20 Apr 07. Reed Elsevier is being sued by an Iranian defence group after the British company excluded it at the last minute from its arms fair this week. Reed told the Iranian Defence Industries Organisation (DIO) it could not have a stall at its Brazil fair, called Latin American Aerospace and Defence, just before the conference started on Tuesday morning. Reed excluded DIO after reviewing a resolution last month by the United Nations Security Council banning all Iranian arms exports. Some defence experts believed the resolution meant that while it was legal for DIO to exhibit, it would have broken the law for anyone to buy any of its products. John Tolhurst, chairman of Reed Exhibitions Aerospace and Defence, said yesterday the resolution was “open to interpretation”. But he added: “We decided it could be seen to apply to their presence at the exhibition.” The DIO this week sought an injunction to get itself reinstated at the arms exhibition. The event, in Rio de Janeiro, closes today.
17 Apr 07 SI International will co-host the second annual “The New New Internet: IPv6 conference” on May 10th with Potomac ExecutiveBiz. The event will focus on success in building and securing the next-generation IPv6-enabled Internet. The conference is presented in collaboration with the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), the North American IPv6 Task Force, and the IPv6 Forum.
Apr 07. Agile, Adaptable, Capable: Challenges and Opportunities for Air Power 2007 17 – 18 May 2007. RUSI and the Banqueting House, Whitehall. The conference flyer for the 2007 RUSI Air Power Conference is now available on the RUSI web site via the following link. It includes the detailed conference programme, the conference concept, a list of confirmed speakers and relevant administrative information. The conference is supported once again by the Royal Air Force and a number of sponsors from the Aerospace and Defence Industry. Conference will begin at 0835 (registration from 0800) on 17th May and closes at 1815 (reception until 2000). Day 2 begins at 0835 (registration from 0800) and closes after lunch at 1430. Please note that a limit is being applied to the number of attendees at this year’s event. Reservations to attend the Conference may be made via the registration form on the web site. To discuss speaking and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Paul Smyth (Head of RUSI’s Aerospace and Information Studies Programme) on: +44 (0) 20 7747 4951;
18 Apr 07. The increasingly complex question of homeland security took centre-stage at the recent Global Security Asia 2007 Show. Reflecting the importance of this growing area covering national security was the large turn-out of visitors to both the exhibition and conference. To underscore the importance of this year’s event, hosted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, there were no less than three Ministers who graced the Opening Ceremony. They were Deputy Prime Minister, Prof S Jayakumar, who is also Co-ordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Law; Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Wong Kan Seng, who is also the Minister for Home Affairs and the Host Minister for GSA; and Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs. Former Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Tony Tan was also in attendance at the event. With eight of the Official VIP delegations being headed by Ministers and Permanent Secretaries or their equivalent, it illustrates the importance of homeland security to Singapore and the region, and Global Security Asia 2007 as an important event in Singapore and the Asia Pacific region. A total of 42 papers were presented at the conference covering technology, geo-politics, chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear threats. Presenting these papers were world experts drawn from homeland security agencies from around the globe. The Conference was chaired by international experts Dr Rohan Gunaratna, Head of Singapore’s Internati