grandpa gangsters - Herald Scotland | Comment | Tom Shields

Tom Shields on ... grandpa gangsters - Herald Scotland | Comment | Tom Shields: "Snowy-haired Glasgow businessmen who had planned to spend their declining years getting a bit of sun over in the Costa del Crime are still on the mean streets dealing drugs, collecting protection money and doing a bit of extortion to keep the wolf from the door.
It can’t be easy to pistol-whip a victim into submission when the arthritis is acting up.
The perfect bank heist becomes more problematic when the lookout man has nodded off again.
The getaway driver can’t remember where he put the car keys and the gang have to use their bus passes to make good their escape.
Tayside polis recently lifted a 93-year-old for shoplifting. A 79-year-old faced 11 such charges. It is to be hoped sufficient care provision is in place to help aged thieves get their loot safely home. A shoplifting-on-wheels service.
There should be support for the frail and house- bound villain.
Maybe computer classes to enable them to get into new fields of endeavour such as identity theft, online shoplifting or sending letters to South Lanarkshire Council pretending to be Nigerian businessmen.
The legal system will need to be changed to cater for elderly accused. They will have the option of pleading guilty, not guilty or can’t remember."

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Leonardo DiCaprio on Delta Plane That Made Emergency JFK Landing - FoxNews.com

Leonardo DiCaprio on Delta Plane That Made Emergency JFK Landing - FoxNews.com: "'Titanic' actor Leonardo DiCaprio was a passenger aboard the Delta flight bound for Moscow that was forced to return to New York's JFK airport after engine failure, Us Weekly reported Monday.
DiCaprio 'wishes to commend the actions of the pilot and flight crew in bringing the plane to a safe landing,' his rep said in a statement."

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From ‘insurance fraud’ to ‘uranium smuggling’: Armenia getting bad international press lately - Analysis | ArmeniaNow.com

From ‘insurance fraud’ to ‘uranium smuggling’: Armenia getting bad international press lately - Analysis | ArmeniaNow.com: "The Guardian, one of Britain’s leading national dailies, ran a story on Monday about the botched attempt by two citizens of Armenian to smuggle a small amount of highly enriched uranium into Georgia – “the stuff that nuclear warheads are made of.” The Armenians are said to have intended to sell the HEU to a group posing as Islamists (in fact representatives of Georgian special services).

The incident happened in April, but its details were disclosed only on Sunday in a closed-door trial in Georgia.

Armenian National Security Service spokesman Artsvin Baghramyan said on Monday that the enriched uranium smuggling case was disclosed “in close cooperation between the special services of Armenia and Georgia”.

He said still in April a citizen of Armenia, Garik Dadayan, was arrested as part of the case and a criminal case was brought against him.

The two citizens of Armenia on trial in Georgia pleaded guilty to smuggling charges and face at least ten years in prison.

In general, the subject of ‘Armenian’ crime became active in international media after October 13 when dozens of members of a criminal syndicate were arrested and charged in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the United States over a large-scale government medical insurance fraud. The backbone of the group were immigrants “with substantial ties to Armenia” or Armenian citizens. They were charged with a multi-million fraud through stealing personal data of thousands of doctors and patients."

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Cross-border arrests may be legal grey area - Herald Scotland | News | Crime & Courts

Cross-border arrests may be legal grey area - Herald Scotland | News | Crime & Courts: "Scottish Police are risking “a legal grey area” when they detain suspects in other parts of Britain, an expert warned last night.
Recently retired Strathclyde superintendent George Barnsley believes last month’s landmark human rights judgment on the Cadder case has thrown up serious new hurdles to cross-border operations.
The veteran detective yesterday said the UK Supreme Court’s decision guaranteeing access to a lawyer to all those questioned in custody “raised a few more questions than it answered”.
So too, he said, did emergency and temporary legislation immediately passed by the Scottish Government to deal with the issues arising from the judgment, which was named after Glasgow teenager Peter Cadder, who brought the case.
The law now states that a detained suspect has the right to consult a lawyer. It also states that the amount of time he or she can be detained without charge is extended from six hours to 12 – and possibly 24 if this is approved by a senior officer. But it does not say how these new rules are to be obeyed for suspects in Scottish cases seized outside Scotland."

