Alfonso Gagliano denies Mafia link
Ex-cabinet minister's alleged connection to New York crime family raised in Commons; He's a 'longtime soldier,' informant told FBI

Prosecutors say beauty shop owner ran mob family, shot man to death
NEW YORK -- The tan, neatly coiffed owner of a Bronx beauty salon shot a dog-walking fellow mobster to death before he rose to power as the acting head of the Bonanno crime family, federal prosecutors charged Friday.

Following the Afghan drugs trail
The Afghan drugs trade is growing so fast some fear the country could become a narco-state, where drugs barons rule, not the government.

Former mafia boss indicted
BOSTON (AP) - A federal magistrate has ordered former Mafia boss Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme held without bond until a detention hearing next week.

CALABRIA: MAFIA-POLITICS PROBE, EX MPS ARRESTED
(AGI) - Reggio Calabria, Nov. 9 - The Reggio Calabria police during the night issued six custody warrants in jail, issued by Catanzaro magistrate Antonio Baudi on request of prosecutors.

Israeli Mafia boss arrested in drug rap
The police arrested a reputed Israeli mafia boss Zeev Rosenstein Monday on an international warrant for smuggling drugs from the European Union to the United States, authorities said.

ALBANIA 'MAFIA' BROKEN
The feds have a new organized-crime target: the Albanian Mafia. Federal prosecutors issued racketeering charges against 22 people associated with an immigrant Albanian crime family called the Rudaj Organization.

Tucson home of late Mafia boss Bonnano for sale on eBay
TUCSON - The home of the late boss of the Mafia's New York-based Bonanno crime family was for sale on eBay on Monday. The estate of Joseph Bonanno is selling his Tucson home for $495,000.

Ex-cop breaks down in mafia kingpin hearing
A former elite policeman broke down on Monday in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court, where he had been summoned to answer questions about alleged mafia kingpin Roberto Palazzolo.

Rasool in mafia's crosshairs
Cape Town - The Chinese mafia has apparently set its sights on the Western Cape premier, threatening to kill him as the net tightens around dangerous criminals.

New Mexican Mafia Leader Arrested

SAN ANTONIO -- Members of the Bexar County Sheriff's Department Gang Unit arrested who they called the newly-crowned leader of the prison gang, the Mexican Mafia, KSAT 12 News reported in an exclusive report Thursday night.

Drugs worth one million US dollars seized in London
LONDON, Oct. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Drugs worth nearly 560,000 pounds (about 1.025 million US dollars) have been found hidden in a cargo of vegetables at a warehouse near London's Heathrow Airport, police said Saturday.

Crime bosses are getting clever
Trying to understand the inner workings of organised crime syndicates can be as difficult as trying to figure out what drives television's mafia crime boss Tony Soprano.

MAFIA: ANDREOTTI US SPIN ON MY TRIAL
(AGI) - Rome, Italy, Oct 21 - Giulio Andreotti speaking in an interview to Panorama magazine said that he had to suffer 11 years of judiciary persecution because he has been a first line chorus dancer for too much time and there was somebody who wanted to change the show.

Remains of mafia captains identified
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Authorities have found the skeletons of two mafia captains, believed to be victims of a gangland shooting over 20 years ago, FBI officials said Monday.

Soccer Teams Hold Tribute for Mafia Boss
ROME (Reuters) - Players and fans at a local league match in southern Italy held a minute's silence to remember a suspected Mafia boss over the weekend, angering politicians and embarrassing soccer authorities.

MAFIA: GASPARRI COMMENTS ACTS OF INTIMIDATION
(AGI) - Catanzaro, Italy, Oct. 7 - "The serious act of intimidation aimed at the Mayor of Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Scopelliti, is the last in a long series of acts of escalation which have been taking place in various parts of the region", said Communications Minister Maurizio Gasparri.

Afghan drug 'mafia' behind assassination bid: minister
KABUL, Oct 7 : Drug lords are suspected of being behind an assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai's running mate days ahead of elections, a government minister said Thursday.

Twin Blasts Hit Yekaterinburg Shops, Police Point at Mafia

Russia - Two explosions took place overnight in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, in what appears to be the work of an organized crime group. There are no reports of casualties.

