a day in 2006. This compares to 3.5 hours a day for the UK, while people in Sweden watched the least amount of television at 2.5 hours a day.
* People in the UK listen to more radio than in any other country surveyed, averaging over 21 hours per person each week. Radio is least popular in Japan with average weekly listening at 14.2 hours.
* High-speed broadband is becoming increasingly popular in many of the countries surveyed although the level of availability varies significantly from country to country. Japan, is the clear leader among the countries analyzed with around 30 per cent of broadband connections being delivered via fiber. In the UK, Virgin Media has announced that it is to upgrade the majority of its cable network to deliver speeds of 50 Mbit/s.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/icmr07/
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2007/12/nr_20071213
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7139943.stm

In Kenya, Exclusive Estates Ltd, claims that Telkom Kenya’s precursor, Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, incurred a debt of Sh460 million in building houses for senior staff 14 years ago, and that the land was used as security. They want Sh5 billion from the recently privatized company in exchange for the title deed to 100 acres belonging to the phone company. The government denies any such debt.
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=112719

The US National Security Agency's reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before, according to government and industry officials, yet that alliance is strained by legal worries and the fear of public exposure. Congress is being asked to change laws to protect telecommunications companies from surveillance-related lawsuits. Congress is attempting to write a law that will preserve judicial oversight and force the president to obey the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, while updating the Act to address current technology. Hearings begin Monday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/washington/16nsa.html
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/159414.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/opinion/15sat2.html
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.fisa16dec16,0,5796078.story
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-le-sunday16dec16,1,4853442.story?coll=la-news-comment

Eight consumer and public interest groups filed a complaint with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to stop mobile network operators from blocking text messages sent by political groups or other vendors advertising rival services. The industry is concerned that this would open mobile phone networks to millions of pieces of text messaging spam.
http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/text-message-petition-20071211.pdf

City officials in Houston, Texas, plan to put $3.5 million towards a new wireless project that would expand internet access to students and the elderly in low-income neighborhoods.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5352555.html

Vietnam's Prime Minister Vguyen Tan Dung issued an instruction for the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications to team up with the Ministry of Public Security and relevant agencies to build a list of key telecommunications projects relating to national security, and address concerns that the undersea telecommunications cable system, have been seriously violated, affecting the national information security and prestige, and hindering the country’s socio-economic development.
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/12/759729/
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CIM Transportation
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African ministers held an emergency meeting to rescue the troubled Agency for the Security of Aviation Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA).



A German man unwilling for his liter of vodka to be confiscated at airport security downed it at the checkpoint, and landed in hospital.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,523106,00.html

In India, the Bombay (Mumbai) airport does not have the explosives detectors they ordered two years ago, but now have their own bomb-sniffing dog squad.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1139590

Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will allocate Rs 270 million to upgrade all the facilities at Quetta International Airport
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C12%5C16%5Cstory_16-12-2007_pg5_15

Philippines Aviation Security Command officials recently addressed security at the Dumaguete Airport, reminding local security of the importance of checking all baggage, even if the individual is a relative or close friend. Given recent bombings, other airport personnel, including vendors and drivers, can also play a role.
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dum/2007/12/14/news/security.in.province.s.airport.tightened.html

Sri Lanka has implemented additional air defense measures to prevent further Tamil Tiger attacks.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/071216/Columns/sitreport.html

Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority has successfully passed the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audit on its Aviation Security Corrective Plan.
http://www.smc.sd/en/artopic.asp?artID=21781&aCK=EA

The UK House of Lords Science and Technology Committee released an update on Air Travel and Health, calling for a new minimum distance between seats in order to ensure passenger safety. A minimum 76 cm (28.2 inches) is necessary to allow passengers property to adopt the brace position, and can also lower thrombosis risk.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldselect/ldsctech/7/702.htm

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Massachusetts Port Authority agreed that runway safety at Logan International Airport could improve if the groups invested in the latest air-traffic management technology. By February 2009, the airport's runways will be monitored by 12 antennas, radar, and aircraft data fed to provide air traffic controllers with data even in poor weather. Logan will also install new runway lights to signal pilots, including takeoff holds and runway entrances.
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1050513