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Ironik stabbed in vicious gang attack - mirror.co.uk

Ironik stabbed in vicious gang attack - mirror.co.uk: "Chart star Ironik was stabbed in a vicious gang attack early yesterday.
The rapper, real name James Charters, whose hits include Tiny Dancer, was later recovering in hospital from a buttock wound.
It is believed the gang were after the 22-year-old's jewellery in the 4am attack in Highgate, North London."

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Tiger raiders missed €20m haul in horror ordeal for couple - City News, National News - Herald.ie

Tiger raiders missed €20m haul in horror ordeal for couple - City News, National News - Herald.ie: "NORTH Dublin crime gang are suspected of carrying out the €170,000 tiger kidnapping of a Brinks Allied director and his wife.
A group of experienced Coolock criminals are believed to have carried out the raid, threatening to kill terrified Shirley Hoyne during the incident.
Despite extensive planning the gang missed at least €20m in cash stored at the Brinks Allied depot in Clonshaugh.
Gardai investigating the robbery have singled out a Coolock outfit as the chief suspects. Members of the gang are known armed robbers, the Herald understands.
Shirley and Bill Hoyne, a senior executive at Brinks Allied, were subjected to a terrifying ordeal at their home in Monasterboice, Co Louth in the incident, which began on Friday evening.
Detectives monitored the handover of the cash, it is understood, but were powerless to do anything until Shirley Hoyne was safely released.
However, officers are confident of making arrests in the coming days."

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Masked gang attack billionaire mobile phone tycoon and his fiancee at home | Mail Online

Masked gang attack billionaire mobile phone tycoon and his fiancee at home | Mail Online: "One of Britain’s richest men was left bloodied and bruised after being attacked with a crowbar during a robbery at his £7.5million home.Mobile phone tycoon John ­Caudwell – who is worth £1.3billion – was bound and gagged by the masked intruders.After assaulting Mr Caudwell, the gang allegedly turned on his glamorous fiancee, former model Claire Johnson, during the raid at 50-bedroom Broughton Hall on Monday evening."

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objective is to keep them (students) safe

Educational officials in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas authorized schools in the Gulf port of Tampico to end classes early amid growing gangland violence in the city, the municipal education chief said Thursday.

“The objective is to keep them (students) safe,” Lorena Vazquez told reporters.

She said the early dismissal policy will apply to at least 40 elementary schools in Tampico, where a score of people have died in Tampico over the past two weeks in shootouts, chases and murders-for-hire related to organized crime.

An ongoing turf war between the Gulf drug cartel and former allies Los Zetas has left hundreds dead across Tamaulipas, which borders Texas.

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Sean Connery and Micheline Roquebrune’ fight in the Goldfinger case

Sean Connery and Micheline Roquebrune’ fight in the Goldfinger case, the Costa del Sol development deal of Casa Malibu, has taken an unlikely turn. Sean Connery is now ignoring summons to appear, claiming he is too old to travel. Yet, as the Telegraph reports, Sean Connery was not too old in June to fly to the Edinburgh Film Festival (and even dance for the cameras during a news briefing), and he was not too old to fly to New York in April.

The couple have been ordered to appear in a case dubbed the “Goldfinger” case. There are no beautiful ladies in this case, just beautiful real estate. And while the case has sparked international news coverage, the logic of the case remains baffling to U.S. fans. Connery, himself, is equally baffled why he is being bothered over real estate dealings for a former property.

Sean Connery and his wife bought Casa Malibu in 1975 after their wedding, 11 years after Goldfinger. Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Omar Shariff and George Best were among their guests at the famed home.