FBI digs up suspected gangland graveyard
NEW YORK -- The FBI dug up part of a suspected gangland graveyard on Monday in search of the body of a man who disappeared after killing the young son of late mob boss John Gotti in a 1980 traffic accident.

MAFIA: EX SICILIAN REGIONAL COUNCILLOR UNDER HOUSE ARREST
(AGI) - Palermo, October 1 - Ex Sicily councillor Vincenzo Lo Giudice, of UDC, has obtained house arrest after being arrested last summer under mafia association charges for being considered close to Agrigento province clans.

Mafia suspects indicted, arrested on East Coast
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- Eighteen people, including the man suspected of being No. 2 in the Gambino crime family, were charged Wednesday after an investigation into organized crime in Connecticut, Rhode Island and suburban New York.

Is Organized Crime Controlling Your PC?
A rise in attacks for financial gain, as opposed to attacks motivated by the creator's desire to gain notoriety, is a disturbing trend noted in Symantec's latest report on Internet security. Symantec is a leading provider of antivirus and PC security software.

Russian Mafia Figure To Be Released From Federal Prison
BASTROP, Texas A Russian Mafia don who masterminded a 1980's tax scheme is set to be freed Saturday from a federal prison in Bastrop.

Italy launches anti-mafia raids
Italian paramilitary police have launched a major operation against one of the most violent organised crime groups in the country.

Police arrest 67 in mafia swoop
DOZENS of alleged members of one of Italy's most violent organised crime groups have been arrested in a massive police operation in different parts of the country, anti-Mafia police said today.

Insurance Fraud Hits Record High
KOREA - Insurance fraud has hit a record high of 48.4 billion won in the first half of the year, the nation’s top financial regulator said Monday.

Mob dials for dough
The Gambino crime family has reached out and touched millions of phone users across the nation, the Daily News has learned.

Neighbors complain about drug sales at Carwin Park
STAMFORD -- At 3 p.m. at Carwin Park on Spruce Street, elementary school girls played on a swing set and middle school students punted a football back and forth over a jungle gym.

Tougher stand on drugs in jail
AUSTRALIA - WIDER powers to stop drugs in prisons are being sought by the State Government.

Mobster in Federal Court
(Buffalo, NY, September 16, 2004) - - A well known Mobster and Gambling Kingpin is being sentenced in Federal Court right now for trying to bully people out of money. Benjamin "Sonny" Nicoletti pleaded guilty to trying to extort $15,000.00 from a local man in connection with a bookmaking operation based in the Dominican Republic in 1998.

Child star in drugs bust
FORMER child star Macaulay Culkin had been arrested on drug charges, US authorities said today.

Fishing regulations criticized
WASHINGTON -- Federal fisheries regulations threaten the livelihoods of thousands of New England fishermen, but the prospects for change remained uncertain Tuesday following a congressional hearing.

A whiff of organized crime wafts over Little Italy feast
The red, white and green tinsel arches are back over Mulberry Street, along with the sizzling mounds of sausage and peppers. But there is also something unsavory in the air at Little Italy's Feast of San Gennaro: the whiff of organized crime.

Cooperation Is Vital To Tackle Hi-Tech Criminals
Organized Internet crime syndicates were dealt a major blow earlier this year, when the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) and international intelligence forces caught suspects in the UK, Russia and the Ukraine.

PALERMO REMEMBERS DON PUGLISI, THE PRIEST KILLED BY THE MAFIA
(AGI) - Palermo, Italy, 15 September - Father Pino Puglisi 11 years after his murder in 1993, will be remembered today in Palermo with a series of initiatives, while yesterday evening a vigil was held in his home in the Brancaccio quarter, in Piazzale Anita Garibaldi.

Pair 'linked' to black market arms trade
Vanderbiljpark - Prosecutors have said a videotape and other evidence link two men arrested in South Africa to a global nuclear weapons black market that is being investigated by the United Nations.

Bulgarian Criminality Blossoms - Report
Criminal gangs in Romania and Bulgaria are "extremely dynamic" and involved in "a wide range of criminal activities which impact upon many European Union countries,'' San Francisco Chronicle reads.

