24 July 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: CONSTANT BRAND
• Source: Associated Press Newswires

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - European Union nations made little progress Thursday on a plan to introduce a Europe-wide crackdown on illegal workers and on employers that hire them or abuse their rights.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Transnational Crime

22 July 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Nikkei Report

TOKYO (Nikkei)–Japan and Russia have agreed to conclude within the year a bilateral treaty that will promote cooperation on criminal investigations to help stem the surge in organized crime between the two nations.

The pact will allow law enforcement agencies from both countries to exchange evidence and information directly instead of through diplomatic channels. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Transnational Crime

17 July 2008
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• Author: Guy Dinmore and Michael Peel
• Source: Financial Times

Italy’s national anti-corruption commission is to be abolished under a cost-cutting initiative by Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right government.

The move will save about €800,000 ($1.27m, £633,000) a year, but risks losing much more in terms of international credibility.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Other, Transnational Crime

6 July 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: AFX Asia

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - The Group of Eight nations are expected to agree at this week’s summit to push for greater disclosure in crude oil markets in a bid to improve transparency and check rampant speculation amid record-high prices, the Nikkei newspaper reported at the weekend without citing sources. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under Other, Transnational Crime

6 July 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Shaun Tandon
• Source: Agence France Presse

US President George W. Bush pledged Sunday to play a “constructive” role on climate change at a summit of rich nations, but hopes for a breakthrough were dim as he pressed developing countries.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under The Environment, Transnational Crime, Democratization and Human Rights

13 June 2008
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• Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

Tokyo, June 12 - Japan’s public security chief Shinya Izumi called for increased cooperation as Group of Eight justice and home affairs ministers began full talks Thursday in Tokyo on security issues, including combating terrorism and crime involving the abuse of personal information.

The G-8 countries should “share a common understanding of the current situation and announce timely countermeasures” against international terrorism and transnational organized crime, the Japanese National Public Safety Commission chairman said in an opening speech. (more…)

Filed by Vanmala Subramaniam under Transnational Crime, Terrorism, Regional Security

13 June 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Agence France Presse

Japan’s public security chief called on the world’s major powers Thursday to help developing countries plug legal “loopholes” benefiting international terrorism and organised crime.

“To shut loopholes in international terrorism and elsewhere, it is important to make a concrete approach to countries which lag behind in laying the groundwork for legal systems,” said Shinya Izumi, head of Japan’s National Public Safety Commission. (more…)

Filed by Vanmala Subramaniam under Transnational Crime, Terrorism, Regional Security, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

12 June 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union, Interfax news agency, Moscow

Tokyo, 12 June: Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has said that it is necessary to draw up common mechanisms to stop cyber-terrorists using the global information and telecommunications space.

“We can see today how actively terrorist and extremist organizations use for their criminal purposes the opportunities provided by the internet. Legal regulation, censorship and other forms of control are absent in its segments,” the Russian interior minister said at a meeting of G8 interior ministers in Japan. (more…)

Filed by Vanmala Subramaniam under The New Electronic Economy and Information Technology, Transnational Crime, East-West Relations and Russia

26 May 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Dow Jones International News

TOKYO (Dow Jones)–Justice and home affairs ministers of the Group of Eight nations will confirm their intention to step up efforts for a crackdown on criminals abusing personal identity, as the so-called “ID crimes” amount to a serious threat to global economic activities, a draft of their statement showed Monday, Kyodo News reported.

The ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States are also expected to call on financial institutions and regulators for cooperation to fight money laundering and other organized crimes at their meeting next month in Tokyo, according to the draft seen by Kyodo News. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Transnational Crime

12 March 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

New Iranian Ambassador to Japan Seyyed Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday criticized UN Security Council sanctions against his country as being “counterproductive” and “not fair,” and called on Japan to contribute to resolving the nuclear dispute by urging the Group of Eight powers to realize disarmament on their part.

“We are committed to our international obligations and we will remain committed, but we are not ready to give up our legitimate right for using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,” the envoy said in an interview with Kyodo News and emphasized that confidence-building must be a “two-way road.” (more…)

Filed by Nicole Cargill under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Transnational Crime, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

12 March 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Kyodo News

Japan promised Wednesday to utilize its role as the chair of the upcoming Group of Eight summit this summer to promote efforts to build peace and stability in Afghanistan. (more…)

Filed by Nicole Cargill under Transnational Crime, Terrorism, Regional Security, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

12 March 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: States News Service

Given the evolution of the situation in Afghanistan over the past two years — an insurgency that had proven to be more resilient and more ruthless than anyone had imagined, still fragile Afghan governmental institutions susceptible to corrosive corruption and a massive illegal drug economy thriving in the vacuum of State authority and abetting the insurgency — there was a need to confront those challenges and make some course corrections, the Security Council was told today. (more…)

Filed by Nicole Cargill under Development, Transnational Crime, Terrorism, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Democratization and Human Rights, United Nations Reform

18 December 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Agence Europe

Brussels, 17/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - During an informal meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on 4 December, representatives of the European Union (represented by the European Commission), Australia, Canada, South Korea, the United States, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and Uruguay agreed that it would be a good idea for them to negotiate an international anti-counterfeiting agreement amongst themselves (see EUROPE 9530). Most of these countries, however, do not yet have negotiating mandates in this connection. In an EU memorandum (of which EUROPE has obtained a copy), Canada, the United States and Japan are reported to have high commitment and ambition and the desire to reach agreement as soon as possible. Japan is reported to even be thinking of concluding the talks before the upcoming G8 summit in Tokyo. (more…)

Filed by Catherine Tsalikis under Transnational Crime

7 December 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Emma Connors
• Source: Australian Financial Review (Abstracts), pg 29

Australia has joined the US and Japan in supporting the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). A working version of the treaty is set to be ready for the next G8 meeting in Tokyo. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates the international trade in counterfeit goods is worth $200 billion. There is some opposition to the treaty, however. The Law Institute of Victoria has warned ACTA may weaken efforts to protect intellectual property rights by diverting resources. Hunt & Hunt partner Andrew Hudson has questioned the merit of legislation that will only benefit ‘a select group of nations.’

Filed by Catherine Tsalikis under Transnational Crime

9 September 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Agence France Presse

Iraq on Sunday lashed out at its neighbours for interfering in its internal affairs and warned that violence they were stoking in the war-ravaged country could engulf the entire region.

“Many countries say they support Iraq’s stability and integrity, but at the same time are interfering in a number of different ways,” Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said at the end of the high-profile Baghdad Conference. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under Transnational Crime, Regional Security, Conflict Prevention and Human Security