A man in Medford, Massachusetts faces possible federal charges after pointing a laser beam at a helicopter on 8 December.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/12/10/man_allegedly_pointed_laser_may_face_charges/

The Republic of the Marshall Islands is implementing a new maritime security agreement with the US Coast Guard.
http://www.yokwe.net/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2018

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun enrollment of port and long shore workers, truckers and others in the Transportation Worker Identification Credential Program (TWIC) in the ports of Los Angeles, California; Brunswick, Georgia; Milwaukee, Minnesota; Albany, New York; Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Seattle, Washington..
http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2007/press_release_12122007b.shtm
http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2007/press_release_12122007.shtm
http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2007/press_release_12112007.shtm
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=802798
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,242189.shtml
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2007/Dec07/121007/121307-04.htm
http://homeport.uscg.mil/mycg/portal/ep/channelView.do?channelId=-24886

Queensland, Australia, has identified four rail stations for much needed security upgrades.
http://www.qt.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3758346&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

Security on northeastern Indian rail lines has been increased following Maoist rebels and other militant attacks. Special mobile security patrols, surveillance, and other steps have been taken. Politicians are weighing in as such explosions have reached a record high. Politicians are given special trains guarded by elite security forces, while common passengers continue to die in explosions.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200712142021.htm
http://www.patnadaily.com/news2007/dec/121507/jdu_demands_lalus_removal.html

Rand released "Securing America's Passenger-Rail Systems". It explains that Each weekday, more than 12 million passengers take to US railways. Recent attacks on passenger-rail systems around the world highlight the vulnerability of rail travel and the importance of rail security for these passengers.  80 percent of worldwide attacks on rail systems were bombings, followed by sabotage (6 percent) and armed attack (6 percent). Explosives accounted for 77 percent of the weapons used in rail system terrorist incidents, with 8 percent of the incidents involving hoaxes or threats. The study explains a framework for security planners and policymakers to use to guide cost-effective rail-security planning, specifically for the risk of terrorism. Security measures must address the threat of explosive devices, but not exclusively; while attacks such as those from chemical and radiological weapons are unlikely, their potentially serious results mean they merit attention. Lessons learned include:
* Most terrorist attacks on rail systems have resulted in few or zero deaths; as a result, even if security measures prevent only the largest-scale attacks, they could significantly reduce the human costs associated with the threat.
* Some rail attack modes are more of a concern than others. For example, the use of small explosives is a high or medium risk for most targets, while hoaxes or threats pose only a risk for a few targets.
* Because terrorists who are trying to kill and injure people target densely populated areas, attacks inside train cars, targeting train cars from outside, and in densely populated stations are of major concern.
* Rail security experts cannot count on terrorists to repeat the past.
http://www.rand.org/news/press/2007/12/11/index.html
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/91561.php
http://www.progressiverailroading.com/freightnews/article.asp?id=11867

Rand identified four broad categories of cost-effective security measures for system operators to consider in terms of effectiveness per dollar payoffs:
* Relatively inexpensive solutions with the highest effectiveness, such as enhanced security training.
* Additional inexpensive solutions to consider with reasonable levels of effectiveness; for example, installing retractable bollards at entrances and exits of the central system operations center and power plant.
* Relatively more expensive solutions with highest effectiveness, such as installing fixed barriers at curbsides adjacent to all entrances and passageways leading to ground-level and underground stations.
* Relatively expensive longer-term solutions for future consideration, such as rail vehicle surveillance systems.
http://www.rand.org/news/press/2007/12/11/index.html

In the US state of Oregon, officials continue to struggle with light rail security issues.
http://www.katu.com/news/12510941.html

