================================================= Expat Worlds Bi-Monthly Digest ================================================= 29 March, 2005 Vol. 7, Issue 05 .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== THE STORY =================== -=International Money=- ==== OTHER EZINES ================ ==== EW SPECIAL ================== -=International Drivers License=- ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... == -=Trivia=- -=News Story=- -=Traveller's Tales=- -=Jokes=- ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============= -=Cache Cleaner 1.0=- ==== INSIDE THIS MONTH EXPAT WORLD == -=Table of Content=- ==== THE STORY ================================== INTERNATIONAL MONEY US BANKS FOLLOWING BIG BROTHER'S GUIDELINE WANT TO KNOW EVERWHERE YOUR MONEY GOES Take a look at what is happening to small money transferring firms: The U.S. banking system is exasperating Luz Igot. She and her husband have run a money-transfer company that sends cash to the Philippines from a small shop in Kensington for the past seven years with few problems. Today, the war on terrorism is threatening to put them out of business. Last year, Chevy Chase Bank closed her accounts, she said. In the next few months, she set up accounts at Bank of America and later Wachovia. In short order, the banks closed those accounts, and all gave her similar reasons for their decisions. Luz and Romeo Igot's small company sends about $1 million a month to Manila, but the growing reluctance of banks to handle accounts for small money-transfer companies may put them out of business. "The reason why they closed us is because they don't know who are our customers," Igot said. "I try to explain to them I have all the IDs and the [customer's] information, but they said, 'No'. It hurts the small ones like us. Where do we go from here?" Their company, Jeci Cash Transfer, got caught in the limelight of a national debate about whether money transmitters are an easy tool for money laundering. Such companies came under new scrutiny when it was discovered that money transmitters were used to wire cash to the hijackers just days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A stream of new banking regulations in the USA Patriot Act of 2001 required banks to know their customers, which some banks interpreted as extending to the customers of their money-transfer clients. Some considered those clients too risky, and large U.S. banks began announcing last year that they planned to limit or end their relationships with small and medium-size money-transfer companies. No background check or bank account is required to use a money-transfer service and identification is required only to send more than $1,000. Money-transfer companies, whose customers typically trade in cash, use bank accounts to deposit large sums of money each day and to wire money to accounts in foreign countries. Without bank accounts, they cannot operate. "This is devastating. . . . It is a tidal wave. One bank after the other is closing them out. There is nowhere to go," said Michael McDonald, a former IRS special agent who now consults with money-transfer companies. "Banks are being challenged by regulators for not knowing enough about the source of funds from these entities. How much does a bank need to know?" The answer to that question is unclear, which has prompted the Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to schedule a hearing next week with banks, money transmitters, check cashers and their trade groups to discuss "mounting concern" in the financial sector regarding banking for money transmitters, according to a letter the agency sent out last month. The small companies transmit a portion of the more than $30 billion that immigrants living in the United States send back to their families, according to the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington. Large companies, such as First Data Corp.'s Western Union and MoneyGram International Inc., have been largely unaffected because of the size of their networks, according to the National Money Transmitters Association and regulators. ----- MORE on INTERNATIONAL MONEY: * BERN: IMF advises the Switzerland, one of the world's richest nations, to get their financial house in order, including selling off more of their gold reserves - a sure fire way to dilute confidence in, and the value of, the formerly rock solid Swiss franc. Is the IMF crazy? * WHO'S RICHER - THE IRISH OR THE SWISS? -- As usual, conclusions of the OECD are suspect. They now say the Irish are richer than the Swiss who say, no, they're 30% richer than the Irish. The Swiss practically invented money; EW will take their word. * U.S. SMEARS ANTIGUA-BARBUDA -- The Bush administration, fighting the WTO ruling that the US has hurt Antigua and Barbuda by banning offshore Net gambling, now claims, with little proof, the Caribbean nation is awash in dirty cash; that's based on 4 suspicious activity reports a week. In the USA the SARs come at 4 every second. So who keeps cash cleaner? * THE STATE OF BAHAMAS BANKING? -- NASSAU: The opening of Franklin Templeton Fiduciary Bank (FTFB) adds to 264 companies that hold bank and trust licenses in the islands with a rumored $300 billion in assets. PM Christie claims The Bahamas has $1 trillion in assets under management, which he says is about 15% of the global banking market. But what happened to all those "brass plate" banks who had their charters yanked a few years ago? * BUSH TEXAS BUDS PROBED OVER ISLE OF MAN TRUST -- A Texas grand jury and the SEC are investigating whether wealthy store owners concealed offshore