java logo

Computer users are being advised by security experts to disable Oracle Corp.’s widely used Java software after a security flaw was discovered that they say hackers are exploiting to attack computers.

“Java is a mess. It’s not secure,” said Jaime Blasco, Labs Manager with AlienVault Labs. “You have to disable it.”

Java, which is on hundreds of millions of PCs around the globe, is a computer language that lets programmers write software using just one set of code that will run on virtually any type of computer.

It lets Web developers make sites accessible from browsers running on Microsoft Corp. Windows PCs or Macs from Apple Inc.

Computer users access those programs through modules, or plug-ins, that run Java software on top of browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. READ MORE HERE

The Americas Post - This Spanish fishing boat outran the Argentine Coast Guard

This weekend a unique diplomatic standoff took place when a Spanish ship, authorized by Britain to fish in the Falkland Islands, was pursued by Argentine authorities but successfully fled to Uruguayan waters.

The incident began when the Spanish ship Villa Nores, having departed for the Falklands from Montevideo the previous Saturday, was challenged by the Argentine Coast Guard.  The captain of the Argentine ship GC24 Mantillas ordered the Spanish ship to stop and present documents authorizing final destination and right of passage, in accordance with an Argentine law passed last year requiring that nation’s permission to go to the Falklands.  Instead of stopping, the Spanish captain turned and ran for Uruguayan territorial waters, escorted by a Uruguayan naval aircraft.

Uruguayan naval commander Alberto Carames said that President Jose Mujica and Defense Minister Eleuterio Fernandez monitored the situation throughout.  The previous week, President Mujica had been caught up in a diplomatic tiff when, in solidarity with Argentina, Uruguay denied entry to a ship flying the flag of the Falkland Islands.

The ambassador of Spain in Uruguay, Aurora Diaz Rato, has lodged a protest in Montevideo against the Argentine action, claiming freedom of navigation in international waters.  It remains to be seen how the four countries involved will resolve this latest twist in the ongoing conflict which now spans many decades.

The Moreira Brothers (leaders of PRI) and Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón

Besides being an advisor of the Organization of American States (OAS), and directly involved in the peace process in Colombia, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón has been very active in other matters related to Latin American politics.

Recently in Mexico, Judge Garzón was invited to an international Conference on Money Laundering. During the event, the famous Spanish judge said “the fight against money laundering should be rigorous and global, otherwise it will fail”.
Global War on Money Laundering .- During the closing ceremony of the Forum “Democratic legality, Ethics, Human Rights and Security”  held at the Mexican Congress ,  Judge Garzón also said that “money laundering is an international phenomenon so it must be combatted on a multilateral basis as it would otherwise be a failure.”
Legislators, officials and Mexican specialists agreed with Garzon on the importance of globally combatting organized crime and money laundering, and also agreed on fighting it both locally and internationally.

Garzon recommended Mexico modernize their traditional organized crime research and invest in new technology to combat money laundering.

“A money laundering law must be rigorous and it is urgent to establish launderer´s behaviors and mechanisms, such as those imposed in other countries,” he said.

Against decriminalization of drug trafficking.- In a press conference after the event,  Judge Garzon spoke against drug decriminalization.  He said that in Mexico decriminalization is not  going to end organized crime, because besides drugs, cartels and criminal gangs are also engaged in kidnapping, extortion, trafficking and vehicle theft.

First, Garzón said, is necessary to create “a joint policy of prevention to reduce the risk of consumption.”

Judge Garzón also advisor of the opposition Mexican Political Party PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) .-

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon is active in Mexico.

Humberto Moreira, national president of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) held the first of several meetings that will take place with judge Baltasar Garzon as advisor of the PRI, in order to polish the PRI’s political platform on the issue of human rights, public safety and combatting organized crime.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PRI, as well as the former governor of Hidalgo, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, secretary of political operations of the PRI, are having this round of consultations with Judge Garzón as well as other international experts to ensure a viable anti-crime proposal.

During the meeting, Garzón declared himself in favor of strengthening institutional frameworks against drug trafficking before talking about new laws. Garzón has a more practical and hands on point of view.
Moreira Valdes (PRI) said in an interview that the party’s central concern is how to ensure respect for human rights in the fight against organized crime.

