Chilling message to police and soldiers in cities across Mexico: Join us or die.

Violence is spinning out of control is areas along the U.S. Mexico border and now drug cartels are sending a chilling message to police and soldiers in cities across Mexico: Join us or die.The threat appears in recruiting banners that are hung across roadsides and in publicly posted death lists. Cops are receiving additional threats over their two-way radios. At least four high-ranking police officials were gunned down this month, including Mexico’s acting federal police chief
Mexico has battled for years to clean up its security forces and win them the publics respect. But Mexicans generally assume police and even soldiers are corrupt until proven otherwise, and the honest ones lack resources, training and the assurance that their colleagues are watching their backs. Here, the taboo on cop-killing familiar to Americans seems hardly to apply.Police who take on the cartels feel isolated and vulnerable when they become targets, as did 22 commanders in Ciudad Juarez when drug traffickers named them on a handwritten death list left at a monument to fallen police this year. It was addressed to “those who still don’t believe” in the power of the cartels.Of the 22, seven have been killed and three wounded in assassination attempts. Of the others, all but one have quit, and city officials said he didn’t want to be interviewed.

Arrest of an alleged serial killer in Modimolle, Limpopo, came as a result of random DNA tests conducted on several men in the town.

The recent arrest of an alleged serial killer in Modimolle, Limpopo, came as a result of random DNA tests conducted on several men in the town. The man was arrested in Lwamondo in the Vuwani area near Thohoyandou on Friday morning. Provincial police commissioner Calvin Sengani said a task team established to investigate the serial killings in Modimolle had led to the arrest of the 45-year-old man last week.Though Sengani would not reveal the exact circumstances leading to the man’s arrest, he expressed confidence that they had apprehended the right suspect.The man was sought in connection with a spate of rapes and murders in Modimolle between 2004 and 2008.The recently arrested man is expected to appear in the Modimolle magistrate’s court today on kidnapping, murder, indecent assault and abuse charges.Sengani said on April 10 last month, the police cordoned off a section of Phahameng Location and took blood samples for DNA testing to find who was responsible for the killings. The samples were linked to DNA tests done on the bodies of seven children and one adult found. Three children are still missing.
“We are absolutely confident that we have arrested the right person this time,” said Sengani.He said they had relied heavily on the forensic investigations.Police had earlier arrested another man for the deaths. He was arrested in Vuwani on January 19 but had to be released two months later after the state could not link him to the crimesA reward of R250000 was offered for information .These are the victims:
Matshidiso Greycia Makhubela, 3, went missing on September 12 2006. Her body was found a day later. She had been raped.
Rosina Malete, 8, went missing with her brother, Petrus, 11, on March 28 2006. Their decomposed bodies were found on April 5.
Kedibone Princess Shiburi, 19, went missing on July 14 2006. Her body was found 11 days later. Ramaesela Salome Kwinana, 46, went missing on October 8 2006. Her body was found a week later. Johanna Rebecca Baloyi, 8, went missing on April 27 last year and her body was found the following day.
Refilwe Ringani, 8, went missing on June 12 last year and her body was found on July 8. Mokgadi Maria Mafora, 5, went missing on April 5 this year. Her body was found two days later.Nono Johanna Lefawane, 8, went missing on January 10 2005. She has not been found. Joshua Moyati Chauke, 10, went missing on December 28 2005. He has not been found. Johanna Ramokoni Motshabi, 4, went missing on January 11 2006 and has not been found.

Foreign workers who work airside at UK airports do not have to undergo full mandatory criminal records checks

"Anybody who is able to work in a restricted zone is screened in exactly the same thorough way as any member of the public," he added. Foreign workers who work airside at UK airports do not have to undergo full mandatory criminal records checks, the BBC's Newsnight has discovered. Since 2003, staff have been checked against UK criminal records, but offences abroad are not covered. Aviation Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has defended vetting procedures for staff. After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, governments across the world pledged to make airports more secure. In the UK, the government introduced mandatory criminal records checks for all staff working airside.To not do anything about it because it's inconvenient, it's a disgrace But Newsnight has discovered a serious loophole in the legislation. Foreign workers are being employed without undergoing any criminal records checks. The government says it would simply take too long and be too complex to check criminal records from abroad.

Jose Francisco Cardoza Quinteros: an unrepentant, violent former gang leader responsible for attacks and killings in his home country,