trusts based in the Isle of Man; Wylie brothers are contributors to Bush campaigns. ==== OTHER EZINES & BOOKS ======================== ASIAN TIMES ONLINE Asia most trusted source for news, business,commentary and analysis from throughout Asia and our world. (www.atimes.com). ----- SURVIVAL BOOKS Go to and check it out! ----- japan-guide.com Extensive, up to date online guide on Japan living and travel related information. http://www.japan-guide.com/ ==== EW SPECIAL ================================= INTERNATIONAL DRIVERS LICENSE Solve all your driving hassles with this 100% bonafide International Drivers License that is valid in over 160 countries as per the United Nations agreement world-wide. Why you need one ?? If you plan to travel, have present "problems" with your local license, need a photo ID, or you need another form of ID. There is absolutely NO I.D. or documentation required to be issued this drivers license and can be ordered and delivered through the mail. This license is valid for FOUR years. For details email us at office@expatworld.net and put "IDL" in the subject header. ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... ================ NEWS STORIES Doctor Says His Mantra Helped Coup By Dmitry Solovyov BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - Jenishbek Nazaraliev treats drug addicts and usually keeps out of politics. Or he did until Thursday when, he says, his mantras helped topple the Kyrgyz government in a few hours of violent protest. "I had originally expected the government to fall in two to five days. But maybe my incantations worked far better than I had thought," the flamboyant psychiatrist told Reuters in an interview. It was outside Nazaraliev's clinic in the capital of the Central Asian state that thousands of protesters gathered on Thursday before storming the main administration offices, bringing down the government of veteran President Askar Akayev. Akayev fled and opposition leaders took over power in the latest revolution in the former Soviet Union to topple the authorities after disputed elections. "My mantra sounded like: 'You are young and strong. This is your country. Come and decide your future'," said the 43-year-old, who treats addicts with what he calls a "magic cocktail" of medicines and by putting them into a trance. Nazaraliev's anti-Akayev mantra was aired 150 times by a pro-opposition radio station the day before the protests. And, he says, it worked wonders. About 2,000 protesters gathered in front of his clinic on Thursday morning. By the time they reached the government headquarters an hour later, the number had swelled to 7,000. "It was very fast, cost-effective and efficient," he said. A baseball cap thrust down on his shaven head, Thursday he had handed protesters pink ribbons -- one of the opposition colors -- loudspeakers and anti-Akayev pamphlets. He concedes it was popular discontent with corruption and poverty that originally sparked the protests. "But history is made by strong men, so I had to mingle in the fray," said Nazarliev, a sniper rifle on the desk next to him. --- Strange injuries fill UK hospitals TWO people were injured by centipedes, and no fewer than 22 suffered mishaps involving nightwear. Britain is a perilous place in all sorts of unusual ways, according to new statistics on hospital admissions. The Department of Health data, reported in The Times newspaper in its Tuesday edition, also included people requiring hospital treatment in Britain for accidents which happened overseas. Thus, of the near-million people seen by emergency hospital staff in the 12 months to April 2004, six had been stung by scorpions, along with the 451 stung by hornets and 24 bitten by rats. The house was no haven, with nine needing treatment for accidents with their beds and 22 exposed to "ignition or melting of nightwear", usually due to cigarettes or faulty electric blankets. Other unusual problems which burdened the state-run National Health Service included nine people who experienced "accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed" and a child who attended hospital after a "prolonged stay in a weightless environment". A Department of Health spokesman told The Times that the precise accident categories were set by the UN's World Health Organisation, and could only speculate that the weightlessness might have been caused by a fairground ride. In the natural world, 37 people were admitted as "victims of volcanic eruption", and 207 needed treatment after "coming into contact with plant thorns, spines and sharp leaves". Among more traditional accidents, those involving non-power tools such as hammers affected 4115 people, while around 2000 more - mainly children - fell out of trees. The data for admissions also included 138 people who had foreign objects left in their bodies following surgery, the newspaper said. --- Pop a Tea Pill if You Can't Have a Cuppa GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - Feel like a cup of tea, but don't have the time to brew one up? Pop a "tea pill" instead. Indian tea scientists have produced a tea-flavored pill that can be chewed or quickly dissolved in hot or cold water. The brownish tablet weighs 0.3 grams and consists of 80 percent tea and 20 percent other flavors -- a combination the inventors at the Tocklai tea research center in India's northeastern Assam state say peps you up just like a traditional cuppa. "You can suck it, chew it or dissolve it in water the way you like to have it and still feel the taste of a real cup of tea," said the center's director, Mridul Hazarika. "As the liquid tea refreshes, this