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The Beat<\/b><\/p>\n
OECD anti-bribery meeting held in Paris<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development held an<\/span> Anti-Bribery Ministerial Meeting<\/span><\/a> in Paris on 16 March. The OECD released a short paper to mark the occasion,<\/span> \u2018Fighting the Crime of Foreign Bribery\u2019<\/span><\/a> and published the meeting\u2019s discussion papers on<\/span> empowering whistle-blowers<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> international cooperation in combating foreign bribery<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> frameworks for anti-bribery compliance<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n The origins of organised crime in Venezuela<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n This week, <\/span>Insight Crime <\/span><\/i>published a two-part article looking at the origins of organised crime in Venezuela. The article provides an interesting look at how organised crime developed to become ingrained in Venezuelan society.<\/span> Part one<\/span><\/a> outlines the early origins of organised crime in the South American country, and<\/span> part two<\/span><\/a> provides a more recent overview.<\/span><\/p>\n Report: fraud in the Commonwealth<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n On the home front, the Australian Institute of Criminology recently published a<\/span> research paper<\/span><\/a> examining fraud in the Commonwealth. The report offers a census of the most costly fraud incidents from 2010\u201311 and 2012\u201313 to give an insight into the nature of internal Commonwealth government fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n CT Scan<\/b><\/p>\n Australians among recruits in leaked ISIS documents \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n At least two Australians have been identified amongst 22,000<\/span> Daesh\u00a0recruitment files<\/span><\/a> announced German authorities on March 10. While German Federal Police would not disclose how they obtained the files, Police spokesperson Markus Koths confirmed their authenticity. Using pseudonyms, the first man identified is 25 year old Abu Mounzir al-Lubnani, a construction worker who also studied to be a pilot. The second is 36 year old Abu Ubaida al-Lubnani, a computer engineer and human resources specialist, who\u2019d<\/span> previously been arrested in Australia<\/span><\/a> on terrorism-related offences. According to the leak, both men are of Australian-Lebanese origin and entered Syria via the Kalas refugee camp on the Turkish-Syrian border in 2013. For more coverage read<\/span> here<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n US\u2013Syria strategy comprehensive<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The<\/span> Institute of War<\/span><\/a> has just released a detailed report series on US Grand Strategy for destroying ISIS and al-Qaeda. Report one\u2014<\/span>\u2018Al Qaeda and ISIS: Existential Threats to the U.S. and Europe\u2019<\/span><\/a>\u2014<\/span>outlines US strategic objectives in response to the threat from the two terrorist organisations. Report two\u2014<\/span>\u2018Competing Visions for Syria and Iraq: The Myth of an Anti-ISIS Grand Coalition\u2019<\/span><\/a>\u2014defines US strategic <\/span>objectives in Iraq and Syria against the interests of key players Russia, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Report three\u2014<\/span>\u2018Jabhat al Nusra and ISIS: Sources of Strength\u2019<\/span><\/a> \u2013<\/span>examines the threat of ISIS and Jabhat al Nusra and key tactics for the US to defeat them. These reports come at a pivotal time given last weekend\u2019s<\/span> announcement<\/span><\/a> of Russia\u2019s withdrawal from Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n Checkpoint<\/b><\/p>\n What do the Brexit and Shakespeare have in common? Apparently the Refugee Crisis<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Sir Ian McKellen recently<\/span> performed a monologue<\/span><\/a> to British audiences from a little known Elizabethan play\u2014<\/span>considered to be written in part by Shakespeare himself<\/span><\/a>\u2014which rebukes a xenophobic London crowd for rejecting refugees. The monologue comes at a time when<\/span> concerns about border management if Britain leaves the EU are running high<\/span><\/a>. France\u2019s Finance Minister, Emmanuel Macron,<\/span> recently said that the \u2018Treaty of Le Touquet\u2019<\/span><\/a>\u2014the implementation of frontier controls at sea ports of both countries on the Channel and North Sea\u2014would be in jeopardised and potentially ripped apart should the Brexit come to pass. If Europe\u2019s broader migration crisis isn\u2019t brought under control,<\/span> there are fears that the EU might collapse<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Elections, Mexicans and Border Metrics<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The US Department of Homeland Security recently<\/span> released statistics<\/span><\/a> which indicate that the<\/span> US<\/span>\u2013<\/span>Mexico border is more secure than ever.<\/span><\/a> The border has been a hot topic in the 2016 US Presidential campaign, with Presidential hopeful Donald Trump infamously announcing that should he become President, he would demand that<\/span> Mexico pay for the construction of a wall<\/span><\/a> along the 3,200 km border to mitigate illegal immigration.<\/span> The <\/span>National Geographic<\/span><\/i> sent a photographer out to capture what the current border looks like<\/span><\/a> and the<\/span> Migration Policy Institute <\/span><\/i>has taken the issue to task with an in-depth report<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n First Responder<\/b><\/p>\n Australia needs smart infrastructure task force<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Smart ICT systems are critical to Australia\u2019s economy, according to a<\/span> new report<\/span><\/a> released this week. The report\u2014tabled by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities\u2014found the benefits of new technologies would enable smart cities, increase productivity, improve communications and better prepare the country for natural disasters. The Committee recommended a Smart Infrastructure Task Force, to be led by Infrastructure Australia, be established to oversee the development of infrastructure and national policy on IT, similar to the<\/span> UK BIM Task Group<\/span><\/a>. The role of ICT in building smart and sustainable cities has come into focus in recent years, with the UN\u2019s International Telecommunication Union releasing<\/span> a report<\/span><\/a> in 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n Millions at risk from sea level rise<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n More than 13 million people living in coastal communities in the US could have their lives disrupted by rising sea levels by 2100,<\/span> a new study<\/span><\/a> has claimed. The paper, published in <\/span>Nature Climate Change<\/span><\/i> on 14 March, collated future population estimates with predicted sea-level rise to argue that current projections regarding the impacts of increased sea levels on coastal areas underestimated future population growth. The US Environmental Protection Agency takes a look at the impact of climate change on coastal areas<\/span> here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Beat OECD anti-bribery meeting held in Paris The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development held an Anti-Bribery Ministerial Meeting in Paris on 16 March. The OECD released a short paper to mark the occasion, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":25411,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1012,1018,1599,1037,1454],"class_list":["post-25410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-daesh","tag-disaster-resilience","tag-fraud","tag-mexico","tag-refugee-crisis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n