Audit of Legislative and Public Affairs Expenses in the Department of Justice, Audit Report 08-25, July 2008. Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: July 2008
Oversight Committee Continues Investigation of Widespread Electrical Problems in Iraq
“Chairman Waxman requests additional information about Defense Department and KBR failures to address defective electrical systems throughout Iraq that have caused hundreds of fires and resulted in multiple fatalities.” Documents and Links Letter to Robert M. Gates Memorandum for Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) E-Mails 2006 E-mails Requesting Fire Report Continue Reading
CBP Releases Intellectual Property Rights Seizure Statistics for Mid-Fiscal Year 2008
News release: “U.S. Customs and Border Protections Office of International Trade announced today that the domestic value of counterfeit and pirated products seized by CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement increased by 2.7 percent in mid-fiscal year 2008 to $113.2 million compared to $110.1 million in mid-FY 2007. The number of large-scale seizures also… Continue Reading
New on LLRX.com: Sex Offender Residency Restrictions, Lessons From An E-Discovery Disaster
Criminal Justice Resources: Sex Offender Residency Restrictions – Ken Strutin’s guide collects recent court decisions, research papers and reports that have addressed the efficacy of exclusionary zoning laws and the impact of these restrictions on sex offenders reentering their communities. Published July 20, 2008 E-Discovery Update: Lessons From An E-Discovery Disaster – Conrad J. Jacoby… Continue Reading
Bank Recycling of Petro Dollars to Emerging Market Economies During the Current Oil Price Boom
International Monetary Fund Working Paper No. 08/180, by Johannes Wiegand: “High oil prices have once again led to large external surpluses of oil exporting countries, similar to the 1970s and 1980s. This paper analyzes the extent to which (i) oil exporters use bank deposits to invest these surpluses, and (ii) banks are lending on these… Continue Reading
Groundbreaking Study Finds the "Hotspots" Most Responsible For Deforestation
News release: “A new collaborative study by World Resources Institute and other researchers finds that much of the worlds deforestation is isolated in a handful of hotspots, not spread out over many nations and many locations. In fact, this study showed that over half the worlds deforestation (in this study only clear-cut are monitored) is… Continue Reading
Coastal Capital: Putting a Value on The Caribbean's Coral Reefs
News release: “Coral reefs are a vital part of the Caribbeans marine environment, and are integral to the economies of many of the regions small island states. World Resources Institutes economic valuation methodology can help decision-makers in the region better understand the enormous economic value the reef provides and use this data to make better-informed… Continue Reading
DHS: Essential Technology Task Force
Department of Homeland Security: Essential Technology Task Force, June 25 2008 (PDF, 24 pages) “The Department is suffering from systemic weaknesses in its ability to accept and manage change in technologies essential to its missions. Many of these ongoing weaknesses have been identified in GAO reports, Congressional oversight hearings, and media reports. A contributing factor… Continue Reading
New Nuclear Energy Data Released
OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA): “According to the latest official figures released [July 16, 2008] by the NEA, nuclear power plants provided 21.6% of the electricity generated in OECD countries, as compared to 22.9% in 2006. This was despite record production at nuclear power plants in Finland, Hungary and the United States, which did not… Continue Reading
Best Practice Guide to Carbon Management
News release: “IBM and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a collaboration of 385 institutional investors with a combined asset base of $57 trillion, have undertaken an extensive joint research project into carbon management practices and compiled a Best Practice Guide. The joint CDP and IBM project is one of the most detailed research projects into… Continue Reading
Comments on Recent SEC Short-Sale Rule Generate Backlash
Follow up to July 16, 2008 posting, SEC Enhances Investor Protections Against Naked Short Selling, this WSJ article: SEC Short-Sale Rule Gets Negative Reviews – Banks Not on List Fear They’re Now Even Bigger Targets – “The Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rule designed to limit certain negative stock bets is set to start Monday.… Continue Reading
Majority of UK businesses miss out on instant messaging benefits because of security fears
“Research released…by instant messaging experts, ProcessOne, revealed that 72% of UK businesses have banned the use of public instant messaging (IM) software, such as MSN, AIM and Yahoo!, because of security fears. These fears include the ability for employees to download the software without the IT departments knowledge and potentially use it to send confidential… Continue Reading