He also revealed that this is the third meeting he has with Baltasar Garzon, in an attempt to define the direction of the security strategy that the country should take.

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon also called for strict control of rating agencies Moody´s. Standard  Poor´s and Fitch.-

Last Tuesday, Judge Garzón  called on all countries to establish control and oversight over the rating agencies to avoid possible “organized criminal activity” affecting the investment markets and countries.
“There is no control on them on such activities that have become landmarks,” said the judge at the close of the forum “democratic legality, ethics, human rights and security” that took place in chamber of Deputies in Mexico City.
International agencies such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, are allegedly responsible for aggravating the global financial crisis by lending support to controversial downgrades against many countries.
“I’m disturbed by the justice system´s inaction from the various judicial actors” on the role and control of the rating agencies in today’s volatile markets that “are about to bring many countries to ruin,” he said.
Garzon said he was not sure that these agencies perform criminal acts but said the rating agencies “should have a strict regulation” to be sure that “there is no organized criminal activity around the constant speculation on markets and investments.”
Addressing more than a hundred legislators, academics, officials and experts from Mexico and other countries, Garzon said that economic and financial crime is “produced by large corporations through mechanisms of corruption” and market operations.
The judge said that the actions of the rating agencies “can lead countries to ruin or a rising cost of public debt or external debt, to unsuspected limits.”

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón is now working as adviser for the Mission to Support the Peace Process established by the OAS. Photograph Credit to Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images

During a lecture under the XXIX Interdisciplinary Course on Human Rights which concluded on August 19th at the American Institute of Human Rights in Costa Rica, the Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón said that governments foster instability among citizens when politicians elaborate security policies without consulting the people. Garzón  called upon the american states to include the opinions and needs of more people, common citizens, in the elaboration of security policies.
For the lawyer and advisor to the International Court in Hague, the authorities act in secret and assume that  regular people do “not understand” their policy decisions.
Garzón thinks that “Citizens must participate in the design of those aspects or rules that affect them.”
For the jurist, one of his major concerns is that some governments postulate the safety of citizens, but continue to violate basic human rights.

Garzon gained worldwide fame for promoting an arrest warrant against former dictator Augusto Pinochet for the death and torture of Spanish citizens during his dictatorship. He also accused Pinochet of commiting crimes against humanity. Garzón has niow been suspended in Spain, due to his initiative to investigate the human rights situation during the Franco regime.
“What is the role of victims in the fight against organized crime,” he asked yesterday at the Institute headquarters in Los Yoses, San Pedro, Montes de Oca.  “Normally, no government takes into account what the victims claims during the design of security policies ,” ​​the judge responded to an audience that included senior officials and security minister, Mario Zamora, and the president of the Supreme Court Justice Luis Paulino Mora.
Garzón said that “we need citizen involvement to define the security agenda so that everything does not become a critique of the government in power because in the end is a matter of coresponsibility.”
During his speech of nearly an hour, Garzon said he was alarmed by the levels of “very serious” violence  that plague countries like Mexico and Colombia in the fight against drug trafficking. He said that violence has led criminal groups to bring their operations in the Isthmus, especially in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
In this regard, he considered that they are wrong who believe that the attacks by organized crime reach only members of rival groups in fight among themselves for power quotas or zones of influence.  “Anyone who thinks this makes a big mistake,” said Garzón.

Sevilla.- University Pablo de Olavide gives course on jihad terrorism

Carmona (Seville), July 3rd. -  The ‘International Course on Jihadist Terrorism: Elements of a national strategy against terrorism’ is the name of the workshop which inaugurates the programming of the ninth edition of the Summer Courses of the University Pablo de Olavide (UPO) in collaboration with the Municipality of Carmona, Seville; to start in Carmona on Monday July 4 until next September 23.

The seminar will develop during the week of 4th to 8th of July, at the headquarters of the Cultural Center Olavide Mansion in the location of Los Briones.

According to the University Pablo de Olavide, the seminar on jihad terrorism aims to provide academic and professional reflection on the phenomenon of jihadist terrorism, providing analysis tools from different scientific approaches such as those provided by political science, sociology and psychology.

