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In this paper the financial means of international (mostly Islamistic) terror organizations are analysed. First, some short remarks about the organization of international terror organizations are made. Second and in a much more detailed way a literature review is provided about the financing of terrorist and organized crime organizations, their sources and the various methods they use. Third, a first attempt is made to estimate the financial means of terror organizations with the help of a latent estimation approach (MIMIC procedure). The figures show that Al Qaeda and other terror organizations have sufficient financial means. Third, some remarks are made about the negative effects of terror on the economy in highly developed countries and some strategies are presented to combat the financing of terrorism.

In order to guarantee a further successful functioning of the enlarged European Union a Federal European Constitution is proposed. Six basic elements of a future European federal constitution are developed: the European commission should be turned into an European government and the European legislation should consist of a two chamber system with full responsibility over all federal items. Three further key elements are the subsidiarity principle, federalism and the secession right, which are best suited to limiting the domain of the central European authority to which certain tasks are given, such as defense, foreign and environmental policy. Another important feature is direct democracy, which provides the possibility for European voters to participate actively in the political decision making, to break political and interest group cartels, and to prevent an unwanted shifting of responsibilities from EU member states to the European federal level.

Using the DYMIMIC approach, estimates of the shadow economy in 110 developing, transition and developed OECD countries are presented. The average size of the shadow economy (in percent of official GDP) over 1999-2000 in developing countries is 41%, in transition countries 38% and in OECD countries 17%. An increasing burden of taxation and social security contributions are the driving forces of the shadow economy. If the shadow economy increases by one percent the growth rate of the ?official? GDP of a developing (of a developed and/or transition) country decreases by 0.6% (increases by 0.8 and 1.0% respectively).

Using the DYMIMIC approach, estimates of the shadow economy in 145 developing, transition, developed OECD countries, South Pacific islands and still communist countries are presented. The average size of the shadow economy (in percent of official GDP) over 2002/2003 in developing countries is 39.1%, in transition countries 40.1%, in OECD countries 16.3%, South Pacific islands 33.4% and 4 remaining Communist countries 21.8%. An increasing burden of taxation, high unemployment and low official GDP growth are the driving forces of the shadow economy.

Using the currency demand and DYMIMIC approaches estimates are presented about the size of the shadow economy in 22 Transition and 21 OECD countries. Over 2001/2002 in 21 OECD countries is the average size of the shadow economy (in percent of official GDP) 16.7% of ?official? GDP and of 22 Transition countries 38.0%. The average size of the shadow economy labor force (in percent of the population of working age) of the year 1998/99 in 7 OECD-countries is 15.3% and in 22 Transition countries is 30.2%. An increasing burden of taxation and social security contributions combined with rising state regulatory activities are the driving forces for the growth and size of the shadow economy (labor force).

Experts in soil and environmental sciences as well as in the theory of wave propagation and numerical modeling methods provide a comprehensive account of different aspects of pollutant migration in soils, aquifers, and other geological formations. Emphasis is laid on the analysis of contributing phenomena and their interactions, modeling, and the practical use of such knowledge and models for guidance in disposal operations, preventive measures to minimize ecological damage, prediction of consequences of seepage, and design of remedial actions. Topics covered include the chemical behavior of soils, sorption and retardation, biochemistry of pollutants, ion exchange and kinetics of reactions in soils, measurement of adsorption and desorption, multiphase hydrodynamics, multicomponent wave theory and the coherence concept, nonlinear wave propagation in geological formations, multiphase convective transport, diffusion and fast reaction, modeling pollutant transport, numerical methods, dispersion of contaminants from landfills, risk analysis, water reuse, and radioactive soil contamination at Chernobyl