Nearly all foreign travelers ages 14 to 79 entering the US are now required to undergo digital fingerprinting of all 10 fingers at Dulles International rather than just 2 under the US-VISIT program. The requirement will go into effect at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International next month. By the end of 2008, 10 fingerprints will be required at nine other international ports. Prints are checked against a watch list of suspected terrorists.
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1197300742984.shtm
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1197326672447.shtm
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071211/BUSINESS/112110024/1006
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CIM Water
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Higher temperatures are affecting mountain ecosystems and their populations, as melting glaciers increase short term water availability but also raise the likelihood of flooding, species migration and long term water shortage. As glaciers disappear and snowlines move upwards, river flows are likely to change and lack of water may lead to conflict and affect hydropower generation, forestry and agricultural-based livelihoods. The services that mountain ecosystems provide often extend well beyond their geographic areas and include water balance, climate regulation, and maintenance of different species of plants and animals.
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000722/index.html

South Australia is receiving more than 20 reports a day of neighbors breaking water restrictions.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,2291,00.html

In Bhutan, glaciers are now retreating 20-30 meters a year with devastating effects downstream as a result of flooding, leading to loss of life, crops and pasture lands. The ice cap once known as the “sleeping lion” in the Andes of Peru has completely disappeared, resulting in intermittent or dry drainage channels causing herders to move grazing herds and increased concern for the future of irrigation, electricity generation and mining.
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000722/index.html

The western US states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming have reached agreement on Colorado River water sharing.
http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/strategies.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/us/10water.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-12-14-colorado-river_N.htm
http://www.livingrivers.net/archives/article.cfm?NewsID=795

Georgia's Environmental Protection Division relaxed its rules so more water can be pulled from streams and more water can be sold from one utility to another. If the state mandate of a ten percent reduction of water sales were enforced, the Bear Creek Reservoir would already be dry.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/12/10/droughtrules_1211.html

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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Tropical Cyclone Olga hit the Caribbean. The rare December storm killed at least 25 people, and caused major floods and landslides.

Severe winter storms in the US have disrupted power and travel. In Oklahoma, an ice storm killed 11 people, and knocked out power to more than 300,000 homes and businesses. Ice storms in other central states killed at least 11 more.
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DRM Response and Recovery
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Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) workers installed a new valve assembly and injected concrete into a damaged Gulf oil well, nearly two months after a storm in which a drilling collision killed at least 21.


South Korea has declared a disaster, and is tallying the environmental and economic cost of its worst ever oil spill. It is affecting the Taean maritime national park, a nature reserve with a vibrant maritime and tourist economy. Samsung group stocks have been hit by heavy losses following the spill, which was caused when one of its heavy industries barges came loose from its tugboat and rammed into the Hebei Spirit crude oil tanker.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200712/200712100012.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSSEO37024620071210
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8745afbe-a857-11dc-9485-0000779fd2ac.html
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2007/12/123_15277.html

Guy Carpenter released "Wrong Type of Rain: Impact and Implications of 2007 UK Floods". It offers an in-depth analysis on the extensive flooding that caused severe damage in north-eastern England in June 2007 and central and south-western England in July 2007, involving some $6.2 billion in insured losses. The report includes a meteorological summary, detailed event overview and information on insured losses and modeling solutions. More than two million UK homes are at risk from coastal or inland flooding, with plans to build three million new homes by 2020, including a significant number on known floodplains. Flood risk in the UK looks likely to increase.
http://www.guycarp.com/portal/extranet/press/PDF/2007/UK Flood Report 121307.pdf

The West Virginia Sunday Gazette-Mail obtained a previously confidential US Army Corps of Engineers Draft Report: CFD Study and Structural Analysis of the Sago Mine Accident, under the Freedom of Information Act. The report suggests that the Sago Mine explosion could have been nearly seven times more powerful than previously disclosed. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) experts do not believe the study is accurate, but will reopen a public comment period on proposed changed to seal strength regulations.
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2007120828
http://www.msha.gov/CFDSagoReport.pdf
http://www.msha.gov/sagomine/sagomine.asp
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DRM Risks
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Using a simplified forecasting technique, Colorado State University researchers are predicting an above-average hurricane season in the Atlantic next year, with seven hurricanes, three of them major.
http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/Forecasts/2007/dec2007/dec2007.pdf

