There has been an increase in deadly crime in the USA. This is the result of increased munitions in the hands of people that should never have them. The Assault Weapon Ban was completely ignored by the Bush Oval Office, yet he believes he is the best friend of all police officers.
City Remembers Slain Police Officer
POSTED: 7:21 pm MDT September 25, 2006
September 25, 2006 -- The El Paso Police Department is marking a sad day, as it has been two years since Officer Andrew Barcena was killed in the line of duty.
Barcena was killed while responding to a domestic abuse call in West El Paso when he was shot to death, becoming the 23rd El Paso police officer to give his life while on the job.
So far this year, 97 law enforcement officers have been killed on duty, seven from Texas.
The El Paso Police Department said if you would like to make a donation to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in Barcena's name, you can do so by sending your check to 400 7th St. Northwest, Suite 300, Washington D.C., 20004 or call 202-737-3400.
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/9932183/detail.html
Grief and support over murdered cop
Outpouring of support for family of police officer slain by illegal immigrant; public questions local police policies toward illegal immigration.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Members of Houston’s community banded together to raise donations to the family of Officer Rodney Johnson, allegedly slain by an illegal immigrant on September 21. Volunteers wielded buckets and brushes to wash cars and raise funds for the widow of Officer Johnson, and also stopped motorists in Houston to ask for donations. By the evening of Sunday September 24th, the group had raised over $7,000 for Johnson’s widow and five children. Members of the community cited Johnson’s kindness and professionalism in his service to the city.
The murder of Officer Johnson is raising concerns about conflicts between Houston’s immigrant Hispanics and native-born black communities; in addition, the Houston police department’s current policy of not questioning suspects about their immigrant status. Police Chief Harold Hurtt appeared on national television to defend this policy and to declare that he would need another 2.500 officers in order to address illegal immigration in his city. Hurtt blamed the Federal government for inadequately defending Texas’ border with Mexico where thousands of illegal immigrants cross into the US every year. Estimates of the number of illegal immigrants living in Houston range from 250,000 to 400,000.
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=134&id=5701&t=Grief+and+support+over+murdered+cop
Front Range officers killed in the line of duty
The slain Aurora detective is the fourth officer from that department to be killed. The others are:
1987: Edward J. Hockom Jr., shot by a fleeing robber.
1985: Thomas Joseph Dietzman, shot by a fellow police officer during a training exercise.
1981: Debra Sue Corr, shot during a traffic stop.
Other shooting deaths of law enforcement officers along the Front Range:
Feb. 2006: Colorado Springs police Officer Jared Jensen killed while trying to arrest a man with a lengthy criminal record. Jereme Lamberth is awaiting trial for first-degree murder in the case.
May 2005: Denver police Detective Donald R. "Donnie" Young, 43, shot while providing uniformed security at a party. Raul Gomez-Garcia has been convicted of Young's murder and is awaiting sentencing.
1997: Denver police Officer Bruce VanderJagt shot by robbery suspect Matthaeus Jaehnig, who later killed himself with the officer's gun.
1995: Jefferson County Sheriff's Sgt. Timothy Mossbrucker, 36, killed in a supermarket.
Denver Officer Shawn Leinen shot while questioning a teen about a car theft.
1994: Boulder police Officer Beth Haynes, 26, shot in the parking lot of an apartment complex.
1992: Colorado state Trooper Lyle Wohlers, 51, shot in a routine traffic stop on I-70 east of Georgetown.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4371550
Brian A. Washington Now Faces Murder Charges
Funeral For Aurora Police Detective Michael Thomas
(AP/CBS4) AURORA, Colo. A man accused of shooting and killing an Aurora police officer was charged Monday with first-degree murder.
Brian Allen Washington, 27, is also charged with seven other counts, including attempted first-degree murder of a second officer who arrived at the scene.
Washington is accused of shooting Detective Mike Thomas Wednesday while Thomas was in his personal car at an intersection. Thomas was not in uniform at the time of the shooting and police have not said why Thomas was targeted.
http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_story_269112805.html
The results of police death statistics haven't been compiled for 2005 yet.
Uniform Crime Reports
The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program was conceived in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to meet a need for reliable, uniform crime statistics for the nation. In 1930, the FBI was tasked with collecting, publishing, and archiving those statistics. Today, several annual statistical publications, such as the comprehensive Crime in the United States, are produced from data provided by nearly 17,000 law enforcement agencies across the United States.