Then in 1999, the couple sold the property for £5.5 million. The developer tore down their house, and built 70 flats, eventually sold for £45 million. Investigators have since claimed there were
irregularities in the reclassification of the land by the buyer. Police raided the officer of Connery’s local attorney Diaz-Basten & Truan. Multiple local officials are under investigation. Connery now lives in the Bahamas and has an NYC apartment on the Upper East Side, reports the Telegraph.

A “court worker” issues the following news statement to the Daily Mirror that “Mr Connery has informed the court in writing he won’t be coming today. He has cited health reasons and his advanced age and said he has not been able to prepare the journey in time. The court is now considering its next move. The emission of an international arrest warrant is a possibility but a remote one. The most likely scenario is that the investigating magistrate will make a formal request through a rogatory commission to question Sir Sean at his home. The logistics of this will become clearer next week. It could be that a delegation goes to the Bahamas to quiz him. The other option would be that a team based locally is tasked to interview him.”

Connery’s wife has said of the matter “We have nothing to do with this. We sold the property and that is it.” Connery and his wife have not been charged with any crime. But prosecutors claim tax evasion and money-laundering operations were at play with their lawyers and local council of

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Crown Currency Exchange collapses

Crown Currency Exchange collapses
Running: The BBC track down Benstead

We hate to say "told you so" but we're not surprised Peter Benstead's currency trading has ended in tears.

Last year we revealed how his Dream Island TV Productions was charging a £29.75 upfront fee to audition reality TV wannabes and, although the fee was later dropped, we can find no evidence of the show actually being made.

We've also reported that a ludicrous 0% commission deal for Benstead's Travel Money ­Services to provide currency exchange for Manchester United fans was scrapped.

Now another of his firms, Crown Currency Exchange, has gone belly up owing a reported £20m to 13,000 victims. The firm's based in Cornwall but Benstead, 67, lives in a nice country pile near Bergerac, France.





There was always an accident waiting to happen in the unregulated currency trading market where there are no rules on ring-fencing cash owed to customers who pre-book foreign currency, often months in advance.

Crown Currency's most recent accounts, signed off by director Edward James barely a month ago, show the firm was £188,000 in the red last November.

He and James, 70, a Tory ­councillor and the former mayor of Glastonbury, need to explain how things went from bad to disastrous in just 10 months.

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Gang of seven violent British bank robbers arrested in Alicante

Gang of seven violent British bank robbers arrested in Alicante: "National Police have arrested seven members of a British gang of robbers who specialised in taking money from bank cash dispensing machines. They made their violent attacks on staff as they were refilling the machines, either attacking with large hammers from the street or inside. The thefts rarely lasted more than a minute in total.

The police first arrested two men who were caught ‘in fraganti’ when attacking a bank branch in Benissa, Alicante, and five more were arrested shortly afterwards at a petrol station at Torrente when they were trying to flee along the AP-7 motorway.

The Police say the group always chose banks where the dispenser was not built into the wall, and where it was placed in an entrance hall away from the main bank public customer room.

SOCA, the British serious organised crime agency has collaborated in the investigation, given that two of the accused already have European warrants issued against them after they had taken part in similar thefts in the U.K.

One of them, wanted for causing a fire which resulted in damage of more than a million pounds, escaped from a British police van which was assaulted on his way to court in Salford."

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Bulgarian-born Dimitrov threaten to cut off the ears ,Eurasian syndicates target car dealers, credit cards in Las Vegas

Eurasian syndicates target car dealers, credit cards in Las Vegas - News - ReviewJournal.com: "FBI agents knew from the moment they began investigating Dimitar Dimitrov that he was not a typical criminal.
In secretly recorded conversations, they overheard the Bulgarian-born Dimitrov threaten to cut off the ears of a former associate and use them as cigarette holders. He also suggested tying a witness to a tree, pouring gasoline over him and then standing nearby with cigarettes and a lighter.Agents believe Dimitrov, a 58-year-old felon, is one of the leaders of a Bulgarian crime ring that defrauded local car dealers out of $1.6 million through an elaborate credit scheme and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars more from ATMs with the help of stolen PINs.
This is the new organized crime in Las Vegas, where running numbers and hustling high-interest loans on the street take a back seat to the art of the high-tech scam"

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Death penalty ordered for killer of two in Harbor Gateway - latimes.com

Death penalty ordered for killer of two in Harbor Gateway - latimes.com: "Los Angeles jury ordered the death penalty Monday for a 22-year-old Latino gang member convicted in the hate-crime killing of a 14-year-old black girl and the stabbing death of a potential witness in the Harbor Gateway area.