A GMAC Insurance and Road Safe America survey results revealed that drivers are unsure of safe procedures in the winter cold:
* 36 percent of licensed drivers believe it is safe to drive with their cruise control activated if the temperature is below freezing.  However, the safest course of action is to avoid using cruise control altogether.  Despite clear weather, accumulated moisture on roadways combined with freezing temperatures could lead to icy conditions, which are sometimes undetectable.
* 31 percent indicated that the minimum amount that should be in a gas tank didn’t matter, four percent responded one-eighth of a tank, 28 percent answered one-quarter tank and 37 percent said one-half tank.  GMAC Insurance and Road Safe America recommend keeping the gas tank as full as possible (at least one half full), maximizing the length of time vehicle occupants can run the engine as a source of heat in an emergency.
http://www.gmacinsurance.com/About/GMAC_News/07Dec01.asp

A Virginia Commonwealth University study finds that crash tests predict driver fatality risk in cars, but not in trucks.
http://www.news.vcu.edu/news.aspx?v=detail&nid=2314

University of California Berkeley geophysicist Richard Allen noted the current seismic warning system in California needs serious upgrades to provide the extra seconds or minutes officials and residents would need to prepare for an earthquake. The system has up to 300 seismic monitoring instruments throughout the state, but only a few monitoring stations. Similar systems across Europe are more advanced, and in Japan, the latest system offers schools, power companies, electric generating stations, and others a few seconds warning before earthquakes strike.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/12/11/MN4OTRN8S.DTL

Providence, Rhode Island, City Engineer William Bombard says a gear on the hurricane barrier broke several months ago and requires some $20,000 in repairs..
http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7485882&nav=menu20_3
http://www.crmc.ri.gov/coastalhazards/index.html
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DRM Mitigation
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GMAC Insurance and Road Safe America launched "Ready, Set, Go: Five Steps To Prepare For Winter Travels". They recommend:

In addition to driving without cruise control activated and keeping gas tank levels at least half full, GMAC Insurance and Road Safe America compiled the following checklist to help keep people safe and prepared for driving in freezing temperatures:
*  Create a Safety Kit. Be prepared with safety essentials in your car, including extra windshield wiper fluid, warm gloves and a hat, flashlight, remote jump starter, tire gauge, safety flares and a blanket.
*  Give Your Vehicle a Check Up.  Avoid unnecessary accidents by taking a few minutes to check your vehicle before heading out. Use a small tire gauge to check your tires, as cold weather will lower their pressure, and make sure taillights, headlights, blinkers and the horn are in good working order.
* Play it Safe in the Dark.  With shopping season in high gear, heavy traffic is more common, and nightfall comes earlier. When driving at night, avoid using any light inside your vehicle; use edge lines and center lines of the roadway as guides; if street lights cause glare, dim your dashboard lights and use your sun visor.
* Prevent Glare.  Snowfall and other precipitation can serve up severe road glare.  Be prepared with a pair of sunglasses, avoid foggy blotches on your windows by cleaning the inside of your windshield regularly, and consider using winter wiper blades designed to handle heavier road debris and snow.
* Buckle Your Bundles. Loose gifts can be dangerous distractions, and according to a GMAC Insurance survey, less than half of drivers (43 percent) secure their packages on the floor or buckle them down.  Avoid "projectile presents" by driving slower and securing gifts in the backseat or placing them on the floor.
http://www.gmacinsurance.com/About/GMAC_News/07Dec01.asp

In May, the US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued an Emergency Temporary Standard on the sealing of abandoned areas. This week a new regulation has been released. It requires that areas sealed prior to the issuance of the temporary standard be monitored and the atmosphere in the sealed area maintained inert. Some operators may choose to breach existing seals and re-ventilate sealed areas rather than monitor and inert. The breaching of seals is a potentially hazardous undertaking that may expose the miners to explosive or irrespirable atmospheres.
http://www.msha.gov/regs/complian/PIB/2007/pib07-29.asp
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2007121026

Corvallis, Oregon is one of many US cities with building codes in place as part of their participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. All houses in the Willamette River floodplain must be built at least 18 inches above the projected high-water mark. Paved surfaces must be kept to a minimum to encourage water absorption; floors must be watertight, and a minimum of one foot above the highest recorded water level; and there are a range of other regulations that allow local homeowners to receive insurance discounts.
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2007/12/08/news/top_story/2aaa01_buildinghigh.txt

7. Recommended Reading

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change met in Bali, 3 - 14 December. During the two weeks of negotiations, it appeared that primary carbon emitters - the US and Canada - could block any progress. But there was a breakthrough on Saturday when the 11,000 attendees representing 187 countries agreed to launch negotiations towards a strengthened international climate change agreement.

