2-3-96. FinTim: "World's financial police to cast money laundering net wider." The plan needs to address issues raised by cybercash. These technologies pose a threat but answers should not be dated as soon as published. Officials want developers of new technologies to consider their criminal potential before launch, to avoid clampdown afterwards. Possible safeguards against the misuse of electronic purses may include limiting their maximum value or restricting use to closed systems. "Communist to capitalist." [Book review] China's Rise, Russia's Fall, by Peter Nolan. Nolan says China's leaders had the self-confidence to chart their own evolutionary approach, largely preserving state institutions at a central and regional level, and fostered entrepreneurship through intelligent government planning. Russia's ruling class were hoodwinked by a phalanx of mainly US and UK advisers urging a "shock therapy" of destroying existing economic and political power-bases. The result has been a deep tragedy. 2-3-96. EcoMist: "Why is the Internet so slow; what can be done about it?" At present there is no answer, only a few expedients to limit traffic on congested routes, say, with "caches". However, Web site owners object to providers caching their wares, because it robs them of valuable information about their viewers -- the sort that advertisers demand. The caches have, in effect copied these pages without their owners' permission, and are showing them to others without their owners' knowledge. But faced with an Internet meltdown copyright violation may be the least of their worries. GNU_kum (for the three)