Jonathan Fajardo, who was 18 at the time of the killings, nonchalantly looked around the courtroom as the verdict was read. The jury found that he should receive death for his first-degree murder convictions for the slayings of Cheryl Green and Christopher Ash.

Fajardo was eligible for the death penalty because the jury accepted special circumstance allegations including multiple murder, killing a witness, committing a hate crime based on race and committing the crime for a gang. Fajardo was a member of the 204th Street gang, which prosecutors said intimidated and attacked African Americans in Harbor Gateway."

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Gang member convicted of murdering DePaul student :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime

Gang member convicted of murdering DePaul student :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime: "22-year-old gang member was convicted Tuesday of murdering DePaul University student Francisco “Frankie” Valencia outside a Halloween party in Logan Square last year.
“Without Berly Valladares, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened,” Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Mark Shlifka said in his closing arguments. Valladares also was convicted of aggravated battery with a firearm for the shooting of Valencia’s girlfriend Daisy Camacho, who was also wounded in the gangway outside the party in the 1700 block of North Rockwell."

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Gang member gets 20 to 40 years for Pittston homicide - News - Citizens Voice

Gang member gets 20 to 40 years for Pittston homicide - News - Citizens Voice: "robbery that turned deadly landed Sinard Ballard 20 to 40 years in prison, punishment for the Philadelphia gang member who arranged the botched crime from a jail phone.
Luzerne County Senior Judge Chester B. Muroski levied the sentence upon Ballard on Tuesday, the culmination of a July plea agreement in which Ballard pleaded guilty to third-degree homicide and robbery in connection with the October 2007 fatal shooting of 19-year-old John Johnson.
While in jail on drug and weapons possession charges, Ballard arranged for Marcellus Thomas to rob Jason Paglianite of Pittston, apparent retribution for a previous robbery in which Ballard said Paglianite stole heroin and cash from his girlfriend, Corissa Breznay. He offered the 21-year-old Thomas of Philadelphia up to $1,500 for the mission and arranged for Breznay to provide him a handgun, prosecutors said."

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Man, 26, bailed over Merseyside gangland murder

Liverpool Echo - News - Liverpool Local News - Man, 26, bailed over Merseyside gangland murder: "arrested Jamie Edward Aytoun from Bravery Court, Garston on Thursday afternoon on suspicion of the murder of Paul Pike.
He was last night charged with gun and drugs offences but bailed in relation to the murder inquiry.
Paul, 23, was gunned down as he sat in his van at traffic lights on Crosby Road North, at its junction with South Road, on Saturday June 5.
His killers pulled alongside his red Transit van in a silver Audi TT and sprayed it with bullets.
They drove off only to turn around and come back, opening fire for a second time.
Paul’s girlfriend was sat next to him at the time but managed to escape without being injured.
Thursday’s arrest at Holyhead came after police raided the Bravery Court flat earlier in the day."

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Judge sets bonds in Roma cops' drug smuggling case | mcallen, bonds, roma - Now - TheMonitor.com

Judge sets bonds in Roma cops' drug smuggling case | mcallen, bonds, roma - Now - TheMonitor.com: "Few details emerged Monday from a court hearing in the case involving two Roma police officers who face federal drug smuggling charges.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos granted bond for the six suspects present at the detention hearing in McAllen.
The case came after Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested seven suspects Sept. 13 as part of an ongoing smuggling investigation that stretches from Starr County to Houston.
The arrested Roma policemen, Jose and Roel Roberto Garcia, remain suspended pending a department investigation"