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm
Guardian Unlimited
Violence must be opposed, Pope tells Muslim leaders
John Hooper in Rome
Tuesday September 26, 2006
The Pope stuck to his guns at a meeting with Muslim diplomats and representatives yesterday aimed at launching talks between the Catholic church and Islam into a new phase of more substantial - but perhaps thornier - debate.
"We are in great need of an authentic dialogue between religions and between cultures," he said.
Barely pausing to acknowledge the furore caused by a lecture he gave this month, the pontiff went on to make a coded appeal for discussions on the two issues that most concern the Vatican. One is the scant religious freedom of Christians in predominantly Muslim countries. The second is the issue that ignited the latest row - the Pope's view that too many Muslim clerics are willing to tolerate, if not actively encourage, violence.
"Christians and Muslims must learn to work together, as indeed they already do in many common undertakings, in order to guard against all forms of intolerance and to oppose all manifestations of violence," he said. Religious authorities, like political leaders, had a duty to "guide and encourage [believers of both faiths] in this direction".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1881056,00.html
I love this party, says departing Blair
· It's hard to let go, but it's right to let go
· Could not have done it without Brown
· No date for departure
· Tells party: Go after Cameron
Matthew Tempest, political correspondent
Tony Blair today took his leave of the Labour party, telling his final conference as leader that he loved the party and "wherever I am, whatever I do, I'm with you".
It was his 13th and final conference address and he received an ecstatic and emotional welcome from delegates in the hall, with standing ovations on arriving and at the end of his speech.
Loyal delegates in the G-Mex centre in Manchester held up hand-made banners saying "thank you". Many appeared to be in tears.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labourconference2006/story/0,,1881473,00.html
Tony Blair's speech
Text of the Labour leader's valedictory speech to the party conference
Tuesday September 26, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
"I'd like to start by saying something very simple. Thank you.
Thank you to you, our party, our members, our supporters, the people who week in, week out do the work, take the flak but don't often get the credit. Thank you, the Labour party for giving me the extraordinary privilege of leading you these past 12 years.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labourconference2006/story/0,,1881510,00.html
'That's a lie' - the remark that wrecked Brown's day
Patrick Wintour and Will Woodward
Tuesday September 26, 2006
Cherie Blair yesterday wrecked Gordon Brown's carefully calibrated and confident attempt to woo the British public when she was reportedly overheard branding the chancellor a liar during his speech to the Labour party conference.
With Tony Blair due to make an emotional farewell speech to the conference in Manchester today claiming "Labour's core vote is the country", Downing Street went into overdrive to deny that his wife had so contemptuously dismissed the chancellor. Ironically, Mr Brown had been using his speech to effect a public reconciliation with the prime minister, saying he regretted their differences.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labourconference2006/story/0,,1881045,00.html
After the ceasefire, hostilities are resumed
Michael White
Tuesday September 26, 2006
The Guardian
Believe it or not, most senior ministers had been trying to behave after the cabinet's stern self-bollocking in the wake of this month's Blair-Brown catfight. Even Charlie Whelan, the former Treasury spin doctor, was loyally turning down TV fees in Manchester last night. All the cabinet's peacekeepers forgot to do was to serve Asbos on the unelected wives.
So when Cherie Blair was (apparently) overheard saying "Well, that's a lie" during the praising-Tony passage of Gordon Brown's speech, few of those who know her well were inclined to believe No 10's heated denials. Either way the remark was all too credible.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/cherie/comment/0,,1881059,00.html
Nuclear deterrent not the solution, says Clarke
Will Woodward, chief political correspondent
Tuesday September 26, 2006
The Guardian
The government has failed to make the case for renewing Britain's nuclear deterrent, the former cabinet minister Charles Clarke said yesterday. Speaking at a Guardian debate at the conference, Mr Clarke, who was sacked as home secretary in May, fuelled the argument about Trident which some members have accused the party leadership of trying to curb.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are committed to replacing Trident at an estimated cost of £15bn-£25bn, although the Liberal Democrats claim it could cost more than three times that once maintenance costs are taken into account.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1881116,00.html
Trade talks have only 50-50 chance, says Mandelson
Larry Elliott, economics editor
Tuesday September 26, 2006
Peter Mandelson warned yesterday that the troubled global trade talks had only a 50-50 chance of success and failure to strike a deal within six months would rule out any agreement for years to come.
Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Labour party conference in Manchester, Europe's trade commissioner said there was a risk of "systemic" damage to the World Trade Organisation unless a solution to the impasse was found.
"I hope it will be possible to re-energise our negotiating partners and resume full negotiations in the Doha round," Mr Mandelson told a meeting of the lobby group Business for a New Europe. "But I see only a 50-50 chance of resuming the talks and bringing them to success."
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/development/story/0,,1881138,00.html
A boost for Bin Laden
It is absurd for our leaders to go on denying that the Iraq invasion increased the terrorist threat
Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday September 26, 2006
A month before the invasion of Iraq, Tony Blair was privately warned by his top intelligence advisers that an invasion would increase the terrorist threat against Britain. The joint intelligence committee advised in February 2003 that "al-Qaida and associated groups continue to represent by far the greatest threat to western interests, and that threat would be heightened by military action against Iraq".
The JIC would have provided a better service to the British public and the country's national interest had it not connived in the misleading intelligence dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons programme and allowed Blair to persuade MPs and military chiefs to go to war.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1880968,00.html
Ports
Pushing borders out
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, left, and Patty Murray, D-Wash., worked on port-security legislation.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray's successful port-security legislation is a pragmatic alternative to the orchestrated fear-mongering around the 9/11 anniversary.
Washington's senior senator has worked on stricter cargo inspections and business incentives for cooperation for the past five years. For all of the feisty rhetoric about protecting the United States, the Bush administration and Republican-led Congress have been slow to embrace tighter standards. In particular, the legislation that passed the Senate will put monitors for screening cargo for radiological materials in 22 of the nation's busiest ports, including Seattle and Tacoma. Concerns about so-called dirty bombs top a long list of worries.
Murray successfully teamed with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to budge the Department of Homeland Security off dead center to start producing cargo-security standards and protocols for employee credentials. Action where there has been precious little.
The department is also charged with devising a plan to resume trade quickly after an incident.
Last spring, a three-year, $75 million study by Homeland Security produced a catalog of vulnerabilities involving port operators, shipping lines and freight haulers. The problems are well-established; the political and financial will to confront them has been missing.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2003261821_ported18.html
How Texas voted
WASHINGTON — How the Texas congressional delegation voted on selected issues last week:
Senate
• 1. Port and rail security: Passed, 98-0, a bill (HR 4954) to impose tighter security on U.S. ports and rail systems. By the end of next year, the bill mandates the installation of radiation-detection devices at the 22 busiest ports. The bill requires special employee ID credentials at the 10 busiest ports by July. The bill authorizes U.S. customs agents to randomly inspect U.S.-bound cargo at 44 overseas ports that account for 75 percent of shipments to America but does not require container scanning overseas. The bill authorizes $5.5 billion over five years, including $3.6 billion for mass-transit and inter-city rail security, with grants allocated on the basis of risk. This vote sent the bill to House-Senate conference. A yes vote was to pass the bill.
• 2. Nuclear-cargo inspections: Tabled (killed), 61-37, an amendment to HR 4954 (above) requiring all cargo containers arriving at U.S. ports to be scanned for nuclear weapons. The mandate was to take effect in four years and be funded by the shipping industry. A yes vote was to kill the amendment.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4191273.html
Super Slab project is having a toll on residents of Colorado's eastern plains
Letters to Editor
September 17, 2006
Imagine being a rancher on the eastern plains. There don't seem to be any plans for overpasses on roads other than state or federal highways. Imagine having to drive 10 or more miles, one way, out of your way to get from one field to a neighboring field. Then, as a consumer, imagine the increase in cost for the product that rancher is producing. What if that same rancher has desirable land that falls between the Super Slab and the proposed rail road? Even though it may be valuable land, it would now become useless land because of the hazards and difficulty accessing it. This happened to ranchers when Interstate 25 was built.
As a motorist you would be prevented from using east0west county roads to drive to the city for shopping or work. What do you think your gasoline bill will be then?
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20060917/READERS/109170075
San Francisco port drops Mexico cruises
By Michael Martinez, MEDIANEWS
CRUISES to the Mexican Riviera — popular for their cheap prices and exotic ports of call — will disappear from the Port of San Francisco next year as cruise lines look for more profitable itineraries.