Jose Francisco Cardoza Quinteros: an unrepentant, violent former gang leader responsible for attacks and killings in his home country, or a devout Christian trying to turn his life around in British Columbia.
Lawyers for the federal government and Cardoza Quinteros offered competing images in court Friday of a man who claims he fled to Canada to escape his former gang, which he says is out to kill him.A Federal Court judge ultimately agreed Cardoza Quinteros poses a danger to the public and on Friday stayed an earlier immigration board decision to release him.Justice Yvon Pinard ordered him to remain in custody until a judicial review of the original decision, or until his next chance to argue to remain in Canada - known as a pre-removal risk assessment - is finished.Cardoza Quinteros has already been ordered deported because of his gang ties, but he's fighting to stay.The opposing portraits of Cardoza Quinteros offered Friday are mostly due to his own accounts of his life in El Salvador, accounts that varied wildly during a lengthy interview with border officers in Surrey, B.C., when he tried to enter Canada last September.He initially denied he was a member of a gang, but eventually admitted once belonging to the Mara Salvatrucha, a violent organization with thousands of members throughout Central America.Cardoza Quinteros said he was the gang's treasurer, then offered an evolving picture of his involvement in the gang. He first said he only took part in beatings, then gradually changed his story to include four killings and fierce grenade attacks on rival groups.Caroline Christiaens, a lawyer for the federal Immigration Department, offered a suggestion about which version to believe.She said Cardoza Quinteros, a member of Mara Salvatrucha from 1999 until 2004, became adept at using violence to control gang members and eventually left only because he feared for his life, not because he had any desire to change his ways."He wanted to join that gang, he joined voluntarily, and he knew the nature of the gang at the time," said Christiaens.
"He's been involved in crime and violence since the '90s. . . . He's never said that he's remorseful, he's never said what he did was wrong."Cardoza Quinteros later recanted much of what he told border officials, and an immigration board member ruled earlier this week that she doubted he had ever killed anyone.Instead, in ordering him released, board member Daphne Shaw Dyck said Cardoza Quinteros may have exaggerated his past in the erroneous belief that it would help his case.But Christiaens said the discrepancies instead suggest Cardoza Quinteros was lying to minimize and hide his past.Christiaens said Cardoza Quinteros is dangerous and argued Shaw Dyck was wrong in concluding the Salvadoran man did not pose a significant risk to the public.She said his history of violence isn't limited to his gang involvement, and said that risk increases as his deportation draws closer.
"It certainly increases the potential for conflict," she said. "He's under a lot of pressure. He's used to being in a position to control his surroundings through violence."But Cardoza Quinteros's lawyer, Shepherd Moss, noted that his client was released soon after arriving in Canada last September and had lived peacefully in Surrey until he was ordered into custody on April 21 to face another detention hearing.He was living with a supportive family and following all of the conditions imposed on him, had overcome the alcoholism that fuelled his violence in El Salvador, and had found support among church members in Surrey, Moss said.
Moss said his client has demonstrated he can live free in the community while his case works its way through the system, proving his release last September was the correct decision.
"Allowing Mr. Cardoza Quinteros to continue on this path of rehabilitation and better himself is in the public interest," said Moss, who rejected the claim that his client would become violent if faced with confrontation.
"His dedication to the Christian faith will allow him to turn the other cheek. There's no evidence of such lashing out. There's no evidence of random violence, there's no evidence of fights when he's alone on the street and sober."
The judge hearing the case said Cardoza Quinteros's past indeed make him more likely to become violent.
"I do not find that the danger to the public, if a stay is not granted, is purely speculative," Pinard wrote in his decision. "The danger is real and, for the purpose of this motion, it constitutes irreparable harm."
Even though his refugee claim has failed and he has been ordered deported, Cardoza Quinteros is still pursuing other options to remain in Canada.
He has applied for a pre-removal risk assessment to argue he would be put in danger if returned to El Salvador - a process already underway that could be finished soon.
If that fails, Moss told court Friday that he would then apply for a judicial review of the case.

Gary Michael Hilton was indicted in February on charges of murder, kidnapping and two counts of grand theft

Gary Michael Hilton, 61, was indicted in February on charges of murder, kidnapping and two counts of grand theft in the death of Cheryl Dunlap, whose body was discovered December 16 in the Apalachicola National Forest southeast of Tallahassee, Florida.The theft charges involve Dunlap's car and ATM card, prosecutors have said.
Hilton has 30 days to appeal Friday's ruling from Butts County Superior Court Chief Judge Thomas Wilson. William Meggs, of the Florida State Attorney's office, said he is confident Hilton will be extradited to stand trial.Florida prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against Hilton.Hilton pleaded guilty January 31 to killing Meredith Emerson, 24, after he met her hiking in the North Georgia mountains. Authorities believe Hilton killed Emerson on January 4, three days after she disappeared while on a hike with her dog.Hilton directed authorities to Emerson's body on January 7. An autopsy found she died from blunt-force trauma to the head and was decapitated after she died.Florida investigators have said they know Hilton was near the area at the time Dunlap disappeared, December 1, because he encountered a forestry agent who wrote down Hilton's vehicle's tag number and ran it through a police database. No warrants for Hilton's arrest or other criminal alerts were found.
Police released surveillance camera photos of a man they said was using Dunlap's ATM card to obtain cash on December 2, 3 and 4. Authorities have not released information on how Dunlap died or the condition of her body when it was found.
North Carolina authorities have named Hilton a suspect in the deaths of John Bryant, 80, and his wife, Irene, 84, who disappeared October 21 while hiking in Pisgah National Forest. Irene Bryant's body was found near the couple's car November 9, and a hunter discovered John Bryant's remains

Canada an "international embarrassment," 146 Canadians have been charged overseas for sexually abusing children