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Sleeping King City girl injured in gang-related shooting | thecalifornian.com | The Salinas Californian

Sleeping King City girl injured in gang-related shooting | thecalifornian.com | The Salinas Californian: "gunmen walked up to a residence around 3:10 a.m. on the 200 block of Oxford Avenue and fired several rounds into the residence.Miller said one of Saturday's rounds struck the girl, asleep in the front room at the time, in the lower torso. She was treated for non-life-threatening wounds at Mee Memorial Hospital and remains in stable condition.It's the sixth shooting of the year in the area, which police described as a hot spot for gang activity. One of those shootings included the March 3 homicide of Alonso Chavez. The 29-year-old was shot by a man on a bicycle in front of his home on the 1300 block of Cambridge Avenue.On Saturday's shooting, police said the gunmen ran south on Oxford Avenue, got into a black, compact vehicle and left toward Amherst Drive.Miller said police are investigating the shooting as gang-related."

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The Courier - Alistair Thomson given four years in prison for killing brother John Pickersgill

The Courier - Alistair Thomson given four years in prison for killing brother John Pickersgill: "Alistair Thomson (43) stabbed his brother John Pickersgill in the stomach after the pair got into a fight following an evening spent drinking at a house in Cowdenbeath on January 30.
Thomson, formerly of Fairy Fa' in Crossgates, pleaded guilty to a culpable homicide charge last month.
At the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday Judge Lord Tyre said if Thomson had not pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity he would have sentenced him to six years' imprisonment.
Lord Tyre also took into account Thomson's remorse, which he did not doubt was genuine.
The judge said he was also aware Thomson's family, who were in the public benches, remained supportive of him despite this 'tragic incident.'
Thomson wept as his QC told the High Court in Glasgow how their mother was devastated as one son was dead and another was responsible."

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Woman castrated man with her nails | Daily Mirror, The; London (UK) Newspaper | Find Articles at BNET

Woman castrated man with her nails | Daily Mirror, The; London (UK) Newspaper | Find Articles at BNET: "WOMAN castrated a man with her bare hands after an argument at a Christmas party, it emerged yesterday.
Rebecca Arnold Dawson sank her long nails into the man's groin - and tore off his private parts.
The victim Kevin Russ needed more than 50 stitches after suffering the agonising injury.
Police chief Frank Powers said his officers discovered a 'bloody scene' after being called to the house.
Dawson, 34, has been charged with malicious castration and assault.
The horrific incident took place after Russ and his girlfriend Tanya Gardella, 32, hosted a party on Christmas Eve.
Dawson was among the guests at the house in town of Lillington, North Carolina.
Both women got involved in an argument, and when 38-year-old Russ tried to intervene he was attacked."

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The Digger Magazine - Covering Crime and Gangs in Glasgow: Armed robbery at Maryhill bookies

The Digger Magazine - Covering Crime and Gangs in Glasgow: Armed robbery at Maryhill bookies: "Staff in a bookies were left terrified after a masked man threatened them with a firearm.
The hold up happened at the Ladbrokes in Kilfinan Street, Maryhill, just after 08.30pm yesterday evening.
The man who robbed the shop was wearing a mask and brandishing what appeared to be a firearm. He threatened the staff, a male and female worker, before making off with a three figure sum of money.
Police describe the suspect as being: 'A white male in his mid 20's. He is 5'8'' with a thin build. He was wearing a dark grey Nike hooded top and a dark scarf covering his mouth.'
Police are also keen to speak to an oap who was in the shop when the robbery took place."

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BBC News - Journalist Sokratis Giolias gunned down in Greece

BBC News - Journalist Sokratis Giolias gunned down in Greece: "Greek investigative journalist has been shot dead outside his home in Athens in an attack linked by police to leftist militants.
Sokratis Giolias, 37, was shot more than 15 times in the Athens neighbourhood of Ilioupoli.
According to colleagues, he had been about to publish the results of an investigation into corruption.
Police said ballistics tests tied the killers' guns to previous attacks by the Sect of Revolutionaries.
They had initially discounted the idea that leftist militants might have killed Mr Giolias."