During the meeting, decisions were reached on several operational issues, as well as reporting on global observing systems, development and transfer of technologies, approaches to stimulate action to reduce emissions from deforestation in developing countries, and other measures, many tied to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The key achievement at this meeting was agreement to adopt the Bali Action Plan. The text of this plan follows:

Advance unedited version
DECISION -/CP.13
BALI ACTION PLAN

The Conference of the Parties,

Resolving to urgently enhance implementation of the Convention in order to achieve its ultimate objective in full accordance with its principles and commitments,

Reaffirming that economic and social development and poverty eradication are global priorities,

Responding to the findings of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and that delay in reducing emissions significantly constrains opportunities to achieve lower stabilization levels and increases the risk of more severe climate change impacts,

Recognizing that deep cuts in global emissions will be required to achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention and emphasizing the urgency [Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Technical Summary, pages 39 and 90, and Chapter 13, page 776.] to address climate change as indicated in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,

1. Decides to launch a comprehensive process to enable the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention through long-term cooperative action, now, up to and beyond 2012, in order to reach an agreed outcome and adopt a decision at its fifteenth session, by addressing, inter alia:

(a) A shared vision for long-term cooperative action, including a long-term global goal for emission reductions, to achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention, in accordance with the provisions and principles of the Convention, in particular the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and taking into account social and economic conditions and other relevant factors;

(b) Enhanced national and international action on mitigation of climate change, including, inter alia, consideration of:
(i) Measurable, reportable and verifiable nationally appropriate mitigation commitments or actions, including quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives, by all developed country Parties, while ensuring the comparability of efforts among them, taking into account differences in their national circumstances;
(ii) Measurable, reportable and verifiable nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing country Parties in the context of sustainable development, supported by technology and enabled by financing and capacity-building;
(iii) Policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries; and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries;
(iv) Cooperative sectoral approaches and sector-specific actions, in order to enhance implementation of Article 4, paragraph 1(c), of the Convention;
(v) Various approaches, including opportunities for using markets, to enhance the cost-effectiveness of, and to promote, mitigation actions, bearing in mind different circumstances of developed and developing countries;
(vi) Economic and social consequences of response measures;
(vii) Ways to strengthen the catalytic role of the Convention in encouraging multilateral bodies, the public and private sectors and civil society, building on synergies among activities and processes, as a means to support mitigation in a coherent and integrated manner;

(c) Enhanced action on adaptation, including, inter alia, consideration of:
(i) International cooperation to support urgent implementation of adaptation actions, including through vulnerability assessments, prioritization of actions, financial needs assessments, capacity-building and response strategies, integration of adaptation actions into sectoral and national planning, specific projects and programs, means to incentivize the implementation of adaptation actions, and other ways to enable climate-resilient development and reduce vulnerability of all Parties, taking into account the urgent and immediate needs of developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, especially the least developed countries and small island developing States, and further taking into account the needs of countries in Africa affected by drought, desertification and floods;
(ii) Risk management and risk reduction strategies, including risk sharing and transfer mechanisms such as insurance;
(iii) Disaster reduction strategies and means to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change;
(iv) Economic diversification to build resilience;
(v) Ways to strengthen the catalytic role of the Convention in encouraging multilateral bodies, the public and private sectors and civil society, building on synergies among activities and processes, as a means to support adaptation in a coherent and integrated manner;