At least 146 Canadians have been charged overseas for sexually abusing children, Benjamin Perrin, of the University of British Columbia, has found.And many more Canadians have likely bribed their way out of being charged in jurisdictions such as Thailand and Cambodia where children are easy prey for foreign pedophiles, he said.
The data on Canadians charged abroad between 1993 and 1997 was released to Perrin through a Freedom of Information request."To date, the Canadian policy has been to not aggressively, or even actively, enforce our own child-sex tourism law and that needs to change," Perrin said Tuesday.
"It's one of the most underenforced provisions of the Criminal Code," he said. "It was brought in to confront a serious transnational crime and this is very concerning."Canada's child-sex tourism law was enacted in 1997 and bolstered five years later to no longer require the foreign country where allegations of sexual abuse took place to consent to the charges.Donald Bakker is the only person in Canada to be convicted under the law after he pleaded guilty in 2005.
He received a 10-year sentence for 10 sexual assaults on girls between ages seven and 12 in Svay Pak, Cambodia, where he videotaped his horrific exploits.
But the investigation of Bakker began only after he was arrested in Vancouver for unrelated offences and police found video evidence of him abusing children.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Rick Greenwood, of the RCMP's National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre in Ottawa, said police forces around the world are overwhelmed with the number of child-sex cases in developing countries that include Costa Rica and India.
"Internationally, we've got to be set up better," Greenwood said of the Mounties' ability to share intelligence and properly train investigators."We are looking at that quite seriously.""What we're trying to do now is respond for the future so we're better aligned with our international partners," he said, referring to agencies such as Interpol, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security in the United States.According to the U.S. branch of EPCAT - End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes - Canada is among 44 countries with extraterritorial legislation that allows for the prosecution of its own citizens for sexual crimes committed in other jurisdictions.
But Canada does not conduct its own investigations of child sex abuse overseas. The foreign government must provide Canada with enough evidence to support charges.
Perrin called Canada an "international embarrassment," saying officials often don't ask for any evidence from other jurisdictions.
He said compared to countries like Australia and the United States, Canadian prosecutors are failing to lay charges against suspects in child-sex crimes abroad.

The Justice Department refused comment on the lack of charges in Canada despite several requests from The Canadian Press.

The most recent case of child-sex tourism involves a Quebec aid worker and another man who face multiple charges involving the sexual abuse of children in a Haitian orphanage.

Denis Rochefort, 59, and Armand Huard, 64, will make their next court appearance on April 11 in Quebec City.

Perrin said the case came to light only after the Haitian government contacted the United Nations, which informed the RCMP.

Often, he said, Canadians who see foreign children as easy targets use their Canadian passports as "get-out-of-jail free cards" by moving from country to country to escape detection and that the real number of sexual abuse case will never be known.
Perrin said part of the problem is that the RCMP's liaison officer program doesn't have enough resources in sex-tourism hot spots like Southeast Asia to send a clear message that Canada has a law prohibiting its citizens from exploiting children in developing countries that aren't able to protect themselves from pedophiles.
"The local police and judiciaries are often infant democracies and they are undermined when corruption from western tourists and businessmen allows them to escape charges."
The Justice Department's information on the number of Canadians charged in other countries with child-sex crimes does not include their identities, where in Canada they're from, where they committed their alleged offences or if they eluded other charges by paying officials.
"The very significant concern is that in countries where corruption is rampant - and in many developing countries that is unfortunately the case - Canadians are able to buy their way out of even being charged," Perrin said.
While the identities of suspected sex tourists who molest children overseas are rarely known, the case of Maple Ridge, B.C., resident Christopher Neil has made international headlines.
Neil, 32, was arrested in Thailand last October for allegedly abusing a nine-year-old boy after a worldwide manhunt when Interpol unscrambled his swirled digital images from the Internet.
As Neil awaits his next court date in Bangkok in June, another Canadian, 54-year-old Orville Mader of Abbotsford, B.C., is wanted on a warrant in Thailand for allegedly abusing at least three boys.
But while Neil sits in a Thai jail, Mader slipped back into Canada last year and was arrested at Vancouver International Airport.
He has been charged in Thailand, but the Thais have not formally asked Canada to return Mader and Canada has not charged him here.
Simon Buck, a Vancouver criminal lawyer and member of Beyond Borders, said the non-government group will seek intervener status in the case of Kenneth Klassen, the second Canadian to face child-sex tourism charges for allegedly exploiting girls as young as nine in various jurisdictions including Cambodia.
Klassen, 57, of Burnaby, B.C., is scheduled to go on trial in July.
Buck said prosecutors in every province need to approve more charges against alleged child molesters who conduct their business outside Canada's borders.
"It's probably the resources of the Crown in combination with the perception that they're difficult cases to prove and whether that's the correct perception I don't know because it hasn't been tested (at a trial)," he said.