<>2 more bodies found as drug-related deaths rise(Scroll Down)
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Police discovered the bodies of two men who were killed and dumped in this violent border city in cases that appear to involve organized crime, authorities said Monday.

Putin's grip
The Russian president's crackdown on political opponents in wake of Beslan tragedy is widely criticized.

Crackdown On Mob Link To San Gennaro Feast
NEW YORK A former federal prosecutor will join the expanded board of the Feast of San Gennaro to counteract the most recent scandal for a street fair plagued by its association with organized crime.

Project Caesar marijuana grow ring busted
Over the past three years, indoor Marijuana grow operations have proliferated in the Greater Toronto Area.

Baroque Art: Thou Shall Not Steal Sacred Images
Brazilian authorities appear to have successfully stamped out an organized crime ring that pilfered sacred colonial-era images from churches and museums in Minas Gerais.

Mihajlovic: “Government is mafia funded“
BELGRADE -- Monday – Former Internal Affairs Minister Dusan Mihajlovic said that the mafia is still a main provider of funds for a majority of the countries more prominent political parties and politicians.

Mother jailed for carrying drugs, child endangerment
OAKLAND: The mother of a 5-year-old boy was arrested at the Pilot Truck Stop in Oakland Saturday after she was allegedly caught carrying drugs in the vehicle while her son was with her.

Search of Marshall home uncovers drugs, weapons
Three Marshall residents face felony drug charges after police discovered a large quantity of marijuana at their home last week.

Sicilian mafiosi return to plotting murder, but use foreign hitmen to keep their hands clean

After years of keeping the lowest of profiles, the Sicilian Mafia is back in action. And to avoid prosecution gang bosses are hiring foreign hitmen.

Police say kingpin nabbed in latest bust
MONTREAL - Police say they have broken up an international cocaine smuggling and distribution network based in Quebec and nabbed the organization's alleged ringleader.

2 YRS. FOR GAMBINO GEEZER
An elderly bag man for Gambino boss Peter Gotti was sentenced to two years behind bars for carrying cash and messages for the mob yesterday.

Mobster makes real-life mafia show
MOSCOW: A Russian mob boss, fed up with the "unrealistic mafia shows" usually shown on television has taken matters into his own hands by creating his own series.

Mayor, attorney tell details of report
Mayor Don Stephens and Rosemont attorney Robert Stephenson sat down with the Daily Herald after releasing the report they said should lay to rest any allegations of mob involvement. Here's a partial transcript of that interview. A complete transcript will be posted on the Daily Herald's Web site this weekend.

Drugs link to double shooting
A DRUG war is believed to be behind the two shootings in North Melbourne on Thursday night.

Holyoke Resident Sentenced for Possessing Drugs and Firearm, Reports U.S. Attorney
ISAAC TORRES, age 20, of 132 Sargeant Street, Holyoke, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to 6 years in prison. TORRES was originally convicted by a jury of possession of a sawed-off shotgun in February, 2004 and later pleaded guilty to two remaining charges of possession of heroin, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Dad sent to prison for drugs in diaper
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- A Vincennes man convicted of hiding crack cocaine from police during a traffic stop by stuffing it in his son's diaper has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Women arrested for drugs, weapon
A raid on a Picayune residence last Friday resulted in the arrests of two women and the seizure of drugs and a weapon, Picayune Police said.

Mafia code of silence
THE CONFLICT between Roberto Romulo and Max Soliven over a citizen's right of reply to scathing attacks in the press is an issue that refuses to die. It has spun a life of its own, and has now aroused interest overseas over what's the state of press freedom in the Philippines. It has ceased to be purely a parochial domestic controversy.

HK police step up operations to combat organized crime
HONG KONG, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- In support of a special operation code named "Operation Sun Rise" jointly conducted by the Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao Police authorities, the Hong Kong Police mounted a series of operations to combat organized crime between Sept. 1 and 8.

Chinese officials embezzling billions in state assets, fleeing the country
KAIPING, China - (KRT) - In this city and many others in China, senior officials are embezzling tens of millions of dollars and fleeing overseas with their families.