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loaded sawn-off shotgun hidden in his wardrobe Justin Jack's has been jailed for five years.

loaded sawn-off shotgun hidden in his wardrobe Justin Jack's has been jailed for five years.

The weapon was found at Justin Jack's home in Hogan Gardens, Top Valley, during a police raid on 28 May.

Nottingham Crown Court heard the 30-year-old admit being in possession of a prohibited weapon.

Police said the raid was part of Operation Vanguard - a crackdown on drug and gun crime - and should serve as a warning to all criminals.

The court was told Jack had shotgun pellets and gunpowder in his jeans' pockets when arrested.

'Serious threat'

Officers found the double-barrelled shotgun, which was loaded with two cartridges, hidden between some clothes.

Also in the wardrobe was a bag containing 24 shotgun cartridges.

Det Sgt Mike Allen said: "Clearly people who carry firearms pose a serious threat to our community and today's lengthy sentence, should serve as a warning to others that the police, nor the courts will tolerate gun crime.

"This case also shows that anyone who claims to possess an illegal gun to protect themselves, will face exactly the same punishment as any other firearms offender."

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cops gave permission for a movie gun battle in London -- then later declared it a crime scene when a member of the public found bullet casings

Keystone cops gave permission for a movie gun battle in London -- then later declared it a crime scene when a member of the public found bullet casings, The U.K. Sun reported.

Amazingly, they failed to link the incident to a film crew who hours earlier fired 1,700 blank rounds for a scene in gang flick "The Veteran," starring Toby Kebbell, 28, as a soldier who turns to crime.

Two cops were present during three days of action, then production staff swept up the empty shells. But next morning, police were alerted to suspected gun activity on the Heygate housing project in Elephant and Castle, south London.

Forensic experts combed the streets and found some bullet casings, but it was not until the next day that tests revealed they were blanks.

"It is astonishing the police could not tie the two together," said a spokesman for entertainment rental firm Foxtrot, which supplied guns for the filming.

He said cops even suggested the firm could be charged with wasting police time.

A police spokesman said the casings were "confirmed to be blanks" and inquiries were ongoing.

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police are actively targeting a little more than one in 10 (11%) of some 6,000 crime gangs who have 38,000 members and cost the economy

police are actively targeting a little more than one in 10 (11%) of some 6,000 crime gangs who have 38,000 members and cost the economy more than £40 billion annually.

Sir Paul called on the Government to set a clear national strategy for tackling organised crime and said police should copy the template set by counter-terrorism work to bring down networks.

Speaking at the annual John Harris Memorial Lecture, in central London, he said the popular view is that the "long arm of the law" will catch up with persistent lawbreakers in the end.

Sir Paul said: "Regrettably, in recent times, some criminals are learning that the reach of criminal justice does not always extend that far and in many ways does not include them and will often be restricted by artificial and self-imposed police boundaries.

"They have learnt that if they become sufficiently organised and sophisticated - and by definition they often are - then our reach is no greater than our ambition, and our ambition has been less than it should have been in recent years."

Police work to tackle top crime barons profiting from drug smuggling, people trafficking, massive financial fraud and counterfeiting has been repeatedly questioned in recent years.

Sir Paul said work was inadequate in a review commissioned in 2003 and Sir Denis O'Connor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, followed up in 2005 with a report that recommended merging some forces to bridge the gap.

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Marius Sabaliauskas was jailed for five years, Vythutas Lauresevicius for six and Arenidas Petrauskas for two and a half years at Canterbury Crown Cou

Three men have been jailed after admitting stealing to order top-of-the range cars with a total value estimated at £317,000.

The thefts, between September and December 2009, took place in Kent, south London and southern England.

Marius Sabaliauskas was jailed for five years, Vythutas Lauresevicius for six and Arenidas Petrauskas for two and a half years at Canterbury Crown Court.