Timothy Cunningham charged at Cork District Court with having more than £3.5 million in cash and cheques

Timothy Cunningham, 59, was charged at Cork District Court with having more than £3.5 million in cash and cheques from the audacious heist in Belfast, in December 2004.
The moneylender, known as Ted, from Farran, in Co Cork, was charged with trying to launder the money by disposing of it through friends and business associates.
The charges follow a massive cross-border police investigation lasting more than three years, which involved anti- terrorist units, fraud squads and the republic's dedicated Criminal Assets Bureau.Cunningham was accused of having £3.5 million in cash, 200,000 (£155,000) in cheques and three cars, all related to the bank robbery.
He was first arrested in February 2005 and questioned for two days after Irish detectives running Operation Phoenix raided his home and seized sackloads of cash.
A series of other searches in counties across Ireland recovered thousands more in cash as well as cheques allegedly linked to the businessman.Cunningham was arrested at his home yesterday and taken to a police station in Cork before his court appearance.The court heard he had made no reply when the charges were put to him.
One charge alleges he gave a cheque for 56,000 (£43,000) from the heist to his son, Timothy Junior.

Never Get Busted Again, Never Get Raided teaches viewers how to buy, sell and grow pot without going to jail.

Barry Cooper a fast-talking former narcotics cop, is best known for changing sides in the war on drugs in December 2006, when he released Never Get Busted Again. In the DVD, he offered marijuana users advice on how to avoid arrest during traffic stops.Police greeted the movie with sarcasm, but no real concern.
Now Cooper has begun shipping a new title, Never Get Raided, which teaches viewers how to buy, sell and grow pot without going to jail. He also gives tips for identifying undercover officers."Now that's getting a little close to home," said Richard Dickson, who served with Cooper on the West Texas Permian Basin Drug Task Force in the 1990s. "That kind of information affects all kinds of undercover agents. It puts all kinds of operations at risk, even on homeland security issues."
Cooper, who has filed as a Libertarian candidate in the 31st Congressional District in Central Texas, seems to have a talent for flaming the fuzz. Even so, his former colleagues concede he was a star narcotics officer.In eight years, Cooper claims to have taken part in 800 drug busts, 300 of them felonies, and seized more than $500,000 in cash. Photos tell some of the story.In one, with a buzz cut and overgrown mustache, he kneels next to a head-high heap of weed. The photo is marked, "230lbs." In another, a young Cooper stands thumbs-up by PVC pipes stuffed with marijuana and a thick stack of $100 bills. A sign reads: Permian Basin Drug Task Force."He was very good, no doubt," said Dickson, who now works as an investigator for the district attorney's office in Yoakum County, about 50 miles southwest of Lubbock. "Barry always liked to have his picture made with all the dope, even if somebody else knocked down a load. I remember him commenting one time, 'Twenty years from now I'll tell my grandkids I got all this.'"Cooper's former boss, Tom Finley, once called his protege the best drug interdiction officer in Texas, and perhaps the nation. Now a private investigator in Midland, he is more circumspect."He was one of the best we had, but we didn't have but two or three," Finley said last week. "Evidently things have changed a lot since then. He's just trying to make some more money."Cooper turned in his badge and grew his hair long about 10 years ago, after souring on U.S. drug laws and being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Agency for smuggling drugs out of Mexico.
He said he confronted DEA agents about the case."Let me tell you the drugs I smuggled from Mexico," he recalled telling an investigator. "The same drugs everybody smuggles from Mexico - the same ones your informant and my ex-wife smuggled from Mexico - they're called Valiums, and those little green pills that make you speed. Everyone grabs a box of those."
He was never charged with a drug crime. But over the years he has been arrested for allegedly making terroristic threats after a yelling match with a woman in a bar in Big Sandy, Texas. He pleaded guilty to making a verbal threat in that misdemeanor case. He filed for but did not complete Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 1995."The last three months of my law enforcement career, I had started smoking pot," he said recently, sitting at his kitchen table in Big Sandy, a small town east of Tyler. "And I noticed the people I had been arresting were nice people. They had a balanced checkbook, their kids made straight A's, and I was like, 'This drug is not making people crazy.'"He advocates the legalization of all drugs. If the laws changed, he said, addicts would receive better treatment, drug-fueled crime would plummet and illegal drug empires would collapse.It is similar to an argument advanced by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an organization of 10,000 members including former judges, prosecutors, federal agents and police officers that opposes the war on drugs."We don't agree philosophically at all on these issues," said Jack Cole, executive director and a 14-year undercover officer for the New Jersey State Police. "He thinks he should be able to school people on how to break the law; we believe in changing the law."Drug laws will be broken, whether or not the law is changed, Cooper said. He's simply trying to help people avoid jail time for non-violent crime:"Americans are not going to stop growing it, they're not going to stop buying it, they're not going to stop smoking it, even if you continue to put them in jail."He said the discovery of seven fields and more than 25,000 plants near Dallas last summer illustrates his point.
Dallas Police Department Deputy Chief Julian Bernal doesn't dispute the public's appetite for marijuana, but he condemned Cooper's tactics."I think it's unconscionable for an ex-law enforcement officer to give tips to criminals. I don't think there's any question he's putting officers in danger, and he bears full responsibility for that."