New Haven uses new scanners to catch criminals

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The city is using a new weapon to track down criminals and tax delinquents: an infrared scanner that reads license plates and connects to a database of police and tax records.

The city will use the scanner to determine if property taxes are owed on the car, or if the car is stolen, has a stolen license plate or is not registered or insured.

Keeping Drugs Out Of The Hands Of Inmates
Workers at the Bonneville county jail are constantly watching for people trying to smuggle drugs into the jail.

2 men sentenced in teen prostitution
Two men who were part of a group that ran a prostitution ring involving two 15-year-old girls were sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul.

Three arrested on prostitution-related charges
Three employees of an adult entertainment center in Ronkonkoma were arrested on prostitution-related charges yesterday, Suffolk County police said.

Gaming chief knew of promoter's mob ties
(KRT) - Gaming Commission chairman Frank Friel knew of boxing promoter Arthur Pelullo's alleged organized-crime ties before testifying that he had never seen any evidence linking Pelullo to the mob.

North Ossetian government to resign in two days
MOSCOW, Sept. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The government of Russia's North Ossetia republic, suffering the loss of over 350 people in last week's hostage-taking tragedy, will resign within the next two days, the republic's President Alexander Dzasokhov announced Wednesday.

Top Russian Mafia Boss Jailed for Drug Smuggling
The Moscow Regional court has sentenced a powerful Russian drug lord, who owned several international firms, to 21 years in prison for smuggling six tons of the narcotic mandrax to a number of countries in 2000.

Jail awaits cops involved in extortion
PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Director General Edgar Aglipay reiterated his stern warning against "kotong" cops on Wednesday as the campaign against extortionists in uniform gathered steam.

Last Two Of Five Men Convicted In Prostitution Ring
St. Paul (AP) A federal judge in St. Paul has sentenced the last two of five men convicted in connection with a teenage prostitution ring.

New pension regulations to hit business people
New regulations governing self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) will have a significant effect on the ability of local business people to buy commercial property, an industry expert has warned.

Jail guard pleads guilty to passing drugs to inmate

DEDHAM -- A former jail guard has pleaded guilty to charges she provided drugs two years ago to an inmate who later died, according to Norfolk County District Attorney William R. Keating.

37 years for drugs gang

THREE men who planned to flood Merseyside with more than £1m of cocaine and ecstasy have been jailed for a total of 37 years.

Michael Hayes, Ian Painter and Stephen Hamill were caught smuggling the drugs using south east cross-Channel routes.

Their aim was to bring the powder and pills into Liverpool and distribute them across the region.

Government taxes half of £40k salaries for revenue recharge

The average high category taxpayer in the UK has to pay as much as half his salary directly back to the government simply to be tax compliant under the Inland Revenue.

This is the picture from accountants, Smith & Williamson, which show that a family man who earns £40,000 a year, typically pays almost 50p of the pound through direct and indirect taxation to government agencies.

This amount is a rise of almost half as much again from the 35p in the pound rate, a family man would have been paying in 1997 - the year Labour came to power.

Since then 66 stealth taxes have been introduced for basic rate taxpayers, ensuring that a man on a salary of £25,000 a year would have seen his tax obligations climb by almost a seventh.

CFO Forum sues government over rampant stamp duty

The CFOs claim that whereas before, the stamp duty was charged like a fee on many documents, now, under the new regulations, every paper and document had to have stamp paid before being submitted in a court of law. In addition, the suit adds that anyone not paying this stamp duty is branded a tax-evader.

FCC to fine CBS stations $550,000

WASHINGTON - Pop singer Janet Jackson’s bare breast flash earlier this year will result in a record $550,000 fine for 20 CBS television stations, U.S. Federal Communications Commission officials said Tuesday.

The five FCC commissioners have voted to accept a staff recommendation to fine the 20 television stations that CBS owns $27,500 each but let the remaining 200-plus CBS affiliates escape penalty, according to the officials, who declined to be identified. The commissioners’ voting was completed last week.

