FEDERAL AGENTS WARY AS ANNIVERSARIES NEAR.(MAIN)

Byline: CHRISTI HARLAN Cox News Service

WASHINGTON -- Federal agents who took part in the raid of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco three years ago don't like to say where they work now.

``Not when my name's on the Internet and people are asking where I live and what kind of car I drive,'' said one of the agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. ``I don't want to make it easier for them.''

Threats against ATF agents have been growing since the Waco raid on Feb. 28, 1993. But since the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City last April 19 -- the two-year anniversary of the inferno that destroyed the Branch Davidian compound -- ATF and other federal agents fear that the public is also becoming a target of anti-government militants.

Law enforcement officials won't say whether they have received specific threats for this Feb. 28 and April 19, but they are mindful of the potential.

``We like to make our employees a little more aware of those dates,'' said Trinidad Martinez, Southwest regional director of the Federal Protective Service, the law enforcement arm of the General Services Administration, which owns and leases office space for the federal government. ``Obviously, we'll have our eyes more than open.''

The anniversaries this year fall at a particularly vulnerable time for law enforcement agencies. Legislation that would have given them broader powers to investigate domestic terrorist groups has been hung up in Congress since June.

Meanwhile, the ATF, which is responsible for enforcing federal firearms and explosives laws, is still restructuring and recovering after its own missteps in Waco.

Law enforcement agencies also face second-guessing by Congress. Two House subcommittees held televised hearings last July into the ATF's and FBI's handling of the Branch Davidians and the Randy Weaver family at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. A report on the hearings is expected in late March.

Altogether, the pressure on law enforcement agencies is to move slower when it might be time to move faster.

``I think the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction right now,'' said Ronald K. Noble, who for nearly three years oversaw the ATF as the first undersecretary for enforcement at the U.S. Treasury Department.

``I believe that because of Waco, law enforcement will be inclined to wait rather than act, for fear that by acting they will be accused of having acted prematurely,'' Noble said. The result, he predicted, will be suspects committing the kind of ``heinous activity'' that agents feared from the beginning.

For agents, the new concern is that the heinous activity may be directed at them. The ATF has traditionally drawn the scorn of the National Rifle Association and the hatred of more militant pro-gun groups because the ATF enforces gun laws, but recently the vitriol has a new edge to it.

Since Waco, agents have received so many threats that the bureau has established a computer database to track and analyze them. The bureau can obtain authority for wiretaps to investigate gun and explosives violations but not threats against its own agents.

Feb. 28 has a second meaning for the ATF and its most malevolent detractors: It is the second anniversary of the Brady Bill, the federal law that set up a waiting period for handgun purchases.

Copy, scan, fax, steal.(multifunction printers can leak sensitive data )

YOU'VE SPENT COUNTLESS DOLLARS securing your company's intellectual property in safes and on servers, and you're sure that sensitive customer or patient information is not being made public, as required by legislation. But meanwhile, your copy machine could be exposing this data to the world.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Multifunction printers (MFPs)--the combination copy machine, scanner, fax machine, and printer found in many offices--are similar to PCs in that they have processors and use memory, says Vince Jannelli, senior product manager of applications at Sharp Document Solutions Company of America.

They create an electronic image of documents so that these documents can be repaginated or reprinted without having to be scanned again. But in doing this, Jannelli says, the machine stores a digital image of the document on its hard drive. He warns that at the end of a machine's lease, it could be sold off or moved to a different department, yet those latent images remain in the device, thus potentially exposing data.

For this reason, many MFPs are offering increasingly sophisticated functions, Jannelli says, such as features that automatically overwrite the area on the machine's hard drive where a document image existed. Some MFPs also offer encryption so that images in storage cannot be seen by unauthorized users.

Another hazard arises from the fact that these machines are typically connected to the corporate network and the Internet, meaning that they could be used to propagate attacks throughout the organization if not properly secured. They can even be subject to denial-of-service attacks.

"An MFP today sits on a network," Jannelli says. "Like a good network citizen, it should provide its own protection." Some MFPs provide a web-based administration page where security can be configured. Jannelli recommends using address filtering, in which only certain IP addresses can access the device, and port-management features to keep the machines safe from port-scanning programs that look for holes into a network.

Physical security measures are likewise needed, Jannelli adds, because MFPs may store the intellectual property that represents a company's competitive advantage. They may also create a legal liability if they store or transmit sensitive corporate, customer, or patient data that is subject to legislation such as the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act for financial services-companies or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for the healthcare industry.