Roger Reese Kibbe state prisoner suspected of being the "I-5 Strangler" could face the death penalty if he's convicted of six murders committed more t

Roger Reese Kibbe, 68, was arraigned Friday in San Joaquin County on charges he murdered five women in 1986 and a Walnut Creek woman in 1977.He is currently serving a life term at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga (Fresno County) for strangling a 17-year-old West Sacramento prostitute and leaving her naked body in the mountains south of Lake Tahoe in 1987.Investigators have long said they suspected Kibbe in the other slayings.El Dorado County prosecutors presented some of that evidence at his 1991 trial for Darcie Frackenpohl's murder. The runaway from Seattle was killed after she disappeared from a West Sacramento street frequented by prostitutes.At the time, the state Department of Justice said fibers from nylon rope used by skydivers was among the microscopic evidence linking Kibbe to three of the other slayings. Witnesses alleged Kibbe, who was a skydiver, had a murder kit including handcuffs and scissors.But prosecutors previously said the multiple jurisdictions where the crimes occurred and complications in state law made it difficult to press other charges. California law has since been changed to let one county prosecute crimes from several jurisdictions.Only one of the victims' bodies was dumped in San Joaquin County, but investigators from Sacramento, Napa, Contra Costa and Amador counties all testified before the San Joaquin grand jury that indicted Kibbe on Feb. 25.He faces six counts of murder with special circumstances including rape, kidnapping and multiple murders that make him eligible for the death penalty.According to the indictment and media accounts, Kibbe is charged with the murder of Lou Ellen Burleigh of Walnut Creek in 1977 and five other slayings in 1986:
Stephanie Brown, 19, of Sacramento was sexually assaulted and strangled, her body dumped in a ditch. A crumpled map was found near her car parked along I-5.
Charmaine Sabrah, 26, a mother of three from Sacramento, disappeared after her car broke down along I-5 and she drove off with a strange man who offered to help. Her strangled body was found three months later.
Heedrick, 21, of Modesto, was last seen getting into a car. Her body was found along I-5 five months later.
The other two victims are Katherine Kelly Quinones, 25, and Barbara Ann Scott, 29.
Kibbe is being held without bail for a court appearance Monday.

Police have seized 255 kilograms (560 pounds) of heroin Iranian driver has been detained

Turkish authorities say police have seized 255 kilograms (560 pounds) of heroin hidden in a truck at the Iranian border.Police found the heroin with the help of sniffer dogs during a search after the truck crossed into Turkey from the Gurbulak border point on Sunday.The truck's Iranian driver has been detained.Turkey is a major transit point for drugs from the Middle East and Central Asia on their way to European markets.

"In my heart I knew that she was murdered." launched a murder investigation after the partially naked body of a British teenager was found .

Popular Indian resort state of Goa have launched a murder investigation after the partially naked body of a British teenager was found last month on a beach.The announcement came after doctors conducted a fresh autopsy and concluded 15-year-old Scarlette Keeling was murdered, and did not drown as local police had initially insisted. "We are investigating it as a murder case," senior Goa state police official Kishan Kumar said, after a panel of three doctors conducted a six-hour examination of the body. "There will be detentions now," he said, without providing details, though sources say the owner of a cafe on popular Anjuna beach where Ms Keeling was last seen alive is likely to be questioned. But Mr Kumar denied allegations by Fiona MacKeown, Ms Keeling's mother, that police had initially tried to hush up the murder. "Police never failed in their duty. They were right on the track," said Mr Kumar. Ms MacKeown pointed to the large numbers of bruises on her daughter's body to bolster her call for a second examination after an earlier autopsy concluded the girl drowned in the choppy Arabian Sea. The first autopsy found only five bruises on Ms Keeling's body, but yesterday's examination discovered as many as 50, with at least half of them believed to have been inflicted before she died. Ms MacKeown's lawyer also said the family suspects Ms Keeling may have been sexually assaulted. "When a 15-year-old girl is found with her panties and shorts pulled down by the sea and covered with bruises... there is a possibility of sex assault," Vikram Varma said. The autopsy panel did not confirm rape but said that some of the injuries indicated sexual assault, a Times of India report said overnight.Ms MacKeown welcomed the autopsy findings.
"We have been saying this since day one," she said.
"In my heart I knew that she was murdered."
Mr Varma also alleged police in Anjuna beach hid vital information about the circumstances in which Ms Keeling's body was found.
Local politicians have also queried the police, noting that an officer who initially investigated the case had been suspended for covering up a murder four years ago.
Ms MacKeown, from Devon in southwest England, brought her oldest daughter and five younger siblings to Goa for a six-month stay in November. Ms Keeling's body was found lying on the beach with her clothes partially removed on February 18 while the rest of her family was travelling in the neighbouring state of Karnataka.
Ms MacKeown had wanted her daughter to accompany the rest of the family on the trip, according to Mr Varma, but the two squabbled and Mr Keeling was allowed to remain in Goa. The month before Ms Keeling's death, the Federal Government asked authorities in popular tourist destinations like Goa to review security measures after a spate of highly publicised sexual attacks on foreigners. Goa receives about 400,000 foreign tourists each year.