Ukraine official 'sacked for exposing government fraud'

A Ukranian law enforcement official claims he was fired because his investigations into a multi-million pound fraud and money laundering scheme showed the money had been used to fund the election campaign of the country's president.

Oleksiy Donskiy held the rank of captain in the investigation branch of the Ukrainian Prosecutor's department in Kiev. The job combines the role of detective and lawyer to gather evidence for prosecutions.

He contacted The Independent after the newspaper printed a series of articles showing that the Ukrainian General Prosecutor's office sat on evidence which linked the 2000 murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze to President Leonid Kuchma's administration.

Raskol threat to kill our police

PORT Moresby's feared Raskol gangs have warned they will shoot Australian police officers "if they try and take our lives away" but said they believe the country's corruption will quickly drive out the officers.

The warning came as The Australian learned that one of Papua New Guinea's most senior detectives -- suspended for receiving free board from a criminal -- had been reinstated and would be serving alongside Australian police.

The first 19 of 210 armed Australian officers -- drawn from state and federal police -- have been deployed to the troubled nation as part of the Howard Government's $1 billion aid program to address law and order problems.

Over the next five years the Australian police will train and re-equip their PNG counterparts, while 64 civil servants are will be seconded to the government bureaucracy.

High on the list of criminal targets for the Australians are expected to be PNG's feared Raskol gangs, which have been implicated in crimes including drug cultivation and smuggling, rape, robbery, fraud, murder and corruption.

Scandinavian MP Warns Zambia

WE will not tolerate corruption with our money, a visiting Scandinavian member of parliament has warned Zambia.

Leader of a team of seven Scandinavian parliamentary delegation to Zambia, Gunhild Oyangen, said yesterday when her delegation visited Parliament that Scandinavian countries wanted to expand their co-operation with Zambia.

She said donors wanted their money to be used effectively and properly in a peaceful country like Zambia.

"We will not tolerate corruption with our money because co-operation between Zambia and our countries is very important," she emphasised.

3000 S/Leoneans in US Go Into Hiding

3000 Sierra Leoneans living in the United States formerly covered by the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) have reportedly gone into hiding, The Washington Post reports.

Reports say that the Sierra Leoneans have to go underground or risk being deported.

The Johnston family living in Washington prays and stays together, huddled inside their house, too frightened to venture outside or answer the front door. "If you don't tell us you are coming," Anita Kennedy Johnston said, "we don't open the door." The Johnstons - Anita, 48, husband James, 54, and daughter Alice, 27 -- have lived in Washington since May, when the Department of Homeland Security canceled TPS for about 3,000 people from Sierra Leone.

DEA Agent’s Whistleblower Case Exposes the “War on Drugs” as a “War of Pretense”

Agent’s Sealed Legal Case Dismissed on National Security Grounds; Details Leaked to Narco News

Former DEA agent Richard Horn has been fighting the U.S. government for the past 10 years trying to prove the CIA illegally spied on him as part of an effort to thwart his mission in the Southeast Asian country of Burma.

After being removed from his post in Burma, Horn filed litigation in federal court in Washington, D.C., in 1994 accusing top officials for the CIA and State Department in Burma of violating his Fourth Amendment rights.

After languishing in the federal court system for some 10 years, Horn’s case was dismissed in late July of this year after crucial evidence in the case was suppressed on national security grounds. Because the entire court record had been sealed by the judge, no one would have even known that Horn’s case was torpedoed, if it were not for the fact that an anonymous source leaked the judge’s ruling to Narco News.

Horn served in the early 1990s as the DEA country attaché to Burma – which ranks as one of the top opium poppy producing countries in the world.

As the highest-ranking in-country DEA representative in Burma (also know as Myanmar), Horn was charged with overseeing the agency’s mission in that country of eradicating the opium poppy, which is used to produce heroin.

New Delhi to talk Dawood with Deuba

NEW DELHI: Apart from renewing the offer to help Nepal in resolving the Maoist insurgency, India is likely to ask visiting Nepalese prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for prompt action against fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's financial assets in the Himalayan Kingdom.