Therefore, Jannelli says, physical security features must be considered along with functionality when MFPs are purchased. It may also be prudent to use passwords or biometric authentication for these machines, which can then provide an audit trail of any documents sent via e-mail through the MFP.

Govt. to diversify natural gas suppliers.

MEXICO CITY, Feb 14, 2005 (Notimex/Corporate Mexico by Internet Securities, Inc. via COMTEX) -- In light of the increases in the price of natural gas imported from the United States, the Mexican government is looking to supply the domestic demand by diversifying suppliers.Minister of Economy Fernando Canales Clariond said that Mexican authorities would meet Algerian authorities to boost bilateral relations and start negotiations on natural gas and other products.The official, who is traveling with President Vicente Fox in his official tour of Spain, Italy, Morocco and Algeria, said that the Mexican delegation is also reinforcing political and diplomatic relations, as well as cultural and commercial aspects with those nations.Canales said that two thirds of Mexican gas consumption is supplied by domestic production, while 33% is imported from Texas, United States.The official also projected the construction of six regasification plants, each with an investment of US$400 million.

This abstract is provided by Internet Securities, Inc. as a service to its customers. Internet Securities, Inc. makes no representation or warranty regarding the accuracy or content of the translation.

URL:              www.securities.com 

Copyright 2005 Internet Securities, Inc., all rights reserved. A Euromoney Institutional Investor Company.

News Provided by COMTEX (http://www.comtexnews.com)

Beast is 'enemy of Islam'.(News)

Byline: TURI MUNTHE Middle East expert

WE ARE dealing with a force of psychopathic brutishness that stands against everything we understand by civilisation.

Yet this pre-modern beast has harnessed the cream of 21st century civilisational advance.

Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi understands digital cameras, video, internet and publicity like any Western politician.

He kills his captives one at a time to ensure maximum media coverage over maximum time and he releases his video-feeds on the web, where the world can watch them, to coincide with US news broadcasts.

In al-Zarqawi, The Prince of Cut-Throats as he is called on Islamist websites, the enormous power of the post-modern age is yoked to a pre-modern mentality.

I stress "pre-modern", because for all the sacred verses recited during the beheadings, they have nothing to do with anything intrinsic to Islam nor anything written in the Koran.

These sacrificial rituals are a grotesque hotch-potch of pagan blood-lust and political symbolism.

This is our new enemy. An enemy using the very best of the modern world's technological expertise to ends that represent the basest of human values.

In al-Zarqawi, sophistication and savagery are blood-brothers.

As they were with that hoax- hermit living like a pauper in the caves of Afghanistan, who destroyed the Twin Towers and Pentagon with the touch of a button on his satellite phone.

Here is the paradox of the anti-Western terrorist - he must use the fruits of modern civilisation to destroy it.

Turi Munthe is a freelance writer and editor of The Saddam Hussein Reader

CAPTION(S):

MODERN: Zarqawi

Review:'Penny Arcade,"Teenage Zombies'

Late last year, when I was playing Valve's brilliant puzzle game "Portal," I felt a weird sensation: Laughter. I'm not sure when I first noticed it; perhaps it was when GLaDOS, the insane artificial intelligence that was tormenting me, promised "grief counseling and cake" after my ordeal. What really threw me was the idea that a video game could make me laugh out loud.

So few games even try to be funny that it's refreshing when something like "Grand Theft Auto IV" crams in so much comedy, mostly through its broad TV, radio and Internet parodies. Nintendo's Mario games, particular the "Paper Mario" adventures, can usually be counted on for a few laughs. And Sony's Ratchet and Clank have become the medium's most reliable comedy team.

But most video games take themselves way too seriously. Would it kill the hard-boiled heroes of "Halo" or "Gears of War" to crack a smile very now and then? Once you've saved the world (again) in "Call of Duty," don't you deserve a little comic relief?

_"Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One" (Hothead, for the Xbox 360, $20;euro13): Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik have been producing the Penny Arcade Web comic, an acerbic take on the video-game industry, for nearly a decade. "Penny Arcade Adventures" is a gutsy attempt to bring their sensibility to an actual game, and it's a real delight.