Murder-suicide in Sydney industrial premises at Robertson Place, Jamisontown

An attempted murder-suicide in Sydney's west has left one man dead and another fighting for his life with a slashed throat, police say.Police called to industrial premises at Robertson Place, Jamisontown, at about 1.30pm (AEDT) Sunday found the body of a man believed to be in his 50s.A second man in his 30s, who police believe was attacked by the older man, was taken to Nepean Hospital for treatment of a slash wound to his throat.Police are investigating the matter as an attempted murder-suicide, and specialist forensic officers are examining the scene for clues.A post-mortem examination would be carried out within days to determine the deceased man's cause of death, they said.

William Donald Collins,arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine

William Donald Collins, 24, of Summersville, was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute (a class B felony) after deputies conducted a massive manhunt in the woods at the end of County Road 7400, south of Newburg.Phelps County deputies arrested a Summersville man Thursday morning after he ran into the woods with three other suspects who fled from a deputy who attempted to stop their car for a traffic violation in connection with a missing license plate.According to a spokesperson for the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, Collins was a passenger in a white, two-door, 1990’s model Chevrolet. A pursuit ensued when the car sped away, traveling south on State Highway T at 9:30 a.m.The deputy saw the occupants of the car throwing items out of the window.As the car turned off the highway and east onto County Road 7400, one passenger jumped out and ran into the woodsThree other passengers remained in the car and tried to outdrive the deputy, but the road came to a dead-end. The driver of the car tried to continue on an old fire trail, but the car became mired in mud.The remaining three suspects jumped out of the car and ran into the woods.The pursuit lasted 15 minutes.A massive manhunt followed the pursuit with up to 12 Phelps County deputies scouring the woods for the fugitives.In approximately one hour, deputies caught and arrested Collins as he walked through the woods.Of the remaining three suspects, two have been identified but not found. Warrants are being sought on Gregory Scott Bates, 40, of Alton, Mo. and Joshua Harris, 26, of West Plains.One suspect remains unidentified.The items tossed out the window included a plastic bag containing methamphetamine.Collins was released Friday to the Missouri Department of Corrections for a parole violation, pending Phelps County charges.The Phelps County Sheriff’s Department is asking for help in locating the three fugitives.

Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton recovered $55 million worth of cocaine

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton recovered $55 million worth of cocaine from the Eastern Pacific Ocean Feb. 29. An MH-65C helicopter crew from the Coast Guard's Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) in Jacksonville, Fla., underway with the Hamilton, spotted the bales while flying a patrol of the area.
The helicopter was on its first search pattern when one of the crew members saw six bales clumped together. The crew marked the position of the bales and vectored the boat in for recovery. The source of the cocaine was not found, but an estimated 1800 kilograms (nearly two tons) was recovered. The Coast Guard, along with the Navy, has been searching the Pacific waters of Central America for illegal activity, and it is believed the crew of a smuggling vessel fearing capture may have dumped the drugs.
This is the first time a Coast Guard vessel has used the MH-65C helicopter for drug interdiction operations during a patrol of Pacific Central American waters. The MH-65C is similar to the HH-65 helicopter that is most well known for its role in search and rescue missions. However, the MH-65C has been modified for use in counter narcotics operations and HITRON crews flying the helicopter are armed with a high-powered .50 caliber rifle used for disabling the engines of smuggling vessels.
The crew of the Hamilton began their patrol after leaving San Diego Jan. 29.
The Hamilton is a 378-foot high endurance cutter homported in San Diego.

Anthony Pellicano and Hollywood's rich and famous

Private investigator Anthony Pellicano was the architect of a corrupt, criminal enterprise that spied on Hollywood's rich and famous and was fueled by greed, a federal prosecutor said Thursday during opening statements in the wiretapping trial.
"This is a case about corruption," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Lally said while laying out the government's case against Pellicano and four co-defendants.
Clients "would pay a premium fee to discredit, and in some cases destroy, their adversaries," he said.Pellicano, 63, is accused of running a criminal enterprise that wiretapped phones and bribed police and telephone workers.Pellicano is acting as his own attorney and indicated he would give an opening statement.
Pellicano wore a prison-issued green jacket, gray shirt and green pants. As Lally spoke, the balding private eye watched through glasses with his head rested on his hand.He could provide some fireworks for the eight-man, four-woman jury when he cross-examines some of his former clients and employees who are expected to testify.
Federal prosecutors have released a list of 127 potential witnesses in the case that included Sylvester Stallone, Chris Rock and Garry Shandling. It was not clear, however, how many people would actually testify.The trial is expected to last about 10 weeks.One of the first witnesses will be retired baseball player Matt Williams, who had a bitter divorce battle in 2002 with his second wife, actress Michelle Johnson.Prosecutors said in a court filing they have an audio recording of Williams and Pellicano but didn't elaborate on its content.Prosecutors estimate Pellicano, retired Los Angeles police Sgt. Mark Arneson and former telephone company employee Rayford Earl Turner collected nearly $2 million from what they say was a racketeering scheme."At the end of the day I hope the jurors understand one thing - that I'm not a criminal enterprise," Pellicano told The Associated Press in an interview last month from federal prison. "If they understand that I'm ecstatic."
Pellicano and his co-defendants, including Kevin Kachikian and Abner Nicherie, have pleaded not guilty.Fourteen people have been charged, and seven already pleaded guilty to a variety of charges including perjury and conspiracy. Six of those seven, including film director John McTiernan and former Hollywood Records president Robert Pfeifer, were expected to be called as witnesses.Other prominent Hollywood players on the potential witness list include one- time Walt Disney Co. (DIS) president and agent Michael Ovitz; Brad Grey, chairman and chief executive officer of Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (VIA); and Ron Meyer, president and chief executive officer of Universal Studios, a unit of NBC studios, which is a unit of General Electric Co. (GE).Stallone and Shandling were alleged victims in the case.Federal authorities previously questioned Ovitz, Grey and Meyer about their connections to Pellicano. Representatives of Rock retained Pellicano in a paternity battle, according to court documents.