CITY COUNCIL MEMBER ARRESTED FOR MAFIA TIES

(AGI) - Cosenza, Sept. 7 - Among the 63 people arrested at dawn yesterday as part of the Starprice 3-Azimut operation against alleged member of the Muto Di Cetraro clan, specialised in extortion, usury, and drug trafficking, there is also a San Marco Argentano city council member. He is Ferdinando Lanzillotta, 43, responsible for sport, a jeweller by profession, and is accused of collaborating in a robbery of a gem representative. Lanzillotta has been suspended from his job as council member by a measure issued by Diego D'Amico, Cosenza police chief. (AGI)

Russian Mafia Brings Down Telstra Network

According to a report on Tuesday's Sydney Morning Herald, attacks by the Russian Mafia on online betting networks brought Telstra's Alice Springs network to its knees.

The problem it seems, is that the Russian Mafia has an affinity to try and crack into the online betting systems of two of Australia's bigger bookmakers, Multibet.com and Centrebet both of whom are based in Alice Springs. It appears the Mafia had attemtpted to blackmail the two organisations into coughing up some cash - up to US$20,000 supposedly - and when the bookmakers refused, the attack was perpetrated and the "systems brought to their knees". The actual nature of the attack is not identified, but one assumes it would be a Denial of Service.

Mysterious Republican Money

If House Speaker Dennis Hastert is really concerned about drug profits being laundered into the U.S. political process, he would not be sliming billionaire financier George Soros with that suspicion. Hastert would be looking at a principal conservative funder: South Korean theocrat Sun Myung Moon.

While Hastert was unable to cite a shred of evidence that the liberal Soros is funneling illicit money, there is a substantial body of evidence that Moon has long commanded a criminal enterprise with close ties to Asian and South American drug lords. The evidence includes first-hand accounts of money laundering disclosed by Moon confidantes and even family members. Besides those more recent accounts, Moon was convicted of tax fraud based on evidence developed in the late 1970s about his money-laundering activities.

Since serving his tax-evasion sentence in the early 1980s, however, Moon appears to have bought himself protection by spreading hundreds of millions of dollars around conservative causes and through generous speaking fee payments to Republican leaders, including former President George H.W. Bush.

Crime gang driven by drugs and greed

A DEADLY western suburbs crime gang fuelled by drugs and greed has been named as the force behind Melbourne's gangland war.

Murdered criminal Paul Kallipolitis has been revealed as a one-time leader of the gang whose members and associates have been linked to at least 10 murders and up to six non-fatal shootings.

The gang included Andrew Veniamin and Dino Dibra, friends of accused murderer Carl Williams, and Mark Mallia, an associate of Nikolai Radev.

All grew up within a few kilometres of each other in Sunshine.

They were killed within the space of four years as friend turned on friend.

SDLP welcomes drugs swoop by police

Londonderry SDLP assembly member Mary Bradley today praised a drugs bust carried out by police in Galliagh.

Police came under attack from petrol-bombers during the operation last Thursday evening.

Mrs Bradley said she was appalled by the attack.

Limerick man charged with €1.3m drugs haul

A 34-year-old Limerick man has been charged in connection with a €1.3m drugs haul.

Dominic Hickey, The Mews, Ballysimon Road, Limerick, appeared before Limerick District Court today on four separate drugs charges following a major seizure of cannabis and cocaine at the weekend.

Judge Tom O’Donnell heard that an assortment of drugs with a street value of €1.3m was recovered in a raid at a house on the Ballysimon Road over the weekend.

China loosens up on foreign regulations

China has unveiled a second phase of reforms that will next year see further relaxation of the tough restrictions on the country’s legal market. However, the new regulations still fall short of granting foreign lawyers the right to practise local law.

Lawrence Appears To Making Headway In Prostitution Battle

LAWRENCE, Mass. -- Lawrence appears to be winning its fight against prostitution.

Prostitution arrests are up in the city this year thanks to police sting operations and complaints from neighbors.

China eases trade barriers

China has a sheaf of new regulations kicking in at the end of the year which will provide significant new trade opportunities for Hawaii businesses, according to the executive director of the Hong Kong Hawaii China Chamber of Commerce.

