• Global General Technologies’ H7 “Silent Soldier” surveillance system has won the 2006 Product Innovation Award from Frost & Sullivan.

• The European Commission has adopted a report on aviation and maritime security financing that warns that funding mechanisms are inconsistent across EU member states.

• André Luís Brandão, chairman of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (OMAOC), has called on member states to enhance maritime security.

• Freeport in The Bahamas has become the 45th international port to join the Container Security Initiative.

• At the 10th anniversary meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in Cebu, Philippine President Macapagal-Arroyo called on Asia-Pacific countries to draw up a counterterrorism convention.

• Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy says security in the Malacca Straits has improved to the point that insurer Lloyds of London should remove its “war-risk zone” designation.

• The Kenya-based Seafarers Assistance Programme says that an increased foreign naval presence and the anti-piracy stance of Somalia’s new Islamist rulers have reduced piracy in Somali waters.

• Sigifredo Gonzales, representing the Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition, says that cross-border drug and smuggling gangs are increasingly sophisticated and violent, and far better armed than the forces sent to stop them.