Princess Cruises, which this season is offering 23 cruises to Mexico from San Francisco, will pull out of the Bay Area after the Dawn Princess departs on an 11-day sailing April 23. Celebrity Cruises, which had two sailings this year, has also dropped its San Francisco-Mexico itinerary.
Travelers will still be able to cruise to such ports as Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Ixtapa, but they'll have to depart from either Los Angeles or San Diego starting next fall. Those ports offer seven-day cruises and faster turnarounds.
The Port of San Francisco continues to be a popular port, though, for cruise ships departing for Alaska and elsewhere.
"We don't like to see our numbers go down," said Peter Dailey, deputy director, maritime, for the Port of San Francisco, "but we're confident this is just a small bump in the road. It may just be a one- or two-year dip."
Officials from both cruise lines said the market from San Francisco to Mexico is still strong, but factors such as ship deployment and the low cost of such cruises caused the change.
"It's quite normal for us to change deployment of our ships," said Julie Benson, a spokeswoman for Princess. "We look at different itineraries, different home ports, and we make changes based on the popularity of cruises, where we see passenger demand.
"We don't have as many ships as we'd like to go everywhere we'd like. Occasionally, we have to pull out of a market to of to offer a different itinerary that may appeal to a different market, for example, Southern California. We'd love to be everywhere, but we don't have that many ships."
Benson said the Golden Princess will sail from Los Angeles next season; the Dawn Princess will make San Diego its home port.
Cruises to Mexico are a bargain. An 11-day cruise on the Dawn Princess, for example, starts at $799 per person — $200 less than a similar cruise to Alaska from San Francisco. But add in the cost of an airline ticket to Los Angeles, and those cruises become costlier.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/bayarealiving/ci_4353091
Marine fleet to receive five vessels per month
TEHRAN, Sept. 17 (MNA) – An average of five vessels per month are scheduled to be added to the national marine fleet this year, said the managing director of the Iranian Ports and Shipping Organization (PSO).
Speaking in a session of the PSO Supreme Council on Sunday, Ali Taheri Motlaq said that all port terminals are allocated to the private sector, who has obtained necessary equipments for its operations.
This has enabled the private sector to create 25,400 job opportunities.
Taheri Motlaq referred to the establishment of investment promotion bureaus in all ports of Iran, and said that the Islamic Republic Iran is the world’s 69th country regarding its container transportation; however, according to the plans, a five grade elevation is predicted for Iran.
“After the development of structures and infrastructures, marketing is the PSO’s second essential strategy; therefore, PSO has fully authorized the marketing committees and granted to them considerable facilities.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Taheri Motlaq said that in order to develop relations with 61 foreign countries, a number of marine cooperation agreements have already been signed. “Moreover, some encouraging measures, including a 50% discount on taxes, have been predicted for the goods and cargos in transit.”
http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=381626
Seaport alert system remains down
Authorities play down risk factor
Staff Correspondent
Although the essential security alarm system at Chittagong and Mongla ports for ships, remained off for the last four consecutive days, the government and high officials of the Chittagong Port Authority seem to be in no hurry to immediately restore the system.
When contacted, State Minister for Shipping Quamrul Islam echoed Port Chairman AMM Shahadat Hossain, who downplayed the disruption as a 'rumour'. Quamrul Islam also does not see any problem in disconnecting the mobile phone lines which are a vital part of the alarm system.
He told The Daily Star last night that everything is fine and the collapse of the security alarm system is just a 'rumour'. The phone sets were disconnected after getting allegations of misuse, he said.
But according to sources, the disruption in the alarm system could bring serious dangers to local and foreign ships that might tarnish the image of the country's seaports. With the disruption of the alarm system, the crews of ships have become helpless and cannot even inform any responsible authority if they face any danger in the outer anchorage or in the sea.
Ships are not being able to get information about the security situation in Bangladesh ports before calling in.
http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/09/18/d6091801118.htm
Turkey eyes more reforms but EU crisis looming
Turkey's parliament reconvenes on Tuesday, nearly two weeks ahead of schedule, to pass fresh reforms that the government hopes will demonstrate its commitment to joining the European Union.
But analysts and diplomats say the laws will fall well short of what the EU wants and will do nothing to avert a looming crisis between the wealthy bloc and Ankara over Cyprus.