Police said the men were part of a "Lithuanian crime group".

The stolen cars included a Porsche 911, two Mercedes Benz, two BMWs and an Audi Q7.

'Tip of iceberg'
There was also a Mercedes S320 and a Range Rover.

The court was told the three men broke into homes where the cars were parked outside and stole the keys.

Most of the burglaries were committed while the occupants were asleep.

The trio was caught after a Kent police surveillance operation which ended in their arrest after a car chase following a burglary in Whitstable on 7 December.

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Police pursue car thief Vythutas Lauresevicius along the A2 in Kent
Other offences took place in Walderslade, Kent; Benfleet and Doddinghurst, Essex; Coulsdon, south east London; Hertford, Reading, Berkshire and Cambridge.

"These three men were part of a Lithuanian crime group who are responsible for a significant number of burglaries in the south of England," said Det Insp Eddie Fox.

"These convictions are the tip of the iceberg.

"Members of their gang trawl the region looking for good quality cars on driveways of homes, with them or others returning later to steal them.

"There can be no doubt that they came to England with the sole intention of committing crime.

"Householders are urged to review their home's security and ensure that car keys are not left in a place where they can be easily found by intruders."

Sabaliauskas, 31, and Petrauskas, 29, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to steal.

Lairesvicius, 22, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle, conspiracy to steal and aggravated vehicle taking.

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Cuba agrees to biggest prisoner release in a decade | World news | The Guardian

Cuba agrees to biggest prisoner release in a decade | World news | The Guardian: "Cuba agreed today to the biggest mass release of political prisoners in more than a decade, following a meeting between President Raúl Castro and Spain's foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos.
The Roman Catholic church in Cuba said the government had agreed to free 47 political prisoners and allow them to leave the country.
In a statement, issued by the office of the archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, said that those who had been offered freedom were members of a group of 75 leading political opposition activists, community organisers and journalists who report on Cuba in defiance of state controls on media. They were rounded up in a crackdown on dissent in March 2003.
Some 54 of those have remained behind bars, most of them serving lengthy prison sentences on charges of conspiring with Washington to destabilise Cuba's political system."

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Fatal stabbing of boy 'was planned' - UK News - MSN News UK

Fatal stabbing of boy 'was planned' -  UK News - MSN News UK: "15-year-old boy has been stabbed to death in a planned attack by suspected rival gang members as he arrived at school.
Zac Olumegbon, from Brixton Hill, south London, was ambushed by four young men at the gates of Park Campus School in nearby West Norwood.
Four people were arrested in connection with the incident, in which a second teenager, believed to be 14 years old, was also stabbed in the arm.
A local shopkeeper described how Zac fell into the arms of a teacher after the attack. Saima Sadfdar, who runs a convenience shop, said: 'She had her hands open but it was too late and he collapsed in her arms.'
Police believe four black males arrived in a car before the attack and a confrontation took place outside the school involving the two victims and the suspects."

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Three prison guards indicted for smuggling sham cocaine to West Palm Beach

Three prison guards indicted for smuggling sham cocaine to West Palm Beach: "Three state prison guards smuggled sham cocaine from Miami to West Palm Beach in return for $5,000 payments from undercover FBI agents, federal prosecutors said today.
Dameyenoe Francis, Jerry Thicklin and Derrick Jackson each were indicted on one count of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and one county of attempting to possess cocaine with intent to distribute it, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office."

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News - Crime & Courts: Police gun down fellow cop (Page 1 of 2)

News - Crime & Courts: Police gun down fellow cop (Page 1 of 2): "policeman charged with the murder of Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Pillay was shot dead while in custody by officers of the Durban organised crime unit on Tuesday.

Constable Thandanani Dube, 30, had been arrested, with his cousin Sakhiseni Dladla, on June 17 in connection with Pillay's murder.

Colonel Jay Naicker said officers took Dube from Sydenham police station to their Cato Manor offices for interrogation.

'The suspect requested to go to the men's room. Two organised crime officers escorted him and removed his restraints."

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