Emperors Club VIP.seven-diamond woman arrested

Four organizers and managers of an international ring were arrested after they ranked prostitutes on a Web site with one to seven diamonds -- charging wealthy clients $2,000 extra for a seven-diamond woman, prosecutors said Thursday.U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia announced that charges were unsealed in Manhattan accusing the four of participating in a prostitution ring that called itself Emperors Club VIP.Authorities said the defendants arranged connections between wealthy men and more than 50 prostitutes in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris. Clients paid between $1,000 and $5,500 per hour for services.The defendants were charged with conspiracy to violate federal prostitution laws. Two of those charged were also accused of conspiring to launder more than $1 million in illicit proceeds from the prostitution crimes.All four were arrested Thursday morning and were expected to make an initial court appearance later in the day. Welcome to the only social introduction service providing exclusive, beautiful,
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Robert Matthew Bentley conspiracy to commit computer fraud and computer fraud

Pensacola, Florida - Gregory R. Miller, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced today the guilty pleas of Robert Matthew Bentley, 21, Panama City, Florida, to conspiracy to commit computer fraud and computer fraud.
Bentley was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pensacola, Florida in November 2007. The case originated in December 2006 when the London Metropolitan Police (“The Met”) Computer Crime Unit requested assistance from the United States Secret Service after European representatives of the United States-based “Newell Rubbermaid” Corporation and at least one other European-based company contacted The Met to report a computer intrusion against the companies’ European networks.
The indictment resulted from a multi-year criminal investigation by the United States Secret Service, primarily involving the London (England) Resident Office, the Paris (France) Field Office, the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Field Office, the Seattle (Washington) Field Office, the Jacksonville (Florida) Field Office, the Tallahassee (Florida) Resident Office, the Panama City (Florida) Field Office, the Santa Ana (California) Resident Office, the Los Angeles (California) Field Office, the Wilmington (Delaware) Field Office, and the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).
Secret Service worked the investigation together with the Finland National Bureau of Investigation, the London Metropolitan Police, the Westminster (California) Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Field Office.
Bentley agreed to a detailed factual summary filed at the time of his guilty plea outlining his role in the computer intrusions. Bentley and other unnamed co-conspirators infected hundreds of computers in Europe with “adware” that cost tens of thousands of dollars to detect and neutralize.
Bentley and others received payment through a Western European-based operation called “Dollar Revenue” for unauthorized intrusions and placement of the adware. Bentley used computers in the Northern District of Florida to accomplish the intrusions and to receive payment.United States Attorney Miller observed, “The identification, indictment, and conviction of Bentley constitutes a significant success in a complex international investigation, and resulted from the outstanding cooperation of the many participating law enforcement agencies. The use of “botnets” – a series of computers covertly controlled by Bentley and his co-conspirators to accomplish the intrusion of victim computer systems – is a major focus of computer-related criminal investigations worldwide.
Botnets are responsible for much of the malicious activity conducted on the Internet. “Botherders” or “Botmasters” operate within a group of computer hackers on a global scale, making this computer crime one of the most pervasive forms of organized criminal activity plaguing law enforcers in this country and abroad.”
Bentley is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Richard Smoak on May 28, 2008. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release for each charge. He must pay a special monetary assessment of $100 for each charge.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas P. (Tom) Swaim of the Pensacola Division.

Kenneth Harman charged with murdering Michael Castle

Kenneth Harman, of Cannon Bridge, Tonbridge, Kent, will appear at Sevenoaks Magistrates Court charged with murdering Michael Castle.
A 54-year-old man is appearing in court charged with the murder of a man found stabbed to death on his houseboat.
The 61-year-old's body was discovered inside his boat, called Impulse, on the River Medway near Cannon Bridge at Tonbridge, last Friday. A post-mortem examination revealed he died from stab wounds.