"Foreign retailers and wholesalers have long realized that China's opening did not include them," says Johnson Choi. "But new regulations going into effect after December 2004 will allow fully foreign-owned enterprises to establish wholesale and retail operations anywhere in the country, and promise to dramatically change China's commercial landscape."

Porn publishers to get up to life imprisonment in China

People found guilty of producing and distributing pornography in China through the internet, mobile phones and other electronic means may get up to life imprisonment under a new legal interpretation, which came into effect today, the state media reported.

Rizzuto ran loan-sharking racket at casino, report says

MONTREAL -- Alleged mobster Vito Rizzuto runs a loan-sharking operation at the Montreal casino, ordered the killing of a lawyer who had ripped him off and is considered the head of the Mafia in Canada, according to a police report filed with a Montreal court.The report was prepared for federal lawyers in their successful bid last month to deny bail to the 58-year-old Montrealer, who is fighting extradition to the United States, where prosecutors allege he was involved in the 1981 slayings of three renegade Mafia captains in Brooklyn.

People voting twice in Kansas, Missouri

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In today's often tight elections, every vote counts. But a Kansas City Star investigation has found that for some people, locally and across Missouri, their vote counts double - because they voted twice in the same election.

Some vote in Kansas, cross the state line and vote again in Missouri. Others appear to be voting in two different Missouri counties.

Either way, it's a crime. In Missouri, casting two separate ballots in the same election is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. It can also result in federal charges.

New GMP regulations for herbal medicine manufacturers to be enforced starting March, 2005

God Damn Regulators

In an announcement reported in local media, the Department of Health (DOH) announced that it will be enforcing the new Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) regulations on all domestic pharmaceutical companies engaging in the manufacturing of herbal medicine, starting 1 March 2005.

This effort is intended to stop industry-damaging practices such as the selling of spurious Chinese medicinal ingredients, the adulteration of herbal medicine with Western pharmaceuticals, the selling of herbal medicine on the streets. It also aims at reducing related activities, such as the broadcast of TV and radio commercials containing unsubstantiated claims about a particular herbal product.

State Police try to reduce yield of pot harvest

Denise Forsythe got an unexpected surprise when she returned home from a meeting at Oaklandon Christian Church one afternoon last week.

The rural Hancock County woman found Indiana State Police troopers in her driveway with 55 marijuana plants they had pulled from a neighbor's cornfield.

Police say someone -- not the farmer -- had secretly planted the marijuana in the field, hoping to harvest it before anyone noticed.

Hotel tax increase headed for ballot, but many don't pay

Ads for luxurious overnight stays and property management in the Napa Valley abound. Many of them the rooms go for $1,000 a night and more -- and many do not collect or pay a transient occupancy tax.

This underground hospitality industry in the wine country could be costing financially strapped local governments millions. And it's going on right under the noses of public officials in the midst of one of the nation's tourist meccas.

Shootout in Colombian Church Kills Three

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A gunfight broke out in a church in a cocaine-producing region of southern Colombia, leaving at least three people dead and 14 wounded, authorities said Sunday.

The bloodshed began when assailants entered the church Saturday night and shot and killed a man in the pews, said Maj. Eduardo Beltran, police commander in Puerto Asis, where the attack occurred.

The apparent target of the hit men was in another row with his family, however, and when the shooting started, he took out a gun and shot back, the commander said. ``It turned into a firefight,'' Beltran said.

New alignments likely

LUCKNOW: The killing of mafia-turned-politician and SP MLC Ajit Singh at his birthday bash at an Unnao motel hints not only at major realignments of criminal gangs in Lucknow but also of politicial eqations in Uttar Pradesh,mired by caste based politics.

Seven more EU Member States join Europol

Seven of the ten countries which joined the European Union (EU) in May became new members of the European Police Office (Europol) on Wednesday, according to a press release issued by Europol. The new members are Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania. The last three member states of the EU - Malta, Poland and Estonia - are also expected to join Europol before 2005.

www.chinaview.cn further reported that Europol acting director Mariano Simancas was quoted as saying that "The increased membership and geographical area of the EU will provide significant opportunities for Europol to enhance its service to law enforcement in the common effort to combat international organized crime."