The course is coordinated by Mr. Ricardo Manuel Torres Soriano, head of the Department of Political Science and Administration of the University UPO, and Javier Jordan, professor of Political Science and Administration at the University of Granada, who will deliver the keynote ‘An analysis of terrorist plots in Europe “at 11 am at the headquarters of the Centro Cultural de Olavide.

The course will continue at 12.30 hours with the intervention of Manuel Ricardo Torres Soriano, who will address the “Elements for a strategy against terrorist activities on the Internet.” In the afternoon, Jose Maria Irujo, journalist for the daily newspaper El Pais, offers the presentation “Seven years of 11-M (terrorist attack in Madrid). What has changed in the Jihadist threat? ‘.

Protest by Anonymous against the practices and tax status of the Church of Scientology.

Spanish police arrested three men suspected to be members of the hacker group Anonymous on Friday, charging them with organizing cyber attacks against the websites of Sony Corp, banks and governments — but not the recent massive hacking of PlayStation gamers.

Anonymous responded by threatening to retaliate for the arrests: “We are Legion, so EXPECT US,” the group said on its official Twitter feed.

Following the arrest of three of its alleged members last week, the hacktivist group known as “Anonymous” claimed on Sunday to have attacked the website of the Spanish National Police over the weekend.

Anonymous said it launched against the Spanish National Police website on Saturday a successful “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attack, which is an orchestrated attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended user.

“The attack is a direct response to the Friday arrests of three individuals alleged to be associated with acts of cyber civil disobedience attributed to Anonymous,” it said in a blog post.

It said the DDoS attack, codenamed Operation Policia, paralyzed the police site —www.policia.es — for hours on Saturday, making it inaccessible to visitors.

But as of Sunday afternoon (Manila time), the Spanish police site was accessible and appeared to be normal.

Spanish police alleged the three “hacktivists” helped organize an attack that temporarily shuttered access to some Sony websites. They were not linked to two massive cyber attacks against Sony’s Playstation Network that resulted in the theft of information from more than 100 million customers.

Police also accused the men of..READ MORE HERE.

They act anonimously in a coordinated manner, usually toward a self-agreed goal, like allegedly against Sony.

Beginning with 2008, the Anonymous collective has become increasingly associated with collaborative, international Hacktivism, undertaking protests and other actions, like f.e. supporting Wikileaks, or promoting “internet freedom”.

But Anonymous has also done things against crime like Chris Forcand´s arrest.

On December 7, 2007, the Canada-based Toronto Sun newspaper published a report on the arrest of the alleged Internet predator Chris Forcand.

Forcand, 53, was charged with two counts of luring a child under the age of 14, attempt to invite sexual touching, attempted exposure, possessing a dangerous weapon, and carrying a concealed weapon. The report stated that Forcand was already being tracked by “cyber- vigilantes who seek to out anyone who presents with a sexual interest in children” before police investigations commenced.

A Global Television Network report identified the group responsible for Forcand’s arrest as a “self-described Internet vigilante group called Anonymous” who contacted the police after some members were “propositioned” by Forcand with “disgusting photos of himself.” The report also stated that this is the first time a suspected Internet predator was arrested by the police as a result of Internet vigilantism.

Nine Bell 212 helicopters similar to this one, have been seized by Spanish police before being ilegally sold to Iran and Venezuela.

Spanish police stopped the illegal sale of nine military transport helicopters – Bell 212- to Iran and chopper spare parts to Venezuela.  The police operation, which took place simultaneously in Madrid and Barcelona, led to the arrests of five Spanish businessmen and three Iranian nationals, reports say. The five Spanish businessmen are suspected of trying to export the US-made aircraft, while the three Iranians are accused of negotiating the purchase of military material.

According to the Israeli news media Haaretz, the U.S. made helicopters were sold by Israel’s defense ministry to a Spanish businessman named Pedro Matorna, who intended to sell them for fire-fighting services in Spain.  The helicopters had been in storage after years of use by the Israeli Air Force. The Spanish businesspeople paid $20 million to the Israeli Defense Ministery, and the deal between Israel and the Spanish was made with U.S. government approval, given that the helicopters were manufactured in the U.S. The purchase was approved after Matorna’s company submitted documents declaring that the helicopters would be sold on for use in fire-fighting services.