Morgan Michelle Hoke The ponytail bandit arrested in Bangkok

Hoke, 21, and her 26-year-old husband, Stuart Michael Romine, are accused of robbing banks in Texas, including one in Austin, and possibly in California and Washington. The couple arrived in Bangkok on Jan. 20, according to arrest warrants.Bank robbery suspect Morgan Michelle Hoke, accused of being the woman dubbed the "ponytail bandit," could have reinvented herself here. In downtown Bangkok, street vendors offer forged American driver's licenses for about $35. Medical clinics provide plastic surgery for a fraction of U.S. prices. Hotel owners often look the other way if guests give false names. The combination of lax law enforcement, easy hospitality and thousands of backwater towns has attracted a wide roster of fugitives to Thailand and other nations in Southeast Asia. Hoke was detained Feb. 13 at a hotel popular with budget travelers and was extradited to the U.S. the next day. Romine flew from Thailand to India on Feb. 10 and is still being sought, Thai police said. The day Hoke was detained, Thai police also arrested Earl Bonds, a 42-year-old American wanted in St. Louis on child molestation charges. He was turned over to U.S. officials Thursday for extradition. The two are part of a long and growing list of American fugitives caught in Thailand. One of the most prominent recent extraditions was of James Vincent Sullivan, a multimillionaire who once lived in Palm Beach, Fla., and in 2006 was sentenced to life in prison for arranging his wife's murder in Atlanta. In another high-profile case, Saner Wonggoun, then 59, a Thai-born American citizen, was extradited to the U.S. in 2006 on charges of murdering his wife in California. He had been living in Thailand for 12 years when police found him working in a market. Although Thai immigration police do not release statistics on how many foreign fugitives have been caught in Thailand, the nation of 65 million people extradites many foreigners each year, said Suppachai Paladech, an inspector with the department.
"If you type 'fugitive' and 'Thailand' into Google, you get a lot of news," he said. "Some people think they can escape here." (The Google search produces about 171,000 hits.) Fugitives are attracted to Southeast Asia partly because of lax enforcement of immigration laws, experts said. Americans like Hoke can blend in easily in Thailand, where more than 7,000 U.S. expatriates legally reside and work. And last year, more than 700,000 American tourists visited Thailand. Thousands of foreigners living in Thailand make frequent "visa runs," trips to neighboring countries to renew monthlong tourist visas, and many are able to work without legal documentation. Because Thailand gets millions of foreign tourists each year, "it's easy for someone to hide themselves in some of the tourist places," Suppachai said.
The problem is clear in the Khao San district of Bangkok, where Hoke was detained last week. Residents and tourists said many hotels do not ask guests to register with their passport numbers, as required by Thai law. An open trade in fake documents also makes Thailand attractive to fugitives. Vendors sell fake identification cards and driver licenses, and Web sites offer second passports. One Web site advertising to people "who are seriously considering moving to Thailand ... perhaps for the rest of their lives" included a link to buy a passport from the African nation of Burkina Faso.
Thailand's borders with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar — nations, experts said, that are less likely than Thailand to extradite criminals — also are poorly patrolled, said Punthip Kanchanachittra Saisoonthorn, a law professor at Bangkok's Thammasat University. The Thai government has taken steps to catch fugitives. After the deportation of American John Mark Karr, who falsely confessed in 2006 to murdering JonBenet Ramsey, the Colorado girl whose death made headlines in 1996, Thailand's immigration department limited the number of times foreigners could renew tourist visas, though locals say corrupt officials sometimes break the rules.
Karr, who was arrested in California in 2001 and charged with possession of child pornography, had lived in Thailand on and off for nearly two years and taught English to elementary school students in Bangkok.
Karr "was sort of a tripwire" for the Thai government to improve surveillance of foreigners, said Michael Turner, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok.
"Since then, it's become a little more difficult" for Americans to stay illegally, Turner said.
Thai immigration police used information Hoke had listed on customs forms to find her within hours of receiving her name and photograph from the FBI.
But some Thais complained that their government had not done enough to keep criminals out of Thailand. Putich Santichaivoravei, a 23-year-old engineering student in Bangkok, said he was surprised that Hoke and her husband remained in Thailand for nearly a month after a source had contacted California police to say Hoke was the "ponytail bandit." "It's not good that felons can come to Thailand," Putich said as he relaxed in a downtown park. "We don't know who is a criminal and how to protect ourselves from them."

Guyana's most-wanted man - alleged gang leader Rondell Rawlins - is responsible for the January killings in Lusignan.

Gunmen dressed in military uniforms and took weapons from a police station in Bartica, 80 miles (130km) south-west of the capital Georgetown. The attack is the second blamed on gangs in recent weeks. On 26 January, 11 people - including five children - were killed when gunmen attacked the village of Lusignan. At least six gunmen arrived in Bartica late on Sunday by a speedboat on the Essequibo River and attacked the town's police station, regional official Hilbert Knights said.
Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy said nine of the civilians killed included five people who were sleeping in hammocks alongside the river, outside Bartica's police station. The town of 15,000 people is a supply centre for miners prospecting for gold and diamonds in the country's interior. Police believe that Guyana's most-wanted man - alleged gang leader Rondell Rawlins - is responsible for the January killings in Lusignan. He has accused the authorities of kidnapping his 18-year-old pregnant girlfriend and has promised to carry out further attacks.
Authorities have offered a reward of $150,000 for the capture of Mr Rawlins, who is also wanted over the murder of a government minister in 2006.