As the game begins, your character's house is destroyed by a giant robot. With the help of Tycho and Gabe _ Holkins and Krahulik's alter egos _ you have to find out what's behind the robot attack. Is it the vicious mimes? The demonic clowns? The stinky hobos? The jokes are wonderfully depraved (the clowns, for example, make squeaking noises as they die) and, for the most part, too raunchy for kids.

The laughs are complemented by the strip's distinctive art style, which makes this one of the best-looking games on Xbox Live Arcade. And the fighting mechanism is really clever, using a turn-based system that will feel familiar to role-playing gamers. The big drawback of "Episode One" is that it only takes about five hours to play. I hope we don't have to wait long for the next chapter. Three stars out of four.

_"Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys" (Ignition, for the Nintendo DS, $19.99;euro13): This goofy adventure deftly combines two B-movie threats _ the alien invasion and the undead uprising _ in a way that hasn't been seen since Ed Wood's "Plan 9 from Outer Space." What if Earth were attacked by disembodied, floating brains? Who better to stop them than zombies, who, after all, feast on gray matter?

The three zombies who emerge from their graves are Lefty, who has one stretchy arm that lets her reach high spaces; Fins, whose tentacles enable him to climb walls; and Half-Pipe, a legless skateboarder who can squeeze through tight spaces. You have to keep switching between the characters to hunt down all the brains, making use of power-ups like Fins' flaming vomit and Half-Pipe's hoverboard.

There are also some wacky minigames, like a corpse-assembly challenge, and witty narration that captures the comic-book vibe. (In a smart touch, you can jump on top of the dialogue boxes.) But the fundamental gameplay gets repetitious after about an hour, and "Teenage Zombies" runs out of charm well before the final battle with the Big Brain. Two-and-a-half stars.

_"Battle of the Bands" (THQ, for the Wii, $49.99;euro32): This rhythm game adds an element of sublime silliness to the dueling-instruments competition popularized by "Guitar Hero." The gimmick is that you don't have to be a rocker _ you can control a hip-hop posse, a country combo, a mariachi group or even a marching band.

It's very funny to hear country twangers and mariachis dueling with their respective versions of, say, Cypress Hill's "Insane in the Brain." The 30 songs in "Battle" have all been remade in all five styles, so it'll take awhile to play through all the combinations. The gag wears thin in solo mode, but it's a hoot at parties.

The controls are much less sophisticated (and less expensive) than the "Guitar Hero" instruments. The end result isn't as challenging as the more popular guitar games, but it offers a nice change of pace. Two stars.

__

On the Net:

_"Penny Arcade Adventures": http://www.rainslick.com/

_"Teenage Zombies": http://www.teenagezombiesgame.com/

_"Battle of the Bands": http://www.battleofthebandsgame.com/

MOROCCO : European Union released GPN for media and communication activities.(general procurement notice )(Brief article)

European Union released general procurement notice (GPN) for media and communication activities: visibility for budgetary aids financed by the European Union in Morocco.

Scope of the work will be draw up and implement a communications strategy which comprises, neither exhaustively nor restrictively, activities such as seminars, conferences, television and radio programmes, press articles and various publications, whilst favouring audiovisual productions and the Internet as the dominant media, and any other activities which the tenderer considers pertinent, improve the quality of the targeted, pertinent and highly-visible media activities (television, radio, printed and electronic press, etc.) which clearly transmit the European Union's messages concerning its cooperation activities via budgetary aids which support important reforms being put in place by the Moroccan authorities, notably in the fields of education and health, increase awareness among the targeted groups: Moroccan and European citizens, Moroccan institutions, as well as those of the EU and the Member States; spark their interest, provoke them to debate and assimilate these relationships.

The work will not be divided into lots. Maximum budget is 530000 EUR. Intended date for publication of procurement notice is April 2011. There must be a minimum period of 30 calendar days between the publication of this contract forecast and the publication of the corresponding procurement notice.

2011 Al Bawaba (Albawaba.com)

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

Netus switches to smaller ventures.

Byline: Neil Shoebridge

Mar 27, 2011 (The Australian Financial Review - ABIX via COMTEX) -- Internet investment business Netus has switched its strategy to smaller investments of less than $A5m so its executives can have direct involvement. Netus recently sold its 40% stake in online energy price comparison website Switchwise. Netus was launched with a $A40m investment from News Corporation in 2005 and has since invested $A21m in nine businesses. Netus chairman Daniel Petrie denies 2010 speculation that News Corporation is seeking to sell its Netus stake.

Publication Date: 28 March 2011

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