(d) Enhanced action on technology development and transfer to support action on mitigation and adaptation, including, inter alia, consideration of:
(i) Effective mechanisms and enhanced means for the removal of obstacles to, and provision of financial and other incentives for, scaling up of the development and transfer of technology to developing country Parties in order to promote access to affordable environmentally sound technologies;
(ii) Ways to accelerate deployment, diffusion and transfer of affordable environmentally sound technologies;
(iii) Cooperation on research and development of current, new and innovative technology, including win-win solutions;
 (iv) The effectiveness of mechanisms and tools for technology cooperation in specific sectors;

(e) Enhanced action on the provision of financial resources and investment to support action on mitigation and adaptation and technology cooperation, including, inter alia, consideration of:
(i) Improved access to adequate, predictable and sustainable financial resources and financial and technical support, and the provision of new and additional resources, including official and concessional funding for developing country Parties;
(ii) Positive incentives for developing country Parties for the enhanced implementation of national mitigation strategies and adaptation action;
(iii) Innovative means of funding to assist developing country Parties that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change in meeting the cost of adaptation;
(iv) Means to incentivize the implementation of adaptation actions on the basis of sustainable development policies;
(v) Mobilization of public- and private-sector funding and investment, including facilitation of carbon-friendly investment choices;
(vi) Financial and technical support for capacity-building in the assessment of the costs of adaptation in developing countries, in particular the most vulnerable ones, to aid in determining their financial needs;

2. Decides that the process shall be conducted under a subsidiary body under the Convention, hereby established and known as the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention, that shall complete its work in 2009 and present the outcome of its work to the Conference of the Parties for adoption at its fifteenth session;

3. Agrees that the process shall begin without delay, that the sessions of the group will be scheduled as often as is feasible and necessary to complete the work of the group, where possible in conjunction with sessions of other bodies established under the Convention, and that its sessions may be complemented by workshops and other activities, as required;

4. Decides that the first session of the group shall be held as soon as is feasible and not later than April 2008;

5. Decides that the Chair and Vice-Chair of the group, with one being from a Party included in Annex I to the Convention (Annex I Party) and the other being from a Party not included in Annex I to the Convention (non-Annex I Party), shall alternate annually between an Annex I Party and a non-Annex I Party;

6. Takes note of the proposed schedule of meetings contained in the annex;

7. Instructs the group to develop its work program at its first session in a coherent and
integrated manner;

8. Invites Parties to submit to the secretariat, by 22 February 2008, their views regarding the work program, taking into account the elements referred to in paragraph 1 above, to be compiled by the secretariat for consideration by the group at its first meeting;

9. Requests the group to report to the Conference of the Parties at its fourteenth session on progress made;

10. Agrees to take stock of the progress made, at its fourteenth session, on the basis of the report by the group;

11. Agrees that the process shall be informed by, inter alia, the best available scientific information, experience in implementation of the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol, and processes thereunder, outputs from other relevant intergovernmental processes and insights from the business and research communities and civil society;

12. Notes that the organization of work of the group will require a significant amount of additional resources to provide for the participation of delegates from Parties eligible to be funded and to provide conference services and substantive support;

13. Strongly urges Parties in a position to do so, in order to facilitate the work of the group, to provide contributions to the Trust Fund for Participation in the UNFCCC Process and the Trust Fund for Supplementary Activities for the purposes referred to in paragraph 12 above and to provide other forms of in kind support such as hosting a session of the group.


SOURCE:
UN Climate Change Conference Bali 3-14 December 2007
http://unfccc.int/2860.php

8. Asset Management Network News

Popular demand and practicality have led us to the decision to provide a smaller, more digestible Newsletter. Beginning in January, we will provide six separate Newsletters: AML/CFT e-Newsletter; Emerging Threat e-Newsletter, Critical Infrastructure e-Newsletter, Disaster Reduction e-Newsletter, Global Terrorism e-Newsletter, and Political Risk e-Newsletter. Subscribers to each Monitor publication will continue to receive a Newsletter that provides weekly updates. However, we will no longer provide free weekly updates to non-subscribers. You will, however, have the option to purchase the e-Newsletter separately.

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