When it turned out that the helicopters were unsuitable for this use, the Spanish company looked for another buyer in order to get rid of the stock, planning to sell them on to Iran.

The Spanish bought the helicopters for $20 million (according to israeli media Haaretz) and the sales price to the Iranians (allegedly Iran´s military) was $140 million (100 million euros) . A $120 million spread..  The difference in both amounts also show that the Spaniards allegedly knew they were doing something illegal, and the risk was priced in $120 million. And the iranians were buying very expensive, for sure…

Iran is banned from buying attack helicopters under UN sanctions.

In the operation, dubbed “Nam”, the police raided industrial warehouses in Madrid and Barcelona and snatched helicopters destined for Iran, and aviation spare parts allegedly destined for export to Venezuela.

The total value of the helicopters and spares to be paid by the Iranians was 100m euros ($140m), the police said.

The helicopters, which were used to transport troops and military equipment in Israel, and spares for these type of helicopters were being prepared for assembly and disassembly before export to Iran and Venezuela, police said. The choppers have a top speed of 230 kph (140 mph) and an average range of 600 kilometres (370 miles).

Police said they found out -allegedly from intelligence sources- about the arrival in Spain of the Iranian purchasers who had come to formalise the deal which led to their operation being launched.

The Spanish companies flouted export requirements, failing to obtain licences for the export of military materiel or so-called dual-use goods that can have military applications, police said.

Under UN sanctions adopted last year, Iran is banned from buying heavy weapons such as attack helicopters and missiles

Western Africa is the main cocaine connection into Europe

Spain remains being the hub for cocaine smuggling into Europe.

Also Spain tops european statistics of cocaine use, while around 1600 spaniards remain imprisoned abroad for drug-related crimes.

Experts say the price of cocaine sold on European streets has not increased and has remained stable during 2010,  indicating that the supply is meeting demand and that the European authorities in 2010 have not been successful in reducing the smuggling of cocaine to Europe.

The UNODC (United Nations Office specialized in fighting international criminal activities) has said that 3 of every 10 kilos of cocaine that are produced in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia (COPEBO area) are being smuggled into Europe using the “african connection” across West Africa via countries like Nigeria, Liberia , Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Guinea Conakry,  Mali, Senegal and Mauritania.

Another country that is used as a connection between South American cocaine and the western african cartels is Cape Verde. The Republic of Cape Verde ( Portuguese Cabo Verde) is an island country. spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of  Western Africa.

The region of COBEPO produce around 1000 tons of cocaine per year.
International drug trafficking organizations may have connections to high levels within governments, police and armed forces of those african countries. Much of this organized crime is operated by Latin American drug traffickers, mainly Colombians.
If the situation does not improve, some of these african countries – some of the already affected by civil war-  would become narco-states, as might be the case in Guinea Bissau.

This requires more information and better intelligence on drug trafficking routes from South America.  Now a new route for the cocaine smugglers could be from Central America directly to the U.S. avoiding the mexican “war on drugs”.

For now, the four main routes of trafficking of Colombian cocaine are:

a) across the Mexican border through Central America
b) to the U.S. via the Caribbean .
c) directly to Europe via Venezuela and Brazil
d) indirectly to Europe via West Africa

The focus made on the mexican connection, shadowed the other “flourishing” three routes. Maybe that is the idea of the narco strategists.

Spanish King welcome chilean President Piñera in Madrid.

The proposal for international mediation in Libya, made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, would not yield fruit, said Monday the president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, who is visiting Madrid.

“I think the mediators, must be countries or persons offering guarantees to both sides and I think the mediation that President Chávez offered was not accepted by one side or the other. IIt will not bear any positive results, ” said Piñera to the Spanish public television network TVE.

“In Libya we have practically a civil war”that “has already produced many dead and continue, the civil war is the worst of all roads, “said Chilean President  on Monday starting a three-day official visit in Spain.

“It’s a difficult decision because to intervene in the affairs of other countries is always challenging, ” he added. Hugo Chavez, seen as close to the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi last week proposed creating an international peacekeeping mission made up of several friendly countries that can act as mediators between the Libyan leader and insurgents.

The Arab League said they will “consider” this option, but the Libyan opposition categorically rejected it.