With scant room for manoeuvre over the politically delicate issue of Cyprus ahead of 2007 elections, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan should compensate with bolder reforms, for example in the area of freedom of expression, to disarm his critics and reassure his allies inside the EU, they say.
"Everyone's pleased with the early parliament recall, but the government needs to do more to win time over Cyprus," said a senior EU diplomat in Ankara.
"What Turkey needs to do is give pro-Turkey countries in the EU something to bite on, namely by improving freedom of expression or opening the Greek Orthodox seminary." The EU has long urged Erdogan to reopen the Halki seminary near Istanbul, viewing it as a symbol of religious freedom in Muslim but secular Turkey. But nationalists oppose such a move.
Erdogan's ruling centre-right AK Party is expected instead to propose laws increasing civilian control of the military and improving property rights of non-Muslim religious foundations.
It is unclear whether Erdogan will bow to EU pressure and scrap or amend a controversial article of the penal code that makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness" and state institutions.
http://english.alarabonline.org/display.asp?fname=2006%5C09%5C09-17%5Czalsoz%5C923.htm&dismode=x&ts=17/09/2006%2006:46:29%20%C3%A3
Turkey should open ports to Cypriot ships
19/09/2006
Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Dora Bakoyiannis has pointed out to her Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul the need for specific progress in opening Turkish ports to Cypriot ships.
This was highlighted during a meeting the two Ministers had on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, during which they discussed bilateral relations and Turkey's relations with the European Union.
Speaking after the meeting, both Ministers said they reviewed the May agreement on confidence building measures between the two countries and agreed to prepare a package of new measures, some of which will be announced during Gul's visit to Athens.
Diplomatic sources have said that Bakoyiannis told Gul that progress is linked with reforms in Turkey, the rate of which is of concern to many European countries. She encouraged Turkey to speed up the pace of these reforms.
Bakoyiannis also made special reference to the Ecumenical Patriarchy, the reopening of the Halki Seminary, which are not bilateral issues but come under the broader package of reforms.
http://www.financialmirror.com/more_news.php?id=4769&type=st
EU delays report on Turkey's membership bid by two weeks
BRUSSELS, Belgium The European Commission said Tuesday it is delaying discussion of a key progress report on Turkey's bid to join the EU by two weeks, until Nov. 8.
Spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy said the delay was due to scheduling problems at the European Union's executive body. "It is just that the Commission's diary has changed," Nagy told reporters. "All that has happened this time is that it is being deferred from one Commission meeting to the next."
Turkey opened membership talks in October 2005, but its refusal to recognize EU member Cyprus or open its ports to Greek Cypriot ships and airplanes has led to speculation that the Commission could recommend suspending the negotiations.
The report, prepared by the commissioner in charge of EU expansion, Olli Rehn, had been scheduled to be presented to the Commission on Oct. 24. At its review of the report, the 25-member Commission will decide whether to adopt, amend or reject the document.
It will also report on the progress of membership negotiations with Croatia and update the EU's strategy for bringing in other potential candidates in the Balkans.
A separate report is due Sept. 26 on Romania and Bulgaria, which are due to join the EU on Jan. 1, but could see membership postponed for a year if the Commission rules they have failed to implement the required reforms.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/19/europe/EU_GEN_EU_Turkey.php
More complaints against ports boss
Published: Sunday, Sep. 17, 2006
PORTSMOUTH (AP) – An investigation into racist remarks by state ports director Geno Marconi also uncovered allegations that he and other employees were using public vehicles for personal use, including forklifts to set private boat moorings.
The allegations are contained in a report by the state attorney general’s office, according to the Portsmouth Herald.
Dick Green, who last month became director of the Pease Development Authority, which oversees the Division of Ports and Harbors, said he will review the report.
Marconi won reappointment as ports director last week despite acknowledging using a racist term that refers to someone of Middle Eastern descent. He apologized for that remark but denied allegations that he hurled other slurs in the workplace.