tea pill will also refresh the people because it contains pure tea ingredients." Hazarika said the center had applied for a patent and the pill, with a bit more fine tuning, should hit the market in six months. Indians drink a lot of tea but in recent years its tea business, the world's largest, has faced growing competition from soft drinks. ----- Senate bill aims to curb lewdness Measure would set standard for taste By Bill Cotterell DEMOCRAT POLITICAL EDITOR Lap dancers beware - the customer at the next table might be an undercover cop, deciding whether a performance constitutes public lewdness. The Florida Senate adopted a bill by Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, allowing police to arrest anyone whose public conduct is lewd or lascivious, by normal community standards. The bill is aimed at lap dancing and "swing" clubs, where people engage in actual or simulated sexual activities. The measure (SB 730) was set for a final Senate floor vote today, sending it to the House, where a similar bill by Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, is pending. The Pasco County lawmakers introduced the bill because one of their county judges threw out a lewdness charge against a dancer because the prosecution failed to produce any witness - other than the arresting officer - who found her performance offensive. The Fasano bill provides that "lewdness is to be determined based on what a reasonable member of the public might find substantially offensive." Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, said such a standard might result in arrests of thousands of college students during spring break at Florida beaches. Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale, said it might be unconstitutional for a police officers to make arrests on their own standards, without a complaint by participants. "Along the seaport, we have some strip facilities - I'm told - where many sailors will go," said Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville. "Could an officer go into one of these places and make the charge that everything going on in there was lewd?" Fasano replied that arrests could be made only if a performance was "lewd and lascivious" by commonly accepted standards. "The court said the offended party can't be the arresting officer," he said. "This would correct that." Lynn, whose Volusia County district is famous for its Bike Week and spring break festivities, told the Senate, "I could tell you some of the things that go on at the beach that we might find unacceptable. We'd be arresting a tremendous number of people." ----- Oxymoron: bigger half ----- Every time I find out the meaning of life, they change it. -- Unknown ----- "If elections changed anything they would be illegal" -- A Grafitty on a wall in Sofia ----- "I hacked into Microsoft, and all I got was this lousy source code." -- Unknown ----- A fellow, who had spent his whole life in the desert, comes to visit a friend. He'd never seen a train or the tracks they run on. While standing in the middle of the railroad tracks one day, he hears this whistle -- Whooee da Whoee! -- but doesn't know what it is. Predictably, he's hit and is thrown to the side of the tracks. It was only a glancing blow, so he was fortunate to receive some minor internal injuries, a few broken bones, and some bruises. After weeks in the hospital recovering, he's at his friend's house attending a party one evening. While in the kitchen, he suddenly hears the teakettle whistling. He grabs a baseball bat from the nearby closet and proceeds to batter and bash the teakettle into an unrecognizable lump of metal. His friend, hearing the ruckus, rushes into the kitchen, sees what's happened and asks the desert man, "Why'd you ruin my good tea kettle?" The desert man replies, "Man, you gotta kill these things when they're small." ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============================ Cache Cleaner 1.0 Cache Cleaner allows you to clear the memory cache with just one click. Key Features: - Cache Cleaner increases your PC's speed and performance. - Optimize and defragment wasted cache with just one click. - Recover cache leaks, identify and monitor cache. - Make your cache more efficient. - Free, no-nags. Get it at ==== INSIDE THIS MONTH EXPAT WORLD =============== EXPAT WORLD NEWSLETTER (VOL.17 ISSUE 03) Table of Content: - FAST TRACK TO SWISS PASSPORT - MORE ON BECOMING A SWISS CITIZEN - BITS AND PIECES - BORD? CHECK THESE WEBSITES - SUE YOUR PIMP - SEMEN FROSTING - THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS DEAD - THE "PT" LIFESTYLE IS STILL AVAILABLE AND BEING PURSUED BY THE SELECTIVELY INFORMED WORLDWIDE - INTERNATIONAL MONEY - US BANKS FOLLOWING BIG BROTHER'S GUIDELINE WANT TO KNOW EVERWHERE YOUR MONEY GOES - MORE ON INTERNATIONAL MONEY: - LETTER FROM AMERICA - EXPAT WORLD'S WORLD OF TRAVEL - CUSTOMS - BORDERS & CHECK POINTS - UNCHECKED ROUTES - INTERNATIONAL SNIPS AND CLIPS - AROUND THE WORLD WITH EXPAT WORLD - CRAPPER RAPPER - THE WOMEN'S FEAR OF A PUBLIC TOILET YOU MISSING SO MUCH Each week the EXPAT WORLD DIGEST gives you just a smattering of what you can find in the EXPAT WORLD newsletter that we produce once a month. Why not get the whole story and subscribe now to our electronic version for just US $30 per year. Go to our website: www.expatworld.net to sign up. ********************************************************************* EXPAT WORLD - the newsletter of international living URL - http://www.expatworld.net Email - office@expatworld.net ---------- End of Expat World Digest --------------------------------