Some MPs allegedly involved in human trafficking business

ISLAMABAD, September 06 (Online): A gruesome scandal of human smuggling had been divulged in which Members of Parliament and other government officials were reportedly involved directly.

It has been revealed that Vice Nazim of Gujar Khan Union Council No.1 Shahid alias Shahid Suniara, his accomplices and a large gang for the last twenty years had been involved in this heinous business.

This was revealed by an illegal immigrant to England whom the gang had received Rs. 500000.

The source, which declined to be named, said the sitting and former MNAs, former provincial ministers, Security employees of the Parliament and other protocol officers were in collusion to send people to foreign countries illegally.

Taxes and regulations a bigger threat than end of house boom

IT’S cold turkey time for the British economy: the great housing boom came to an abrupt end last week, with prices suffering their first monthly drop in two years. Instead of simply remortgaging their homes whenever they want some easy cash, consumers will soon have to start saving and scrimping if they want to continue splashing out on DVDs and designer clothes.

Fortunately, unless the 0.6% drop in house prices in August - according to the Halifax - turns into a rout, consumer spending is unlikely to collapse. It probably won’t fall at all, merely grow at a much slower rate.

EDITORIAL: Corruption whirlpool widens

As many had foreseen, the corruption scandals enveloping past and present members of the Clark County Commission -- apparently riding on the voluminous chirpings of indicted former Commissioner-turned federal songbird Erin Kenny -- now extend far beyond the topless tavern industry.

Ms. Kenny -- along with former commissioner Dario Herrera and sitting board member Mary Kincaid-Chauncey -- was indicted last year on charges of accepting bribes from strip club owner Michael Galardi in exchange for votes that benefited Galardi's topless club empire.

Ms. Kincaid-Chauncey is seeking re-election despite all this. Kenny pleaded guilty last year and has been cooperating with federal authorities.

Corruption, Crime and Conflicts Plague Los Angeles Politics

With nearly 40 years experience, former Police Chief and current City Councilman Bernard Parks comments on the most corrupt mayoral administration since the era of recalled Mayor Shaw. In a two part interview with Emmy Award winning FULL DISCLOSURE host Leslie Dutton, Parks commented on the Federal and County Grand Jury investigations of corruption in the current Hahn administration saying that he could not recall when the Mayor’s office had been under such intense scrutiny for such issues a pay-to-play and campaign violations.

Mafia 'Planned to Kill Giuliani'

Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who won worldwide respect for his handling of the aftermath of September 11, was once the target of a Mafia assassination plot, it was reported today.

Russian mafia gang targets betting firm

A Russian mafia gang used a sophisticated internet attack to cripple an Australian sports betting agency, forcing the owner to pay tens of thousands of dollars in ransom, it was reported.

The Australian newspaper said Multibet.com was just one of many Australian victims of the extortion racket that disabled the websites of online betting agencies around the world, costing them millions in turnover.

Multibet's owner, Terry Lillis was quoted as saying the gang sent their ransom notes by email asking for $US20,000 ($A28,553) to be sent to a Latvian bank account.

Italian mayor quits after mafia threats

A southern Italian mayor who opposes the building of a bridge between Sicily and the mainland has resigned after a campaign of intimidation blamed on local mobsters.

Rocco Cassone, the civic chief in Villa San Giovanni, has had his car set on fire twice. Last month he received a death threat in the form of a letter containing bullets.

He said in a statement: "The conditions do not exist with which to guarantee normal administrative activity."

DEA seizes pot from medical marijuana operation

ROSEVILLE, Calif. Federal Drug Enforcement agents say their medical marijuana raid in Roseville should send a message to every other medical pot operation in California, that they're breaking federal law.

Of course, state law allows for medical marijuana possession and distribution to sick people, and a federal appeals court has said that federal authorities lack the power to go after these medical marijuana shops in California. But the U-S Justice Department has appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court, and meanwhile, the D-E-A isn't slowing down. Hundreds of plants were seized in Friday's raid of Capitol Compassionate Care. The owner, Richard Marin, says he doesn't think he was doing anything wrong. But the case is being referred to the U-S attorney's office in Sacramento for possible criminal charges.