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060917/NEWS02/60917011/-1/ENTERTAINMENT
Marine Port China 2006: The 10th International Exhibition on Ports, Shipping and Logistics to Open at the End of September
In 2010, the Total Weight of Cargo Passing Through Shanghai Port WillExceed 470 Million Tons, Making it the World's Largest PortSHANGHAI, China, Sept. 18 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd. announced today that Marine Port China 2006 will be held at the Shanghai International Exhibition Center from September 27 to 29. Organized jointly by the China Ports and Harbors Association (CPHA), the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the ShanghaiSub-council (CCPIT Shanghai), the China Chamber of International Commerce, and the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, and sees strong support from the Ministry of Communications, China and Shanghai Municipality. Large domesticand international ports will gather again in Shanghai to showcase the latest achievements in construction and exchange information and technologies. Marine Port China 2006 serves as a good stage for world famous manufacturers of port machinery and supporting facilities to exhibit their new products, new technologies and also have the opportunity to communicate directly with potential buyers. Marine Port China 2006 will attract over 100 exhibitors from 8 countries and regions. Major ports along China's eastern sea and over half of the river ports will attend alongside a ten thousand strong professional audience from China and Southeast Asia.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-18-2006/0004434340&EDATE=
Minister: Oman signs $433.7 million deal for ports, roads
MENAFN - 19/09/2006
(MENAFN) The Omani transport and communications minister, signed 38 agreements worth $433.7 million to promote development services in general and the Sultanate's road network in particular.
The agreements, were signed with Interbeton and Six Construct and Van A (ports and marine affairs sector), included development of Sohar Port (3rd phase) at a total cost of $246.2 million.
The second agreement, signed with Oman Shapoorji Construction Company in conjunction with Avkons Basic Construction Ltd, includes the construction of Marine Anchorage at Shanah in the Al Wusta region at a cost of $27 million.
The third agreement, signed with Turkish Steva Company at a cost of $16.9 million, deals with additional works in wilayat Sohar's new fishing jetty and docks (2nd phase), the construction of an additional 230 metres long and 16 metres high wall at the harbour and docks area.
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093127760
Port security measure: better late than too late
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
BETTER LATE than too late.
The U.S. Senate finally got around to passing a major port security bill last week, five years after the 9/11 attacks focused minds in Washington on the nation's vulnerability to terrorism.
Partisan posturing briefly threatened to stall the bill, but the very real danger of a nuclear or radiological attack on a U.S. port seems to have overshadowed the political games. The port security legislation passed on a 98-0 vote.
Earlier this year, the House of Representatives approved a bill that would spend $5.5 billion on port security measures. The House and Senate have only a few weeks left to work out their differences on this critical legislation before Congress adjourns to deal with the issue of incumbent security in the upcoming election.
http://www.al.com/opinion/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/opinion/11586575854840.xml&coll=3
Protecting our Ports with Smart Cards
Can "smart" cards protect us from terrorism? Do we really want to hand over our fingerprints and facial scans to the government?
Well, maybe these cards won't protect us entirely, but the government hoped that by forming the Transportation Worker Identification Credential in 2002, they could "streamline checks of criminal-background files, terrorist watch lists and immigration status for truckers, stevedores, rail and airport terminal employees, and other transit workers, among others," [source: Washington Post] using fingerprints, iris scans, or digital photographs. This means that anyone entering our ports would have to own one of these "smart" cards and the cards must be scanned before proceeding on.
Transportation workers were supposed to be given smart ID cards by the end of 2003. However, the worker-ID program has since been stalled, due to "delayed prototype testing until late 2004. Instead of the 200,000 cards planned for the pilot program, only 4,000 were issued, even as the cost rose from $12 million to $23 million." The program then missed its July deadline of this year to install card readers, so now the program has been asked by the government to conduct more security tests and report back in 2008.
http://gearlog.com/blogs/gearlog/archive/2006/09/19/21571.aspx
IMF team to visit Lebanon shortly
Reuters
Singapore: The IMF will dispatch a team of economic experts to war-ravaged Lebanon in the next few days as Arab and Western powers mobilise money and moral support for a country considered strategically crucial, a European official said yesterday.
"It's a fact-finding mission," said the official, who spoke after a meeting on Monday with the finance minister and central bank chief of Lebanon in Singapore, where the International Monetary Fund's 184 member nations were gathered.
It was too soon to say whether the mission sent by the IMF, which has served for decades as lender and adviser to countries in economic trouble, would be the prelude to an IMF-managed economic programme after a 34-day war between Israel and the Hezbollah.
Improved ties
Relations between Beirut and the IMF have recovered over the last few years, the official said, referring to a deterioration earlier in the decade when the IMF was pressing Lebanon to devalue its currency, a move it rejected.
The official said that Lebanon had slid into the jaws of recession because of the war and a two-month blockade of its air and sea ports, but that its economic system had been stabilised.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/09/20/10068669.html
Radio New Zealand International
The Voice of New Zealand, Broadcasting to the Pacific
Te Reo Irirangi O Aotearoa, O Te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa
Fiji port staff caught in fraud sting
Posted at 04:23 on 20 September, 2006 UTC
The installation of surveillance equipment at Suva wharf in Fiji has resulted in 30 workers ranging up to supervisor level being caught engaging in fraud and abuse of funds.
The Daily Post says the human resources manager of the Fiji Ports Corporation, Jioji Taholo, has confirmed that the 30 workers were caught on closed circuit television cameras in just one day.
The cameras were installed after long standing allegations of corrupt practices a Suva wharf resulting in losses of millions of dollars to traders whose cargo was brought into the country
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=26916
Ports alerted in murder inquiry
Police have carried out searches for Bradley Tucker
A teenager being sought over the murder of a young father in east London may have fled abroad, police have said.
Scotland Yard has alerted Interpol, ports and airports of its search for Bradley Tucker, 18.
Detectives want to speak to Mr Tucker, who is from Canning Town, east London, about Peter Woodhams' death last month.
Mr Woodhams, 22, was killed after an earlier confrontation with youths in Canning Town. He had been stabbed in similar circumstances in January.
Det Supt Vic Rae said finding the teenager, who has not been seen since the day of Mr Woodhams' death, was a "principal line of inquiry".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/5362996.stm
U.S. to issue port security cards without readers
Wed Sep 20, 2006 2:01pm ET
By Edgar Ang
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States will begin issuing high security biometric identification cards for port workers as planned at the year-end, but the roll-out of card readers will be postponed to next year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Wednesday.
The second phase of the U.S. Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program, which will extend full background checks to all with unescorted access to port facilities and vessels, will more than double the number of checks. This will be effective from the end of this year.
"We will begin enrollment by the end of the year, and readers and access control will be addressed as we roll-out the TWIC to over 750,000 workers," Lara Uselding, a public affairs manager at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said in an email response.
The TSA, a unit of DHS, was expected to start processing applications for the TWIC cards between mid-September to mid-October, shipping industry sources said.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-09-20T180145Z_01_N20478225_RTRUKOC_0_US-TRANSPORT-USA-SECURITY.xml&archived=False
Plan panel, ministry differ over tariff model for ports
SURABHI & SUSHMA KINDO
Posted online: Friday, September 22, 2006 at 0000 hours IST
NEW DELHI, SEPT 21: The model concession agreement (MCA) for ports is yet to see the light of day. According to official sources, finalisation of the MCA is getting delayed due to a tussle between the shipping ministry and the Planning Commission over setting of tariff.
Sources in the Plan panel said the shipping ministry wanted to continue with the current cost-plus model for tariff.
But the Commission was critical of the model which, it believed, did not provide any incentive to private players to cut costs. Instead, the Commission said, tariff could be fixed through bidding, as in the case of road sector. Alternatively, tariffs could be set every five years by a regulator who would fix a price cap.
A Plan panel official said, "Internationally, the cost plus system has proven to be highly ineffective and we should opt for another model."
The Plan panel, sources said, was keen to have an MCA for ports similar to what was already there for the road sector. However, the shipping ministry was not keen on this as it felt that roads and ports were two completely different sectors and, therefore, should be dealt differently.
IN CHOPPY SEAS
• The shipping ministry wants to continue with the current model of cost-plus tariff
• Tariffs can be set every five years by a regulator who would set a price cap
• Roads and ports are completely different and so it should be dealt differently,says ministry
The MCA, which is being formulated since March for public-private partnership projects to be awarded on BOT (build, own and transfer) basis in major ports, has no hopes of being finalised soon. Planning commision officials said they were hopeful of sorting out these issues with the shipping ministry.
When contacted, minister for shipping, highways and road trnasport T R Baalu said, "It is an internal matter and will resolved as the earliest possible."
With increasing foreign trade and additional pressure on the country’s ports to deal with it, the shipping ministry is keen on finalising the terms of the MCA soon to encourage the entry of private players into the sector.
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=141132
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